August 19, 2004
Speaking Truth To Weakness
Condi Rice and Sean Hannity are sweet. They have this little code between them, like lovers, or little kids, or members of a prison gang.
"We still don't have clarity about what role Syria may have played in the movement of weapons one way or another before the war," she told radio host Sean Hannity.
"But it's certainly something that is worth clarifying," Dr. Rice added.
Translation: "Shmoopy-poo, we have no intention whatsoever of addressing this as complete bull until it reaches a critical mass, which means you need to get on it. Until then, we're going to keep it alive through vaguely-worded statements that make it seem as if it might have validity. And tonight at 7, get your shiv and head to the TV room."
Zig Zag Zell
"My job tonight is an easy one: to present to you one of this nation's authentic heroes, one of this party's best-known and greatest leaders -- and a good friend. He was once a lieutenant governor -- but he didn't stay in that office 16 years, like someone else I know. It just took two years before the people of Massachusetts moved him into the United States Senate in 1984. -- U.S. Senator Zell Miller [Remarks to the Democratic Party of Georgia Jefferson Jackson Dinner 2001]
"In his 16 years in the Senate, John Kerry has fought against government waste and worked hard to bring some accountability to Washington. Early in his Senate career in 1986, John signed on to the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Bill, and he fought for balanced budgets before it was considered politically correct for Democrats to do so. John has worked to strengthen our military, reform public education, boost the economy and protect the environment.” -- U.S. Senator Zell Miller [Remarks to the Democratic Party of Georgia Jefferson Jackson Dinner 2001]
Credibility Stretching...Stretching
Let me get this straight.
Larry Thurlow responds to the Washington Post story today about his having been given a Bronze Star for something he says never happened. Not only do I doubt his credibility, I seriously doubt his intellect.
So now, Kerry lied Thurlow into a medal?
Not only does this beggar all comprehension - John Kerry was the sole source of information on the attack, and nobody thought to tell anyone else involved about what he said about the mission, even as Rassmann was putting in for a Silver Star for Kerry - but Thurlow is now openly admitting that he has a fraudulent Bronze Star.
It was not until I had left the Navy-approximately three months after I left
the service-that I was notified that I was to receive a citation for my
actions on that day.
I believed then as I believe now that I received my Bronze Star for my
efforts to rescue the injured crewmen from swift boat number three and to
conduct damage control to prevent that boat from sinking.
Well, it's too bad that the official records contradict your "belief". This isn't a debate over whether or not Jesus had straight or curly hair - this was a mission in Vietnam recorded by the Navy at the time.
Thurlow "believes" he got his medal for a particular reason that is contradicted by the official record - which means that at no point in the past 30 years did he ever look at the record of his citation. Or, in fact, at the criteria for a Bronze Star.
(1) While engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States. A-7
(2) While engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.
(3) While serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.
c. When the Bronze Star is awarded for heroism, a bronze letter "V" (for valor) is worn on the suspension and service ribbon of that medal.
If there was no enemy present, Thurlow was not engaged at the time he performed his actions on his boat. If he was not engaged, he should have known that he didn't deserve a Bronze Star. So, the question is, why did Thurlow keep a Star for an operation that he knew didn't merit the award? Why didn't he ever check out the reason why he got the Star? What kind of guy cares this much about Kerry's Bronze Star but didn't take 15 minutes to request the records of his own commendation? And if he has, he's been falsely awarded, knowingly, for three decades. Either he's a liar, or an idiot - and in either case, suspect as hell.
The big question is: why did we give a man this stupid a gun and control of a boat in which he was responsible for the lives of other men? How do you receive a medal that requires you be engaged with the enemy for an event in which you contend you weren't engaged with the enemy, and not question it?
Respect Our Freedoms, Slaves
Those pesky Iraqis just don't seem to understand how much freedom and love George W. Bush has given them. That, or George W. Bush should stop using people who don't like him in his ads:
In those spots, the flags of Iraq and Afghanistan appear as a narrator says, "At this Olympics there will be two more free nations -- and two fewer terrorist regimes."
"Iraq as a team does not want Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign," Sadir told SI.com through a translator, speaking calmly and directly. "He can find another way to advertise himself."
Ahmed Manajid, who played as a midfielder on Wednesday, had an even stronger response when asked about Bush's TV advertisement. "How will he meet his god having slaughtered so many men and women?" Manajid told me. "He has committed so many crimes."
...
"My problems are not with the American people," says Iraqi soccer coach Adnan Hamad. "They are with what America has done in Iraq: destroy everything. The American army has killed so many people in Iraq. What is freedom when I go to the [national] stadium and there are shootings on the road?"
...
Manajid, 22, who nearly scored his own goal with a driven header on Wednesday, hails from the city of Fallujah. He says coalition forces killed Manajid's cousin, Omar Jabbar al-Aziz, who was fighting as an insurgent, and several of his friends. In fact, Manajid says, if he were not playing soccer he would "for sure" be fighting as part of the resistance.
"I want to defend my home. If a stranger invades America and the people resist, does that mean they are terrorists?" Manajid says. "Everyone [in Fallujah] has been labeled a terrorist. These are all lies. Fallujah people are some of the best people in Iraq."
Why Won't You Investigate...That Thing?
Judicial Watch, having done their one good deed with Cheney's energy task force records, is back to general conservative hackery. Now, they're asking for an investigation by the Navy and the Department of Defense into Kerry's medals and his anti-war activity.
I'm getting odd memories of Bill O'Reilly's halcyon days of trying to get Jesse Jackson's tax records investigated. He would have had enough evidence to start the investigation...if only the IRS would start the investigation to get him the evidence.
And what I don't get is why the Swifties and the Watchies are pushing Kerry's medals so much. Either a war hero has five medals for wounds and for acts of bravery handed to him but military investigators, or the military has no idea whatsoever what it's doing, and you can't trust any awards it's ever given out, because you could tell them that you gunned down a invading Vietcong force on your way to the shower and they'd give you at least a Bronze Star for it.
Did the military just have a little "Choose Your Own Episode Of Military Valor" checklist? Maybe Mad Libs for Medals?
Here Comes Part 2
The right is going to rue the day the Swift Boat Liars stepped on the stage. Go take a look at Kerry's new ad explaining that, indeed, he is twice the hero and four times the man these slimebuckets are. Notice especially the one-two combo of tarring the Republicans for their negative ads and reiterating Kerry's valor. This ad gives me feelings. New, unfamiliar, feelings.
Comforting
Well, this leaves me feeling confident for electronic voting:
.
At first people scratched their heads in disbelief, including many Chávez supporters, but accepted these figures after César Gaviria, secretary general of the Organization of American States, and former President Jimmy Carter said their own quick counts coincided with the electoral council's figures. Two days after the referendum, however, evidence is growing that the software of the touch-screen voting machines had been tampered with. The opposition has requested that the votes be recounted manually and that the boxes holding the voting papers, currently stored in army garrisons, be put under the custody of international observers.
...
Evidence of foul play has surfaced. In the town of Valle de la Pascua, where papers were counted at the initiative of those manning the voting center, the Yes vote had been cut by more than 75 percent, and the entire voting material was seized by the national guard shortly after the difference was established.
Three machines in a voting center in the state of Bolivar that has generally voted against Chávez all showed the same 133 votes for the Yes option, and higher numbers for the No option. Two other machines registered 126 Yes votes and much higher votes for the No. which can both send and receive information, were reprogrammed to start adjudicating all votes to the No option after a given number of Yes votes has been registered.
Half-Point Deduction
I'm all in favor of cute animated Internet games. Really. And I'm making this criticism irrespective of political persuasion. But a glorified game of Simon is not a compelling setup for a political hit piece, especially when you're trying to impart information about relatively inane "contradictions".
The RNC and Bush have both become highly enamored of anti-Kerry online "games", such as Kerryopoly. The DNC and the Kerry/Edwards campaign have, thankfully, seemed to shy away from the epiphany-through-Shockwave that Bush and the RNC are relying on.
Continue reading "Half-Point Deduction"Kerry/Gagne?
Remember all that talk about John Kerry being a good closer? He may look like he's faltering the first few months, like he can't win, like he shouldn't have even been the candidate...but then he turns around and all of a sudden pulls ahead to secure a victory?
I think we just entered the eighth inning.
(Via Atrios.)
Fighting Back
The NYT details Democratic anti-Nader efforts today.
This part was telling:
Cynthia E. Kernick, another Reed Smith partner, said that there was nothing undemocratic about the effort. "Our role is not to challenge the valid voter, but Nader ought not to be treated differently from anyone who wants to get on the ballot," she said. "He can't just get on because he's a legend. That doesn't give him the ability to make shortcuts."
It's time to sit the Nader campaign down and have the talk with them that should be had with every petulant teenager with an inflated sense of ego or entitlement.
Ralph, you are not special. You're just another candidate. You want to be treated like a Republican or Democrat, get onstage at the debates, get as much media coverage, etc.? Then you have to grow up and realize that you will be treated like a Democrat would treat a Republican.
You've arrived! Congratulations. Now shut the fuck up about Democrats being against independent candidates, because you're being treated just like the GOP would be if they were undertaking this venture for a candidate (which, oddly enough, they are). You are now a candidate for president, not a lecture speaker. You aren't to be exalted because you aren't a part of a major party.
You aren't special. You're another cog in another machine with very little chance of doing anything meaningful in the future unless you get your head out of your ass very, very soon. You are entitled to exactly nothing, particularly when you play hardball with people who have a lot more at stake than you do.
And that goes double for you, Defense Bitch.
Alan Keyes With A Nice Chianti
Thomas Sowell pens a memoir of his worst snub ever, when George H.W. Bush would invite neither him nor Alan Keyes to the White House.
The Wall Street Journal was incensed that the elder President Bush agreed to these preconditions but I was more amused than anything else. For one thing, I had been to the White House the previous week and said what I had to say, not that it did any good.
BUSH: "Welcome to the White Hou-"
SOWELL: "Kidneys!"
KEYES: "Slaves!"
BUSH: "What?"
KEYES: "Kidney slaves!"
SOWELL: "No, kidney freedom!"
KEYES: "Sunshine, lollipops and...rainbows everywhere!"
(For those of you who don't know, Sowell is a proponent of the idea that one should be allowed to voluntarily sell their extra kidney as a a basis for being economically "free".)
But Sowell's article would be nothing, nothing, I say, if it didn't go over the well-worn territory of why black people should vote for Republicans.
Seeking Truth
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, huh? Well, I'm sure they're appreciative to the Washington Post for helping them find it:
But Thurlow's military records, portions of which were released yesterday to The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act, contain several references to "enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire" directed at "all units" of the five-boat flotilla. Thurlow won his own Bronze Star that day, and the citation praises him for providing assistance to a damaged Swift boat "despite enemy bullets flying about him."
As one of five Swift boat skippers who led the raid up the Bay Hap River, Thurlow was a direct participant in the disputed events. He is also a leading member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a public advocacy group of Vietnam veterans dismayed by Kerry's subsequent antiwar activities, which has aired a controversial television advertisement attacking his war record.
Instapundit (who I'm not going to link to) cites this story as further evidence of left-wing bias -- they won't talk about the Swift Boat allegations except to prove them wrong. What, he asks, of Cambodia, where Kerry was proved wrong?
It occurs to me that conservative bloggers would be very bad editors, as they have little ear for an interesting story. The Cambodia correction, at best, would read something like: "For years, John Kerry said he was in Cambodia on Christmas Eve. Recent documentation makes that untrue; he was there a few weeks later." Scintillating it isn't.
August 18, 2004
Morgan Hamm Van Den Hoogenband!
Request to the people broadcasting the Olympics - we already know that sports will only get covered if Americans are in them. But can they please stop covering the most marketable/best storied athletes even when another American is doing better?
I'm looking right at Paul Hamm who, even though he ended up winning a gold medal, was overshadowing Brett McClure when McClure was ahead of him.
We wonder why certain sports never take off in the U.S.? It's because the only time they're ever given any credibility as sports is when an American can win them. Cycling? I didn't even know the leader of the Tour de France got a yellow jersey until Lance Armstrong rode. Fencing? Well...an American won that, right? And you have to, like, touch the other person with the sword somewhere? Judo? Don't even bother.
Goddamn liberal sports media...that is wholly America-centered. Actually, it's a lot more instructive about the actual biases of the media than all the bitching and whining that goes on between left and right talking heads. Holding onto narratives like a virtual lifeline, the estimation that all the viewers want to see is the things they're familiar with, the virtual blackout of any story that doesn't fit with that unless it's forced upon them by undeniable circumstance...watch the Olympics if you want to understand why you don't feel informed by the news.
How Jack Germond Sent a Kid to Prom
The Prospect's got a nice interview with legendary political report Jack Germond. His memoir, Fat Man in the Middle Seat, was the first political book I ever read (well, horserace political, I'd read something by Chomsky prior) and gave me enough random bits of knowledge to impress a girl I met and convince her to be my prom date. So there ya go; how Jack Germond sent a kid to prom.
Oh, the interview is interesting too.
Update: Speaking of Prospect web articles, my buddy Sam Rosenfeld has a great piece charting the shifting demographics of Colorado and explaining why it should make us happy. To continue on the theme above, great party knowledge, particularly if the hot partygoer you're talking to happens to be from Colorado. Or maybe I'm the only one who uses political trivia to enhance my game...
AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH...Whew
The one place Republican rhetoric and I agree is the malevolent evil of bureaucracies. Let's take the immovable mounds of red tape that have converged so that my admissions offer to UCLA might be rescinded.
Let me start over. A week ago I got an e-mail saying my transcripts hadn't been received and, well, they needed them. Since the e-mail said "To date, we have not received official transcripts from one or more of your previous institutions", I assumed -- rightfully, from the word choice -- that the trouble lay in my previous school. Fine and dandy, only my transcripts had been received and my student portal attested to the fact. Must've been a computer glitch. But the hold on my records didn't lift and so I called the admissions office. And never got through. And called again and, finally, after two days of trying, made it to a human. The human noted that it was the AP tests that I took in high school and I thought would go along with my UCSC transcript. Apparently not. Oh, and they need to be in by Friday because, a few grace days after that, I'm dropped from the university.
So I call the collegeboard and get a rush order, which they promise will be there in 5-9 days, and costs me $25. Fine. So I call UCLA back to tell them the problem has been cleared up and let's move on only to find that, even though I've instituted a rush order and fixed things insofar as I'm able, it doesn't much matter unless the tests get there by the grace period's end. And nobody knows how long the grace period is nor are they able to take my name and admittance off the chopping block. So I'm now freaking out for an indeterminate number of days (no more than nine, probably) during which my tests may or may not appear and my college career may or may not be derailed. Fuck that I'm a good applicant, fuck that their e-mail used the wrong noun, fuck that they will absolutely receive the scores...bureaucracy moves for no man.
So I may or may not be screwed. And if I am, I have no idea what I do next. ARGH. And why am I putting it up on Pandagon? I have no fucking idea, I only know that I'm too frustrated not to.
Update: Thankfully, the problem seems on its way towards resolution. The dean of admissions replied and has assigned someone to look into this and help me out; since the only action I need them to take is none at all until the parcel comes (at which point I would like them to cease threatening expulsion), it should be okay. Thanks to those of you in UC Administration willing to leap to my defense, the many of you with terrific advice (who knew universities had ombudsmen?), and the numerous commiserators. I'm always touched anew by your concern for the faceless pundits behind the panda...
Right On, O'Reilly
"It is absolutely wrong for Americans to condemn Kerry's war record because he demonstrated provable valor. However, those who distrust him do deserve to be heard although facts not emotion should be demanded.
"I think the Swift Boat political advertisement calling Kerry a charlatan is in poor taste, and if this kind of thing continues it might well backfire on the Kerry haters. Most Americans are fair minded, and bitter personal attacks do not go down well with folks who are not driven by partisanship."
Things You Should Be Reading
• The Gadflyer has an extremely important feature article that lays out, in scary detail, exactly how the right has turned the tide in the campus wars. No one denies that the left still holds the hearts of most students, but for the politically unsure searching for a roost, the right is able to offer a much more materially attractive, apparently prestigious and desperately attentive home. They're putting substantial resources into the fight for young voters and, if we don't begin matching them, they're going to begin winning. It's a vastly underreported story, so if you read nothing else today, read Holland's piece.
• And from Campaign Desk, Liza Cox Barrett has an excellent catch, a combination of CNN being mind-numbingly stupid and CNN being laughably easy to lead. It's pathetic how played these guys get, particularly considering Bush's statement didn't even make sense (a case Matt Yglesias is on).
Also at CD, my friend Brian Montopoli gets in a beautiful jab at Ben Shapiro:
• Though Ken underestimates how calculated the portion of the Kerry persona we push is, his post is still pants-wettingly funny and pretty damn insightful.
War Stories
Brent Bozell shows what a lying liar he is:
What the right-wingers loudly protesting the lack of scrutiny on Kerry's war stories miss is that not all war records are created equal. When the question is whether or not a leader used his wealth, class or connections to evade serving his country, that deserves full scrutiny because it says something important about their historical willingness to fight for their nation. When the question is exactly how heroic someone's service was, how badly their Vietcong-inflicted injuries bled, how far up the Mekong Delta they traveled and how accurately they recall and retell their war stories, there's no compelling reason to wring out the remembrances. They're backed up by fellow crewmembers and, at worst, can be proven to hold incorrect memories or exaggerated feats, hardly a mark against those who've put their lives on the line.
So bring it on Bozell, and Reynolds, and Hewitt. The deeper you go into the record, the more firefights you talk about, the longer you force the media to engage Kerry's soldiering in response to this ad...the more you're going to drive home one point. Whether Kerry was in Cambodia or Vietnam, we know where he wasn't. And that's safely stateside, with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Redeploy This!
The whole kerfluffle (hah! Jesse owes me 5 bucks) over Bush's plan to reduce troop levels in Europe and Asia is tough. On the one hand, I'm all for diminishing outdated military commitments. We do not need to defend Germany any longer. On the other, I just don't trust Bush here.
It relates to Jesse's earlier post on Kerry's refusal to oppose missile defense. Few believe Kerry actually supports the system, as the evidence of its efficacy makes Enron's balance sheets look honest. Nonetheless, the damage of an article saying "Kerry opposes missile defense" is too great to risk, so he'll go on record for it but never do anything to advance the program while in office. Similarly, he vocally supports reducing troop levels but opposes Bush's attempt to do it now, as do I.
There are two reasons to be against the plan currently. The first is, simply, that world affairs are in too great an upheaval to begin shuffling our military forces. With North Korea still a threat and the possibility of Islamic violence high, we don't want to deal with the psychic consequences of changing our deployments now. In world affairs, interpretation is important, and various allied and opposing countries may take this wrong, further overturning any semblance of predictability in the international realm.
Continue reading "Redeploy This!"I Won Multiple Voters Running Away
John Kerry.
I'm talking to you right now. Yes, you. Get on this. Right. Now.
After voter registration centres closed across Afghanistan on the weekend, election officials acknowledged the number of voting cards issued far exceeded the estimated number of eligible voters — and that the illegal practice of multiple registrations is widespread.
"An Afghan election marred by allegations of fraud would be bad for President Bush's overall claim of promoting democracy in the Muslim world," said Husain Haqqani, an Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "In the absence of good news from Iraq, the Bush administration needs Afghanistan as its success story."
Kerry's received criticism from both the left and the right for failing to speak up on democracy promotion, and its successes and failures during the Bush administration. The Afghan election is the first true exercise resulting from Bush's "democracy promotion" - and it's seemingly not very democratic at all.
If Bush fancies himself an exporter of democracy, then democracy should result from his actions - not fraud, not multiple voting, not fundamental instability. A vote doesn't ensure democracy; Saddam Hussein can tell us that much. It's going to be a hard election, and it won't go perfectly. If it doesn't appear genuine and honest to the Afghani people, however, why are they going to trust the democracy that George Bush built the next time out?
Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels, Whippersnapper
Bush spoke to a crowd in Pennsylvania yesterday. About missile defense.
Bush also spoke of his administration's proposal for an anti-missile defense system, noting that Boeing was a major contractor on the project.
"I think those who oppose this ballistic missile system don't understand the threats of the 21st century," the president told applauding workers.
The president noted that last month Boeing engineers loaded the first missile interceptor into a silo in Alaska. He characterized that as the beginning of a national shield "that was envisioned by Ronald Reagan."
Bush said opponents of the system are "living in the past. We're living in the future. We're going to do what's necessary to protect this country."
I oppose the system in general (which makes Kerry's support of it very disappointing), but Kerry does differ from Bush in one very important aspect - he wants a system that actually works before it's deployed. Now, if "living in the past" means thinking that the gigantic missile shield we built should work, bring me my horse-drawn carriage and snuff pipe, dear friend.
Oh, and in speaking to the threats of the 21st century, it was found that exactly zero of them will be stopped by interceptors that miss them by a half mile. One threat remarked, "A quarter mile, maybe, but a half mile is ridiculous."
I Lead An Army Of Misfits And Conservatives
Gallup has a new poll out which shows that much of Bush's movement closer to Kerry in polls is based on Bush solidifying support in red states.
For some reason, it's being treated as good news - it doesn't help Bush to win Alabama by an extra ten points, or Idaho by an extra seven. It does, however, help skew national polls to make the race look closer than it might be.
The relevant part is battleground states, where Bush has closed Kerry's lead by a few points. However, Gallup's data tends to conflict with polls like Zogby, which has put four new states in the "battleground" category - all of which were reasonbly strong Bush states in 2000.
So, Bush is solidifying that vast red swath (in land area and number of counties, mind you) which actually has fewer electoral votes than solidly blue states. And red states from 2000 now appear to be at risk.
But he will win Montana in a way that will crush Kerry's Butte operation dead. Dead, I tells ya.
Pokemon Center Sale!
Well, New York's trying to keep the protests peaceful and draw some economic benefit from it.
Law-abiding protesters will be given buttons that bear a fetching rendition of the Statue of Liberty holding a sign that reads, "peaceful political activists." Protesters can present the buttons at places like the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Sex, the Pokémon Center store and such restaurants as Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too and Applebee's to save some cash during their stay.
Get your Peaceful Protest Card here. And remember - your choice is either getting arrested...or Applebee's.
I'll let you know when I've made my decision. It's also obvious that the anarchist groups which are going to New York are going to be swayed from destructive or disruptive activities because of the offer of free magic markers for their "The Government Is Fascist" signs.
August 17, 2004
THORPEDO!
Did the announcers at the Olympics bet each other to see how often they could say the word "Thorpedo"?
More Shopping, Please
Charles Kuffner and Zoe discuss how New York will be during the Republican convention.
Both get a point which I wanted to lay out in more detail. Conventions don't bring much money to cities, but nobody ever seems to explain why. The GOP convention will not bring an economic boom to New York in any way, shape or form, and if they spread out events over multiple places in the city, they're just going to be spreading the pain. And it's because the convention forces conventiongoers into consuming in a specifically targeted microeconomy.
Continue reading "More Shopping, Please"Bruin Hitback
This is a column responding to some right-wing tools unthinking repetition of the Swift Boat Veterans (blah blah...) smears against Kerry. It's for publication in the Daily Bruin, but you guys might like it as well. After Ben Shapiro and this kid, I think UCLA's going to provide all the political fights I care to wage...
Continue reading "Bruin Hitback"Matthews & Me
Carpeicthus brings up something that's been on my mind since I watched the awesome Dowd/Matthews showdown.
The Bush campaign out Michael Moored Michael Moore - and in the bad way. Moore faces constant accusations of distorting statements and timelines (and he has on at least a couple of occasions), yet what did the Bush campaign, people who tied Michael Moore in with Kerry as a part of "Kerry's Democratic Party" do? Take a statement, strip it of all context, and then tell you what it meant - just like great propogandists. Well, crappy ones, actually, since it was pretty obvious that it left something out.
By the way, I wish Matthews could get that angry about things that don't involve someone lying about events on his show...
Stupid Doubleheader
It helps if someone who claims to follow sports and is factchecking the "liberal media" could actually check the Olympic rosters to make sure they're right.
Carrie Lukas goes off on Title IX, unsurprisingly. (It is the National Review, after all.)
Should these numbers really be cited as evidence of progress for women? The number of women competing was essentially unchanged. The so-called victory for women was the elimination of more than 50 male athletes from the U.S. roster.
The Washington Post was wrong, but then Lukas overreaches and steps in it. The elimination of male spots didn't happen because Title IX is killing men's sports. There are 56 fewer males this year because something even worse and even more un-American happened. Our baseball team didn't qualify for the Games.
How big is a baseball team? Let's look at the rosters.
Australia: 50 men.
Canada: 38 men.
Cuba: 38 men.
Greece: 46 men.
Italy: 73 men.
Japan: 40 men.
Netherlands: 41 men.
Taipei: 42 men.
Lebron James: a man unto himself.
Average number of men per team: 46.
Did Title IX kill off men's sports to enforce "equality" at the Olympics? Not unless Title IX made the U.S. baseball team suck so bad. You'd think someone so concerned about the gender balance of sports would look to see why we didn't send so many men to the Olympics before going off - both the Post and the National Review.
(As a commenter pointed out, we also failed to send a soccer team. A soccer team puts eleven players on the field, and will usually send 20-22 players, total. Taking out the two teams that didn't qualify...we actually sent more men this year.)
Staying In Keyes
You know, I thought Alan Keyes was supposed to take down Barack Obama. I'd been wondering what I was doing until I found out that Alan Keyes is actually a burgeoning classical linguistics scholar and "Barack Obama" is actually a phrase which, in a little-known dialect of Sanskrit, means "The Credibility of the Republican Party."
So, It Was Three Purple Hearts, Then?
The thing that keeps pissing me off about this Kerry-in-Vietnam thing is that if you're going to use the story about Bush's records as an example, Kerry should be in office at least three years before it ever becomes an issue. Just saying.
And has anyone else noticed that every single original charge of the Swift Boat Vets has fallen by the wayside? The medals aren't even in contention any more - it's now four months (by which I'm supposing they mean 16, since he served a year on a ship before his tour in Vietnam) and Cambodia, Cambodia, Cambodia.
No commentary on the story, which you can also find in slightly newer form by going to Memeorandum and piecing together the thirty to forty blog posts that keep repeating this stuff ad nauseum. But it's interesting that the lynchpin of the Get-Kerry effort went nowhere.
Terror No More?
Britain has arrested eight men on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. One had reconnaisance of financial institutions in the US, connecting him (them?) to last month's orange alert. There doesn't seem to be much information out yet, but what has been released is heartening. Assuming the information is correct, this validates that terror alert and is a welcome sign that the country is being well protected.
They might have stopped a terrorist attack today, and we should all be thankful for it.
Do You Really Like Us?
So uh, there's this Washington Post blog contest thingy. And you could, you know, nominate and vote for us. If you wanted. And I assure you, Jesse and I have long thought about what would make you want to*. And I guess it all comes down to one question.
Do we make you horny, baby?
* Jesse and I have never, ever spoken about this.
Vote-Splitting
Though Colorado's proposal to award their electoral votes proportionally might help Kerry, I'm strongly against this piecemeal electoral reform. The states should award their votes in a uniform manner, and I agree that having the protocol be proportional would be best. But if Colorado and others begin doing it on their own, it just ends up hurting one party or the other. Currently, Nebraska and Maine do vote splitting -- smart on their part -- but don't control enough votes to be big draws for the candidates. Were the larger states to follow suit, the situation would be quite different. Imagine if California went in this direction -- on its lonesome -- and then Kerry suddenly had barely 60% of their votes. It would end his hopes in this election. Same goes for Texas and Bush. The country should remake its voting methods in a coherent, across-the-board fashion that keeps the reform from becoming mere partisan advantage.
Kerry Will Bring Peace
So, it turns out that George W. Bush has actually put Jews and Arabs in widespread agreement about a matter of tremendous political importance in terms of terrorism, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and our military, economic, and cultural foreign policy in general.
They're supporting John Kerry overwhelmingly. I love this spin, though:
"The fact that they're taking a poll indicates they are somewhat nervous about Bush's success with Jewish voters," said Mr. Cantor, who is the only Jewish Republican in the House and often speaks to Jewish groups to try to bring the Republicans' message.
The one poll they've taken this year that shows Bush having no improvement whatsoever over the course of four years certainly shows "nervousness" about Jewish support of Kerry. And this is just pathetic:
Huh? It was taken the 26th-28th, and most people weren't watching the convention - more importantly, nobody had seen Kerry's speech by the time the poll was over. Oh, well.
(This poll and the 2000 VNS poll aren't directly compatible, but there still doesn't appear to be much of any movement in Bush's direction among Jews.)
Legitimize Me
Krugman pens a convincing column on why exit polling, among other steps, can help restore legitimacy to this election. Josh Benson fires off a similarly persuasive missive on why exit polling will destroy the legitimacy of this election. As for me, I'm a media person and have no critical thinking skills and further refuse to insert bias into my writing, so I have no idea.
What I will say is that listening to you guys and being plugged into the progressive community has left me scared at how certain the left is that this election will be tampered with. Bob Herbet's column left me scared that the election really will be tampered with. This combination of minds ready to believe conspiracy and facts possibly supporting conspiracy is tailor made for civil unrest -- if this election is to fall to Bush when people are expecting a Kerry victory, the reaction will be decidedly unpleasant. That's why Krugman's column, even if his solutions are incorrect, is so important. We need to begin thinking about how to guarantee this election in the minds of the voters, as the legitimacy of the outcome and thus people's faith in our process is, to be quite honest, more important than who ends up on top.
Update: I should not, since I was unclear before, that these processes must also guarantee the election's legitimacy outside our heads, i.e, ensuring that all votes are counted and counted correctly.
This Refrigerator Magnet Proves That Liberals Hate Capitalism
I was at the Washington Times' website (for my next entry). I clicked through a banner ad to AuthenticGOP.com, and found the second shirt on that main page.
SOMETIMES THOSE WHO PREACH TOLERANCE AND DIVERSITY ARE THE LEAST TOLERANT AMONG US.
It's accompanied by a screened-on image of a supposedly keyed bumpersticker...which seems like a really, really bad way of communicating the point. The knock against the "tolerance and diversity" crowd, apparently, is that you've had your Bush/Cheney sticker keyed by them...but wouldn't a bumper sticker suffice better than a degree-removed t-shirt?
The marketing idea here is kinda mystifying. But if they use my idea, I want 15% royalties, all donated to the DNC.
Returns On The Investment
So...why would an industry keep pouring money into a sure-thing loser of a candidate in a House race? She might be appointed to a top regulatory position overseeing their industry after she loses.
Not a particularly new thing, but industries at least usually try to not be this blatant when purchasing favor.
Repair This
In the battle between fairly liberal Barack Obama and arch-conservative Alan Keyes, the topic of slavery reparations has been introduced. Now, having read and listened to David Horowitz, I was all set to get angry at Obama for bringing up a racially divisive and wholly unworkable plan designed to abuse historical victimization of Africans in America for current financial gain.
Of course, that would be incredibly difficult seeing as Alan "I know the pulse of Illinois" Keyes is on the case instead.
We Rule!
The right loves to talk about the liberal media, the Hollywood elite, and all the other unstoppable forces that jam progressivism down the throats of the American people, but despite their staggering power, they never seemed very effective. That, hopefully, is ending, as the socialists in Beverly seem to have decided that, come Fall, Democrats will rule the silver screen.
Note: That these movies will only play in art theatres already catering to liberals can never be said, only thought quietly.
Patti Murray
Go check out Premium Sponsor Patti Murray's website. She's an excellent senator from Washington running against a decidedly unexcellent opponent -- you really want a guy who has sponsored bills to demolish the Dept. of Education, Dept. of Commerce and Dept. of Energy in the Senate?
I thought not.
Learndeding
The New York Times covers a rather buried section of a Department of Education report that shows charter schools actually lag behind public schools in terms of test scores, in this case for poor inner-city students.
The interesting thing is the uniformity of it. In terms of race (with the exception of Hispanics for reading), charter schools are reliably 3-4 percent below public schools every time. In terms of income, 6-9 percent. It's only in location that there's any wide variance, but even then, with the exception of rural kids in math, it's still consistently lower than in public schools.
The most problematic portion of the charter school movement isn't the lower test scores, though. It's this bit:
Polling on the Beach
This poll excellently demonstrates the Schwarzenegger problem I mentioned yesterday. He is wildly popular. But his party's nominee for Senate, the hapless Bill Jones, still finds himself 17 points(!) behind Barbara Boxer. The reason is that Arnold has no coattails for other Republicans. No matter the letter that appears after his name, he exists in his own dimension of political time-space and draws his support from a base fashioned out of his own recognizance rather than his party's name. Further, he's shown little interest in partisan build-up, preferring to promote his brand rather than his aislemates (old habits die hard, I guess).
That's why we should be ecstatic that he, and not Guiliani, will enjoy network coverage during the Convention. Arnold's an entertaining oddity, not a representative of the Republican Party. The success of his speech will be its effect on him, not on Bush.
In an unrelated finding from the same poll, 64% of likely voters claim they're more interested in politics now than they were during the 2000 election. This is matched by similar numbers across the board with respondents from all age groups (a recent study found 75% of youth say they'll definitely vote this year -- that's never happened before), it may all be talk, but it may also be the groundswell that'll lead to record turnout and voter involvement. That's the scenario where Bush goes down in flames, and that's why we have to continue promoting the urgency and importance of this election. Maybe all the voters needed were two wars, a major terrorist attack, skyrocketing deficits, environmental degradation, lies from the White House, sinister secrecy from the Vice-President, white-collar outsourcing and a recession to spur them towards the ballot booth.
I Concur
Ryan Lizza notes:
We Got A Hollarer!
Someone, uh, Stood Up and Holla'ed.
The original essay prompt, if you'll recall, was this:
From the "essay abstract", which I didn't know you could do with a 300-word essay:
What is the "share of service"?
Except in the place where they're all being sent, Iraq.
Besides being 20 and therefore not a member of Generation X at all, either the RNC hires the worst spellcheckers in the world or she honestly believes that she is the summation of all generations, past, present and future. In which case someone is either incompetent...or filled with a delusion that if harnessed in the form of pure energy could power the entire Eastern time zone for 17 minutes.
Oh, and check out the RNC clip where it becomes obvious this is the Republican appeal to young voters. Don't be a part of a generation that ended four years before you were born! That's how liberals want to define you! They're the out of touch ones!
Congratulations, Princella. You are a perfectly ludicrous end to a perfectly ludicrous venture.