Who remembers Iowa

Who remembers Sunday, January 17th?  

We saw the numbers, saw Kerry and Edwards rallying - but I didn't believe it.  The indicators - endorsements, money - were Dean, and we thought that'd deliver the race.

Flashback to today, the press sees Kerry's poll numbers creeping up - yet they're stuck on the other indicators, incumbency,war-time president, etc.

Remember how you felt on January 20th?  A little stunned.  Most of you, like me, thought we had gotten too safe of a choice.  We questioned the wiseness of the caucuses.  And yes, I was a bit disappointed.

Now who remembers February?  All of a sudden we looked our candidate in the eyes - and I saw everything in Kerry that voters who got to know him (Iowans, New Hampshirites(?)) voted for.  

And now, I feel like a lot of the country will be looking at the papers Wednesday morning (yes Wednesday) with the same sense of hope, fear, questioning and curiosity about our next president.  

And I know, that before January - this country will recognize how lucky they are to have a committed, intelligent, introspective leader who has dedicated himself to this country like John Kerry.

Brrrrrr....Scary!

Costume ideas!

380 Tons of Weapons

I could care less what the 380 tons are - they're gone and a lot of them have already been used to attack our troops. What this incident should illustrate for the public is the lack of reponsibility and culpability that the Bush administration has repeatedly shown. Let's review the facts:

380 tons of high grade explosives were known to be stored at Al QaaQa as recently as January 2003.

In a report that surfaced this week, those weapons are missing and believed to have been missing for 18 months.

How does Bush respond? Essentially three answers:

1. They were gone before we arrived (this has been contradicted by press reports)

2. This is a smear by the liberal media (while the timing is suspect, this doesn't address the issue)

3. John Kerry only has complaints, no answers (I'd say voting for John Kerry is a pretty good solution)

This is why John Kerry will be our next president. The President claims that he never made a mistake - yet day after day we see his mistakes on the cover of our newspapers. Confidence is nice, but blissful ignorance can only last so long - and the fuse that Bush lit in Iraq is something my grandkids will likely be living down.

The American people have had enough. This administration is like a satire - nothing is true - the bigger the lie the better. I find it ironic that Bush decries relativism, yet many of his claims require rejecting objective reality and taking his view - no questions asked. So long to the Enron president!


(And yes, that was my official prediction - Kerry with 290+ EV)

Don't we deserve an Eagle?

What a Great video (RealPlayer) from the DNC. Look how effective this is without mentioning either candidate or any positions.

Out For Blood

My inspirations have struck again with ChickenFight.com, where you can see Tender and Spicy face off in a winner take all combat.

Version 2 will feature the Angry Chicken as a combatant.

Jon Stewart Speaks the Truth

Gotta check this clip of Jon Stewart on Crossfire this afternoon(WIndows Media File). Watch the whole 5 minutes - and tell me that we don't need a new word to express super-irony.

I'd say that he's hurting his sales...

But I don't think he sells any albums.

This article in today's Daily News, quotes KRS One as saying:

"I say that proudly," the Boogie Down Productions founder went on, insisting that, before the attack, security guards kept black people out of the Trade Center "because of the way we talk and dress.

"So when the planes hit the building, we were like, 'Mmmm - justice.'"

The atrocity of 9/11 "doesn't affect us [the hip-hop community]," he said. "9/11 happened to them, not us," he added, explaining that by "them" he meant "the rich ... those who are oppressing us. RCA or BMG, Universal, the radio stations."

Where my money goes

Just made a couple of donations this week, and they should be my last donations before the elections.

I gave some money today to Operation Truth, a veterans organization that is looking to air advertisements to make sure they're not forgotten. Watch the ad here.

Earlier this week I gave money to Jan Schneider who is running against Katherine Harris in Florida for a Congressional seat. This race is important because (aside from knocking off the corrupt Ms. Harris who contributed to our losing the 2000 election) we'll be effectively ending her political career, before she becomes a front-runner as the Republican challenger for Bill Nelson's Senate seat. The Congressional race is close, as will be the 2006 senate race. We can laso help to recliam the house from the corrupt exterminator DeLay.

I strongly suggest that you make your voice heard with whatever you can afford to give this cycle, as time is running out. A great site that handles donations for all Dem candidates is ActBlue, if you have someone else in mind.

It's unfortunate that politics often comes down to who has more money, but at least average citizens can now take advantage of that power through the internet.

Setting the Tone

I think most people feel that last night's debate was a draw - which is fine. The most important thing that happened last night was that Kerry seemed to take the mantle of 'incumbent'.

Senator Kerry was Senatorial - even Presidential - last night. He exuded confidence and maturity. Confidence in the rightness of positions, which he has begun to define with more clarity (check out the article in tomorrow's NY Times Mag for a great piece on his approach to the War on Terrorism). Maturity in knowing that he is the bigger man and showing the respect he had to show to OUR president (whether we like it or not).

I think that, in part, Bush's temper and anger last night were intended to rattle Kerry. To elicit name-calling. To get Kerry to disrespect the office of the President. Kerry didn't. Now we need to take his lead.

Don't tell me about all the reasons why Bush is venal, stupid, immature, etc. It's irrelevant for 3 more weeks. For 3 more weeks he's our President, and any vituperation we send his way will be turned on us. We need to start showing respect - and stop calling names. If anything, I'd feel pity for the President, which reinforces the fact that he is going to lose. The tone is pity - not scorn. Empathize with a guy who's been out of his league for 4 years. We're doing him a favor by helping to retire him.

Don't be petty - we're entering the home stretch. Let's be as graceful as the 44th President was last night.

I shudder to think of a second term

When they wouldn't have to care what the electorate thinks.

Check out this Quicktime clip. Via Kos

Predictable

Within two hours of my previous post we get this, via JMM:

"AP: "The Education Department has advised school leaders nationwide to watch for people spying on their buildings or buses to help detect any possibility of terrorism like the deadly school siege in Russia. The warning follows an analysis by the FBI and the Homeland Security Department of the siege that killed nearly 340 people, many of them students, in the city of Beslan last month.

'The horror of this attack may have created significant anxiety in our own country among parents, students, faculty staff and other community members,' Deputy Education Secretary Eugene Hickok said in a letter to schools and education groups ...

The Education Department sent its letter by e-mail Wednesday to school police, state school officers, school boards, groups representing principals and many other organizations." (emphasis added)"

Typical!

Countdown to Terror Warnings

The Bushies are running out of magic bullets. They used one yesterday when announcing a major policy address which was actually just an hour-long infomercial on the President that the idiots at CNN and MSNBC aired for free. Fox aired it willingly.

Things are really in free-fall for Bush - he seemed petty and defensive during the debate (and the spin has definitely beeen all Kerry's. Iraq is in bad shape and he can't admit it. The rising oil prices are continuing to have a stifling effect on the economy. It's almost as if he's finally being exposed as not deep enough for the job.

Time to trot out Tom Ridge...

The Bowl-Off is coming

Hey all-

Those of you I know have heard about the Great American Meetup Bowl-Off by now. But most of you haven't signed up!

The Bowl-Off will feature Bush Supporters and Kerry Supporters facing off for fun in bowling centers all across the country. The Bowl-Off is scheduled for Thursday night at 9 PM.

Hope to see you there!

Propaganda 101

This video shows how the Republican party has scared the bejeezus out of made it's opinions on Terrorism known to the American public.

via Joi Ito.