This Is Devastating (or should be)

Wow. I thought the whole Rathergate thing only went as deep as Dan-wanting-revenge-and-colluding-with-a-partisan, but it turns out there's a hard connection (read communications) between CBS, Burkett (the source...but not the 'original' source), and the Kerry camp. Holy moly! How this can't seriously taint the Dem's chances in November even further is beyond me.

Further fallout to come...film at 6 on Special Report (whom we can trust not to cover for See-BS and the DNC).

The Economy as an Issue

Much has been made of the fact that Democrats in general (and therefore Sen. Kerry) supposedly enjoy a "built-in" advantage on many domestic issues, including the economy. Well, check out Rasmussen's new poll regarding the two most important issues in this election. Some very significant numbers there, including the observation that "This marks the first time either candidate has reached the 50% level in Election 2004", in regard to who voters trust the most to manage the economy. Uh-oh.

Now what, Mary-Mike-Joe-Bill?

The NPR "Swing Voter"

In their never ending effort to let our tax dollars give us the best non-biased perspective possible, they're interviewing a "swing voter" to let us hear his views. Well, there's a bit of a problem with his status as an undecided, as you can see here.

(Hat tip to both Polipundit and KerrySpot)

Boycott Spain

They seem nice enough, but enough is enough. Please see this post on Barcepundit in English for explanation. Amoral might not be a strong enough word.

UPDATE: I read somewhere today (9/17/04) that there has been a retraction/apology/investigation regarding this, but I can't remember where. I'll get the appropriate 'props' up when I find it again. Update II: Roger L. Simon referencing Barcepundit

How Far Will They Go?

I think the world of Laura Bush, and admire the way she tries to avoid the spotlight as much as possible and let her husband do the politicing and "run the free world" stuff. Therefore, this insinuation by John Roberts of CBS kNews last night just irks me:

ROBERTS: The president has yet to weigh in on new documents about his National Guard record made public last week by 60 minutes. But in a radio interview, First Lady Laura Bush became the first White House insider to publicly doubt their authenticity.

LAURA BUSH (From radio interview): You know, they probably are altered and they probably are forgeries.

ROBERTS: However, Laura Bush offered no evidence to back up her claim and CBS News continues to stand by its reporting.

Translation: We are the Old Media (fear and ultimate respect should strike you about now), and we can use any forgeries, fakes, copies, false witnesses or whatever else we can conjure up to advance any agenda we damned well please, and shouldn't be questioned about it. And if the First Lady should suggest anything to the contrary, she's a liar because she didn't immediately produce (via a radio interview), as proof, the computer we generated these documents on.

Truly disgusting from where I'm sitting.

(Hat tip to NRO's Kerry Spot)

Twenty Questions

Peter Kirsanow of NRO has added to his questions to be posed to John Kerry. A good set, I must say.

(Hat tip to RealClearPolitics)

How's This For a Coalition?

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm getting awful frustrated with John Kerry saying that we didn't develop enough of a coalition before going into Iraq. He's used many different words and phrases to say as much, claiming we have alienated our allies along the way. The way I see it, he is doing much more damage by time and again insulting those that have pitched in all they can to help in the fight. I dare him in good conscience to read something like this and claim we are practicing unilateralism or that our allies weren't "brought along", or whatever.

The Show Me State

Missouri has voted for the eventual presidential winner in...well you know. They're a pretty substantial bellweather for the election. Well, Rasmussen reports that President Bush is up 6% in Missouri, a 1 point gain from the last poll. Any more Clintonistas we can call in about this?

Where Pat Buchanan Went Wrong

Sometimes I think these guys start blurting things without really thinking about what they're saying. Pat Buchanan was on "Meet the Press" Sunday (along with Bob Graham and Newt Gingrich), and my jaw and remote both dropped on several occassions during his explanation of why the radical Islamists hate us and the concessions we should take to make everything ok.

A couple of things that really struck me:

BUCHANAN: ".... The United States, by invading that country and
taking over its capital, we have inflamed the entire Middle East and Arab and
Islamic world. American prestige and support for the president and the
United States has never been lower in that part of the world."

How much 'prestige and support' did the United States and it's president have in that part of the world before the Afgan/Iraq wars? We couldn't go much lower, and we'd barely lifted a finger.

BUCHANAN: "It was not a problem. Saddam was a criminal and a thug and a brute, but he was no threat to a country that flew 40,000 sorties over Iraq in 10 years. He did not shoot down a single one."

So, if I shoot at you and miss, Mr. Buchanan, I'm not a threat to you? Saddam was no threat? Blinders I say, blinders....

BUCHANAN: "Were were not over there, the 9/11 terrorists would not have been over here. And while their acts were murderous and despicable, behind their atrocities lay a political motive. We were attacked because of our imperial presence on the sacred soil of the land of Mecca and Medina, because of our enemies' perception that we were strangling the Iraqi people with sanctions and preparing to attack a second time, and because of our uncritical support of the Likud regime of Ariel Sharon in Israel.

"....Are they attacking us because of who we are and what they believe or are they attacking us because of what we do? I believe it is our policies, not our principles that are causing these attacks. Osama bin Laden wasn't sitting in some cave in Afghanistan and stumble on the Bill of Rights and go bananas. It is because of what we are doing. Most fundamentally, it wasn't Israel number one. Number one, Saudi Arabia, female soldiers, American soldiers sitting there on the land of Mecca and Medina."

Well, where do I begin? According to Buchanan: 9/11 is our fault because we have soldiers (especially those offensive female soldiers) stationed in Saudi Arabia (as a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait), we were strangling the Iraqi people with sanctions and Saddam's lies had nothing to do with it, and we must not support Israel because Osama bin Laden doesn't approve. Wow.

WOW, The Spin Comes Crashing Down?

It makes you wonder if this would have floated through unchanged without this new medium and it's realtime nature. Wow.

Update: Unchanged so far on the Boston Globe site.

Changing Tides

I'm not much on polls as actual predictors of numbers you'll see on election night, and God knows we're saturated with the dang things nowadays. But I think some are better than others and, more importantly, I believe (that phrase must be stuck in my head from The Speech last night) that they're good for at least one thing: Trends...as presented by Rasmussen.

Update: Nader and Gay-Marriage ban on the Michigan ballot. The tides are strengthening.

I Call It Progress

Check off one more. Thanks for the line, George.

This Nightmare Keeps Getting Worse

What a terrible situation, and it looks like it isn't over.

Let's Give This A Try

After constantly bothering a selected few of my co-workers with my opinions and view of the day's political and news-centric subjects (and then some), I decided to give blogging a try as an outlet for my view. Just like anyone else in this great country of ours I have no reservations about making my take heard. I hope this will open my options as far as the "when and where" I might find an audience for discussion.

I've been inspired by several bloggers, of which I'll probably have many links to over time. There's no doubt a similar take can be articulated better, so a-linking we will go. And believe me, those types of posts/epinions are out there...after all, just read the site description. *wink*