AP: Bush's National Guard File Is Missing Records

Oh, the story gets richer and richer. The Associated Press has identified numerous files that are now mysteriously "missing" from Bush's National Guard record. Read More......

GOP caught Web-handed

Bush-Cheney campaign director Ken Mehlman criticized the DNC Web site today for using Vietnam to attack President Bush while, it now turns out, the Bush-Cheney Web site contains REPEATED attacks on Kerry for - what? - Vietnam!

"Senator McCain is right, it's wrong to divide Americans over a war that ended 35 years ago.... It's wrong that the DNC Web site still has this." - Ken Mehlman on ABC's This Week, September 5, 2004

Not so fast, Kenny. Let's see what YOUR Web site has to say about John Kerry and that war that ended 35 years ago...

Bush-Cheney '04:

And that’s why we are so concerned about the comments you made AFTER you came home from Vietnam. You accused your fellow veterans of terrible atrocities – and, to this day, you have never apologized. Even last night, you claimed to be proud of your post-war condemnation of our actions. We’re proud of our service in Vietnam. We served honorably in Vietnam and we were deeply hurt and offended by your comments when you came home.

Bush-Cheney '04:

Personally, I can't speak for every Vietnam veteran as to whether they see John Kerry to be fit or not fit to be Commander-in-Chief. I can tell you that I Scott O'Grady do not see him fit. I have had nightmares about this. Let me put it this way. I have myself have heard John Kerry testify that he committed war atrocities. Where he came out and admitted that he is a war criminal. That he was involved in activities in Vietnam where he hurt innocent civilians. There is a big difference between war operations where civilians are hurt or killed in collateral damage. It's a tragedy of war. Versus actually targeting civilians, which is a criminal act. It's against our military laws of warfare. It is an unlawful act to purposely target non-combatants. I've heard from Senator Kerry's mouth when he testified after coming back from Vietnam that he purposely took part in activities that targeted civilians.

Bush-Cheney '04:

...he comes back from the war he calls all Vietnam Vets war criminals and shames their service with his post war actions.

Well glad we have that settled. Yep, it's clear that the Bush-Cheney Web site has NOTHING at all to say about that war that ended 35 years ago. Read More......

Ken Mehlman attacks Laura Bush on THIS WEEK

This is priceless, and the LA Times & George Stephanopoulos actually LET the Bush campaign spokesman get away with this. The Bush campaign CRITICIZES KERRY for invoking Bush's & Cheney's nonexistent war records in response to the Bushies' weeklong attack on Kerry's war record - attackers who included Bush's dad, Bush's wife, and Bush's brain (Karl Rove). Does the LA Times note the hypocrisy of Bush criticizing Kerry for doing EXACTLY what Bush's own family and chief aide have been doing all week? Of course not.

"Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said that while Bush 'is focused on his positive vision for the future ... John Kerry ... is consumed with the past.'" - LA Times

And none other than Bush campaign director Ken Mehlman said the same thing today on ABC's This Week.

"Senator McCain is right, it's wrong to divide Americans over a war that ended 35 years ago." - Ken Mehlman on ABC's This Week, September 5, 2004

All of which is funny because Laura Bush, George H.W. Bush, and Karl Rove ALL criticized Kerry's Vietnam record this past week, even though President Bush said Kerry was a hero in Vietnam and that we all should STOP talking about Vietnam. Apparently his own wife, father and top aide didn't get the message to stop lying about Kerry.

Laura Bush

In an interview with Time magazine released on Sunday, Mrs. [Laura] Bush said ads by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth criticizing Kerry were no different from attack ads that have been aimed at President Bush. "Do I think they're unfair? Not really." - Reuters, 8/29/04

Daddy Bush

The elder Bush then endorsed the criticism of Kerry's role as a war protester. "I remember that and I think that's fair game," he said in an interview on CNN. - Chicago Tribune, 9/2/04

Bush's Brain

White House strategist Karl Rove said Wednesday that Sen. John Kerry had tarnished the records of fellow Vietnam veterans with his anti-war protests, prompting a blistering response from the Democrat's campaign. - ABC NEWS, 9/1/04

This entire administration is made up of liars and hypocrites. That's all they do. And the media never questions them on it. Someone needs to package Laura, dad's and Karl's little quotes from last week and give them back to the press and then have the press ask Laura, dad and Karl why they keep talking about Kerry's Vietnam experience when the president claims that only bad people talk about such things. More coordination from the Bush camp of Vietnam lies. You'd think, however, that they'd be a little smarter than roping his wife and his dad into a campaign that he's still denying. Then again, the LA Times doesn't even fact check its own story. Simply repeat what the Bush campaign says without even once, ONCE, thinking "gee, that doesn't sound right." So why shouldn't the Bush campaign lie with one hand, and lie with the other, when they know they're going to get away with it. Read More......

143 lies from the GOP Convention

From the Kerry-Edwards team. Well done. Read More......

NEW AD: Anything to win

A new ad, from BradBlog.com. His servers have been overwhelmed with hits, so I'm hosting it here too. Click here to see the ad. (size: 888k) Read More......

Bush only ahead by 1% per right-wing pollster

This is one of the favorite poll sites of the Republicans.

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Why won't Bush deny having snorted cocaine?

Atrios reminds us of all the contradictory and downright cryptic answers Bush gave during the 2000 campaign when asked if he ever used cocaine. Rather than simply answer the question with a yes or a no, the conservative-values president gave this very weird legalistic answer about which date he would have been under compliance with the White House law, etc etc etc. Which is all very troubling from the man who last week made it clear that his "values" don't come from Hollywood, and that HE is the cheerleader of "conservative" values.

I am sure that conservative values don't include using cocaine, and I suspect that Hollywood values - or at least a conservative's defintion of Hollywood values - WOULD include using cocaine.

So why isn't president Bush answering the question outright? We're at war. Don't we deserve to know if our commander in chief is or ever has been using illegal substances that would make him unfit for duty? Read More......

Why does the Washington Post hate Vietnam Vets?

The Washington Post editorial board hates Vietnam veterans. The Post has contempt for their sacrifice and disdain for their acts of courage. To the Washington Post editorial board, anyone who served is Vietnam is irrelevant - less than a footnote to history, they do not even EXIST in history, nor should they.

That is the only conclusion that can be reached after reading today's lead editorial in the Sunday Post in which the editorial board contemptuously suggests that a soldier's actions under fire in a dangerous military engagement have NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on how that soldier would act as commander in chief of the US armed forces.

Yes, the Post actually wrote today that John Kerry's experience in Vietnam was IRRELEVANT in terms of judging how he would act as commander in chief during war time. Yes, the how a soldier literally acted under fire in war time is apparently completely irrelevant to, well, how that soldier would act, under fire, in war time. Here's what the Post had to say:

So far, however, the substance of that debate has been disappointing. President Bush and Democratic challenger John F. Kerry have each tried to make the case for himself as the most credible commander in chief, but they have done so mainly by flaunting past experience, in the case of Mr. Kerry, or by questioning his opponent's steadfastness, in Mr. Bush's case. What neither has done so far is convincingly address the specific and critical challenges the United States faces in Afghanistan and Iraq, or those that lie just over the horizon: in Iran, in North Korea, in the emergence of new terrorist networks. Yet it is there -- and not on each man's personal history during the Vietnam War, or the wording of their predictions of eventual victory -- that the real distinctions between them need to be made.

Not only does the Post outright criticize Kerry for "flaunting" his own military experience, but they have the audacity to put Kerry's own experience under fire on the same moral plane as Bush attacking Kerry's heroic actions with lies. Yes, in the view of the Washington Post editorial board American soldiers who risked and gave their lives in Vietnam are now no better than people who would lie in order to smear those soldiers for partisan political gain.

The only explanation is anti-Vietnam bigotry. Whatever one thinks of that war, I thought our nation had come to the point where we didn't blame every single veteran for the fact that this was a war we shouldn't have fought in the first place. I thought we were a nation that could still honor our war dead, and honor those who fought valiantly and survived, even though those planning and leading the war may have been fools and worse. But no.

The Washington Post makes clear today that if you were a hero in Vietnam, if you risked your life for our country, if you acted valiantly and courageously while under fire, and if your mettle was tested and you were proven to be more-than-fit to serve, then you're an irrelevant piece of shit, and you certainly shouldn't have the audacity to suggest publicly that your exemplary service - snicker, snicker - is somehow indicative of something "good" in your character, or of how you would act if challenged militarily in the future. On the contrary, the Post makes clear that service to our country is akin to a lie. It is the moral equivalent of a slur. Which is ironic, considering how much money we just spent building and honoring a memorial to another war that happened even LONGER ago.

What a pitiful newspaper that rag has become since Katherine Graham died. Read More......

Sunday Shows - Meet the Press

Seems like the Republicans still don't have any problem with Zell Miller's screed. In fact, Mary Matalin said of Zell Miller:

"He is a delightful, and loving and wonderful man"

Doesn't he just look so "loving"? I find the venom in his eyes particularly "delightful".

P.S. - I thought that Matalin and Carville looked particularly uncomfortable with each other today. Matalin looked like she wasn't having as good a time. Carville said that he expected changes in the Kerry campaign in the next "three days." Personally, I would love to see Carville back in the game. Carville vs. Rove - I'd put my money on Carville. Read More......

Sunday Shows - This Week with George Stephanopoulos

Joe Lockhart was on for the Kerry campaign. He was better than Kerry's message has been in the past, but it seems that Kerry's people still can't seem to consistently articulate: The President says he's talking about the future, and his plans. He's had four years to do all these things, and hasn't. Why should you expect anything different in the next four years? Are you better off than you were four years ago? Read More......

"Intelligence Matters" to be released on Tuesday

Senator Bob Graham's new book will surely get the discussion going back to what Bush actually did on 9/11. Surprise, surprise, we're going to hear more about the Saudi connections as well as Bushies blocking of investigations against his friends. Why does he give preferential treatment to Saudis over Americans? Why does he hate Americans so much?
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Did Bush fall off the wagon?

Buzzflash is also linking to UCLA professor Mark Kleimans blog that says Bush is boozing again. I'll admit that it's news to me but if this is serious it needs to be looked into right away.
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The "daddy party" compares America to a 10 year old child

Every day I hear something from the Republicans and think that surely it just can't go more overboard than that, but of course, I'm proven wrong the next day. Buzzflash is highlighting todays winner.

''It struck me as I was speaking to people in Bangor, Maine, that this president sees America as we think about a 10-year-old child," Card said. ''I know as a parent I would sacrifice all for my children."

''Any parent that ran a household the way George W. Bush runs the country would find themselves in bankruptcy court on the way to family court," said Phil Singer, a Kerry spokesman. ''Just over the last year, 1.3 million people have fallen into poverty, including 700,000 children, and 1.4 million people have lost their health insurance while family incomes have declined three years in a row. America can do better."

And for those who wondered if it was possible to listen to a Republican without hearing a 9/11 reference and brave Bushies, here's our answer from the man who supposedly told Bush about the attacks in the classroom:

''The president accepted my words but did not introduce fear to any of those young students or through the national media to the American people," Card said. ''After an appropriate period of time, he excused himself from the classroom . . . and exercised the ultimate responsibility of a president."

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UN calls Bush on yet another pre-invasion lie

It's almost comical how many of Bushies reasons for war have been proven to be absolutely false. There was also a nice slap on the Bush team for allowing missle and weapons facilities to be looted.

The United Nations' chief weapons inspector has concluded there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein's government ever developed unpiloted drones capable of dispersing chemical and biological weapons agents on enemy targets.

Perricos also provided an update on the fate of Iraq's former weapons facilities, reporting that two chemical weapons facilities and a key missile factory that produced components for Al Samoud-2 missiles had been looted and "totally razed," helping to fuel a burgeoning international industry that is converting Iraq's weapons into scrap metal.

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Lest anyone forget

This is a full-page newspaper ad all by itself.

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Kitty Kelly Bush Book Rumors

Every girl LOVES a rumor! Kos' diaries have the latest on what may, or may not, be in the soon-to-be-released tell-all book about the Bushes. Normally, I wouldn't pass on rumors, but hey, these guys outright lie about us, so what's a rumor between friends? Read More......

1,100 US troops injured IN ONE MONTH

Bush probably thinks they're a bunch of unpatriotic liars. After all, we all know that REAL men stay stateside, and only pussies get injured. Read More......

Mary Cheney is back stumping for Bush, after hiding at the GOP Convention

"Accompanied by wife Lynne and daughter Mary, Cheney joined Colorado Gov. Bill Owens (R) and McCain on the cotton-, alfalfa- and cheese-producing town of 48,000, three hours south of Albuquerque, to reach local media in three states. " - Wash Post

Isn't that nice? After hiding all week and refusing to go on stage with the rest of her family both Wednesday and Thursday nights at the GOP Convention - an appearance that could have made a hell of a difference for her own community's visibility - the very-lesbian and newly-closeted Mary has no problem hitting the trail to help re-elect the man who thinks she and her girlfriend Heather Poe should go to jail because they love each other. What a piece of work that lady is. Read More......