Draft GOP Platform bashes gays by endorsing federal marriage amendment

AP:

If the plank is approved as expected, it would mark the first time the GOP has gone on record in its statement of principles as supporting an amendment against gay marriage....

"We strongly support President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage," the draft says. The 2000 platform supported the definition of marriage as being between a man and woman, but stopped short of seeking a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage.

On abortion, the document again calls for a constitutional ban, asserting "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."

This is interesting news coming the same day that Cheney goes all soft on the marriage amendment. I find this entire Cheney thing very weird, still can't get my hands around it. I think the party is trying to have it both ways on gay marriage heading in to the convention, trying to suck up to both the moderates and the wingnuts, and it's simply getting more and more confusing for everybody - dare we say, flip-flopy? Read More......

Open Thread: How's Kerry doing on Jon Stewart's show?

So far so good. I'm not overwhelmed, but he's alive, has smiled a few times. He's no Bill Clinton. But who is? Your views? Read More......

Bush Campaign Lawyer Tied to Swift Boat's Anti-Kerry Ads

It just keeps getting more and more fun. Read More......

NYC Hospitals Desperately Underfunded To Fight Terrorism

It's been three years since NYC suffered its SECOND devastating direct attack by terrorists and still hospitals across the city are desperately unprepared and underfunded by the federal government.

"Hospital officials across the city say they still lack much of the important protective clothing, decontamination facilities and essential drug supplies that could be needed to respond to a biological, chemical or nuclear strike. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, the federal government said it was essential that the nation's hospitals improve their ability to handle complex, catastrophic disasters, and it warned the hospitals that they might have to wage that response without outside aid from the government or military for as long as 48 to 72 hours after any terrorist attack. But hospital officials in the city say Washington has failed to provide adequate direction on how to run such extraordinary responses, and have not come anywhere close to providing the kind of money they say they need."

Later, the story adds,

"In New York City, a number of hospitals have spent about $5 million apiece since 9/11 to install decontamination showers, buy protective equipment and train staff members. For this effort, they have each been reimbursed roughly $75,000 from Washington, according to Mr. Raske's association. The hospitals, which are facing many other financial pressures, say they would have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars more to make more meaningful progress toward readiness."

This is just one city, albeit one that has proven the most tempting target imaginable for terrorists and one Bush wants to cynically employ as a rallying point for his reelection campaign. If he truly cared about fighting terrorism and truly cared about NYC, where is the money he promised and reneged on? Where is the attention to real problems like helping hospitals in major urban areas get prepared for chemical, biological and nuclear attacks?

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Bush's Friends the Pakistanis

Bush's cynical idea of a good ally is Pakistan (not mention the corrupt monarchy of Saudi Arabia that has lined the pockets of companies he and his daddy worked for and with).

Pakistan has always harbored terrorists and supported them worldwide, it sold nuclear material and know-how to the highest bidders and now it's shielding the Taliban.

If you want to know about someone's character, look to their friends.
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North Korea Working For Kerry?

Bush might want to file a complaint that North Korea is working for John Kerry. Surely there can be no other explanation for the stream of insults directed at Bush by that mad, Orwellian nightmare of a dictatorship. Among the choicer complaints:

Bush is "an imbecile, ignorant, a tyrant and a man-killer," according to a diplomatic spokesman. Bush is "a tyrant that puts Hitler into the shade." Bush's allies are "a typical gang of political gangsters. And then, apparently running out of steam, he said Bush is "a bad guy."

Who said Dubya wasn't a uniter?
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Bush campaign manager: President must convince voters they're wrong

"President Bush must convince the electorate that the nation is in much better shape than voters now believe to be the case." - Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman about Bush's job next week at the GOP Convention

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Fundie meltdown over Cheney's gay marriage comments begin

They're baaaaack. And none too pleased:

[Cheney's] comments drew criticism from the conservative Family Research Council, with President Tony Perkins saying, "I find it hard to believe the vice president would stray from the administration's position on defense policy or tax policy. For many pro-family voters, protecting traditional marriage ranks ahead of the economy and job creation as a campaign issue."

Perkins added that if Cheney sees a problem with activist judges, "then how can he not endorse the same solution the president and his pro-family allies have proposed? We urge Vice President Cheney to support President Bush and a constitutional amendment on marriage."

Gay marriage is ahead of the economy and job creation? Just shows you how out of the touch the religious right really is with regular Americans.

Also, Cheney's comments were THE TOP STORY on ABC's World News Tonight. And the spin was perfect. Cheney breaks with Bush over gay marriage. And ABC also noted how odd this was coming only days before the GOP Convention.

Genevieve Wood of the Family Research Council added: "The vice president's remarks today are disappointing. The fact is I think it sends a very mixed message to voters where does the administration stand on this issue."

But perhaps my favorite comments were from the White House that, according to ABC, said the vice president made the president's position clear. Yeah, he did. Cheney said that he believes "freedom means freedom for everyone" and apparently the president doesn't believe that, or at least the president doesn't believe freedom means freedom for gay people.

Bush's position is crystal clear. Read More......

Latest Zogby polls - BAD BAD BAD for Bush

Ohio, W.Va (who cares) and Virginia are the only states where Bush is ahead. Jesus.

AZ:
Kerry 49
Bush 46
Nader/other 5

AR:
Kerry 48
Bush 46
Nader/other 6

CO:
Kerry 49
Bush 46
Nader/other 5

FL:
Kerry 50
Bush 49
Nader/other 1

IA:
Kerry 52
Bush 45
Nader/other 3

MI:
Kerry 51
Bush 45
Nader/other 4

MN:
Kerry 50
Bush 45
Nader/other 5

MO:
Kerry 49
Bush 49
Nader/other 2

NV:
Kerry 48
Bush 46
Nader/other 6

NH
Kerry 51
Bush 43
Nader/other 6

NM:
Kerry 50
Bush 44
Nader/other 6

NC:
Kerry 50
Bush 49
Nader/other 2

OH:
Kerry 46
Bush 51
Nader/other 3

OR:
Kerry 54
Bush 43
Nader/other 3

PA:
Kerry 52
Bush 44
Nader/other 4

TN:
Kerry 50
Bush 48
Nader/other 2

VA:
Kerry 48
Bush 49
Nader/other 4

WA:
Kerry 53
Bush 45
Nader/other 2

WV:
Kerry 42
Bush 49
Nader/other 9

WI:
Kerry 51
Bush 46
Nader/other 3 Read More......

Bunning: Afraid to Debate

Jim Bunning doesn't feel he has to explain himself or his position to the voters this election. He's refusing to debate his Democratic opponent, Dr. Daniel Mongiardo.

At least he's not hiding the fact that he's hiding. Asked directly if he'd give Kentucky voters the courtesy of a debate, Bunning said, "heavens, no." Of course, he does think Kentucky taxpayers should pick up the bill for extra security when Bunning has public events -- you know, in case terrorists are waiting for him in Paducah.

By the way, Mongiardo says he'd back civil unions -- a big deal in Kentucky, where there's a really bad constitutional amendment on the ballot this November. Too bad Kentucky voters won't get to hear both sides of the issue.

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Nasty (i.e., GREAT) editorial from the LA Times

"The pro-Kerry campaign is nasty and personal. The pro-Bush campaign is nasty, personal and false." - LA Times

(Thanks to Atrios for catching this.) Read More......

Cheney opposes federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage

UPDATE: Reuters got the story right, AP did not.

Holy shit. The fundies are going to be PISSED. Not that this surprises me, content-wise. It was clear that Cheney was going along with this amendment nonsense because Bush wanted to do it. But still, for Cheney to come out and pretty much say that Bush made him do it (note the repeated references to "he"), that's a bit surprising. Especially one week before the GOP Convention. This undercuts the federal amendment badly, especially when the fundies are again agitating for a House vote on the amendment around the week of September 20. That vote is assured to be a disaster after Cheney's comments today.

Two points to Dick Cheney for sticking up for his gay kid. And two points to all of us who said it was worth targeting him on this issue - he finally came out and did the right thing. :-)

CHENEY DOES NOT SUPPORT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Acknowledges 'gay' daughter
by Rex Wockner

Speaking in Davenport, Iowa, Aug. 24, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney made it clear he does not support President George W. Bush's drive to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Cheney's lesbian daughter, Mary, was in the audience as he spoke. She is director of vice-presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

Cheney was asked: "I need to know, Sir, from your heart -- I don't want to know what your advisers think or even your top adviser -- I need to know, what do you think about homosexual marriages?"

The vice president replied: "Well, the question has come up in the past with respect to the question of gay marriage. Lynne and I have a gay daughter so it's an issue that our family is very familiar with. We have two daughters and we have enormous pride in both of them, they're both fine young women and they do a superb job, frankly, of supporting us, and we were blessed with both our daughters.

"With respect to the question of [unintelligible word] relationships, my general view is that freedom means freedom for everybody. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to. The question that comes up with respect to the issue of marriage is, what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government, if you will, to the particular relationship?

"Historically," Cheney said, "that's been a relationship that's been handled by the states. States have made the basic fundamental decision what constitutes a marriage. I made clear four years ago when this question came up in my debate with Joe Lieberman that my view was that that's appropriately a matter for the states to decide and that's how it ought to best be handled.

"The president has, as a result of the decisions made in Massachusetts this year by judges, felt that he wanted to support a constitutional amendment to define at the federal level what constitutes marriage, that his perception was that the courts in effect were beginning to change without the people being involved, without their being part of the political process -- that the courts, in this case a court in Massachusetts, were making the judgment or the decision for the entire country, and he disagreed with that. So where we're at at this point is, he's come out in support of a federal constitutional amendment and I don't think that, so far, it hasn't had the votes to pass.

"There is the federal Defense of Marriage Act that passed in 1996 and, to date, it has not been successfully challenged in the court, and it may be sufficient to resolve the issue," Cheney said. "At this point my own preference is as I've stated, but the president makes basic policy for this administration and he's made it clear that he does in fact support an amendment on this issue."

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Kerry to appear on John Stewart's "Daily Show" tonight

Wise move, I think. Let's Kerry refute the Swift Boat charges with a VERY FRIENDLY interviewer and audience. There's a great quote from the Daily Show's executive producer in the Wash Post piece on this:

"George W. Bush has put a moratorium on talk about his behavior under the age of 40 and everyone [in the press] is abiding by it. 'Were you or were you not an alcoholic or did you just have a drinking problem?,' 'Were you or were you not a drug abuser?' Meanwhile they're debating whether [Kerry's war] wounds drew blood or were they superficial, or occurred in the same day, or whether he shot a guy wearing a toga. . . . How is that possible?"

Which got me wondering, what ARE the various chargers/rumors about Bush's early days that have yet to be fully cleared up, or at least aren't being talked about nearly enough. I'll list the ones I remember, any others?

1. He's an alcoholic
2. Caught on film drunk years after he claimed to have given up booze.
3. Girlfriend rumored to have had an abortion
4. Didn't show up for all of his military service.
5. Used dad to get out of serving in Vietnam.
6. Refused to get military physical because might have been doing drugs.
7. Wife killed someone by driving through a stop sign.
8. Refuses to deny that he once (or more) used cocaine.
9. Told reporter at 1988 Repub convention that he and dad talked about "pussy" a lot.
10. Rumored to currently be on anti-depressants.
11. MIA on September 11 while America was at war.

What else? Read More......

Bin Laden Driver Goes Before U.S. Tribunal

I guess driving Miss Daisy counts as a weapons of mass destruction related activity. Next week's big arrest in the war on terror? Mohammad Atta's hairdresser. Read More......

Getting blown up in Iraq can keep you away from the voting booths too

AP:

Calling their dad "a really good guy," President Bush's twin daughters are urging young people to vote, saying that schoolwork, parties and extracurricular activities often keep students away from campaigns and voting booths.

Let's not forget that with four more years of Bush it's not clear at all how we avoid drafting all those partying college students. If the Dems want a killer campaign to win over the youth vote, the threat of the draft is it. Read More......

Bush explanation for dodging the war

"I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment,' Bush told the Dallas Morning News in 1990. "Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes."

I guess it's better than "my daddy phoned his buddies and got me off the hook" or "I had other priorities...I had other priorities...I had other priorities...I had other priorities...I had other priorities."

I wouldn't have been very keen to go over either, but let's cut the crap about being gung-ho after the fact and attacking those that did.

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Bush CIA nominee voted to massively hack intelligence in '90s

[NOTE FROM JOHN: I just read the Wash Post article on this and am bumping this to the top of the blog (for now). This is a VERY important article. This could derail Goss' appointment, or at the very least, will create a few days of VERY GOOD theater to get us off of the veterans who shall be unnamed...]

Now what is it that Bush is saying about Kerry and his voting record for intelligence? (Title to recent Bush ad: "John Kerry . . . proposed slashing Intelligence Budget 6 Billion Dollars.") There was something there about being "reckless" I believe.

Hmmm, now let's take a little look at Bush's man for the open job at the CIA.

Goss, who has been chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for the past eight years, was one of six original co-sponsors of legislation in 1995 that called for cuts of at least 4 percent per year between 1996 and 2000 in the total number of people employed throughout the intelligence community.

But the cuts Goss supported are larger than those proposed by Kerry and specifically targeted the "human intelligence" that has recently been found lacking. The recent report by the commission probing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks called for more spending on human intelligence.

Oh dear, I think that Mr. Goss looks very, very reckless and he's probably trying to drag down America. It's time for the Dem's to put Bush back on the defensive, right before the convention like they did to Kerry. Why does Bush hate America? Read More......

Iraqi teens abused at Abu Ghraib, new report finds

As a follow on to Michael's report below, the Washington Post says the new Pentagon report also shows teens as young as 15 were used as part of some sadistic game by MPs at Abu Ghraib. The report goes on to note that:

"...military intelligence soldiers kept multiple detainees off the record books and hid them from international humanitarian organizations. The report also mentions substantiated claims that at least one male detainee was sodomized by one of his captors at Abu Ghraib..."

And, while the report still says these were the actions of just a few errant people, the number of errant people just MORE THAN DOUBLED:

"It will expand the circle of soldiers considered responsible for abuse beyond the seven military police soldiers already facing charges, officials said, to include more than a dozen others"

The article goes on to note that only 300 pages of the 9,000 page report will be released. That is ridiculous. The entire report should be released or no one will, or should, trust this administration's pitiful accounting.

Finally, war crimes or not? How is rape not a war crime? Has anyone read anything about whether the international community is taking any action on the Abu Ghraib abuses? What's the process for someone to take up the issue of war crimes? Read More......

Seniors retirement money continues to suffer from Wall St woes

As if Bush didn't have enough trouble with angry seniors and his Medicare mess, the stock market just continues to stink. Expectations have been high for the market but actual results have been dismal. That's always a dangerous combination for politicians.

Just under half of the investors polled this month said that they were either somewhat or very optimistic about the performance of the stock market over the next 12 months.

In the meantime, strategists like Mr. Casey expect the market to tread water for some time to come, predicting that stock prices will remain flat for a couple of years even as earnings rise.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute study found that people in their 60's are still down 8.7 percent on average in their accounts for the four-year period beginning Dec. 31, 1999, and lasting through the end of last year. Participants in their 60's with more than 30 years of tenure on the job are even worse off; their account balances fell 15.5 percent on average during the period, the study said.

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US dead in Iraq now at 962, Bush remains oblivious to facts

Funny how the not-so-swifties saturate the news and this doesn't even scratch the surface of the so-called liberal media front pages. What are these people dying for a war of convenience?

Meanwhile, Bush is somehow trying to tell the public that the war is improving. Did he fall off the wagon or what? The death toll for August is clearly going to be higher than last month and the month before. This guy really lives in a vacuum.
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Military Panel Blasts Top Brass On Abu Ghraib Scandal

A major independent panel set up by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld implicitly blasts him and blames "leadership failures at the highest levels of the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff and military command in Iraq" for the shameful scandal in which our military engaged in widespread torture, rape and even murder of prisoners that in most cases were unimportant low-level combatants or even innocent civilians.

Now if they'd included the Commander in Chief as well, we could chime in. And where are those videos of rape? As Commander in Chief, why hasn't Bush demanded to see those videos of war crimes (which is exactly what rape is)? Doesn't he care?
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But Army's Own Investigation A Whitewash

Yep, the Army investigated itself and couldn't help uncovering further damning details at Abu Ghraib. Among the most pathetic: soldiers torturing kids by having contests in which they frightened the hell out of young teenagers with attack dogs. The winner? The one who made a kid urinate on himself first.

"It has nothing to do with interrogation," said one Army officer familiar with the report. "It was just them on their own being weird." And the report includes further confirmation of rape.

So, with details including the sadistic treatment of kids and war crimes like rape, this Army report must have called for some pretty heavy penalties, right? Wrong.

"Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, then the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is named in the report for leadership deficiencies and failing to deal with rising problems at the prison as he tried to manage 150,000 troops countering an unexpected insurgency. Sanchez, however, will not be recommended for any punitive action or even a letter of reprimand."
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Bush Allies Say He's Floundering On Economy

More divisions on the right, as Republican business leaders and others say the Bush team is adrift on the economy and has no new ideas to offer beyond "four more years." Make sure you read through the Washington Post article. Halfway in, there's a fun section where Treasury Secretary John W. Snow shows an Orwellian gift for staring facts in the face and blithely stating the obvious -- what my granddaddy used to call "lying". Some examples:

"In May, when the unemployment rate of 20- to 24-year-olds had risen to 9.7 percent, from 9.2 percent the month before, he told graduates at Kenyon College in Ohio, 'The job market is ripe for you right now.'

"On Thursday, Snow told employees of a ventilation company in Springfield, Mo., 'The tax cuts . . . are a critical part of the reason why I am able to report that our national economy has found its footing.' Meanwhile, in New York, the Conference Board, a business research firm, reported a second straight monthly decline in its index of leading economic indicators. 'The latest decline in the leading index reflects a loss of forward momentum,' said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein, citing 'worries about where economic growth will come from now that tax refunds have been spent.'"

Snow's doublespeak is impressive, no?


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