There are only 36 days to go until the national
referendum on the CHARACTER, CREDIBILITY and
COMPETENCE of the _resident, the VICE _resident AND
their full partners, the shameless pollsters, craven
propapunditgandists, complicit news room editors,
mercenary producers, besotted anchormen and corporate
overlords of the US regimestream news media...Yes,
it's the Media, Stupid...The corporatist media
monopolies who beat the drums of war during the ramp-up to the invasion of Iraq, instead of asking why, how and for what, are now working as hard as they can to skew public opinion toward their protectors in the
White House, by under-reporting dismal economic news and the daily death tolls of US soldiers in Iraq, while deliberately distorting the public statements and policy positions of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta)...Over one thousand US soldiers have died in a foolish, ill-planned and unnecessary war in Iraq, the Bush national insecurity team is GUILTY of pre-9/11
negligence and post-9/11 incompetence.
The US federal budget surplus has been squandered on
TWO foolish, ill-timed and unnecessary tax cuts skewed
toward the wealthiest few. The Bush doodoo economics
team, as LNS Foreign Correspondent Dunston Woods has
dubbed them, has plunged us into hundreds of billions
of dollars in federal deficit and a multi-trillion
dollar national debt.
With unprecedented ferocity and frequency, FOUR
hurricanes have devasted Fraudida. Scientists studying
Global Warming predicted such severe weather three
years ago. But we have lost four years we did not have
to lose in the struggle to come to grips with its
impact, because the _resident has denied its reality
as vehemently as he has denied the true costs of his
foolish military adventure and his obscene tax cuts...
Forget about asking your fellow citizens if they are
safer or better off than they were four years ago (of
course, the answer is no), instead, ask them can we
afford four more years --strategically, militarily,
economically, environmentally, constitutionally?
The US regimestream news media, at least until this
point, has, in large part, been a full partner along
with the Bush Cabal and its wholly-owned-subsidiary
formerluy-known-as-the-Republican-Party
in a Triad of shared special interest (e.g. oil,
weapons, media, pharmaceuticals, tobacco, etc.) Here
are five very important news items. They should
dominate the air waves and demand headlines above the
fold. But they won't. Please read them and share them
with others. Please vote and encourage others to vote.
Please remember that the US regimestream news media,
particularly the major network and cable news
organizations, does not want to inform you about this
presidential campaign, it wants to DISinform you. It's
the Media, Stupid...There is an Electoral Uprising
coming on November 2nd at the Ballot Box...FRODO
LIVES!
Ford Fessenden, New York Times: A sweeping voter
registration campaign in heavily Democratic areas has
added tens of thousands of new voters to the rolls in
the swing states of Ohio and Florida, a surge that has
far exceeded the efforts of Republicans in both
states, a review of registration data shows.
The analysis by The New York Times of
county-by-county data shows that in Democratic areas
of Ohio - primarily low-income and minority
neighborhoods - new registrations since January have
risen 250 percent over the same period in 2000. In
comparison, new registrations have increased just 25
percent in Republican areas. A similar pattern is
apparent in Florida: in the strongest Democratic
areas, the pace of new registration is 60 percent
higher than in 2000, while it has risen just 12
percent in the heaviest Republican areas.
Jimmy Carter, Washington Post: Four years ago, the top
election official, Florida Secretary of State
Katherine Harris, was also the co-chair of the
Bush-Cheney state campaign committee. The same strong
bias has become evident in her successor, Glenda Hood,
who was a highly partisan elector for George W. Bush
in 2000. Several thousand ballots of African Americans
were thrown out on technicalities in 2000, and a
fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify
22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only
61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons.
The top election official has also played a leading
role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing
that two-thirds of his votes in the previous election
came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader's
name be included on absentee ballots even before the
state Supreme Court ruled on the controversial issue.
Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, naturally a strong
supporter of his brother, has taken no steps to
correct these departures from principles of fair and
equal treatment or to prevent them in the future.
It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or
biased electoral practices in any nation. It is
especially objectionable among us Americans, who have
prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure
democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of
the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to
focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious
process in Florida.
Asian Wall Street Journal: The chairman of the
entertainment giant Viacom [which owns CBS] said the
reason was simple: Republican values are what U.S.
companies need. Speaking to some of America's and
Asia's top executives gathered for Forbes magazine's
annual Global CEO Conference, Mr. Redstone declared:
"I look at the election from what's good for Viacom. I
vote for what's good for Viacom. I vote, today,
Viacom.
"I don't want to denigrate Kerry," he went on, "but
from a Viacom standpoint, the election of a Republican
administration is a better deal. Because the
Republican administration has stood for many things we
believe in, deregulation and so on. The Democrats are
not bad people. . . . But from a Viacom standpoint, we
believe the election of a Republican administration is
better for our company."
www.dailyhowler.com: Hopeless. Quintanilla plays the
actual tape of Kerry saying he would have “voted for
the authority.” But even as he plays the actual tape
of this statement, Quintanilla describes a different
statement. Viewers are told that Kerry “admitted” that
he’d “still support the war.”
Here are the two statements in question. And no—they
aren’t the same thing:
KERRY: I would have voted for the authority.
QUINTANILLA: Kerry said he would still support the
war.
No, those two statements aren’t equivalent—especially
since Kerry immediately listed major things he didn’t
support about the way the war was conducted.
Quintanilla looks great on camera. But in a nation of
300 million souls, how can it be that important
players at our greatest news orgs have such weak
logical skills? More specifically, how hard can it be
for TV scribes to repeat basic things that a candidate
says? In this case, it should have been easy to start
with what Kerry said—that he would have voted for the
authority—and go from there to an account of what he
seems to have meant by his statement. But no! Kerry
said “authority” three separate times. But Quintanilla
had a better word—war.
But then, your hapless press corps has offered this
paraphrase ever since Kerry’s August 9 statement. Yes,
we think Kerry’s statement was somewhat inept. But it
isn’t hard to repeat what he said. Why can’t the
gorgeous lads and ladies of your national press corps
just do it?
Lazy; inept; uninvolved, unaware—your press corps
dozes its way toward election. They draw nice
salaries; have nice summer homes; and very much like
to get out to the Hamptons. Do they care about matters
that transform your lives? When it comes to events
which transformed this election,
third-time’s-the-charm seems to be the great rule that
prevails at the slumbering Times. Are you really
surprised that you have to come here for the dope on
John O’Neill’s kooky book?
Michael Moore, www.michaelmoore.com: Tomorrow I begin
a little 20-state, 60-city tour to try and convince
the fed-up, the burned-out, and the Nader-impaired to
leave the house for just a half-hour on November 2nd
and mark an "X" in a box (or punch a chad or touch a
screen) so that America and the world can be saved...
So, having nothing better to do for the next month
(and eager to visit such swinging states as Iowa!
Ohio! Arkansas!), I have decided to go to every
battleground state in the country and do whatever it
takes to get out the vote. I will do your laundry, I
will clean your house, I will give you a year's supply
of beer nuts if you will commit to me to go to the
polls on Tuesday, November 2.
I'm calling it "The Slacker Uprising Tour", a
coast-to-coast effort to bring the non-voting majority
out of hibernation and kick some political butt. My
goal is to get as many of the 100 million non-voters
in America as I can to give voting a try -- just this
once. I want at least 56% of all eligible voters to
vote and thus set a modern-day turnout record...
I, the original slacker -- I, who have endured all
sorts of attacks for my slacker demeanor -- yes I am
coming to an arena or stadium just outside your dorm
room (or that little space off the furnace room where
your parents still let you stay, rent-free). Why
arenas and stadiums? Because there are so many of us
-- AND they serve beer and chips. From the Sun Dome to
the Key Arena, from the Patriot Center to the Del Mar
Race Track, I will be there and I will bring prizes
and presents and clean underwear for all in need.
Before I arrive, I have arranged for free screenings
of "Fahrenheit 9/11" in each city. When I get there I
will have with me dozens of voter registrars who will
register new (or recently transplanted) voters (please
check here for voter registration deadlines -- they
are fast approaching in most states in the next 10
days!). Absentee ballot applications will also be
available. And the good people of Move-On, ACT and
other groups will be present at each of my appearances
to sign up volunteers to get out the vote on election
day.
Support Our Troops, Save the US Constitution,
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
Restore Fiscal Responsibility in the White House,
Thwart the Theft of a Second Presidential Election,
Save the Environment, Break the Corporatist
Stranglehold on the US Mainstream News Media, Rescue
the US Supreme Court from Right-Wing Radicals, Cleanse
the White House of the Chicken Hawk Coup and Its
War-Profiteering Cronies, Show Up for Democracy in
2004: Defeat the Triad, Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092704K.shtml
A Big Increase of New Voters in Swing States
By Ford Fessenden
The New York Times
Sunday 26 September 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A sweeping voter registration
campaign in heavily Democratic areas has added tens of
thousands of new voters to the rolls in the swing
states of Ohio and Florida, a surge that has far
exceeded the efforts of Republicans in both states, a
review of registration data shows.
The analysis by The New York Times of
county-by-county data shows that in Democratic areas
of Ohio - primarily low-income and minority
neighborhoods - new registrations since January have
risen 250 percent over the same period in 2000. In
comparison, new registrations have increased just 25
percent in Republican areas. A similar pattern is
apparent in Florida: in the strongest Democratic
areas, the pace of new registration is 60 percent
higher than in 2000, while it has risen just 12
percent in the heaviest Republican areas.
While comparable data could not be obtained for
other swing states, similar registration drives have
been mounted in them as well, and party officials on
both sides say record numbers of new voters are being
registered nationwide. This largely hidden but deadly
earnest battle is widely believed by campaign
professionals and political scientists to be
potentially decisive in the presidential election.
"We know it's going on, and it's a very encouraging
sign," said Steve Elmendorf, deputy campaign manager
for Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential
nominee. The new voters, Mr. Elmendorf said, "could
very much be the difference."
A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee,
Christine Iverson, declined to comment on The Times's
findings and said she did not believe Republicans were
lagging in the registration battle. "We're very
confident that we have a ground game that's as good as
the Democrats', and better," she said.
The precise impact of the swell in registration is
difficult to predict, as there is no reliable gauge of
how many of these new voters will actually vote. Some
experts, though, say that the spike has not been
accurately captured by political polls and could
confound prognostications in closely contested states.
What is clear is that each side has deployed huge
numbers of workers and devoted millions of dollars to
the effort. Much of it is being directed by civil
rights and community groups, as well as soft-money
organizations allied with the Democrats. One such
Democratic umbrella group, America Votes, says its
constituents - labor unions, trial lawyers,
environmental groups, community organizations - will
spend $300 million on registration and turnout in
swing states, a sum that dwarfs the $150 million in
public financing the two candidates together will
receive for the entire fall campaign.
The registration drives are just the first step in a
campaign by each side to get more Americans to vote by
using personal contact. As registration winds down,
with early October cutoffs in many states, efforts
will shift to staying in touch through Election Day
with repeated phone calls and visits, and, on Nov. 2,
ferrying people to the polls.
In Ohio - no Republican presidential candidate has
ever been elected without carrying the state - the
campaign has been especially exhaustive. Canvassers
ride public transportation, visit coin laundries, and
trudge the sidewalks and parking lots at the job
centers, housing agencies and community colleges.
In Columbus, Akume Green has haunted the Franklin
County Courthouse for months, working the sidewalk
between the entrance and the nearby bus stop. Ms.
Green says she has signed up more than 700 voters
since March here and elsewhere in the city. But it is
getting harder to do so, she said. On a recent day,
the first 12 people she asked said they had already
registered.
"I get about 30 new voters or changes of address in
six hours," said Ms. Green, who was hired by Project
Vote, the nonpartisan arm of the Association of
Community Organizations for Reform Now, or Acorn. "I
used to get 16 in 45 minutes, but now everyone's
registered."
Studies have shown that calling voters and showing
up at their houses before and on Election Day
substantially increases turnout - and is cheaper per
vote than buying a television advertisement.
Republicans used the strategy with great success in
the 2002 elections.
But Donald P. Green, a professor of political
science at Yale who has conducted many of those
studies, said there was no reliable way to tell how
many new voters would turn out at the polls,
especially those from lower-income areas.
"Do you get 30 percent, or do you get 70 percent?"
Professor Green said. "To the extent that these new
voters are on the radar screen of groups that have the
kind of resources these groups have at their disposal,
they might well turn out."
Steve Rosenthal, the chief executive of Americans
Coming Together, or ACT, a soft-money group that is
trying to register Democrats, said he believed they
would. "I think what's happening on the streets, below
the radar, is what's going to make the big difference
on Election Day," said Mr. Rosenthal, who said his
organization and the other groups would register two
and a half million new Democratic voters nationwide.
But Republican officials say they remain confident
that their voters will prove easier to get to the
polls. "It would scare me if we weren't doing our own
thing," said Joanne Davidson, the regional chairwoman
of the Bush campaign in four Midwestern states
including Ohio, of the wave of new Democrats. "We know
how to turn out voters."
Ms. Green is typical of the army of registrars who
have been working the streets here, some of them since
last September. Their persistence has produced
results. Franklin County had 650,000 registered voters
in the 2000 election. "Now we're over 800,000," said
Matt Damschroder, the director of the Board of
Elections. "If you look at the pure census numbers,
you'd think we are close to registering the entire
voting-age population."
Project Vote says it has registered 147,000 new
voters in Ohio. Americans Coming Together said that,
together with allied groups that are part of America
Votes, it had registered 300,000 new voters. America
Votes and ACT are openly Democratic, although they
cannot legally coordinate with the party or the Kerry
campaign.
Republican officials say they think the paid workers
who are registering low-income voters are sloppy, and
are skeptical of the number of voters they claim to
have registered, saying many are duplicates and
changes of address. Mr. Damschroder said he had to
throw out many of the cards he got because the voters
were already registered. "One woman had signed a card
three different times," with three different groups,
he said.
Prosecutors in Columbus have filed criminal charges
against an Acorn registrar, saying that he filed a
false registration form and forged a signature.
Officials for the group say they fired the worker and
instituted a quality checking system before the
prosecutors acted.
Nevertheless, an examination of county registration
records shows that the groups have added thousands of
new Democrats to the rolls and have far outnumbered
new registrations in Republican areas. In a
300-square-block area east of the courthouse in
downtown Columbus that voted nine to one against Mr.
Bush in 2000, for instance, 3,000 new voters have
registered this year. That is three times as many as
in each of the last two presidential election years.
The number of registered voters in the area is up 18
percent since January.
By comparison, in a prosperous area north of
downtown with a similar number of voters who are
overwhelmingly Republican, just 1,100 new voters have
been added this year, increasing registration rolls by
7 percent.
These numbers are similar across Ohio. The Times
examined registration from Jan. 1 to July 31 in a
sample of counties that included seven of the state's
nine largest, along with some smaller rural and
suburban counties. Voters do not give a party
affiliation when they register in Ohio, but The Times
looked at the voting history of ZIP codes to gauge the
political inclinations of the new voters.
In rock-ribbed Republican areas - 103 ZIP codes,
many of them rural and suburban areas, that voted by
two to one or better for George W. Bush in 2000 -
35,000 new voters have registered, a substantial
increase over the 28,000 that registered in those
areas in the first seven months of 2000. The Ohio
Republican party said it was pleased with the results.
"It's not easy work, but we go door to door in
strong Republican precincts, making sure everyone is
registered," said Chris McNulty, the state party
chairman.
But in heavily Democratic areas - 60 ZIP codes
mostly in the core of big cities like Cleveland,
Dayton, Columbus and Youngstown that voted two to one
or better against Mr. Bush - new registrations have
more than tripled over 2000, to 63,000 from 17,000.
In Florida, where The Times was able to analyze data
from 60 of the state's 67 counties, new registrations
this year also are running far ahead of the 2000 pace,
with Republican areas trailing Democratic ones. In the
150 ZIP codes that voted most heavily for Mr. Bush,
96,000 new voters have registered this year, up from
86,000 in 2000, an increase of about 12 percent.
But in the heaviest of Democratic areas, 110 ZIP
codes that gave two-thirds or more of their votes to
Al Gore, new registrations have increased to 125, 000
from 77,000, a jump of more than 60 percent.
In Duval County, where a confusing ballot design in
2000 helped disqualify thousands of ballots in black
precincts, new registrations by black voters are up
150 percent over the pace of 2000.
"We're using guerrilla tactics to get into the malls
and sign up voters before the security guards chase us
off," said Adam Broad, 40, an organizer in Duval
County with the Florida Consumer Action Network
Foundation, one of dozens of community groups
registering in Florida.
The groups are building nationwide databases of
voters and have committed millions of dollars for
continued contact with them before and on Election
Day.
"If every Democrat showed up at the polls, you'd
win, no question," said James Koehler, a precinct
organizer in Columbus working for MoveOn.org, another
soft-money group. Mr. Koehler said MoveOn hoped to
have a volunteer in every precinct to call neighbors
on Nov. 2.
But intensive voter contact and turnout are exactly
what the Republicans believe they do best. Their plan
calls for the same kind of sophisticated targeting,
and a last-minute push for turnout called a 72-hour
strategy, the plan Republicans used in 2002 to
overwhelm incumbent Democrats like former Senator Max
Cleland in Georgia.
Even before Election Day, the new voters may be
having an impact on the campaign, because they may not
be accurately reflected in the political polls.
"The people who are new voters are disengaged;
they're less likely to respond to a poll question,"
said Philip Klinkner, a government professor at
Hamilton College.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/092804W.shtml
Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote
By Jimmy Carter
The Washington Post
Monday 27 September 2004
After the debacle in Florida four years ago, former
president Gerald Ford and I were asked to lead a
blue-ribbon commission to recommend changes in the
American electoral process. After months of concerted
effort by a dedicated and bipartisan group of experts,
we presented unanimous recommendations to the
president and Congress. The government responded with
the Help America Vote Act of October 2002.
Unfortunately, however, many of the act's key
provisions have not been implemented because of
inadequate funding or political disputes.
The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the
problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other
nations are conducting elections that are
internationally certified to be transparent, honest
and fair.
The Carter Center has monitored more than 50
elections, all of them held under contentious,
troubled or dangerous conditions. When I describe
these activities, either in the United States or in
foreign forums, the almost inevitable questions are:
"Why don't you observe the election in Florida?" and
"How do you explain the serious problems with
elections there?"
The answer to the first question is that we can
monitor only about five elections each year, and
meeting crucial needs in other nations is our top
priority. (Our most recent ones were in Venezuela and
Indonesia, and the next will be in Mozambique.) A
partial answer to the other question is that some
basic international requirements for a fair election
are missing in Florida.
The most significant of these requirements are:
A nonpartisan electoral commission or a trusted and
nonpartisan official who will be responsible for
organizing and conducting the electoral process
before, during and after the actual voting takes
place. Although rarely perfect in their objectivity,
such top administrators are at least subject to public
scrutiny and responsible for the integrity of their
decisions. Florida voting officials have proved to be
highly partisan, brazenly violating a basic need for
an unbiased and universally trusted authority to
manage all elements of the electoral process.
Uniformity in voting procedures, so that all citizens,
regardless of their social or financial status, have
equal assurance that their votes are cast in the same
way and will be tabulated with equal accuracy. Modern
technology is already in use that makes electronic
voting possible, with accurate and almost immediate
tabulation and with paper ballot printouts so all
voters can have confidence in the integrity of the
process. There is no reason these proven techniques,
used overseas and in some U.S. states, could not be
used in Florida.
It was obvious that in 2000 these basic standards
were not met in Florida, and there are disturbing
signs that once again, as we prepare for a
presidential election, some of the state's leading
officials hold strong political biases that prevent
necessary reforms.
Four years ago, the top election official, Florida
Secretary of State Katherine Harris, was also the
co-chair of the Bush-Cheney state campaign committee.
The same strong bias has become evident in her
successor, Glenda Hood, who was a highly partisan
elector for George W. Bush in 2000. Several thousand
ballots of African Americans were thrown out on
technicalities in 2000, and a fumbling attempt has
been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African
Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics
(likely Republicans), as alleged felons.
The top election official has also played a leading
role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing
that two-thirds of his votes in the previous election
came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader's
name be included on absentee ballots even before the
state Supreme Court ruled on the controversial issue.
Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, naturally a strong
supporter of his brother, has taken no steps to
correct these departures from principles of fair and
equal treatment or to prevent them in the future.
It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or
biased electoral practices in any nation. It is
especially objectionable among us Americans, who have
prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure
democracy. With reforms unlikely at this late stage of
the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to
focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious
process in Florida.
-------
Former president Carter is chairman of the Carter
Center in Atlanta.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110005669
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Guess Who's a GOP Booster?
The CEO of CBS's parent company endorses President
Bush.
Friday, September 24, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT
From The Asian Wall Street Journal
With the scandal at CBS still festering, questions are
being raised about whether a felony was committed when
the network broadcast apparently forged memos in an
attempt to discredit George W. Bush. Yesterday, the
chairman of CBS's parent company chose Hong Kong as a
place to drop a little bomb. Sumner Redstone, who
calls himself a "liberal Democrat," said he's
supporting President Bush.
The chairman of the entertainment giant Viacom said
the reason was simple: Republican values are what U.S.
companies need. Speaking to some of America's and
Asia's top executives gathered for Forbes magazine's
annual Global CEO Conference, Mr. Redstone declared:
"I look at the election from what's good for Viacom. I
vote for what's good for Viacom. I vote, today,
Viacom.
"I don't want to denigrate Kerry," he went on, "but
from a Viacom standpoint, the election of a Republican
administration is a better deal. Because the
Republican administration has stood for many things we
believe in, deregulation and so on. The Democrats are
not bad people. . . . But from a Viacom standpoint, we
believe the election of a Republican administration is
better for our company."
Sharing the stage with Mr. Redstone was Steve Forbes,
CEO, president and editor in chief of Forbes and a
former Republican presidential aspirant, who quipped:
"Obviously you're a very enlightened CEO."
Mr. Redstone's unexpected declaration came at a time
when an unwelcome spotlight is directed at him and his
board because of the CBS airing of what everyone now
believes was a fake memo alleging that Mr. Bush
shirked his duties three decades ago in the Texas Air
National Guard. On Tuesday, Republican National
Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie alleged a leftist bias
at Viacom. While it was well known that Mary Mapes,
the producer who did most of the reporting on the
memos, is a liberal, and that anchorman Dan Rather,
has always been much tougher on Republicans, the
Viacom board had heretofore remained in the
background.
Mr. Gillespie said, "This demonstrates a serious lack
of judgment separate and apart from the lack of
judgment demonstrated in running a report based on
discredited documents. Did this producer's own
political viewpoint cloud her judgment? Is CBS News's
decision to neither suspend nor release the producer
in question a result of judgment clouded by Viacom and
CBS owner Sumner Redstone's role as a Kerry
fundraiser, or Viacom President Tom Freston's public
support of John Kerry for President?"
Mr. Redstone's office immediately went into overdrive,
denying on Wednesday that he's a raised funds for the
Democratic presidential nominee. Then came yesterday's
"I vote Republican" vow in Hong Kong.
It was all the more surprising because the Boston-born
Mr. Redstone was co-chairman of Edmund Muskie's
presidential campaign in 1972. He's also a close
friend of the other Massachusetts senator, Ted
Kennedy. Monday's New York Sun, quoting the Federal
Election Commission, said that since 1998 Mr. Redstone
had given $50,000 to the Democratic Party. He's also
donated the maximum $2,000 to the Kerry campaign,
after supporting Al Gore in 2000.
In his book, "A Passion to Win," Mr. Redstone wrote,
"From my early days I have considered myself a liberal
Democrat. . . . I had no respect for Nixon. . . . My
efforts on Senator Muskie's behalf apparently landed
me on Nixon's notorious 'enemies list.' I took that as
a badge of honor."
Of his 13-member board, two are former cabinet members
for Democratic presidents. It is this board that will
ponder what to do about the Rather-Mapes-CBS mess. The
bombshell from Hong Kong will not come as welcome news
to those responsible for "memogate."
http://www.dailyhowler.com
REPEAT AFTER KERRY: How weak are the press corps’
analytical skills? If Kerry loses, his August 9
statement about Iraq will likely be seen as a campaign
turning-point. That was the statement Kerry made at
the Grand Canyon, when he said that—well, let’s put
the Q-and-A on the record. On the September 12 Meet
the Press, Tim Russert finally provided the actual
text of the question Kerry was asked. (In real time,
the text of the question was missing in action. See
THE DAILY HOWLER, 8/12/04). We can now present the
full Q-and-A. This exchange has hurt Kerry badly:
QUESTION (8/9/04): The president last week challenged
you to answer yes or no to the question of whether if,
knowing what you know now, you would still have voted
to go to war? Are you going to take that challenge up?
KERRY: I’m ready for any challenge, and I'll answer it
directly. Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I
believe it is the right authority for a president to
have, but I would have used that authority, as I have
said throughout this campaign, effectively. I would
have done this very differently from the way President
Bush has. And my question to President Bush is, Why
did he rush to war without a plan to win the peace?
Why did he rush to war on faulty intelligence and not
do the hard work necessary to give America the truth?
Why did he mislead America about how he would go to
war? Why has he not brought other countries to the
table in order to support American troops in the way
that we deserve and relieve a pressure from the
American people?
To this day, that’s the fullest transcript of this
exchange available in the Nexis records. We don’t know
if Kerry’s response ended there. We don’t know what
the next question was.
But what did Kerry say that day? He said that, knowing
what he knows now, he “would have voted for the
authority”—for the authorization to go to war if
necessary. But he “would have done this very
differently from the way President Bush has,” he said.
Specifically, he implied that Bush “rushed to war
without a plan to win the peace” and failed to “bring
other countries to the table in order to support
American troops in the way that we deserve.”
We think that’s a slightly odd statement, although
Kerry has fleshed it out since then. He has said that
it was good for Bush to have “the authority” because
that gave him the clout to go to the UN and force Iraq
to allow inspections. Of course, if Kerry knew then
what he knows now, it’s unclear why those inspections
would have been necessary. If our country actually had
books about public logic, this Q-and-A would go in the
chapter that explains why pols shouldn’t answer
hypothetical questions.
But if Kerry’s answer was slightly odd, it shouldn’t
be hard to relate. It shouldn’t be hard to repeat what
Kerry said. But then, of course, we have to deal with
handsome members of the national press corps! NBC’s
Carl Quintanilla is quite telegenic. But he made a
hopeless (if typical) presentation last night about
this crucial statement by Kerry. On Hardball,
Quintanilla described relations between the two
hopefuls and the press:
QUINTANILLA (9/24/04): Candidates try to forge a bond
with their traveling press, but Kerry's been more
distant since his last press conference in August,
when he was challenged and admitted he'd still support
the war even knowing there were no weapons of mass
destruction.
KERRY (videotape from August 9): Yes, I would have
voted for the authority.
QUINTANILLA: The president has given fewer than half
the number of campaign trail Q and A’s as his father,
because reporters questions can be tough, even
hostile, and throw candidates off message.
Hopeless. Quintanilla plays the actual tape of Kerry
saying he would have “voted for the authority.” But
even as he plays the actual tape of this statement,
Quintanilla describes a different statement. Viewers
are told that Kerry “admitted” that he’d “still
support the war.”
Here are the two statements in question. And no—they
aren’t the same thing:
KERRY: I would have voted for the authority.
QUINTANILLA: Kerry said he would still support the
war.
No, those two statements aren’t equivalent—especially
since Kerry immediately listed major things he didn’t
support about the way the war was conducted.
Quintanilla looks great on camera. But in a nation of
300 million souls, how can it be that important
players at our greatest news orgs have such weak
logical skills? More specifically, how hard can it be
for TV scribes to repeat basic things that a candidate
says? In this case, it should have been easy to start
with what Kerry said—that he would have voted for the
authority—and go from there to an account of what he
seems to have meant by his statement. But no! Kerry
said “authority” three separate times. But Quintanilla
had a better word—war.
But then, your hapless press corps has offered this
paraphrase ever since Kerry’s August 9 statement. Yes,
we think Kerry’s statement was somewhat inept. But it
isn’t hard to repeat what he said. Why can’t the
gorgeous lads and ladies of your national press corps
just do it?
BUT WHO WILL CORRECT THE CORRECTIONS: In this
morning’s column, Nicholas Kristof corrects a
correction from last Wednesday’s column. It concerns a
matter we noted this week—the error he made in last
Saturday’s column about Kerry’s Bronze Star award:
KRISTOF (9/25/04): Aargh. My last column ended with a
jet-lagged correction that repeated the error it was
meant to fix. William Rood saw John Kerry's Silver
Star incident, not the Bronze Star episode. Mea culpa
squared.
So you can keep track of all the action, here is
Kristof’s original text, and his first failed attempt
at correction:
KRISTOF (9/18/04): Did Mr. Kerry deserve his Bronze
Star? Yes. The Swift Boat Veterans claim that he was
not facing enemy fire when he rescued a Green Beret,
Jim Rassmann, but that is contradicted by those who
were there, like William Rood and Mr. Rassmann (a
Republican). In fact, Mr. Rassmann recommended Mr.
Kerry for a Silver Star.
KRISTOF (9/22/04): In the spirit of taking a tough
look at one's own shortcomings: on Saturday, I
referred to William Rood as a witness for Mr. Kerry's
Silver Star incident. It was the Bronze Star episode
that he saw. Mea culpa.
Kristof’s original column was wrong about Rood, as was
his first attempt at correction. Third time apparently
being the charm, the Times gets this fact right today.
We say that “the Times” gets the fact right today
because we want to move beyond Kristof. Anyone can
compose a mistaken correction the way he did on
Wednesday. But might we note an obvious fact?
Presumably, someone other than Kristof himself reads
the text of his twice-weekly columns. With that in
mind, let’s note the terminal laziness the Times seems
to have brought to the crucial matters involved in
this piece.
Last Saturday, Kristof was writing, a month too late,
about matters that may have decided this election. And
since the Swift Boat Vets have actually challenged a
very small number of medal awards—only three events
are in real dispute—it was unimpressive when Kristof
bungled the facts about two of those incidents (link
below). But it wasn’t just Kristof who seemed to be
dozing when it came to these crucial matters.
Kristof’s editor also failed to notice that he had
this basic fact wrong about Rood. And that editor also
failed to notice the bungling of the gentleman’s first
correction.
As noted, Kristof’s problems went beyond Rood. As
we’ve noted, he bungled another aspect of the Bronze
Star matter and he bungled the first Purple Heart
event too (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 9/22/04). But we
think it’s instructive that neither he nor his editor
noticed the gentleman’s two-time bungling RE Rood. The
Swift Boat Veterans have transformed this race; the
charges they lodged have been deeply important. But
does your celebrity press corps really care? Even when
he was trying to challenge the Vets, Chris Matthews
was plainly unaware of the simplest facts, and no one
at the New York Times seems to give a big enough damn
to get clear on these simple facts either.
Lazy; inept; uninvolved, unaware—your press corps
dozes its way toward election. They draw nice
salaries; have nice summer homes; and very much like
to get out to the Hamptons. Do they care about matters
that transform your lives? When it comes to events
which transformed this election,
third-time’s-the-charm seems to be the great rule that
prevails at the slumbering Times. Are you really
surprised that you have to come here for the dope on
John O’Neill’s kooky book?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-09-25
Saturday, September 25th, 2004
Michael Moore On Tour; Slackers of the World, Unite!
9/25/04
Dear Friends,
Tomorrow I begin a little 20-state, 60-city tour to
try and convince the fed-up, the burned-out, and the
Nader-impaired to leave the house for just a half-hour
on November 2nd and mark an "X" in a box (or punch a
chad or touch a screen) so that America and the world
can be saved. (I don't mean "saved" as in all workers
will henceforth control the means of production.
That's, um, going to take a few more years.)
What I'm asking is that our fellow Americans, as the
collective landlord of a public housing project at
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., take just a few minutes to
evict the tenant who is currently wrecking the place
(not to mention what he's doing to the rest of the
neighborhood). After all, isn't this one of the
coolest things about a democracy, getting to give some
payback to those in power? "YOU'RE FIRED!" Oooh, that
feels good -- especially if the recipient of the pink
slip is someone who wants to send your kid off to war.
So, having nothing better to do for the next month
(and eager to visit such swinging states as Iowa!
Ohio! Arkansas!), I have decided to go to every
battleground state in the country and do whatever it
takes to get out the vote. I will do your laundry, I
will clean your house, I will give you a year's supply
of beer nuts if you will commit to me to go to the
polls on Tuesday, November 2.
I'm calling it "The Slacker Uprising Tour", a
coast-to-coast effort to bring the non-voting majority
out of hibernation and kick some political butt. My
goal is to get as many of the 100 million non-voters
in America as I can to give voting a try -- just this
once. I want at least 56% of all eligible voters to
vote and thus set a modern-day turnout record.
I'm putting out the red alert call to slackers
everywhere to help me lead this revolt. I want
everyone in their teens and twenties who exist from
one packet of Ramen noodles to the next bag of
Tostitos to take your fully-justified cynicism and
toss it like a Molotov right into the middle of this
election. As "non-voters" you have been written off.
But if only a few thousand of you vote, it could make
all the difference. You literally hold all the power
in your hands. That's even cooler than holding a TV
remote.
I, the original slacker -- I, who have endured all
sorts of attacks for my slacker demeanor -- yes I am
coming to an arena or stadium just outside your dorm
room (or that little space off the furnace room where
your parents still let you stay, rent-free). Why
arenas and stadiums? Because there are so many of us
-- AND they serve beer and chips. From the Sun Dome to
the Key Arena, from the Patriot Center to the Del Mar
Race Track, I will be there and I will bring prizes
and presents and clean underwear for all in need.
Before I arrive, I have arranged for free screenings
of "Fahrenheit 9/11" in each city. When I get there I
will have with me dozens of voter registrars who will
register new (or recently transplanted) voters (please
check here for voter registration deadlines -- they
are fast approaching in most states in the next 10
days!). Absentee ballot applications will also be
available. And the good people of Move-On, ACT and
other groups will be present at each of my appearances
to sign up volunteers to get out the vote on election
day.
Details of where I will be appearing will be available
in your local media. Many venues, due to advance word
already out there, have "sold out" (at most stops,
students get in for free and community people pay a
nominal fee -- usually $5 -- to cover costs). Again,
check your local media to find out the times and dates
and how to get advance tickets.
A partial list of the cities I'm visiting includes:
Seattle, Big Rapids (MI), Mt. Pleasant (MI), Tucson,
Dearborn, Phoenix, East Lansing, Detroit, Ann Arbor,
Albuquerque, Toledo, Columbus (OH), Ames (IA),
Cleveland, Fairmont (WV), Pittsburgh, Philadelphia,
Bethlehem (PA), Fairfax (VA), Carlyle (PA), State
College (PA), Minneapolis, Gainesville, Nashville,
Miami, Memphis, Orlando, Salem (OR), Jacksonville,
Tampa, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Madison,
Green Bay, Las Vegas, Reno, Denver, and, of course,
Tallahassee, Florida. Others will be posted later.
While on the road, I will try to keep my blog
up-to-date and post some pictures we take in each
city. The three campuses on the tour which register
the most students to vote (or who have the most
non-voters committing to me to vote) will receive a
special scholarship from us at the end of the tour.
Thanks, in advance, to everyone out there who is
working hard during this election. I know it will make
a difference.
Let's leave no non-voter behind.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com
www.michaelmoore.com/takeaction/vote/
P.S. Good news! This current weekend our distributor
has added an astounding 600+ new theaters to the list
of those still showing "Fahrenheit 9/11." This is
highly unusual for a film entering it's fourth month
of release, but the demand has been strong to bring it
back in many areas and our wonderful distributors have
responded. This is a perfect time to either see it
again on the big screen or take a friend who hasn't
seen it, as it won't be around in theaters for long.
The DVD and home video come out October 5!