April 18, 2004

QUOTABLES:

"I fear the administration is far more worried about conceding mistakes than it is concerned about sticking to a failed policy," said Sen. Joseph Biden.

I don't know whether 'stay the course' is the way we should go when we don't know how we got involved in this course, or where it's going to take us," said Rep. Charles Rangel.

"Ask him a question and he's going to go to terror," John Kerry said. "And everything he did in Iraq, he's going to try to persuade people it has to do with terror, even though everybody here knows that it has nothing whatsoever to do with al Qaeda and everything to do with an agenda that they had preset, determined. That's where they're going to go."

"This isn't going to be any mealy-mouthed . . . you know, namby-pamby campaign," John Kerry said.

JUST POLITICS

The ketchup queen

Teresa Heinz Kerry is in for the spotlight. The Boston Globe has a story about how she is the secret weapon of the Kerry for President campaign. However, there is a movement to make Heinz Kerry show her tax returns -- as she would be required to do if she is First Lady.

Mary Beth Cahill, Kerry's campaign manager, calls the Massachusetts Democrat's wife the "unsung heroine" of the operation, noting in particular her groundwork in the New Hampshire primary while her husband made a go-for-broke gamble on victory in the Iowa caucuses. "She explains John Kerry really well to voters," Cahill said.

The NY Post writes:

There was new GOP pressure on Democrat John Kerry to release the tax returns of his mega-rich $525 million wife Teresa yesterday after it was learned that Kerry once said a politician who refuses to release tax returns can't be trusted.

When his wealthy GOP Senate challenger balked at releasing tax returns in 1990, Kerry demanded that he "come clean" and made it a central campaign issue, repeatedly asking: "What is he hiding?"

President Bush in his speech in Iowa commented that he paid his taxes early so that he could release his and Laura’s tax returns to the public. 

Ad wars

Bush-Cheney ’04 is cutting back on its TV ads. They will be running just one ad. Bush campaign had spent $6-9 million a week. Now, they will be spending $1 million a week. The Kerry campaign has been running at $2 million a week. However, other independent groups have made up the difference for Kerry.

The Bush campaign ad covers Kerry’s flipflops on the war in Iraq. It references Kerry’s vote to abandon our troops by voting against the $87 billion to support the effort in Iraq. It closes with Kerry saying how he voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it.

Kerry is bringing out a new ad that is supposed to counter the negative image that the Bush ads created for him. The ads are intended to take the edge off of the "Massachusetts liberal" image. 

The following is a summary of Kerry’s surrogate groups:

·        Media Fund raised $12 million during the period and spent nearly $11 million.

·        MoveOn.org Voter raised $7 million while spending $9.4 million - $7.8 million of that on TV ads.

·        America Coming Together, which focuses on voter registration, raised and spent $6.5 million.

The Bush campaign has stated they are saving their money for later.

Speaking of ad Wars

The Democrat National Committee has the following on its website (it is a streaming video if you want to go watch):

 Mistakes Were Made

Text: "Mistakes Were Made," Presidential Press Conference, April 13, 2004

President Bush: John.

Reporter Thank you, Mr. President ... What would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?

Bush: Hmm. I wish you would have given me this written question ahead of time, so I could plan for it. ... You know, I just, uh, I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hadn't yet. .. I, uh, hope I -- I don't want to sound like I've made no mistakes. I'm confident I have. I just haven't -- you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.

Text: Suggestions for the next time Bush is asked about his mistakes...

Text: "Mission accomplished."

Text: "We found the weapons of mass destruction."

Text: "Bring 'em on."

Text: Credibility is on the ballot this November.

Michael Moore’s Email

The radical, some would say demented, Michael Moore continues to fire up the anti-Bush crowd. Here’s a recent email he sent out:

Friends,

I have never seen a head so far up a Presidential ass (pardon my Falluja) than the one I saw last night at the "news conference" given by George W. Bush. He's still talking about finding "weapons of mass destruction" -- this time on Saddam's "turkey farm." Turkey indeed. Clearly the White House believes there are enough idiots in the 17 swing states who will buy this. I think they are in for a rude awakening.

I've been holed up for weeks in the editing room finishing my film ("Fahrenheit 911"). That's why you haven't heard from me lately. But after last night's Lyndon Johnson impersonation from the East Room -- essentially promising to send even more troops into the Iraq sinkhole -- I had to write you all a note.

First, can we stop the Orwellian language and start using the proper names for things? Those are not "contractors" in Iraq. They are not there to fix a roof or to pour concrete in a driveway. They are MERCENARIES and SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE. They are there for the money, and the money is very good if you live long enough to spend it.

Halliburton is not a "company" doing business in Iraq. It is a WAR PROFITEER, bilking millions from the pockets of average Americans. In past wars they would have been arrested -- or worse.

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush? You closed down a friggin' weekly newspaper, you great giver of freedom and democracy! Then all hell broke loose. The paper only had 10,000 readers! Why are you smirking?

One year after we wiped the face of the Saddam statue with our American flag before yanking him down, it is now too dangerous for a single media person to go to that square in Baghdad and file a report on the wonderful one-year anniversary celebration. Of course, there is no celebration, and those brave blow-dried "embeds" can't even leave the safety of the fort in downtown Baghdad. They never actually SEE what is taking place across Iraq (most of the pictures we see on TV are shot by Arab media and some Europeans). When you watch a report "from Iraq" what you are getting is the press release handed out by the U.S. occupation force and repeated to you as "news."

I currently have two cameramen/reporters doing work for me in Iraq for my movie (unbeknownst to the Army). They are talking to soldiers and gathering the true sentiment about what is really going on. They Fed Ex the footage back to me each week. That's right, Fed Ex. Who said we haven't brought freedom to Iraq! The funniest story my guys tell me is how when they fly into Baghdad, they don't have to show a passport or go through immigration. Why not? Because they have not traveled from a foreign country -- they're coming from America TO America, a place that is ours, a new American territory called Iraq.

There is a lot of talk amongst Bush's opponents that we should turn this war over to the United Nations. Why should the other countries of this world, countries who tried to talk us out of this folly, now have to clean up our mess? I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle. I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end.

Until then, enjoy the "pacification" of Falluja, the "containment" of Sadr City, and the next Tet Offensive – oops, I mean, "terrorist attack by a small group of Baathist loyalists" (Hahaha! I love writing those words, Baathist loyalists, it makes me sound so Peter Jennings!) -- followed by a "news conference" where we will be told that we must "stay the course" because we are "winning the hearts and minds of the people."

I'll write again soon. Don't despair. Remember, the American people are not that stupid. Sure, we can be frightened into a war, but we always come around sooner or later -- and the one way this is NOT like Vietnam is that it hasn't taken the public four long years to figure out they were lied to.

Now if Bush would just quit speaking in public and giving me more free material for my movie, I can get back to work and get it done. I've got four weeks left 'til completion.

Shrum covered

The Atlantic Journal takes a wack at flushing out Bob Shrum:

…Shrum has crafted the populist philosophy that for two decades has been the hallmark of Democratic politics: the belief that "powerful forces" stand in the way of progress for average Americans, and that Democrats are the only agents of change who will fight to restore balance and fairness. It has become one of the most potent and oft-used strains of Democratic rhetoric, famously echoed in Al Gore's 2000 campaign pledge to fight in behalf of "the people, not the powerful" against the "special interests."

 

homepage