August 26, 2004
'NAM REMINDER AVOIDED
Acting on Ken Layne's wise advice - "the last thing you want to do is remind people every day that John Kerry fought in Vietnam" - Mark Steyn persists in reminding people that John Kerry didn't fight in Cambodia. Few others are eager to pursue this story, however:
Would it be too much to expect so-called political journalists to investigate Kerry's Cambodian stories? You know, the way they did when the comparatively minor question arose of whether Bush was AWOL from his National Guard base three decades ago. Boy, The New York Times loved that one:
February 4: "Military Service Becomes Issue in Bush-Kerry Race"
February 11: "The President's Guard Service"
February 13: "Seeking Memories of Bush at an Alabama Air Base"
February 15: "Still the Question: What Did You Do in the War?"
As the Times put it, "Mr. Bush himself also made the issue of military service fair game by posturing as a swashbuckling pilot when welcoming a carrier home from Iraq."
Well, the other feller made his military service fair game by posturing as a swashbuckling Swift Boat lieutenant to the exclusion of the other 59 years and eight months of his life. The story now is not John Kerry's weird secret-agent fantasies but the media's willingness to act as elite guardians of them. They're his real "band of brothers," happy to fish him out of their water, even if their credibility sinks in the process.
Meanwhile, Kerry had this to say about the Bush administration's failings during an appearance on The Daily Show:
We angered everybody in the world.
Sure, it was just a throwaway line during a lame interview ... but a comment like that is just creepy.
TOMORROW YESTERDAY
Check it out - Tom Tomorrow compresses every Democrat talking point on the war into a single cartoon.
I must have heard this script at least fifty times in the past few weeks. The line that impresses me most is that Iraq was a "distraction" from the "real terrorists" - one presumes he means al Qaeda - who now have "time to regroup". Reading that, you might imagine that the likes of Tomorrow supported the war in Afghanistan.
They didn't, of course. Back in '01, the war against the "real terrorists" was characterized by Tomorrow, for example, as "bombing Kabul back to the stone age" and "terrorizing" the "people of Afghanistan".
August 25, 2004
BUSH CUP
Hey, who needs celebrities when you've got NASCAR?
The 2004 Presidential election may be a statistical tie according to a poll earlier this month, but based on political contributions from people associated with NASCAR, it's a landslide victory for George W. Bush.
Among Republican NASCAR contributors: Bill France, Betty Jane France, Brian France, James France, Lesa France Kennedy, Mike Helton, Greg Penske, the hated Tony George (destroyer of the Indianapolis 500), Jerry Carroll, William Miller, Teresa Earnhardt (Mrs. #3), Joseph Hendrick IV, Dale Jarrett, and Darrell Waltrip.
MORE KERRY FLIPPAGE
Ralph Peters is no fan of George W. Bush:
The truth is that I'm appalled by Bush's domestic policies. I believe that the Cheney-Halliburton connection stinks to high heaven. And I'm convinced that Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld & Co. have done colossal damage to our military and to our foreign policy.
But don't get him started on John Kerry:
John Kerry lied. Without remorse. To advance his budding political career. He tarnished the reputation of his comrades when the military was out of vogue.
Now, three decades later, camouflage is back in the fall fashion line-up. Suddenly, Kerry's proud of his service, portraying himself as a war hero.
But it doesn't work that way. You can't trash those who served in front of Congress and the American people, spend your senatorial career voting against our nation's security interests, then expect vets to love you when you abruptly change your tune.
Kerry's tune-changing is now so constant as to be the theme of his campaign. Now the Kerryites are apparently conceding that their man's first Purple Heart may have resulted from an accidental self-inflicted injury:
Kerry received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on December 2, 1968. But in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes he and his crew, quote, "hadn't been shot at yet," unquote. Kerry's campaign has said it is possible this first Purple Heart was awarded for an unintentional self-inflicted wound.
If so, Chris Matthews should offer an apology to Michelle Malkin.
UPDATE. Mark Steyn:
Pat Oliphant, who appears in the Washington Post and many other newspapers, offered a cartoon showing the Swiftees as Bush-backing deadbeats sitting round a bar bitching: "I never seen Kerry do nothing hee-roic," says one loser. "Damn right," says another. "You and me was right there in latrine maintenance. We orta know."
The redneck spelling's a nice touch, ain't it? I wonder which of the anti-Kerry campaign's 254 Swift vets, including 17 of Lieutenant Kerry's 23 fellow officers, Oliphant thinks were in latrine maintenance. Maybe he's got in mind fellows like Paul Galanti, who appears in the latest anti-Kerry ad and whose plane went down over North Vietnam in 1966. He was held in the "Hanoi Hilton" Viet Cong POW camp until 1973. That's seven years getting tortured by the gooks, only to be mocked by some lame-o cartoonist as a redneck latrine operator.
READ 'EM AND PUKE
Andrew Bolt rounds up some sensational lefty quotes:
Murderer Anu Singh, about whom an unflattering book has been written: "The unfortunate thing about [the] book is that it seems to perpetuate this notion that people who commit crimes are bad, are evil."
Revolting author Bob Ellis: "I assume Saddam, a ruthless, ambitious fan of Stalin, did bad things and killed a lot of people in his time. But kill them pointlessly? I don't think so."
Unreadable crypt-dwelling Age columnist Ken Davidson: "Arguably . . . Iraq can only be held together by a monster."
Marx-sucking ABC presenter Terry Lane: "When they say 'Saddam was a very bad man' why should we believe them?"
Creepy Age movie reviewer Adrian Martin on the hideous anti-Semitic letters of David Hicks: "A mixture of homely familiarities and passionate declarations of his newly-adopted lifestyle".
51? 52?
Just like Hugh Mackay, former Labor leader Bob Hawke seems confused about the number of states in the US:
Mr Hawke hailed the Labor leader as the "larrikin" politician most likely to forge an independent foreign policy -- and not turn Australia into the "52nd state of the United States".
This Associated Press item covers for Hawke (or else the reporter in first item is one of the many Australians who for some reason think the US already has 51 states):
Mr Hawke said if John Howard was re-elected, Australia would simply be signing up to become the 51st state of America.
A trawl through newspaper archives would no doubt find several commentators who made this observation during Hawke's reign. It should disqualify people from public life.
August 23, 2004
LAYNE EDGES TOWARDS BREAKING POINT
Ken Layne recently attempted to inform readers of a conversation we'd had regarding matters political.
Ken's recall of that conversation, possibly influenced by the excitement of a new stolen t-shirt, differs from mine. For example, Ken doesn't mention that for several sections of this "conversation" I was actually absent while he howled and jabbered in the darkness of his patio all by himself.
I'd get back from checking my email or phoning Sydney or, in one case, driving to the next county to pick up some car parts and find him still there, shouting at his invisible demons.
So I missed most of what he said. When I'd return, I'd just ask questions as though I'd been there all along. "What would you have done as President after September 11, Ken?" I ventured at one point. The bearded clothes-bandit wheeled around. "I wouldn’t have spent seven minutes reading to children, that's for sure!" he answered.
Ken is famous for his efficient use of time. Not a moment is wasted in the Layne household!
Slipping on some unpaid bills he'd thrown outside to soak up spilled wine, Layne spoke of a "media conspiracy" to silence the "fact" that John Kerry had an insurmountable lead in projected electoral college votes; turned out he'd earlier stumbled upon some website run by a prisoner or a drifter or a former member of his band and confused it with news.
Ken returned several times, like an unpopular girl checking the mailbox on Valentine's Day, to one theme: that we minions of Bush were fools to focus on John Kerry's Vietnam record. "You're only reminding voters that he served," Layne crowed. “You're helping Kerry get elected! You should STOP IT!"
Follow Ken's logic:
He does't want Bush re-elected; instead, he wants John Kerry to usher in a golden new era of love and prosperity. In order to achieve this, Ken advises the pro-Bush cabal to stop doing something Ken believes will deliver the result he craves.
Why would Layne urge an end to such a campaign? Because it's working.
You know, if Ken trusted his theory he'd be turning his own blog into the Wal-Mart of "John Kerry was a Vietnam faker!" sites. Every item would remind readers of Kerry's glorious record in Vietnam by highlighting the dozens of contradictions and puzzles to have emerged from Kerry's four Mekong months. Meanwhile, the Layne Gambit's collapse has caused Kerry to move from this:
If [Bush] wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on.
To this:
A new Kerry TV ad urged the president to "denounce the smear" and 'get back to the issues" because "America deserves better."
Wha’ happen to "Bring it on"? Suddenly it's Kerry who wants to avoid any mention of Vietnam.
Layne should have a word to him.
PEOPLE HOUSE
A frightening metamorphosis awaits Australia if John Howard is re-elected, warns Margo Kingston, nowadays broadcasting her views in the manner of an opinionated homeless person:
If there are no consequences, then he will succeeded in being unaccountable to the people house, and therefore to his employers, the Australian people. If his employer's condone such behaviour by returning him to office, Australian politics will be transformed.
The people house! The people house! Why will nobody getting succeed unaccountable for the people house already? Do you know who does it? It is Jews! The employer’s.
Give me money for the bus home!
NEWS BRIEFLETS
• Met Glenn Reynolds in Knoxville, where several vital issues were discussed, including: Why were biker chicks so hot in the '70s, and why aren't they hot now? And: how many staffers would you need to monitor all the blogs worth monitoring?
• Like, for example, the fine Questions and Observations group blog featuring Richmond, Virginia, radio identity Jon Henke (whose site, along with Currency Lad, is now added at left). Visited the Museum of the Confederacy today with Jon and his two-year-old Alec:
Jon: "What does it say about me that after just a few hours Alec prefers your company to mine?"
Me: "It’s all about parenting skills, Jon."
• Donate all your spare money to Andrea Harris! Or she will ban you!
• Ever wonder how Ray Smuckles got so rich?
NYCRC PREVIEW
Of the upcoming NYC Republican Convention, Mark Steyn writes:
One of the most agreeable aspects of the Republican Party is that there's minimal risk of running into celebrities.
Not so! Roger L. Simon will be there, determinedly running into as many people as he can. (Granted, Roger isn’t a “celebrity” in the usual sense, i.e. mentally ill and unable to read, but he’s the best we can expect.) Actually, I think we’ll see more than a few celebs at RepCon DeathFeast ’04 … mainly amongst the protesters. They’ll have to chant extra loud.
August 20, 2004
CLOSER TO CAMBODIA
Just a few quick notes before I go wandering around Memphis:
• Oklahoma City is cool.
• When in Oklahoma City, I advise seeking out the company of Frank Hill, Will Scovill, Kent Post and Meredith Milligan, who are fun company.
• Frank Hill, who appears to be only in his early-mid '50s, alarmed the entire group when he said: "Retirement sucks."
• Much thanks to Kent Post and his six-year-old daughter Sophie, who yesterday morning took me to the Murrah Building bombing memorial. It's an impressive, thoughtful design; as we walked into one of the final rooms, which contained photographs and tributes to all the victims, Kent turned to me and said: "This is the hardest part."
• Kent was right.
• Many apologies to the gang at the BBQ Shop in Memphis, gathered together last night by reader Mike Hollihan. A one-hour traffic delay outside of Little Rock (damn you, Clinton!) and other problems meant I missed a BBQ feast.
• Beale Street has the finest police station in the United States. It's a museum that doubles as a functioning police zone. Some of the photographs, of police and criminals from the 1920s-1950s, are screaming to be used as book covers.
After Memphis stroll ends, on to Knoxville.