GOP flier: Don't trust Florida voting machines

They should have tacked on: Don't trust Florida voting officials. Read More......

TV Networks are Anti-Kerry

Fascinating piece from Paul Krugman in the NYT. It's hard to know what to cite, because so much of the article is amazing.

To wit:

On the other hand, everyone knows that Teresa Heinz Kerry told someone to "shove it," though even there, the context was missing. Except for a brief reference on MSNBC, none of the transcripts I've read mention that the target of her ire works for Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire who financed smear campaigns against the Clintons - including accusations of murder. (CNN did mention Mr. Scaife on its Web site, but described him only as a donor to "conservative causes.") And viewers learned nothing about Mr. Scaife's long vendetta against Mrs. Heinz Kerry herself.

I had NO IDEA that's who was involved in this. That man is a pig - she should have told his minion to go fuck himself, and then some.

And this:

A Columbia Journalism Review Web site called campaigndesk.org, says its analysis "reveals a press prone to needlessly introduce Senators Kerry and Edwards and Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, as millionaires or billionaires, without similar labels for President Bush or Vice President Cheney."

As the site points out, the Bush campaign has been "hammering away with talking points casting Kerry as out of the mainstream because of his wealth, hoping to influence press coverage." The campaign isn't claiming that Mr. Kerry's policies favor the rich - they manifestly don't, while Mr. Bush's manifestly do. Instead, we're supposed to dislike Mr. Kerry simply because he's wealthy (and not notice that his opponent is, too). Republicans, of all people, are practicing the politics of envy, and the media obediently go along.

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Bush-Cheney require signed "loyalty oath" to attend public events

I veel support zee prezident....

Some Democrats who signed up to hear Vice President Dick Cheney speak here Saturday were refused tickets unless they signed a pledge to endorse President Bush.

The measure was a security step designed to avoid a disruption, which Bush campaign spokesman Dan Foley alleged Democrats were planning. Democratic Party officials denied it.

Several Democrats, at least, encountered the screening measures Thursday after calling from a line that self-identified as ACT, America Coming Together, an activist group that supports Kerry, Foley said. Others attempted to give false names and were denied tickets, he said.

Two men who had sought tickets reported they were required to give name, address, phone number, e-mail address and driver's license number, then were presented the pledge of endorsement when they arrived to pick up the tickets Thursday.

One of them, John Wade of Albuquerque, said he signed the pledge because he wanted the tickets but then changed his mind.

"I got to thinking this is not right," Wade said. "They're excluding people -- that's what has me so upset."

He returned the tickets and campaign workers returned his pledge.

Vietnam veteran Michael Ortiz y Pino said he refused to sign the pledge and was refused tickets.

Ortiz y Pino said he was asked if he associated with veterans, pro-life, gun rights or teacher groups.

Neither man wanted to give driver's license numbers but did so.

"I said why do you need that?" Ortiz y Pino said.

A campaign worker, he said, replied: "Secret Service stuff."

Kerry campaign spokesman Ruben Pulido Jr. said there had been no plan by the campaign to disrupt Cheney's event.

"I think that every American should have the right to see their vice president and hear from him firsthand what he plans to do for our country," Pulido said.

He also said the Kerry campaign had not attempted to screen Bush supporters out of Kerry's appearance at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque on July 9.

On that occasion, about a dozen Bush supporters wearing flip-flop beach sandals began chanting "Viva Bush" and waved their flip-flops over their heads. They contend Kerry has flip-flopped on the war.

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More polls, looking good

Newsweek, July 29-30, 2004:
3-way race
Bush 42%
Kerry 49%
Nader 3%

2-way race
Bush 44%
Kerry 52%
Other 4%

Would you like to see GW Bush re-elected?
Yes 43%
No 53%
Unsure 4% Read More......

Good fences

I'm not taking sides, simply sharing an interesting Web banner ad that, according to a friend of Michael in NY, is making its way around Israel of late.

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Is the Washington Post publishing GOP talking points?

Astute reader Kenlac noted how yesterday's Washington Post op ed blasting Kerry has a paragraph that sounds an awful lot like a paragraph in a Boston Globe op ed published the same day. Are the Post and the Globe publishing GOP talking points? Did one plagiarize from the other? Or is this simply a very odd coincidence?

I report, you decide.

From yesterday's Wash Post op ed:

"He talked movingly of how his combat experience would temper his decision making: 'I know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place and they can't tell friend from foe.' The responsibility of sending troops into danger should weigh on a commander in chief. But so must the responsibility of protecting the nation against a shadowy foe not easily deterred by traditional means. Mr. Kerry last night elided the charged question of whether, as president, he would have gone to war in Iraq. He offered not a word to celebrate the freeing of Afghans from the Taliban, or Iraqis from Saddam Hussein, and not a word about helping either nation toward democracy."

What op ed writer Jeff Jacoby said in the Boston Globe on the same day:

"He spoke of his empathy for the young grunts 'carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place' and about his respect for 'all who serve in our armed forces today.' Couldn't he have spared a few words to salute those troops for their two great achievements of recent years -- the toppling of vicious tyrannies in Afghanistan and Iraq?"

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Where Are The Polls?

Usually, two seconds after an event the major media outlets start releasing instant polls about its impact and chat with focus groups about how they feel. I've always thought they moved too quickly and were silly in a way. But here it is two days after John Kerry's acceptance speech and still no poll results about his bounce? I'm sure they'll pop up on Monday, but what gives?
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Study: Fear shapes voters'views

Erin writes in that CNN.com has a great article about how fear is quite a useful vote-getter. She notes, correctly, that Michael Moore pointed this out in F-9.11, the fact that Bush uses fear to keep himself in power.

Of course, I fear Bush, so does that make me want to vote for him more? Read More......

Vatican wants women barefoot and pregnant

No big surprise here, but I still get a kick out of how cro magnon these guys are.

"Faced with the abuse of power, the answer for women is to seek power. This process leads to opposition between men and women ... which has its most immediate and lethal effects in the structure of the family."

Bitches.

"Although motherhood is a key element of women's identity, this does not mean that women should be considered from the sole perspective of physical procreation."

Exactly, because we all know that the Vatican reserves the sex thing for small children. Read More......