Tag: Election 2004

Third Time’s the Charm.

Although the agreement has not yet been finalized, word is Bush and Kerry will in fact debate thrice. Given that the “Bush campaign denied there was any deal,” it seems this was a leak intended to prevent the Bushies from squirming out of debate #2. If so, nice job.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

“While President Bush campaigns with an upbeat message that a second Bush administration will keep Americans safer, Cheney speaks like Darth Vader, as the ticket’s voice of fear.” On the day after our criminally inept Speaker of the House suggests yet again that a vote for Kerry is a vote for Bin Laden, the Post probes Dick Cheney’s frequent fear-mongering.

Imposing Firepower.

So much for local control. GOP gun-nuts — led by Senator Larry Craig of Idaho — try to force the District of Columbia to rescind its gun ban and “roll back registration requirements.” Republicans, argues DC Mayor Anthony Williams, are ‘using our District as a pawn. It’s an incredible assault on home rule.’”

Zero Intelligence.

“‘Our committee heard blindly optimistic people from the administration prior to the war and people outside the administration — what I call the “dancing in the street crowd,” that we just simply will be greeted with open arms,’ [Republican Richard] Lugar said. ‘The nonsense of all of that is apparent. The lack of planning is apparent.'” A new intelligence report declares that, despite Dubya’s dog-and-pony show, things are looking worse in Iraq. “At worst, the official said, were ‘trend lines that would point to a civil war.’” Bang-up job, Dubya, as usual. “‘It’s beyond pitiful, it’s beyond embarrassing, it’s now in the zone of dangerous,’ said Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska,” referring to the administration’s disbursement of reconstruction money thus far. After getting us into this fiasco, the least the Bushies could have done was try to manage it properly. We must get these fools out of office already.

(Draft)-Dodged Another Bullet.

Well, even Dan Rather is backing away from the Killian memos at this point, which obviously does not bode well for their authenticity. And as for the larger questions about where Dubya spent all those post-drug-test AWOL months in 1972…well, I’m sure the mainstream press will get to those in due time, aren’t you?

That’s My President.

“He showed pathological lying habits and was in denial when challenged on his prejudices and biases. He would even deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago. He was famous for that.” Harvard Business School professor Yoshi Tsurumi remembers young Dubya, and, yes, even back then he was a profile in character and courage. “[H]e was such a bad student that I asked him once how he got in. He said, ‘My dad has good friends.'”

Isengard Unleashed.

“I expect the Bush administration will go down in history as the greatest disaster for public health and the environment in the history of the United States.” Senator James Jeffords (I-VT) — and the NY Times — review Dubya’s dismal environmental record. This piece bends over backwards to be charitable to the Dubya EPA, yet even here it’s hard not to notice that George W. Bush’s America increasingly has a sickly, charred smell to it.

The Republican Pastime (Redux).

He may not be able to stay awake during the Superbowl, but Dubya loves him some baseball…and, as it turns out, baseball owners love them some Dubya. “More than a dozen current and former owners and family members are among the president’s top re-election fundraisers…Seven are Bush ‘Rangers,’ each raising at least $200,000, and six are ‘Pioneers’ who have brought in $100,000 or more.
” In contrast, Kerry received a paltry $2000 each from Red Sox chairman Tom Werner and Padres owner John Moores. Hmmm…between this and the Tim Robbins Hall of Fame fiasco last year, I must say I’m feeling pretty proud to be an NBA fan right now. While baseball lines Dubya’s coffers, basketball puts up a Dem for president (albeit one who appears to have fallen off the radar at this critical political juncture.)

A Dubya-sized bender.

“A staple of Bush’s stump speech is his claim that his Democratic challenger, John F. Kerry, has proposed $2 trillion in long-term spending, a figure the Massachusetts senator’s campaign calls exaggerated. But the cost of the new tax breaks and spending outlined by Bush at the GOP convention far eclipses that of the Kerry plan.” As Dubya prattles on about the purported profligacy of the “Senator from Massachusetts,” the Post figures out the cost of four more years of Dubyanomics to be in excess of $3 trillion. I don’t know about you, but I for one don’t have that kind of money.