We are offering two different designs on t-shirts, posters and mugs to help get the word out about John Kerry.

It’s the "Hypocrisy, Stupid"

The central tenet of President Bush's communications operation is on a sign on the office door of Nicolle Devenish, Mr. Bush's campaign communications director, which says: "It's the Hypocrisy, Stupid."

Meanwhile, in other news, the NY Times profiles the Bush war room in a corporate office building in suburban Virginia, across the Potomac River from the White House. It reports how the operation has taken to new heights the war room of James Carville’s efforts on behalf of Bill Clinton against George W’s dad.

The LA Times has a story on the war rooms as well.

Hillary not speaking

The speakers lineup for the Democrat National Convention in Boston has been released and Hillary Clinton is not on the list. However, her husband, Bill, is the opening night speaker.

The NY Times reports that the Kerry campaign stated:

"She never asked," said Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for the Kerry campaign. "Obviously, Hillary Clinton is a leader in the party and is working hard to elect John Kerry." But Ms. Cutter said she did not know whether each speaker, including Ms. Clinton's husband, had formally requested time.

What’s this? It seems that she still could get a spot at the microphone:

As for Mrs. Clinton, Lina Garcia, a spokeswoman for the convention, said there was still a chance that Mrs. Clinton could land a role as a speaker. "There's a possibility she could," she said. "There's a possibility she couldn't."

Twins roll-out

The Bush twins are much discussed in the nations newspapers. The cause is the newest Vogue magazine spread. The Washington Post offers a glimpse:

The second photograph has the twins dressed in more casual attire. Barbara wears an Alberta Ferretti camisole and Max Mara skirt. Jenna is in a Moschino top, Tommy Hilfiger jacket and trousers from Joe's Jeans. (The twins wear Italian and American labels but no French.) They are walking toward the camera, perfect teeth lighting up their pretty faces. Here they play the roles of chic girls about town. The setting is Schiller's Liquor Bar, one of those downtown New York restaurants where town cars idle out front and the menu is voyeuristically working class, with a wine list that is cheap, decent and good.

Convention lead-in

Newspapers are covering the aspect that the Democrat National Convention needs to make the Kerry image something other than discussing just why he voted both ways on so many issues. The Washington Post reports:

This battle over biography -- who is Kerry and what does he stand for? -- is at the heart of the convention, strategists in both parties said yesterday. A successful event, they said, would refashion Kerry from someone still defined more heavily by who he is not -- Bush -- than by his career as a veteran, former prosecutor and a senator with a two-decade record that he says bolsters his claim that he would be an effective advocate for ordinary Americans.

If there is to be a Democrat convention bounce, it will because they accomplished this mission.

Who’s in charge?

The Washington Post covers the ever-expanding Kerry campaign.

The campaign now includes 37 separate domestic policy councils and 27 foreign policy groups, each with scores of members. The justice policy task force alone includes 195 members. The environmental group is roughly the same size, as is the agriculture and rural development council. Kerry counts more than 200 economists as his advisers.

The story covers many instances where there is inevitable conflict between groups:

According to Bianchi, Kerry had to contend with three different power centers -- Boston, New York and Washington -- in formulating his signature, $653 billion health care plan. The Boston group was pushing federally mandated health care coverage from employers. David Cutler, a health care economist at New York University, led a push to mandate individuals to buy insurance. Harvard University health policy expert Robert Blendon insisted that any policy offering would be a political trap and that Kerry should serve up only broad principles.

In Washington, Sperling and a group of economists objected to any mandates and tried to push back on costs, again worried that nothing would be left of Kerry's tax increases on the wealthy to reduce the deficit.

Nader demands apology

Presidential candidate Ralph Nader, in a letter yesterday to the Congressional Black Caucus, demanded an apology from Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland Democrat and caucus chairman, for luring him to a meeting under the premise that issues would be discussed.

The apology that Nader wants the most is from Congressman Melvin Watt of North Carolina. It seems that Watt yelled loud enough that reporters outside the room could hear his berating of Nader.

Nader offers the following in his letter:

"Attached are the exact words of Congressman Watt's loud remarks, as heard by all in the meeting room without anyone admonishing him. In fact, some members rather enjoyed what he said, judging by their outward demeanor.
"The remarks: You're just another arrogant white man — telling us what we can do — it's all about your ego — another [expletive] arrogant white man."  

Fox News trashed

MoveOn.org is taking aim at Fox news by promoting a new movie that shows the network pushing a Republican message. Here is the latest e-mail opportunity from MoveOn.org:

Dear MoveOn member,

Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, Fox News Channel turns Republican talking points into news headlines. Now Uncovered director Robert Greenwald -- working with a group of Fox-monitoring MoveOn members -- has put together a documentary film called Outfoxed that exposes Fox for what it is: partisan spin, not news.

This Sunday evening, July 18th, you're invited to be among the first to see Outfoxed at one of over 2,500 house parties across the nation, hosted by MoveOn and Common Cause members. Then join together in a coast-to-coast conference call with comedian and radio host Al Franken and the movie's director, Robert Greenwald. We'll kick off an exciting campaign to take on Fox for its partisan reporting and deceptive slogan "Fair and Balanced."

At this web page, you can also order your own copy of Outfoxed -- for only $9.95 plus shipping. We recommend you buy the film, watch it, and pass it on to friends. It's really an impressive and important piece of work.

Outfoxed was co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress and MoveOn. The film features former Fox News producers, reporters, bookers, and writers talking for the first time about how they were pressured to push each day's partisan message. Through leaked memos and never-before-seen Fox clips, Outfoxed makes a powerful and disturbing case not only about Fox, but about the state of American journalism.

Fox News makes no real distinction between its opinion shows and its news coverage -- partisan politics infuse all of Fox's programming. The media watch group FAIR just released a study of Fox's flagship evening news program, finding Republican guests outnumber Democrats by 5 to 1. Having an opinion is one thing. Insisting your partisan politicking is "fair and balanced" journalism is quite another. Whether you agree with Fox's politics is beside the point -- citizens in a democracy depend on unbiased news reporting.

Defending fair journalism is a huge job, and we're glad to be planning this effort with trusted friends at the Center for American Progress, Free Press, Media Matters for America, FAIR, AlterNet, Common Cause, and others.

It's time to take Fox to task for its partisanship. Join us at a house party near you:

Billboard bomb

A group known as Project Billboard wants to put a message on a billboard at 1535 Broadway in New York City. The billboard hangs on the Marriott Marquis. The ad would show a bomb painted red, white and blue with the slug line: "Democracy Is Best Taught by Example, Not by War."

The matter is now in district court because Clear Channel has rejected the ad design. Deborah Rappaport, a Project Billboard representative, said the group would insist on the bomb image and was withdrawing an earlier compromise offer to use an image of a red, white and blue dove instead. Project Billboard is suing because of breach of contract. The free speech clause has never applied to billboards and print media. However, because radio and TV use public airwaves the courts have applied free speech clauses to those meidas.

New York City is the site of the Republican National Convention.

Poll watching 7/14

Charlie Cook writes at www.NationalJournal.com. :

"From now until Labor Day, these polls will reflect the vice presidential selection bounce, then the Democratic convention bounce, and finally a Republican convention bounce — assuming there is no GOP vice presidential selection bounce. At that point, things should begin to settle down, and by about mid-September, the numbers should begin to have some meaning again," Mr. Cook said.

A North Carolina survey showed President Bush with a 15-point advantage over Mr. Kerry, 54 percent to 39 percent.

Bush better on terrorism

The Washington Post reports, that 55 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling the campaign against terrorism, up five points in the past three weeks. Slightly more than half -- 51 percent -- also said they trust Bush more than Kerry to deal with terrorism, while 42 percent prefer the Democrat. Three weeks ago, the two were tied on this crucial voting issue.