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BUSH BEAT

Bush calls in to Rush Limbaugh Show

President Bush called in to the Rush Limbaugh Show and spoke ‘live’ with Rush. At the forefront was clarifying his War on Terror position:

"…Listen, I should have made my point more clear about what I meant. What I meant was that this is not a conventional war. It is a different kind of war. We're fighting people who have got a dark ideology who use terrorists, terrorism, as a tool. They're trying to shake our conscience. They're trying to shake our will, and so in the short run the strategy has got to be to find them where they lurk. I tell people all the time, "We will stay on the on the offense. We will bring them to justice in foreign lands so we don't have to face them here at home," and that's because you cannot negotiate with these people. And in a conventional war there would be a peace treaty or there would be a moment where somebody would sit on the side and say we quit. That's not the kind of war we're in, and that's what I was saying. The kind of war we're in requires, you know, steadfast resolve, and I will continue to be resolved to bring them to justice, but as well as to spread liberty. And this is one of the interesting points of the debate, Rush, is that, you know, I believe societies can be transformed because of liberty, and I believe that Iraq and Afghanistan will be free nations, and I believe that those free nations right there in the heart of the Middle East will begin to transform that region into a more hopeful place, which in itself will be a detriment to the ability to these terrorists to recruit -- and that's what I was saying. I probably needed to be a little more articulate,” President Bush said.

 The following link gives a full transcript of President Bush’s conversation: LINK

 Just POlitics

Swiftees send public letter to Kerry

Swiftboat Veterans for Truth sent a letter to John Kerry yesterday promising to call off its media campaign if the senator apologizes for his conduct after returning from Vietnam and resolves questions about his war record. The following is the text of the letter sent to Kerry:

Dear Senator Kerry:

As you prepare for your address before the American Legion in Nashville, Tennessee, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth encourages you to use this opportunity to clarify your actions in Vietnam and your statements about your fellow Veterans and shipmates when you returned home. Since you have made your four-month tour in Vietnam the centerpiece of your campaign, we respectfully insist that you be truthful. The public is owed a full and honest accounting of your actions. Veterans are owed an apology from you and an acknowledgement that there was no basis in fact for the accusations you made against them.

We urge you to:

1. Apologize for your conduct once you returned from Vietnam. Your exaggerated testimony before the US Senate; the blanket indictment of your fellow veterans; throwing away medals and ribbons; all of these actions dishonored America and the armed forces. Your rhetoric and actions were not only wrong, they aided the enemy and brought great pain to POW's, veterans and their families.

2. Clarify the conflicting accounts involving the Bay Hap River incident of March 13, 1969 (Bronze Star and 3rd Purple Heart). You have now described three different versions of this incident. In the first version of this incident presented during the Democrat National Convention, you stated: "No man left behind," suggesting to the American people that you alone stayed on the river to rescue Mr. Rassmann. Later, when forced to acknowledge conflicting eyewitness testimony from fellow swift boat veterans, you said that your boat left the scene to return moments later to retrieve Jim Rassmann from the water. Yet, in another version of the same incident discovered in the Congressional Record, you reported that your boat struck a mine and Rassmann fell off the boat. Mr. Kerry, please explain to your fellow veterans and the American people which version is the truth.

3. Affirm that the injuries for which you received your purple hearts never required any medical treatment beyond perhaps a bandage and that, in all instances, these injuries were self-inflicted and came from your own weapon. Further, that if any of these purple hearts were falsely awarded, that you would not have been eligible to leave Vietnam after serving only four months.

4. Acknowledge what your own biographer is now saying, that the Christmas in Cambodia claim is "obviously wrong,” that you were never in Cambodia over Christmas or any other time during your brief, four-month tour in Vietnam and that your statements before the United States Senate in 1986 were false.

If you undertake these steps we will be satisfied that the American public has been sufficiently apprised as to these aspects of your career, and we will discontinue the media advertisements you have sought so fervently to silence.

Please know that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are eager to close our own personal chapters on Vietnam and instead focus on the war we're currently fighting—the ongoing war on terrorism. In the absence of full public disclosure and a public apology, we will continue efforts to carry our message to an ever-expanding base of grassroots supporters.

Senator Kerry, we want to get Vietnam behind us. But, we can only do so if the truth is told.

We respectfully await your reply.

Sincerely,

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth

Tuesday Night’s GOP Speeches

The text of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech: LINK

The text of Laura Bush’s speech: LINK

MoveOn.org: polls don’t count

MoveOn.org has sent out an e-mail to inoculate their supporters to not lose faith in the cause that they can defeat President Bush. They realize that the Bush campaign is in high gear and that Sen. John Kerry’s flaws are coming to the fore. Here is the e-mail:

Dear MoveOn member,

After four days of the Republican convention, national polls will likely find President Bush in the lead in the race for the White House. The Bush campaign is banking on using this so-called bounce to claim an early victory.

Of course, this bounce business is a mind game. Polls measure how the nation feels at a given time, but they’re terrible at measuring who’s going to actually get out and vote in battleground states. And when you look at those numbers, this is our race to win. (See below for a longer explanation.)

So while Karl Rove tries to psych us out with poll numbers next week, we’re going to maintain a laser focus on one critically important task: getting our people to the polls through our ambitious Leave No Voter Behind field program. And our success in that depends on you.

Since you live in one of the states where the election will be won or lost, you have the ability to make a big difference. Just by talking to a few voters in your neighborhood or one nearby and explaining Bush and Kerry's positions on the issues, you can play a key role in winning this election. To sign up to be a Leave No Voter Behind leader, just click here:

http://www.moveonpac.org/lnvb/

Here's why the hype that Bush is winning doesn't stand up to scrutiny:

·                    Nation-wide polls don't matter. This election will be decided in the 20 or so states that aren't firmly in Bush's camp. So while most national polls--which include voters in Texas and California--show a dead heat between Bush and Kerry, polls of the so-called "battleground states" tell a different story. A bipartisan poll from NPR¹ has Kerry leading 52-43% in these states, and Fox News reports a 47-37% Kerry lead there.

·                    Historically speaking, Bush is in a very weak position. Most experts agree that when a president is seeking re-election, most voters first decide whether he deserves re-election, and then look at the challenger. And most voters aren't liking what they see: Bush's approval rating is very low for an incumbent. Even more importantly, in some recent polls a large portion of voters say the country is on the wrong track, a benchmark that is extremely tough to recover from. Bush is not where he needs to be, and even a significant bounce won’t put him there.

·                    In the swing states, the name of the game is turnout. There are literally millions of people who prefer Kerry to Bush but who are unlikely to vote at all. In fact, there are far more of these folks than there are "swing voters" who haven’t made up their minds yet. Experts on both sides agree that the winner on November 2 will be the candidate who gets his base out in the places where it matters. And it's pretty straightforward to get their attention: we'll call them on the phone, knock on their doors, and invite them to neighborhood house parties. We'll listen to their concerns and talk to them about both candidates' positions on the issues. And we'll remind them repeatedly to show up on Election Day.

We've now got 60 paid organizers on this campaign, by next week we'll have more than 100, and two weeks from tomorrow we'll have 400 more. But our ultimate success depends on you: talking to millions of voters takes tens of thousands of volunteers, and we're counting on you to be among them.

Are you ready? Click here:

http://www.moveonpac.org/lnvb/

We must not fool ourselves into thinking this race is all wrapped up. But we also can't believe the hype when the Bush team tries to claim the same. The bottom line: This race is in your hands. We hope you can help. Thank you.

Sincerely,
--Adam, Eli, Hannah, James, Laura, and the whole MoveOn PAC Team
August 31, 2004

P.S. We've found a lot of the people we need to staff this campaign, but we're still hiring experienced and committed political or social change organizers. Think you fit the bill and want to work for MoveOn PAC in a swing state through the election?

Poll watch, 9/1

The LA Times reports that Bush has pulled dead even in Iowa with Kerry, and has made substantial gains in other battleground states.

Iowa Bush pulls dead even with Kerry
Strategic Vision (R). Aug. 26-28, 2004. N=801 likely voters statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 47%
Kerry 47%
Nader 2%
Unsure 4%

Michigan shows Bush improving.
Strategic Vision (R). Aug. 26-28, 2004. N=801 likely voters statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 42%
Kerry 45%
Nader 3%
Unsure 10%

Minnesota -- it is possible for Bush to win
Strategic Vision (R). Aug. 26-28, 2004. N=801 likely voters statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 46%
Kerry 47%
Nader 1%
Unsure 6%

Pennsylvania -- Kerry has lost two percent in a week
Strategic Vision (R). Aug. 26-28, 2004. N=801 likely voters statewide. MoE ± 3:
Bush 47%
Kerry 45%
Nader 1%
Unsure 7%

Texas -- will be Republican.
Scripps Howard Texas Poll. Aug. 9-26, 2004:
Bush 57%
Kerry 33%
Neither/Other 1%
Unsure 9%

Not too bright in Democrat Land?

James Taranto of Best of the Web found this entry on the Democratic Underground website:

“I had a horrible experience canvassing today. We went out canvassing Democrats today to ask them to support Kerry and our local candidates. We were in apartment complexes and lower middle class housing. The young Democrats living there told us they were voting for Bush! We even met a young marine who said he was just back from Iraq and supports the war, which is why he is voting for Bush. These people have nothing and they are the ones Bush is hurting the most, and yet they support him. And they are registered Dems and young. Why is this happening. I thought our base was solid. This is very frightening. We walked for five hours and only met two people who supported Kerry on our Democratic list! What does this mean?”