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2008-02-05T21:38:00.001-08:00

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Bush wins Iowa + New Mexico, Popular Vote = 52%-47%

2004-11-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

Bush now up 5% since AP finally awarded Iowa + New Mexico. See updated map at USA Today

Election Recap: Basking in the Vast Republican Victories!

2004-11-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

Bush first enjoys his victory lap with the press (TRANSCRIPT)

Stock Market continues roaring its approval. (DOW + 178, NASDAQ +19, S&P + 19); Bush Victory assures drug stocks

WT: Bush's victory comforts troops

Peggy Noonan returns: So Much to Savor - A big win for America, and a loss for the mainstream media.

Robert Novak: Democratic disaster

Newsweek: Bush's Inner Circle and (Fineman) A Sweet Victory ... And a Tough Loss

Mark Steyn: Bush Hatred Flops Big and A catastrophic night for the Democrats

Post mortems forthcoming from the NYT revealing how the major networks coordinated with the Kerry campaign in refusing to award Ohio and other states to Bush to retain their illusion that Kerry was winning.

TNR: Liberals Eventually Despair (must read)

NYT Stunned Democrats Look to the Internal Debate Ahead

NY Daily News: Dish on campaign trail follies, Bitter pill for plenty in the city and Devastating day for Democrats - They're in no mood to play nice on Hill

Michelle Malkin on Turnout Delusions

Filmmaker Moore quiet; Kerry backers heartbroken (he, he, he) + Film-maker Moore silenced as credits roll on a fair fight (he, he, he, he, he)

SF Chronicle: OPPOSITION Lefties reeling

NY Sun: It's a Dismal Day for Bush-Haters

WSJ: How Insiders Were Fooled - Bloggers Leaked Secret Data Giving Kerry an Early Lead, But Networks Honored Rules

Seattle Times: How did exit polls start avalanche of inaccuracy?

From the other side of the pond: Polls are load of ballots

Aussie Perspective: A Moral Victory

Kerry Daughters leave no doubt as to their total classlessness.

George Will: Refusal to accept reality sank Dems

John Podhoretz: How W Won

Fred Barnes: Act Two: Keys to a successful second term.

Bill Krystol: Misunderestimated: The hair-pullers and teeth-gnashers won't like it, of course, but we're nevertheless inclined to call this a Mandate.

Hugh Hewitt: The End of the Sixties: More than a win for conservatism, Bush's victory marks the end, finally, of the '60's

Dick Morris: Those faulty exit polls were sabotage and HISPANIC VOTE KEY

American Spectator on Tuesday's Dirty Numbers and NY Daily News notes Exit polls out of whack - Early numbers told wrong story

SD/UT: Bush voters take wrath of Sore Loserman II Kerry supporters.

Jeff Jacoby: Big loss for the Bush haters

BBC: How gloom descended on Kerry's bid

NYP: VOTE SALUTES A LOST SON OF 9/11

Hollywood Tanks at the Polls and Kerry's stars failed to shine

Richmond Times Dispatch: Allen tops expectation of GOP Senate gains

RatherBiased, MRC and Stephen Hayes with highlights of Dan Rather's coverage & reality breakdown and WP notes FNC gain

David Letterman's Top Ten and other one-liners

Historic Magnitude of Victory

2004-11-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

Dramatic County by County Precint Returns reveals MANDATE
WH: Bush Victory Speech

KERRY CONCEDES - BUSH VICTORY SEALED!

2004-11-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

ABC with the news! Kerry will concede at 1:00 PM EST and Bush will claim victory at 3:00 PM EST
Dancing Bush!

BUSH WINS THE HAT TRICK

2004-11-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

Bush wins both electoral college and popular vote, wins and adds seats in Senate and House!

God Bless America!

UPDATE: Sore Losermen Kerry & Edwards dispatching lawyers to Ohio! NM + NV ready to pop with Wisconsin and Iowa looking close!

Live Returns

2004-11-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

C-SPAN and MegaPundit have good live charts and LA Times has the best Interactive

At this hour ...

GOOD NEWS:

West Virginia has been called for Bush by CNN
Anne Northup of Kentucky has won a decisive victory (usually a bellwether seat)
South Carolina margin of victory is around 60% or greater (Bush retaining strength)

BAD NEWS:

Virginia looking tight (ouch!)
Jim Bunning taking hits in Kentucky Senate race (would be a reflection of Bunning's performance and not any other indicator)
Reporting & Hand-wringing over Early Exit Polling results may prove detramental to Bush (uggh)

11:15 EST: Things are looking very, very positive for the Bush campaign. Florida appears near certain. Ohio is strong. New Hampshire still appears within close reach. NJ is running 11% better than 2000 in popular vote and much closer than the Kerry team probably ever expected. Bunning holds on in the Senate and other races breaking for the Republicans with a sweep of the south, including a 52% (no runoff) victory in Louisiana. Martin Frost and other Texas DemoncRATs knocked off from redistricting. PA and other hopefuls probably out of reach but other remaining mid-west Kerry states still show signs of vulnerability. ... Daschle slap-down has appearance of inevitability!

D-DAY - ELECTION 2004 - GO W GO!

2004-11-01T23:28:00.000-08:00

OHIO is the key!
RETURNS and FORECAST

Final Tarrance BATTLEGROUND Poll: BUSH 51.2, KERRY 47.8 and Mason Dixon state polls looking good for W

Dixville Notch: Bush 19, Kerry 7

Expect Exit Poll Results to be leaked to Drudge and NRO The Corner

NYT sings the blues over Hawaii while flooding threatens Island turnout and DNC sends Kucinich (???)

AP on Daschle's desperate late night court action against John Thune

FULL Transcript of UBL Election Threats and IBD's commentary

Bush relishes final day of campaigning

RNC: Anticipated Kerry-Edwards and Democrat Election Day Litigation Strategy

ALOHA!

2004-11-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

Cheney Hunts for Votes in Hawaii on Election Eve

Vice President Dick Cheney asked voters in Hawaii on Sunday to help stage a Republican upset that would give President Bush the traditionally Democratic state's four Electoral College votes in Tuesday's tight election battle.

"I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by and say, Aloha," a smiling Cheney, wearing a brightly colored lei, told thousands of raucous supporters at a late night rally in Honolulu.

"Hawaii is a vital state in this election and President Bush and I would be honored to have your vote," the vice president added.

"It doesn't matter which party you belong to, or who you have voted for in the past. We're asking for your support."

UPDATE: Some beautiful pictures, including some of the lead-up entertainment from an attendee

Trick or Treat?

2004-10-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

It appears Rove & Co. are in good spirits this evening, a hopeful sign for the election on Tuesday with many national polls narrowing to fulfill the media's long planned & orchestrated "Kerry's Closing!" scenario.

UPDATE: Kathryn Jean Lopez @ The Corner posts the WH Press Pool Report:

Uneventful flight, no visitors, but good color after we landed--the senior staff dressed up as duck hunters for Halloween to mock Kerry's recent goose hunting escapade.

After POTUS and FLOTUS and Sen. Jim Bunning emerged, waved and descended from the plane, the senior staff accompanied by Josh Deckard came out and paraded down the stairs dressed in camoflage jackets. Karl Rove and Dan Bartlett also wore hunting caps with the floppy ears. Karen Huges carried a plastic Halloween pumpkin filled with M&Ms from on board the plane. They walked over to the press and Rove threw some of the boxes of M&Ms at us.

"We're duck hunting for Halloween," Bartlett said. "We figured it would be a helpful reminder for Sen. Kerry." Rove and Barlett raised their arms in the air and joined hands to make a big W. Asked about their prediction for the outcome of the election, Rove, Bartlett and Hughes answered, "Victory."

UBL Endorses Kerry, Kerry blasts Bush & Military in kind

2004-10-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

UBL Transcript

Satellite Imagery revealed

2004-10-29T01:02:00.000-07:00

Rumsfeld Suggests Explosives Were Moved and Photos point to removal of weapons while Ralph Peters comments on THE MYTH OF THE 'MISSING EXPLOSIVES': A SHAMELESS LIE and Dick Morris explains it means Why Bush Will Win.

Aloha Cheney!

2004-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

VP Scheduled to rally Hawai'i on Sunday - Weekly Standard weighs in on the race which continues to poll neck & neck, with slight 1 point lead for Bush and a wealth of DNC + 527 MoveOn.org ads hitting the airways. Only thing that could help Bush more is for Algore to visit on behalf of Kerry campaign as he's scheduled to appear this weekend.

Tommy Franks stumps with Bush & takes on Kerry

2004-10-28T22:18:00.000-07:00

REMARKS BY GENERAL TOMMY FRANKS
IN INTRODUCING THE PRESIDENT AT VICTORY 2004 RALLY

Westlake Recreation Center
Westlake, Ohio

October 28, 2004

GENERAL FRANKS: Well, what a treat it is to be in northern Ohio. (Applause.) Indeed, it's an honor to be standing here today with you. You know, I'm not a politician, but I know what a Commander-in-Chief looks like, and there's only one on this ballot -- that's George Bush. (Applause.)

You know, I would guess by the enthusiasm that I see represented here today that victory is headed our way in just about five days. (Applause.) If you think about character, if you think about courage, if you think about consistency, if you think about honesty, you think about George W. Bush. (Applause.) If you talk about a leader who knows something about the global war on terrorism, it would be George W. Bush, and he knows it's global. (Applause.)

You're talking about a leader who knows that terrorism has been more than a nuisance for more than two decades. (Applause.) You're talking about a leader who does not want to roll back terrorism to the times of Beirut in 1983, Khobar Towers in the mid-1990s, East Africa in 1998, the USS Cole in the year 2000, and doesn't want to roll it back to 9/11/01. Terrorism is not a nuisance. (Applause.)

George W. Bush is a leader who knew that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world and to the United States of America, and removed him from power. (Applause.) George W. Bush is a leader who knows that our troops, as of right now, have cleared 10,000 ammunition and weapons sites in Iraq. He knows that they have destroyed 240,000 tons of munitions in Iraq. He knows that they have under control -- (applause) -- he knows that they have under control another 162,000 tons of munitions in Iraq. We're talking about George W. Bush who knows, who understands that we do not yet have all the facts about 380 tons of munitions in Iraq. And he is a President who will look at you and say, we don't yet have the facts, but we will get the facts. George W. Bush. (Applause.)

In George W. Bush, you're talking about a leader who does not step out every day of his life and make more wild accusations. You're talking about a leader who actually cares about our troops, about their families, and about our veterans. You're talking about a leader who actually respects all those who serve our country with dignity and with honor. You're talking about George W. Bush. (Applause.)

The past three years have been hard years for America. The past three years have been a tough time for our country. I've looked into the eyes of our President, my Commander-in-Chief, and I have seen that character, that courage, that consistency that I just described. It's the courage that it takes to win a war, not tie one. And we have to win the war against terrorism in this country. (Applause.)

Now, I'll tell you, I don't know Senator Kerry's plan for victory. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is, but I do know -- but I do know that his criticism of military conduct of our global war on terrorism denigrates, disrespects our troops. (Applause.) And, ladies and gentlemen, I also know that he cannot lead troops to victory in a war when he has made it perfectly clear that he does not support the cause. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be a close election, and every vote counts. Those who wear the uniform of service of the United States of America deserve a Commander-in-Chief, and it's my honor to introduce one -- President George W. Bush. (Applause.)

SwiftVet Video Extravaganza

2004-10-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

The SwiftVets have a new set of detailed VIDEOs available, just in time for the election.

UN Report in 2003 notes Iraq "lost" HMX & converted remaining HMX stocks into "industrial explosive"

2004-10-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

In a 2003 report briefing United Nations MOHAMMED ELBARADEI declared:

The relocation and consumption of some dual use materials has been among the questions raised in connection with Iraq's backlog of semi-annual declarations. The high explosive "HMX" is a prime example of such material. The removal of Agency seals on the HMX and the declared relocation and consumption of some of the HMX must be explained and documented by Iraq before the Agency can reach a conclusion with regard to the use of such material. The Iraqi declarations indicate that out, of the 228 tonnes of HMX available in Iraq at the end of 1998, 196 remained at the facility where the HMX was previously under IAEA seal. Iraq also declared that it had blended the remaining 32 tonnes with sulphur and turned them into 45.6 tonnes of "industrial explosive" provided mainly to cement plants for mining. The material balance, current stock, whereabouts and final use of such material are currently being investigated.

Kerry stepped in 350 ton pile (now it's up to his knees)

2004-10-26T01:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday the NYT joined with CBS to do their best to come to Kerry's aid by digging up some old story lines about missing weapons in Iraq from many months back & recycle them, this time 350 tons of missing explosives, as an "October Surprise". CNN & all of Kerry's other fellow compatriots in the media took hold hard but, by the end of the day, Kerry's posturing once again leaves him looking like a doofus. The Pentagon reveals there have already been 240,000 tons of various weapons and ordinance, etc., destroyed in Iraq, and the specific materials NYT referred to were actually revealed as missing by the UN, long before the US ever initiated combat operations.

The Washington Times has a good summary of the day's events while Drudge covers the revelations from NBC that NBC reporters were "embedded with troops moved in to secure the Al-Qaqaa weapons facility on April 10, 2003, one day after the liberation of Iraq" and, according to NBC, "the HMX and RDX explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived." By not revealing these facts earlier it appears the IAEA has now officially joined forces with CBS, NYT and the Kerry campaign. Meanwhile CNN says "oops", fesses up & reports, Explosives already gone when U.S. troops arrived

Looking forward to new Thomas Lipscomb article in NY Sun!

Debate Video of Kerry's Christmas in the Security Council

2004-10-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

care of Daily Recycler

Washington Times picks up prior BOMBSHELL

2004-10-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today the Washington Times reports Security Council members deny meeting Kerry. With Kerry having repeated this lie, repeatedly, it's akin to Christmas in Cambodia REDUX. It reveals a deeply delusional tendency on the part of Senator Kerry to invent significant events in his life experience which he claims have led him to the political stances and posturing over the years. And, like Christmas in Cambodia having never happened when Richard Nixon was president, Kerry is locked into a time frame for his claim that "I met with the Security Council of the United Nations in the week preceding the vote in the Senate", when it appears he was in primary campaign states during that period.

Even if true, Kerry's LIE is also similar in some respects to his negotiating with Madame Bihn and the Vietnamese Communists during time of war, something it appears may have led to his dishonorable discharge from the navy, having violated Naval regulations prohibiting such activities on behalf of an inactive Naval Officer. Negotiating with or meeting with the Security Council is reserved for the State Dept. and UN Ambassador. Of course, however, it's clear Kerry never had such a meeting, even if banging his hands on the table during that purported experience was seared as deeply as his recollection of spending Christmas in Cambodia.

As reported:

Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in December 2003, Mr. Kerry explained that he understood the "real readiness" of the United Nations to "take this seriously" because he met with the entire Security Council, and we spent a couple of hours talking about what they saw as the path to a united front in order to be able to deal with Saddam Hussein."
...
When reached for comment last week, an official with the Kerry campaign stood by the candidate's previous claims that he had met with the entire Security Council. But after being told late yesterday of the results of The Times investigation, the Kerry campaign issued a statement that read in part, "It was a closed meeting and a private discussion." A Kerry aide refused to identify who participated in the meeting. The statement did not repeat Mr. Kerry's claims of a lengthy meeting with the entire 15-member Security Council, instead saying the candidate "met with a group of representatives of countries sitting on the Security Council." Asked whether the international body had any records of Mr. Kerry sitting down with the whole council, a U.N. spokesman said that "our office does not have any record of this meeting."

In a December 10, 2003 Boston Globe Interview with John Kerry

And I met with the entire Security Council in a room just like this at a table like this. I spent two hours with them. (inaudible), just me and the Security Council, asking them questions. The French ambassador, "Is there a time when President Chirac would be ready to come on board? What do we need to do to move the French people to a place where they understand the stakes? Are you prepared to spend money? Do you believe we might have to use force in order to disarm Saddam Hussein? At what point would you be ready to do that?" I went through that with all of them. And I left there convinced that the U.N. was prepared to be deadly serious about this.

In an August speech before the UNITY Conference he stated:

"I believe in my heart of hearts and in my gut that this president fails that test in Iraq. And I know this because I, personally, and others were deeply involved in the effort with other countries to bring them to the table. I met with the Security Council of the United Nations in the week preceding the vote in the Senate."

John Kerry at the UNITY Conference (8/5/04)RealAudio (VIDEO Link)

For other formats, go to C-SPAN home page and select "Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) Remarks at UNITY Conference" under VIDEO/AUDIO "Recent Programs" in the middle of the page.

Segment begins 49 minutes into the program, during the Q&A period (fast-forward player to direct location) shortly following the Michael Moore gaffe.

I was the original source on FR and The Drudge Report on RADIO for this story and sent it to a bunch of newsies. During the debates Kerry repeated his LIE again.

PRIOR / ORIGINAL SOURCE POSTS:

VIDEO: John Kerry claims "I met with the Security Council of the United Nations"

Kerry Claims He Met with Security Council of United Nations over Iraq(OOPS - FOREIGN LEADER ALERT)

UPDATE: redstate.org is picking up with Mowbray :)

Swift Geese for Truth

2004-10-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

Following up on Hugh Hewitt's novel thinking, the "Swift Geese for Truth" ask who will be the last goose to die for a mistake ROFLMAO

Bush rallies rise to stadium-size!

2004-10-24T01:24:00.000-07:00

these are sweet ... the helicopter landing was great but to read about Air Force One doing the flyover at Jacksonville must have the Kerry campaign cussing under their breath. Washington Times has the best recap:

President Bush hopscotched through Florida yesterday in a campaign swing that rallied nearly 100,000 partisans as he accused Sen. John Kerry of "election amnesia" regarding the Iraq war.

Mr. Bush kicked off his day at a minor league baseball stadium in Fort Myers, where he arrived aboard Marine One and landed in left field to the thrill of the 12,000 supporters in attendance. He emerged from the helicopter to cheers, while music from the Navy pilot movie "Top Gun" blared from the loudspeakers.

After stops in Lakeland in front of 13,000 people and Melbourne for 18,000, Mr. Bush ended his day at Alltel Stadium, home of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, before 53,000 supporters, many of whom waited more than three hours to hear his 50-minute speech.
...
The president pushed the drama up a notch before his last rally, when he directed Air Force One to fly directly over the stadium to thrill the crowds he's counting on to deliver Florida's 27 Electoral College votes, the most among states still considered to be in play.

Great Photos HERE and HERE

Lawrence O'Donnell & Kerry's Dishonorable Discharge

2004-10-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

TownHall has Mark Alexander writing on Kerry's Dishonorable Discharge and a complaint / inquiry which was submitted to the Attorney General this past week. This follows the recent work by Thomas Lipscomb and reports from NewsMax that efforts are underway to try and uncover the truth before the election. Additional commentary this week from Geoff Metcalf.

With Kerry still refusing to sign the Form 180 to release his records, and the SwiftVets keeping up the pressure with ads, mailers & phone banks now at the ready, it's no wonder former DemoncRAT staffer and DNC shill for MSNBC Lawrence O'Donnell suffered a complete & total mental breakdown trying to shout down the truth during last night's debate with John O'Neill in Scarborough Country

Hawaii for BUSH ?!?!?!

2004-10-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Honolulu Advertiser has a comprehensive poll out and shows Bush leading Kerry, within a percentage point and the margin of error. From the article, "It is shocking," said Greg Gaydos, an associate professor of political science at Hawai'i Pacific University. "I'd say it's very bad news for Kerry if he's tied in a state like Hawai'i."

Stolen Honor - Now Available for ALL!

2004-10-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

c/o: www.VetsforBush.NET

This video has drawn multiple lawsuits from Kerry flacks; pressure and threats against theaters trying to show it; and Kerry campaign and Democrat legislators' threats of retaliation against Sinclair Broadcasting for trying to broadcast it.

Why doesn't John Kerry want you and other open-minded individuals to see this video?

This is one of the most incredible assaults on First Amendment rights any of us have seen in our lifetime. If this were about keeping the mainstream media (Iike CBS) from trying to pass forged documents to discredit the President, or to prevent the showing of propoganda from Hollywood hacks, there would be no end of outrage.

But for honored Veterans who want to tell the truth -- that John Kerry is a FAKE -- we have to stand up one-by-one and shoulder-to-shoulder.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO AS MANY VETERANS AND FRIENDS AS YOU CAN -- AND ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE UNDECIDED BUT ARE WILLING TO SEE WHY WE OPPOSE JOHN KERRY.

It is available free for a limited time at:

http://www.buttondepress.com/BostonManifesto/stolenhonor.wmv

Please help the patriot who is contributing this service free of charge by buying and distributing his buttons in support of the President: http://www.buttondepress.com/

[ www.VetsforBush.NET has no financial relationship to this site whatsoever ]

Kerry's October Disguise

2004-10-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

BUSH IN HERSHEY, PA: "HE CAN RUN, EVEN IN CAMMO, BUT HE CANNOT HIDE!"
AP: Cheney lampoons Kerry's goose hunting outing
Drudge has the network pool report (HILARIOUS)
NRA has the real scoop

Electoral Picture: Closing in!

2004-10-21T01:01:00.000-07:00

Here is how the presidential race appears to be moving into the final week playing with this nifty interactive electoral vote counting tool:

AZ, NV, LA, AR, VA, WV are all trending strong Bush as WA + MI are trending strong Kerry - these are not really in question anymore IMO ... though tonight there is a new Detroit News Poll that shows Bush up 47-43 in Michigan (?!?!?!?!!!!)

FL is trending strong Bush but can't be taken out of the toss-up category because of the experience in 2000. Hurricanes & strong presence by President Bush alongside excellent performance by brother Governor Jeb Bush impressed residents & local Joe Scarborough feels the race there is over. One can't help but think Bush's determined efforts to meet with & assist local citizens throughout the day of that first presidential debate probably wins him some points as well. Katherine Harris provides some perspective on further reasons why Florida is not as likely to repeat the 2000 debacle as many (such as Jimmah Carter) are hoping or suggesting.

MO is the traditional Bellweather state - it's trending Bush but always up for grabs and voter fraud will play its traditionally significant role here.

OH is typically a bellweather but this time it's impacted by joblessness greater than the national average. It's trending slightly Bush but still in the toss-up category and 50-50 with a possible edge to Kerry. Bush won Ohio in 2000 but could afford to lose it (and/or NH) by winning combinations of other midwest toss-up Kerry states. Voter fraud will also be rampant here as the Democrat "Rock Cocaine for Votes" scandal has already been uncovered in Defiance County.

PA is the counterpart to MO with double the electoral punch - it's trending Kerry and a must-win for Kerry, really, but having to get Clinton up to go energize their black base is puzzling strategically unless the internal polls reveal some Kerry weakness they're truly concerned with. Bush will be returning to PA shortly. The GOP is already calling Democrat Governor Ed Rendell on his premature angst preparation.

NJ has to be considered "safe" for Kerry until proven otherwise, though the public polls are neck-and-neck with Bush giving a major speech there this week.

NH usually leans Republican but is impacted this time by migration of voters (real and otherwise) from Mass. next door. I suspect it'll play out as NH often does, close until the day of the vote and then trending Republican. Hard to call either way, though.

There are several Gore states - NM, OR, IA, WI, MN that seem to be trending to Bush & could either lead to a near hit or miss total overall with the outside chance to contribute possible electoral landslide depending on what happens in the other truly critical toss-up states. These are the states where Bush has been spending time of late and I suspect will win at least 3 out of 5.

CO is trending strong Bush with the caveat there is a ballot initiative that would break up their electoral contributions - whether that wins & whether it's constitutional, could be a factor. Bush travels to Greely 10/24. Governor Bill Owens there is significant Democrat voter fraud already under way.

ME has a system like Colorado is considering & it appears Bush is poised to possibly win some of these former Gore electoral votes.

Theresa's Gall

2004-10-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Theresa - the so-called "Wicked Witch of the Rich" - can't buy the presidency nor the true class of our current first lady - and the pressure of the election polls may be showing. Today she attacked Laura Bush, commenting to USA Today that "I don't know that she's ever had a real job", smearing all teachers, librarians and everday mom's in the process. By the afternoon her staff had prepared an official (if not heartfelt) partial "apology", acknowledging teachers & librarians while choosing to continue dishing stay at home moms. Bill Sammon had the scoop, before the classless Little Johnny Edwards went on Nightline and showed he'd taught his young son that "Bush is stupid". Boston Herald includes Karen Hughes' appropriate comments.

Kerry 1994:Americans die for UN = GOOD, US = BAD

2004-10-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

The RNC has recovered this 1994 video of CNN Late Edition in which Hanoi John French Kerry tells Frank Sesno it's OK for American troops to die on behalf of the UN but not in our US interests.

Election Multimedia Galore

2004-10-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

New ads and videos + audios from the presidential campaign:

Ashley's Story

When the Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash / LARGE)

Kerry now speaking in French on the campaign trail

Club for Growth "Zucker" ad

Let's get it on (Kerry & Edwards)

Time Warp (Rocky Horror takeoff)

The Breck Girl: On Display (compact & all)

2004-10-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

Slate has the hysterical video of little Johnny Edwards primping himself most femininely. If there was any doubt as to how unqualified Edwards is for office, this only provides further affirmation that his only true experience or positive attribute involves his hair.

Campaign's Response to "Salman Pak" Query reveals Kerry is Dangerous

2004-10-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

John Kerry does not understand the complexities underlying the War on Terror.

When President Bush first addressed a joint session of the House & Senate, following the September 11 attacks, he both explained & assured Americans that the War on Terror would start with Al Qaeda but it would not end there.

President Bush correctly understands that shadowy terrorist networks and their nation state allies cannot be ignored in a broader War on Terror whereas John Kerry has repeatedly claimed that any attention, outside of Al Qaeda, proper, is a “diversion” from the War on Terror. This is clearly a silly and dangerous proposition; terrorists aligned with Al Qaeda cannot simply be identified by a nifty patch or arm band.

Ayman Al-Zawahri, Bin-Ladin’s chief lieutenant, was formerly the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad before merging his organization with Al Qaeda in the 1990’s. In John Kerry’s view of the world, deadly terrorists, like Al-Zawahri, operating around the world, would be immune from targeting by the US until they became officially aligned with Bin-Ladin and appeared in videos together.

These considerations are all the more compelling given the Kerry campaign’s inability, today, to explain “what the Senator would have done to curtail terrorist activities in Salman Pak”, the notorious terrorist training camp, run by Saddam Hussein, for the purpose of training foreign terrorists for operations using airplanes (ie 9/11) or trains (ie Madrid). The Kerry campaign’s lack of knowledge or inability to address these issues further confirm the Senator is ill-suited to be Commander-in-Chief.

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt links here for his Vox Blogoli,
Salman Pak Query below!

Kerry Campaign Unable to Answer Question about Salman Pak

2004-10-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

Salman Pak is the infamous former terrorist training camp that was run by Saddam's Fedayeen henchmen in Iraq, including training for aircraft hijacking using a Boeing 707 airliner parked in the desert southwest of Baghdad. See prior reports from NewsMax / WSJ, NR, AP and PBS

Following the Bush speech on terrorism in New Jersey this afternoon, the Kerry campaign held a phone conference and, thanks to an enterprising poster on FR I was able to get through. I asked my question,

"What would the Senator have done to curtail terrorist activities at Salman Pak?"

JOE LOCKHART said, "WHAT ????" and then said "Can you ask that again?" I asked again, very slowly and carefully to make sure there was no misunderstanding and Lockhart answered that they didn't know the answer they'd have to supply that later, off-line.

Click for high resolution detailed image

Reverend Kerry in the Pulpit Today

2004-10-17T11:44:00.000-07:00

"... for Brother Edwards hath proclaimeth, the blind shall see, the lame shall walk, if only we Johns shall be duly elected! Now go thou henceforth to the polls, and keep voting, dead and alive, alike, again and again, against all that is evil and Republican may so deemeth or their courts may disenfranchise thee, all ye of the loyal liberal plantation"

16 Days and Counting!

2004-10-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

Gallup has Bush over one limp wristed Hanoi John French Kerry 52%-44% while the battleground (state) polls remain neck-and-neck! RealClearPolitics has updated averages showing Bush +3.8%. After shoring up Florida over the weekend the president heads to New Jersey and, presumably, join up with Laura for the home stretch through Ohio & Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: 40th visit to PA announced!

UPDATE: New Battleground (Goeas) poll out - Bush +4% 45-41 - approaching post convention bounce margins with strong internals and job approval.

Integrity, Integrity, Integrity: We’ve Seen that Movie Too

2004-10-16T13:01:00.000-07:00

There is more than one reason the latest Kerry / Edwards smears on Vice President Cheney’s daughter Mary have grabbed the nation’s attention and scorn for John Kerry following the series of vice-presidential and 2004 presidential debates. The liberal pundits and their cajoling cohorts in the (so-called) mainstream media seem to have been so busy working overtime & double-overtime to try and prop up Kerry’s candidacy, they’re oblivious to the events, in context, which have continued to transpire numerous times over the past year of campaign. Otherwise they, too, as so many other Americans, would see Kerry’s recent actions & Cheney smear for what they are, as incredibly insightful opportunities to view the soul of a man who not only comes across as terribly aloof, arrogant and condescending, but one who often appears shifty & demeaning to the point his coordinated & pre-planned attack for “outing” the VP’s daughter was actually dismissed by Kerry’s campaign heads as “fair game”.

The pundits and sympathizers seem to observe these events, such as the presidential debates, as if they occur within a vacuum, in which the public’s prior experience, knowledge or mindset, even from debate to debate, is rendered free & devoid of any further recollection or remembrances. In a dangerous, post 9/11 world, however, Americans are paying increasing attention and, in context, this is just another of many troubling things, including the pathetic Kerry / Edwards’ campaign excuses for which the public is now readily aware it's being forced-fed by a sympathetic media all to eager and willing to swallow and 'move-on.org'.

In his speech before the Republican National Convention, Democrat Senator Zell Miller, from Georgia, warned America about John Kerry and reminded the country that “Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric. Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.” Zell Miller was speaking to the degree of character and integrity required of a Commander in Chief in these challenging times and noted, with regards to President Bush, “I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel”. He was also cautiously warning America that Kerry is the kind of politician that is practiced and polished into decieving voters into believing that which he is not.

In light of these most recent events, those remain poignant words, indeed, for with all of John Kerry’s preparation and debate antics, from the orange pre-tan, French manicure and botox laden Yale caliber performance, Kerry has further revealed himself to the American people and, like the skins being torn from an onion, as already ripened by the SwiftVets revelations before, it’s not a pretty sight. Lynn Cheney had it right when she responded and conveyed how Kerry’s “tawdry” tactics showed he “is not a good man”. If this was the first time these traits of Kerry’s had been seen the public, as the Cheneys, might have merely likened it to another failing in the pressure of an awkward or challenging moment.

But in light of its obviously calculated nature, coming after an already extremely awkward and totally inappropriate moment when the Kerry / Edwards strategy was debuted in the Vice Presidential debate, for which Dick Cheney politely but effectively responded to with a sense of compassion and private dignity neither afforded by Edwards or, subsequently, Kerry, himself, alike. Even worse it’s a side of Kerry’s which seems to have appeared now all to frequently, like when he lectured a questioner, for a second time, at the town hall debate, how his flip-flopping votes on the war & the $87 billion were merely problems with the way he describes things, mere distinctions of semantics, while the President went to war with Saddam Hussein and Iraq, “which is worse” he thundered, both times, rhetorically.

Similar to how the “final” position his team assembled and prepared him to take on the Iraq war during the debates, these fixed and choreographed performances are equally revealing in their cold and purely calculating tenor. His mannerisms are the same each of these times, throughout, the shifting of his eyes, back and forth, as he coils to the ready & delivers his verbal “death blow”, he seems to dispatch his linguistic venom with a hiss and sly eye that is as disturbing in visual as it is in voice.

It's also not like these events have happened in a vacuum. They arise from a year of Democrat primaries in which Democrat aligned groups portrayed President Bush as Hitler and Kerry flip-flopped his way from one war position to another, at one point ridiculing Howard Dean as ill-prepared to be POTUS for opposing the war on Iraq to his last or latest of the near endless myriad of linguistic contortions that comprised all his varying positions on the war, all the while demonizing the President for doing exactly what Kerry, a year before, was likewise advocating. The public has seen & heard the impromptu rope line Kerry, who was caught, unaware, during the early campaign, assuring supporters he’d say or do whatever he needed to take on the administration he called the “biggest group of crooks & liars” he'd ever seen.

The last time the public recently viewed this Kerry character was the moment when even many on his own team likely questioned their own candidate’s sanity, that being the terribly ill-timed and awkwardly embarrassing “impromptu” press conference & pep rally which was hastily prepared at the midnight hour following the Republican National Convention in August. That night the Senator’s mission was delivered with similar presentation as he came out to attack Bush & Cheney’s service records, combining the same shifting & recoiling body action as decried how he’d leave it up to the American people to decide who was more qualified to the lead the country, himself as the self-widely-proclaimed war hero or Bush & Cheney who he still continues to describe as AWOL or otherwise equivalent draft dodgers.

The now all too apparent deep character failings of Kerry are particularly devastating to his campaign rhetoric of building alliances while he continues, with the same lack of style and grace, denigrating the contributions of our allies and his backhanded slap to the new Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq, after refusing to attend his historic appearance before the joint session of congress. But worse, Kerry’s again revealed to be a disgustingly slimy politician of the type for whom no slander is too great, from the honored veterans whom he continues to smear, albeit indirectly or remaining portrayed by his silence as war criminals reminiscent of Ghengis Kahn, to now so callously and shamelessly disregarding any human sense of goodness or even shallow public decency when it came to outright exploiting the privacy properly afforded to one’s children for purely vain, political purposes.

Just when America sat forward in unison and gasped simultaneously from coast to coast, there was also an unfailing sense that “we’ve seen this movie, too”. Only America was promptly offered another near equally awkward and somewhat inhuman moment, when Kerry promptly departed from the questioned opportunity to say anything really nice or insightful about his wife and instead explained how his mother cried out to him from her death bed, pleading “Integrity, Integrity, Integrity!” from her son.

Like many other mothers across America, I suspect, she’d agreed with Lynn Cheney, that we once again had the opportunity to see one of these sides of John Kerry and, ever exposed just one degree shy of his perfect debate profile posture for the spot light, it’s not very pretty. It now seems all to easy for America to conclude as presumed, she, John Kerry’s departed mother, even, had probably seen this movie, too.

SwiftVets retake Kerry in their crosshairs

2004-10-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Human Events releases never-before-published EPLIOGUE to the bestselling UNFIT FOR COMMAND, available FREE via e-mail.

This follows John O'Neill's exposing Ted Koppel as an idiotic liberal stooge for the Vietnamese communists in Thurs. night Nightline and new SwiftVets ads are released in time for Monday Night Football as part of a $3.1 million ad buy that will run in Colorado, New Mexico, and Ohio, as well as on nationwide cable outlets.

Another Kerry Debate Lie Exposed - Mom died at home

2004-10-15T09:25:00.000-07:00

Apparently Hanoi John French Kerry's mother urged him to stop lying & betraying his country with the admonition, "Integrity, integrity, integrity!" somewhere other than the hospital bed which Kerry claimed during the third debate. His mother's obituary notes she "died ... at her home".

Repercussions abound from Kerry debate smear

2004-10-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

WH: Remarks of Mrs. Cheney and the Vice President Following a Debate Watching Party
AP: Cheney 'Angry' Over Kerry Comment About Daughter
FNC: Kerry Clarifies Cheney Daughter Remark
US Newswire: Statement from John Kerry in Reaction to Comments by Mrs. Cheney
MSNBC: Edwards caught lying: ABC notes:

EDWARDS TO HARDBALL'S CHRIS MATTHEWS:"I mean, having watched the entire 2000 debate with Lieberman, he brought it up himself and talked about what it meant for him and his family…"
BUT CHENEY NEVER IDENTIFIED HIS DAUGHTER'S SEXUALITY IN 2000 DEBATE!
Cheney and Sen. Joe Lieberman were asked whether they thought "a male who loves a male and a female who loves a female" should have "all the constitutional rights enjoyed by every American citizen" … Cheney called the question "a tough one" and said "freedom means freedom for everybody" … but Cheney has only identified his daughter, Mary, as "gay" once in public: Aug. 24, 2004 in Davenport, IA.

Newsmax: Lynne Cheney: 'Tawdry' Kerry 'Is Not a Good Man' and Liz Edwards: Lynne Cheney Ashamed of Lesbian Daughter
NY Post: DIGINITY OF THE WHITE HOUSE and Deborah Orin, VEEP TO KERRY: HOW DARE YOU!
NH Union Leader: No class: Incivility of Kerry camp is shameful
WT: Kerry's cheap shot

The Last Debate: Integrity, Integrity, Integrity

2004-10-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

As Kerry hits new lows, sliming himself while attempting to slime the Cheney's, it was easy to see why the last three words uttered by Kerry's mom upon her death bed, was to tell Hanoi John French Kerry, "Integrity, Integrity, Integrity". Mother's know best but there are so many other things she might also well have told him, like "Figures lie and LIARs figure" ... on so many things and so many as terribly revealing as the fact the Kerry campaign was forced to admit after the debate, that Kerry, indeed, has only been involved with five (5) bills to be signed into law, over his pathetic twenty year history in the US Senate. Ted Kennedy does indeed reign as the supposed conservative from Massachusettes. Schieffer's liberally aligned questioning played out CBS revenge against Bush for Ra^thergate.

FNC: Transcript & Video

WP: Lynne Cheney Responds to Kerry's Remarks After Debate - Vice President's Wife Accuses Kerry of 'Tawdry Political Trick' in Mentioning Mary Cheney's Homosexuality

BC04: Highlights for Tempe, Arizona Presidential Debate - Setting the Record Straight on Kerry's Record (Since Joining The United States Senate, John Kerry Has Been The Lead Sponsor On Five Bills And Four Resolutions That Passed).

Hugh Hewitt: Live Blogging but Hugh should have given Kerry an F on the wife question ROFLMAO

Today's Context for Debate #3

2004-10-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

Babies found in Iraqi mass grave
The skeletons of unborn babies, bulldozed into mass graves, and toddlers clutching toys are being unearthed from nine trenches in Hatra, Iraq.

Iraq pleads for aid as mass graves reveal horrors of Saddam's regime
"This is all women and children. We have taken in excess of 120 bodies out of there," said US investigator Greg Kehoe as he stood over one of nine trenches piled with bones and scraps of clothes and jewelry near Hatra. Among the dead are pregnant women, even a young boy still clutching his ball, whose bodies were ploughed into their earthen tombs by bulldozers.

Iraqi: 'My country gets better even if there are bombs here'
"We think we have a very good partner," he said of the United States. "We think we have a partner willing to support us and willing to change the situation. Now, we think this partner will help us to become an independent people."

Gertz: Chechen terrorists probed
U.S. security officials are investigating a recent intelligence report that a group of 25 Chechen terrorists illegally entered the United States from Mexico in July. ... Members of the group, said to be wearing backpacks, secretly traveled to northern Mexico and crossed into a mountainous part of Arizona that is difficult for U.S. border security agents to monitor, said officials speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Lipscomb: Mystery Surrounds Kerry's Navy Discharge
A Kerry campaign spokesman, David Wade, was asked whether Mr. Kerry had ever been a victim of an attempt to deny him an honorable discharge. There has been no response to that inquiry.

MRC: Meet Bob Schieffer, CBS’s Dan Rather Echo
Rathergate or No Rathergate, CBS’s Face the Nation Host Has Given Brickbats for Bush, Kudos for Kerry

Laura beats St. Theresa

2004-10-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

The big cookie bake-off has concluded with Laura Bush defeating Theresa Heinz-Kerry. This follows the prior scandal when Theresa admitted she "hated" Pumpkin Spice cookies and (since she's too wealthy to bake her own cookies), Theresa then stating "And, in fact, I think somebody really made it on purpose to give a nasty recipe. I never made pumpkin cookies. I don't like pumpkin spice cookies." NY Post has further details. This follows her Moore-onic public statements in Texas yesterday, "John will never send a boy or girl in a uniform anywhere in the world because of our need and greed for oil." Of course the Kerry / Edwards campaign can in no way expect to win Texas, with Bush currently up 23 points in the latest poll so it's apparent they thought it was safe to send Theresa there.

Kerry Reeve LIEs catch up with his Pandering

2004-10-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

Following up on his pandering during last Friday's debate, today, Hanoi John French Kerry continued using the tragedy of Christopher Reeve as his political prop on the truly non-issue of stem cell research.

Today Kerry stated "the last time he heard from Reeve was on Saturday, when the actor left a message on his cellphone, enthused by the Massachusetts senator's decision to raise stem-cell research in Friday's second presidential debate."

HOWEVER ... it's now being reported that "The actor fell into a coma on Thursday after going into cardiac arrest at his New York home."

Even before this revelation many have called upon Kerry to start telling the truth about the potential for stem cell research, the current state of affairs and to stop offering false hope to fellow Americans.

Contrary to Kerry / Edwards + DNC propaganda, there is no ban on stem cell research; rather:

1) There are absolutely no limitations of any on private or corporate research

2) The only successful research or treatments to date have been derived from adult stem cells, not emryonic stem cells.

3) There are no limitations of any kind on adult stem cell research.

4) Bush is the first president to approve federal financing of embryonic stem cell research

5) There are currently 3500 samples available from the NIH based on the existing embryionic stem cell lines which Bush has made available for federal spending.

Thus the only debate here is, really, how much $$$ the liberals want to spend on endeavors which may yet prove hopeful but, for the time being, have yet to incite the kind of intense spending by biotechs and other private enterprises that would be expected with the kinds of market rewards supposedly in the offing.

In fact, the lines available are fully adequate for federal expenditures and there are still no limitations of any kind for the private sector. For Kerry / Edwards and the DNC to outright promise cures and demagouge Bush is not only wrong, it's truly beyond cruel & inhuman punishment for those who might fall prey to their alluring - yet absolutely false - political claims at the height of an election year.

One of the best articles on this subject of late came from the (himself similarly handicapped) Charles Krauthammer in Time: "Why Lines Must Be Drawn - Stem cells present a complex moral issue. Shame on Democrats for polarizing it"

UPDATE: Edwards on campaign trail, hits new low: "When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk. Get up out of that wheelchair and walk again"

Rasmussen + WP Polling breakthroughs

2004-10-10T14:01:00.000-07:00

POLLS of interest showing Bush at or beyond margins of error and Job Approval > 50%, with Kerry still showing a ceiling < 47% in any poll - definitive milestones for at least two of the polling firms thus far in the race.

Battleground Poll: 48-44 (49-46), 52 JA
Rasmussen: Bush holds 50% for two days in a row for first time this year
WP: 51-46 (post debates)
RCP yet fully averaged with Bush holding

Battleground States to focus on for the final stretch:

Should / Must Win
Ohio
Florida

Looking Good!
Iowa
Wisconsin
Minnesota

Something Likely
Oregon
New Mexico
Maine

Possibilities
Pennsylvania
Michigan

Hopeful
New Jersey

Kerry NYT Expose (Terrorism merely a "nuisance")

2004-10-10T13:35:00.001-07:00

Today's NY Times Magazine contains the article that has become the subject of much discussion today, in which Kerry reveals his trepidation as to whether he should admit to drinking tap water and likens terrorism as a "nuisance" like prostitution or gambling.

UPDATE: Bush campaign out quickly with new ad "World View" to capitalize on Kerry's naively dangerous sentiments.

Sunday Sillies

2004-10-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday Serious

Scotland press on the ball: Revealed: Saddam's WMD plan

Tariq Aziz, Saddam’s deputy, was upbeat: he assessed Iraq could build weapons of mass destruction (WMD) within two years of sanctions collapsing. Saddam’s strategy, we now know, was clear: accumulate a war chest from fiddling UN sanctions, then use allies in the UN, such as France, China and Russia, to end the sanctions, and then take on Iran in a WMD arms race - after that he would see where things stood.
...
in May 2002, 10 months before crucial war votes in the UN, Iraqi intelligence reported meeting a senior French politician who assured Iraq that "France would use its veto in the UN Security Council against any American decision to attack Iraq".

State Dept. congratulates Afghanistan on elections

David Brroks: The Report That Nails Saddam

David M. Shribman: / The long view of Bush - When history gives its verdict, the 43rd president will be seen as epoch-changing

Sunday Times: Prisoners were used to test poisons - In a chilling reminder of the Nazis, a report based on confessions reveals how far the Iraqi regime went to get its enemies

(I believe John Kerry was for Saddam's snake venom filled syringe pen weapons experiments before he was against them ... or was it the other way around, these things are always so complicated for the man)

The Observer: France's Saddam deals revealed

Egyptian Sinai: Al-Qaeda blamed for hotel attack

Mobile Register recalled Kerry's speech while Washington Times recollects his near treasonous letter to the mullahs in Iran.

and today's 'he he he' moment, Howard wins place in history and Bush congratulates pal Howard

Freedom on the March!

2004-10-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Afghanistan citizens, men and women, lined up to vote in an imperfect but otherwise remarkable, historical achievement.

Bush takes credit while press whines!

John Howard has been rewarded mightily by the Australian people for his bold stand alongside President Bush in the War on Terror. Despite the concerted attempts by liberals and even the Kerry campaign, who sent operatives, including Hanoi John's sister, to Australia, to actually threaten the voters there that if they dared re-elect Howard they'd face a terrorist attack.

AP: U.S. Congratulates Howard on Re-Election and Howard Wins Re-Election As Australia PM

In debate last night Kerry pledged, incredulously, not to raise taxes while his plan would kick in at adjusted income levels of:

Married filing separately: $80,725
Single: $132,600
Married filing jointly: $161,450
Head of Household: $147,050

OUCH! Today, during stump speech in Minnesota, Bush called Kerry "Senator Tax-You". No Kidding!

Larry Kudlow with more on Kerry's "plans"

Rich Lowry has an objective review of the Great Debate.

Victor Davis Hanson: The Friday Night Fight - “I Have A Plan”—on and on and on…

George Will Reasons behind the Democrats' anxiety and fury

Drudge has the ABC News Memo in which their reporters are directed to focus their attacks on Bush while giving Kerry a pass.

Republican Films has a VIDEO of Clinton + Gore, Saddam & terrorism for proper historical context including the audio of Clinton speaking in NY admitting he let UBL go free when Sudan presented the opportunity.

RNC has a new video featuring portions of KerryOnIraq with his unbelievable "Not Necessarily..." comment from the debate.

BUSH: He complains about the fact our troops don't have adequate equipment, yet he voted against the $87 billion supplemental I sent to the Congress and then issued one of the most amazing quotes in political history: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

Saddam Hussein was a risk to our country, ma'am. And he was a risk that -- and this is where we just have a difference of opinion.

The truth of that matter is, if you listen carefully, Saddam would still be in power if he were the president of the United States, "And the world would be a lot better off."

GIBSON: And, Senator Kerry, 30 seconds.

KERRY: Not necessarily be in power ...

FNC: Debate Transcript & Video

Bush campaign: Fact Sheet

This day in history: John Kerry's Statement on Iraq Before the War - TEXT FROM THE SPEECH JOHN KERRY MADE ON THE SENATE FLOOR

and in the "no WMDs over here" category, Times of India reports "Scrap bomb trail leads to Iraq"

POLLs remain skewed but neck & neck ... Bush holding steady in battleground states and seems to be maintaining position in critical Gore states of Iowa, WI and Minnesota - watch where Bush go to stump rather than the polls. The campaigns have the best polls and they tell them where to send the candidate. If the battle is taking place on Kerry's turf then it bodes well for the status of the race as we approach the final stretch. The conclusion of this race will provide the final focus and flourish of attention on Senator Hanoi John French Kerry's pathetic record, his 20 year history in the Senate, his decades of opposing peacemakers while propping up the most despotic of the world's dictators and shirking away from the defense of the United States and opposing every major defense initiative since he's been in public office. Yes, fellow citizens, John Kerry is a liberal. He can run but he cannot hide.

Stolen Honor may appear on TV before the election!

Facts & Events could Undermine Kerry in Town Hall Debate

2004-10-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

A member of the New York National Guard looks at documents found in a building in Samarra, including a booklet featuring Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks.

Paul Bremer: What I Really Said About Iraq
Claudia Rosett: Saddam’s Sugar Daddy
WSJ: Iraq Amnesia - The real "coalition of the bribed" was at the U.N.
NYT: U.S. Report Says Hussein Bought Arms With Ease
NYT: Iraq Disk Mentions U.S. Schools
ABC: School Warning - School Plans, Security Information Gathered by Suspected Iraq Insurgent Focus Concern on Schools in Six States
SD U/T: S.D. school crisis plan is found on disk in Iraq
MSNBC: Schools warned after plans found in Iraq
Egypt: 200kg Car Bomb Deployed in Taba Hilton Attack
AP: Blasts Kill 30 Near Egypt-Israel Border
France: Explosion at Embassy in Paris
Australia: No regrets over Iraq: Howard
Charles Krauthammer: Targeting our democracy
David Limbaugh: Latest WMD Report Doesn't Hurt President Bush
James Glasman: The Bush Economy

11 indicted in fraud at Peregrine

2004-10-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

SD Union Tribune: A federal grand jury has indicted 11 people for their alleged roles in a massive accounting fraud and attempted cover-up at Peregrine Systems, the San Diego business-software developer. The indictment released yesterday follows a federal investigation that began in May 2002, when the scheme began to unravel. The ensuing financial collapse cost shareholders roughly $4 billion and nearly led to the company's demise.

NBC Jumps Overboard for Kerry Campaign

2004-10-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

Taking the DNC talking points to the next dimension, various NBC personalities, from Tim Russert, Brian Williams, Chris Matthews and others, repeatedly playing a portion of a 2003 edition of Meet the Press that's misleading at best.

Here is the soundbite that NBC is supporting for the Kerry campaign:

CHENEY: "...and we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11."

Here is the full statement in context:

CHENEY: "If we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base -- if you will, the geographic base -- of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years but most especially on 9/11. They understand what's at stake. That's one of the reasons they're putting up as much of a struggle as they have is because they know if we succeed here in Iraq that that's going to strike a major blow at their capabilities."
RUSSERT: "So the resistance in Iraq is coming from those who are responsible for 9/11?"
CHENEY: "No. I was careful not to say that."

MRC has more details of the NBC attacks.

Duelfer Report

2004-10-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Further insight into a madman ...

CIA Report
Findlaw Transcript
CIA Discloses Who's Who of Saddam's Alleged Bribes
Saddam and the French Connection
Hussein Beat Sanctions With Bribes
Saddam's weapons of mass corruption
Iraq kept up WMD pretence 'to deter Iran' (Ex-president sure he was safe from US attack)

Cheney over Edwards: Not Even Close

2004-10-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

One major failing by Dick Cheney in the VP Debate tonight: He directed citizens to George Soros' site instead of www.factcheck.org at first thought, uggh! but people should be aware of who George Soros is and how whacked out he is given he's the biggest donor support of Kerry/Edwards campaign.

Otherwise it was not even close IMO. Edwards couldn't retreat to Halliburton smears enough times to stop the damage. He & Kerry were both readily exposed as the posers that they are.

"If you can't stand up to Howard Dean, how can you stand up to Al Qaeda?"

A verbal barage that might be considered legal battery in some states. Stature gap didn't even begin to describe the grand canyon of credibility that was revealed as was Edwards' nickname, "Senator Gone", because he & Kerry are so regulary absent from important meetings in their Senate history.

Mrs. Edwards reminded her husband he had been in a room with Dick Cheney once or twice before but no mention of any time they may have ever met in the US Senate.

Libs pounced afterwards on Cheney's (again) acknowledging there is no exact operational link between Iraq and 9/11 by outlining the war on terror and pointing out Kerry / Edwards approach is to not take on harborers of terrorists but to wait until the country is attacked and then, they promise, they'll respond. On the Cheney side there is still some overlapping pain from Paul Bremer's airing of State Dept. laundry but no scratches.

Moderator-wise Gwen Ifle was a fair surprise - she even brought to light, in questioning John Edwards, that Kerry's beloved France & Germany have stated flat out they won't participate with him, to which Edwards had no response on hand.

FNC: Transcript and Video
AP: Excerpts

Some commentary available:

NR / Gary Andres: Mission Accomplished
Kerry Spot on the DNC attack on the online polls.
Hugh Hewitt concurs on the (obvious) summary quote
Bush Campaign undoubtedly pleased

More Nastiness: Protestors Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando
WT/UPI: Shots fired into Knoxville Bush/Cheney headquarters

Pubbies get backbone, bring DemocRAT draft bill to a vote

2004-10-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

The DemoncRATs have been waging a whispering campaign attempting to scare young folks about a purportedly upcoming draft ala the myriad of "secret plans" Hanoi John French Kerry keeps speaking of (though he's the only one calling for a draft on his website). Today the Republicans showed a little backbone and brought the bill, originally submitted by Charles Rangel, Democrat from NY, to the floor for a vote. When the dust settled even Rangel, the bill's sponsor, voted against it and only two other DemoncRATs, Joe Murtha and Fourtney "Pete" Stark, voted for the bill. Here is the final vote count lest all draft rumors now be outed as the LIEs that they were:

H R 163 2/3 YEA-AND-NAY 5-Oct-2004 7:29 PM
QUESTION: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass
BILL TITLE: Universal National Service Act

                      Yeas   Nays  PRES  NV
Republican              215   12
Democratic     2       186  17
Independent            1
TOTALS          2      402 29

Truth, Polls & Science Fiction: The GALACTIC Test ???

2004-10-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today's news has provided an interesting assemblance of truth, polls & science fiction. In everything there's a little mix of each amongst any of them and, unfortunately, we're at that time of year and time of campaigning when all the major media desire to make polls and then make conversation about them, similar to the practice of "push polling", used by campaigns to try and sway opinion under the guise of "polling". I further say "make" polls because that's what they're doing, just like they always have - they make polls to make "news" which they "report" and comment on to generate more "news". It would also seem that the focused effort by MoveOn.org last week to get polling organizations to readjust their weighting factors has been partially successful given the sympathies of those in the places where these polls are conducted.

Take Newsweak poll for example - they have purposely skewed the results of their poll this week such that:

a) it samples 6% fewer Republicans than the prior week and 5% more DemocRATs
b) it limited its sample to Pacific & Western time zone regions (Kerry stronghold in CA + WA)
c) it over-weights weekend polling (notoriously biased)
d) the poll was rushed out on the day it was completed, nearly unheard of in the industry

In any event, this weeks set of polls are clear, that Bush indeed took a hit from his debate performance (style vs substance with style prevailing) and full-press spin from the Kerry campaign and their cohorts in the media, there has been some expected tightening of the polls, probably to a 2-3 point race from a 4-5 point race the week before. As always, the balanced spread maintained by RealClearPolitics is the place to follow. And it's essential that Cheney & Bush perform better (sic) this week and counter more of the F911 Moore-onics that the Johns are prone to spewing.

Meanwhile the "Global Test" gaffe by Kerry continues to weigh on his campaign. In response to an ad put out after the debate by the Bush campaign, Kerry / Edwards have released a commercial accusing President Bush of "lying" and insinuating, both in the ad and public appearances since, that he didn't mean what he said again (this is really getting to be a problem for the fellow). Now, today, he's apparently mucked up his message some more by insinuating that even passing a Global Test is not adequate for the US to defend itself - we must go farther, further, into the galaxy, as Kerry said "But I can do a better job of protecting America's security because the test that I was talking about was a test of legitimacy, not just in the globe, but elsewhere." (CNN: Kerry dismisses criticism of 'global test' remark as 'pathetic')

Left largely unreported is the real, serious truth in news of the day, for which nobody in the lamestream media seems to have any interest, as reported by by WND: More chemical weapons in Iraq Mustard and sarin traces found on improvised bombs

Another chemical weapon has been discovered in Iraq – a 122-mm Borak rocket warhead containing sarin traces, according to an exclusive report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WorldNetDaily.com. The warhead was found earlier this month, and U.S. military commanders believe there are more to be found.

and CNS: Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMD, Had Extensive Terror Ties

Iraqi intelligence documents, confiscated by U.S. forces and obtained by CNSNews.com, show numerous efforts by Saddam Hussein's regime to work with some of the world's most notorious terror organizations, including al Qaeda, to target Americans. They demonstrate that Saddam's government possessed mustard gas and anthrax, both considered weapons of mass destruction, in the summer of 2000, during the period in which United Nations weapons inspectors were not present in Iraq. And the papers show that Iraq trained dozens of terrorists inside its borders.

One of the Iraqi memos contains an order from Saddam for his intelligence service to support terrorist attacks against Americans in Somalia. The memo was written nine months before U.S. Army Rangers were ambushed in Mogadishu by forces loyal to a warlord with alleged ties to al Qaeda.

Other memos provide a list of terrorist groups with whom Iraq had relationships and considered available for terror operations against the United States.
...
They detail the Iraqi regime's purchase of five kilograms of mustard gas on Aug. 21, 2000 and three vials of malignant pustule, another term for anthrax, on Sept. 6, 2000. The purchase order for the mustard gas includes gas masks, filters and rubber gloves. The order for the anthrax includes sterilization and decontamination equipment. (See Saddam's Possession of Mustard Gas)

The documents show that Iraqi intelligence received the mustard gas and anthrax from "Saddam's company," which Tefft said was probably a reference to Saddam General Establishment, "a complex of factories involved with, amongst other things, precision optics, missile, and artillery fabrication."
...
The first of the 42 pages of Iraqi documents is dated Jan. 18, 1993, approximately two years after American troops defeated Saddam's army in the first Persian Gulf War. The memo includes Saddam's directive that "the party should move to hunt the Americans who are on Arabian land, especially in Somalia, by using Arabian elements ..."
...
Iraq not only built and maintained relationships with terrorist groups, the documents show it appears to have trained terrorists as well. Ninety-two individuals from various Middle Eastern countries are listed on the papers.

Many are described as having "finished the course at M14," a reference to an Iraqi intelligence agency, and to having "participated in Umm El-Ma'arek," the Iraqi response to the U.S. invasion in 1991. The author of the list notes that approximately half of the individuals "all got trained inside the 'martyr act camp' that belonged to our directorate."

The writer goes on to detail many of the world's top terrorists & other Iraqi agencies + agents involved in Saddam's schemes.

CNS goes on to outline further details about how these documents were authenticated and have published one of the translated documents alongside the original.

Take Kerry's "Global Test" Online

2004-10-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Open your wallet, drop your drawers & take the Internationally Recognized Global Test

BUSTED: Kerry Caught Cheating in Debate!

2004-10-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

Video shows Kerry cheated by bringing his own notes to the debate! No wonder his eyes looked so shifty, back & forth, as Bush answered his questions & Kerry could be seen shuffling his notes seen in side-shots during the debate.

Of course this revelation does not arrive in a vacuum - it's now known that Kerry assembled his new positions on Iraq for the debate based on the new article he read in the Atlantic Monthly before focus grouping his new assorted positions at NYU in the days leading up to the debate.

Hat tip to INDC!

Debate Rules clearly stated,

"No props, notes, charts, diagrams, or other writings or other tangible things may be brought into the debate by either candidate.... Each candidate must submit to the staff of the Commission prior to the debate all such paper and any pens or pencils with which a candidate may wish to take notes during the debate, and the staff or commission will place such paper, pens and pencils on the podium..."

Drudge now on it!

Here is a Frame by Frame depiction which is a little dark to see but clearly highlights the item as papers having a straight edge along the top being removed from Kerry's coat and placed on his lectern.

Direct complaints to Commission on Presidential Debates and PBS onlinenewshour@newshour.org

UPDATE: LGF has high resolution QuickTime Video which clearly shows Kerry removing notes on indexed cards or the like from his jacket, placing them on the lectern and then even shuffling them together after he does so.

UPDATE: Somebody at FNC has apparently reviewed the tape and concluded the disputed item was a pen. I still believe otherwise as it appears, to me, at least, it seems to be papers or 3x5 or 5x7 note cards or the like. In any event, Kerry has been caught cheating, called on it & - if he did indeed have bad motives - he'll now be hard pressed to try it another time :)

US Bunker Busters failed John Kerry's Global Test

2004-10-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

In the first presidential debate of 2004, John Kerry declared his opposition to developing any new "bunker buster" bombing technology that the US Military might hope to use against the extremely hardened targets rogue nations like North Korea and Iran (or Iraq) employ to hide & protect their ambitions in the nuclear & WMD arena. Likening the threat posed by terrorist states to the defensive posture pursued by the US Military is nothing new for John Kerry who has persistently sided with Stalinist regimes like Daniel Ortega's, against the goals of the United States, while he has persistently & adamantly opposed military advancements, throughout his political career.

When running for the Senate in 1984, John Kerry based his candidacy on opposition to Reagan's military stance in facing down the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. He declared that “the biggest defense buildup since World War II has not given us a better defense”, something any rightly self-searching individual should feel outright shame over after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He declared that “Americans feel more threatened by the prospect of war, not less so” when the Pentagon sought to invent new technologies including the Bunker Buster technologies which were first put to use in the 1991 Gulf War to evict Saddam from Kuwait, another military endeavor thoroughly opposed by John Kerry.

He not only proposed halting the Reagan Administration's efforts to rebuild our US military but cutting $53 billion dollars from the defense budget. He specifically targeted "Major Nuclear Programs" for outright cancellation including the MX Missile, the B-1 Bomber and a 50% cut in outlays for Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, including those which were used with such effectiveness in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And similar to his posturing in the debate, Kerry continues his personal theme that the efforts by the US to defend ourselves means “our national priorities become more and more distorted as the share of our country’s resources devoted to human needs diminishes”. The only difference between John Kerry in 1984 and the John Kerry of today is the addition of new social rhetoric to his perpetual & never ending anti-US defense campaign.

These proposals were even outlined in his original campaign literature, including the following page which was previously highlighted in this space following Zell Miller's dynamic speech to the Republican National Convention.

When Kerry declared, during the debate, "I'm going to shut that program down, and we're going to make it clear to the world we're serious about containing nuclear proliferation", he said it with the conviction of a dedicated proponent of the nuclear freeze during the 1980's. But that was not the only statement he made which revealed his view of the world is still locked in pre 9/11 posturing and shallowly devoid of recognition for the serious threats to the United States posed by Al Qaeda and all the other sympathetic, shadowy middle eastern Islamic terrorist groups and their allies who are bent on civilization's destruction.

Recall the original question in this context, as posed to Kerry by Lehrer, was "what will you take to that office thinking is the single most serious threat to the national security to the United States?"

Kerry's answer, focused on the remaining unsecured former Soviet nuclear material, was a rather curious one, and seemingly revealed deeply rooted liberal flaws in the Senator's decades of ill-fated policy thinking, from Vietnam to Nicaragua, through the Nuclear Freeze in the midst of the cold war and later seeking US intelligence cuts of $6 billion after the first bombing of the World Trade Center.

A discernable peculiarity about Kerry's response was that it was focused on Russia and suggests Kerry has not emerged from pre-9/11 cold war thinking. Obviously the WMD counter-proliferation efforts, as so far successfully focused on Libya and the A.Q. Khan network by the Bush administration, are more relevant and critical to the ongoing war with Islamic fascism originating from the middle east and, ton for ton, dollar for dollar, I'd much rather have those materials procured first. In Kerry's limited thinking, the US is seemingly unable to safeguard nuclear materials from middle eastern extremists like Ghadaffi while we continue working alongside the Russians.

Kerry's complaints that the US is pursuing new ways to improve our bunker buster level bombing stopped just shy of "blame America first" in words if not in his reaction. Bush was right to reaffirm the true ultimate threat is the combination of terrorists and WMD, and to not deny our military the ability or avenues to protect our country, albeit new capabilities for bunker buster bombs or any of the other myriad of other defense proposals that John Kerry has so vehemently opposed over his 20 years in the US Senate.

Sunday Best: Kerry Debate Positions on Iraq traced to article in Atlantic Monthly

2004-10-03T01:01:00.000-07:00

The collection of Kerry's new positions on various aspects of Iraqi policy that were pooled together for the first presidential debate last week, starting with their debut & focus grouping at New York University just days before, have been traced to an article by James Fallows in the October edition of the Atlantic Monthly. The guys at PowerLine are all over it.
UPDATE: Video shows Kerry appears to have cheated by bringing his own notes to the debate!

So. Cal bests No. Cal as Dodgers + Angels clinch MLB Pennants!

2004-10-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Steve Finley hits a walk-off grand slam home run to close out a 7 run 9th inning come from behind victory for the Dodgers to win the National League Western Division Championship, crushing the SF Giants, 7-3 while the Anaheim Angels defeat the Oakland A's 5-4 to win the American League East in Oakland.

BREAKING: Mt. St. Helens Eruption Expected

2004-10-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Alert Level raised to 3 based upon tremors indicating movement of magma!

Media Debate Hype Gives Way to Reasoned Analysis

2004-10-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

As the media hype for Kerry begins to fade, it gives way to some good critiques & reasoned observation & analysis:

AP / ABC: Bush Attacks Kerry on National Security (the "Kerry Doctrine")
Mark Steyn: Kerry's polished, but he can't make his case
Fred Barnes: Debate Hangover - Some things Kerry said may come back to haunt him
Paul Greenberg: A CLOUD OF WITNESSES
NY Daily News: What George Bush meant to say
Bill Sammon: President to hone skills for debating
Deborah Orin: FRENCH TWIST IN W.'S ATTACK
ic Wales: No knock-out in election debate
Gregory Borse: Debate Score: Bush 1, Kerry 0
George C. Landrith: Kerry’s Gaffes Doom Election Chances
DAVID WINSTON / NYP: KERRY DIDN'T GET IT DONE
Debra Saunders: Bush won the debate with Kerry
Captain Ron Hayes (US Army, Iraq): US soldier in Iraq responds to 1st Debate
WSJ: John Kerry = 'But'-head
NYT: A Closer Look at Statements From the Debate
Video: Reactions to Idiocy / Style over Substance

Lehrer Incompetent, Uninformed or Misleading during Presidential Debate

2004-10-02T01:17:00.000-07:00

During the Presidential Debate, PBS News Hour host and moderator Jim Lehrer stated,

"Senator Kerry, you mentioned Darfur, the Darfur region of Sudan. Fifty thousand people have already died in that area. More than a million are homeless. And it's been labeled an act of ongoing genocide. Yet neither one of you or anyone else connected with your campaigns or your administration that I can find has discussed the possibility of sending in troops. Why not?"

Yet Colin Powell had spoken about this a couple weeks back, speaking before Congress on September 2 and appearing on Meet the Press on September 12 !!!

MTP Transcript for September 12 - Guests: Colin Powell, Secretary of State

Powell rules out U.S. troops in Sudan But Rice says U.S. may help expand African force in Darfur

Powell, on NBC's “Meet the Press,” told moderator Tim Russert that U.S. ground forces were not “a possibility at this time. In fact, there's not a need to. I don't think it's the right solution, and no European troops are prepared to go in. The African Union has sent in a small number of troops, but they've indicated a willingness to send in a much larger number of troops, in the thousands. And so the strategy we're following now is to press the Sudanese very hard in the Security Council.”

It would seem Lehrer either may have LIED, is totally incompetent, can't use google or doesn't actually pay attention to current events or competitors like Tim Russert, NBC / MSNBC or Meet the Press!

Lipscomb: Did Kerry write own report of disputed clash?

2004-10-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Finally, this reporter, at least, is realizing the dilemma between the SwiftVets and Kerry is actually a conflict between Kerry and himself; Chicago Sun Times provides further confirmation that Hanoi John French Kerry did, indeed, file his own reports:

As the commander of the mission, normally Thurlow would have filed the disputed after-action report. But he denies writing it. And the after-action report supports his denial. It was written by someone designated "TE 194.5.4.4/1."
...
"TE" refers to a "task element," which is defined by the numbers to the right, which show the command structure over the task element in action. "194" is Adm. Elmo Zumwalt, commander of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam; "5" is Hoffman's swift boat command; "4" is Lonsdale's command, and the last "4" is Capt. George Elliot's swift boat base at An Thoi, where the boats on this mission were based. The last "1" indicates someone other than the commander of the mission. If the report had been submitted by the mission commander, in this case Thurlow, according to the operations order, it would have begun with a "C" for commander of the Task Element, and the sender would have been "CTE 194.5.4.4."
According to a Navy communications expert, Chief Petty Officer Troy Jenkins, who has examined the message traffic, the report in question was sent from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spencer, Lonsdale's command ship, at 11:20 that night.

Only three of the officers on the mission that day were on the Spencer, John Kerry, Dick Pease and Donald Droz. Droz took the wounded from the mine explosion to be examined and treated at the Spencer, including the third officer, the severely wounded Dick Pease. Since the Spencer had no helipad for the evacuation of the wounded, Droz then had to return to the USS Washtenaw County, stationed about 25 nautical miles away, leaving only Kerry aboard the Spencer at the time the message was sent at 11:20 p.m.
...
And there is another factor. Thurlow ordered Droz to take care of the wounded after the action on the Bay Hap. Droz had ferried them 40 miles out to the Spencer and now had to take them 25 miles back to the USS Washtenaw County. Moving wounded on and off a 327-foot cutter from a 50-foot swift boat on the open sea was not something Droz was likely to leave unsupervised long enough to dash off a report. Kerry had no duties other than reporting to the sick bay, where according to his doctor he was seen at 7 that night. And he spent the night on the Spencer.

The head of the Operational Archives Branch of the Naval Historical Center in Washington, Kathy Lloyd, has verified Hoffman's operations order. Neither Kerry's campaign nor his swift boat veteran critics contest the validity of the after-action report by "TE 194.5.4.4/1." Kerry spokesmen have repeatedly insisted that Kerry denies writing the report and that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were arguing with the official Navy record.

But if "the official Navy record" now turns out to have been written by Kerry himself, the principal beneficiary of its glowing references to his performance, the swift boat critics' charges look far more consequential.

"Global Test" and heap of debate lies already catching up to Kerry

2004-10-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

RNC: Kerry vs Kerry, Windows Media or Real Player
James Glassman: Kyoto Flip-Flopper
John Podhoretz / NY Post: John Kerry said, "They had to close down the subway in New York when the Republican Convention was there." Um, no. They didn't.
David Frum: Kerry has locked himself in a strategic box. Only a horrible mistake by President Bush could have let him out. The president didn’t stumble. So Kerry is still boxed in – and losing the election.
Colin Powell: Tora Bora
WP: Transcript
Boston Globe: Video
Hugh Hewitt Scorecard

Debate Wrap: Kerry failed essential question on national security

2004-09-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight's Presidential debate was arguably one of the best seen, often featuring two candidates with diametrically opposing positions. At other times Bush stood straight by his convictions while Kerry straddled into Olympic caliber linguistic contortions, explaining at one point, for example, how he simultaneously supports both multinational and bilateral negotiations with North Korea or that the war in Iraq was actually both a mistake and yet not a mistake in his actual answers to succeeding questions.

Kerry supporters were no doubt pleased that no problems arose from his pre-debate manicure and while the Senator's make-up experts went a little heavy with his lipstick they were still able to correct much of the damage from the weekend's tanning fiasco, leaving only warpaint like wide highlights from the escapade protruding on his jowels, no doubt adding visual emphasis to his still perpetuating & often nauseating iterative references to his 3 month combat experience in Vietnam.

A number of pundits noticed President Bush's apparent facial irritations in side-by-side shots, obviously annoyed over Kerry's repeated "misleading" charges, Halliburton moore-onics & not so subtle “war for oil” conspiracy weaving, amidst the other standard DNC smear themes. For his part, President Bush refrained from responding in kind and maintained a proper speaking demeanor throughout, even providing some over gratuitously polite compliments for Kerry, his service and family, when offered the opportunity by moderator Jim Leher.

Kerry's demeanor, however, can in no way be seen as likely to sway more than the more dedicated and venomous amongst his base. At one point in the debate Kerry even lied about his history of saying “Bush lied”, to which the RNC promptly put out references to his prior statement regarding accusations he's repeatedly made on the stump in September of 2003 and again to the Boston Globe in December, 2003. His side-screen lip smacking and repeated eye shifting time after time was often Nixon-esque in its slighty appearance.

In another somewhat ungraceful manner, Kerry also dismissed, without comment, the still angered vets he smeared, as would have truly been appropriate, when Leher posed a question in the context of his 1971 Senate testimony, when Kerry likened fellow US soldiers to the army of Ghengis Kahn. He failed to address that in any way and that will undoubtedly continue to fuel the passion of the SwiftVets and other Vietnam Veterans who remain opposed against Kerry. Nor did he ingratiate himself with respect to our allies when he declined to apologize in any way for his campaign’s disgraceful treatment to Iraqi interim Prime Minister Allawi nor any reconciliation offered for calling our allies the "coerced and the bribed".

But among the most telling moments in this debate, and truly a moment, I believe, is worthy of historical recognition alongside Gerald R. Ford's east-european communist gaffe in 1976, combined with Bernard Shaw's 1988 death penalty question & verdict for Mike Dukais, was John Kerry's response to the real question at the heart of the debate, near the end, when Leher asked, "If you are elected president, what will you take to that office thinking is the single most serious threat to the national security to the United States?".

This was one of the biggest softballs tossed to Kerry by an obviously friendly Leher during the debate and Kerry botched the answer badly. The single most serious threat to the United States, in a post 9/11 world, is obviously Al Qaeda and all the other sympathetic, shadowy middle eastern Islamic terrorist groups and their allies who are bent on civilization's destruction. The next level threats are those who work or align themselves with those same terrorists and harbor them, or provide them with WMD, the thrust of the Bush doctrine and the underlying basis for the policy of pre-emption.

Kerry's answer, however, pointing to remaining unsecured former Soviet nuclear material was a rather curious one, and seemingly revealed deeply rooted liberal flaws in the Senator's decades of ill-fated policy thinking, from Vietnam to Nicaragua, through the Nuclear Freeze in the midst of the cold war and seeking cuts of $6 billion after the first bombing of the World Trade Center.

The first peculiarity about Kerry's response was that it was focused on Russia and suggests Kerry has not emerged from pre-9/11 cold war thinking. Obviously the WMD efforts focused on Libya and the A.Q. Khan network are more relevant and critical to the ongoing war with Islamic fascism originating from the middle east and, ton for ton, dollar for dollar, I'd much rather have materials procured from those sources than Putin (who has his own hands full as answers to a later question suggested). In other words, let’s get the stuff off the hands of the middle eastern extremists like Ghadaffi first, while we continue working alongside the Russians.

The second peculiarity about Kerry's response was the degree to which it focused on the weapons rather than the terrorists themselves and was eerily reminiscent of the Senator's often extreme - while also flip/flopping - positions on crime & gun control. In debating those issues, Kerry's focus is often on the guns and not the criminals, or, tonight, lamenting the passing of Clinton’s “100K cops” falsity, a history he shares as the former Lt. Governor for former Mass. presidential nominee Mike Dukakis. He then went on to complain that the US is pursuing new ways to improve our bunker buster level bombing stopping just shy of "blame America first" in words if not in reaction. Bush was right to reaffirm the true ultimate threat is the combination of terrorists and WMD.

Overall, Bush played it cool and played it smart. He reiterated his main themes effectively and wove them into varying responses to any number of questions covering the related topics. Thus, it's likely assured, the main message from each candidate reached their intended audience, whether they watched the entire debate or, as I suspect, many tuned in for certain parts or segments before their attention was warranted elsewhere.

Representing those who were paying the closest attention to Senator Kerry's performance, Sr. Kerry campaign advisor Joe Lockhart was overheard by C-SPAN telling fellow Kerry aide & former Clintonista Mike McCurry, “The consensus is it was a draw”, indicating their DNC focus groups were unable to detect any noticeable shift in momentum or position for the Kerry side, unlike the Senator's statements, himself.

Thus, to gauge the potential affect from this debate, it's likely few, if any, while undoubtedly some, minds were indeed changed by the night’s events. Kerry undoubtedly helped himself with a worthy performance that can only serve to revitalize his base. Bush lost no ground and showed moments of candor that will likely prove helpful in his prospecting amongst those who make up the vital middle in American politics. Kerry's shifting, derogatory and anti-war posturing, however, will not likely play well amongst many of those who're still trying to ascertain what the Senator's real position is on Iraq.

Those voters, still on the fence, are not likely anti-war or Bush-hating candidates at heart, lest they'd be on the fence between Kerry & Nader, as the only likely swayed by Kerry's latest positioning, and thus interesting that such is the path, tact, attack & tactic which Kerry’s debate prep folks chose to present. It might suggest, along with some of the recent rallies targeted by Kerry’s campaign events of late, that Kerry is indeed focusing on sustaining his (liberal / anti-war) base – not a position a general election candidate should want to be relegated to at this point approaching a major presidential election.

Meanwhile those in the middle who are undoubtedly troubled by his perpetual waffling are not likely to approve his defiant denial tonight that he's even engaged in such absurdities, claiming "I've had one position, one consistent position" (on Iraq). Plus it's clear Kerry didn't really get the whole message from Clinton to drop the Vietnam theme since, while he dropped his helmet-tank-ride-esque goofy convention salute and silly “Reporting for Duty”, he still closed with his now long ago over-abused "I defended this country as a young man at war, and I will defend it as president of the United States."

I'm personally betting that Kerry did nothing tonight that would further endanger us with that chance while Bush maintained his composure and the integrity of the office he should continue to hold. The major gaffe over "global test" will haunt him the rest of the campaign.

Presidential Debate Context

2004-09-30T01:02:00.000-07:00

LGF provides the Slideshow

Ad-mania

2004-09-30T01:01:00.000-07:00

A host of creative ads are blasting the airwaves!

"Different": WA Senate Candidate George Nethercutt takes on Patty Murray for her sickening public adoration & excusing of UBL.

Knocking Dan Rather off the air.

New SwiftVets featuring POW wives care of Human Events

Hard hitting GWB "Searching"

Mike Liffrig for ND Senate takes on Dorgan "Kissing Values Goodbye"

At the snap of Saddam's fingers (Iraqi Nukes)

2004-09-29T01:02:00.000-07:00

In the NYT today, Mahdi Obeidi, former head of Saddam Hussein's nuclear centrifuge program, who was ordered to bury parts & plans under a tree in his back yard, continues with his revelations on "the real story of Iraq's Nukes", noting:

"... our nuclear program could have been reinstituted at the snap of Saddam's fingers. ... Iraqi scientists had the knowledge and the designs needed to jumpstart the program if necessary. And there is no question that we could have done so very quickly. In the late 1980s, we put together the most efficient covert nuclear program the world has ever seen. In about three years, we gained the ability to enrich uranium and nearly become a nuclear threat; we built an effective centrifuge from scratch, even though we started with no knowledge of centrifuge technology. Had Saddam ordered it and the world looked the other way, we might have shaved months if not years off our previous efforts."

Debate Prep

2004-09-29T01:01:00.000-07:00

Oompa Loompa Updates, Links & Weather Report from Blogs4Bush

Check out this spiffy Kerry Debate Briefing Book provided by the Bush Campaign, a handy scorecard provided by www.grassboots.org and unsolicited self-serving public advice to Kerry from Algore that's truly worth every cent that Kerry paid for it!

ABC/WP: 51-45 + CNN/USATODAY/GALLUP: 52-44 LV, 53-42 RV

UPDATE: Dickie Morris on Point

Rathergate Redux: Phony e-mail used by CBS to further "draft" conspiracy

2004-09-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

RatherBiased has an excellent synopsis of the latest outrage by CBS, here just a week after CBS announced the start of their official investigation into the now infamous Burkett / memo fraud. The "draft" scam was originated by the DNC to scare (particularly young) voters. Political Gateway recently published a definitive work on this subject, exposing HR 163, sponsored by Representatives Charles Rangel (D-New York), Jim McDermott (D-Washington), John Conyers (D-Michigan), John Lewis (D-Georgia), Pete Stark (D-California) and Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) & SB 89, sponsored by Senator Fritz Hollings (D-South Carolina).

UPDATE: Completing the big lie, SpinSwimming has revealed John Kerry's plan for reinstating the draft has now been removed from his web site! This probably accompanied his change in posture over force realignment which the Bush Administration is engaged to free up 150K troops from Europe.

Kerry: Botox & Orange Ready for Debate!

2004-09-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Presidential Debate Schedule
Flipper vs. Flopper, BC04 Debate "Preparation"

Kudlow on Kerry / Allawi & American Politics 101

2004-09-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

Politics 101 says the guy with the optimistic plan always defeats the dour defeatist. Larry Kudlow fills in the rest of the blanks, concluding Lurch is a pessimist and a defeatist, whose campaign is doomed to failure.

Bush Draws Over 50,000 in Ohio

2004-09-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: From THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH - Tens of thousands greet Bush in Ohio ... "the largest campaign rally anywhere in the nation this year ... Thousands of people lined the streets — standing four and five deep in Cedarville, Spring Valley, Xenia, Waynesville and Springboro — hoping to get a glimpse of the president ... U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, a Cedarville resident, his wife, Fran, and their eight grandchildren greeted Bush when he arrived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. DeWine, a Republican, said he’s not seen a campaign like this in 30 years in politics. "He’s literally running in Ohio like he’s running for governor"

Comprehensive Battleground Poll

2004-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The latest battleground poll by Ed Goeas and Cylinda Lake is out showing Bush +5 over Kerry and JA (Job Approval) > 50

Tim Brown gets #100

2004-09-26T20:31:00.000-07:00

Tim Brown goes into the record books as only the fourth player in NFL history to catch 100 touchdown passes in the superbowl rematch with the Raiders defeating Tampa Bay 30-20

Steyn Cross-Continental 2-Fer

2004-09-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Mark Steyn in two pieces, "Kerry's looking for American failure -- and he's it" for the US, calling Kerry to task for his dispicable behavior toward Iraqi PM Allawi, calling Kerry a "small, graceless man", and The doomed defeatist for the UK, taking on Kerry, Edwards & Theresa suggesting their new campaign mantra, "I’ll surrender faster".

Rathergate: The Case of the Phony Memos

2004-09-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Weekly Standard has a very comprehensive examination of the concerted collaboration between the conspiring parties in Ra^ththergate: DNC+Kerry campaign, Media (including 60 Minutes and Boston Globe) & 527s (Texans for Truth and MoveOn.org).

PS:In another Weekly Standard article, Fred Barnes reports "the Republicans' Senate prospects look increasingly good".

Petraeus Perspective

2004-09-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

Kerry would be well advised to read today's writing by Lt. General David H. Petraeus in the Washington Post, "Battling for Iraq". From the real ground level perspective Petraeus reports:

...there are reasons for optimism. Today approximately 164,000 Iraqi police and soldiers (of which about 100,000 are trained and equipped) and an additional 74,000 facility protection forces are performing a wide variety of security missions.

Most important, Iraqi security forces are in the fight -- so much so that they are suffering substantial casualties as they take on more and more of the burdens to achieve security in their country. Since Jan. 1 more than 700 Iraqi security force members have been killed, and hundreds of Iraqis seeking to volunteer for the police and military have been killed as well.

Six battalions of the Iraqi regular army and the Iraqi Intervention Force are now conducting operations. Two of these battalions, along with the Iraqi commando battalion, the counterterrorist force, two Iraqi National Guard battalions and thousands of policemen recently contributed to successful operations in Najaf.

...Yet despite the sensational attacks, there is no shortage of qualified recruits volunteering to join Iraqi security forces. In the past couple of months, more than 7,500 Iraqi men have signed up for the army and are preparing to report for basic training to fill out the final nine battalions of the Iraqi regular army. Some 3,500 new police recruits just reported for training in various locations. And two days after the recent bombing on a street outside a police recruiting location in Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis were once again lined up inside the force protection walls at another location -- where they were greeted by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

...It will not be easy, but few worthwhile things are.

Camp Pendleton Triumph & Tragedy

2004-09-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

From a NC Times and an LA Times article of this date entitled Marines Receive a Warm Welcome:

Battalion with the highest casualty rate in Iraq comes home. The parents of those killed also greet troops.
I'm Doc Mendez's mother. That's how I want to be remembered forever," Aceves said. Her son, Fernando Mendez-Aceves, 27, a Navy medic, was killed while trying to save the life of a wounded Marine. "I'm so proud of my son, I'm proud of all of them," she said. "I wanted to come and be sure these boys got home safely."

WT: Mr. Lockhart's smoking gun?

2004-09-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

The Washington Times solves the 2 Document question and ties everything up with Joe Lockhart in a nice little quid pro quo package. Following is the chain of events which the Times has assembled, based on the statements and reports made to date:

Friday, Sept. 3: Ms. Mapes and CBS reporter Mike Smith Got First 2 Documents from Burkett at Pizza Restaurant

Saturday, Sept. 4: Mapes speaks with Lockhart, Lockhart speaks with Burkett

Sunday, Sept. 5: CBS reporter Mike Smith Got the Infamous 4 Documents from Burkett

At some point, on, during or after September 4, in other reports, Mike McCurry said Lockhart also informed Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill about the conversation, and she, personally, informed Kerry himself.

Bush Visits Departing Troops

2004-09-24T01:01:00.000-07:00

"May God bless you all," .. "May God keep you safe."

Burkett: Lockhart pushed for fabricated documents ... or did he ???

2004-09-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

First, In a Mercury News article "Controversial Texas rancher defends release of documents to CBS", Burkett states, "During a single phone conversation with Lockhart, Burkett said he suggested a "couple of concepts on what I thought (Kerry) had to do" to beat Bush. In return, he said, Lockhart tried to "convince me as to why I should give them the documents." and complains to CNN that the blogosphere brought their scheme down, that "CBS came to me, I did not go to them" and his wife decries, "Our name has been destroyed and cannot be reclaimed". Then Burkett changes his story, now saying he didn't but noting he's had four more seizures which translates to $$$ in his pending lawsuit against CBS. Can you say "Unimpeachable"?

Hitchens: Rathergate documents are FABRICATED (not "forged")

2004-09-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

Christopher Hitchens, this evening, makes an important point about the purported documents portrayed by CBS are FABRICATED - not "forged"; the distinction is critical; forgery implies the falsification of something real. In the case of the purported documents, however, they are FABRICATED to reflect something which is / was NOT REAL. Hitchens further notes that CBS is, in fact, falling back to a position in which they're claiming the documents were forged ie the thrust of their content is true.

Allawi Thanks America

2004-09-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

A man of courage, Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi addressed a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, thanked America for our sacrifice and subtly challenged the pessimism of Hanoi John French Kerry and others, whereupon Kerry comes out to call Allawi a LIAR. [Transcript] [Video/Audio]. Afterwards President Bush & Prime Minister Allawi held a Joint Press Conference. [Transcript]

UPDATE: Cheney tells Missouri audience that he's 'appalled' by Kerry's 'lack of respect' for Iraqi leader.

Best of the Week

2004-09-23T01:01:00.000-07:00

Lots of interesting stuff!

US missile 'kills Zarqawi aide' (a really bad guy had a bad accident!) + Reuters on same: Zarqawi Cleric Ally Killed in U.S. Strike -Family

Porter Goss confirmed as CIA Chief: Roll Call Vote

Claudia Rosette: What's 'Illegal'? Kofi Annan helped Saddam Hussein steal food from babies. and Possible Saddam-Al Qaeda Link Seen in U.N. Oil-for-Food Program

Schwarzenegger Vetoes Calif. Driver's License Bill

Device found on Australian plane

Kerry's flip-flop of the week: Kerry nixes more troops for Iraq after terrorist thugs kill 2 Italian hostages and U.K. Hostage Pleads for Life on Videotape

Dick Morris: THE ANTI-WAR TURN IS A LOSER

Decorated Soldier Reportedly Attacked At Concert
UPDATE: Arrest Made In Soldier's Beating
COMMENTARY: The Attack on One Man That Was Bigger Than the Clash of Civilizations by Carroll Andrew Morse

Felix Rodriguez speaks out on Kerry: Contra Campaign (an honorable man & patriot describes his experience with Hanoi John French Kerry's lies in his Senate endeavors)

Navy Launches Second Kerry Medal Probe

Campaign News & Battleground Polls!

Why women are edging toward Bush: A growing group of 'security moms' puts national safety at the top of their list, weakening a traditionally Democratic base ... or maybe it's articles like this: Iranian woman wants only to be beaten once a week

Bill Sammon: Rove touts Bush headway in key areas - "Hatred is a powerful emotion, but it's not a very durable emotion. You cannot maintain hatred in your heart for another person and keep it for a long period of time."

Robert Novak: Loose cannons undermining Kerry (he, he, he)

Smart & legal financing management by Republicans while Kerry folks wasted millions of $$$ on the now ill-fated Operation Fortunate Son campaign they'd coordinated with Ra^thergate and another stupid movie featuring Kerry's phony Vietnam war reenactments: Bush Team Orchestrates Larger Ad Campaign

In today's "Actions speak louder than words" category: Kerry Pulls Campaign Ads From Four States (Arizona, Arkansas, Louisana & most critically, Missouri)

Reaffirmed: Presidential campaigns in Arkansas: Going, going, gone

Re-reaffirmed: Arizona not-so-friendly turf for Kerry (he, he)

Arizona Republic: Kerry pulls ads in Arizona

Michigan: The state that Kerry can't afford to lose

ABC: Winning Wisconsin - Well Targeted Campaign Helps Boost Bush in Wisconsin (Gore state in 2000 but Lambert Field? Forget it! Bush 53-43)

More on Wisconsin from AP (Badger Poll, Bush 52-38) with painful analysis by the regularly biased Ron Fournier

GALLUP: Poll Shows Bush Leading Kerry in West Virginia
(Bush 51-45)

GALLUP: Poll Shows Bush Leading Kerry in Nevada (Bush 52-43)

Colorado Pueblo Chieftan: Bush shows sizable lead among Colorado voters (Bush 53-33) with Coors / Salazar in dead heat

Post Hurricane Florida polls all over the place ... and I really don't like the methodologies behind ARG polls + too many around that are closer to the action to even pay attention to their noise any longer. The Iowa Electronic Market is probably as good a guage as any ;)

NBC News/Wall Street Journal: Bush holds narrow lead; Many voters don't believe Kerry has a clear message (Hart/McInturff, non-Zogby, Bush 50-46)

CBS: Check the type! (Bush 51-42)

Real Clear Politics Electoral Count: Bush 284 - Kerry 200

News & Commentary on Ra^thergate!

FYI: I personally trust Thornburgh :)

RNC Chairman Gillespie Statement

Email all 200 CBS Affiliates with just one click!

LAT: CBS Names 2 to Probe Conduct on Memos

Howard Kurtz: 2 Named to Head CBS Memo Inquiry

Elder Bush Slams CBS For Story About Son's Military Service - Former President Calls Account 'Insidious'

FNC: CBS Producer Has Go-Between Past

NewsMax: Mapes Has History of Breaking Rules

William Safire: First, Find the Forger

Ann Coulter: Dan Rather: Fairly unbalanced

Linda Chavez: CBS just doesn't get it

Brent Bozell: Rather's game is over

Noemie Emery @ Weekly Standard: Dear Mr. Rather

National Review: Rather Shoddy

Hugh Hewitt: Ghosting for Les - The speech CBS's president Les Moonves needs to give

Richmond Times Dispatch: The Rather Memos: On Operative Double Standards in the Mainline Press

Business Week: CBS's Latest Whodunit

Union Leader: Foul anchor: Rather sinks CBS' credibility

The Plain Dealer: Part-time pundits in pajamas find CBS asleep at the switch

The View from Australia: Beware bloggers in pyjamas - Humiliation for a CBS Goliath is a victory for the Net's Davids

UK Telegraph: Breaking news: CBS is in trouble

More from Staudt: Staudt speaks out about Bush memo debacle: he's "surprised they finally decided to be honest" stating “I don’t have much to tell. It’s simple to me. There was no political influence. That’s the truth.” ... "He was a good candidate, well educated,” he said. “We needed pilots, and he wanted to be one.”

Burkett going after his lawsuit with CBS & his attorney is speaking out: “Bill did not go to CBS, CBS came to him. CBS spent all summer trying to pressure and coax Bill into letting them have copies of the documents that they believed he had.” ... "Bill Burkett Just Got Burnt by Dan Rather" now that's truly unimpeachable!

And some really funny stuff:

Howie Carr: CBS producer may sleep with the phony fishes

IowaHawk: MY TELEPROMPTER IS DEADLY

Windsurfing

2004-09-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

NOT Windsurfing!

In one of the funniest ads for the season, Bush / Cheney 2004 features Hanoi John French Kerry in action! ROFLMAO! Also see similar production now airing by Progress for America Voter Fund

Kerry's Secret Meeting with the Enemy

2004-09-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

Preview of next SwiftVets ad via Human Events focusing on Kerry's near treasonous meeting with the Vietnamese Communists, as has been confirmed & admitted to by the Kerry campaign.

The UN's annual moment of truth

2004-09-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

As long as GWB is President the despot nations of the world which make up the UN will have an annual Moment of Truth

Finding the full promise of representative government takes time, as America has found in two centuries of debate and struggle. Nor is there any -- only one form of representative government -- because democracies, by definition, take on the unique character of the peoples that create them. Yet this much we know with certainty: The desire for freedom resides in every human heart. And that desire cannot be contained forever by prison walls, or martial laws, or secret police. Over time, and across the Earth, freedom will find a way.

Rathergate: The Dam Breaks

2004-09-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

While D.R. takes to the air to issue his non-apology apology, assuming victim status while politely pressing 30 year Rather friend and now admitted 'unimpeachable source' and former two-time mental patient, Bill Burkett, "Did you forge these documents?" (moia? of course not!). Burkett now claims his source for the forged documents was the ever elusive & unidentifiable Lucy Ramirez ... or were they "handed to him at the Houston Astrodome by an anonymous man" ... or maybe it was a transvestite member of the Kerry campaign. Maybe Joe Lockart, Sr. Communications Director for Kerry campaign, who admits his contacts & coordination with Burkett & CBS "News" in articles by AP and USA Today. With the Watergate like implications hovering over his campaign, and a first line defense that doesn't even pass the laugh test, Kerry should have no choice but to fire Lockhart in the next 72 hours.

The Real Forger

2004-09-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

For some reason, when Dan Rather headed off to Dallas, I was reminded of his linguistic flair with armadillos ... and ... O.J. heading off to a golf course in Florida to find "the real killer". Whatever D.R.'s shortcomings, however, he's just a little biased. OK, maybe not just a little biased, but he's certainly not a psychopathic cold blooded killer. His child like dig at FOX News was certainly unseemly but it's no real surprise to see the NYT report that:

"Mr. Rather interviewed Mr. Burkett on camera this weekend, and several people close to the reporting process said his answers to Mr. Rather's questions led officials to conclude that their initial confidence that the memos had come from Mr. Killian's own files was not warranted.".

WOW! D.R. is really on his way to breaking this story now! Hold the Presses! 60 Minutes has another blockbuster on the way!

Seriously. They actually pay these people? money? as in commonly exchanged US legal tender? and Hanoi John French Kerry is worried about outsourcing of jobs here in America?

CBS should have - long ago - outsourced its entire fact checking & production staff. And MSM has the audacity to treat the internet blogosphere as a bunch of rank & file Pajamahadeen idiots?

Otherwise interesting is CBS emphasis on point from Newsweek:

Yesterday, Emily J. Will, a document specialist who inspected the records for CBS News and said last week that she had raised concerns about their authenticity with CBS News producers, confirmed a report in Newsweek that a producer had told her that the source of the documents said they had been obtained anonymously and through the mail.

never forgetting, of course, while the documents may (sic) be forgeries, the thrust of D.R.'s 60 Minutes tallest of tall tales shall never be challenged!

UPDATE: As anticipated, statement released by CBS today acknowledging the forgery of the documents but continuing the cover-up & criminality behind the story & continuing the fraud that their story is still true.

John Kerry: Sports Poser

2004-09-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

With all Kerry's sports gaffes throughout the campaign, culminating in the fumbling over (not so legendary) "Lambert Field", it's too much for even the novice fan to endure. Football Fans for Truth works to set the record straight!

SEC Reports: CEO of Viacom (CBS) dumps nearly $12 million in Stock

2004-09-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

At the height of Ra^thergate, it appears Sumner Redstone, Chairman and CEO of Viacom Corporation, has issued his first verdict on the collapse of credibility for its CBS News operation and 60 Minutes programming. In disclosure mandated by the SEC, "STATEMENT OF CHANGES OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES", Redstone reveals his transaction promptly followed the disasterous & defiant appearance by Dan Rather on last Monday evening's edition of the CBS Evening News. In official filing, and with Viacom currently selling near 5 year lows, records reveal Redstone sold 341,500 shares of Viacom stock options, with an otherwise undisclosed 401K account, significant NAIRI, Inc. investment and spousal holdings remaining, on Tuesday of last week, September 14, 2004. Overall, with reported shares still selling for $11,952,500, though valued at only $35 a share, his gross profit from the transaction appears to have yielded around $6,744,625 in cash. While that might represent only 1/2% of his total holdings and pose no challenge to his shareholder standing, it does appear to be the first transaction of its type (reported for Redstone) in the past 2-3 years.

FOLLOW-UP: Questions arise as to whether Redstone might be guilty of insider trading. My guess is, in court, no, that he can expalin he either sold the stock for unrelated reasons (if that's indeed the demonstrable case) or that - more likely - he was responding to his own impression of the public events & meltdown we've all witnessed (and there's not a jury I'd ever serve on which wouldn't concur in those regards, Rather's stand being so indefensible).

Typically insider sales mean much less than they are often portrayed because even the boardrooms of America are filled with people, like you and I, who enjoy making those occasional extravagant purchases, add on to their house or whatever. In the real world, however, this transaction strikes me as the type of indicator totally outside the norms of everday business for companies in general and given Redstone's recent (lack of) trading history in particular (he certainly has plenty of cash on hand to buy a new boat or whatever in this time of perilous corporate crisis).

Typically, when a company faces some public challenge, the CEO and other "encouraged" directors use such an opportunity to BUY token purchases of stock, to relieve uncertainty in the marketplace. This model is particularly the case when company stock is trading at multi-year lows and it's preferred the market think the executives believe the company is currently undervalued in active trading.

My guess is that in many Wall St. circles Monday AM, Mr. Redstone's transaction will be a point of interest and further discussion, beyond moot gossip, especially amongst the dedicated folks who follow insider trading incessantly. Much of Viacom's stock is held in mutual funds and S&P 500 Index funds and the like which either won't or can't react with any volatility.

Other market factors aside, however, it's quite likely this news will lead to some selling pressure, obviously increasing the available float, a corresponding decrease in on-balance volume and an upcoming test of its price support at the 50 day moving average @ $34.06 or 2003-2004 lows of $33.60 and $32.02 respectively (having closed Friday last trade @ $34.60)

Viacom Stock (VIA.B) Chart here

UPDATE: Commentary from American Thinker, Hugh Hewitt and LGF :)

Celsius 41.11

2004-09-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

David Bossie's group Citizens United highlights the temperature at which Michael Moore's brain began to die.

Rathergate Links to Cleland, Kerry & DNC prompt Bush + RNC response

2004-09-18T13:46:00.000-07:00

Articles in the Washington Post and New York Times tying apparent CBS document forgery source Bill Burkett directly to Max Cleland, the DNC & Kerry campaign prompts a public response from President Bush and the RNC:

"Bill Burkett, Democrat activist and Kerry campaign supporter, passes information to the DNC; Kerry campaign surrogate Max Cleland discusses "valuable" information with Bill Burkett; Bill Burkett talks to "senior" Kerry campaign officials; an apparently unsuspecting news organization uses faked forged memos and an interview with Ben Barnes at the same time the Democratic National Committee launched Operation Fortunate Son; and Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill was among the first to call Ben Barnes and congratulate him after his interview. The trail of connections is becoming increasingly clear."

Braids for Bush

2004-09-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Madison Long, 6, of Rochester, Minnesota, wears her hair
braided into the letter "W" at a campaign rally for US President George Bush. (Photo: Reuters)

NEW SwiftVet Ad, Gallup Poll & Advice from Bernard Goldberg

2004-09-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

O'Neill & Co. with another broadside to one Hanoi John French Kerry while Bernard Goldberg offers CBS + Dan Rather some constructive criticsm plus Gallup reports "Bush Bounce Keeps On Going: President leads Kerry by 13 points among likely voters; 8 points among registered voters"

No Way Out or Maybe One Way Out

2004-09-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dan Rather and CBS News Producer Mary Mapes, the brand image of CBS News and 60 Minutes now lays in a ruinous stench reminiscent of teenage Halloween tricksters' midnight doorstep deliveries. Meanwhile Black Rock executives appear totally clueless as to how they can now ever scrape the last remnants of credibility from the sole of Viacom's truly devastated, tainted entity.

CBS & 60 Minutes have become the laughingstock of society. This wasn't an easy accomplishment as it took a special combination of blindly biased gullibility, elitist arrogance & outright stupidity to continue messing things up this badly.

Much of their failing was in not recognizing how much technology pervades the common day life of many if not most Americans. Beyond their traditional bubble & elitism, CBS execs have treated their American public with all too apparent disdain, as unsophisticated fools or rubes, without realizing the extent to which the internet and modern technologies actually dominate the work and home lives of so many. Their contempt has been particularly ludicrous because it comes from those whom, some years back, so readily mocked the former President George H. W. Bush for marveling at new innovations in scanners, making bar codes much more usable & easier to read (all the while portraying his apparent impression as stupidity, supposedly not even knowing such bar code technologies were to even exist, being so out of touch with the experiences of everyday Americans).

It's now readily apparent that, over all these years, Dan Rather hasn't used Microsoft Word or Windows much, if at all, and doesn't seem to appreciate much of the vast Internet, which his fellow elites readily joined in with CBS in mocking for its legions of partisan Pajamahadeen (credit Kerry Spot), successors to the legendary VRWC. In fact, however, many, many professionals in many, many professions make use of these technologies every day and know it doesn't take a rocket scientist to readily reproduce exact replicas of CBS’ purported (forged) documents and, in fact, many, many were actually even generated in the very homes and offices of millions all across America.

The best hope for CBS at this point might be to set up the equivalent of a Chinese wall and put their best, crack team at the 60 Minutes Sunday show to work on this story. They'll have to focus on the real story, of course, meaning dropping the long worn out National Guard angle and unveil the forging of the documents, their delivery to CBS and 60 Minutes’ dubious use of them in CBS broadcast, and recognition of all the other basic facts & witnesses & conflicting testimonies, etc., etc., etc., which are now all so numerous & obvious for all but Dan Rather to see or ever consider including vs. any more of his self-serving and outright demeaning & belittling public broadcasts.

Supposedly Don Hewitt and others at the Sunday 60 Minutes show have always felt some degree of disdain for their weekday counterpart. I suggest that if they could somehow funnel that contempt & justifiable anger over all the damage Dan Rather & their other counterparts have now wrought, and get the story, the REAL story RIGHT - that could - possibly though far from assuredly - at least stop the bleeding for the time being and allow some feasible hope that what's left of CBS prestige might be rescued from the flames & fumes still smoldering so odorously on their doorstep.

At this point the truth, for Viacom and CBS, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, might be one and only way out.

Kerry's Union Thugs in Action

2004-09-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

Three-year-old Sophia Parlock cries while seated on the shoulders of her father, Phil Parlock, after having their Bush-Cheney sign torn up by Kerry-Edwards supporters on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004, at the Tri-State Airport in Huntington, W.Va. Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) made a brief stop at the airport as he concluded his two-day bus tour to locations in West Virginia and Ohio. (AP Photo/Randy Snyder)

UPDATE: US News & World Report Washington Whispers reports:

If the picture of little 3-year-old Sophia Parlock crying after some Kerry-Edwards supporters tore up her Bush-Cheney poster got to you, well, you weren't the only one. President Bush and even first pup Barney were dismayed too, we hear. It happened at a West Virginia rally last week for Democratic running mate Sen. John Edwards, to which Phil Parlock brought his daughter. After seeing the picture of the tearful Sophia on her dad's shoulders, aides said the president was sending her a little note Friday along with a signed campaign poster and an autographed photo of the prez and his dog. "Dear Sophia," Bush penned, "Thank you for supporting my campaign. I understand someone tore up your sign. So I am sending you a new sign and a signed picture. Please give my best to your family. Sincerely, George W. Bush." And on the picture, he inked: "To Sophia, Best wishes from me and Barney." Phil Parlock tells us it really wasn't necessary. "He already said 'Thank you' when he hugged her" at a previous Bush rally they attended, he says. "She bragged for days."

BUSTED!

2004-09-15T23:55:00.000-07:00

BREAKING HARD: Michael Dobbs of Washington Post reveals memos were faxed from Abilene, Texas Kinko's - 21 miles from the Baird, Tex., home of Newsweek suspect and rabid long time Bush-Hater Bill Burkett. When contacted, Kinko's employee states Burkett is known, has an account there and was last there a week ago Tuesday ... while Bush takes lead in battleground states & DemoncRAT strongholds ABC: Pennsylvania 49-46, Gallup: Minnesota 48-46, New Jersey (NEW JERSEY???) 49-45, ILLINOIS dead heat!, Wisconsin +5, Ohio + 8 and Florida +2, +4 + 6

ABC's Hidden Bombshell

2004-09-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight Brian Ross of ABC News reports "Casting Further Doubt -
Document Analysts: CBS News Ignored Concerns About Disputed Bush Military Records" noting that "Two of the document experts hired by CBS News say the network ignored concerns they raised prior to the broadcast of a report citing documents that questioned George W. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War."

The hidden bombshell?

An observant viewer notes that one of these experts who rejected at least one of these documents, showed the document she'd been given by CBS to work on and - surprise! - ABC News inadvertently revealed it was one of the two "missing" or "mystery" memos that USA Today first revealed on their web site and CBS has so far yet to acknowledge their own receipt of. This one has a two line header which was positioned exactly as the other (two known) memos with 3 line headers (which all, in fact, are aligned similarly & centered proportionately). The implications are huge, of course, because that would mean that CBS was shopping experts and not providing them with a complete set of documents to review, when their only so-called "expert" remaining, at this point, the spiritual handwriting analyst (who's not certified) has claimed in his own prior writings that the recognition of one forgery within a set automatically casts doubt on the remaining documents in that group!

Formal Complaint to the FCC

2004-09-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

as presented via e-mail fccinfo@fcc.gov & fax 866-418-0232:

Whereas I, the undersigned, hereby officially complain & formally request the Federal Communications Commission do henceforth initiate a thorough, prompt, urgent and complete investigation of the CBS Network, owned by Viacom, and/or its affiliates, operating under a license issued by the FCC; including but not limited to, CBS News, the 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes II and other programs and associated Producers, Anchors and other affiliated officials, associates or interests, including but not limited to Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, and/or other employees, representatives or other agents, all referred to hereinafter inclusive as “CBS”, with respect to any readily apparent forgery of documents first presented by 60 Minutes II and/or any possible attempt to mislead the American public through false and misleading claims in their 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes, 9/10/04 and 9/11/04 broadcasts of the CBS Evening News and any other broadcasts, official statements or other public representations;

Whereas terms and conditions authorized by the FCC for operating a network broadcast or television station, require said operator(s) to serve the public trust and it is now of my personal belief, based on knowledge, facts, impression, training and experience, that CBS may have knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, and/or may even so possibly continue to, violate the public trust, subject matter which is within the federal jurisdiction for investigation and enforcement by the FCC;

Whereas CBS first publicly displayed and published various (up to 4 publicly known) un-sourced and unoriginal (copied) documents in their 9/8/04 Broadcast of 60 Minutes II;, hereinafter referred to as the “purported documents”;

Whereas these documents and accompanying narrative statements appear to make possibly erroneous and/or unfounded assertions or claims about President George W. Bush's military service history, experience or records and/or other individuals, including but not limited to Mr. Jerry Killian, now deceased, hereinafter referred to as “Jerry Killian” and Walter B. “Buck” Staudt, hereinafter referred to as “Mr. Staudt”;

Whereas CBS, in a 9/10/04 broadcast of the CBS Evening News, publicly displayed, broadcast and/or published contrasting images of document text in apparent proportional font with true superscript capabilities alongside separate text which appeared to depict fixed size characters (height and width) and presented accompanying narrative statements by and including, but not limited to, Dan Rather, for the possibly purposeful or unexpected outcome of misleading the American Public and/or potentially influencing the upcoming 2004 Presidential Election, and/or possibly engaging in a conspiracy to otherwise sustain and /or defend against the numerous, effective challenges which have been publicly issued in response to the credibility & justifiability of prior actions, including but not limited to those listed herein, as may have been taken by CBS;

Whereas CBS displayed, broadcast and/or published said documents through the CBS Network and potentially influencing the upcoming 2004 Presidential Election;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts indicating the Washington Post has reported that ‘the forensic experts contacted by the Post "who said they appeared to have been generated by a word processor. An examination of the documents by The Post shows that they are formatted differently from other Texas Air National Guard documents whose authenticity is not questioned."’;

Whereas these purported documents can be easily & exactly reproduced in mirror image using commonly available Microsoft Word software, default or other installation settings and a modern laser printer using PDF format, some or all such alleged documents, as presented by CBS, readily appear to be copied, falsified and/or otherwise forgeries;

Whereas inspection of copies made publicly available by CBS reveals that there appear to be no official or distinguishing, identifiable letterheads on at least two of the purported documents;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that experienced military professionals familiar with relevant military document preparation, dating & recording standards, have challenged the legitimacy of the purported documents;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of kerning, a feature common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) may appear to exhibit evidence of text ligatures, a feature common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of text centering, a feature common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of text superscript, a feature common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas there have been public reports in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that one or more purported document(s) may appear to contain curved apostrophes, a feature common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of originally being printed upon paper for which the size was not common or possibly even available to the purported author at the time the purported document(s) were allegedly created;

Whereas the specific print font(s) and exact font face(s) may not have been commonly available on typewriters that existed at the time the purported documents were allegedly created, as is readily available and reproducible today using Microsoft Word software;

Whereas there is no specific knowledge or proof yet publicly offered by CBS to identify any specific typewriter or truly compatible printing device that was or would have been in existence, available & accessible to the alleged author at the time the purported documents were originally created;

Whereas there are no other or additional purported document(s), yet publicly offered by CBS, which demonstrate equivalent or effectively similar & exact reproduction capabilities, including any/all records known to exist and/or have already been made available through public FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and other press requests;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of vertical line spacing measured at 13 points, a feature uncommon to typewriters of the day yet common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of page alignment consistent with the default settings of Microsoft Word software;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of paragraph alignment consistent with the default settings of Microsoft Word software;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of tab + spacing alignment consistent with the default settings of Microsoft Word software;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) do not appear to exhibit evidence of the characteristic impressions or depressions commonly expected would or could be visibly seen or felt arising from any alleged physical contact of any typewriter hardware with said purported document(s);

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) do not appear to exhibit evidence of the characteristic ink formations, blotting, bleeding, swelling, smearing or any of the many other readily discernable and often uniquely identifiable traits commonly arising from the use of ribbons or other sources of ink involved in the production of any purportedly typewritten document;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) may have been produced using a Laser Printer or other modern printing device;

Whereas, Hewlett Packard reports first introducing laser printers in 1980 and the first commonly available LaserJet units were not publicly available until 1984;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, one or more purported document(s) appears to exhibit evidence of proportional spacing a feature common to the use of modern word processing software and printing hardware, including Microsoft Word;

Whereas CBS has yet to publicly identify any specific or actual typewriter as that which was actually or even realistically available to and personally used by Jerry Killian as the alleged author of the purported documents;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed or alleged that the purported documents presented by CBS were prepared using some as yet unidentified IBM Selectric Composer typewriter or other unidentified variations;

Whereas it is presumed that IBM as other manufacturers, through trademarks and patents, have the ability to control & restrict the production, use or adaptation of proprietary or effectively additive technologies, including but not limited to the IBM Selectric Composer typewriter;

Whereas there have been public reports in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that the one or more IBM Selectric Composer typewriter model(s) available at the time the purported documents are alleged to have been created, reportedly sold for $3600.00 to $4400.00 or more in 1972-1973 (equivalent to $16,000 to $22,000 today);

Whereas it is reported that the IBM Selectric Composer typewriter would have required additional typewriting hardware, fonts or other modifications feasibly or actually necessary to produce any or all of the purported documents in such form as CBS has publicly presented;

Whereas there have been public reports in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Gerry Kaplan runs the web site ‘ibmcomposer.org’ which describes itself as "the only site on the Internet completely dedicated to the IBM 'Selectric' Composer line of typesetting machines" and reportedly includes information, scanned user manuals, and photographs of the working IBM Selectric Composer;

Whereas it is has been publicly reported or proved that Gerry Kaplan states, with respect to the extensive efforts required to approximate any reproduction of the purported documents using an IBM Selectric Composer, “Superscript didn’t come out so good because when you change the escapement lever (from the larger spacing to smaller spacing, and vice-versa), sometimes the ball actually slips forward by a small amount, so you can see that the superscript looks disjointed” and “To make the superscripted th, I first typed “111”, then switched the font to the 8pt font, switched the escapement lever to the smaller escapement (horizontal movement), reverse indexed the paper ½ line up, typed the “th”, indexed ½ line down, switched the escapement lever to the wider escapement, then changed the type ball back to the 11pt font.”;

Whereas, upon inspection, there is no evidence of the “disjointed” superscript to which Mr. Kaplan refers on the purported documents;

Whereas it is has been publicly reported or proved that Gerry Kaplan states, with respect to the extensive efforts, calculations and modifications required to approximate any reproduction of the purported documents using an IBM Selectric Composer, “the text is centered using proportional spaced text, which means that the typist had to carefully measure the text prior to typing to calculate its exact center point. Typing a superscript, with all its steps, is simple compared to centering text proportionally without digital electronics” and that “If you can produce centered text that matches identically to the letterhead, it is, in my opinion, a true hoax”;

Whereas modern computer graphics driver display and printing nomenclature commonly defines a “twip” as 1/20 of a point or 1/1440 of an inch;

Whereas it is has been publicly reported or proved that Gerry Kaplan suggests that there is little if any likelihood centered text can be readily or reliably & exactly duplicated repeatedly or successively and that even if the purported typist “were able to center text with a typesetting machine such as the composer, a PC (and good word processor), will center the text even more precisely, not at the "point" level, but rather on the twip level”;

Whereas, upon inspection, based on my professional and personal experience, and/or that of others, it appears at least two of the purported documents share the exact same horizontal text centering location and other properties, accuracy consistent with twip level measurement precision and other common characteristics, yet these same documents are otherwise distinct and separately distinguishable in their content and are, in fact, purportedly dated 3 months apart;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that the family members or other friends, partners, comrades, associates of Mr. Jerry Killian, the alleged author of CBS’ purported documents, including his widow and son or step-son, with respect to his limited use or familiarity with typewriters and also to the effect Jerry Killian never used or was never known to have used or possessed a proportional font typewriter and/or that these purported documents are not nor never were the personal work product of Mr. Killian, given personal or professional knowledge & experience and/or subsequent control over his personal space, legacy & possessions, and that they and/or others made CBS aware of such facts, challenges, disputes, doubts, skepticisms, and/or other relevant information or circumstances, and were not included or fully, properly or effectively represented by CBS in their public presentations, broadcasts, statements and public representations, including but not limited to the 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including ABC News, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Marjorie Connell, reported widow of Jerry Killian, has publicly stated that Jerry Killian did not type and specifically that “The wording in these documents is very suspect to me" and that she "just can't believe these are his words”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including ABC News and FOX News, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Gary Killian, reported step-son of Jerry Killian, has publicly stated that “it was not the nature of my father to keep private files like this, nor would it have been in his own interest to do so”, that “We don't know where the documents come from” and “they didn't come from any family member”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including the Associated Press, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Gary Killian, reported step-son of Jerry Killian, publicly stated that “I am upset because I think it is a mixture of truth and fiction here” expressing specific doubts about at least one of the purported documents, stating, “It just wouldn't happen, … The only thing that can happen when you keep secret files like that are bad things. ... No officer in his right mind would write a memo like that”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts indicating the content of one or more of the purported documents appears to explicitly contradict previously disclosed and unchallenged official public records or military documents known to have been prepared by or on behalf of Jerry Killian;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts indicating that Guard regulations officially prohibited the maintenance of such records as are the alleged type of the purported documents;

Whereas Kelly Wright of FOX News has stated “at least three Pentagon sources believe the documents about President Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard are fakes”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including material published by ABC News, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Retired Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Hodges, states he was “misled” by CBS, that he never saw the purported documents prior to the 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II, that CBS read him excerpts which they claimed were “handwritten” and Hodges believes these purported documents to be forgeries;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Rufus Martin, reportedly the personnel chief for Jerry Killian’s unit at the time, has stated, ““They looked to me like forgeries” and “I don’t think Killian would do that, and I knew him for 17 years.”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Mr. Staudt was not in the service of the Guard at the time the purported documents may so imply that he was, having retired over a year and one half earlier, on March 1, 1972, while the relevant purported document cited by CBS was dated Aug. 18, 1973;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that at least two of the three people actually cited by CBS as corroborating witnesses or in any way vouching for any or all of their actions described above or herein, have reportedly “tempered their support for CBS” in interviews with representatives from media organizations other than CBS;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including one or more article(s) published by the New York Times, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Robert Strong does not believe Jerry Killian ever used or was ever known to have used a proportional font typewriter;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including one or more article(s) published by the Associated Press, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that “Retired Col. Maurice Udell, the unit's instructor pilot who helped train Bush, said Friday he thought the documents were fake. "I completely am disgusted with this (report) I saw on '60 Minutes,'" Udell said. "That's not true. I was there. I knew Jerry Killian. I went to Vietnam with Jerry Killian in 1968";

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including one or more article(s) published by the Los Angeles Times, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Marcel Matley, an analyst, purportedly under the prior employ or direction of CBS, is solely experienced or qualified in the analysis of handwriting and has acknowledged his limited ability to judge, evaluate, certify or authenticate only one aspect of one of the four purported documents publicly displayed and/or presented by CBS and that such evaluation was limited to any handwriting analysis involved with said (single) document, stating “he had only judged a May 4, 1972, memo — in which Killian ordered Bush to take his physical — to be authentic. He said he did not form a judgment on the three other disputed memos because they only included Killian's initials and he did not have validated samples of the officer's initials to use for comparison.";

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Marcel Matley has previously published his own professional writings including an essay written and published in September 2002 for the American Law Institute, entitled "Using and Cross-Examing Handwriting Experts", and/or a September 27, 2002 issue of "The Practical Litigator", in which Marcel Matley stated, “Do not passively accept a copy as the sole basis of a case. Every copy, intentionally or unintentionally, is in some way false to the original. In fact, modern copiers and computer printers are so good that they permit easy fabrication of quality forgerie. From a copy, the document examiner cannot authenticate the unseen original but may well be able to determine that the unseen original is false. Further, a definite finding of authenticity for a signature is not possible from a photocopy, while a definite finding of falsity is possible”;

Whereas CBS portrayed Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News 9/10/04 reportedly stating "the documents CBS started with were also photocopies" and that CBS neither did nor reportedly does now currently have the originals;
Whereas the Washington Times cites “Eugene P. Hussey, a certified forensic document examiner in Washington state, studied the known signatures of Col. Killian on Air Force documents, and two signatures on documents dated 1972 and 1973 that aired on "60 Minutes" Wednesday night”, with Mr. Hussey concluding "It is my limited opinion that Killian did not sign those documents" The Times reports it “provided Mr. Hussey with copies of the CBS documents, which he dubbed Q-1-3, and records known to have been signed by Col. Killian, (K-1-3). In an official, signed letter to the Washington Times Mr. Hussey reported, "It is my opinion based on the examination of the Q-1 through Q-3 and K-1 through K-3, that Jerry B. Killian probably did not sign his name to Q-1 and his initial to Q-3," … "As to the authenticity of the CBS documents, that is Q-1 through Q-3, [they] appear to be product of a computer, rather than a typewriter."

Whereas CBS has not yet publicly identified any legitimate, recognized document typography printing forensics experts whom CBS may claim, or already have claimed, have legally testified, officially certified and/or authenticated any of the purported documents;

Whereas Howard Kurtz has reported in the Washington Post that “CBS's lead expert was Marcel Matley said last night that a "60 Minutes" executive had asked him not to give interviews”;

Whereas Howard Kurtz has reported on CNN Reliable Sources that “Although I have interviewed Rather and Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS News, and I said, well, look, who are your document experts? So they finally gave me the name of a handwriting expert in San Francisco, and I called him, and he says, I am muzzled, I can't talk, CBS has asked me not to talk to the press”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including one or more article(s) published by the Associated Press and/or MSNBC, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Sandra Ramsey Lines, reportedly a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, believes the purported documents are, indeed, forgeries and, according to the Associated Press, “Lines said that meant she could testify in court that, beyond a reasonable doubt, her opinion was that the memos were written on a computer”, thus proving the purported documents are, indeed, obvious forgeries;

Whereas there have been public reports in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Dr. Joseph M. Newcomer of Pittsburgh, PA., who received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie-Mellon University, spent several years on the CMU CS faculty, was a founding scientist of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at CMU and is arguably one of the pioneers of electronic typesetting, has disputed the purported documents and asks “How could anyone believe these memos are other than incompetent forgeries?”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including one or more article(s) published by the Chicago Sun Times, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that “Philip D. Bouffard, is a nationally recognized forensic authority in typewriter and electronic typefaces, that Bouffard has the largest collection of full letter impact typewriter specimens in a private collection today. Having worked at NCR and a forensic laboratory for more than 30 years”, that Bouffard “still works with entities such as the State of Ohio on Medicare fraud cases”, reportedly states, "All the documents have been created on the same printer. And the proportional spacing and the common characteristics of numbers like 4 and 7 and letters like lower case c and upper case G are beyond the capabilities of any of the typewriter impact specimens I have in my collection. The centering of headings is also beyond the capabilities of any typewriter I know of", concluding "It is remotely possible there is some typewriter that has the capability to do all this ... but it is more likely these documents were generated in the common Times New Roman font and printed out on a computer printer that did not exist at the time they were supposedly created.";

Whereas the INDC Journal has claimed, alleged or proved that Philip D. Bouffard, in response to articles subsequently appearing in the Boston Globe, New York Times or elsewhere, Dr. Bouffard has stated “What I said to them was, I got new information about possible Selectric fonts and (Air Force) documents that indicated a Selectric machine could have been available, and I needed to do more analysis and consider it...but after looking at this more, there are still many more things that say this is bogus...there are so many things that are not right; 's crossings,' 'downstrokes' ...More things were looked into; more things about IBM options. Even if you bought special (superscripting) keys, it's not right. There are all kinds of things that say that this is not a typewrite." and that Dr. Bouffard further told INDC Journal specifically ”he wants me to correct the record. He did not change his mind, and he and his colleagues are becoming more certain that these documents are forgeries";

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Robert Cartwright, Professor of Computer Science at Rice University states “A cursory glance at the "Killian documents" shows that they are
forgeries, the product of a modern word processing system”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Farrell Shriver is the owner of Shriver & Nelson, a document investigation lab in Woodstock, Georgia, is Certified by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners, is a Member and Treasurer of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, a Member of the Questioned Documents Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a Member of the Southeastern Association of Forensic Document Examiners, a Former Chief Document Examiner - U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory, an Editor, Journal of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, a Graduate of, and former chief instructor for the U.S. Army's two-year resident training program in Forensic Document Examination and Court qualified expert, including U.S. Federal District Court, the author of numerous papers and articles on the subject of Forensic Document Examination and Retired Special Agent of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Farrell Shriver has stated “it would be quite easy for some one using computer manipulation to take a genuine signature and manipulate it on to the document if they had those available from other records” and that “if the documents are all supposed to be from the same source, certainly if two of the documents can be shown to not be genuine, that might cast doubt on the other documents that were associated with it”;

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted or not included important facts or other relevant or known information about Ben Barnes in its 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II, including but not limited to the true extent to which he is or may be associated with the Democrat Party and/or the Kerry / Edwards campaign, any other related or sympathetic interests, nor mention any prior or conflicting statements;

Whereas there have been numerous public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Ben Barnes has raised between $100,000.00 and $500,000.00 or more for the Democrat Party, the Kerry / Edwards campaign and/or other sympathetic interests;

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted or not included important facts or other relevant or known information along with other acts taken or portrayed, as described herein and elsewhere, actually revealed in their own prior reporting, possibly including but not limited to previous reports by Beth Lester reportedly stating that “As of last week, according to information received by CBS News, 20 donors have given and/or raised more than $250,000, enough to earn them the designation of Trustee. Of those, eight have actually raised more than $500K. Those half-millions include Texas lobbyist Ben Barnes”;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including personal public interviews, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Amy Barnes, daughter to Ben Barnes, speaks of and attributes prior conflicting statements to Ben Barnes and disputes one or more statement(s) portrayed by CBS in their 9/08/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that Ben Barnes has previously testified under oath in direct contradiction to statements later made or portrayed by CBS in their 9/08/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes;

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information about Ben Barnes in its 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II, by not including reported statements by Ben Barnes to the effect he allegedly aided or assisted George W. Bush enlist in the National Guard when he “was Lt. Governor”, while, reportedly, in fact, Ben Barnes did not hold any position of Lt. Governor at the time George W. Bush enlisted;

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information about James Moore in its 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II, including but not limited to the true extent to which he is or may be associated with the Democrat Party and/or the Kerry / Edwards campaign, or mention of any other prior or conflicting relationships, including past writings, such as being the author of anti-Bush books to include Bush’s Brain and Bush’s War for Reelection. Reportedly, in support or justification for CBS, Moore asserts that the lack of a White House statement discrediting the documents (yet) shows that "the White House probably knows that these documents are, in fact, real.";

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information about Bill Burkett in its 9/8/04 broadcast of 60 Minutes II, including but not limited to the true extent to which he is or may now previously be associated with James Moore or others sympathetic to his work, including but not limited to the DNC or the Kerry / Edwards campaign, his prior and/or conflicting statements, or his actual possible use or reliance upon as an alleged source or purported supporting witness for CBS, as suggested by Newsweek Magazine, which describes Burkett as one who is “a disgruntled former Guard officer” after having reportedly suffered two nervous breakdowns;

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information about Murphy Archibald and/or others whom, according to an article in the New York Daily News, reportedly saw & remembered George W. Bush during his period for reporting at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery, AL as CBS or other parties may so allege or suggest he was not (present);

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information, including prior reports by the Associated Press, about the numerous public statements of Lt. Col. John "Bill" Calhoun and/or others whom reportedly saw & remembered George W. Bush during his period for reporting in Montgomery, AL as CBS or other parties may so allege or suggest he was not (present);

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information about James Copeland and/or others whom, according to a 9/12/04 article in the Decatur Daily, reportedly saw George W. Bush doing his required drills at Dannelly Air National Guard Base in Montgomery, AL during the period CBS reporting or other parties may so allege or suggest he was not (present);

Whereas it appears that CBS may have omitted, not learned or not included important facts or other relevant information about Joe Holcombe and/or others whom reportedly state other facts pertinent to George W. Bush’s presence, experience or activities in Alabama during the period CBS or other disparaging parties may so allege or suggest he was not (present);

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including the Washington Post, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved that, on one or more occasions, CBS and/or 60 Minutes have previously made and/or even apologized on-air regarding alleged misstatements of fact and/or involving fraudulent witnesses and errant or forged documents;

Whereas there have been public news reports, radio and television broadcasts, including ABC News, in which it has been claimed, alleged or proved CBS actually modified their official & succeeding public statements
from:

"As is standard practice at CBS News, each of the documents broadcast on 60 MINUTES was thoroughly investigated by independent experts and we are convinced of their authenticity. In addition to analysis of the documents themselves, CBS verified the authenticity of the documents by talking to individuals who had seen the documents at the time they were written. These individuals were close associates of Colonel Jerry Killian and confirm that the documents reflect his opinions at the time the documents were written."

to:

"As is standard practice at CBS News, the documents in the 60 MINUTES report were thoroughly examined and their authenticity vouched for by independent experts. As importantly, 60 MINUTES also interviewed close associates of Colonel Jerry Killian. They confirm that the documents reflect his opinions and actions at the time.";

Whereas there have been subsequent public news reports, radio and/or television broadcasts, including one or more article(s) published by Elliott Minor and the Associated Press, which may reference these purported documents or other related facts in dispute without any/or adequate qualification or mention of ongoing disputes or alternative considerations;

Whereas Bernard Goldberg, a potential expert witness with years of personal & professional experience working with and/or under the employ of CBS and/or other news gathering organizations, has written two published books based on such actual specific experiences including his extensive, relevant observations entitled Bias and Arrogance;

Whereas Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, Section 1001 of the U.S. Criminal Code, provides:

Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully -
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both;

Whereas federal laws or other relevant statutes or official regulations may have been violated in these regards;

Whereas the FCC has a statutory obligation to serve the public trust and to enforce the laws, terms and conditions under which the FCC legally licenses broadcast networks and television stations;

Whereas I, the undersigned, believe the foregoing to be true and correct, to the best of my knowledge, personal & professional experience, available information and belief;

I hereby execute and publish this instrument under the rights afforded to me by the 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the State of California.

Thank you in advance for taking all the publicly anticipated, urgent & judicious actions as appear may be necessary in these regards.

Sincerely,

Steven W.

cc: The Honorable Fred Upton, Chairman of Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet via facsimile (202) 225-4986
CBS News via facsimile (212) 975-1998