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This just brought me to a scene on Outfoxed, in which David Asman said this:

He was talking about Kerry in a retirement home talking about Social Security under George Bush.

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Evidence of the ol' glassies! Nothing up our sleeves, no magic little Alex! A job for two who are now of job age! The police!

The elderly have every reason to be scared if Bush gets another four years.

By the way, in case anybody was baffled by Bush's reference to Dred Scott (I sure was), basically it was a message to the Evangelicals and other anti-choice groups that he would only appoint Supreme Court justices who would remove womens' rights to choose.

The fact that only people deeply immersed in those groups will understand the reference shows just how much Bush is working specifically in their interest (and not yours).

And here's the video of Bush throwing a tantrum at Charlie Gibson.

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I would agree with you, Jones, except I happen to believe in the unborns' right to life (which pro-choice people don't). As for your choice of term, "anti-choice," how would you like it if I called your faction, "pro-death" (which, in essence, it is)?

And keep in mind that the right to life is a prerequisite for the right to choose. You cannot choose anything if you're dead. Killing unborn children is no way to solve anyone's problems.

I did like how Kerry avoided mentioning Alzheimer's in conjunction with embryonic stem cell research. Alzheimer's is one of the diseases people love to cite as a possible benefit of stem cell research. I've been working at Lutheran Senior Services for a little over a month, and I've learned a lot about Alzheimer's. For example, did you know that it cannot be diagnosed without an autopsy? By then, it's a little too late. Also, the medical community still has no idea what causes Alzheimer's, but they tend to believe it is genetic. With these factors in place, I do not see how any type of stem cell research can be beneficial any more than sprinkling faerie dust on the victims. Nancy Reagan, as much as I respected your husband and grieve over this disease, you're mistaken in thinking that stem cell research could have helped him.

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The reason that that the "pro-life" movement calls itself "pro-life" is deliberately and specifically because it makes the association that "if you're not pro-life, then you're anti-life, i.e. pro-death". Every time I pass a "pro-life" sign on the highway, I'm being called pro-death. One gets used to it, much in the way I got used to junior high.

Also, I resent being shoehorned into what you refer to as a "faction". You don't know my beliefs or the reasoning behind them.

But the abortion debate is one for another thread.

The point is, the degree to which Bush serves the Evangelicals is alarming, and even if I were a Grand Old Partier to the last, even if I were pro-life and everything it entails, and even if Bush were doing a fine job right now, I would hesitate, to say the least, to put a president in office who so exclusively serves one group's interests, to the degree that he would hand-pick a supreme court to fulfill their goals.

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You were the one to bring it up, IJ. Not me.

As for me, I think the whole issue is beyond legislation at this point. Abortion has become such an integral part of our modern society, I doubt that any number of justices could reverse it. But I'm not simply going to turn over and forget about it just because our legal system has.

As for resentment, you were the one who initiated this particular exchange, IJ.

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I don't know how many of you bought it when Bush claimed that Kerry has voted to raise taxes on the middle class 98 times. I didn't because we all know how good Karl Rove is at math, and I remember a few months ago when Bush was using the figure "350 times" instead of 98. But in case you still have some faith that Bush and the truth have ever spent more than two seconds in a room together before glaring at eachother and storming out, take a look at what FactCheck.org (the site that Cheney, er, meant to endorse during the VP debate), which tells just how much Bush is fudging when he says "98 times".

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I've posted this link before, but I guess I can post it again:

Stem Cells and Diseases
Yes, it does only say "possibility", and I'll even agree that the possibility is quite slim, but I'll take the chance of a cure or the chance of a better treatment over not researching our options any day.

Though you are right when you talk about diagnosis. From alzheimers.org:

And you are also right when you talk about cause. Again from alzheimers.org:

Though I don't understand how you can equate scientific research in this field with the sprinkling fairy dust. Could you perhaps elaborate? Though I will admit, being a student of science, I'm thinking I hold some bias in this area.

Hey, what do y'all think about the "Was Bush Wired?" scandal? Way to go for both sides (for possibly having wired Bush and possibly having discovered the wire). Where did they get those camera shots from anyway?? I don't remember there being any filming of the candidates' backs. Also, what did Kerry's back look like, lol?

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Hot!

I read a good quote about that on mydd.com: "The Southern Strategy has become the tail that wagged the dog until the dog is almost all gone."

I must say the debates have been boring, the rules are to restrictive on the candidates. It seems there not debates but Q and A sessions. Anyone else think so or is it just me?

Of course it is. We haven't seen a real debate since, well, we haven't.

We used to have decent debates when the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization, was in charge of them. Then the debates got hijacked by the bipartisan CPD.

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My point was that some people talk as if they believe stem cell research IS the cure for Alzheimer's, and that embryonic stem cell research is the key to that cure. But if they cannot even diagnose the disease in living persons, and have no idea what causes it, then there is only a very slim chance that they will find any sort of cure at all.

What this means for this thread is that Kerry is smart enough to use a realistic assessment of the research and not include Alzheimer's as one of the big cures to be gained by stem cell research. He gained a bit of respect from me by doing so, even though I still disagree with the harvesting of embryonic stem cells.

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I almost forgot about the League of Women Voters. I hate the CPD. I'd rather see a Kerry/Bush/Nader or Badnarik debate than the crap we have now. I remember the days of Perot...

I'm getting more and more sold on this. When asked if the president was wearing a bulletproof vest (which seems plausible), his campaign responded with an immediate denial. But it took them a week and a half of persistent prodding before they finally issued a denial about him wearing a wire. Why the hesitation?

Now Salon is running an article that pretty much calls it conclusive (you have spend 15 seconds of your life to get a free day pass to read the full article), and quotes a technical expert who supplies such devices to the U.S. military, as well as a master taylor. I knew those master taylors would get their 15 minutes some day. They also have pictures of the second debate (in which the bulge reappears) and him riding around in his pickup with a similar (and more obvious) bulge.

I think in tonight's debate they candidates should go shirtless. Body oil optional.

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Holy. Crap.

Anyone who is watching the debates RIGHT NOW has got to be astounded.

Kerry had commented on Bush's press conference on March 15, 2002. (1, 2)


Bush, during the current debate, said that he had said no such thing.



I'm just befuddled. The sad thing is that, I'm guessing, the majority of the media won't even touch this, they'll just go after anything Kerry does.

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Evidence of the ol' glassies! Nothing up our sleeves, no magic little Alex! A job for two who are now of job age! The police!

I'm listening to them on the radio. That way I can surf the Web and still hear the debates.

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Ha ha, I noticed that exchange myself.. a lot of it is one of them accusing the other of something and the other flat-out denying it. I'm finding it really difficult to sit through the whole debate. I personally can't stand W's whole defensive attitude.. he is such a moron, and I hate almost everything he says. How could we have put him at the helm for the past four years?!?!

However, I am a loving and understanding person, so if you are a fan of him, then I have no problem with you. It's a free country.. go out and vote!!

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Hot!

I tuned in about 20 minutes in, so unfortunately I missed what thefreakyblueman mentioned. Bush's frothingest supporters will probably eat it up, but I think the rest of the electorate, I hope, will know the difference between "I don't remember saying that" and "I didn't say that". Bush actually would probably have done better just flat-out lying and claiming he never said it than claiming he just didn't remember.

The greatest moment in the whole debate was when Kerry mentioned two major news sources calling one of Bush's statements "fiction" and "false". Bush's reply went something like:



He's so eloquent.

So in the first debate, Bush's problem was that he stammered, blinked continually, stared off into space, sneered, and rolled his eyes (did I miss anything?).

In the second debate, his problem was that he was just too pugilistic (it's nice if you have an immediate response necessary, Mr. President, but it's not necessary for you to throw yourself bodily off of your stool and start yelling).

Now in the third debate, his voice was nicely measured, he did okay as far as remaining coherent. But he had is Presidential Sneer on almost without cease. I'm really kind of baffled by this. He didn't make his thoughtful face or his scowly face the entire time, except maybe when Kerry was showering him with respectfulness over his faith or marriage or parenting skills.

To be honest I found this debate far more interesting because it covered topics other than Iraq. I found that the previous debates were basically the same responses to slightly different questions over and over again. They actually covered a lot of ground in this debate, and not only did Bush not say "Hard Work" a bazillion times, he also didn't really spend any time calling Kerry a flip-flopper. Weird. He must be slipping.

I'm so glad that Kerry finally called Bush on the lame and bogus "voted to raise taxes 97 times" claim. Ugh.

And here's this bit from Daily Kos, and I think he has a point:


Kos also did some fact-checking on Bush, and I'm sure more will come.

Oh, and Bush's self-deprecating humor at the end was great. I think he was trying to be "just another guy", but I think it'll completely backfire on me. In reference to his wife, "she speaks English better than me." Oh, that's great, George, call attention to the fact that you have a poor mastery of your native tongue.

Er.. there's too much bouncing around in my head to put it into coherent sentences.

In my best estimation of an imparial, um, estimation, I'd say that Kerry won this one pretty solidly.

Quick polls and more tomorrow.

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Are you sure you're not pulling a "Fox News" on us?

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Er.. I don't think I am? That would make me feel ewy. Anyway, I did say it was only an estimation of impartiality. Unlike Fox News, I never claimed to be fair or balanced.

And speaking of fair and balanced , The Washington Post has a transcript online. Here's Bush's big "nevermind":



Except in actuality the "--" was a ".................". Real Smooth Moves.

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I wish I had seen that.

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John Kerry at last night's debate: "An unbelievable Constitution with rights that we afford people."

Yes, the founding fathers are rolling over in their graves. John Kerry belives the goverment gives the people their rights, apparently if he is elected that can take away or give rights to the people. My question is who is we, the people no, the Kerry adminstration no, the government yes. Thats what he believes is that the government is the best thing for the people, that the government is the answer to everything, and that the government owns your rights since rights are afforded to you. It seems Kerry was forgoten we are republic of laws and not of government...

Ummm...I tried to watch the debate last night...I was really interested, really I was! But my job often requires me to be up really early, so I'm often really worn out late in the day....I fell asleep on the couch and dreamed that Kerry and Bush were debating their favorite ice cream flavor. :20x6: I woke up in time to hear all the applause at the end.

I saw about the first twenty minutes...and felt really sorry for Georgie...in these debates he just looks like some kid who is annoyed because he knows the right answer and the teacher won't call on him. And John Kerry looks like the A+ teacher's pet!

"You're a liberal weiner!"
"You're a right-wing nut job!"

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Professor No, I honestly don't understand what you're talking about, due in part to the fact that you're not quite speaking coherently. Perhaps type more slowly.

I just read the trasncript and from what I can tell you're taking issue with one word -- "we" -- because his meaning was ambiguous. In the previous paragraph he was talking about himself and the president, but I don't take what he said to mean that he and the president are the people who afford people their rights. A dozen other times last night he used the word "we" to mean every american citizen as a collective, not the federal government. To say that Kerry meant or believes that the government "owns your rights" or ought to is just silly.

But whatever. To be honest, if this is the biggest problem you had with Kerry -- that is, if you believe in a government of the people and don't want you or your neighbors' rights "owned" by the federal government -- then Bush is definitely the wrong president for you. Just go back and read the very same section of that transcript. Bush wants to amend the most sacred body of law in this country, the U.S. Constitution, to ensure that a very specific group of your fellow citizens are never, ever granted freedom to marry whomever they please. Talk about owned.

This is in stark contrast with John Kerry who, though not exactly pro-queer, is taking the stance that Republicans have always taken: he doesn't want the federal government exerting control over states on an issue that they're perfectly capable for handling on their own.

[omitted] But given the choice, wouldn't you rather your president be the one that upholds the rights of all people, rather than the one who sets the precedent of being the first ever to amend the U.S. Constitution bypassing states' rights in order to marginalize an entire sector of citizens?

And though it's a little late in the day, here are your quick polls:



Some notes:

Interestingly enough, last night around midnight (Central) the CNN poll had Bush way ahead, like 70-30. Word on the forums was that it was being heavily "freeped" (not a very good Wikipedia article, btw), and I rather suspected that it had been sabbotaged by a clever script kiddie. If that was the case, then maybe the CNN webmasters managed to retroactively screen out duplicate votes. Otherwise, enough votes must have come in since then to put Kerry back ahead, which is pretty impressive.

Fox has replaced their poll with a new one, and last night's poll wasn't listed on their "previous polls" page. Maybe they wanted to make it disappear? Or maybe just a lazy webmaster. Anyway, you can still view the results here. Interesting thing about the Fox News poll is that last night at about midnight Kerry was actually ahead by 10 or 15%. I think it must have been "anti-freeped", though clearly not on the same scale as the CNN poll. But today Bush is back ahead, though by a pretty bare margin.



So what were their favorite flavors? I'm guessing Bush would be a vanilla (upper-class, male, heterosexual vanilla) and Kerry would be.. um.. vanilla with sprinkles?

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I don't really remember now...my dreams fade as the day wears on.

Bush's entrourage needed to teach him how to be a better public speaker. The last election, I defended him, saying it didn't really matter how he spoke as long as his ideas were clear....now I'm not even certain he's doing that.

And to elaborate on what I was talking about earlier, George sounded as though Kerry really got to him personally. And I don't think Kerry's attacks on Bush were any more personal than Bush's attacks on Kerry.

All in all, I don't envy whoever has to be the President - that's a tough job. I once heard that it's the most aging job you can have; just look at pictures of Bill Clinton before he entered office and after. He aged A LOT. Obviously, it's a stressful job.

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Where have you been I'm for gay marrage and I do like homosexuals, I know homosexuals. I'm not the biggest fan of Pres. Bush I'm not even a Republican, in fact I'm a Libertarian. Are you saying that because I support Bush I don't like homosexuals? In the last post I made when did I say anything about homosexuals? Why are you personally attacking me?

Er, sorry, I apparently had you confused with another poster. No offense was intended. Carry on.

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That's ok, apolagy accepted...I'll carry on.

A lot of people from all sides are saying that Kerry's direct reference to Mary Cheney, Dick's lesbian daughter, was in poor taste. To be honest it did feel awkward when he said it -- and for those of you just tuning in, this is what he said (the question was whether the candidates believe that homosexuality is a choice -- Bush said "I dunno", Kerry said "No"):



I wasn't quite sure how to resolve this for awhile. Like I said, it felt awkward. But take a look at this blog post (more here and here), which basically summarizes the same reason I came to the conclusion that Kerry wasn't out of line.

And more on the gay marriage debate: I still want to smack both candidates (and their running mates) in the face when it comes to this. Bush because he's a hateful man who wants to marginalize homosexuals (even more than they already are), and Kerry because, though he wants to extend many rights to gay couples, like Bush he still wants to make sure "marriage" will always be a magic word reserved just for straight folks.

I think it's important for people to know just how many rights gay couples are denied because they're not allowed access to that magic word. The number is 1,409. There are 1,409 rights that every straight married couple in the country has de facto access to, and which gay couples, including those in farcical "civil unions", are denied because they can't get a piece of paper signed by the state that has the magical M-word on it. To get a good idea of the kinds of rights we're talking about, here, this blog post, or for the complete list go here (479kb PDF).

Imagine yourself in a marriage or civil union (this may be easier for those of you who are actually married) with someone you love and have dedicated your life and your soul to. Now go down that list, and tell me how many of those rights you would feel indignified in having stripped from of you and your spouse due to some arbitrary condition beyond your control. Now amplify that feeling by about 500,000 and you'll have a rough approximation of the effect that anti-gay policies have on this nation.

Now then, a video for the evening: Not Funny. It's a DNC ad, so it's short and sweet. I really want to know, what the hell is wrong with this guy?

Let's see, what else (maybe in 2008 I ought to just start my own political blog..):

RNC chairman Ed Gillespie is fighting hard to suppress the youth vote. He recently demanded that Rock the Vote (a nonpartisan campaign) stop talking about the potential of a draft. Gillespie's letter was leaked, as was Rock the Vote president Jehmu Greene's reply (which the RtV site has since confirmed and posted):



I like this Greene guy.

Okay, that's all I've got for now. I promise.

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