The Bush/Cheney Re-election team has produced a new ad, and its the most effective yet, in my view.

Click here to view Our Growing Economy.

Its what is needed - President Bush has to get past the relentless negativity of the major media and the Democrats; listen to them, and you'd think we're all on soup lines.

The left wants Bush out, but if only they could find a good candidate to replace him...

Liberal Democrats say they are organized, united, and determined as never before to oust President Bush from the White House. But when more than 2,000 of these progressive activists from across the country gathered under a "Take Back America" banner yesterday, it was Howard Dean, not John F. Kerry, who stole their hearts.

Amusing, but frightening, as it seems their reasons for not being overly enthusiastic about Kerry stem from the growing hatred and irrationality of the left. Still, this seems to be good news, as it shows that most people recognize Kerry's constant flip-flops as a true weakness.

"We'd rather [Kerry] were bolder, we'd rather he be stronger in many different ways," said Robert Borosage, codirector of the Campaign for America's Future. "But Kerry is going to decide how he is going to run his campaign, and we're going to focus on the real threat, which is an administration that waged a preemptive war and brought preemptive tax cuts.

(...)

In seeking the support of independent voters, Kerry has played down his own record as a liberal Massachusetts senator, expressing support for civil unions but not gay marriage and suggesting he could nominate antiabortion judges. His focus on reining in the federal deficit, and the musings of campaign aides that, as president, he might bring Republicans into his cabinet, also make liberal activists uneasy. Kerry also supports continuing the military occupation of Iraq at least until the country has a stable government.

It seems all voters, whether liberal or conservative, appreciate and need a strong stance on the issues, whether they agree with them or not. A strong nation needs a solid, determined leader who won't be change his mind according to which way the wind blows on a given day.

Kerry is anything but determined and solid.

While Democrats are secretly scolding themselves for effectively nominating John Kerry, they are still united in one goal: defeating President Bush.

In a recent letter to supporters, Bush-Cheney '04 Chairman Marc Racicot wrote:

Some of the most notoriously far-left organizations in America have pledged millions to defeat President Bush. These groups include the Sierra Club, AFL-CIO, NARAL Pro Choice America, the Association of Trial Lawyers and People for the American Way. A few front groups are even headed by veterans of the Clinton attack machine and are using illegal soft money to defeat our President. They have stated publicly that they plan to raise $500 million - mostly in large "soft money" contributions from billionaires like drug legalization advocate George Soros -- for the express purpose of defeating President Bush.

We must not let this election be hijacked by liberal billionaires and leftist organizations.

It's grassroots efforts like our own that have to get out there, volunteer, and donate. The Bush campaign needs our help to get their message directly to the voters.

John Kerry has been inconsistent on his positions on the issues most important in this election. He clearly has no understanding about what our Strategic Petroleum Reserves are for... he has a poor record in the Senate on defense (which he constantly tries to run from)... he blames his speechwriters for things he's said in public multiple times (and even repeats on his website)... he talks down the economy that is clearly booming, he's politicized the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse and used it to raise money for his campaign... he even considered delaying officially accepting his party's nomination at the DNC... he even disgraced the memories of fallen soldiers by attacking Bush on Memorial Day - turning it into a campaign event... and these are just a few things in the past month! And amongst those things, he's managed to flip-flop a few times and remind us on several occasions that he was in Vietnam.

Last month, the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign made history by when they passed over one million contributors - representing every county in ever state across the country.We have the power to fight the liberal billionaires, 527s, and other left-wing organizations.

Remember what's at stake in this election and make a contribution today! Donate $4, $14, $24... every contribution brings us closer to victory.

Despite the claims of the Kerry campaign, the Bush TV ads worked - by defining for the voters who Kerry really is, Kerry had to respond with an ad campaign to "define himself" to the voters. If we learned anything from those ads, it's that Kerry is obsessed with the wrong war. His preoccupation with the Vietnam War comes at the expense of a clear strategy to win the war on terror. His empty promises can't even be supported by his own record.

President George W. Bush has provided us steady leadership. We have to help him stay in office so he can continue to lead America down the right path.

Will you help America stay on the right path?

Today, the 4th of June, I ask you to donate, $4, $14, $24, $54, $64, or even $104 if you can – for four more in '04! Every little bit counts, and a victory for Bush will be a victory for America. You can donate just $4, or $14... any amount, (small or large) ending in 4. Your donation will help keep America on the right path.

Please donate today:

Man, the Bush economy sucks. At the current rate of job creation, 238,000 per month so far this year, the Bush economy would create only 11.424 million jobs over four years. That's fewer than the 10 million Kerry's policies would create in his first term. Er, um. Never mind.

The fact is, the Bush Boom is now creating jobs at a faster clip than the job growth John Kerry promises if he is elected president and allowed to enact his policies of higher taxes and higher government spending.

In fact, at a rate of 238,000 new jobs per month this year, the economy would create 11,424,000 jobs over four years. John Kerry is promising his economic policies would create only 10 million jobs during his first term.

Vincent Fiore on Kerry's energy policy:

Kerry's policy on energy is typical: present none, but demagogue current gas prices. It was Senator Kerry who led the filibuster to stop drilling for oil in ANWR, thereby eliminating the creation of as many as 500,000 high paying jobs.

So says Condoleeza Rice, President Bush's National Security Advisor. Just in case someone tries to opine that Dr. Rice doesn't know what she's talking about, lets review:

Born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama, she earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in 1994, the University of Notre Dame in 1995, the Mississippi College School of Law in 2003, the University of Louisville and Michigan State University in 2004.

You'll have to show at least as good a resume to contest Dr. Rice's assertions. And even then, you'll end up looking like a bonehead. The only thing I take exception to is the comparison to FDR - President Bush is much, much better than he was at Statecraft. I think that in this instance Dr. Rice is just using FDR because of reputation rather than reality...having been carried through WWII by the likes of Marshall, Stimson and Knox, FDR's got a Statecraft rep which isn't entirely deserved, in my view.

But enough of my words, lets here what Dr. Rice had to say:

"Statesmanship has to be judged first and foremost by whether you recognize historic opportunities and seize them," Rice said in an interview with Cox Newspapers.

"When you think of statesmen, you think of people who seized historic opportunities to change the world for the better, people like Roosevelt, people like Churchill, and people like Truman, who understood the challenges of communism. And this president has been an agent of change for the better -- historic change for the better."

When crisis erupts a man can stay with the dogmas of the past, or he can think anew and act anew in the changed circumstances. President Bush has done this - the critics can carp all they want; point out each and every supposed error - but what they cannot do is take away the fact that President Bush didn't take the craven, cautious course of action. He boldly took us in directions unsuspected by friend and foe...and he has caused consternation, both among friends and enemies by so doing. This is for the good, because in war you want to continually confound, confuse and mystify the enemy.

Two Ohio Voter-Registration Workers was fired for submitting fraudulent forms to election officials.

The election is roughly 150 days away and left wing Democrats are already doing their best to steal the election with voter fraud. They can't win with the law, so their activist judges make new laws. Democrats cannot win at the ballot box, so they make up voters out of thin air.

What a surprise...

With John Kerry's rhetoric heating up to mimic Bill Clinton's foreign policy of "Speak Loudly but Carry a Small Stick," the anti-war movement doesn't seem to have a dog in this election fight. Well Ann Coulter identifies the death knell for that band of subversives who seem often more anti-USA than anti-war:

Before the war, Democrats were carping about the Bush administration's inability to predict the future and tell us everything that would happen in Iraq after the war. On MSNBC in September 2002, for example, Robert Menendez, D-N.J., was complaining that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld "didn't have an answer for what happens in a post-Saddam Iraq." But now liberals are acting as if the Bush administration said they knew exactly what would happen after liberating a country from a 30-year barbaric dictatorship – and got it wrong.

The good news is: Liberals' anti-war hysteria seems to have run its course. I base this conclusion on Al Gore's lunatic anti-war speech last week. Gore always comes out swinging just as an issue is about to go south. He's the stereotypical white guy always clapping on the wrong beat. Gore switched from being a pro-defense Democrat to a lefty peacenik – just before the 9-11 attack. He grew a beard – just in time for an attack on the nation by fundamentalist Muslims. He endorsed Howard Dean – just as the orange-capped Deaniacs were punching themselves out. Gore even went out and got really fat – just before America officially gave up carbs. This guy is always leaping into the mosh pit at the precise moment the crowd parts. Mark my words: Now that good old Al has come lunging in, the anti-war movement is dead.

Remember a few days after 9/11 when Mrs. Clinton held up that sign on the Senate floor "Bush Knew!". Well it looks like her family is the one that knew!

More than one year before 9/11, President Clinton's FBI was told that a Pakistani-British man had been trained by Bin Laden’s followers to hijack airplanes and was now in America to carry out those attacks, but he chickened out.

NBC News has learned that Khan passed not one but two FBI polygraphs. A former FBI official says Newark agents believed Khan and tried to aggressively follow every lead in the case, but word came from headquarters saying, “return him to London and forget about it” -- which, critics say, is exactly what the FBI did.

Wonder what Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Robert Byrd, Soros's and the MSNBC gang of 9/11 widows will have to say now. My guess is to still blame it on President Bush.

Ok, so we're through Memorial Day and as all of us political junkies know, things wont really start to heat up again politically until after Labor Day. Its time, dear people, to have a good, long look at how John Kerry is stacking up as the Democrats man.

It must be supposed that among those who will actually vote this November, both President Bush and Senator Kerry have about 100% name recognition - there might be a few stragglers out there, but by and large the voting populace of the United States knows who these men are.

Rasmussen has a fascinating look at the election out today. Here's how I read it.

Perhaps you are not an observant Jew, as I am not. Perhaps you do not even identify with the cultural or ethnic traditions of Judaism. Certainly, I do not. However, when the anti-Semites come to destroy the Jews, whether they are Nazis or Muslim extremists, both you and I will be in danger. Where will we be able to take refuge?

According to Matt Brooks, Executive Director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, who spoke at an event at the Makor Center in New York City on Tuesday night, if you care about Israel, Republican is the way to go. Specifically, it is imperative that we, as a Jewish community support Bush, as he is the unequivocal pro-Israel presidential candidate.

Mr. Brooks deduced that there is a thread of anti-Semitism weaving its way through the Democratic Party. To support his point, he cited numerous comments recently made by several Democratic politicians including Fritz Hollings and Jim Moran, among others. He pointed out that those in Democratic leadership, such as Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi remained conspicuously silent in response to blatant anti-Israeli comments and anti-Semitic innuendos made by those in their own Party. In many cases, Mr. Brooks astutely pointed out, the demonization of Israel is nothing more than a cover for anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism is rising globally at a rate faster than it ever has, since World War II. Jews are leaving Europe. Synagogues are being burned. The Jewish community is at risk. In Israel, innocent Jews including women and children are being murdered daily by homicide bombers and other terrorists just because they are Jewish. Muslim extremists who take to terror, whether they be Palestinians in Israel, Al Qaeda in the United States, the Taliban in Afghanistan or other terrorist groups in Madrid or Iraq, do NOT want peace. They want the destruction of Israel and the termination of the freedom granted to all citizens of both the United States and Israel. According to Mr. Brooks, President Bush understands that a country cannot negotiate for peace without a partner who wants the same. It is ludicrous to ask Israel to relinquish land while terrorist acts and violence are still being committed against it. Palestinians do not want to recognize Israel as a legitimate State. Bush set forth a simple requirement for the Palestinians as a pre-requisite for peace negotiations: end the terrorism and elect a leader who wants peace. The Palestinians complain of their treatment by Israel. Yet, they themselves hold the key to change. Prime Minister Sharon has said that Bush is the most pro-Israel President the United States has ever seen.

Kerry, on the other hand, does not get it. He has stated that, were he to be elected President, he would bring in Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to advise him on his foreign policies. He has indicated that he would go back to treating terrorism like a crime. He and others in the Democratic Party do not seem to understand the severity of the threat – not only to Israel and the United States, but to the values of freedom and democracy. The magnitude of creating a democracy in Iraq is minimized. The reverberations throughout the Middle East, such as the voluntary relinquishment of nuclear programs by Libya, are glossed over. President Reagan said something to the effect that every step toward freedom of man is a step toward peace, but Kerry does not appear to understand that, or does he just not care?

According to Matt Brooks, who accompanied both Bush and Sharon on a trip to Israel in 1998, prior to them obtaining their current positions as state leaders, Bush is not moved to support Israel by pure politics. He is moved by his spiritual beliefs, and because his trip to Israel changed him on a deep personal level. Bush is trying to do what is morally right. Mr. Brooks believes that history will look upon Bush’s actions in Iraq as a statement of moral conviction and courage. He explained that that the war on Iraq will effect generations to come by placing democracy in a region of the world where democracy is unfamiliar.

Mr. Brooks also informed the audience that many local parties in the United States are currently passing anti-Israel resolutions. It is time that we wake up. As Americans and as Jews, many of us have become too complacent. We have taken our freedoms for granted. Yet, there are a large number of people out there who believe that the United States is “the Great Satan”. They are willing to give unlimited amounts of funding and shed unlimited amounts of blood in order to obliterate our great and tolerant democracies, both in the United States and in Israel. September 11th was our wake-up call. But the democrats are still sleeping. Are you?

Written by guest blogger Dan Spencer of California Yankee.
________________________

Kerry, the only Senator not to vote for the Project BioShield Act, spent yesterday telling anyone who would listen (i.e. the mainstream media) that the U.S. is not adequately prepared for Bioterrorism.The Associated Press quotes Kerry:

Hospitals are overburdened, Kerry said, and essential drugs and vaccines have not been adequately developed.
[. . .]
Kerry said as president he would appoint one person to oversee all bioterrorism programs, budgets and strategic priorities and to work with state and local leaders pursuing preparedness goals.

I ask you tonight to add to our future security with a major research and production effort to guard our people against bioterrorism, called . The budget I send you will propose almost $6 billion to quickly make available effective vaccines and treatments against agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola, and plague. We must assume that our enemies would use these diseases as weapons, and we must act before the dangers are upon us.

Provide funding for the development and delivery of new medical countermeasures. This funding will enable the government to purchase vaccines and other therapies as soon as experts believe that they can be made safe and effective.

New National Institutes of Health programs to speed research and development on medical countermeasures, including more rapid hiring of technical experts.

New FDA emergency use authorization to permit the effective use of such treatments in an emergency, if alternative treatments are not available.

Congress passed the Project BioShield Act of 2003 on May 19, 2004. The vote in the Senate was 99-0-1. Kerry didn't even vote on it. In the Senator's arrogant and nuanced way of thinking it is appropriate for Kerry to criticize President Bush on this issue even though Kerry failed to vote on the President's more detailed proposal.

How hypocritical.

Does Kerry not know what the Senate voted on or what President Bush proposed? Or does Kerry simply not care so long as he can get his sound bites?

US manufacturing continues at a breakneck pace - booming along at a pace not seen in thirty years.

June 1 (Bloomberg) -- A gauge of U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly rose last month to the highest in almost two decades as increased demand prompted more factories to hire than at any time in 31 years, an industry report showed.

The Institute for Supply Management's factory index for May rose to 62.8 from 62.4 for April. A reading greater than 50 signals expansion. The index reached 63.6 in January, the highest since December 1983. Construction spending rose in April for a third month, the Commerce Department reported separately.

For you Democrats out there, this means that US manufacturing is doing better than any time under the Clinton Administration; for you GOPers out there, this is indicative of things going better than they did under Ronaldus Magnus. As usual, we here at Blogs for Bush place the full blame for this on President Bush's tax cuts.

Vietnam Veterans are protesting the use of their images, without their consent, in an ad by John Kerry.

The U.S. Navy photo in question depicts 20 officers, including Kerry, and was taken January 22, 1969, on the island of An Thoi in Vietnam. The ad shows only a portion of the picture -- not all of the men are visible -- and is displayed for two seconds.

But even the men who are not in the ad have a right to demand the picture not be used, said Alvin A. Horne, a Houston attorney who served on a swift boat in Vietnam in 1969-1970. He is giving legal advice to the group. Eleven of the 20 men in the picture oppose their images being used in the campaign ad, he said.

"The use of the 11 images in this political campaign wrongfully and incorrectly suggests their present endorsement of his candidacy for president of the United States of America," said the letter, which Horne wrote.

Hey, John, one of your slick, trial-lawyer donors should have clued you in on the restrictions regarding using someone's likeness in a commercial without their consent.

Is the President doing well among Jewish voters? Well, only the vote this November will let us know for sure, because polling such a small segment of the American population is very difficult - but one thing certain, President Bush and his team are leaving no stone unturned in trying to convince Jewish Americans that their future belongs with the GOP.

"The Jewish vote is more in play this election than it was in the last," said Josh Block, spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, one of the most powerful Jewish organizations in the country.

"It is clear that in some of these very close swing states — Florida, Pennsylvania, potentially Ohio, Nevada, New Jersey — that there is a significant enough percentage of the voting population that is Jewish that it could make a difference in a very close election," he said.

President Bush has bounced back in Ohio according to Rasmussen - back in March, when Kerry wrapped up the Donk nomination, Rasmussen had Kerry ahead 45% to 41%; now Rasmussen has President Bush ahead 46% to 44% - within the margin of error, but showing that President Bush bottomed-out and has now started to recapture this vital State. As you poll-watch over the next few months, keep in mind that one of the best things to have is the same poll done at several times - if the poll has errors, it will repeat the errors and this means if there is a change in the result, its actually meaningful.

All in all, yet another good day to be alive, American and a Republican.

John Kerry has a new ad, titled "Optimists".

USA Today reports on this new ad campaign:

Kerry's aides say the campaign will spend $18 million on TV ad time this month. That spending would push Kerry's total TV ad expenditures since early March to nearly $63 million. The Bush-Cheney campaign has spent about $75 million. Independent, mostly anti-Bush, organizations have spent about $30 million.

"Optimists" will run mostly on local stations in 19 states considered to be close. The states: Ariz., Ark., Colo., Fla., Iowa, La., Maine, Mich., Minn., Mo., Nev., N.H., N.M., Ohio, Ore., Pa., Wash., W.Va. and Wis. Also today, Kerry begins running one ad in Virginia. The 60-second biographical ad previously ran in the other 19 states.

Check out the ad. How effective (or ineffective) do you think it is? How does it compare to Bush's ads? Discuss this and any other issue here.

Click below for the ad script:

I thought these pictures from today's U.S. Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado were too good to not post. (Or, um, somethin' like that)

U.S. President George W. Bush learns to 'pound' from U.S. Air Force cadet Montgomery Coleman (L) of Phoenix, Arizona while attending the graduation ceremony for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 2, 2004. REUTERS/Larry Downing

U.S. President George W. Bush poses with Paul Doran of Rochester, New York, while attending the graduation ceremony for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 2, 2004. REUTERS/Larry Downing

President Bush, right, is high-fived by graduate Brett Huiser, from Rock Valley, Iowa, at the United States Air Force Academy graduation ceremony at the Air Force Academy, Colorado, Wednesday, June 2, 2004. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Bush and a graduate wave to her family during graduation at the Air Force Academy in Colorado on Wednesday, June 2, 2004. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

U.S. President George W. Bush hugs Shannon Weber of Fountain, Colorado, while attending the graduation ceremony for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, June 2, 2004.

« Show less.

The Bush campaign has done a very thorough rebuttal to a recent Washington Post piece "From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity" by Dana Milbank and Jim VandeHei.

The Bush campaign counters the column charge by charge with facts backed up by sources. Well worth the read.

UPDATE: National Review's Byron York says the Washington Post's criticism of Bush's negativity is "dead wrong".

"Senator, I will say this. I think that politically, historically, the one thing that people try to do, that society is structured on as a whole, is an attempt to satisfy their felt needs, and you can satisfy those needs with almost any kind of political structure, giving it one name or the other. In this name it is democratic; in other it is communism; in others it is benevolent dictatorship. As long as those needs are satisfied, that structure will exist."

-John F. Kerry, April 22, 1971

Every economic indicator is pointing up. Jobs are being created by the hundreds of thousands every month. GDP is growing at the fastest rate in 20 years. Inflation is at historic lows.

You can thank President Bush and the GOP-controlled Congress for this. If they hadn't passed the Bush tax cuts, who knows how badly our economy would be doing?

But if Democrats have their way, most of the Bush tax cuts would be repealed or phased out. John Kerry has voted for 350 tax increases and there's no reason to think he'd change his ways if he were actually elected to the presidency. He'll raise your taxes and kill the Bush boom.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, over one hundred bloggers ask their readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And then e-mail wictory@blogsforbush.com so that you'll be added to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Well, this biased media, as a for instance. James Taranto over at Opinion Journal collects two brazen example of major-media shilling for John Kerry under the guise of news reporting.

In one of the examples, Taranto just quotes some of the questions Salon's Tim Grieve asked in a recent interview with Kerry. Here's just one of them (link requires subscription):

"Does Bush understand what's going on here? Does he have the capacity to understand that people change their minds when confronted with new circumstances? Or is he so consumed with consistency, with staying the course, that he can't see that?"

You'd think that the interviewer might be interested in what Kerry wants to do, rather than hearing comments from Kerry about what President Bush is doing...

Doesn't this seem tiresome at last? I mean, its become so abundantly clear the overwhelming bias in the major media against President Bush that only the most partisan, "ABB" Democrat can pretend to not see it....but, as always, there's more:

Bush, who avoided combat in Vietnam while serving as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard, calls himself a war president for his re-election campaign against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran.

This last from a Reuters news report...ostensibly reporting on how President Bush observed Memorial Day.

As many of us have pointed out over the past few months, what we have in Election 2004 is a massive, over-the-top and coordinated effort between the DNC, leftwing interest groups and the old-line major media to defeat President Bush. This is why this year will be so long - we'll win, and win big, into the bargain...but its a long, hard slog to get through this mountain of horse*%&$ to November 2nd.

...and your GOP Senate candidates.

As we all patiently waited for and fully expected, an out-of-control left-wing legislator-from-the-bench has ruled the ban on the barbaric practice of partial birth abortion is unconstitutional. Fox News has the details.

Of course, the Supreme Court will have the final say on this particular law, but this event shows, once again, why its imperative for us to re-elect President Bush and to increase the GOP majority in the Senate...the constitution of the United States and the laws passed as per its provisions simply will not be enforced as long as there are left-wing legislators who have been given judicial appointments - only a Republican President with a strong GOP majority in the Senate can end the insanity of one judge undoing the considered wisdom of the American people and their representatives in Congress.

This should make all of us go to work for the President and the Republican Party with a greater will - this, in the end, is what we really fight against; the usurpation of our rights by un-elected left-wingers who think they know better than we do.

The Winter Soldier reports on the value the Vietnamese communists place on Kerry's support of their efforts during the Vietnam War. So much value that they added his photo in the War Protestors Hall of the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City.

Well that does go along way to explain the Vietnam Vets Rolling Thunder and their endorsement of President Bush.

Most young men growing up wanted their photo to be in a Hall of Fame one day, all involving a sport like Baseball or Football Etc. We had our own heroes growing up, mine was Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Dave Concepcion, George Foster, Ken Griffey Sr., Pete Rose and Joe Morgan. Apparently John Kerry's was Ho Chi Minh.

How quaint.

UPDATE: Kerry 'Flips Off' Vietnam Vet

The Vietnamese communists clearly recognize John Kerry's contributions to their victory," he said. "This find can be compared to the discovery of a painting of Neville Chamberlain hanging in a place of honor in Hitler's Eagle's Nest in 1945."

This is the sixteenth edition of the weekly Carnival of the Bush Bloggers. This weeks Carnival was moved to Tuesday in observance of Memorial Day yesterday.

Here is what some Bush bloggers are writing about on their own sites:

Rob Westcott compares Hillary Clinton's recent statements on Fox News and the Clinton policy of the 1990's.

The Ramblings of Edward Yee gives a review of President Bush's speech on Iraq before the Army War College.

Mickey's Musings looks at John Kerry's so-called energy policy.

Esoteric * Diatribe shares an e-mail he received from a Vietnam Vet.

Watersblogged says Larry Sabato is wrong about the supposedly dire state of President Bush's prospects.

Miller's Time wonders why Al Gore didn't include John Ashcroft in his list of those who should resign from the Bush Administration.

Red Line Rants takes a look at the No Child Left Behind Act, explaining some of the common criticisms and misperceptions of the law.

INCITE enjoys the Kerry nomination delay fiasco.

Raincross Conservative notes Republican efforts in California.

The SmarterCop laughs at Kerry's absurd claim that he'd "crush Al Qaeda" if he was President.

RightPundit concludes that Kerry is basing his campaign on proposed policies on his personality.

The Pink Flamingo Bar Grill wonders why the Saddam/9-11 link has been shuffled away from the American people.

Reality Hammer doesn't buy liberals' claims that education reform is a failure.

Pardon My English points out the ridiculousness of Kerry's excuse that his quotes were supposed to be "off the record."

You can submit your entry for next weeks Carnival with the form on the Carnival page

Ben Stein - you remember him, right? The teacher in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" - also, if you watch a bit too much TV, the guy from Comedy Central's "Win Ben Stein's Money".

I've been reading Ben Stein's stuff for, oh, about twenty years now - mostly he just writes about what occurs to him - no attempts to really explain the world but, rather, just observations about what is going on. In the gentle politeness of Ben Stein we get a look at that real America that is out there behind the headlines and ignored by the television news.

Mr. Stein has written an article on why he thinks President Bush will prevail this November, and its well worth reading. Here's a sample of it:

What I see in America in the hundreds of thousands of miles I travel each year is ... a spirit of clubby happiness. In an airport, there may not be bald eagles nesting on wooden pilings in the water a few feet away as there would be in North Idaho. But there is that same cheerful feeling of fellowship....

...I don't want to paint with too broad a brush. There are pockets of constant complaining. The big cities of the east and west coasts, especially among people who make their living be complaining, are not so happy as North Idaho. Whole large swaths of the population who rationalize their own failings by thinking of themselves as victims, especially in big cities and heavy coffee drinking centers, have their own clubs. Those brotherhoods specialize in pessimism and anger as they spend the money they have inherited or receive as allowances from family, state, or university. The malcontents live on their frustration and envy of the people who are actually out there accomplishing things. That envy rises like the steam from the coffee and lattes they are endlessly drinking.

Some great philosophical thinkers of the past opined that if liberalism triumphed people would, indeed, be released from the inhibitions of the old ways but that they would not find happines - they would find themselves in a very lonely crowd of people with no connections; no past, no present and no future. Atomized, naked human beings resentful of their fellow human beings. Liberalism has triumped - in the coastal cities and a few other places. The bitterness of these places is shown by their cynicism about government, the United States, the American people - they don't love or care; only hate and wish to tear down - to make others as miserable as they are because they see the light and cannot stand it.

Fortunately, liberalism did not triumph everywhere - in what is called "flyover America", the truely conservative society continues; mocked and derrided by the liberal parts of the country, but still doing the work of civilization. It is these people who will carry the day this November - because hope always triumphs over hopelessness; because to strive for great things will always be preferrable to a cynicism which prides itself on despair.

I've said it again and again that right makes might - we are right, and we will prove to have the might; both here at home, and in the battlefields of foreign lands.

Showing no shame, John Kerry chose to play politics on Memorial Day, attacking President Bush while in Virginia:

Democrat John Kerry ventured in to Republican leaning Virginia on Monday with a Memorial Day pitch targeting military families and a charge that President Bush "didn't learn the lessons of our generation in Vietnam."

Kerry joined Virginia Gov. Mark Warner for a Memorial Day parade in Portsmouth, home to naval shipyards and other big military installations, and later promised he could get American troops home from Iraq sooner than Bush would.

"I believe I can lead us out of Iraq effectively by accomplishing goals we need to accomplish but without putting our troops at greater risk," he said.

No shame, no honor, no respect.

John Kerry has taken a day of remembrance and taken advantage of the grief and mourning of veterans, the families of veterans, and all Americans.

Kerry saw it fit to attack Bush on Iraq, and promising "he could get American troops home from Iraq sooner than Bush would." Which is interesting since he already said this past week he'd send 40,000 troops over to Iraq.

Kerry also regurgitated the false claim that Bush has ignored the needs of veterans. Kerry has claimed Bush has cut the VA budget, even though it has never been cut and actually increased funding by 40%.

John Kerry, who never misses an opportunity to remind everyone he's a Vietnam Veteran, dishonored all Veterans by turning Memorial Day into a campaign event for himself.

Once again, I am shocked, appalled, and ashamed of my senator.

I hope that everyone enjoys their Memorial Day - remember the veterans, but also have a good time. Relax, take it easy.

Tomorrow its back to work and back into the political trenches. You don't think our Democratic friends haven't been spending the last three days re-sharpening their knives for us, do ya?

Rasmussen shows a bit of a jump for President Bush over the past few days since he gave the War College speech. Still tight in the Rasmussen poll, but its interesting that when President Bush gets out there front and center he does better, while whenever Kerry gets in the news, nothing happens.

Trouble in Ohio for President Bush? Thats the conventional wisdom - and there have been a couple polls to indicate this. The latest poll, however, shows President Bush up by 6 over Kerry in a three-way matchup. I think its interesting that the larger the number of people polled, the better the President does. Does the smaller polling numbers, which tend to indicate trouble for President Bush, actually indicate trouble, or manufactured bad news to hurt the President? We report, you decide.

How is the President's political base doing? Well, the latest poll in Alabama has President Bush up by 19 percentage points - President Bush won that State by 15 percentage points in 2000. How about John Kerry's political base? Well, New York went for Gore by 25 percentage points, latest poll there indicates Kerry solidly ahead - but by 19 percentage points; this is what I've seen all year...President Bush doing remarkably better in his base than Kerry is doing in his. What it shows is that people who voted for President Bush in 2000 are even more likely to vote for him in 2004 - while Gore's voters are still waiting for a reason to support Kerry.

They wont get one.

The summer political doldrums are upon us, good people - for the next three months, don't pay too much attention to the polls, but the polls taken in the Spring give us every reason to be optimistic.

Hat Tip: Real Clear Politics

I just wanted to share with all of the Blogs for Bush community some reflections I have from yesterday, May 29th, the date we dedicated the national World War Two memorial in Washington DC.

I don't know how many know this, but at the same time that the national memorial was dedicated in DC, World War Two vets, and their families, who could not gather in DC got together in cities and towns across the nation to mark the event. The event I attended was in a small town called Pahrump in Nevada - about 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas. I attended with my WWII vet father, George C. Noonan, my fiance, her mother and her father - also a World War Two vet named Joseph Wilinski. In attendance in this small, out-of-the-way town were about 60 veterans of the war, and about 500 people all told.

It was, good people, the most touching and moving event I've ever attended.

Seems like we've been saying this a lot recently, but once again things continue to look great for the economy:

The Labor Department may report Friday that U.S. companies added 225,000 workers to their payrolls last month, fueled by an economy that's raced ahead at the fastest clip since 1984, economists said.

The projected increase would bring to almost 850,000 the number of jobs created since March, for the best three months of job creation since the year 2000. The Labor Department may also report the unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent.

Separate reports from the Institute for Supply Management are forecast to show manufacturing and the service industry expanded this month. A report from the Commerce Department is projected to show that construction spending rose in April.

"It's hard to say the economy is slowing if you get payrolls growing more than 200,000 and an ISM index above 60,'' Robert Mellman, an economist at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in New York, said. "The economy is doing just fine.''

Other reports expected to come out this week may show that productivity is up, from an estimated 3.5 percent. First-time claims for unemployment insurance probably fell to 335,000 from 344,000 the previous week.

I blame the Bush tax cuts.

I'm watching Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Meet The Press (shudder) and she keeps using the phrase that Sec. Powell used - "If you break it, you fix it."

Does anyone find it odd that most Democrats think that a country on its way to being a stable democracy is "broke" but a ruthless terrorizing dictator is "fixed"?

One has to question what is the most important thing here for them - scoring a political victory or spreading freedom and securing the world.

The New York Times' John Tierney reviews the John Kerry nomination two-step in his political roundup today, noting that the episode has some of the earmarks of a trial balloon. If that's the case, Tierney's piece has all of the indicators of spin control, trying to give the Kerry campaign a boost it doesn't deserve for this debacle:

The news broke on a Friday afternoon, politicians' favorite time for leaking problematic stories they hope will not get noticed by the public over the weekend. At first glance, it looked like a radical idea being put out discreetly to test reaction among the chattering classes — a classic trial balloon. But campaign officials have steadfastly insisted, on and off the record, that the leak was not authorized, and other Democrats say they believe them. As one well-connected Democratic strategist noted, it was hard to believe professionals would have planned this one.

I think that Tierney had it right the first time. The Friday release intended to catch most people on their way out the door, and the relentlessly bogged down Kerry campaign needed to act boldly to demonstrate they really want to win, rather than just stand pat and hope Bush self-destructs by November. No trial-balloon leak is ever acknowledged as "authorized" -- if it was, it would be a press release -- and the fact that other Democrats believe the campaign means little. It's the only campaign Democrats have.

"Instead of pressing the button for a trial balloon, they hit the one for ton of bricks," he said. "The story should never have come out as an idea being considered by the campaign. The idea should have come from the outside. If other Democratic politicians and activists and columnists had started promoting it, there might have been a chance to build support. You want it to look as if Kerry is just responding to popular demand — as if he'd be stupid not to go along with everyone else."

All of which assumes that the Kerry campaign knows what it's doing, when all indications thus far have been the opposite.

Still, Democrats said the episode served some purpose, if inadvertently. By reminding the party faithful of Mr. Bush's August fund-raising advantage, the publicity presumably encouraged them to give more before then — you could call it a way of monetizing the base. And some Democrats were impressed to see the response by Mr. Kerry, who has often been accused of indecisiveness.

"When an unexpected situation comes up, the reaction is an important lesson about the candidate's leadership," said Jenny Backus, a Democratic consultant. "Once this idea got out there way before its time, it was encouraging to see him act quickly and decisively. He avoided death by a thousand paper cuts all summer."

Tierney just becomes fanciful here. Kerry's decisive response, you will recall, was to support the idea of delaying the nomination, not squelching it. In doing so, he reached into history to come up with two, and only two, examples of a delayed nomination: Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman:

"Once again, the Republicans don't know history, and they don't know facts," he said. "The truth is that it used to be that the convention, after nomination, traveled to the home or the state of the nominee to inform them they've been nominated. Woodrow Wilson was at his house in Princeton, N.J.; Harry Truman was in Independence," Mo., he said. "They're trying to make an issue out of something that they're surprised by, because . . . they're very upset someone might have a way of neutralizing their advantage."

As I blogged at the time, now that we've invented television and the internet, having a candidate live a thousand miles from the convention no longer presents a problem like that faced by Woodrow Wilson. Perhaps someone should inform Kerry about the marvelous changes in communication technology we enojy since 1948. On the other hand, someone should also tell the senator from Massachussetts that Boston is where he lives. How is that analogous to Truman's nomination?

The following day, Kerry flip-flopped and abandoned the idea of the delayed acceptance, saying "Boston is the place where America's freedom began, and it's where I want the journey to the Democratic nomination to be completed. On Thursday, July 29, with great pride, I will accept my party's nomination for president in the city of Boston. From there we will begin our journey to a new America."

In other words, Kerry was for the nomination before he was against it, and afterwards, too. That's decisive? That's leadership? No wonder they need Bill Clinton to start campaigning on their behalf. In comparison to Kerry, Clinton's notorious poll-driven decisionmaking will look positively rash by comparison. I would guess that they will need John Tierney to spin the campaign in the Gray Lady for the next several months, too.

It’s the Buzz that just won’t stop. Kerry/McCain or McCain/Kerry as some newspapers put it.

I guess with such a shallow candidate and a non-existent bench to draw from, the Democrats have no choice. I for one will not shed a tear to see Senator McCain jump ship. He has been a pain in the Presidents side since he has taken office and will only become a pain in Kerry’s if he puts the poor sad sack of a Senator on his ticket.

The Seattle-Times is out with the latest siren call. “Buzz grows over Kerry-McCain ticket” goes the headline by Steven Thomma. Steven says it would be one of “boldest choices of a running mate in U.S. history.”

McCain for his part has said "I will not be vice president of the United States," and "I have totally ruled it out," he said another time. This is a byproduct of a recent CBS NEWS poll that shows Kerry leading Bush in the poll by a margin of 49 percent to 41 percent. But a Kerry-McCain ticket leads a Bush-Cheney ticket by a much larger margin of 53 percent to 39 percent. The Numbers are farfetched to begin with and the Presidency is always won by the name at the top of the ticket.

RealClearPolitics shows three polls that maybe closer to the truth.

• Rasmussen: Kerry 45, Bush 45
• Quinnipiac: Bush 43, Kerry 42, Nader 6
• Insider Adv: Bush 43, Kerry 43, Nader 4

Looks like John Kerry has flushed his money down the toilet. Even after his recent campaign ad blitz, Kerry was unable to to make a dent in Louisiana.

Earlier this month, The Times-Picayune reported:

With polls showing a close race nationwide and the momentary advantage shifting back and forth, each campaign has been targeting a pool of potential swing states -- mostly states that had close races in 2000.

Louisiana doesn't immediately appear to fit that bill. President Bush won the state by almost 8 points in 2000. In a poll conducted last month by Southern Media and Opinion Research of Baton Rouge, Bush led Kerry in Louisiana by 14 points.

But there are some positive signs for Kerry. The state is a traditional bellwether, having voted with the winner in the past eight presidential elections -- including Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Democrats have won the past two big statewide prizes -- the 2003 governor's race and the 2002 U.S. Senate race -- despite vigorous Republican campaigns.

So now, even after Kerry's ad blitz, an independent statewide poll shows Bush now enjoys a 19 point lead in the state.

Looks like it's actually Kerry who's the one thats spending tons of money has has nothing to show for it.

Hat tip to Raincross Conservative.

The Kerry campaign would like to believe that Bush isn't doing too well in the polls, and that his ad blitz on Kerry was ineffective, however, it is the Kerry campaign that is actually in some serious trouble – and the Democrats know this:

Top advisers to the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, have asked Bill Clinton to play a starring role in the final months of the Massachusetts senator's campaign.

Four years ago, in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the former vice-president Al Gore distanced himself from Mr Clinton, during his race against George W Bush. But after heated internal discussions, the Kerry camp has decided that Mr Clinton's personal charisma is needed to bolster the appeal of Sen Kerry, who has been accused of running a lacklustre campaign and failing to take advantage of President Bush's problems in Iraq.

We've gone from Kerry needed a pro-life Republican on his ticket to boost his campaign, to enlisting Bill Clinton to stump for him in order to boost Kerry's appeal.

Just what exactly is going on in the Kerry campaign? First McCain was Kerry's savior, now it's Clinton? Sounds like things aren't going well at all for the Kerry campaign. If Kerry can't be the star of his own campaign, than what does that say about him as a candidate?

"There has been talk about the danger of Bill Clinton overshadowing John," said a senior Democrat last week, "but the decision has been taken to accept him as being centre stage and hope that some of the magic rubs off".

Can Kerry not carry the water for his own campaign that it takes someone like Clinton to get Kerry votes? Clinton couldn't boost the campaigns of Democrat candidates during the midterm elections – what makes Democrats think he'll do magic for Kerry?

Adding to Kerry's troubles, his own campaign staff sees him as an uninspiring lackluster candidate:

"I've never heard him tell a joke," said one campaign worker at a Kerry fund-raising party last week.

"I've never seen him look as if he was genuinely enjoying himself. He just needs to come across as more human. If Clinton can help with that, then we sure need that help."

The former New York governor, Mario Cuomo, still an influential figure in Democrat politics, has also advised Mr Kerry to exploit the Clinton factor.

"Whatever you can do to use Bill and Hillary, big time, use them. The sun that makes your plants grow and makes everybody strong and gives life to the world is so big that when it shows up everybody tends to notice it. So what? What do you get from the sun? You get nourishment. You get life."

This is really bad news for the Kerry campaign. In the wake of 9-11, the American people want a leader – and Kerry isn't cutting it and the Democrats know it.

The confident front put on the Kerry campaign can't hide that this strategy of having Kerry's surrogates attempt to win the election for him means that they know they've got a weak candidate.

Surrogates are supposed to campaign for you they're not supposed to win the election for you.

To make matters even worse for Kerry, not all Democrats agree the Clinton can boost Kerry's campaign – but rather detract from it:

At the Kerry campaign headquarters in Washington, some aides are less confident that their candidate can hold his own, if forced to share the stage this summer with the biggest star of Democratic politics during the past 25 years. "Al Gore made a mistake when he didn't use Clinton," said one campaign worker.

"John Kerry is not going to make that mistake. But he will need to be very careful. How many Democrats are going to look at Bill during the convention and think: he's still the best candidate we have."

The Kerry campaign is in real trouble.

Leaving no stone (state?) unturned, President Bush's campaign chairman visits the fine people of Oregon to spread the President's message:

Racicot said the healthy forests bill was passed by Congress last year with support from Democrats and Republicans in Oregon's congressional delegation.

The compromise plan allows increased logging of federal forests, particularly near populated areas, as a way to thin fire-prone trees and brush while also providing jobs in the timber industry.

Kerry has spoken out against the healthy forests initiative, saying he is worried that it could lead to more logging than is appropriate.

But Racicot said Thursday that Kerry has an "incredible misunderstanding" of the healthy forests initiative.

"President Bush is providing legislation from healthy forests to a sound energy plan while Sen. Kerry offers political opportunism," the former Montana governor said. "Attacking the president on these issues is not a strong policy for our environment."

President Bush met with editors of religously-themed magazines last Wednesday, and ChristianityToday has the interview/transcript up. Some highlights:

The long-run solution to terror is freedom. That's what we believe in America. We believe that everybody yearns to be free. We believe everybody can be free. Now I'm getting people to research all the statements of doubt about whether or not Japan could be free after World War II. And I suspect we'll find there was quite a bit of cynicism, and people were just flat dubious that people in the Far East—who had a religion that was foreign to most Americans—could conceivably self-govern in a democratic style. Thank goodness the optimists ruled the day, because I now work with [Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro] Koizumi to deal with problems in world peace 50 years later, such as Korea. And so that's what I'm spending a lot time thinking about.

Which presidents do you most admire?

Lincoln. Lincoln because he had a vision of the United States when he could have easily succumbed to pressures and said, "Let's just end this thing quick and we'll have two countries." Lincoln because of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln because he kept—in the midst of a country that was at war with each other—he kept this great vision of hope.

How you do balance not promoting a particular religion, while still being influenced by your personal faith?

My job is to make sure that, as President, people understand that in this country you can worship any way you choose. And I'll take that a step further. You can be a patriot if you don't believe in the Almighty. You can honor your country and be as patriotic as your neighbor.

JunkYardBlog has created its own political ad. This ad exposes the dramatic and partisan metamorphosis of Al Gore.

Take the time and view the video. JunkYardBlog has it available as an .avi and a .mov file.

T. Bevan over at Real Clear Politics has the MUST READ analysis of Kerry's so-called Five Imperatives for foreign policy. Essentially, its all a return to the drifting, head-in-the-sand nonsense of the 1990's which led directly to the 9/11 attacks. Bevan does point out that the architects of Kerry's policies are, after all, the very same people who worked for the Clinton Administration making the world safe for tyrants and terrorists.

Since it seems unclear to some people, let me help clarify: there is no way - and I mean not a snowball's chance - that John Kerry would have taken military action against Saddam Hussein without the explicit authorization of the UN Security Council. Kerry has made it clear that the unanimous vote on Resolution 1441 calling for "severe consequences" against Saddam wasn't good enough.

Remember, Kerry wasn't even in favor of taking military action after Saddam Hussein had invaded another country and his army was pillaging Kuwait City in 1991.

Remember also that there wouldn't even have been a Resolution 1441 pushed through the Security Council in the first place if President Bush hadn't laid down the markers of just how serious a matter Iraq's full compliance was to the United States of America.

In other words, it's almost beyond dispute that if John Kerry were president, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. Hussein and his sons would still be running a rogue state, flouting international law, destabilizing the region, and profiting daily from a corrupt and scandalous UN -un oil-for-food program.

Go read the whole thing - and then ask yourself, as Bevan suggests, whether you want to turn over direction of American policy to these purveyors of the failed policies of the past.