Chris Matthews on REALTIME with Bill Maher.


I finally found the quote from Chris Matthews of HARDBALL on MSNBC. i saw him on the Bill Maher show (which is ALWAYS great), and i was a little suprised how frank he seemed with his views about this election. if you wonder of if you know someone else that wonders about whether to vote for Kerry, consider his words:

MATTHEWS: All they're going to have is him as their president. That's all they get out of these guys. And my answer is, you want to think about this election more seriously? Vote Bush, vote Kerry, but think about this: do you really want the country to go in the direction they're taking you or say they're going to take you for the next ten or 20 years? Raise the stakes. That'll make it easier for the undecided voter.

If you can't decide based on what you've heard, think about this: do you want to continue on the road of basically being go-it-alone in the world? I mean, Tony Blair will be gone soon. Musharraf will be gone soon. Then we'll be completely alone in the world. Do you want to go to an economy that's basically geared toward tax cuts for people who have a lot of income, and the working class and the middle class gradually disappear? Well, you know which party that is.

If you want to go to a party that is a little more hesitant, this president - if we elect John Kerry president, he will be hesitant about going to war. He will be careful. In fact, he'll probably wait around to hear what the French think. And if that bothers you, vote for Bush. It's easy. But these stakes are big.

Do you want health research for the next 20 years or do you want the same diseases we have now in 20 years? I mean, think about it. [applause] I think there's an argument for the Republicans, but it's a long-term argument for both sides, and people ought to make - how can you be undecided about Bush and Kerry? I don't get it. These guys offer radically different approaches.

Cheney: Dconomic Stats Miss eBay Sales

You probably heard this one already, but I can't resist. Recently VP Dick Cheney said that you can't go too closely by the economic indicators that we have out there (they're not too pretty) becuase over the last few years, they didn't take into account the sales on eBay!

So basically what he's saying that we're missing the money being made by folks so broke they've turned to cyber-hocing their belongings on line and THAT somehow helps to show how good we're doing in this economy.

you know, i don't think the baseball cards up for grabs on eBay fixes out average workers seeing the worst movement in their wages in over 50 years. i really don't.

Bush warns of "hidden Kerry tax plan"

Jeez. these guys have completely given up on campaign issues and just embraced all fear all the time? Vote kerry and we get struck by terrorists...we get a secret tax...we get a vampire plague...!!

heh. this leaves bush open...BUT will kerry take the counter punch? who knows.

Cat Saddles

This is a story that was related to me by my good friend JasN

JasN was at a family get-together this year and his little cousin was there. He was a little boy who ran into the room completely THRILLED!

"MOMMY MOMMY! THEY HAVE CAT SADDLES HERE!"

Everyone is kinda puzzled and amused. at that very moment, the family cat comes running into the room wearing a maxi-pad with wings on its back adhesive side down.. The boy marveled at the idea that this family kept 'cat saddles' for their cat.

haw haw haw!!

The Flag is Up

To mark the beginning of the Season and the Election to come, I finally posted this outside the house.

The Polls that Matter

These are the only polls that matter--a breakdown of the 16 swing states. Bush has made some gains but leads in only 4. HOWEVER it is VERY close and Kerry leads in 3 states by less than 1 point.

this site lets you track the candidate's movement.

HOME THEATRE.

Thank the LORD it's done. i've been working on this thing for hours. connecting this and that. running cables. i HATE doing this stuff. I've had this set up for about 10 years now. It was a decent BOSE set up at the time but now it feels like a tricked out Fiero--it gets the job done, but at some point you have to just say "its a Fiero and its time to move on".

The problem is that as old as it is, an upgrade will still take thousands more than the nothing in my wallet right now.

God, i can't wait to RE-INSTALL an entirely new set up. I'm happy enough to pass out.

Ready to Die?

stepping up the scare tactics...Cheney claimed that a kerry victory would guarantee a terror attack. Sure fella. why be scared of anything when i GET the worst already from THiS administration?

seriously cheney...is that the best you have? it's so bad that your best argument for the election is 'it could be worse'?

what leadership.

Fordice is Dead

Kirk Fordice was my first taste of politics. in 1991 i met with nearly every candidate for governor from both parties and Fordice was by far the worst. He got the nomination and my young Conventional Wisdom said "well the current governor is as good as in. This guy is clearly awful."

I was half right. We got one of the worst governors in decades.

I remember, shortly after the election, i was driving down I-55 North near Countyline Road. i looked to the side and there he was...driving along in a white Lincoln. I immediately cut my car over 5 lanes to crash into him. No joke. i was a kid but it wasn't a childish act. it was pure impulse.

I finally realized about 3-4 feet away that this wasn't a good idea, so i righted myself. However, this was not before I'd run him off the road and saw the expression of fear on his face. It is a moment i savor privately but on this occasion i share with you dear readers.

Fordice made national headlines when he was calling for the President's impeachment but OOPS! got caught in a Memphis Airport with his mistress! the local cartoonist had a field day.

Also of note is the point of pride i had in that my father thought this guy was an idiot.

This article just has interesting quotes and is a quick read. However, one is missing the follow-up so i'll fill you in:

“The United States of America is a Christian nation.” —˚At a Republican Governors Association meeting, November 1992.
--to which another governor (i forget whom) said "i'm sure Gov. Fordice meant to say 'Judeo-Christian Values'". Which caused the governor to jump up and state that if he MEANT JUDEO-Christian values, he would have said so.

Nice. I hope the pitchforks are nice down there Kirk.

Senator: Gen. Franks told of military drain

Yikes! Even General Tommy Franks thought Bush was running into Iraq blind and against better judgement:

Sept. 6, 2004 WASHINGTON -- A former Senate Intelligence Committee chairman asserted Sunday that the general who ran the war in Afghanistan said more than a year before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that his resources were being shifted in preparation for taking on Saddam Hussein.
Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., contends that just months into combat in Afghanistan, Gen. Tommy Franks also told him that fighting terrorism in Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere should take priority over invading Iraq.

Graham said Franks told him he thought the United States knew less about the situation in Iraq than did some European governments, and the Bush administration should ask them for advice...

Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that his meeting with Franks was at the general's headquarters, Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
"He laid out a very precise strategy for fighting the war on terror," Graham said.
"First, we should win the war in Afghanistan. Second, move to Somalia, which as he described was almost anarchy but with a substantial number of al-Qaida cells; then to Yemen. And that we should be very careful about Iraq, because our intelligence was so weak that we didn't know what we were getting into," Graham said.

Better Already.

From the NYTimes:

"The conversation and the recruitment of old Clinton hands came amid rising concern among Democrats about the state of Mr. Kerry's campaign and criticismthat he had been too slow to respond to attacks on his military record or to engage Mr. Bush on domestic policy. Among the better-known former Clinton aides who are expected to play an increasingly prominent role are James Carville, Paul Begala and Stanley Greenberg, campaign aides said."

Good LORD they've needed James Carville. Upon hearing this news, Mr. Mooch declared all is right with the world and he will sleep soundly tonite.

I must agree. I’m feeling pretty good.

Poll Update

while we should ikeep in mind that the most important polls are

Bush by numbers: Four years of double standards

Here's our President by the numbers (compiled by Vanity Fair by Graydon Carter) prepare to be disapointed.

my favorite? the number of vacation days Bush took in August 2001 (when 5 briefs came in warning of attacks by plane--28. well he learned his lesson--right? he's the war president now!

number of vacation days Bush took in August 2003? 28

1 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security issued between 20 January 2001 and 10 September 2001 that mentioned al-Qa'ida.

104 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned Iraq or Saddam Hussein.

101 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned missile defence.

65 Number of Bush administration public statements on National security and defence in the same period that mentioned weapons of mass destruction.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Osama bin Laden in his three State of the Union addresses.

73 Number of times that Bush mentioned terrorism or terrorists in his three State of the Union addresses.

83 Number of times Bush mentioned Saddam, Iraq, or regime (as in change) in his three State of the Union addresses.

$1m Estimated value of a painting the Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, received from Prince Bandar, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States and Bush family friend.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned Saudi Arabia in his three State of the Union addresses.

1,700 Percentage increase between 2001 and 2002 of Saudi Arabian spending on public relations in the United States.

79 Percentage of the 11 September hijackers who came from Saudi Arabia.

3 Number of 11 September hijackers whose entry visas came through special US-Saudi "Visa Express" programme.

140 Number of Saudis, including members of the Bin Laden family, evacuated from United States almost immediately after 11 September.

14 Number of Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) agents assigned to track down 1,200 known illegal immigrants in the United States from countries where al-Qa'ida is active.

$3m Amount the White House was willing to grant the 9/11 Commission to investigate the 11 September attacks.

$0 Amount approved by George Bush to hire more INS special agents.

$10m Amount Bush cut from the INS's existing terrorism budget.

$50m Amount granted to the commission that looked into the Columbia space shuttle crash.

$5m Amount a 1996 federal commission was given to study legalised gambling.

7 Number of Arabic linguists fired by the US army between mid-August and mid-October 2002 for being gay.

George Bush: Military man

1972 Year that Bush walked away from his pilot duties in the Texas National Guard, Nearly two years before his six-year obligation was up.

$3,500 Reward a group of veterans offered in 2000 for anyone who could confirm Bush's Alabama guard service.

600-700 Number of guardsmen who were in Bush's unit during that period.

0 Number of guardsmen from that period who came forward with information about Bush's guard service.

0 Number of minutes that President Bush, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, the assistant Defence Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, the former chairman of the Defence Policy Board, Richard Perle, and the White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove ­ the main proponents of the war in Iraq ­served in combat (combined).

0 Number of principal civilian or Pentagon staff members who planned the war who have immediate family members serving in uniform in Iraq.

8 Number of members of the US Senate and House of Representatives who have a child serving in the military.

10 Number of days that the Pentagon spent investigating a soldier who had called
the President "a joke" in a letter to the editor of a Newspaper.

46 Percentage increase in sales between 2001 and 2002 of GI Joe figures (children's
toys).

Ambitious Warrior

2 Number of Nations that George Bush has attacked and taken over since coming into office.

130 Approximate Number of countries (out of a total of 191 recognised by the United Nations) with a US military presence.

43 Percentage of the entire world's military spending that the US spends on defence. (That was in 2002, the year before the invasion of Iraq.)

$401.3bn Proposed military budget for 2004.

Saviour of Iraq

1983 The year in which Donald Rumsfeld, Ronald Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East, gave Saddam Hussein a pair of golden spurs as a gift.

2.5 Number of hours after Rumsfeld learnt that Osama bin Laden was a suspect in the 11 September attacks that he brought up reasons to "hit" Iraq.

237 Minimum number of misleading statements on Iraq made by top Bush administration officials between 2002 and January 2004, according to the California Representative Henry Waxman.

10m Estimated number of people worldwide who took to the streets on 21 February 2003, in opposition to the invasion of Iraq, the largest simultaneous protest in world
history.

$2bn Estimated monthly cost of US military presence in Iraq projected by the White House in April 2003.

$4bn Actual monthly cost of the US military presence in Iraq according to Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld in 2004.

$15m Amount of a contract awarded to an American firm to build a cement factory in Iraq.

$80,000 Amount an Iraqi firm spent (using Saddam's confiscated funds) to build the same factory, after delays prevented the American firm from starting it.

2000 Year that Cheney said his policy as CEO of Halliburton oil services company was "we wouldn't do anything in Iraq".

$4.7bn Total value of contracts awarded to Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan.

$680m Estimated value of Iraq reconstruction contracts awarded to Bechtel.

$2.8bnValue of Bechtel Corp contracts in Iraq.

$120bn Amount the war and its aftermath are projected to cost for the 2004 fiscal year.

35 Number of countries to which the United States suspended military assistance after they failed to sign agreements giving Americans immunity from prosecution before the International Criminal Court.

92 Percentage of Iraq's urban areas with access to potable water in late 2002.

60 Percentage of Iraq's urban areas with access to potable water in late 2003.

55 Percentage of the Iraqi workforce who were unemployed before the war.

80 Percentage of the Iraqi workforce who are unemployed a Year after the war.

0 Number of American combat deaths in Germany after the Nazi surrender in May 1945.

37 Death toll of US soldiers in Iraq in May 2003, the month combat operations "officially" ended.

0 Number of coffins of dead soldiers returning home that the Bush administration
has permitted to be photographed.

0 Number of memorial services for the returned dead that Bush has attended since the beginning of the war.

A Soldier's Best Friend

40,000 Number of soldiers in Iraq seven months after start of the war still without Interceptor vests, designed to stop a round from an AK-47.

$60m Estimated cost of outfitting those 40,000 soldiers with Interceptor vests.

62 Percentage of gas masks that army investigators discovered did Not work properly in autumn 2002.

90 Percentage of detectors which give early warning of a biological weapons attack
found to be defective.

87 Percentage of Humvees in Iraq not equipped with armour capable of stopping AK-47 rounds and protecting against roadside bombs and landmines at the end of 2003.

Making the country safer

$3.29 Average amount allocated per person Nationwide in the first round of homeland security grants.

$94.40 Amount allocated per person for homeland security in American Samoa.

$36 Amount allocated per person for homeland security in Wyoming, Vice-President Cheney's home state.

$17 Amount allocated per person in New York state.

$5.87 Amount allocated per person in New York City.

$77.92 Amount allocated per person in New Haven, Connecticut, home of Yale University, Bush's alma mater.

76 Percentage of 215 cities surveyed by the US Conference of Mayors in early 2004
that had yet to receive a dime in federal homeland security assistance for their
first-response units.

5 Number of major US airports at the beginning of 2004 that the Transportation Security Administration admitted were Not fully screening baggage electronically.

22,600 Number of planes carrying unscreened cargo that fly into New York each month.

5 Estimated Percentage of US air cargo that is screened, including cargo transported on passenger planes.

95 Percentage of foreign goods that arrive in the United States by sea.

2 Percentage of those goods subjected to thorough inspection.

$5.5bnEstimated cost to secure fully US ports over the Next decade.

$0 Amount Bush allocated for port security in 2003.

$46m Amount the Bush administration has budgeted for port security in 2005.

15,000 Number of major chemical facilities in the United States.

100 Number of US chemical plants where a terrorist act could endanger the lives of more than one million people.

0 Number of new drugs or vaccines against "priority pathogens" listed by the Centres for Disease Control that have been developed and introduced since 11 September 2001.

Giving a hand up to the advantaged

$10.9m Average wealth of the members of Bush's original 16-person cabinet.

75 Percentage of Americans unaffected by Bush's sweeping 2003 cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes.

$42,000 Average savings members of Bush's cabinet received in 2003 as a result of cuts in capital gains and dividends taxes.

10 Number of fellow members from the Yale secret society Skull and Bones that Bush has named to important positions (including the Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum Jr. and SEC chief Bill Donaldson).

79 Number of Bush's initial 189 appointees who also served in his father's administration.

A man with a lot of friends

$113m Amount of total hard money the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign received, a record.

$11.5m Amount of hard money raised through the Pioneer programme, the controversial fund-raising process created for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. (Participants pledged to raise at least $100,000 by bundling together cheques of up to $1,000 from friends and family. Pioneers were assigned numbers, which were included on all cheques, enabling the campaign to keep track of who raised how much.)

George Bush: Money manager

4.7m Number of bankruptcies that were declared during Bush's first three years in office.

2002 The worst year for major markets since the recession of the 1970s.

$489bn The US trade deficit in 2003, the worst in history for a single year.

$5.6tr Projected national surplus forecast by the end of the decade when Bush took office in 2001.

$7.22tr US national debt by mid-2004.

George Bush: Tax cutter

87 Percentage of American families in April 2004 who say they have felt no benefit from Bush's tax cuts.

39 Percentage of tax cuts that will go to the top 1 per cent of American families when fully phased in.

49 Percentage of Americans in April 2004 who found that their taxes had actually gone up since Bush took office.

88 Percentage of American families who will save less than $100 on their 2006 federal taxes as a result of 2003 cut in capital gains and dividends taxes.

$30,858 Amount Bush himself saved in taxes in 2003.

Employment Tsar

9.3m Number of US unemployed in April 2004.

2.3m Number of Americans who lost their jobs during first three Years of the Bush administration.

22m Number of jobs gained during Clinton's eight years in office.

Friend of the poor

34.6m Number of Americans living below the poverty line (1 in 8 of the population).

6.8m Number of people in the workforce but still classified as poor.

35m Number of Americans that the government defines as "food insecure," in other
words, hungry.

$300m Amount cut from the federal programme that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes.

40 Percentage of wealth in the United States held by the richest 1 per cent of the population.

18 Percentage of wealth in Britain held by the richest 1e per cent of the population.

George Bush And his special friend

$60bn Loss to Enron stockholders, following the largest bankruptcy in US history.

$205m Amount Enron CEO Kenneth Lay earned from stock option profits over a four-year period.

$101m Amount Lay made from selling his Enron shares just before the company went bankrupt.

$59,339 Amount the Bush campaign reimbursed Enron for 14 trips on its corporate jet during the 2000 campaign.

30 Length of time in months between Enron's collapse and Lay (whom the President called "Kenny Boy") still not being charged with a crime.

George Bush: Lawman

15 Average number of minutes Bush spent reviewing capital punishment cases while governor of Texas.

46 Percentage of Republican federal judges when Bush came to office.

57 Percentage of Republican federal judges after three years of the Bush administration.

33 Percentage of the $15bn Bush pledged to fight Aids in Africa that must go to abstinence-only programmes.

The Civil libertarian

680 Number of suspected al-Qa'ida members that the United States admits are detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

42 Number of nationalities of those detainees at Guantanamo.

22 Number of hours prisoners were handcuffed, shackled, and made to wear surgical masks, earmuffs, and blindfolds during their flight to Guantanamo.

32 Number of confirmed suicide attempts by Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

24 Number of prisoners in mid-2003 being monitored by psychiatrists in Guantanamo's new mental ward.

A health-conscious president

43.6m Number of Americans without health insurance by the end of 2002 (more than 15 per cent of the population).

2.4m Number of Americans who lost their health insurance during Bush's first year in office.

Environmentalist

$44m Amount the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign and the Republican NationalCommittee received in contributions from the fossil fuel, chemical, timber,and mining industries.

200 Number of regulation rollbacks downgrading or weakening environmental laws in Bush's first three years in office.

31 Number of Bush administration appointees who are alumni of the energy industry (includes four cabinet secretaries, the six most powerful White House officials, and more than 20 other high-level appointees).

50 Approximate number of policy changes and regulation rollbacks injurious to the environment that have been announced by the Bush administration on Fridays after 5pm, a time that makes it all but impossible for news organisations to relay the information to the widest possible audience.

50 Percentage decline in Environmental Protection Agency enforcement actions against polluters under Bush's watch.

34 Percentage decline in criminal penalties for environmental crimes since Bush
took office.

50 Percentage decline in civil penalties for environmental crimes since Bush took office.

$6.1m Amount the EPA historically valued each human life when conducting economic analyses of proposed regulations.

$3.7m Amount the EPA valued each human life when conducting analyses of proposed regulations during the Bush administration.

0 Number of times Bush mentioned global warming, clean air, clean water, pollution or environment in his 2004 State of the Union speech. His father was the last president to go through an entire State of the Union address without mentioning the environment.

1 Number of paragraphs devoted to global warming in the EPA's 600-page "Draft Report on the Environment" presented in 2003.

68 Number of days after taking office that Bush decided Not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty to reduce greenhouse gases by roughly 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. The United States was to cut its level by 7 per cent.

1 The rank of the United States worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

25 Percentage of overall worldwide carbon dioxide emissions the United States is responsible for.

53 Number of days after taking office that Bush reneged on his campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

14 Percentage carbon dioxide emissions will increase over the next 10 years under Bush's own global-warming plan (an increase of 30 per cent above their 1990 levels).

408 Number of species that could be extinct by 2050 if the global-warming trend continues.

5 Number of years the Bush administration said in 2003 that global warming must be further studied before substantive action could be taken.

62 Number of members of Cheney's 63-person Energy Task Force with ties to corporate energy interests.

0 Number of environmentalists asked to attend Cheney's Energy Task Force meetings.

6 Number of months before 11 September that Cheney's Energy Task Force investigated Iraq's oil reserves.

2 Percentage of the world's population that is British.

2 Percentage of the world's oil used by Britain.

5 Percentage of the world's population that is American.

25 Percentage of the world's oil used by America.

63 Percentage of oil the United States imported in 2003, a record high.

24,000 Estimated number of premature deaths that will occur under Bush's Clear Skies initiative.

300 Number of Clean Water Act violations by the mountaintop-mining industry in 2003.

750,000 Tons of toxic waste the US military, the world's biggest polluter, generates around the world each Year.

$3.8bn Amount in the Superfund trust fund for toxic site clean-ups in 1995, the Year "polluter pays" fees expired.

$0m Amount of uncommitted dollars in the Superfund trust fund for toxic site clean-ups in 2003.

270 Estimated number of court decisions citing federal Negligence in endangered-species protection that remained unheeded during the first year of the Bush administration.

100 Percentage of those decisions that Bush then decided to allow the government to ignore indefinitely.

68.4 Average Number of species added to the Endangered and Threatened Species list each year between 1991 and 2000.

0 Number of endangered species voluntarily added by the Bush administration since taking office.

50 Percentage of screened workers at Ground Zero who now suffer from long-term
health problems, almost half of whom don't have health insurance.

78 Percentage of workers at Ground Zero who now suffer from lung ailments.

88 Percentage of workers at Ground Zero who Now suffer from ear, nose, or throat problems.

22 Asbestos levels at Ground Zero were 22 times higher than the levels in Libby, Montana, where the W R Grace mine produced one of the worst Superfund disasters in US history.

Image booster for the US

2,500 Number of public-diplomacy officers employed by the State Department to further the image of the US abroad in 1991.

1,200 Number of public-diplomacy officers employed by the State Department to further US image abroad in 2004.

4 Rank of the United States among countries considered to be the greatest threats to world peace according to a 2003 Pew Global Attitudes study (Israel, Iran, and North Korea were considered more dangerous; Iraq was considered less dangerous).

$66bn Amount the United States spent on international aid and diplomacy in 1949.

$23.8bn Amount the United States spent on international aid and diplomacy in 2002.

85 Percentage of Indonesians who had an unfavourable image of the United States in
2003.

Second-party endorsements

90 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 26 September 2001.

67 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 26 September 2002.

54 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 30 September, 2003.

50 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president on 15 October 2003.

49 Percentage of Americans who approved of the way Bush was handling his job as president in May 2004.

More like the French than he would care to admit

28 Number of vacation days Bush took in August 2003, the second-longest vacation of any president in US history. (Record holder Richard Nixon.)

13 Number of vacation days the average American receives each Year.

28 Number of vacation days Bush took in August 2001, the month he received a 6 August Presidential Daily Briefing headed "Osama bin Laden Determined to Strike US Targets."

500 Number of days Bush has spent all or part of his time away from the White House at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, his parents' retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine, or Camp David as of 1 April 2004.

No fool when it comes to the press

11 Number of press conferences during his first three Years in office in which Bush referred to questions as being "trick" ones.

Factors in his favour

3 Number of companies that control the US voting technology market.

52 Percentage of votes cast during the 2002 midterm elections that were recorded by Election Systems & Software, the largest voting-technology firm, a big Republican donor.

29 Percentage of votes that will be cast via computer voting machines that don't produce a paper record.

17On 17 November 2001, The Economist printed a correction for having said George Bush was properly elected in 2000.

$113m Amount raised by the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign, the most in American electoral history.

$185m Amount raised by the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign, to the end of March 2004.

$200m Amount that the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign expects to raise by November 2004.

268 Number of Bush-Cheney fund-raisers who had earned Pioneer status (by raising $100,000 each) as of March 2004.

187 Number of Bush-Cheney fund-raisers who had earned Ranger status (by raising $200,000 each) as of March 2004.

$64.2mThe Amount Pioneers and Rangers had raised for Bush-Cheney as of March 2004.

85 Percentage of Americans who can't Name the Chief Justice of the United States.

69 Percentage of Americans who believed the White House's claims in September 2003 that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the 11 September attacks.

34 Percentage of Americans who believed in June 2003 that Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction" had been found.

22 Percentage of Americans who believed in May 2003 that Saddam had used his WMDs on US forces.

85 Percentage of American young adults who cannot find Afghanistan, Iraq, or Israel on a map.

30 Percentage of American young adults who cannot find the Pacific Ocean on a map.

75 Percentage of American young adults who don't know the population of the United States.

53 Percentage of Canadian young adults who don't know the population of the United States.

11 Percentage of American young adults who cannot find the United States on a map.

30 Percentage of Americans who believe that "politics and government are too complicated to understand."

Another factor in his favour

70m Estimated number of Americans who describe themselves as Evangelicals who accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour and who interpret the Bible as the direct word of God.

23m Number of Evangelicals who voted for Bush in 2000.

50m Number of voters in total who voted for Bush in 2000.

46 Percentage of voters who describe themselves as born-again Christians.

5 Number of states that do not use the word "evolution" in public school science courses

11 Point LEAD

Bush has an 11 point lead in a poll national poll that was concluded on September the 2nd. this does not indicate what effect there has been on particular swing states. As you may note most of the survey was done before the GOP convention started. it could get worse before it gets better, but there's plenty of time.

Daily Mislead--Yesterday's Daily Misleader

SWIFT BOAT VET GOT $40M CONTRACT FROM BUSH

The Bush White House has denied any connection to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth[1] - the group that has been airing factually unsupportable smear ads against Sen. John Kerry's war record. But a new report today shows that one of the key
accusers in the smear ads was a lobbyist for a company that recently received a massive federal contract from the Bush administration.

As the Washington Post reports, Rear Admiral William L. Schachte Jr., the man who claims Kerry was not under fire when he received his first Purple Heart, is a top lobbyist for a defense contractor that recently won a $40 million grant from the Bush administration. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip's effort to secure federal
contracts.[2] On Feb. 2, FastShip announced the Bush administration had
awarded it $40 million.[3]

Schachte has other connections to the Bush administration. The Washington Post notes David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York.[4] Records show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns.[5] Additionally, Schachte helped organize veterans' efforts against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and for Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary.[6]

This is not the first member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who has been revealed to be connected to the President. The Bush-Cheney campaign's top outside lawyer was forced to resign after he admitted providing legal services to the veterans group.[7] The Bush-Cheney campaign's veterans adviser was also featured in one of the smear ads.[8]

Sources:

1. "Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan," WhiteHouse.gov, 8/20/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52656.
2. "A Swift Shift in Stories," Washington Post, 8/31/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52657.
3. "FastShip, Inc. to Receive $40 million in Federal Support for Marine
Cargo Terminal in Philadelphia," FastShipAtlantic.com, 2/02/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52658.
4. "A Swift Shift in Stories," Washington Post, 8/31/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52657.
5. OpenSecrets.org, 8/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52659.
6. Charleston Post & Courier, 2/17/2000.
7. "Bush-Cheney Lawyer Advised Anti-Kerry Vets," Washington Post,
8/25/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52660.
8. "Bush Campaign Drops Swift Boat Ad Figure," Washington Post, 8/22/04,
http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1179333&l=52661.

Oh, i'm taking all comers now.

the Kerry reaction to the RnC convention:

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our
nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while
this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting
45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation.
Letting the Saudi Royal Family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead
this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while
you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush
and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move
America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.

damn right and i'm ready to tanglle. we're going to win this MaFa.

Phoning it in...

i just don't have it in me to watch the president speak then do the analysis tonite. that being said i'll give you my take now in the form of my best guess.

*ALL SECURiTY ALL THE TIME. we'll hear about the war and how we're safer but (confusingly) we aren't that safe and we need bush to keep us safe.
*THE BUSH RECORD. this will be a small portion of the speech. expect him to tell us we're doing well and getting better. don't expect any specifics. just trust him. its true. alright? oh, did he mention we have to stay the course on the war on terrorism.

High on platitudes and low on results. hope you enjoy. i'll be out doing anythin else under the sun i can find more enjoyable. (unless something just goes crazy tonite and you'll see me back right here w/ Mr. Mooch egging me on)

Old Quote

...but still worth repeating...

"Back in 2000 a Republican friend warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true!"
-- James Carville

With Thanks

Tonight's posts were brought to you by "If I had a Hammer" by Trini Lopez and my good friends at the Old Crow distillery.

Nothin' from Nothin' leaves Nothin'...

or my take on the GOP Convention thus far.

well, i hit arnold down blow here and that sums it up in about 2 sentences.

Tonight we get a treat. OH, before we start, click here and put these images in your mind while i write about their speeches.

Zell Miller...the guy so 'betrayed' by the dems that he gave keynote address for Bill Clinton. you know what? i can buy that whole "the party left ME" business if he hadn't been in the middle of 'the party's business' for the last few years. suddenly 9/11 comes and the world changes? hardly.

well he gave a tough speech tonite. known as an orator i expected something from him, but was curious that the DEMOCRAT was the ONLY social conservative in a convention that needs their vote more than any other to win. I won't go into the right or wrong of the facts here (oh, but i WILL if anyone wants to tangle in the comments section), but i do want to talk about the speech itself.

Full attack and harsh. not a syllab about What Bush has done or what he will do. just Kerry the democrats pinned up on the bag for some punches...

*First you get a laundry list of why Democrats were ok but now they are not only different but DANGEROUS. i mean, no reasons...just trust him...right?
*Next a list of all the awful things Kerry's voted against. no context...but you know what? this isn't practice and context isn't needed for the real game. you just need to punch. i don't want to hear kerry explaining a damn thing. i want the COUNTER
PUNCH i don't want the context. the context is something my kids can talk about
in their political science class (god this is why i get frustrated by politicians too far out of the south or out of the blue collar world) The President is so weak Kerry needs to pick something and tag it with some strong, STRONG language. if the president has screwed this country, he better lay the accusation with the strongest words...if he won't he's the only one in this race that won't. I don't want to see Nader doing a better job at this than Kerry.
*Kerry hates every bit of millitary and every weapon we've ever had.
*You better be SCARED of him and you better hope to GOD that Bush can be there to protect us.

that's the speech. He brought down the house there but what about across america? These folks were dying for SOMEONE to give Kerry a black eye and that's what tonite was about. here's my final take. i think you can talk about what someone's done and that can hurt but you have a hard time selling the idea that someone is just AGAINST America. against our troops. its too much to try and get someone to buy. that is what he tried to sell today and i can't help but think it did two things. fanned the party faithful and had little positive effect on the undecided middle. he's selling more than the average person could buy. i could be wrong, but i don't think i am.

That being said, If Kerry won't fight this race, he may as well give it away.

i think he can fight.

DICK CHENEY'S SPEECH

God...it's 1/2 and hour long. i'm doing this for you dear readers...

*Cheney goes after Edwards first. He's a trial lawyer and they're all evil. Whatever. i'm a trial lawyer and they've been trying this crap for years. as for how it works with Edwards...? He once represented a little girl that had her intestines pulled out of her body by a suction vent on a hot tub that could have been prevented by a couple of screws. Cheney isn't on the little
girls side. that's about all you need to know.
*2/3 of this speech is about national security and what Kerry would do to hurt us. I was watching Chris Matthews this week and he made some comments i want to echo and expand upon here.

This election isn't just about the next 4 years. it is about the direction we go in the next decade. Do we want a country where we go it alone? where we don't move with our allies? the VP would have you think that this means getting permission from our allies. what it means is having friends. remember how skeptical they were about our evidence for an IMMEDIATE war with iraq? remember how it turned out they were right? Bush once said that we need a foreign policy with humility. he also says we have to protect our own intrests. those are not mutually exclusive traits. our future fights are going to be as much against groups that have no borders as it will be against other nations. this is a phenomenon of violence unlike any other time in the history of the world. do you think we need to wade into these uncharterd waters alone? on purpose? Anyone that mistakes snubbing your friends for bravery...or for the love of god...BRAVERY...that's like living in an action movie.

You HAVE to look at where we are. how many people are worse off now? how many people have to be laid off before it's bad enough to go another direction? how many MORE people have to be in poverty? How many more people have to be (newly) without insurance?

You have to ask if we are going in the right direction right now. i don't think we are.