From the Karl Rove school of proofreading


I love October. Fall colors. The smell of burning leaves. Fraudulent absentee ballots.



Props to Miller Consultations & Elections Inc, 6119 28th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, MI, 49546, (616) 464-2283.

Thanks to The General!


Last respects

Man, am I going to miss this guy. Nobody played the schmuck like Rodney Dangerfield, and was so damn funny doing it. My favorite Dangerfield line: I thought I was lucky once. I found another guy's wallet. I opened it up. It had my wife and kids' pictures in it!
6.10.04 19:41


Bush's perfect storm


Publius at Legal Fiction thinks Bush will lose. He says President Pissy really blew it with his Tourette's sufferer impersonation during last week's debate, but that's only the half of what inflict he Bush campaing these days. In short, there's a been a perfect storm of GOP screw ups this week that add up to a Kerry win. They include:

• Cheney's lies during the veep debate Tuesday night.

• Increasing bloodshed in Iraq

• The report, issued yesterday, that Saddam had no WMDs when Bush said he did.

• Paul Bremer's comment that Bush blew the war by not provided enough troops.

I'm too cautious to sign on the Publius' view. Overconfidence will kill Kerry's chances faster than another Rove dirty trick. But I think it's undeniable that Bush hurt himself last week, and that Kerry has a real shot at winning.


Cheney's greatest hits

Kevin Drum posts Vice President Liar's biggest fibs from Tuesday night.

Telling to truth is hard work. It's hard work. It's really hard work.
7.10.04 19:08


Rove's October surprise




GOP slime-master Karl Rove tells GOP slime-master acolyte Sean Hannity that he has a surprise for John Kerry. I don't suppose that would have anything to do with Bush running on his record, would it?

Diehard conspiracy theorists have been claiming for months that the US military captured Osama bin Laden a long time ago, and that Karl Rove is waiting until Nov. 1 to "capture" him. I say it's easier than that. Bush can win millions of votes by the mere suggestion that bin Laden has been captured. How does he do that?

The night before the election, the major networks repeat unconfirmed reports from the Afghan/Pakistani border than a "high-value al Qaeda target" has been killed. The area is remote, and mountainous, and details are sketchy, but a Pakistani radio station has broadcast an interview with an unnamed US Special Forces officer that one of the terrorists' bodies matches the physical description of Osama bin Laden. Of course, it will take DNA analysis to be sure. Details of the gunfight, also sketchy, further reinforce the story.

Of course, the American public understands it will take at least 24 hours to confirm what really happened. It's mountainous and remote, remember? And the DNA lab is far, far away. Meanwhile, the election must go on.

Eventually, the story will turn out to be bogus, but by then it will be too late. Millions of grateful voters will have switched their vote at the last minute, from John Kerry to President Twitchy.

How easy would that be for Rove to pull off?


George Bush has a plan



Anybody can make a mistake, as my Dad used to tell me. The most important thing is admitting the mistake. That way you can learn from it.
As little as 27 cents of every dollar spent on Iraq's reconstruction has actually filtered down to projects benefiting Iraqis, a statistic that is prompting the State Department to fundamentally rethink the Bush administration's troubled reconstruction effort.

Between soaring security costs, corruption and mismanagement, contractors' profits, and U.S. governmental costs, reconstruction funding is being drained away, leaving little left to improve the lives of Iraqis, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies. Senior administration officials and congressional experts on the reconstruction effort called the analysis credible. One senior U.S. official familiar with reconstruction suggested as little as a quarter of the funding is reaching its intended projects.

It's bad enough that this administration lied us into war, blew the peace, alienated the Iraqi population and mismanaged tax dollars on a scale usually reserved for corrupt, third world governments. Bush's real failing is his stubborn and bizarre insistance that nothing is wrong.

How can you fix a problem that you won't even acknowledge?


Round two

Atrios offers some advice for John Kerry:
As for how he treats Bush, I say that as much as possible he ignores him. Not in a disrepectful way, but Kerry should be there to talk to the people. He should goad him a bit, to knock him off stride, but not too obviously or pointedly. Mentioning his father seems to work nicely. Of course, if Bush throws a punch Kerry should block and throw one back. And, if Bush throws another punch Kerry can consider pummeling him until he's bloody (metaphorically speaking, of course).

But, here's the deal. Coming into debate 2, Bush hasn't got anything. He can't hide behind his "compassionate conservatism face" which he used in 2000 - that was tossed in the garbage. He can't hide behind "war president face" because last week we all saw what a joke that is. All he's got left is the real face - sulky fratboy/petulant child.

As long as Kerry is presidential in a way that Bush cannot be, he'll do fine.
Heh.


Oops

The Bush economic miracle is just around the corner. But so is the election. What's he gonna do?

"Nonfarm payroll employment continued to trend upward in September, increasing by 96,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.4 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Over the prior 3 months, payroll employment rose by 103,000 on average. In September, modest
job gains occurred in a few service-providing industries."
8.10.04 02:49


Live blogging - round two


The first question is a softball for John Kerry - how do you respond to the charge that you are wishy washy? Kerry turned it around quickly on the President. A quick cutaway to the Bush - is that a twitch?

Robin Dahl (he's a guy), asks Bush why he invaded Iraq. Bush is strident, but shaky. He stumbles once or twice, but not too badly, as he launches into his stump speech.

Kerry reminds us that he has never changed his mind about Iraq. Bush rushed to war. Iraq is more dangerous. Bush jumps on the "global test" comment. He sounds desperate. Kerry: The goal of the UN resolution was not to overthrown Saddam, it was to eliminate WMD. And he has no WMD. Bush twitches.

We're 15 minutes into the debate, and Kerry is handing Bush his ass on a plate. Kerry looks Presidential. The stern but fair headmaster to Bush's class clown.

Now Bush is comparing himself to Ronald Reagan. Reagan was stubborn too. Reagan alienated some Europeans but won the cold war. "I don't think you want a Presidents that wants to be popular, but does the wrong thing."

Kerry: "The general's job is to win the war. The President's job is to win the peace. This President didn't win the peace."


President Pissy

It seems like NBC is making an extra special effort to catch Bush in a twitch. Bush senses it, and comments "That answer almost makes me want to scowl." Light laughter from the 160 uncommitted voters.

Is there a draft in here?

Bush: "There will not not be a draft. Period... We don't need mass armies anymore." Can anybody say "Credibility problem?"

A Bushism! "We can be lighter, and quicker, and more facile."

Facile:
1. Done or achieved with little effort or difficulty; easy.
2. Working, acting, or speaking with effortless ease and fluency.
3. Arrived at without due care, effort, or examination; superficial: proposed a facile solution to a complex problem.
4. Readily manifested, together with an aura of insincerity and lack of depth: a facile slogan devised by politicians.

Dubya is getting pissy now. "It denigrates the alliance to say we're going alone."

Kerry: "If Missouri was a country, it would be contributing the third largest number of troops in Iraq." Yes!


Not if, but when

A great question for Kerry from a middle aged woman in a blonde wig: Why have there been no terrorist attacks on the US homeland since Sept. 11, 2001? Kerry alludes to intelligence briefings he's attended, and that he can't go into details, and then launches into an attack on Bush's inability to defend the homeland.

Now Bush is blabbing about precription drug coverage, and importing cheaper drugs from Canada. Kerry comes back and all but calls Bush a flip flopper, pointing out that candidate Bush endorsed drug reimportation four years ago, in the same auditorium where they are debating tonight.

Kerry: "Go to JohnKerry.com. You can pull it off the internet." Thanks, I was going to pull it off the radio.


Matthew O'Brien

"Mr. President, you have a Republican majority in both houses. Please explain how the spending you have approved and not paid for is better than the spending proposed by your opponent?"

Bush: We're at war. We cut taxes to get out of the recession. If you raise taxes during a recession, you get depression." Who's talking about raising taxes? You cut them.

Oooh, that's awkward. A questioner asks Kerry if he can look in the camera and promise not to raise taxes on incomes over $200,000. And he does!

"He looked at me like my clock was up." George Bush to the debate moderator. Let's hope so.

Kerry makes a weak Red Sox joke.

Kerry: "The clear skies bill is one of those Orwellian names." Oh great. Undecided voters love Orwell. Maybe you can make a Marcel Proust reference, too.

70 minute warning. Gaffs ahead.


Kerry: "China and India are graduating more students in technology than we are." They're having more kids than we are, too. Note to DNC talking points writers: There's like eight Indians and Chinese people for every American.

Bush to Charlie Gibson: "Need some wood?" Wouldn't that be funny if the next question was about gay marriage?

No such luck. It's about the Patriot Act. Bush: "Every act against terrorists requires a court order." Except for the ones that aren't, or the peaceful demonstrators who were rounded up like sheep and detained for two days without charges in New York.

Elizabeth Long

A stem cell question. Did Kerry just have trouble remembering "Alzheimer's disease"?

Bush: "Science is important, but so is ethics." As if scientists never take ethics into consideration.

Bush misinterprets the Dred Scott decision. NPR researchers are calling 19th century legal historians as I type, and tomorrow we're going to learn way more than we need to about Dred Scott.

Bush's larger point is that judge's shouldn't inject personal opinions into the law. Then he says judges should allow the word's "under God" in the pledge of allegiance. Kerry doesn't rise to the bait.

An abortion question for Kerry. His answer is much too long, too nuanced, and really boring. Bush: "I'm trying to decipher that." This is where Bush is strongest. Unshackled by nuance and deep thought, he can afford to say he is against abortion. His base is cheering.

Kerry: "It's never quite as simple as the President would like you to believe."

Bush: "You can run but you can't hide." He's used that line twice tonight.

Final question from Linda Grable. You can always tell an undecided voter. They have unfortunate names like Linda Grable. She asks Bush to name three examples of mistakes he has made, and what he did to correct them. Bush dodges the question, and goes back to his stump speech. He says he made mistakes by appointing certain people, but won't name them because "I don't want to embarass them." So he'll just embarrass himself. How Christ like.

Kerry is more than happy to list Bush's mistakes. Prediction: Linda Grable's body will be found floating in the MIssissippi tomorrow.

Closing statements

Kerry goes first. He won't give a veto to another country when it comes to protecting our country. Strong coalitions. Crisis of the middle class. Plan to provide health care. Fund No Child Left Behind. I'm an optimist. Standard stump speech.

Bush. About the future. We've been through a lot together. War. Recession. Corporate scandals.

Keep taxes low. Keep regulations down. An energy plan. We're at war. It requires a President who is steadfast and strong and determined, which is how Kerry just came across. Careful Dubya!

The great nexus, the great threat to our country. Not sure what he's talking about there.

God Bless.

Heraldblog verdict: Slight advantage to Kerry, but he didn't knock it out of the park.

Update

Here's Andrew's take:

"If we have learned anything these past three years, it is that conviction is not enough. Skepticism, openness to other arguments, thinking outside the box or against a bubble mentality: all these are useful in a war leader and Bush has none of them. In some ways, Kerry seemed more experienced than Bush, which, of course, he is. All in all, I'd say that Kerry had a minuscule edge in both the substantive and stylistic contest. But the fact that Bush seemed alive and kicking as a candidate will help him regain some initiative as well. "
9.10.04 03:20


Great Scott!




Julie Saltman has the goods on George Bush's weird Dred Scott moment during the debate. Anti-choice types have long pointed to Dred Scott as an example of judicial activism run amok, and imagine an analogy beween Roe V. Wade and Dred Scott, which is precisely why Bush invoked the 150-year-old court case. But it's a terrible analogy. As Saltman points out, Dred Scott would have been a prime example of judical activism if it had been decided the other way.
"The important point in this whole debate over Dred Scott=Roe and judicial activism is this: Why have the Republicans convinced their base that liberal judges are the ones who engage in judicial activism? The most egregious example of judicial activism in the history of the court is clearly Bush v. Gore. Another great example is Eldred v. Ashcroft. And if you look at the dissents in Lawrence v. Texas, the judges there are advocating judicial activism."
But the judges who sent Dred Scott, an escaped slave, back to his owners were if not anything else strict constructionists. There was nothing in the constitution in 1854 that precluded treating black people as property.


Sharia with a ballot

Thomas Friedman writes in todays NY TImes:
"We will not go from Saddam to Jefferson without going through Sistani - the ayatollah we can work with. You just hope that the road will be short.
Among George Bush's many intelligence failures was his clinging to the fantasy that Iraq was a secular society that would quickly embrace American style democracy. Friedman says that radical Islam is too deeply entrenched in today's Iraq to expect such a transition.

Whoever is elected come November may one day have to explain to the American people why they had to trade blood and treasure for one more Islamic theocracy.


And while we're on the topic of creeping theocracy

Or make that creepy theocrats. The Bushies have spent $2.3 million over the last four years studying the effects of intercessory prayer. Now intercessory prayer, for all you secular elitists out there, is when a third party prays for your health, well-being, good fortune, lottery picks, etc. Religious conservatives made joyful noises upon the publication of a 2001 Columbia University study which claimed that women who were prayed for by strangers were twice as likely to get pregnant as women who only relied on great sex.

"Intercessory prayer presupposes some supernatural intervention that is by definition beyond the reach of science," said Dr Richard McNally, a psychologist at Harvard. "It is just a nonstarter, in my opinion, a total waste of time and money."
11.10.04 18:51


Don't forget Poland

11.10.04 22:45


Smells like free enterprise




Professor Gordon Smith at Law & Entrepreneurship News sees the day when smells can be patented. Smellologists discovered back in 1991 that odors are created by a few hundred odor receptors in our nose, each of which are capable of detecting a few different smells. When an odor passes over the receptors, say a wet dog or diesel fumes, different molecules flowing over the receptors activate the corresponding receptors. Our brains interpret smells based on the receptors that have been activated.

Smith, who teaches law at UW Madison, writes:
Critics responding to the proposed patenting of smells suggest that some fundamental patent law is missing from Frey’s analysis. For example, do smells meet the usefulness requirement of patent law? And, how could a chocolate manufacturer use patents to build an IP wall around the category of chocolate flavoring when the smell of chocolate has been known and used for ages? Will wine producers patenting the “nose” of their finest wine find themselves in cross-licensing deals with other producers whose “nose” is a new and useful improvement on the original?

I wonder if we could patent the smell of fear coming from the Bush campaign?


Lesbians are OK

Maybe it's something in the water. Republican Senate candidate Tom Coburn says an epidemic of teen lesbianism in parts of Oklahoma has made it dangerous for girls to use school restrooms. Or something like that. Here's the money quote:
You know, Josh Burkeen is our rep down here in the southeast area. He lives in Colgate and travels out of Atoka. He was telling me lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom. Now think about it. Think about that issue. How is it that that’s happened to us?"
Here's an audio link, via Atrios.

When Coburn was a US Representative, he protested a network airing of Schindler's List, because he objected to the nudity and potty-mouthed Nazis.

Oh, then there was that genocide thing, too.
12.10.04 17:03


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