2

Days to go.

If you have a moment, this site is worth rememberance and reflection.

Also, I and many others will be helping Jay Cost of The Horserace Blog fame to retrieve and report election day vote tallies as they are reported. I'll be helping with Michigan, so please check in at The Horserace Blog, as they say, early and often.

3

Days to Go.

Hugh Hewitt has the wrap on Get Out The Vote efforts by showcasing what he considers the best organization: Colorado's Republican Party.

Fascinating read if you're a political geek.

And, if you're a Republican, a most encouraging read.

Bin Laden Surrenders?

Fantastic analysis by Wretchard over at Belmont Club from Australia:

It is important to notice what he has stopped saying in this speech. He has stopped talking about the restoration of the Global Caliphate. There is no more mention of the return of Andalusia. There is no more anticipation that Islam will sweep the world. He is no longer boasting that Americans run at the slightest wounds; that they are more cowardly than the Russians. He is not talking about future operations to swathe the world in fire but dwelling on past glories. He is basically saying if you leave us alone we will leave you alone. Though it is couched in his customary orbicular phraseology he is basically asking for time out.

The American answer to Osama's proposal will be given on Election Day. One response is to agree that the United States of America will henceforth act like Sweden, which is on track to become majority Islamic sometime after the middle of this century. The electorate best knows which candidate will serve this end; which candidate most promises to be European-like in attitude and they can choose that path with both eyes open. The electorate can strike that bargain and Osama may keep his word. The other course is to reject Osama's terms utterly; to recognize the pleading in his outwardly belligerent manner and reply that his fugitive existence; the loss of his sanctuaries; the annihilation of his men are but the merest foretaste of what is yet to come: to say that to enemies such as he, the initials 'US' will always mean Unconditional Surrender.

Osama has stated his terms. He awaits America's answer.

Desperate Cheating

This is incredible.

Voting Reform must be part of a second Bush term.

These games are too easy to play.

Good to see BC04 has a plan to identify voter fraud.

The General Speaks

And spanks Kerry in Ohio:

You know, I'm not a politician, but I know what a Commander-in-Chief looks like, and there's only one on this ballot -- that's George Bush. . . .

Now, I'll tell you, I don't know Senator Kerry's plan for victory. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is, but I do know -- but I do know that his criticism of military conduct of our global war on terrorism denigrates, disrespects our troops. (Applause.) And, ladies and gentlemen, I also know that he cannot lead troops to victory in a war when he has made it perfectly clear that he does not support the cause. (Applause.)

Ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be a close election, and every vote counts. Those who wear the uniform of service of the United States of America deserve a Commander-in-Chief, and it's my honor to introduce one -- President George W. Bush.

New Age of Media Responsibility?

You can always tell when media types know their hands have been caught in the Hit Piece to Sink Bush cookie jar.

They whine and blame someone else.

Roger Simon tutors the The New York Times that they had better get used to accountability and responsibility enforced by bloggers (bizarre we even have to monitor professionals who purport to be unbiased).

The NYT, to its credit, was honest enough to [admit its biases], declaring itself a "liberal" newspaper through its ombudsman Daniel Okrent. Most bloggers I know are pretty up front. But the real guardian of honesty is diversity - the market itself. Despite its wounds, the NYT et al are going to have to live with a new reality. We're here to stay and there will only be more of us.

Will they listen?

Or, will they whither on the vine (not that we should be surprised, the Los Angeles Times hasn't been a real newspaper for years)?

Senator Gumby

He'll bend any which way.

Hugh Hewitt telling it like it is.

George W. Bush has wisely decided to close his campaign by summoning the memory of Democrats who indeed had the right stuff to command. "The party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve in times of war and hours of crisis," the president declared in Wisconsin on Tuesday. Bush pointed out that "many Democrats in this country do not recognize their own party."

"Today I want to speak to everyone of them," he declared. "If you believe America should lead with strength and purpose and confidence and resolve, I'd be honored to have your support and I'm asking for your vote." . . .

With five days left, Americans would do well to recall Winston Churchill's critique of Cordell Hull's fatigue in a late night planning session in the early stages of World War II. Hull began to excuse himself and head for bed, citing the lateness of the hour. Churchill bellowed his dismay: "Why, man, we are at war!"

Indeed. Vote accordingly.

Another good summary of Kerry's Al-Qaqaa Quagmire from Roger Peters at the New York Post:

Sen. Kerry knows this is a bogus issue. And he doesn't care. He's willing to accuse our troops of negligence and incompetence to further his political career. Of course, he did that once before.

Ouch!

5

Days to go.

And the Europeans still haven't figured us out.

It's a Freedom Thing -- they wouldn't understand.

Saddam-Al Qaeda

Most interesting.

Lest we forget, the connection was upheld in court.

Keep pounding W.

There are "Wolves" out there.

Stop Me Before I Lie Again!

The New York Times is as laughable as CBS News.

Wizbang! is over all the story and provides an excellent Wednesday Wrap.

People never learn, they just keep digging their holes deeper, deeper and deeper.

But, hey, it's great entertainment, and the World Series is over, so we just need to sit back and see if any mud sticks to Kerry (you know our Leftist Media will attempt to wrap Teflon all over Kerry's body [Eeeew! -- Ed. Sorry.]

Don't miss the "Funny Updates", i.e. The New York Times' attempts at saving face.

Absolutely (and shamelessly) hilarious CYA.

Editor: Leaks Hastened Report on Missing Explosives

On Sunday night, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller told Jeff Fager, executive producer of CBS's "60 Minutes," that the story they had been jointly pursuing on missing Iraqi ammunition was starting to leak on the Internet.

"You know what? We're going to have to run it Monday," Keller said.

Could any political satirist have dreamed up such nonsense? Incredible.

Keep pounding W.

"Whatever It Takes."

Keep pounding.

All the News That's Fit to Print

Another home run by James Lileks.

Right now Drudge has the AHH-OOOGAH WOAW WOAW WOAW HOLY CRAP flashing light up about Russians moving the missing Iraqi weapons to Syria. Who could imagine those three names mentioned in the same sentence? Perhaps “Today Russia, Syria and Iraq announced plans for a global custard franchise,” or “Surprising many long-time observers, Russia has joined with Syria and Iraq to develop a new generation of cheap, bitter cigarette where all the tobacco dribbles out one end before you even get the chance to light it.” But arms smuggling? In defiance of the UN? I’ll believe it when I see it in the New York Times.

The Russian Connection

Documented here by The Washington Times.

Wednesday was a Triple Play:

1) The Washington Times humiliated The New York Times.
2) ABC News humiliated The New York Times.
3) BoSox Sweep the Cards -- The Curse of the Bambino was Exorcised.

If you haven't heard by now, the lies and distortions of John Kerry and The New York Times' [What about the CBS-NYT nexus on this story?! -- Ed. Does anyone really care about or watch CBS News anymore?] have been documented as Roger Simon notes:

Bill Gertz of the Wash Times has a bombshell tonight . . . Gertz corroborates what we all know - the Times story of missing explosives was jerry-rigged propaganda concocted to make the president look bad and get Kerry elected. How could it have been otherwise? Obviously, the Times didn't do the slightest bit of research on the matter. They just rushed the story out. Otherwise they might have found out what Gertz did - that the explosives were "almost certainly" moved before the war (logical, isn't it?) and that Russian intelligence helped Saddam do it. This too is no surprise because anyone following the Iraq War story reasonably closely knows that the Russians were deeply enmeshed with the Iraqi mukhabarat at that time.

What's even more embarrassing is that Times' story is further discredited by that other organ of the "extreme right" ABC News. Apparently there was a "discrepancy" in the amount of missing explosives reported. It wasn't the 380 tons of the Times' story. According to ABC:

But the confidential IAEA documents obtained by ABC News show that on Jan. 14, 2003, the agency's inspectors recorded that just over 3 tons of RDX was stored at the facility - a considerable discrepancy from what the Iraqis reported.

Oh, well, what's 377 tons between friends?

All of this is particularly damaging to Kerry on the critial issue of this campaign: Leadership in Time of War.

Now look, we all have a right to be outraged. These are the same media which have been telling the country how badly the Iraq War is going. These are the same media who are lopsidedly favoring Kerry over Bush in this election. Only this time their partisanship may have trapped the Senator. In his excitement with the New York Times explosives story, Kerry has gone around the country trumpeting Bush's "mistake" for anyone in shouting distance. Now it's his mistake. Let's hope the Senator has flipped his last flop.

As PowerLine notes, what will be most interesting is to see how our Leftist Media discuss the Russian Connection which facilitated the movement of Iraqi weapon stockpiles before the war, and how John Kerry listened to a UN Bureaucrat rather than the US Military or that other organ of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, NBC News.

Gertz's piece brings the NYTroGate fiasco to a logical conclusion which satisfies Occam's Razor.

Hugh Hewitt makes it plain: Kerry is a man without character:

[The] verdict seemed impossible to escape, even before news arrived of the complete discrediting of the Kerry-New York Times' ticket's wild theory of Army negligence in the securing of the mythical munitions.  If Kerry had a shred of decency, he would apologize to the troops that passed through and searched the munitions comnplex.  He doesn't, so he won't.

The Kerry Fantasy

If you have time, Lilek's Wednesday Bleat is a great romp.

He starts by making you laugh out loud; next he disects (and without anesthesia) Andrew Sullivan's yawning endorsement of Kerry before he slips into fantasy:

I admit. I have a fantasy. Kerry wins. He’s having a summit with Tony Blair. In the middle of the conversation, Chirac calls up; Kerry excuses himself and has a brief chat about a new resolution to let French oil companies bid on reconstruction projects, and they have an amiable conversation in French. Kerry hangs up.

“Your predecessor,” Blair says, “spoke to him in English.”

“I know,” says President Kerry. “He couldn’t speak French.”

“He didn’t have to,” Blair notes. He gives a tight smile. And sighs. And gets down to explaining what now must be done.

If Tony B. ran against Kerry in this country, I wonder who'd win? I'd vote for him. Everything else aside, he gets it. He always has.

Me too -- no brainer.

Skimmity Ride 'Round Town

Roger Simon is an enjoyable read for a view that takes a step back and ponders the bigger picture.

Roger notes how the truth has become dispensable in this season of desperation for The Left.

You know this particular attempt by The New York Times and CBS to flog this low-rent partisan propaganda from self-serving (to put it mildly) UN bureaucrats ten days before an election would be risible if the election itself weren't so important. Well, it must be to them too. That's obvious - because if they were doing it to sell newspapers, they are driving most of us further and further away from print.

His solution is delicious indeed:

Now who is responsible for this cheap smear? Well, as one real smart fellow once said, "Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one." And nobody that I know of has been able to successfully contradict him. And the man who owns The New York Times is Pinch Sulzberger. He'd evidently rather see George Bush lose than his newspaper print the truth. Now what should be done about Mr. Sulzberger's behavior? I propose a 'skimmity ride.' You English majors may recall it from Chapter 36 of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge. The offending party is driven around the town in an open wagon and subjected to public ridicule. Maybe we should bring that back.

Another example of how The Left wants only rights but not the attendent responsibilities.

Stanford Predicts W!

Can we vote yet?

Oh yeah, almost 10% of us already have!

Go W!

Gotta Love this Line

From Electric Venom (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin):

John Kerry may be “reporting for duty,” but the real question is: to whom?

Good summary of the Kerry As Viet Cong Puppet story as well.

Pinocchio News

If your head hurts as much as mine over NYTroGate (aka BombGate), you're not alone.

If CBS and The New York Times cannot perform the most basic research from their own archives, how can anyone conclude anything other than, as Rush put it today, "Journalistic Malpractice"?

These aren't clowns, these are partisans draping themselves in the protection afforded by the First Amendment to simply, well, lie.

Captain Ed is all over this, and here is his conclusion:

The idea that various Army units showed up at the weapons facility and strolled around a few minutes before moving up the road to Baghdad, leaving the lights on and the front door unlocked, looks more and more ridiculous. The Army knew very well what it had found, and it searched the bunkers carefully looking for the most dangerous and high-priority items.

Shame on CBS for not even checking its own archives in order to research their hit piece on Bush. Shame also on the NY Times for not reviewing the embeds for the units in the area during the invasion to verify the contemporaneous reporting. Even if one wants to write a hit piece, doing the proper research should be a basic part of the job.

Here is a sampling from the contemporaneous CBS news report from early April, 2003:

The senior U.S. official, based in Washington and speaking on condition of anonymity, said the material was under further study. The site is enormous and U.S. troops are still investigating it for potential weapons of mass destruction, the official said.

"Initial reports are that the material is probably just explosives, but we're still going through the place," the official said. ...

The facility had been identified by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a suspected chemical, biological and nuclear weapons site. U.N. inspectors visited the plant at least nine times, including as recently as Feb. 18.

Yes, you read that right: "But we're still going through the place."

Yet John Kerry says Bush (and, let us not forget the implied indictment of our military) let 380 tons of explosives slip away.

No, Senator, our military, whom you continue to slander after 30 years, did their jobs.

It is you who is not doing your job, but rather you choose to jump like a lap dog to support the personal ambitions of a UN bureaucrat.

If the stakes were not so high, Kerry would be great entertainment.

Snowmobilers for W!

Senator Coleman rained on Breck Boy's visit to the Land of 10,000 Lakes today.

Although I agree with what Edwards said, this, according to his own campaign's Web site, is not a promise a Kerry administration would keep. Let me quote www.johnkerry.com: "John Kerry will reinstate the Clinton Administration's phase-out of noisy and polluting snowmobiles that have been overrunning some of our most precious lands, including Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park." The Web site goes on to explain that snowmobiles and recreational vehicles simply "do not mix with sensitive wildlife resources and our nation's most treasured wild places."

And Cheney will clean the table come Thursday.

Funding Stem Cell and Cloning Research -- No on Prop 71

Good summary against Prop 71.

The thrust of Francis Fukuyama's argument is rooted in good government economics as he blasts "a huge, self-dealing giveaway of money from cash-strapped California taxpayers to a small group of institutions and companies that will remain largely unaccountable."

The argument is compelling, but the stronger argument to me is the lack of any medical research imperative as I've discussed previously.

The real closer, of course, is the moral argument.

Ohio a Lock?

This is good reading.

Excellent analysis by Jay Cost at The Horserace Blog.

Check it out.

Terminator Mission: Ohio

This would easily fill Ohio Stadium.

Kick some butt Governor.

Why not make it a weekend and visit Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida while you're out of state?

Living in This World

Can a Christian be a post-modern liberal?

Tough subject, but one that needs to be discussed (note that use of a small "l" -- capital "L"iberalism evokes a grand tradition).

Thanks to La Shawn Barber for broaching and discussing the subject.

NYTroGate vs BombGate

Are we having fun yet?! You can choose which name you prefer, but NYTroGate is fun indeed.

You gotta read this from the The Daily Recycler.

Don't have time now, but will include the text of the video on this site for those poor folks without Broadband (and you know who you are!).

BombGate and the Shameless New York Times

Hugh Hewitt has a great summary of this predictable slander coming from The New York Times (and CBS News was going to splash it this Sunday).

Some of the best efforts of chasing this hit piece down are found at the truly indispensable NRO Kerry Spot.

Here is ample evidence that the UN is attempting to influence the US Presidential Election.

More evidence of desperation.

Last, but certainly not least, here is the Kerry ad which assumes that the American people are stupid and The New York Times is not as biased as CBS News.

UPDATE:

Good advice.

A Time to Choose

For those who can volunteer.

That time has come.

Oh, how I wish I were a resident of the great State of Ohio now.

Blue State folks need to remember their Red votes matter a great deal.

We need a President with not only a Victory, but a Mandate spanning the popular vote.

Ronald Reagan's words ring just as true today:

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

The End Justifies the Means

Continuing on from this earlier post, it is clear that many Big Media are simply in the tank for Kerry and don't seem to mind they are risking significant remaining trust (and don't they know the blogs will bury them in their errors?).

Roger Simon has this great take on the shameless shenanigans of The New York Times and their efforts to oust Bush have no bounds.

He takes us back to another Dark Day in the history of the Gray Lady:

Fade out: Okay, now we get personal. The demise of The New York Times has been [an] extraordinary shock to me and a kind of benchmark for my own political migration. Like most New York Jewish boys from liberal homes [the] paper was a replacement religion for me. Many decades ago, when I was twenty-three and published my first novel, finding a short positive review in the Book Review validated me as a writer, enabling me to go on with my risky career. I was published by them several times in the eighties when I was an officer of the left-leaning International Association of Crime Writers. I owe a lot to the Times. I also fear them because they review my books and movies . But I cannot shut up. This kind of biased behavior is unconscionable. Although it is nowhere near as drastic, of course, it makes me think of the days of Walter Duranty, that Timesman who won a Pultizer while white-washing Stalin. How could such things happen, I always wondered. Now I know. They happen when people think they are doing the right thing for the right cause and don't stop to consider the reality of what they are saying and writing. Yes, this is worse than Jayson Blair.

I think it's time for Bush to ridicule The New York Times unceasingly in his inimitable way.

A paper which now is only good for its crossword puzzle.

Kerry on Iraq (Flip-Flop-Flip)

Drudge has this great quote from a Bush official:

"Let me get this straight, are Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards now saying we did not go into Iraq soon enough? We should have invaded and liberated Iraq sooner?"

Of course, given the NBC revelation that, hmmm how to say this, The New York Times didn't quite get their hit piece right, Kerry will Flop back to his opposition of the war before the next news cycle completes.

This is nothing more than, as Roger Simon puts it, "The New York Times' 'War to Unseat George Bush.'"

Big Media sure look like spoiled bratty children from here. . . .

Peace Through Strength

Gotta see this.

Deja Vu All Over Again!

NRO in a Landslide!

Check out The Washington Post Blog contest winners.

Both NRO The Corner and NRO Kerry Spot can take victory laps (and The Corner for multiple categories!).

My other favorites also make the lists:

InstaPundit -- Most Likely to Last Beyond Election Day and Best Outside the Beltway.

Little Green Footballs -- Best International and Most Original (Honorable Mention).

Lileks' Bleat -- Most Original and Best Rant (Honorable Mention).

Kerry's Thugs

Violence since August.

Watch the video (under the picture).

Incredible

More Fascism on the Left Coast.

Oregon Democratic Party officials said they do not condone smashing the windows of Republican offices and discourage such acts.

"But the fact is that the reason the Republican Party is feigning righteous indignation is because they don't want to talk about the 30,000 jobs lost and the 180,000 Oregonians who have lost health care," said Neel Pender, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

At what point would an Oregon Democratic Party not rationalize violence? Murder?

Big Media have been predictably pathetic in this coverup.

I agree with John Hinderaker (aka Hindrocket):

In other words: We're Democrats, so violence is OK. That is the attitude that has swept across America, leaving our democracy more threatened than at any time since 1861.

Priceless

Indeed.

You gotta check out the picture.

Why Hasn't W Been Assasinated Yet?

Edifying complaints that W is still breathing from the Frighteningly Fascist Left.

All his assassination would mean is that I wouldn’t have to wait another 30 or so years to piss on his grave.

InstaPundit notes this should be reason enough to vote for W.

Who's Wearing the Brownshirts?

Keeping an eye on Florida and the tactics of The Fascist Left.

The Plan: Sacrifice Israel?

Charles Krauthammer's sobering perspective on Kerry's Plan:

In what currency, therefore, would we pay the rest of the world in exchange for their support in places such as Iraq? The answer is obvious: giving in to them on Israel.

Hopefully Rove & Co. are listening to the blogosphere on this and applying its lessons in Florida.

You Will Not Mock My God

A beautiful thing -- the passionate convictions of youth.

Why would an administrator (hmmm, love that term) at Culpeper County (Virginia) High School tell Freshman Ellen Sonifrank to remove her sweatshirt, which reads on the front:

"Abortion is homicide." The back reads, "You will not silence my message/You will not mock my God/You will stop killing my generation."

Besides wanting one of these sweatshirts myself, Eugene Volokh notes Culpeper County High School administrators would likely not prevail in legal efforts to silence Ellen.

Dare I Say It?

I don't want to sound like I've gone over the edge, but what do these three events anecdotally tell us?

First, we have a supposed "news analyst" exhibiting apoplectic rage at the truth on Kerry's Vietnam "story."

Second, we have loons engaging in physical violence against a high-profile Republican protaganist.

Last, and most certainly not least, we have 1960 all over again.

Is Jim Geraghty too apocalyptic with this thought:

You know what the message is, when we have these reports of widespread abuse and double-voting, and few serious efforts by the authorities to stop this?

"Playing by the rules is for chumps."

The day that mentality spreads, virally, throughout American society is the day you begin to see our system of government collapse.

Again, I've not fallen into the fever swamps, but all of this is thuggery.

Fascists were thugs.

Are the thugs of The American Left Fascists?

Will they work to erode First Amendment protections of Republicans, Conservatives and Christians (taking out Christians would be a chop block to the Republican base)? If you think this is unthinkable, please read this -- preferrably sitting down.

The economic definition of Fascism is not a good fit, nor is the general definition of Fascism, but you have to admit we are experiencing "suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship" here.

I'm not saying Kerry is a Fascist, but many of his most rabid supporters are [Or is that many of the most rabid Bush Haters? -- Ed. Point taken and agreed.]

Cardinals in Seven

It's gonna be great!

Democrats Against the Troops

Why doesn't W's team simply pulverize the Democrats on this disgusting nonsense.

It's one thing when my vote is diluted by various Democrat shenanigans, but when our troops are disenfranchised, it's time to take 'em to the mat.

And what a great ad it could be.

Iran Shudders at the Thought

Of a showdown with the UN.

Iran is unlikely to accept European incentives aimed at getting it to suspend uranium enrichment, diplomats said Thursday, raising the prospect of a showdown next month between Tehran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.

Roger Simon sums up the gathering storm nicely:

This will be a big challenge for whoever is our next President, probably the biggest of all since the Iranians are already claiming to have missiles capable of reaching Southern Europe and Tel Aviv. There is some debate whether these missiles are operational, but that is small beer, as they say. They soon will be. All these technologies, nuclear and rocket, are decades old. Logically speaking, the Iranians should have them already... if not now, in the nearly now.

I'm sure Kerry will tell us that any pre-emptive action against Iran would be the "wrong war, wrong place" -- Ugh, can't even write "wrong time."

Kerry's "right time" will be after Tel Aviv is glowing.

Sorry, a bit down thinking of a Kerry Presidency and his Plan to dance with the UN while Iran plays outside.

People who take as an article of their faith acts of martyrdom have no fear.

At least a Soviet leader wanted to live and enjoy his vodka.

Al Qaeda in the New World

Islamofascists on the move in Central America.

Are Brownsville and San Diego far behind?

Monkeys and Swine

Another Muslim calling Jews such polite names.

Just another anecdote in the seemingly endless idiocies uttered around the world.

Little Green Footballs is one of the better blogs highlighting anti-semitism today.

Should we be afraid of people who cheer when buildings fall?

I am.

"We know what happened over the last week and how the brothers of the monkeys and the swine assassinated and murdered one of the heroes of Islam, the Salah al-Din of this day and age, Ahmed Yassin."

Kathrada tells his audience the Qur'an and its accompanying writings view Jews as treacherous people with whom Muslims will engage in an apocalyptic battle.

John Kerry to Reinstitute the Draft

MTV's Rock the Vote has trouble reading English these days.

First, two Congressmen (yes, out of 435) voted for reinstituting the draft -- both Democrats.

Second, only one Presidential candidate has stated two different times in two different ways (nuance is his middle name) that he would reinstitute (again, click your heels and say nuance three times) "national service."

Why would candidate Kerry "clean up" his web sites? To be against that which he was (is?) for?

Kerry makes my head hurt [And Kerry will cure that too since Edwards says you will get out of your wheelchair if Kerry were in office! Ed.].

Off the Leash Nightmare

Kerry is Off the Leash and a Nightmare.

Both David Brooks and William Tucker, respectively, are center/right writers, but look for gnashing of the teeth from The Left soon too.

Again, I base my cautious optimism on where the candidates are campaigning, not the polls.

Ashley's Story

Wow.

This certainly won't hurt Bush.

Jews for Bush

Bush's best compaigner.

Battlegrounders

This is absolutely awesome.

This is more great work by the great folks at National Review Online (aka NRO) -- don't forget to visit NRO's Kerry Spot too.

Tommy Franks on Tora Bora

A more credible source than a losing liberal Senator from Massachusetts.

Breck Beauty

Check out Edwards primping -- it's enough even to frighten the terrorists [Oh, come on! The Islamofascists would be afraid of this guy! Ed. OK, Defense by Hairspray -- it would keep me away.]

Bring along your Hula Hoop!

(Hat Tip: InstaPundit.)

Countdown to Iran

There are undoubtedly jets being fueled in Israel now that the Iranian Bushehr nuclear reactor is complete (leaving aside the batty Russians foolishly satisfied they are roughly 500 miles further from Tehran than Tel Aviv).

Hopefully they will be in the air shortly for a bit of unsolicited (but certainly not unexpected) remodeling.

Democrats for Disenfranchisement

Disheartening.

Another topic our LameStream Media won't touch.

I can only imagine the indignation I would feel if my vote were not counted.

I can't begin to imagine what I would feel if I were in the military with my life on the line and my vote were not counted.

Kerry Gay Baiting

Professor Bainbridge is stating what to me is obvious.

Why did Kerry mention Mary Cheney? He did it to remind Bush's base in the religious right that Cheney has a gay daughter. It is Kerry who is exploiting homophobia - not Bush.

Andrew Sullivan is being disengenuous at best.

Stem Cell Fairy Tales

Charles Krauthammer lays waste to Edwards' claim to be Vice-Messiah.

This is John Edwards on Monday at a rally in Newton, Iowa: "If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."

In my 25 years in Washington, I have never seen a more loathsome display of demagoguery. Hope is good. False hope is bad. Deliberately, for personal gain, raising false hope in the catastrophically afflicted is despicable.

(For those who don't know, Charles is wheelchair bound as he notes in this piece.)

What I thought most interesting (since I'm now fairly desensitized to the shameless idiocy of John John) was this nugget:

[Kerry] begins his radio address with the disgraceful claim that the stem cell "ban" is standing in the way of an Alzheimer's cure.

This is an outright lie. The President's Council on Bioethics, on which I sit, had one of the world's foremost experts on Alzheimer's, Dennis Selkoe from Harvard, give us a lecture on the newest and most promising approaches to solving the Alzheimer's mystery. Selkoe reported remarkable progress in using biochemicals to clear the "plaque" deposits in the brain that lead to Alzheimer's. He ended his presentation without the phrase "stem cells" having passed his lips.

So much for the miracle cure.

Color me naive, but this astounded me.

The following is a two-pronged fork skewering both John John and the LameStream Media:

Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at NIH, has admitted publicly that stem cells as an Alzheimer's cure are a fiction, but that "people need a fairy tale."

My heart will stop in shock if the AP notes these facts in the next article where Christ-like KEdward claim they can get Reeve out of his wheelchair (if not his grave) with their stem cell fairy tale.

I will live to a ripe old age I'm afraid.

Republicans from Vermont?

Two Presidents no less.

My next visit to Vermont on business will have to include some historical romps like these.

Unfortunately, I will have missed the height of fall foliage, but I didn't miss late winter maple syrup in March!

Turn Back the Clock

Remember how Teddy Kennedy would always howl about how Scalia and Thomas (and -- whew! -- almost Bork) were about to Turn Back the Clock and return us to the days of back alley abortions? Remember how Democrats would derisively claim Reagan would Turn Back the Clock on almost any issue ad nauseum?

This is Kerry's foreign policy position in four words, and Mark Steyn nails it:

This has been a very dispiriting election, mainly because one party simply refuses to make any intelligent contribution to the debate. . . . [T]he Democrats have gone one further — peddling an old face with old ideas on the theory that Americans are worn out by the wild ride of the Bush years and really do long to ‘get back to where they were’, back to September 10, to the summer of shark attacks and missing Congressional interns. But all that going back to September 10 means is that you’ll have to learn the lessons of the morning after all over again: I do believe that if clueless, complacent Kerry won, more Americans — and Britons and Canadians and Australians and Europeans — will die in terrorist ‘nuisances’.

But he won’t win. Because enough Americans understand that going back to where we were means a return to polite fictions and dangerous illusions. You can’t put that world back together.

Why?

Two very humbling Swift Boat ads can be seen here.

Why? is objectively prosecutorial, and the verdict is clear.

They Served ignites in me a righteous anger and complete lack of trust in Kerry for this single act, an act that he knew was a lie:

Tortured for refusing to confess what John Kerry accused them of. . . of being war criminals.

Polls vs Whereabouts

Jim Geraghty (aka Kerry Spot) continues his great analysis of comparing poll results to where the candidates are campaigning.

Right now, Kerry and Edwards are putting enormous time -- a resource where he can't just raise more -- into defending blue states. This could change. But for now, Kerry’s playing defense, while Bush plays offense.

Big Guns

The NRA is spending some bucks to highlight Kerry's mysterious new love of the Second Amendment.

Plastic Boy

A role model for our children.

He's been able to pass a whopping 5 bills since 1985 in the Senate. With such an impressive record, we'll just call him Mr. Mainstream.

If he wins, he's just gonna play and ride bikes until 2008.

Islamofascists the world over are laughing and licking their chops.

They're writing the Global Test now.

We will never pass, and they will never lose.

Victims of Mass Destruction

This says it all.

The skeletons of unborn babies and toddlers clutching toys are being unearthed, the investigators said. They are seeking evidence to try Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity.

While Kerry's European friends. . . .

The Europeans . . . were staying away as the evidence might be used eventually to put Saddam Hussein to death.

Europe is so lost in so many different ways.

Take One With You

Churchill's exhortation in World War II was to take the enemy with you if you knew you were going to die.

Mark Steyn was spiked by the Telegraph, but you can read his important column here.

His point (and therefore his grave sin), as Wretchard at the Belmont Club notes, is that We Are at War, and if we stop the war for every hostage or every blackmail, we have lost.

That inability to think of ourselves as being truly at war underlay the rejection of Mark Steyn's column. He had only stated the obvious.

. . . consider Fabrizio Quattrocchi, murdered in Iraq on April 14th. In the moment before his death, he yanked off his hood and cried defiantly, "I will show you how an Italian dies!" He ruined the movie for his killers. As a snuff video and recruitment tool, it was all but useless, so much so that the Arabic TV stations declined to show it. . . . As Churchill recommended in a less timorous Britain: You can always take one with you. If Mr Blair and other government officials were to make that plain, it would be, to use Mr Bigley's word, "enough". A war cannot be subordinate to the fate of any individual caught up in it.

Steyn scolds not only the Blair government for its handling of the Kenneth Bigley abduction (until his recent slaughter through beheading), but also the British people -- and all who think that we can just "give peace a chance" and reason with people who won't even listen to Cat Stevens [Hey, his name is Yusuf Islam, and the "listen" pun wasn't funny -- Ed. Shame, I thought so.]

In reality, gaining the respect of fellow Muslims was always going to be a much weaker motivating factor for Bigley's kidnappers than their own hatred of the West.

November 2 will say a great deal about how Americans view the present -- Are we at War, or are terrorists simply a nuisance?

Racists for Kerry

Michelle Malkin documents two reasons why Bush Must Win.

Does anyone really doubt that if such a cartoon depicted Thurgood Marshall in a similarly vulgar manner that the creator would not be run out of town on a rail?

Ah, but The Left are the tolerant ones. . . .

Waxing Philosophical

Can we take this election too seriously?

I've asked myself that question many times over the past weeks, but keep coming back to the same answer.

No.

Why?

Hitler could not kill nearly 3,000 Americans on our own soil.

Terrorists can and did and there is no evidence they will not do so again given the opportunity.

Reading Drudge tonight, I learn that Clancy's The Teeth of the Tiger plot may be unfolding as we sleep.

Or, it may not.

Clearly, such a plot is not inconceivable.

But, does Kerry think in the same vein? Does he think we are in danger?

I'm not convinced he does.

Here is a view suggesting Kerry is a Terror Hawk.

Here is a starkly pessimistic view of Kerry from a Jewish lifelong liberal.

The final two paragraphs are powerful both for their historical sweep as well as immediacy:

“You can not escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today,” said President Lincoln at another decisive moment in our nation’s history. The War on Islamic Terror must be waged fully, humanely, and successfully. This monumental battle is both our burden and our privilege, for as Thomas Paine said when our country was born, “If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

On November 2nd, I will choose to honor my heritage as a Jew and as an American by voting for George Bush.

If you have the time, this is an excellent read.

(Hat Tip: Roger Simon.)

Nuisance

The man who would be President says:

''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''

James Lileks nails this nonsense for what it and Kerry's other incredulous phrase -- "We have to get back to the place we were" -- are:

Mosquito bites are a nuisance. Cable outages are a nuisance. Someone shooting up a school in Montana or California or Maine on behalf of the brave martyrs of Fallujah isn't a nuisance. It's war.

But that's not the key phrase. This matters: We have to get back to the place we were.

But when we were there we were blind. When we were there we losing. When we were there we died. We have to get back to the place we were. We have to get back to 9/10? We have to get back to the place we were. So we can go through it all again? We have to get back to the place we were. And forget all we’ve learned and done? We have to get back to the place we were. No. I don’t want to go back there. Planes into towers. That changed the terms. I am remarkably disinterested in returning to a place where such things are unimaginable. Where our nighmares are their dreams.

We have to get back to the place we were.

No. We have to go the place where they are.

Smartest People on the Planet

Without a doubt.

Reach Down Deep

More commonsense offered by Bill at Eject! Eject! Eject!.

It all comes down to carrots (liberals) or sticks (conservatives). By the way: if you’re in a rush and need to run, here’s the spoiler: You can offer a carrot. Not everybody likes carrots. Some people may hate your carrot. Your carrot may offend people who worship the rutabaga. But no one likes being poked in the eye with a stick. That’s universal.

I’m a stick man. I wish it were different. But part of growing up – in fact, the essential part of growing up – is realizing that wishing does not make it so.

Folks, it’s time to reach down deep and get in touch with our inner adult.

Leadership

Our President and his vision for a strategically resolute and profound calling of our time:

The advance of freedom is the calling of our time; it is the calling of our country. From the Fourteen Points to the Four Freedoms, to the Speech at Westminster, America has put our power at the service of principle. We believe that liberty is the design of nature; we believe that liberty is the direction of history. We believe that human fulfillment and excellence come in the responsible exercise of liberty. And we believe that freedom -- the freedom we prize -- is not for us alone, it is the right and the capacity of all mankind.

Why Does This Guy Have a Job?

PowerLine's John Hinderaker (aka Hindrocket) fisks AP writer Scott Lindlaw (author of this article mentioned briefly below) and is devastatingly on target.

What is mind boggling is that such bias and fabrication is permitted to be published as news by the AP.

Hindrocket notes the lame history of this "news" reporter.

It is hard to read past this mind-numbing first sentence:

Scott Lindlaw is an Associated Press reporter who has told fellow members of the White House press corps that his "mission is to see that George Bush is not re-elected." He is the reporter who wrote falsely that a Republican crowd at a Bush rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, booed the news of President Clinton's hospitalization, and "Bush did nothing to stop them." The story was a complete fabrication, later retracted by the AP, but the AP has never responded to our many emails on the subject, and to our knowledge Scott Lindlaw has never been disciplined in any way for filing a false story.

It's hard to believe anything Lindlaw spouts, and Hindrocket takes him to the woodshed.

Appropriately so, but where are Lindlaw's bosses?

This is not news writing.

The Left needs a dictionary with two words: News and Commentary.

Important Stuff Folks

Now we are getting to the nub of it.

I have yet to read the 1000 page Iraq Survey Group report, but there are two (obvious?) trends:

1) The Left is terrified of its contents and is spinning its contents madly, and
2) W and those of us who care, need to spread the word, and fast.

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds notes this is "the complete collapse of John Kerry's foreign policy case."

As Charles Johnson at LGF notes, "Mainstream media is universally spinning the Duelfer Report against George Bush, but the report is far more damaging to John Kerry."

Why?

First, here is an AP story titled "Bush Defends Iraq Invasion Despite Report." We are not left confused about their spin after the first paragraph:

Faced with a harshly critical new report, President Bush conceded Thursday that Iraq did not have the stockpiles of banned weapons he had warned of before the invasion last year, but insisted that "we were right to take action" against Saddam Hussein.

PowerLine's John Hinderaker (aka Hindrocket) has a different take.

If Saddam could produce mustard gas within a few days, or at most a few months, then the existence or non-existence of stockpiles is a moot point.

This item is tantalizing:

[D]uring the mid-to-late 1990s Saddam issued a presidential decree directing the IIS [Iraqi Intelligence Service] to recruit UNSCOM inspectors, especially American inspectors. To entice their cooperation, the IIS was to offer the inspectors preferential treatment for future business dealings with Iraq, once they completed their duties with the United Nations. Tariq ‘Aziz and an Iraqi-American were specifically tasked by the IIS to focus on a particular American inspector.

I can't see that the report ever says whether the Iraqis were successful in bribing the American weapons inspector. The obvious candidate, of course, is Scott Ritter. We do know that Saddam succeeded in penetrating the U.N.'s inspection teams, so that he had advance knowledge of the inspectors' intentions:

IIS personnel were directed to contact facilities and personnel in advance of UNMOVIC site inspections, according to foreign government information. Former Regime officials state that the IIS developed penetrations within the UN and basic surveillance in country to learn future inspection plans.

Keep that in mind next time someone tells you the inspections were working.

Indeed.

Burbank for Bush!

This is not for little eyes.

The Man Who Would be President

Ugh.

And, Kerry was the pro-Sandinista guy in the 80's.

Kerry was wholly wrong about Nicaragua, about the limits of American power, about the applicability of the Vietnam experience outside of Vietnam, indeed even about the lessons of the Vietnam War. Kerry's instinct in 1985 was appeasement of Ortega, and there is no reason to believe that his fundamental views, quite visibly revealed in his mission to Managua, have in any way evolved to a more mature understanding of the nature of America's enemies or the use of American power. John Kerry: Wrong about Vietnam. Wrong about the Sandinistas. Wrong about the Soviets. Wrong about Iraq. The wrong man with the wrong ideas at the wrong time.

If anyone has any evidence that he has changed, I'd love to see it -- I might be able to sleep at night.

Whose Brownshirts?

Remember Uncle Al (inside joke for the Cincinnati readers) Gore and his Digital Brownshirts [I'm more partial to Pajamahedeen myself. -- Ed. -- Me too.]

Professor Bainbridge provides a round-up of Democrat fascist activities from coast to coast.

Jim Geraghty at the indispensable NRO Kerry Spot says it's time to get a bit cheesy.

I know there are a bunch of you out there who don't usually put signs up. It's gauche. Wearing your heart on your sleeve. Kinda cheesy.

But this isn't a normal year. These aren't normal times. And a bunch of little twerps think they can help their guy win by stealing stuff and painting swastikas. On the property of a veteran. Guy spends years defending his country so some kid who can barely spell "Nazi," much less define "national socialism," can march onto his property and spray paint the symbol of those fascists?

Looking forward to flying my W colors.

The Fake that Keeps on Fakin'

Wizbang! is being harassed by many trying to show the CBS faked and forged documents are real.

Looks like Utah tax dollars at work.

Just how many hours does The Left have to perpetuate a lie [As many as it takes for Kerry to take The Oath in January? -- Ed. -- Unfortunately Yes.]

Silent Majority?

Roger Simon brings up The Question in reference to a breakfast with Ron Silver.

I chose the static cling W stickers so I can remove them easily from my car on the Loony Left Coast.

More Post-Debate Fun

The Daily Recycler has nominations for best Debate Roundup.

My favorite:

Dick Cheney smokes imported cigars, drinks double Scotch neat from a chunky tumbler, and talks to his friends about dames and gams and stock options. John Edwards wants to be a fireman when he grows up. Bless his li’l heart.

Underlying "Fact"?

Andrew Sullivan has pretty much fallen off the Kerry Cliff.

He starts by parroting a Kerry Premise: "The fundamental question in this campaign is the war in Iraq."

Wrong.

It is the War on Terror and Security of and in America (of which the war in Iraq is but one piece).

Kerry's laughably inevitable backpedaling today on coalition building is more evidence that he will say anything regardless of facts [Hey, at least he admitted what he can't do, does W do the same? -- Ed. -- Who let Dan Rather in here!?].

Upcoming elections in Afghanistan are an earthly miracle (or just a "minor detail"?) Andrew has neglected.

Why?

This campaign is all about defeating terrorists -- preferrably in Iraq, not Peoria.

To be fair, Andrew supports the liberation of Iraq, but has been a stiff critic of W's prosecution of it (but doesn't balance that with the success in Afghanistan -- Glass Half Empty).

I think W would prefer a more vigorous prosecution of the war in Iraq, but Hugh Hewitt suggests we live in an age when doing the right thing is not supported across party lines.

Did W not take it to the terrorists infesting Iraq more forcefully due to sweet nothings Karl Rove was whispering in his ear about an election coming up and more body bags wouldn't make for good evening newscasts (yes, there are many in The Left out there who want us to be transported back to the halcyon days when there was a Draft to protest, a President to Kick Around, and Uncle Walter showing body bags passing through Dover)?

I don't know, but I think the gloves will come off after November 2.

Win or Lose?

(Note to Iranian Mullahs: Make those Swiss Bank Account deposits today!)

Cheney Loses in Landslide!

Bait and Switch: Cheney took Edwards to school, read his report card to the nation, patted him on the head for trying and said Don't come back for another four years.

Photoshop Award Winner of the night.

Andrew Sullivan is enabling the hijacking of his Blog with fantasies from The Left.

The irony of this quote is priceless:

All the online polls show a huge Edwards win - but they might be hijacked.

Might?

Andrew, have you been spending time with CNN Poll Headline writers?

Will Cheney's win tonight help? I think it rains on Kerry's Last Thursday Parade -- we likely won't fully comprehend the Momentum Factor until late in the evening of November 2.

Just Die and Leave the Animals Alone!

This is infuriatingly distressing.

Not knowing this until today, I'm bewildered.

Why are people who claim to be compassionate in helping those with chronic or terminal illnesses saying no?

Is hunting illegal?

Is bow-hunting?

Of course not.

Which is the outrage -- saying marriage is between a Man and Woman or telling a dying child that his lifelong dream of hunting with his dad is an offense to Mother Earth?

"We're going to hit the streets with signs and pamphlets and bloody their noses, and they won't recover," threatened Leslie Davis, president of the Minneapolis-based Earth Protector.

Just another example of the Tolerance of The Left [Stop biting your tongue -- it's bleeding! -- Ed.].

Shame on Make-A-Wish for caving in to the irrationality of the Oprah nation.

Polling 101

This is a great short study on polling.

It would be interesting to compare the Republican vs Democrat "corrections" among the various polling firms, but that is an exercise for another time.

For what it's worth, those polls that weight samples to produce a consistent blend of Republicans, Democrats and independents have found little or no change since the first Presidential debate.

UPDATE:

More evidence Americans are smarter than The Left thinks.

The Real Cheat Sheet

Will ask Charles sometime later if this is real [You're joking right?! -- Ed.].

(Hat Tip: Hugh Hewitt in a playful mood.)

Smoking Gun?

If this is true, Game Over.

These documents will be and should be vetted carefully and quickly -- they are available for the asking.

Alas, do not expect the LameStream Media to look into this.

The authors of these documents (if real) are real sweethearts.

The Sacramento Union Lives

Looking forward to some Capitol Sanity.

Many silly and, yes, loony ideas come from California, and these ideas often breed in the fever swamps of Sacramento.

All the Best to The Sacramento Union, and may it keep Californians well informed -- we Need To Know.

Most of the Rest Were Civilians!

I'm sorry, but I simply cannot make this up.

This Reuters (yes, the news agency that will not use the word terrorist) piece titled "Israel Kills Militant in 6th Day of Mass Gaza Raid" contains this linguistic laugher:

The militant who was killed was from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, raising the Palestinian death toll in Israel's bloodiest raid in Gaza in four years of conflict to 67.

Forty of the Palestinians killed were militants, and most of the rest were civilians.

Leaving aside the obvious question as to what were those who were not "most of the rest" [Non-militant civilians? Perhaps non-civilian militants? Hmmm, let me get back to you. -- Ed.], is a "militant" less emotive than a "terrorist"?

George Orwell, please, please, please call your office.

There is No Media Bias

Note what is in the AP Politics Top 8 on September, 28 -- "Tiny Crawford Newspaper Endorses Kerry."

Note what is not in the AP Politics Top 20 on October, 3 -- "Endorsement: George W. Bush for president."

Yep, that's Lowell, Massachusetts.

No doubt John Kerry sincerely wants to serve his country, but we believe he's the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

There is no media bias.

Empty Suit

(No, not this, nor this -- sigh.)

Perhaps prospective members of a Kerry cabinet and the Iranians and the North Koreans needed 3x5 cards to read their Kerry-prepared lines.

Kerry's foreign policy "plans" (no, not doctrine [my head is spinning! -- Ed.]) lasted only 90 minutes last Thursday night.

His foreign policy "vision" is starting to take on a "Christmas in Cambodia" odor. . . .

Horserace?

Perhaps.

Right Direction vs Wrong Direction poll data are not encouraging. Gas prices? Debate (Iraq through Kerry's eyes)?

Jihadists the world over are plotting and acting to kill and mame anyone anywhere to scare the American electorate into booting W.

Will Americans Rally or Run?

War on Terror: The Strategic View

For those following recent tactical advances in Iraq, this may be strategic good news.

Wretchard over at The Belmont Club has an excellent roundup on the tactical and, even more importantly, strategic perspectives.

Wretchard discusses Reuel Marc Gerecht's piece in The Weekly Standard subtitled "Forget gradualism and Iraqification--send in the Marines" while weaving his own (less than sanguine) thoughts on Iran into the analysis.

While the Sunni insurgency is not an intrinsically large problem and Falluja something that can be recovered with ease; an Iranian bomb or a Kerry victory are situations from which no recovery may be possible. Therefore the necessary (but not sufficient) condition for victory, not just in the Sunni triangle, may be a non-nuclear Iran and the election of a President at least partially committed to victory against terror. We can only say 'faster please' when the car is not in reverse. But as Gerecht implies, we will have to wait until November to see if we have any car left at all or whether Iraq will be the future scene of "My Cambodian Christmas in Baghdad".

More Debate Thoughts

Interesting read on the debate -- Newsweek Poll shenanigans?

But here are my thoughts captured perfectly by Pick & Choose (and with apologies to Hugh Hewitt, I think W lost on points -- but read on).

To paraphrase, the "scalded cats" of the LameStream Media were humbled by RatherGate to the extent they did not come right out and say Kerry had won the debate until they had facts, i.e. polls [Are polls the same as facts? -- Ed.].

Keep in mind that winning a battle does not win the war.

As I mentioned earlier -- Two Words: Global Test.

We may have to add another Three Words: Nuclear Bunker Busters.

Indeed, We Have a Choice.

We are The Agressor

In this parallel and bizarre universe.

This New York Times piece is gaining traction, and as Charles points out, curiously so.

More thoughts on what the LameStream Media are up to later, but here is a good roundup and here is yet another.

War: Then and Now

Our tax dollars wisely spent: History at our fingertips.

Fascinating photographs from the last War today's American Left thought justified (they just cannot wrap their minds around the fact that the actions of Stalin, and Marx's other descendents, are in the same League of Evil with Hitler).

Be advised, some photos are not for the faint of heart.

(Hat Tip: Lileks' Bleat -- also with a great read on the debate.)

Not to be too pedantic, but why does today's American Left expend so much brain power rationalizing the actions of Islamofascists today?

There was no analogous hand-wringing post-12/7 as there has been post-9/11.

Why do people to this day refer to 9/11 as a tragedy?

It was and is not "The Tragedy of Pearl Harbor," but rather "The Attack on Pearl Harbor" (then again, I haven't looked at a recent high-school history book -- do I dare? -- yes, I must soon).

This election will be close because there are many (alas, like Kerry) who believe we are not at war, the most notorious of which are the Michael Moore grassy knoll types who think it must have been America's fault (probably even Karl Rove's).

Can Kerry fool the American Public? Yes, but only once. Our Republic can withstand those who don't listen to Americans.

Carter didn't, and we booted him for Reagan.

Clinton was much smarter, and we let him hang around for another term -- after all, the economy was great and Terror only happened in Israel [What about the '93 WTC bombing? -- Ed. I remember at the time thinking, ah, just a fluke, Jo Schmo could do that -- as we learned all too well with OKC in '95 -- and No, that doesn't excuse what Clinton didn't do, but he was smart enough -- too clever by half is perhaps the better description -- to hide the dangers that were growing in the 90's].

But, mistakes now have a much higher cost.

We Have a Choice

Substance vs Style?

I'm not sure what to make of the debate last night.

I remember thinking when the debate times were announced that 9 PM was "late."

Why?

Well, it has been noted often that Bush is an early riser and early to bed.

Was he tired? Probably.

Did he have some good points? Absolutely.

"Global Test" may, in the end, haunt Kerry to defeat -- as it should.

For those who get their news from Oprah and Rather, Kerry clearly won the debate.

We'll probably know early next week if the dynamics have changed in any seismic way.

I wouldn't think so, but then again, I'm not a "moderate" -- sorry, but I have beliefs, so I can't be a moderate. . . .