John Kerry's service record is being smeared, Democrats argue. So why isn't he fighting back harder?

A Washington Monthly reader offers this tantalizing, zen-like explanation.

One of our problems is that we see doctors as gods. One of our other problems is that many doctors see themselves as gods.

A third problem is that this applies to politicians as well.

For what it's worth, here's John Kerry's latest ad

10:05 PM

Kerry's campaign just began airing a TV ad consisting entirely of John McCain's perspective on Bush attacks in the 2000 campaign...

"Let me tell you what really went over the line. Governor Bush had an event and he paid for it and stood next to a spokesman for a fringe veteran's group. That fringe veteran said that John McCain had abandoned the veterans.

"Now I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts. And so five United States Senators, Vietnam veterans -- heroes, some of them really incredible heroes -- wrote George a letter, saying: apologize.

"You should be ashamed."

1:55 PM

Colorado as Florida?

On election day, Colorado will also vote on whether to divide their electoral votes proportionally among the candidates - instead of giving all 9 to whichever candidate got the majority.

"A decision on election day to change the way electoral votes are cast could easily change the outcome if 2004 is as tight as 2000," notes the "Nonplussed" blog. "The fellow on the losing end would be certain to challenge the date for implementing the new Colorado law...."

11:25 PM

The new political documentary Outfoxed offers activists an inspiring prediction about the domination of corporate-controlled media.

"As soon as we rise up it collapses like a house of cards."

9:42 PM

Matthew Yglesias, blogger with a mission.

I've had enough. Can we all agree to talk about nothing besides why the president lies about cheese and why the media won't cover it for days and days and days until his campaign is finally forced to admit that, yes, the president of the United States is so desperate to be loved that he will lie about cheese and then we can all scream -- "see, he admitted it, he's a liar, a damn dirty cheese-eating liar!" I mean, really, who lies about cheese? Can you trust this man?

Later he calls him "George 'Cheez Whiz' Bush'"...

9:27 PM

Recently the Florida Republican Party sent out a brochure urging supporters to use absentee ballots to make sure their votes are counted.

The party claims that was a mistake - but it was, in fact, good advice. Voters should use paper ballots where they are available, and if this means voting absentee, so be it.

Flawed electronic voting booths prompted this warning in the New York Times from columnist Paul Krugman.

"Election officials will be furious about the increased workload," he adds, "but they have brought this on themselves."

6:37 AM

Picture from the official Kerry-Edwards blog.
Via Atrios.

9:53 PM

"The great thing about America is everybody should vote."

-- George W. Bush, December 2000

Ben (of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream) has written a book called "50 Ways You Can Show George The Door." Besides the Bush-ism above, it offers suggestions for aspiring activists. (I personally liked "Pets for Regime Change") And, helpful organizing hints. (Like a list of swing states!)

Did you know Maine and Nebraska DON'T have a winner-take-all contest for their electoral votes?

7:47 PM

Bumper sticker seen today:

Bush is Sauron.

Save the Shire.

6:58 PM

Norman Mailer is elegantly quotable.

New York Metro sent his son to interview him. And the results are a delightfully candid conversation about protest, George Bush - and the hidden American dream.

12:29 AM

The state of the nation, in a nutshell....

On his way to the picnic, Bush's motorcade passed opposing groups of demonstrators on the way to the picnic, one group shouting "Four more years!" the other shouting, "Three more months!"

See also: the Bush administration countdown.

4:37 PM

A new book criticizing John Kerry's war record relies on affidavits signed by Lieutenant Commander George Elliott, former commanding officer of John Kerry.

But according to The Boston Globe today, "Elliott said in an interview that he had made a 'terrible mistake' in signing an affidavit that suggests Kerry did not deserve the Silver Star."

"I knew it was wrong . . . In a hurry I signed it and faxed it back. That was a mistake."

6:26 AM

John Kerry's swift boat crew remember a "hellacious firefight" - but a political action group is, bizarrely, claiming that "there was absolutely no fire coming from any direction."

Larry Thurlow is one man making this claim - though, strangely, he earned a Bronze Star that day, according to "American History" magazine, for dragging a wounded soldier out of the water while under fire...

New information, meanwhile, shows that George W. Bush not only skipped five months of National Guard duty. He never, as he claimed, made up the time.

8:03 PM

Al Franken's radio show is huge in Portland.

The radio station broadcasting it reports an 825% increase in ratings...

And every other talk radio station lost about 20% of their listeners.

7:53 PM

Okay, now I'm confused...

McCain backs Bush at Jacksonville rally - 3 hours ago

McCain deplores anti-Kerry ad - 2 hours ago

4:35 PM

Is there something fishy about the "Orange Alert" terror warning?

Here's some people who think so.....

• Two federal officials investigating the threats. ("The U.S. financial institutions identified in a recently disclosed al-Qaeda surveillance operation are not believed to be at imminent risk of attack, two federal law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Tuesday." -- USA Today)

• Pakistan. ("Information gleaned from a prominent al-Qaeda leader arrested in Pakistan last week did not provide sufficient evidence of an imminent terrorism threat in the US, senior Pakistani officials familiar with the case said yesterday...")

• San Francisco's mayor. (And the police department, and the supposed target, Bank of America.) According to a local newscast, they all insist the FBI didn't even warn them San Francisco's landmark B of A building might be targetted for a full 24 hours.

• Tom Tomorrow. ("Bush and company have manipulated the war on terror. Again.")

10:50 PM

You know what's even more fun than the Homeland Security Terror Alert Level - enhanced with Muppets?

The dancing terror alert banana.

4:59 PM

If President Bush seems dummer now than he did in the 90s, James Fallows wants to know why.

"To me the more plausible explanation is the sheer change in scale from being governor of Texas to being President of the United States..." he writes in The Atlantic Monthly.

"In Washington he still has the people skills, but he has given no signs of mastering issues. Thus his stalling, defensive pose when put on the spot...."

1:02 PM

George Bush was an eloquent speaker in the 90s, James Fallows reports in The Atlantic Monthly.

Examining why Bush's speaking skills degenerated, U.C. Berkeley linguist George Lakoff came to believe "that the change was intentional.

"As a way of showing deep-down NASCAR-type manliness, according to Lakoff, Bush has deliberately made himself sound as clipped and tough as John Wayne. Moreover, in Lakoff's view, the authenticity of this stance depends on Bush's consistency in presenting it.

"So even if he is still capable of speaking with easy eloquence, he can't afford to let the mask slip."

Fallows notes that Bush speaks with a Texas twang "shared by none of his siblings."

12:47 PM

Capitol Hill Blue isn't the only one speculating about the President's health. A Density-land reader writes:

I too think Prez. Bush is keeping some kind of drug or alcohol use on the "down low"...

Have u seen Manchurian Candidate? See it, then think about the fact that several members of the BUSH administration and some in Congress, etc., mysteriously had a curious, "coincidental" rash of facial Bandaids.... including Bush, Cheney, and a bunch others...

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I might be paranoid that some of our leaders have had microchips implanted in their tiny peabrained heads!

10:44 PM

There are some other theories. A comment on Kevin's blog remembers a recent article in The Atlantic.

"[T]he writer compared the way Bush speaks now to the way he spoke when he ran for governor. Videos show that his speaking style has changed dramatically. The slurring, malapropisms, and confusion are new."

"The suggestion that he has had a stroke is not without basis."

10:42 PM

In March of 2003, a Washington Post columnist wondered whether President Bush had been "medicated" before his White House press conference.

Describing the President as "foggy," Tom Shales wrote that "Occasionally he would stare blankly into space during lengthy pauses between statements -- pauses that once or twice threatened to be endless..."

"[I]t hardly seems out of order to speculate that, given the particularly heavy burden of being president in this new age of terrorism...the president may have been ever so slightly medicated."

3:35 PM

On the "Corrente" blog they speculate cruelly about whether President Bush's past acts of clumsiness may be related to the wild rumor about powerful medications he's taking.

(Using that logic, every Bush mis-step could look suspicious. Falling off Segway scooters, choking on pretzels, forgetting the words "fool me twice, shame on me"...)

Corrente also notes that in May on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Laura Bush described an incident in 1977 when future President Bush drove into a wall.

A disturbing bit of trivia. 40 years ago, future First Lady Laura Bush killed a 17-year-old while running a stop sign.

6:31 AM

You don't associate drug abuse with conservative Republicans - but it has been reported.

• Nancy Reagan was addicted to prescription medication, according to a book by daughter Patti Davis

• George Bush's niece Noelle has been arrested for forging prescriptions and using crack cocaine.

• President Bush himself has hinted that he used cocaine in the 1970's.

• Rush Limbaugh was arrested in October for his addiction to prescription pain-killers

6:30 AM

Bush administration use of powerful prescription drugs drew attention last November, when the Washington Post quoted Colin Powell's response to a question about jet-lag: "Everybody here uses Ambien."

Ambien use "should generally be limited to 7 to 10 days of use..." doctors warn. "The habit-forming potential is high. Psychological and physical dependence is possible.

"Because persons with a history of addiction to, or abuse of, drugs or alcohol are at increased risk of habituation and dependence, they should be under careful surveillance when receiving [Ambien]...."

It's not clear who else - besides Powell - uses Ambien. But one man who bought alot was the personal physician of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Dr. Gray Malakoff "has a history, going back to 1997, of abusing prescription narcotics," the New Yorker reported. Yet he remained Dick Cheney's physician for nine years, according to the magazine, and between June of 1999 and December of 2001, spent "at least $46,238 on internet purchases of Stadol, Xanax, Tylenol with codeine and Ambien."

6:25 AM

There's a wild story on the "Capitol Hill Blue" site. Generally acknowledged as unreliable, the site nonetheless alleges that President Bush is using powerful drugs to control "erratic behavior".

Claiming White House sources, the blog states that President Bush stormed off a stage three weeks ago, screamed obscenities backstage at an aide - and has since begun taking "powerful" anti-depressants to control his behavior.

They were building on an earlier article in June alleging that the President "goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as 'enemies of the state'."

"Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home."

Today another article includes quotes attributed to an unnamed campaign advertiser who says the President is "moody, distrustful and withdrawn," then claims that "campaign advisors are worried the depressed President may not be up to the rigors of a tough re-election campaign."

There's also an unnamed GOP consultant in the mix who's said to be advising Congressional Republicans to distance themselves from Bush.

"We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the United States is loony tunes," he says sadly. "That's not good for my candidates, it's not good for the party and it's certainly not good for the country."

Via Corrente.

6:25 AM

A radio ad in Orange County warns that one Representative candidate is like those liberals "in San Francisco and Los Angeles." Then goes on to say she's representing the "wackadoo" wing of the party.

Why, she was one of twelve [just twelve!] candidates that that crazy Howard Dean chose to support. And we all know who Howard Dean is, right?

"We're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan! And then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Ee-yeaahhh!"

"Wackadoo."

The ad doesn't get into specifics. It just keeps coming back to that nonsense word "wackadoo" - repeating it again after the Howard Dean sound clip.

It's the latest form of political advertising. It's not really an argument. It's more of a play to people's visceral reactions.

Howard Dean clip courtesy of Married Adults.com, home of Movies without Nudity and Church Bloopers.

1:32 PM

For anybody who wants to know about pets, or goats, or simply wants to avoid the responsibilities of national leadership, My Pet Goat is a "Must Read"!

Amazon hoaxsters submit sarcastic reviews for the notorious school-children's book that President Bush continued reading after he'd been informed of the 9/11 attacks.

"Dick and Laura said it was safe to read as long as I wasn't trying to chew anything at the same time."

6:07 PM

This is a cute idea. It gives you the current Homeland Security Terror Alert Level - enhanced with Muppets.

11:38 PM

Blogger Digby opines about "undemocratic" governing - and not just in the Bush administration.

[T]his is an ongoing, serious problem of the modern Republican Party in general. They are congenitally opposed to compromise which leads inevitably to rule by force....

It's not tin-foil kookiness and it's not partisan angst. It's real.

The "Mahablog" fears an even greater threat to democracy...

We must always treat the Bush Regime as a revolutionary power, and we must assume that all of its policies are about power -- keeping and increasing the scope of its power; paying off the complicit; maintaining opacity....

10:07 PM

If terrorists attack the U.S. in November, Rush Limbaugh says postponing the elections is "a bad idea."

"In that case there must be something right about the idea," says one Density-land reader.

"Or no, wait... by having Limbaugh oppose it they want us to think it's a good idea...

"Or no, wait..."

10:28 PM

In April an article on Buzzflash asked "Will the 2004 elections be called off?"

The article summarized some predictions that terrorists would strike the U.S. in the next six months - and noted that conservative pundits Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and David Brooks were all simultaneously voicing concerns that the terrorists would affect the Presidential elections.

"If we are attacked before our election like Spain was," Sean Hannity reportedly said, "I am not so sure that we should go ahead with the election. We had better make plans now because it's going to happen."

The article then cited former White House staffer Richard Clarke's warning that there are "dozens of people, in the White House...writing talking points, calling up conservative columnists, calling up talk radio hosts, telling them what to say..."

That article left a paranoid "what if" hanging over the growing subsequent coverage of election planning. For instance, on July 8, the AP ran a story about how security needed to be tightened because of fears the election would be disrupted, citing sources in the White House - even though "U.S. officials do not have specific knowledge about where, when or how such an attack would take place."*

It's against this background that Democrat Senator Barbera Boxer issued a statement.

"To even consider postponing our elections, the most ardent symbol of American democracy, because of threats made by terrorists would be nothing short of allowing fear to rule our country. America is too great and too strong and too brave for that."

Amazingly, even Rush Limbaugh spoke out today against any postponement of the election. "I think this is a bad idea. I think they need to stop talking about this."

*A later version of the article changed the attribution from "sources in the White House" to "federal officials."

9:59 PM

"America's need has never been so desperate. Locked in the iron grip of the Bush administration, the United States is crying out for liberation.

"And who better to fulfill the promise of freedom than the wholesome and resilient lasses our men have fought for?"

Babes Against Bush hawk their $12.00 calendar. "Because hot chicks hate him too."

"It's time to put the liberal back into politics."

12:44 PM

When John Kerry picks his running mate - and possibly the next vice president - "The folks who are going to learn first...are going to be the people on JohnKerry.com."

They'll receive Kerry's email announcement, he says, because "They're the people who've helped carry this campaign. They're the folks who've been part of our effort across the nation. And they'll be the first to know what my decision is."

7:58 PM

John Kerry also tries to address Bush's charge of "pessimism" at a campaign stop in Minnesota...

"They say this is the best we can do. They've even called us pessimists. Well, I say, the most pessimistic thing you can say is that America can't do better.

"Don't tell us losing 1,300 dairy farms in Minnesota is the best we can do.

"In 2004, we have to bring back our mighty dream again. We have to make America all that it can become."

4:36 PM

"I thought that was an effective commercial for the Kerry campaign," one web surfer commented. "I pretty much agreed with everything Al Gore and Michael Moore said.

"I guess I'm not the target audience."

Kerry's campaign has released their own statement on Bush's controversial new ad...

"The fact that George Bush thinks its appropriate to use images of Adolph Hitler in his campaign raises serious questions about his fitness to spend another four years in the White House. Adolph Hitler slaughtered millions of innocent people and has no place in a campaign that is supposed to be about the future and hope of this nation."

11:48 AM

A Bush campaign video mixes footage of Adolf Hitler with footage of John Kerry, Al Gore, Howard Dean, and Michael Moore.

The images of Hitler came from a home-made political advertisement - one of over 1500 submitted to the liberal activist site MoveOn.org for a January contest. At the time the Republican National Committee chairman demanded the site clarify that "they want no affiliation with anyone who would engage in these types of vile tactics."

Friday the Bush campaign used the same images for their montage. A title card identifies them as "the faces of John Kerry's Democratic party" and "the coalition of the wild-eyed."

At the end of their 77-second ad, the Bush campaign delivers its message. It's the wrong time for "pessimism" and "rage"

11:45 AM

Billy Graham's son says "I don't think God is a Republican or a Democrat."

"He's no Democrat, Reverend!" says Sean Hannity of Fox News...

Maybe God's voting for Nader.

6:20 AM

Michael Moore delivers a passionate message to the media. On the Today show, he tells his interviewer...

"If one of you--any of you--and I don't mean this to you personally--but just if anyone here had just said, 'Wait a minute. These are our children. You're not sending them to war unless you prove to us that our nation is under threat of attack....'

"My film is a silent plea to all of you in the news media to do your job. We need you..."

6:15 AM

George Bush will pick up nine electoral votes in Colorado. Er, no, wait -- John Kerry will get four of those, leaving Bush with just one more electoral vote...

That's the scenario predicted if a Colorado ballot measure passes before the November election.

And they already have 67,799 signatures...

4:41 PM

Meg Ryan, Jon Bon Jovi, and James Gandolfini and Steve Buscemi from The Sopranos were among the celebrity attendees at a fund-raiser for John Kerry.

After raising $1 million, the Presidential candidate told the crowd he was flying to address an AFL-CIO convention the next day in Atlantic City.

"I know it makes a lot of you nervous, the idea of my coming here to a fund-raiser, leaving at 8:30 with a million dollars and then 11 o'clock I'm on the news at the blackjack table in Atlantic City.

"I promise I will not gamble with your money the way George Bush has gambled with the money of this country."

4:37 PM

Washington Monthly cites a 1985 anecdote from a critique of Ronald Reagan called "The Clothes Have No Emperor."

60 Minutes interviews Berkeley professor Michael Rogin, who posits the theory that [Reagan] honestly can't tell the difference between movies and reality.

The evolution of a Reagan anecdote is traced from the point where he credits it as a movie scene to the point where he tells it as if it really happened.

Viewer response proves this to the one of the least popular segments in the program's 17-year history."

8:36 AM

Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry asked (Republican) Senator McCain to be his running mate.

And McCain said no.

At least, that's how two Democratic officials are telling it to the Associated Press...

3:35 PM

Reagan and Gorbachev discussed Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense plan in 1986.

According to notes the Soviets declassified six years later, Gorbachev didn't believe it when Reagan offered to share the technology. But Reagan replied...

"If I thought that [the missile defense technology] could not be shared, I would have rejected it myself."

6:10 PM

Ronald Reagan was not America's most popular President, Kos reminds us.

In fact, Gallup polls for the last ten Presidents rank Reagan's cumulative approval ratings at sixth -- just above Nixon -- scoring lower than Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton, George Bush Senior...

Here's the complete list.

Kennedy
Eisenhower
Bush Senior
Clinton
Johnson
Reagan
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Truman

6:20 AM

Don Asmussen's comic strip "Bad Reporter" critiques the dummed-down spin that politicians feed the mass media...

DEMS CALL 'HOP ON THE BUS, GUS, DON'T NEED TO DISCUSS MUCH' AN EXTREMELY VAGUE EXIT STRATEGY

11:48 AM

George Bush loses to John Kerry by 15 points in a national poll...if John Kerry's running mate is John McCain.

One advantage for Kerry that's not being discussed: McCain also holds a Republican seat in the Senate, which he'd have to relinquish to become Vice President....

McCain's successor would be picked by the Democrat governor of Arizona - allowing the Democrats to easily pick up a Senate seat. Since the Senate is currently split 51-49, that one seat could determine which party controls it!

2:33 PM

Yet another media outlet discusses the possibility of Republican John McCain becoming John Kerry's running mate. Wonkette puts it in perspective...

Yesterday, on Fox News Sunday, Senator Hillary Clinton said she would support John McCain as the John Kerry's running mate. Great. But we're sure that what she's really hoping for is that magical Kerry-Batman ticket (Gotham City's in a swing state, right?), which is, of course, just as likely.

10:32 PM

Empty trucks were driven back and forth across Iraq -- and then a Halliburton subsidiary billed the U.S. taxpayers for it.

Once the 300-mile supply route was driven by a convoy of 27 empty trucks. A 28th truck did carry supplies -- on a single four-foot pallet.

Link found on Atrios.

7:30 AM

General Wesley Clark suggests bringing in European troops to give a stabilized Iraq time to democratize.

"Freedom and dignity spring from within the human heart. They are not imposed.

"...if the events of the last year tell us anything, it is that democracy in the Middle East is unlikely to come at the point of our gun."

6:20 AM

A sweet moment from Nick Berg's diary. Shortly before his gruesome death in Iraq, he was a "tower nerd," gushing that Mosul's VHF tower "has more steel per vertical foot than any tower I've ever been on..."

Corrente - the blogger who spotted this - notes that at one point Berg wanted to take a hike past a beautiful riverside -- but he hitched a ride with some "ultra gung ho" security contractors....

6:25 AM

An amazingly thoughtful story on formative events in the life of George Bush.

There's his wasted college days, his troubled relationship with his father, his reformed alcoholism -- and then his presidency.

The author argues that at some point a rebellious and lonely young man chose to eschew learning, debate, and discussion. In effect: he "chose stupidity."

6:25 AM

These women are on a mission: "[T]o discretely provide US troops shipping out overseas with the most sensually pleasing departure possible."

And, they have a web site.

"Operation Take One For the Country..."

Yes, this has "hoax" written all over it....

UPDATE: Boing Boing agrees.

7:27 PM

If elected, says John Kerry, "I will hold a full press conference at least once a month."

6:25 PM

Be wary of newspaper Op-Eds, says The Washington Post.

"I was upset to learn that the 'by' in a scholar's byline may well be a ruse, a duplicitous means of inducing a lobby-authored, lobby-funded piece into print and onto the public agenda."

5:37 PM

President Bush's press conference, analyzed by the red clip-art cartoon people at "Get Your War On"...

"His mind is like one of those spinning cages where you pull out the winning lottery numbers -- but there's only four goddamn little balls in his cage: "Freedom," "Democracy," "Terror," and "Stay the Course."

"He opens his mouth, one of the balls drops out. That's not a conversation, that's Keno."

And people say Americans are afraid to criticize their President.

"Listen, man -- What part of 'Democracy Freedom Stay the Course Terror Terror' don't you understand?"

4:35 PM

President Bush assembled $200 million to fund his re-election campaign. But his negative TV ads didn't improve his poll numbers, as John Kerry explains.

"They're out 50 million bucks and got nothing to show for it."

Meanwhile, Kerry launched his own fund-raising drive to counter Bush's negative TV ads with paid Kerry advertisements.

"What the Republicans were counting on was a nominee they could easily define. For the first time we have the power of having a Democratic nominee who has the ability to talk back, to actually fight back."

4:05 PM

And now for something completely different.

Political commentary from Pokey the Penguin.

9:03 AM

A poll by CNN/Time found that President Bush's approval rating has sunk to "a record low."

Just 49 percent of Americans surveyed approved of his performance.

4:35 PM

"A vote for George Bush is a vote against the troops."

-- Janeane Garofalo
Air America Radio

While U.S. troops confront growing unrest in Iraq, George Bush is on vacation, John Kerry points out....

5:23 PM

The month before September 11, President Bush was vacationing in Texas.

When he returned -- shortly before the attacks -- he told reporters he'd been working on national security issues. But specifically: the "menace" of Saddam Hussein.

"...we need to keep him in check, and will. He's been a menace forever, and ... he needs to open his country up for inspection so we can see whether or not he's developing weapons of mass destruction."

10:28 AM

Budget-busting proposals by Republicans have spawned a "dirty dozen" -- conservative Congressmen willing to vote with the Democrats to reign in spending.

This maneuver works because the House of Representatives is so evenly split, one congressman explains. "Given the numbers in the House today, if you have a dozen Republicans willing to oppose a rule, that's all it takes."

1:53 PM

Cash-only doctors.

A thought-provoking story about doctors who chose an alternate path. Healthcare is becoming a political issue, so it's an excellent time to ask: are these doctors happier without the health insurance bureaucracy?

• "An obstetrician-gynecologist in Salt Lake City...recalled times when he believed managed care rules prevented his patients from getting the best treatment."

• One doctor "said she would have to double her patient load to make ends meet if she relied on insurance -- something she can't imagine. 'How can you possibly talk about prevention of cancer and heart disease when you're seeing patients every 12 minutes?'"

• "Accounts receivable is zero."

Just in one cash-only doctors organization, "Membership has grown to 22,000 patient members and 1,500 doctors...."

1:19 PM

Now you can watch the controversial footage of George Bush "invigoriating" a twelve-year-old boy. (Discussed below.)

The next day CNN claimed Letterman had doctored the footage -- and OverSpun.com links to Letterman's reaction. "That, ladies and gentlemen, is an out-and-out, sure as I'm sitting here, 100 percent lie."

"Who you gonna believe -- me or CNN?

"When you cast your votes in November, just remember that the White House was trying to make me look like a dope."

Later the White House denied denying it.

6:33 PM

Al Franken excoriates George Bush for back-tracking on his image-enhancing space initiative.

...telling the nation you're sending a man to Mars is not like telling the kids you're taking them to Applebee's. The kids get all excited, looking forward to the curly fries. If you stay home, yes, they're disappointed, but it's not that big a deal. Mars is different.

Franken is making a larger point about right-wing media.

Bush got a pass on this, as he's gotten a pass on so many other things, because there's no liberal echo chamber in this country. But starting today at noon, there will be one.

Me.

10:56 AM

David Letterman, CNN, and a twelve year old boy all gang up to make George Bush look stupid.

"Liars!" cries the Bush administration. "Oh wait -- we never said that...."

Or something like that...

8:06 AM

"People are going to buy this book, even though it's really bad."

The Vice President's wife wrote "a bodice-ripping romance set in the 19th century Wild West," according to a publishing-industry newsletter. The 1981 pulp romance contains "[L]ots of turgid prose, heaving bosoms, female characters who are proto-feminists and practice safe sex with multiple partners--and a juicy lesbian subplot...."

And it's going to be re-issued just as the Bush-Cheney ticket seeks re-election....

5:31 PM

"Republicans have accused Democratic U.S. House candidate Stephanie Herseth of maintaining A SECRET WEB PAGE to receive campaign donations raised from ads on liberal groups' Internet sites." (!!!!!!)

That's from the Aberdeen News, via Daily Kos. "Thanks to the secret technology called Google," writes Kos, "I was able to FIND the secret page!"

The Executive Director of the South Dakota Republican Party warns Dakotans that "There's a reason she's got that secret site. She doesn't want to advertise the fact she's doing this...."

10:08 AM

"It amazes me that a man can be in his 50's and have such idealism," says Ben Stein. He's talking about Al Franken.

The New York Times ran a great profile of Franken shortly before he launches his new radio show.

''I think of Al as a kind of comedy version of Howard Dean," says Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter, "in that he wants to show people how to fight back."

"[Rush] Limbaugh, through a spokesman, declined to be interviewed for this article, as did Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity..."

7:37 PM

I finally got around to watching this clip of liberal author Eric Alterman baffling Dennis Miller.

5:42 PM

Too good to pass up... Lynne Cheney's pulp romance novel, Sisters.

Blogger Wonkette displays one of the many steamy excerpts from the early 1980s book....

6:15 PM

"I'm Al Franken, and you're listening to the O'Franken Factor!"

Newsweek profiles Al Franken's new radio show, the cornerstone of a new network for liberal talk radio.

3:30 PM

President Bush bars imports from the country of Myanmar.

Then he sells Bush-Cheney campaign t-shirts imported from Myanmar...

12:04 AM

September 12, 2001...

Rumsfeld said, "There aren't any good targets in Afghanistan and there are lots of good targets in Iraq.''

I said, "Well, there are lots of good targets in lots of places, but Iraq had nothing to do with [the 9/11 attacks]..."

White House terrorism advisor Richard Clarke appears on 60 Minutes this Sunday...

6:30 PM

Blogs are growing in influence, according to CNN.

Most political reporters now read blogs - just as they listen to conservative talk radio - so news coverage is also shaped by the online chatter.

America has 20 million "online political citizens," a study from George Washington University reports, and in that group Democrats have a 2:1 majority over Republicans.

"Blogs are a real force; they're not just for geeks any more."

Thanks to my pal Lego-man for the link!

8:56 AM

Bush's credibility may determine whether he wins a second term.

Film's questioning that credibility are appearing at MoveOn.org....

• A 50-second movie catches Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claiming on Face the Nation that he never said Iraq was an "immediate threat," that "it's become kind of folk-lore that that's what happened..." A quote of him saying just that is read back to him -- and then another.

• Dramatic footage shows a polygraph test beeping wildly as President Bush claims Iraq has an advanced nuclear weapons program, that Iraq sought uranium from Africa, and that Iraq aided al Qaada terrorists.

Now a newspaper advertisement by the same group shows an intense photograph of the president over the headline: "He knew."

"Before the war, the president was repeatedly told there was no definitive evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. He knew Iraq was not a nuclear threat. He knew there was no Iraq connection to 9/11..."

5:01 AM

A man who knows something about film-making comments on the newscast/lobbying scandal.

"If tax dollars paid for those Bush advertorials," Roger Ebert emails Romenesko's media news, "shouldn't the government bill the Bush campaign for the production costs?"

7:00 PM

But here's a scandal that is true. According to the Democratic party's blog,"Kicking Ass"...

"Apparently, the Bush administration paid actors to pose as real-life journalists and under that guise praise the benefits of the new Medicare law."

The faked news interviews were later spliced into 53 local newscasts on 40 different stations across America. This may be illegal; the General Accounting Office launched an investigation into whether this constitutes "covert propaganda."

"If President Bush wants to run questionable ads to convince senior voters that a bad Medicare bill is good for them," says Ted Kennedy, "then his campaign should pay for it, not the American taxpayer."

2:55 PM

That sassy Wonkette has the last word. Apparently the Bush administration "decided that they could afford to spring a portion of that $160 million war-chest for some real firefighters after all...

"Newsweek, on the other hand, might consider investing in some real... What do you call those? That's right: Fact-checkers."

Nothing to see here, folks, move along...

Here's Densityland's own original back-and-forth...

---

No wait! They were real firemen! Newsweek has corrected their...

No wait! Newsweek just altered it back!

Atrios's commenters suspect that someone tried conning Newsweek's editors about Bush's fake, hired-pretend fire-fighters...

---

The firemen in George Bush's campaign ads? "Where the hell did they get those guys?" *

They're actors.

So why did Bush's ads replace real American heroes with paid actors?

"Mainly, It's cheaper and quicker."**

..* Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters
** A Bush media adviser

---

3:48 PM

George Bush may have been AWOL from National Guard duty in the early 70s. Blogger Orcinus chastises the press for not investigating the story for definitive answers.

He also points out that the real journalism on the story was done by: internet bloggers.

5:14 PM

Some Republicans in Congress wonder if they'd be better off with Democrat John Kerry as President, columnist Robert Novak writes...

The Republicans expect they'd still maintain controlling majorities in both the House and the Senate, whereas "If Bush is re-elected, Democrats are likely to win both the House and Senate in a 2006 midterm rebound."

But otherwise, even if the Republican President is defeated Republicans expect they'd pick up still more seats in the next Congressional elections in 2006.

Novak blames the dissatisfaction on Bush's emphasis on fund-raising and organization, "with deficiencies in communicating and leadership." Novak's conclusion? "The president is in political trouble, and his disaffected supporters who should be backing him aggressively provide the evidence."

5:30 PM

"Click here for our live election night blog," promises the web site for San Francisco's Bay Guardian.

But California primary voters who followed the link discovered a strange message....

test title

blah, blah, blah

[continue reading...]

This was nearly two hours after the Super Tuesday polls closed - though apparently it was just a test of the blog that went live later that night. (Strangely, the test posts are still archived - and appear to have been on the site for three hours.)

I archived my own copy of the wacky web-blog-that-wasn't. But I'm still having a problem with their "Ongoing coverage" link on their main elections page...

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

8:39 PM

Bizarre. During one of John Kerry's last debates with John Edwards, he was asked by New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller...

"Is God on America's side?"

How do you answer that? The bizarre-o question stemmed from President Bush's implication that the almighty backs his foreign policy. Though it also looks designed to lure the Democrats into alienating religious voters...

Glorying in the question's unanswerable abstractness, blogger Matt Welch suggests some alternate questions. Like...

"What if the whole universe was like a single speck on the fingernail of some dude sitting in a Starbucks or something....?"

8:12 PM

Blogger Orcinus runs a thought-provoking endorsement of John Edwards.

Meanwhile, another blogger asks... If George W. Bush is re-elected, will he re-instate the draft?

8:38 PM

George Bush has an "inflated" biography on six government web sites.

While the President flew for barely two years while serving in the National Guard, "the biography of Bush on the US State Department's website credits him with almost six years."

So says the Boston Globe.

Link found on Smirking Chimp.com

2:37 PM

How desperate is George Bush for votes?

• He's apparently appearing in a new night-time TV drama called "Department of Homeland Security." President Bush -- along with Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge -- contribute soundbites to the upcoming network TV series.

• The White House relinquished their web site for an interview with a NASCAR driver.

10:34 AM

Political blogger Kos has endorsed a candidate. And it's not John Kerry...

I want someone who symbolizes the future of our party. Someone who's rhetoric inspires, rather than bores. Someone who has run a positive campaign worthy of praise, rather than someone who has used slash and burn campaign tactics against members of his own party. Someone who people actually like, rather than support for some bizarre notion of "electability".

9:27 PM

Vice President Dick Cheney could be dumped from the ticket when George Bush runs for re-election.

12 years ago, Vice President Quayle looked like he might be dumped from the ticket when George Bush (Sr.) ran for re-election.

Defending Quayle in 1991 in the Washington Post was...

Dick Cheney.

And Bush wasn't re-elected. The end.

Link from the blogger-turned candidate in Vermont's election for a new state representative.

12:37 PM

George Bush promises 2.6 million news jobs this year. Then backs off the optomistic prediction.

The White House Press Corps is furious...

In fact, today's whole press briefing went pretty badly

Q I want to revisit a question I asked you last week and you didn't have the answer -- you may have it now. Did the President ever do community service while he was in the National Guard?

MR. McCLELLAN: Helen, you had said that this was relating to a rumor that you heard, and I think there's a difference between rumor-mongering and journalism. And so I'm just not going to dignify those kind of rumors from this podium. I think the records have been released and you have -- all the information is available to you publicly.

Q So you don't really know?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I said this was relating to some trashy rumors that are circulating out there, and I'm just not going to dignify them from this podium.

Q It's a very simple question. ...

6:18 AM

"There was an embarrassing moment in the White House earlier today. They were looking around while searching for George Bush's military records. They actually found some old Al Gore ballots."

A great collection of jokes about Bush's national-guard controversy. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jon Stewart and Craig Kilborn all weigh in....

12:07 PM

Did President Bush go AWOL? The Associated Press is clearly suspicious....

...trying to end doubts about President Bush's Vietnam-era military record, [the White House] released documents Tuesday that it said proved he had "met his requirements" in the Texas Air National Guard despite long, unexplained gaps in his service...

White House officials were careful to stop short of claiming that the records proved definitively that Bush had shown up for all the Guard duties he was expected to.

8:24 PM

George Bush released some military records. And there's this weird 6-month gap in 1972 between April and October...

At the CalPundit blog, Kevin Drum discusses the gap with a retired National Guard pilot who's been following the controversy. Drum summarizes it like this...

As we all know, Bush failed to show up for his annual physical in July 1972, he was suspended in August, and the suspension was recorded on September 29. He was apparently transferred to ARF [the Air Reserve Force] at that time and began accumulating ARF points in October.

Even this isn't the most rigorous duty, according to Drum's research...

ARF is a "paper unit" based in Denver that requires no drills and no attendance. For active guard members it is disciplinary because ARF members can theoretically be called up for active duty in the regular military, although this obviously never happened to George Bush.

But even with that -- there's still that earlier six-month gap....

7:57 PM

Where memes are born. Here's what President Bush said while trying to defend his military service record.

"What I don't like is when people say serving in the Guard ... may not be a true service."

No one's saying that. Bush is just hoping to confuse people into thinking he's being attacked for performing National Guard service.

He's being attacked for not performing it...for failing to show up!

Reuters notes a new poll showing that 36% of Americans think charges Bush went AWOL are "definitely or probably true."

1:19 PM

If the election were held today, John Kerry would take 50 percent of the vote to Bush's 45 percent, reports Newsweek. Maybe the Bush administration has "jumped the shark"?

By the way, the Bush administration is 76.18 percent over.

12:13 PM

"...George Bush's handlers are suddenly so nervous about his re-election prospects that the interview-shy President is to make a rare, hastily arranged appearance this morning on a leading talk show."

A not-so-smirky President Bush is on the offensive.

• Bush stammers his way through a question about whether he'll testify before the committee investigating bad information used to justify war on Iraq. ("This commission?! Well, I don't -- testify?! I mean, I'd be glad to visit with them....")

• Bush tried to address doubts that in the 70s he performed military service with the National Guard in Alabama. Asked why reporters couldn't find any records for the military service, Bush said, "They're just wrong."

• Bush also says "There may be no evidence, but I did report; otherwise, I wouldn't have been honorably discharged."

This isn't true, but it sounds nice. Salon interviewed a military law attorney who noted that local commanders have great leeway to ignore missed service. "Somebody could have missed a year's worth of Guard drills and still end up with an honorable discharge." UPDATE: John Kerry is now making headlines raising the same point. "Just because you get an honorable discharge does not in fact answer that question."

Reuters sounds even more cynical. "Bush said he would 'absolutely' authorize the release of any documents relating to his Guard service during that period -- 'if we still have them.' He said the records are kept in Colorado and have already been 'scoured.'"

If it turns out the records do exist, will Bush still be willing to authorize their release?

11:29 AM

...the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount and helped make George W. Bush president in 2000, is financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton.

From today's edition of the Village Voice.

My friend Mike points out a Republican Bush supporter is propping up Howard Dean's campaign in Mississippi, too.

7:26 AM

The AP notes Kerry's two chief rivals racked up delegates Tuesday...

Kerry: 128
Edwards: 61
Clark: 49
Dean: 7
Al Sharpton: 1

But Howard Dean is still running second in the total delegate count...

Kerry: 248
Dean: 121
Edwards: 102
Clark: 81

Still, it takes 2161 to win, which puts it in perspective. Kerry is 11.4% of the way there, versus Howard Dean's 5.5%. And copy-cat voters are expected to follow the perceived front-runner. (Whereas many of Dean's delegates came from "super-delegates" who had already pledged their votes before the primaries...)

But Howard Dean's campaign still has $9 million in funds - more than any other candidate. If he can sink it all into winning some upcoming states, they'll be surprise wins. That could help him pick up some momentum.

11:01 PM

The Daily Show's Stephen Colbert talks to Jon Stewart about David Kay's conclusion that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction

"The first unjustified military action is always the hardest."

8:29 PM

10% of Republican voters didn't vote for Bush in the primaries in Oklahoma and Arizona.

They voted for Los Angeles t-shirt retailer Bill Wyatt!

7:56 PM

Last week Senator Joseph Lieberman told CNN his candidacy was gathering steam -- because he had "Joe-mentum."

Turns out it was a big Joe-k.

7:45 PM

In 1961 an amateur rock band played at local dances, and pressed 500 copies of an album to sell to their fans.

43 years later, the bass player is running for President. As John Kerry works his way through a crowd, he sees someone waving a copy of the album. And Kerry was delighted...

Link discovered at Wonkette

8:39 AM

In today's Doonesbury, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld puts it all in perspective.

"Should anyone care that when he had chemical weapons, I didn't oppose them, but now that he doesn't, I do? It depends on how you define '9-11'."

That last line is an on-target critique of something I've noticed the Bush administration doing -- pushing for their agenda with emotional appeals to an unrelated tragedy...

"Starting today and continuing through next year's election, the answer to any question posed to this White House will be 9/11."

3:23 PM

• A British newspaper says U.S. officials have known Iraq had no WMD since May.

• The same month the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense implied that even before the invasion, WMD had never really been their primary justfication for war on Iraq, according to a quote in Vanity Fair. "For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."

Meanwhile, columnist Josh Marshall remembers that the Bush administration consistently pressured the CIA for intelligence supporting war against Iraq. But now that there's bi-partisan calls for an investigation, the Associated Press makes this observation. "By setting up the investigation himself, Bush will have greater control over its membership and mandate."

You can almost see the White House developing a spin that will exonerate them before the investigation even starts.

"It's the CIA's fault. No, no, I fully support an investigation. Of the CIA....."

Marshall makes the same point. "They want to wall off the investigation so it only scrutinizes their political enemies at the CIA and the rest of the Intelligence Community...."

3:10 PM

John Kerry made a cameo in the comic strip Doonesbury.

Thirty-two years ago.....

7:37 PM

"Democrats are more energized and angry than at any time since Lyndon Johnson's presidency...That probably translates into higher turnout and more Democrats at the polls [next fall]."

USA Today reports 22% more voters in New Hampshire's primary this year than in 1992....

8:11 PM

John Edwards is getting a little testy about press feelers on whether he'd settle for being Vice President.

"No, no. Final," he told the Associated Press. "I don't want to be vice president. I'm running for president!"

(Emphasis mine...)

But the inevitable hypothetical is tantalizing Democrats hungry for a dream ticket -- including this clever young college editorialist... "Together, the senators possess the two qualities absolutely necessary for a successful Democratic presidential bid, which is best expressed in an easy-to-remember rhyme: Must be Southern (Edwards), please not McGovern (Kerry)."

7:33 PM

The Democrat's presidential candidates and their cartoon equivalents.

From Waxy.org's side-bar links

7:29 PM

In April of 1971, John Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about soldiers in Vietnam.

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

The question could be put to the Bush administration about their expensive and unsuccessful hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Kerry's experience in Vietnam may become unusually relevant.

9:03 AM

Wonkette's political observation of the day...

"First Madonna, now Drew. What is it with the slutty blondes and Clark?"

That's Drew Barrymore. (And Wesley Clark....)

9:32 PM

Good political commentary on Daily Kos...

You can think of the beltway...as a biosphere with a different atmosphere. The air is hotter, the wit is drier and the altitude is thought of as higher. It's like Vulcan in Star Trek, except everything is done by illogic and no one's telepathy works.

I love this site's fresh writing on politics. And you see it in the readers' comments, too...

"Kerry is a proven stumbler - he did it this spring, and again in the fall..."

9:14 PM

CNN's Robert Novak got physical with a heckler, according to the web-blog "Take Back the Media."

Novak is the reporter who exposed a CIA agent's identity after it was leaked to him by a Bush administration official. The heckler reportedly expressed satisfaction about his incident with Novak because "The guy is dirty - he knows he did something wrong."

5:56 PM

"The cost of bringing Helium from the Moon will be a fraction of the price of electric power generated today at nuclear plants."

A Russian newspaper also theorizes that President Bush's moon plan is to monopolize its rare helium 3 isotopes.

12:16 PM

A juicy campaign diary of campaign volunteers in Iowa.

Made extra poignant by the fact that they were working for Howard Dean's ill-fated campaign....

9:54 PM

Enjoy the refreshingly sassy political commentary of...

Wonkette

Also from the side-bar at Waxy.org

9:16 AM

Remarks by the President to the Press Pool
Nothin' Fancy Cafe
Roswell, New Mexico

THE PRESIDENT: I need some ribs.

Q: Mr. President, how are you?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm hungry and I'm going to order some ribs....

A fascinating glimpse of President Bush in a candid setting -- glad-handing a local restauranteur while deflecting the press.

Link from the side-bar at Waxy.org

9:07 AM

Here's a handy site rounding up news about our favorite global hot spot.

Iraq News online...

6:15 AM

A good parody of a Dean-o-phobic pundit from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

"It's been widely reported! And that makes it fact-esque."

7:56 PM

Hear Howard Dean in Iowa.

The crowd cheers as he shouts the names of upcoming primary states, and Dean's making the point that supporters have contributed millions of dollars, which keeps his campaign viable.

I think it's unfair for the media to describe this as a "rant" or "tirade" -- he's trying to pump up a crowd that's disappointed by his third-place finish in Iowa. "They worked their hearts out for three weeks," Dean told the Associated Press. "I thought I owed them everything I had, and I gave it everything I had."

But Dean's surprising success has brought extra scrutiny -- and any moment of oddness plays into pre-existing fears.

In that light, it's almost re-assuring that internet mix-masters have re-mixed the Howard Dean yelp into their own peppy music montages.

7:44 PM

What does President Bush want from the moon?

Potent helium 3 isotopes? Space-based warhead defenses? Beating the Chinese to it?

Reuters evaluates the possible "militarization" of space.

6:55 PM

Guess where I'm going? I'm going to Mars! Please don't ask me why... I'm confused!

The all-red comic strip "Get Your War On" comments on President Bush's space program.

3:43 PM

New tax rules, new jobs -- and new energy sources.

The man who would be President leaps ahead in the polls from Iowa. He's John Kerry, who travelled from "war veteran to peace activist to politician," according to the Des Moines Register. And his front-runner status here gives a grandeur to his otherwise ordinary statements.

"What you need to do in these next hours, obviously, is find out who could be president, who is ready to be president...."

2:35 PM

I enjoyed the aside by New York Times colulmnist Paul Krugman about President Bush and his fondness for photo-ops.

Money-saving suggestion: let's cut directly to the scene where Mr. Bush dresses up as an astronaut, and skip the rest of his expensive, pointless-- but optimistic! -- Moon-base program.

6:13 PM

Daily Kos is my favorite web-log about politics. Thursday the San Francisco Chronicle ran a good profile of Kos himself!

Apparently Kos has 70,000 readers. "The blogosphere is going to play a huge role in this election," he tells the Chronicle. "A lot of bloggers say we're not that important. I say we're that important...."

5:59 PM

I've lost track of which form of Iraqi government I'm supposed to be rooting for.

The U.S.-backed "Iraqi Governing Council" just removed some of the most lenient rules in the Muslim world for women -- reverting to strict Islamic laws that allow marriages below the age of 18 and favoring men over women for property inheritance and child custody.

"It will allow men to have four or five or six wives," one activist predicted....

10:31 PM

Great commentary about President Bush's new space program.

And don't miss the cartoon above it.

6:52 PM

Summarizing the Bush administration with a funny cartoon. It's one of the winners in MoveOn.org's political ad contest.

At the awards ceremony Monday night, a special guest made the following announcement.

"I'm Al Franken. I'm here to present the funniest ad award.

"I'm a last-minute substitution. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was supposed to be the presenter, but unfortunately he was murdered."

9:38 PM

Lid Blown Off O'Neill/Suskind Hoax

"Laurie Mylroie sent out an email about Paul O'Neill's appearance on 60 Minutes last night; she notes what appears to be a major error in Ron Suskind's book, which casts doubt on the credibility of both Suskind and O'Neill.

Now, here's how my friend Mike read that article."

Laurie Mylroie...

"The first two words of that bullshit obviate the need for further reading. "

And then he forwards me this enlightening link..

Mylroie, for those who haven't come across her before, has long been kind of the "crazy aunt" of Iraq policy.

Obsessed with the idea that Saddam Hussein was behind most of the world's evil, Mylroie has spun an astonishing web in a series of articles and a very odd book to "prove" that Iraq was behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing - as well as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing (you may have thought it was Timothy McVeigh, but hello - pay attention, okay?), the 1997 Luxor attacks in Egypt, the Cole bombing, the anthrax attacks, and the cancelation of Firefly (well, maybe not that last one, but he probably *wanted* Firefly canceled)....

In her brand new book, "Bush vs. the Beltway: How the CIA and the State Department Tried to Stop the War on Terror" (yes, you read that title right), Mylroie goes even farther, entering into tinfoil hat-country.

According to Mylroie, Iraq was responsible for September 11 - not working with al-Qaeda, not coordinating with al-Qaeda, but actually responsible for it, while cleverly setting al-Qaeda and bin Laden up to take the fall.

8:48 PM

It's a sign of the times. The only small-arms manufacturing plant in the U.S. is running three eight-hour shifts, six days a week. Some bullets the U.S. military now buys overseas.

Meanwhile, the AP reports that Pentagon auditors who perform internal reviews spent 1139 hours altering their own reports in order to pass internal reviews.

8:44 PM

Contradicting David Brooks, former Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle suggested last week on the Charlie Rose show that Syria shouldn't feel secure from an invasion.

With the release of "An End To Evil" by Perle and David Frum, Lutz Kleveman, author of The New Great Game, also remembers an interview last year in which Richard Perle declared "I don't see why our success in the war on terror is dependent on the goodwill of the Afghan or the Pakistani population."

The Boston Globe remembers Perle's 1992 spy novel, in which a security advisor dissuades the President from disarmament negotiations with news of a hidden weapons cache.

8:42 PM

General Wesley Clark cites the claim that 9/11 was un-preventable as one of "two big lies" being circulated 00 along with the belief that future terrorist attacks are inevitable.

"Nothing is going to hurt this country...if we stay united and move together and have a vision for moving to the future the right way."

8:41 PM

Political strategist Kevin Phillips argues that the Bush family's unusual relationships with Middle Eastern royalty "helped bring about 9/11 and then distorted the U.S. response to Islamic terrorism."

But he opens his Los Angeles Times Op-Ed "There is no evidence to suggest that the events of Sept. 11 could have been prevented."

8:40 PM

37,000 e-mail messages have been sent to newspaper editors from the Bush-Cheney re-election site, some containing the site's "pre-written blocks".

8:39 PM

By the way, did you know the White House is now seeking the power to control the declaration of health, safety, and environmental emergencies, and to manage scientific and technical evaluations of government rules and proposed regulations.

Friday the White House was urged to withdraw the proposal by a nonpartisan group of 20 former White House officials...

8:39 PM

While he was at Esquire magazine, Ron Suskind interviewed John DiIulio, the former Bush domestic policy adviser who complained about Karl Rove's influence on policy.

Suskind also drew memorable quotes from Bush chief of staff Andrew Card, who called the April 2002 departure of White House adviser Karen Hughes "a turning point..." in Rove's influence.

8:38 PM

In fact, President Bush targeted Saddam Hussein soon after taking office. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's revelation has been confirmed by another National Security Council official. Not only did the war plans precede the attacks on September 11. O'Neill says they never saw any evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

And the escalating costs of large tax cuts were ignored, too. Vice President Cheney told O'Neill that the Reagan administration proved deficits "don't matter," and that "We won the midterms. This is our due."

8:35 PM

"If we re-elect Bush in 2004 we endorse the Bush doctrine and we will have to live with the consequences."

-- George Soros

8:12 PM