8.27.2004
The Big Picture
In a time like this, it's important to look at the big picture. The Kerry campaign is going to have good weeks and not so good weeks before this is all over, and this past one falls under the latter. No one thought the Swift Boat thing would have such traction, and it definitely hurt.
But you gotta tune out the instant analysis and the arm-chair quarterbacks. A year ago, no one thought any Democrat was going to be competitive with Bush. Today, the president is clearly on the ropes and is fighting for his political life. His approval rating is cratering and he is desperate to keep his right-wing base in line. Forget the battleground states for a minute and consider that Bush is fighting like hell to hold "safe" places like Virginia and Arizona. As nasty as the Swift Boat slurs were, they are a clear sign that the president is hurting.
This race was bound to tighten up. They always do in late summer. But incumbent presidents are supposed to be stronger than this. They are supposed to have decent re-elect numbers based on name recognition alone. They are supposed to be able to take the high road. They are supposed to run ads touting the great things they have done.
They are not supposed to be clawing for every last vote in a campaign that sets a new standard for loathsomeness.
All the pundits predicted that this would be a coronation, not a knife fight. Just keep that in mind. And ponder this, folks: When you take into consideration all the events of the past year (not just this past week), whose campaign would you rather be running?
'Political terrorists'
Link (thanks Cory):The Kerry campaign thinks it has succeeded in discrediting the scurrilous attack on Kerry’s military service, but Rove got what he wanted. Instead of talking about a failed war in Iraq and a new report that shows 1.3 million more Americans living in poverty, we’re debating what happened in the Mekong Delta in 1968. The strategy “came straight from the West Wing,” says the GOP staffer. “Nobody should be confused.” Asked to explain, this Republican says Rove is smart enough to keep technical distance. But all it takes is a well-placed wink to activate a web of Bush family hit men, confidantes and deep-pocket donors. “They know what to do—it’s like sleeper cells that get activated,” he says, likening the players to “political terrorists.”
...
My Republican mole on Capitol Hill says the green light has gone out to Republicans to do whatever it takes to get Bush elected. “This is the way we hold onto power,” he says with disgust. Pollster John Zogby’s survey of battleground states taken last week as the Swift Boat controversy raged shows no fundamental change in the race. “It’s running its course, and it may boomerang,” he says of the attack on Kerry’s heroism. The fact that the sleeper network has gone nuclear is evidence of Bush’s weakness, not his strength, says Zogby. “If [the Bush team] weren’t seeing serious damage, they wouldn’t be hitting so hard so early. The president is on the ropes; there’s no other way of looking at it.”
...
The irony is that Kerry does have courage—the very quality this smarmy campaign seeks to denigrate. The rap on him is that he is slow to battle, that it takes a near-death experience to get him fully engaged. By assailing his heroism, the GOP may have done Kerry a favor. Maybe they’ve awakened a sleeping giant.
Let's hope.
No Morning News
I'm running a bit behind, and it doesn't look like there's a whole lot of interesting stuff out there. Here are a few things to keep you entertained.
Bush Admits Iraq 'Miscalculations' in Times InterviewPresident Bush acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that he had miscalculated post-war conditions in Iraq, The New York Times reported.
The paper quoted Bush as saying during a 30-minute interview that he made "a miscalculation of what the conditions would be" in post-war Iraq.
But he insisted that the 17-month-long insurgency was the unintended by-product of a "swift victory" against Saddam Hussein's military, the Times reported.
Bush said his strategy had been "flexible enough" to respond. "We're adjusting to our conditions" in places like Najaf, the paper quoted him as saying.
The Times said Bush deflected further inquiries as to what had gone wrong with the occupation.
NO NO NO, you don't get to say that because we "won the war" so swiftly (is that a new word for him?? are our president learnin'?) that the postwar is going so badly. When you plan a war, you plan for the victory, too. This is not shit you just do on the fly. Preznit Shrub, YOU FUCKED UP. I know you'll never admit it. But nearly a thousand U.S. soldiers and 11,000 Iraqi civilians are DEAD now because of a war YOU CHOSE. For fun and profit.
And now you're closing the gap in polls. Christ. Hunter S. Thompson may have been right, this country will deserve what it gets if it votes for you. I may have to go to grad school in Canada and try like hell to meet a nice Canadian girl to marry. At least they'll have a country left in four years. Unless Shrub invades for their natural resources -- snow and maple syrup.
Anyway ...
Froomkin has a story on the AP being told Bush's Guard records don't exist. Call me skeptical, but I think they're hiding something. What, o what, could that be? The AP lawsuit focuses on the period between May 1972 and May 1973. In May 1972, Bush stopped showing up for drills at his Texas Air National Guard unit, four years into his six-year commitment to fly fighter jets. He later skipped his physical and was grounded.
The White House has maintained that Bush met his service obligations, or he would not have been honorably discharged.
The public records show that Bush tried to get transferred to an Alabama unit. There are no records -- other than one dental exam -- to show that Bush ever showed up at an Alabama Air National Guard base.
The attacks on Sen. John F. Kerry's decorated record of military service in Vietnam have cast new attention on Bush's actions during the war.
Critics charge that it was family connections that first got Bush a highly desirable stateside posting in 1968 with the Texas guard, and that then secured him an honorable discharge in 1973 in spite of not having performed his required service.
In the meantime, amateur researchers are combing the public records as well, and their findings are burning up certain corners of the blogosphere. Philadelphia caterer Paul Lukasiak, for instance, believes he has unraveled the story of Bush's attempt to transfer himself to Alabama, and can prove that Bush never made up his missed training days.
And, last but not least, Get Your War On has been updated. And they're good.
Where is the shame?
"I've interviewed several soldiers and marines who have suffered grave wounds in Iraq, including the loss of limbs. A permanent place of honor should be reserved for them in the pantheon of American heroes. The idea that someone some years from now may trash their service for political gain is beyond disgusting." So writes Bob Herbert in an excellent column today.
8.26.2004
Debates
Paul Waldman at The Gadflyer says Kerry slipped up by challenging Bush to weekly debates, because it allows Bush to set up low expectations for himself and then triumph when he isn't a complete moron (if that's possible). But Kerry on the Daily Show got out ahead of this anyway when he called Bush a good debater who has won every debate he has had. So he counters the Bush low expectations first. I still think this could be a good move.
Taking back control
Kerry is smart to do this. It puts Bush back on his heels again. Kerry Challenges Bush to Weekly Debates John Kerry challenged President Bush on Thursday to weekly debates from now until Nov. 2 on campaign issues like education, health care and national security.
"America deserves a discussion like we're having here today, which I'm prepared to have with this president every single week from now until the election," the Democratic presidential candidate said.
Kerry issued the challenge while speaking about health care at Anoka Hennepin Technical College, fielding questions from a group of more than 200 people, some of them self-described undecided voters.
The Kerry campaign picked Anoka County for its known political independence, drawing the audience from counties surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul. Anoka County voted for presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as independent former Gov. Jesse Ventura, and tends to be a bellwether for statewide candidates.
The Bush-Cheney campaign rebuffed the debate challenge.
And after rebuffing the debate challenge, they spewed a whole bunch of crap about Kerry. Really, it's pathetic and tired stuff. Kerry used the health care forum to highlight new figures released by the Census Bureau, which showed the ranks of the poor and uninsured grew last year, the third straight annual increase for both categories.
"Today confirms the failure of President Bush's policies for all Americans. While George Bush tries to convince America's families that were turning the corner, slogans and empty rhetoric can't hide the real story," Kerry said.
Kerry also defended himself from Republican charges that he wavers in his convictions on major issues.
"It's standard Republican playbook," Kerry said in response to a voter's question. "They just say it, and if you spend enough money and say it enough, people like you are going to ask the question."
Kerry said Bush has been the one flip-flopping over the last four years — standing against the Homeland Security Department, then embracing it; fighting against the Sept. 11 commission, then endorsing it; promising to fund his new education law, then failing to.
After his response got a standing ovation, Kerry said, "That's why it would be great to be talking about this every week."
Yep, we really do want to hear where these guys stand.
Matter of Fact
The media won't just call a lie a lie. That is the fundamental lesson we've learned from the swift boat nonsense. John Kerry says something demonstrably true, some guys who served on some other boats in the same war say something demonstrably false, and the media leave it for the masses to figure out what's what. The New Republic says it best: even to use the word "controversy" affords the issue's protagonists too much dignity.
Signal to noise
Today's LAT poll had weird news -- bad numbers for both Bush and Kerry. I'm not going to look at the numbers, because nationwide polling doesn't matter. When some electoral college numbers start looking ugly, let me know. I suspect, tho, that this is more gains in red states, and continued uncertainty elsewhere. So, Bush wins Texas and Wyoming in landslides? Great. Bully for him.
Anyway, this is my endorsement of Kerry's timing in defending himself against the Swift Traitors. We're days from the Republican convention, and the fallout from these douchebags continues. If it keeps up through the convention, and through Bush's nomination speech, the GOP's scuzzy attack dogs will have obscured and muddied the media coverage of the party's own convention. O, such sweet irony.
McCain's role in the whole thing is an issue. A Scarred Campaign Veteran, Caught in a New Crossfire:While Mr. McCain said he took the president at his word that he was not behind the Swift boat advertisements, he is irked enough at them that he said he would personally "express my displeasure'' to the president. He has already called on Mr. Bush to specifically condemn the advertisements, but the president has not done so, instead offering a general condemnation of the so-called 527 groups that sponsor campaign commercials.
"He has condemned the 527's, which I'm pleased that he did,'' Mr. McCain said. "I'd like to see him go further, but I'm not making this some kind of a big issue.''
Mr. McCain has emerged as a central and intriguing figure in the 2004 presidential race because of his friendship with Mr. Kerry and his increasingly vocal support of Mr. Bush.
But Bush continues to not condemn the Swift ads, because they ostensibly are helping him. As long as he doesn't condemn them, the media should make an issue of McCain's support for Bush.
Plus, the whole affair has confused the preznit on these so-called 527 groups.
Keeping the story alive seems to hurt Bush, too. The damage is probably done for Kerry, so it could be a good strategy to keep this story alive for as long as possible through the convention -- casting a cloud over the whole sordid thing. Of course, if the protests get out of control (watch for federal agents to start trouble so they can arrest everyone), the message gets even weirder.
Restoring integrity
The Globe and Mail had an interesting take on Kerry's Daily Show gig:Kerry needed to appear on The Daily Show because the American media itself has become ridiculous and he needs the endorsement of the jokers, not political pundits. The cable news shows that Jon Stewart mocks have become absurdly partisan. The print press is going through a period of self-flagellation as newspaper after newspaper apologizes and backtracks on its initial coverage of the need to go to war with Iraq.
There is no longer a mainstream media in the United States. Every outlet postures and preens. Comedy is now as important as political commentary. Only the jokers have integrity.
The last thing Kerry said, as he left The Daily Show, was a remark to Stewart. He said, "You do a great job." In that, Kerry was correct. It's sad, but true.
Intolerance is Fun!
Okay, fine. You're free to dislike gay people. That's your problem, not mine. But do you have to have a parade?
via Americablog.
The Morning News
Violence Flares in Najaf Area as Top Shiite Cleric Returns
At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded today by gunfire and in a mortar attack as Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric returned to Najaf, where American forces have been battling the militia of the rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr for three weeks.
A Failure in Leadership, All the Way Up the Ranks
What began several months ago with the emergence of shocking photographs showing a handful of U.S. troops abusing detainees in Iraq has led this week to a broad indictment of U.S. military leadership and acknowledgement in two official reports that mistreatment of prisoners was more widespread than previously disclosed.
The reports have served to undercut earlier portrayals of the abuse as largely the result of criminal misconduct by a small group of individuals. As recently as last month, an assessment by the Army's inspector general concluded the incidents could not be ascribed to systemic problems, describing them as "aberrations."
But the findings yesterday of another Army investigation offered a more critical appraisal of what led to the mistreatment at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad. It implicated 27 military intelligence soldiers in abuse, providing some support for assertions by some of the seven military guards previously charged that they were not acting alone. Counting other intelligence, medical and civilian contract personnel cited for failing to report the abuse, and three more military police officers alleged to have engaged in abuse, the report appeared to raise to nearly 50 the number of people who may face charges or disciplinary action for misconduct at Abu Ghraib.
Further, the investigation found that senior officers in Iraq bore responsibility for what occurred by failing to exercise adequate oversight and neglecting to provide "clear, consistent guidance" for handling detainees.
Survey: More Americans in poverty
The number of Americans living in poverty jumped by 1.3 million last year as household incomes held steady, the Census Bureau said Wednesday.
The percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty rose to 12.5 percent from 12.1 percent -- as the poverty rate among children jumped to its highest level in 10 years. The rate for adults 18-to-64 and 65 and older remained steady.
The bureau also said that the share of aggregate income for the lowest 20 percent of Americans fell to 3.4 percent from 3.5 percent.
USOC asks Bush campaign to pull television ad
The U.S. Olympic Committee has asked President Bush's re-election campaign to pull a television ad that mentions the Olympics.
The USOC is awaiting a response from the re-election campaign, committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said Thursday.
A little truth
And a whole bunch more lies.
Kentucky veteran involved in ambush backs Kerry account:A Kentucky Vietnam veteran who was involved in the fighting that earned Sen. John Kerry the Silver Star for gallantry says the Democratic presidential nominee deserved the award.
But Larry Clayton Lee of Franklin County says he opposes Kerry's presidential bid, largely because of statements Kerry made in opposition to the Vietnam War after he returned to the United States.
"I have no problems with him getting the Silver Star," said Lee, who was a 20-year-old boatswain's mate on a swift boat accompanying Kerry's boat when they were ambushed by Viet Cong soldiers.
OK, this is fair enough, I suppose. Of course, John Kerry was right to come back and speak out against a horrible war....
Lee said Kerry earned his Silver Star, but based on his discussions with the swift boat group's members he has come to question whether Kerry's other medals were deserved.
Lee, 56, a senior programmer for an insurance company, said he was not present when Kerry was wounded on three occasions or when he was awarded the Bronze Star for pulling a soldier out of a river under fire.
And, at least he admits he has absolutely no frame of reference for questioning Kerry's medals. He's just been snowed by his partisanship....
Lee said he and other crew members talked the night before the operation that if Kerry's tactic worked, the sailors involved could be eligible to receive commendations and Bronze Stars.
Kerry was not involved in those discussions, he said.
Well, that puts that little Drudge allegation to rest, doesn't it? Even a Kerry-hater says Kerry wasn't plotting his medal before it happened.
Here's the end of the story, tho, the real kicker on this guy:Lee said his concerns revolve around what he called Kerry's three "Band-Aid" Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.
Kerry received his Purple Hearts for wounds in other actions, and he got the Bronze Star for a fight on March 13, 1969. Some swift boat veterans who say they were in the vicinity of that fight have said the citation wasn't deserved because Kerry wasn't under fire.
Members of his crew have said it was deserved.
After Lee went to New York last week for book signings of "Unfit for Command," he said he came to the opinion that the Massachusetts senator didn't deserve some of the medals.
Lee also said he couldn't explain why Kerry's crewmates would continue to support him if the medals weren't warranted.
But he said his biggest concern is that Kerry accused some servicemen of raping women, torching villages and killing children after he returned to the United States.
"I was over there 19 months, and he was there for four months," Lee said. "How could he have seen all of those things I never saw? ... They didn't happen."
Perhaps instead of listening to the frothing Republicans, this guy should read the Toledo Blade's Pulitzer-winning investigation into an Army platoon's atrocities in Vietnam.
Or perhaps he should refresh his memory into what Kerry really said upon coming back to the States. Atrios had the testimony:
I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago, in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged, and many very highly decorated, veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia. These were not isolated incidents, but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis, with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit--the emotions in the room, and the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.
They told stories that, at times, they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam,in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.
Two huge lies here. Kerry never said he witnessed all of these things directly, and he never accused his Swift boat comrades of such thing. He is relaying other soldiers' accounts of what they had seen. The second huge lie is that Kerry spent just four months in Vietnam, ignoring his first year aboard a ship.
What is it with these guys? They continue to be exposed for frauds, yet they keep getting treated with some degree of credibility. They've lost all that.
Echoes from 1972
As I continue to slog through Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail -- because I'm lazy and I go out drinking too much -- I am amazed over and over again at the similarities between Nixon and Bush, and between that campaign and this one. Allow me to share Hunter S. Thompson's musings on just how important that election was (tho the voters screwed it up. hopefully we won't.). I'll try to make my typing as clean as possible.That was one project. The other was to somehow pass through the fine eye of the White House security camel and go out on the campaign trail with Richard Nixon, to watch him waltz in -- if only to get the drift of his thinking, to watch his moves, his eyes. It is a nervous thing to consider: Not just four more years of Nixon, but Nixon's last four years in politics -- completely unshackled, for the first time in his life, from any need to worry about who might or might not vote for him the next time around.
If he wins in November, he will finally be free to do whatever he wants ... or maybe "wants" is too strong a word for right now. It conjures up images of Papa Doc, Batista, Somoza; jails full of bewildered "political prisoners" and the constant cold-sweat of jackboots kicking in your door off its hinges at four a.m.
There is no point in kidding ourselves about what Richard Nixon really wants for America. When he stands at his White House window and looks out on an anti-war demonstration, he doesn't see "dissenters," he sees criminals. Dangerous parasites, preparing to strike at the heart of the Great American System that put him where he is today.
There may not be much difference between Democrats and Republicans; I have made that argument myself -- with considerable venom, as I recall -- over the past ten months. ... But only a blind geek or a waterhead could miss the difference between McGovern and Richard Nixon. Granted, they are both white men; and both are politicians -- but the similarity ends right there, and from that point on the difference is so vast that anybody who can't see it deserves whatever happens to them if Nixon gets re-elected due to apathy, stupidity, and laziness on the part of potential McGovern voters.
The tragedy of this campaign is that McGovern and his staff wizards have not been able to dramatize what is really at stake on November 7th. We are not looking at just another dim rerun of the '68 Nixon/Humphrey trip, or the LBJ/Goldwater fiasco in '64. Those were both useless drills. I voted for Dick Gregory in '68, and for "No" in '64 ... but this one is different, and since McGovern is so goddman maddeningly inept with the kind of words he needs to make people understand what he's up to, it will save a lot of time here -- and strain on my weary head -- to remember Bobby Kennedy's ultimate characterization of Richard Nixon in a speech at Vanderbilt University in the spring of 1968, not long before he was murdered.
"Richard Nixon," he said, "represents the dark side of the American spirit."
I don't think Kerry is as inept as McGovern. Not even close.
But the importance of getting Bush out of the White House may be even more urgent.
8.25.2004
GOP, party in crisis?
Cheney's waffling on gay marriage (sort of -- he still hates his daughter and thinks she's not entitled to all human rights). And this USAT story shows that the DeLay wing of the GOP has the moderates by the short hairs. Well, moderate Republicans who support gay rights, reproductive rights, and fiscal sanity -- there's another option than blindly supporting your spend-at-will, hate-filled brethren. Come on over to our side, where we actually have a big tent.
Former Bush Voters Explain Why They Switched
I love Michael Moore, but he's not America's best documentary filmmaker. That distinction belongs to Errol Morris, who won the Academy Award this year for "Fog of War." (My own favorite Morris films are "The Thin Blue Line," "Mr. Death" and "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.") You'll next see Morris's work on TV in the form of MoveOn ads featuring everyday Americans who voted for Bush in 2000 but won't vote for him again. I can't wait to see these ads, and I have to say I think the media have dropped the ball in covering angry Bush voters. Many principled conservatives voted for Bush because two of his most consistent themes in the 2000 campaign were his fiscal conservatism and his opposition to nation building. Now that Bush has done a complete 180 on those two issues, I think there are more former Bush supporters than most people realize.
[Update from Justin. The winning ads are here.]
The Morning News
Bush Campaign's Top Outside Lawyer Resigns
An election lawyer for President Bush who also has been advising a veterans group running TV ads against Democrat John Kerry resigned Wednesday from Bush's campaign.
Bush Campaign's Top Outside Lawyer Advised Veterans Group
Kerry Takes Fight Over Vietnam Ads to Bush's Ranch
Democrat John Kerry will dispatch two fellow Vietnam veterans to President Bush's secluded Texas ranch on Wednesday to press him to condemn television advertisements accusing Kerry of lying about his wartime service.
Kerry Accuses Bush of 'Fear and Smear'
With his campaign for the presidency engulfed in disputes over his Vietnam War service record, Sen. John F. Kerry accused President Bush on Tuesday of using "fear and smear" to divert attention from four years of White House failures.
A Trail of 'Major Failures' Leads to Defense Secretary's Office
For Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign over the prison abuses at Abu Ghraib would be a mistake, the four-member panel headed by James M. Schlesinger asserted Tuesday. But in tracing responsibility for what went wrong at Abu Ghraib, it drew a line that extended to the defense secretary's office.
Military Trial Opens With a Challenge
The first trial to be conducted by a military commission since World War II got underway Tuesday, with a detainee's lawyer asserting that the presiding officer and all but one of the other panel members should step down because they lacked the qualifications and credibility to try terrorism suspects.
Kerry to Push Job Creation in Two Swing States
ohn F. Kerry headed to closely divided Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to tell voters he could produce better, higher-paying jobs from the White House than President Bush has.
"I believe that when you put in a good day's work, you deserve a good day's pay," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery at town hall meeting in Philadelphia.
Keyes backs law on concealed guns
American streets and homes would be safer from crime and terrorism if more people were allowed to carry concealed weapons, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes said Tuesday.
At the same time, Keyes said gun users should submit to training programs much as motorists have to go through driver's education before obtaining a license.
Dick Cheney comes out
Why did Dick Cheney suddenly rush into a warm, loving embrace of his lesbian daughter and gay marriage?
For one reason and one reason only: because it is politically expedient. I guarantee you that some Republican pollster just got some numbers back that showed the ticket would gain more votes than it lost by showing some softness on this issue. But hey, like Cheney said, the boss is against gay marriage, and as we all know, what the boss says, goes (suppress snicker):Addressing Bush's position on the amendment, Cheney said: "At this point, say, my own preference is as I've stated, but the president makes policy for the administration. He's made it clear that he does, in fact, support a constitutional amendment on this issue."
It's a great setup. Look, Republicans can be tolerant, too ... But we still don't really support you, gay folks. Sorry.
A wink and a nod to the religious right, and it's all good.
Hey, Dick, why did it take you 5 or so years (counting the 2000 campaign and your four years in office) to acknowledge your gay daughter's existence and reveal that you don't hate her? Oh yeah -- because now, it helps your re-election campaign.
What a bunch of vile, cynical crap. Don't be fooled.
Kerry's service record: Why I don't care
Many people out there, most notably Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, have made the point that there is a political purpose to swatting down this swift boat nonsense. It puts the electorate on notice that John Kerry is not a man to be bullied and that the Democrats are tough enough to run the country during a time when toughness matters.
That's a good point, and I can respect it.
But to be blunt, I just don't care about Kerry's service record. And I'll offer an unconventional reason for my feelings: because this has been made into an issue of character, and character doesn't matter.
That's right. You read that correctly. Character, as a quality necessary in a president, is totally overrated. Honesty makes up a good deal of "character" for most people, and I've got some news for y'all: All politicians, ALL OF THEM, are liars. Some are bigger liars than others, just like some plumbers are bigger liars than others and some stock brokers are bigger liars than others. Why? Because we all lie. Thusly, you're not going to find a politician who doesn't lie. Politicians triangulate and hedge and waffle. They tell people what they want to hear, which varies from group to group. A "weak character" is endemic to politicians. Get over it.
What I'm concerned about is how these two candidates plan to fix the problems in this country. Boringly enough, I really believe that the candidate who is a more effective administrator will make a better president. (There is some delicious irony available here, being that our current president has an MBA from Harvard and is terrible at managing the country.)
I know, I know. In reality, the U.S. president serves some pretty important functions in addition to being the boss of a huge bureaucracy. He also embodies the nation's attitude and its self-image. He's a symbol.
But really, how much did anybody care about that stuff when Bill Clinton was in office? The guy's approval ratings were good, bordering on darn good, even during the inquisition into the Monica thing.
What can we take from this? As long as people are swimming in piles of money and having their five-disc DVD changers gilded, character doesn't matter for shit. And to a certain extent, I'm with them. But my concerns tend to lie on the side of, you know, people not dying in unnecessary wars and seniors being able to pay for their medications.
8.24.2004
Where do we go now?
Pandagon's Ezra Klein has a tremendous essay on the damage these Swifties have done to our nation and to our political discourse -- which has already been crippled by Republicans' faux patriotism since 9/11:Whoever wins this election, the American people will have lost it. That's because they're sorry enough to have participated in and encouraged a realm where the venerable parties controlling the nation will dwell on the attack that works rather than the criticism that matters, where deceivers prosper and misdirection is appreciated, where a square jaw and a steady voice means more for honesty than the words spoken, where partisan lies mean more than navy medals, where minor discrepancies scream liar and not human, where the press finds their ratings in war and not information, where the only thing able to knock an election's hatred off the front page would be the folly of a celebrity, and where a low-life aristocrat who spent his life dodging responsibility, failing at ventures, and trading on his name avoided the war only to become president after sliming a POW and ignoring the will of America. And where this man, as president, squandered our surpluses, destroyed our standing, overextended our armies, let our jobs flee and left our people lacking health care. And where a media who knows better and a people who deserve better might let the incompetent brat win again because he looks better in plaid, seems more likely a fisher and has a more effective and merciless attack machine
The truth that our media won't admit and our people don't want to hear is that this election should revolve around one refrain, repeated every time this ad airs, every time the job numbers drop and every time a soldier dies. And it goes: "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"
Have we irreperably harmed the body politic? Was it to far gone already?
Since we're talking about the Swifties, I had this story open since this morning, but the state fair's promise of fried foods and pig races pre-empted bloggin'. The New York Times had a piece on how pathetic cable news is, and how they're largely to blame for the Swiftshits. But the Times, and print media generally -- tho they did do a better job on this one -- aren't blameless. They stood idly by, too, while the news cycles were dominated by these liar-idiots and warmongers.
Even Howie the whore had a story today on how the media was to blame.
It's fun for these papers, isn't it, to seem like they're better than everyone else. But they've only been mildly better. They gave these swifties the time of day, when they deserved absolutely none. They deserved to be chastised from the get-go, ridiculed and ignored. But they weren't. And just because the NYT and the Post had some fair-seeming stories does not make them leaders on this issued. They still played he-said, she-said, when there shouldn't have been a she-said.
The Real Deal on Bush's Catholic Advisor
Deal Hudson is a man with a few planks in his own eyes, but that doesn't stop him from worrying about the specks in John Kerry's eyes. Hudson recently wrote, "My first press statement after his nomination was that Church institutions -- parishes, schools, hospitals, etc. -- should be off limits to Kerry or anyone who wants to use the platform of the Catholic Church to undermine its authority and attack its teachings."
I dunno, I kind of think using your position of power at a Catholic school to convince a troubled student to get drunk and have sex with you does undermine the Catholic Church and attack its teachings. That's what Hudson did, and that's why he resigned recently from his post with the Bush campaign. Actually, I take that last part back. He didn't resign because of what he did; that would indicate he felt some remorse. In fact, he had moved on with his life just fine and he only resigned because The National Catholic Reporter planned to publish a story about what he did. Here's a question: Of all the pious Bush supporters who proudly proclaim that John Kerry isn't worthy of the Catholic faith he professes, has even one lived a life that meets the standards Kerry is apparently expected to meet?
Da bloggin'
I'll be splittin my time with this joint and nosey online for a coupla weeks with some fine blogfriends. Join us.
The Morning News
Ad row rages on
George W. Bush has called for an end to all third-party campaign ads which have sullied the U.S. presidential race, including two ads attacking John Kerry's war record.
But the U.S. president was careful yesterday not to repudiate the content of the ads, paid for by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which have hurt the Democratic challenger and caught his campaign by surprise.
FROOMKIN: That Was No Condemnation
President Bush dumbfounded major swaths of the White House press corps yesterday.
Bush stuck to a script that called for him to decry all independently-funded political ads -- and in no way single out the one contentiously questioning Sen. John F. Kerry's military record. But some reporters at his mini press conference yesterday decided that he had condemned the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad and called for it to be taken off the air.
He didn't.
Kerry Team Lines Up Vietnam Witnesses
The Kerry campaign ratcheted up its defense of the Democrat's military record yesterday, producing three veterans to attest to John F. Kerry's valor in Vietnam while pointing reporters to other veterans who expressed disgust at the attacks on the presidential nominee.
U.S., Iraqi Forces Close in on Najaf Shrine
U.S. and Iraqi forces moved closer to the Imam Ali Shrine on Tuesday amid sometimes furious gun battles with militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.
KRUGMAN: The Rambo Coalition
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