April 22, 2004

QUOTABLES:

“Democracy in Iraq is an imperative, not an option,” said President Bush.

"We're faced with a world economy that's beginning to recover, with supplies getting tight, and without an energy plan, without additional supply, it's going to make us hard to stay competitive, as well as prosperous, in the long run," President Bush said.

"Thank you for having me here, members of the Politburo," President Bush deadpanned to newspaper executives at the head table of a gathering of the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press. "I mean, my fellow Americans." – they laughed.

"It's difficult for editors and publishers here to get to the bottom of stories," Hillary Clinton said in Editor & Publisher. "This administration, to an extent I haven't seen before, tells the press to go away -- and they do, like most people do when told that more than once." 

"I cannot say we're not aware that you are going through your seasonal tribal warfare now. So it's very dangerous to open one's mouth here on any issue," said Prince Bandar bin Sultan .

"So let's put the issue as simply as possible: If Clinton-era Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick were not already a commission member, does anybody doubt that she would be called to testify before it?”  -- writes the Wall Street Journal.

JUST POLITICS

Happy Earth Day

President Bush will talk about 30 years of progress since the first Earth Day and John Kerry will talk about how terrible the Bush Administration is.

"In three short years, this president has put the brakes on 30 years of environmental progress," said Kerry, who is spending Earth Day in Houston.

The President will be taking part in a water quality testing project during his visit to a national estuarine research reserve in Wells, Maine. The reserve has 1,600 acres of coastal wetlands.

Kerry campaign’s direction

A Washington Post story covers who is running the Kerry campaign and where is it going. The introspection from the Post suggests that the Clinton centrists are winning the heart and soul of the campaign.

"The best people, the best thinkers, generally adapt with a change in circumstance," Cahill said.

That adaptation means the Bob Shrum populist message of ‘us against them’ for more government involvement is being muted. The Post reports:

Cahill said six people equally dominate campaign strategizing sessions: Shrum, Donilon and their partner, Tad Devine, as well as pollsters Kiley and Mark Mellman and herself. Others privately said the true powerhouses are Cahill, Donilon and Shrum -- and not necessarily in that order. It was Donilon who devised last year's "100 days" campaign, which outlined how Kerry would change the country during his first three months in office and who advocated this new, biographical ad campaign. Donilon is helping produce the ads and recently traveled to New York to determine whether a new Madison Avenue ad firm should be added to the campaign mix.

It will be interesting how well the centrist message sells with one of the most liberal voting records in Congress. However, there are enough John Kerry flipflops that some kind of vote could be found to substantiate the centrist position.

Kerry’s medals questioned

The Washington Times brings out military experts who say that Kerry’s medals don’t jibe. His medals allowed Kerry to leave Vietnam early. Kerry recently made the records available on his website following pressure to make them public:

"I don't want to say it's a lie, but it isn't true," said Charles Kaufman, a retired Air Force captain whose job once was to submit military award requests.

"His Bronze Star medal citation appears to be based on an injury he did not receive," said Mr. Kaufman, who now lives in Germany. "His arm was not bleeding. If the paperwork had said, 'Kerry had a bruised arm,' I wonder if he would have been given this medal for bravery?"

"They don't quite jibe," said James W. Doran, national service director of the advocacy group American Veterans. But he did not fault Mr. Kerry.

"Somebody up the command flowered it up," Mr. Doran said. "They just made it pretty for somebody's signature."

Nader targeting antiwar voters

The Washington Times covers Ralph Nader’s targeting of antiwar voters:

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader is appealing to young voters by emphasizing his antiwar stance as he works diligently to separate himself from President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry.

Mr. Nader, who polled at 13 percent in an Associated Press/Newsweek.com survey last month of voters aged 18 to 25, has released a three-step plan to remove U.S. forces from Iraq and continues to hammer Mr. Kerry for his allegiance to the war effort.

Dean making money

The NY Times reports that Howard Dean’s campaign is still raking in the dough:

The campaign received $626,615 in contributions last month, according to a filing this week with the Federal Election Commission. His campaign had $2 million in the bank and owed $1.2 million at the end of March, and was owed $67,266.