Meanwhile Back in the Year One*

An e-mail joke that is circulating, probably for the third time, has led to one of those “Ah hah!” moments. The title of the joke is “Why the Chinese kick our A- - in Science and Mathematics. It is a pair of pictures contrasting a graduating class from the University of Beijing with a group at the University of Colorado. The Chinese are studiously sitting in neat rows dressed mostly in grey business suits. The Colorado kids, weeeell, let’s just say they are a little “inappropriate” but clearly having a lot more fun. Regardless of your age, most red-blooded, Red state Americans would ask for the address of the Admissions Office at CU…“Go Buffaloes!” And we should be able to chuckle…there’s something endearing about the American character that has never taken itself too seriously.

The same morning In-Box brought me a column forwarded by another friend by Thomas Friedman, titled “Fly Me to the Moon.” (I will try to link it here, but you have to be a NYT subscriber and all that…it is free, so here you go: FRIEDMAN ) The thrust of Friedman’s column is that educational funding for science and mathematics is being cut at the worst possible moment. This morning’s paper heralds the newest data point on failing American academia: our 15 year olds are horrible at math and science. Friedman calls for a big vision agenda out of the Administration to set a goal for America – the “Moon shot” of the new century- and that is energy independence. This sentence from a recent DOE report should be sobering enough: “In particular, energy demand in the emerging economies of developing Asia, which include China and India, is projected to more than double over the next quarter century.”

This evening’s Blackberry buzzing brings tidings from the Orient from a dear friend who had received the joke referenced above. His observations are poignant:

Boy does this one make the rounds. This has been circulating in Asia for a

couple of years. Problem is most people in US seem to treat it as a joke.

Everything good here in Taipei though not a day goes by without some indication

that all the action is moving this side of the date line. If life is a monopoly

game at some point all the money will reside in Shanghai. I feel like I am

watching the fall of the Roman Empire. Unfortunately I don't think US will stay

in the top slot nearly as long. Hope you're still reading your St Augustine.

Good insights on how it comes apart.

Sometimes e-mails, like events, come together in one of those moments that are reminiscent of when Einstein hit upon his famous theory while boarding a bus in Bern. We are in the midst of two great historical movements. The first is the violent emergence of radical Islam that has necessitated the War on Terror. The second is the arrival in the developed world of the enormous populations of China and India. While the present generation, i.e. those in uniform now, must fight the first thrust, future generations will have to deal with the economic competition posed by the emergence of these two giants. Sadly, the present generation is not doing a good job on the second front. Here’s an inventory of what, I believe, we have done wrong:



1. The present philosophy of education is flawed: we are obsessed with progressing our children through the grades so they can go to college…any college, it doesn’t matter, you must have a degree! Not to do so is failure.

2. We are not serious about teaching anymore. We are more concerned with how the child “feels” and their “self-esteem.” God forbid the child acts disinterested or hyperactive…we have the drugs to make them comfortably numb and behave better.

3. Because of #2, we do not challenge our children. Without challenge there is no inspiration. Name someone who excelled after being told that they wouldn’t have to work hard to achieve their goal.

4. We have lost sight of what is important. We are more concerned with teaching a diverse smorgasbord of social dictums from the “history of civil rights” to “Bilingual Cross-Culture Studies” that there is no time for the basics anymore.



In response to these four points, and there are many more, let me humbly offer the following four solutions:



1. Rejuvenate the Junior college and trade school track as a noble, rewarding alternative to the “pushing through” and dumbing down that occurs in the current system. To be a fine computer technician does that mean you have to have a 4-year degree from an accredited college?

2. Restore vigor and standards to teaching. I believe that would not only turn out better students, it would attract better teachers. Anecdotal point: The Marine Corps and the Dominican Sisters have no trouble with recruitment…neither organization minces words about the fact that the career path will be rigorous, strict and life-changing. Those that rise to those standards have something special in store for them.

3. Let’s pick up Friedman’s call for a new moon shot: Energy Independence…let’s expand that by making it date certain like Kennedy did: Energy independence by 2025. Let’s create the challenge that will inspire!

4. Let’s get back to the basics. Let’s establish a national curriculum with national standards. Oh My GOD! Did this Redstate conservative just say what I think he did?? YUP! But the national curriculum and standards would be geared to producing effective citizens by the time they graduate from 12th grade. Basic modules of math, science, English, history and economics would form the national “core.” There would still be ample time left in the daily schedule for the electives of music, art, foreign language or even trade skills.



We need to view these proposals not as a social revolution, but as a part of our overall homeland defense strategy. There is one thing for sure: unlike the barbarians of Augustine’s time, these will not take pity on us because of our “respect for Christ.”



*Please excuse the title...I've been on a real Jethro Tull kick lately - profane and prophetic, but fun. Besides, how many other '70's vintage bands have male keyboard players that became women?

Stepping Back from the Abyss

I keep hearing and seeing the “divided America” language in the press and on airwaves. Is it just me, or is it all coming out of the left? It is as if they are trying to “talk down” the stock market of our common good. Those of us whose IQ’s are north of our shoe-sizes and whose media reach extends beyond CBS know that the division is negligible. But, there is a real danger in the continued bombardment of the American psyche that this notion will enter the vernacular under “commonly held beliefs” which include “Bush is a stupid draft dodger” and “Christians hate homosexuals.” These are statements that are patently false, but repeated often enough that they roll unchallenged off the tongues of Peter Jennings and his ilk.



On its own, the divided America belief is not harmful. The concern I have is with the vitriol with which the “red” half of the divide is characterized. A particularly nasty comparison is making the circles of the liberal chatologists. It is that W and the GOP in their “seizure” of power are “just like the Nazis” in the 1930’s. It’s pretty easy to ignore when the great political scientist, Linda Ronstadt compares the Bush administration to a “bunch of Hitlers,” but when the charge gets repeated and sent out over the airwaves by the likes of liberal talk radio hosts like Leslie Marshall out of Los Angeles, it gets a bit worrisome. On Hannity and Colmes the other night, Ms. Marshall made the accusation that the Nazis took away people’s freedoms just like the Patriot Act is doing. Even Alan Colmes, the show’s liberal, was horrified by her statements and went out of his way to distance himself. The country singer, Darryl Worley has a song, “Have you Forgotten,” that reminds us of the horror visited upon us by 9/11. With the degradation of the school system, I worry that we might forget the real horror of the Nazis. For Marshall to put the Patriot Act anywhere near the actions of the sick bunch of thugs that ruled Germany and brought the horror of World War II and the “Final Solution” to the world is repulsive and inexcusable.



If you need a reminder, and as a Rumblings reader I doubt you do, there was a superlative show on PBS last night (have you ever noticed that the really good shows are on either really late or when they are doing fundraisers!) titled “Hitler’s Search for the Holy Grail” hosted by Michael Wood. It explores the creation of the mythology that supported the SS. These were truly sick, sick people. No democratically elected American administration should EVER be compared to this depravity.



Unfortunately, this level of hyperbole is not new. Redstater himself challenged then candidate General Wesley Clark in the Noshville Restaurant the day of the Tennessee Democratic Primary to distance himself from Michael Moore and the accusation that the President has been AWOL. “You and I are former officers, you know you don’t get an Honorable Discharge if you’ve been AWOL, General,” said your humble scribbler. “I don’t know the facts, do you?” was his response. This unwillingness to run away from the outrageous is at the root of Democratic losses. The little General (I consider myself “average” in height, but I stood a good head taller) withdrew from the restaurant with his staff pushing him past me. He withdrew from the race the next morning.



As I write this, my position is evolving. Don’t worry, I’m not doing that thing liberals love conservatives to do: “growing.” We are divided. There I’ve said it. I was looking at this morning’s breakfast coffee cake. About 3/4ths of the cake is on one side of the plate…a small sliver, barely enough for ½ a serving is on the other side. That is the kind of “divided” we are. The irony is that sliver keeps yelling at the rest of the cake demanding that they be included. These are the folks W is supposed to “reach out to,” and if he doesn’t it only confirms that he’s in the grip of the “right wing religious zealots.”



But this sliver has pushed us to a dangerous verbal abyss. There were some on the left that had the honesty the weekend before the election to ponder how it was that their rhetoric was closer to Osama Bin Laden than mainstream America…but that honesty is in short supply on the western side of the aisle. It is incumbent on those of us that truly are “mainstream” (look under “normal”) to call the merchants of ludicrous on their outrages. Maybe then more on the left will have the courage of Alan Colmes to distance themselves from this insanity and we can all step back from the abyss.

Wondering Aloud*

I’ve taken some time off from this airspace to quietly absorb the lava flow of history that is swirling around us. Well, that “work” thing got in the way a little too, but one cannot help but marvel at the sequence of events that are unfolding before us: W's re-election, the Battle of Fallujah, the terrorist Arafat assuming room temperature, Vanderbilt blowing another game in the 4th quarter! OK, that last one is consistent with a twenty year pattern, but you get the point. I started this blog as a way to vent my feelings about the pending election. The name seemed appropriate at the time because I sensed that something was rumbling out here in the red states. All national media to the contrary, I sensed that people were a) behind this President b) willing to fight this war and that they understood that Iraq WAS a crucial piece of the terrorism puzzle and c) they were upset (I wouldn’t go so far as to say “angry”) at the cultural drift exemplified by the Mayor of San Francisco illegally “marrying” homosexual couples. My sense was this election was going to be a referendum on those issues and that W would win in a “blow out.” Perhaps I was overconfident (see Exit Polls) but, on the whole, I turned out to be right.



Because I grew up overseas, I have always felt that I had the perspective of a loving outsider on this nation. Sometimes you have to step back from something you love to truly appreciate it. But one thing has always struck me about our great land and our people…fundamentally we are pretty darn good. There are no pictures in the history books of German, Russian, Vietnamese, Congolese, Indian, French, or Venezuelan troops handing out candy bars to kids. There are plenty of those shots from World War II on of our guys doing that. We don’t invade countries to expand our empire or seize their wealth (see Japan and Germany). We do it for causes. The great misunderstanding that European’s have about our fighting nature extends back to our own War Between the States. Lincoln failed to successfully prosecute a war against the South when the aim was reunification. Yankees were comfortable with the notion that us folks down here should just be left alone. But when the cause became noble, as set forth in the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address, the war became winnable. (Although we in the South still argue that fine point!) Without this appreciation of our character, France and the liberal elite in this country, will always view military action with suspicion. Michael Moore’s revolting assertion that the war in Iraq is being fought for Halliburton offended every thinking American and, I think, did more to win the election for W than countless pro-Bush ads run in the swing states. The great red beating heart of America knows this war is noble on two fronts: 1) We are liberating people…it is unclear how successful we will be, but it is a great and noble vision. 2) We are protecting ourselves…we are fighting the away game. (As of yesterday, the Marines were reporting 1,500 dead terrorists in Fallujah. Securing the heartbeat of even one of those monsters is one less box-cutter wielding freak we will have to deal with over here!) That same heart knows that when the job is done, our troops will come home…they probably even accept that a democratic Iraq will one day vote against us in the U.N. Sixty million people turned out on Election Day to reassure George W. Bush that he was right.



Much has been made of the “values” question in the exit polls. It sends a tremor through the nattering classes of New York and LA that a bunch of religious kooks went out there and got W elected. There is some truth to this statement, but the polls were deceiving. The questionnaire had two line separate line items for “Iraq” and “war on terror.” If you combined them, they outpaced “values” significantly. Similarly, combining “taxes,” “healthcare,” and “jobs” into one category…say “economy,” also beat out “values.” But you cannot escape the fact that this is a fundamentally moral nation. We are more religious than any other developed country on earth. So “values” do matter. I suspect that Chief Justice Rehnquist’s cancer announcement brought more than a few dormant voters out who had to think clearly about the implications of John Kerry appointments to the Federal Bench. We are not a nation that “hates” gay people…we just don’t want their lifestyle shoved down our throat. Case in point: Redstater’s Alma Mater, Vanderbilt, made front page coverage of the “Living” section of the “Pravda on the Cumberland,” our local rag today. We can’t seem to win football games, so I guess it’s become the aim of the school to out strange the opponent. To wit, we had a male homosexual qualify to dress in drag and get himself nominated as one of the “Princesses” to the Homecoming Court. I guarantee you, if they polled the student body, the numbers would be 80-20 opposed. It would probably be more like 95-5 opposed, but at that age, there are going to be a certain number that think it’s cool to be liberal because you’re being “open minded,” and there are going to be another certain number that would vote for it because it’s downright funny. Let’s be honest here. The Tennessean treats this story as if it were significant news…it’s not. It’s gross. It’s offensive and it is the type of “in your face” behavior that offends those of us that live where the ground is painted red. This type of permissiveness on the part of the faculty at an otherwise fine institution is indicative of the lack of moral courage on the part of the liberal elite. This is not to say that this disturbed young man is not deserving of our sympathy and care. He is, but so too are the feelings and traditions of the other 6,000 students at the school. It is this type of liberalism as demonstrated in San Francisco and in the courts of Boston that drove a huge wedge into Mr. Kerry’s campaign. The “divided nation” was on the left…they desperately needed the gay constituency to turn out for them, but that same group is very small and offends the rest of the country that just wants to be left alone.



As the dust settles and the declining print media trumpets headlines of “Divided Nation,” the good people out here in every day America are ready to get back to work. We are not divided we are a united country except in the diseased minds of a precious few. It is funny watching them on the talk shows explain how “close” the election really was, or, even better, advance their theories about how the election was rigged by Diebolt voting machines. They remind me of the black knight scene in Monty Python’s “Holy Grail:” “it’s just a flesh wound!” The other image I have, a painful one for a Southerner, is the remnants of Pickett’s Brigade emerging from the smoke on that Pennsylvania battlefield retreating back to the tree line and fading into history. For the Democrats, however, there is no General Lee riding slowly along the line saying, “it’s all my fault.”



*"Wondering Aloud" - great song by Jethro Tull!

Election Flu and a Quick Recovery

Tuesday came into Nashville wet and windy. I had a meeting downtown early and was impressed by lines at two of the polling stations I passed on my way in. Fortunately, I passed most of the day in meetings and other than a radio tidbit here and there, couldn’t really focus on the election.



About 4PM I returned to my office and flipped on my computer…a virus had struck. Not the computer, but me. A nauseous weak feeling, dryness in the mouth and a sense of great discomfort swept me. On the screen Drudge was reporting that the exit polls were boosting spirits in the Kerry camp…he was winning Florida by 8, Pennsylvania by 20, Ohio by 6! Unable to focus, I packed up some papers and headed home. Checking in with the parents in Florida brought even worse news: Redstater’s Mom reporting, “we aren’t even winning in South Carolina!” “What have I missed?” I mused. By the time I reached home, I decided the only thing to do was to ignore the TV and Internet for a while. Forty-five minutes of Nordic Tracking and reading the “Odyssey,” put me in a better frame of mind. After showering I headed to the kitchen, retrieved one of those icy cold beverages I’d love to sit down and quaff with W, and hit “Power” on the clicker.



My nausea quickly subsided as I watched the Confederacy go for W faster than Sherman burned Atlanta. Then the red tide swept up into the Mid and Southwest. Despite Susan Estrich’s bleating that these numbers were wrong because the exit polls had shown her guy would win, the electoral numbers for W were rolling up like the price of a high-octane gasoline. Despite the media’s post-2000 reluctance to call it, Florida was in the Bush camp and Ohio was headed that way fast. Juan Williams looked like he had food poisoning by 2 AM…and kept referring to jfk as “Gore.” The number stuck at 269 electoral votes from about 1 AM till 2:30 and I elected to head to bed. I knew that worst case, it would end up in the House. I also knew we were up at least 3 in the Senate.



If you recall my prediction, the last 10% - a W blowout – was in the making. The end came mercifully swift the next morning when my Blackberry buzzed…”FNC ALERT: KERRY CALLS BUSH TO CONCEDE.” It was the one truly decent thing John Forbes Kerry had done in over a year of campaigning. He was retiring from the fight like a gentleman, not the sobbing whining sniveler (now shouter) that Al Gore was four years ago. Who knows, maybe Teresa said she wasn’t going to pay the legal bills, but the reality is the numbers were stark. Later in the day, JFK gave an excellent speech and bowed out with grace and class. His full-toothed campaign mate babbled again about “working to make one America again…” “Hey, Little Johnny! Take a look at the map below…we are ONE AMERICA!”



At 3PM, George Walker Bush, gave his thanks to his campaign in a beautiful speech at the Ronald Reagan building. It’s worth a read, because it contains the heart of his agenda but also shows the decency of the man. As a Texan by birth and no doubt feeling the effects of the stress that began with the “flu” the day before, my eyes welled up on the following lines:

“Let me close with a word to the people of the state of Texas. We have

known each other the longest, and you started me on this journey. On the open

plains of Texas, I first learned the character of our country: sturdy and

honest, and as hopeful as the break of day. I will always be grateful to the

good people of my state. And whatever the road that lies ahead, that road will

take me home.”

Those lines apply not only to the people of the Lone Star State, but to all decent Americans and that’s the vast, vast majority. This election proved it. An editorial page in the Wall Street Journal this morning made the following observation:

“This is a Democratic Party in which nostalgia for tradition is too often

considered racism, opposition to gay marriage is bigotry, misgiving about

abortion is misogyny, Christian fundamentalism is like Islamic fundamentalism,

discussion about gender roles is sexism, and confidence in America's global

purpose is cultural imperialism. To put it mildly, this is not the values system

to which most Americans adhere."

It is this misunderstanding that cost and will continue to cost Democrats elections…and Redstater has no problem saying, “thank God!”



God Bless our nation, our people and our re-elected President! Now, let's all get back to work!

Red States??? RED NATION!! 

GLOAT FEST 2004

OK, OK, we’ll get back to “unifying” and putting the nation back together real soon. HOWEVER, with as much garbage as our President and we in the Redstates have had to stomach gracefully over the last four years…we’re allowed a moment of gloating!

Without further ado, here are my top ten gloats.



1.TOM DASCHLE: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Good-bye Mr. Smarmy Obstructionist!



2.MICHAEL MOORE: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Lose some weight you slobbering liar! Your poisonous accusations, lies and distortions are THE primary reason for the dialogue to get so vitriolic! You hate America and everything we stand for…LEAVE!



3. TERRY McAULIFFE: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Woopee, you raised more money and you still couldn’t win. Why don’t you and Bob Shrum open a campaign-consulting firm for LOSERS!





4. FRANCE: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Grow up and become a real country some time…the last time you deserved international respect was when an Italian was leading your forces into battle.



5. HOLLYWOOD: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Get out of your gilded mansions and realize that this country is good and decent…or, live up to the promises so many of you made and LEAVE!



6.CNN, The New York Times, MSNBCCBSABCNBC: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Nice try! Guess what? Americans are not as stupid as you think!



7.BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Love your music Boss, but stay out of politics! Ditto for Nanci Griffith and the Dixie Chicks.



8.OSAMA BIN LADEN: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Can you say “MOAB?” Dig deeper pal, we’re coming for you!



9. UN and especially the IAEA: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! Another nice try at influencing an American election…in the words of Donald Trump: “YOU’RE FIRED!”



10. EVERY LIBERAL WITH A “SELECTED NOT ELECTED” BUMPER STICKER: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!! MANDATE! GET IT!



All are invited to include their own targets for gloating!

What then must we do?

This will be my last post before we know who will be the next leader of the free world. If you have already been polarized into one camp or the other, you have probably already voted. God bless you...but consider, that this is the privelege that this President has sought to bring to millions of others around the world. Not because he was elected to do so. He did it because we were attacked. Yes, we responded and eliminated the Taliban and their sick, oppressive regime. We also attacked and eliminated the sick, oppressive regime of Saddam Hussein. Libya's Khaddafi has followed suit without us having to fire a shot.

Michael Moore sickos, the extreme left wing of the Democratic party and Osama Bin Laden, love to make light of W's sitting in the classroom that clear blue morning, reading about a goat to schoolchildren. But if you look closely at the eyes of our President, you can see a transformation occuring. A mission he had never wished for was thrust upon him and he bore that weight for all of us admirably. We were all "changed terribly, a terrible beauty was born." The sad reality is that the terrible beauty was born a long time ago: in Tehran, in Beirut, in Mogadishu, in New York City the first time the Twin Towers were bombed, in Kuwait, in Saudi Arabia, in Kenya, in Yemen. How much more were we supposed to take?

We are either 9/12 people or we are 9/10 people now. Count me in the former.

What does that mean, do be a 9/12 person?

1. It means that we have an innate trust of the American people. We believe we are the "last best hope" of freedom and that we have an obligation to carry that banner forward to all. Freedom is the elixir for terrorism.

2. It means that we understand that temporary abrogation of rights, although they have been extraordinarily small to all, are necessary in time of WAR. We remember that similar and harsher measures were necessary when our democracy was challenged before - the Civil War, World War II - and quickly restored once the coast was clear.

3. It means we understand that we cannot falter in the pursuit of the "bad guys." These people, despite their dressed up surroundings (OK, was it just me, or did it seem like the OBL tape was filmed in a UN studio? Where were the guns, the banners and the usual OBL hyperbole...I almost miss the "we will kill you and all your children" rhetoric) have every intention of killing us...and it does not matter whether you live in a red state or a blue state, despite his promise of cease-fire on the latter. You do not negotiate, appease or "deal with" these people in a more sensitive manner. You make them room temperature and then dust. The other big video released at the end of last week was the "American Taliban" dude threatening that our streets will "run with blood" if we re-elect G.W.B. I watched about 10 minutes of that and had the same reaction I used to have in my more competitive younger days: "F--- you!" You don't threaten the USA pal, we're coming for you! The Marine Corps motto should be the motto for the United States: "No greater friend, no worse enemy."

4. It means that living in the Red States, which were directly threatened by OBL in his Friday broadcast means we are under the gun. SURPRISE!!! We're all under the gun. The only way to push the barrel away is to kill the person that holds the trigger. AND to bring freedom and hope to those that might consider picking up the rifle. This is the heart and soul of the Bush doctrine...being a 9/12 person means we embrace that.

Being a 9/10 person means that you will rejoice when our enemies celebrate a jfk presidency. A number of honest liberal pundits have commented over the weekend that reviewing the OBL tape gave them pause. "How did it happen," one liberal commentator noted, "that my position is so closely aligned with a man who killed 3,000 innocent Americans?" Blame Howard Dean and Michael Moore. They hijacked the heart and soul of the Democratic party. Then blame John Kerry who never had the courage nor conviction to stand up for what is right. Whichever way the poll winds blew, jfk was there. Instead of taking a principled stand and saying that we should not denigrate the President of the United States when the country is at war, he joined right in as it suited his needs. It was and still is about power...not about what is right.

Are the domestic and social agendas important tomorrow? Of course they are! It keeps me awake at night thinking about a Kerry court. But those issues pale in comparison to the overriding concern of whether we can physically survive a Kerry presidency. God willing, we won't have to find out.

So, in the end it is this: do we want a holiday from history? If so, we will elect John Kerry. If not, and we are prepared for the roller coaster ride that is at the core of the American spirit, we will send George Walker Bush back from his ranch in Crawford, Texas to the highest elected office in the land.

Friday Face-Off

FACE-OFF: n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between two opposing players. 2. A confrontation.



The French statesman, Talleyrand, is credited with the saying "from the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step." How appropriate that the candidate who would seek approval from the French before taking action to protect this great land took that step this week.



ITEM 1: The Al QaQaa Weapons Facility (c'mon, I know that more than one of you were tickled at this name) entered the public domain with a phenomenal chain of title. Let's see...the IAEA (eeei, eeei, yo) floats a story to 60 Minutes about 377 tons of high-quality explosives done gone! Horrors!! 60 Minutes loves it and faster than you can say "forged memo" prepares a hit piece to run day after tomorrow. Well, daggumit, The New York Times, even without the services of Jason Blair, breaks the story on Monday and shazaam we got ourselves a scandal!!! Whoo hee, we're gonna get that Bush fella one way or another!! The political arm of Tne New York Times, jfk's campaign, has an ad in the can by sundown accusing our President and our forces on the ground of neglligence. THIS was the aforementioned step.



First the logic test...remember your basic syllogisms, a = b, b = c, therefore a = c? OK, here we go:

a. There were no weapons of mass destruction.

b. You fight wars to prevent the spread of wmd's.

c. "Wrong war, wrong time, wrong place."

BUT,

d. Well these weapons WERE highly destructive - some could be used as nuclear fuses! AND

e. W just walked past them out there in the desert and didn't do anything SO,

f. We should have gone to war AND

g. We didn't go to war soon enough OR

h. We didn't go to war hard enough ? OR...

i. Teacher, I need help, I'm confused....



Maybe that's what sophisticated people call "nuanced." But wait, it gets better!



ITEM 2: The Pattern:

Why do they hate us so? Why do they attack the very institutions that we hold dear, strike at our heartland, challenge our values around the world? Why at every turn do they attempt to thwart our foreign policy? "Who, "you ask, "the Islamic terrorists?"



No, the liberal democrats!



Vietnam:

jfk comes back from Vietnam, shamelessly castigates our troops and roots for the enemy.

Nicaragua:

jfk comes back from visiting Danny Ortega, shamelessly castigates our administration and roots for the enemy.

Gulf War I:

jfk votes against the war, shamelessly castigates our President in a time of hot war giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Today:

jfk votes for and against the war, shamelessly castigates our President and our troops in a time of war and gives aid and comfort to the enemy.



In each of the above scenarios, jfk reached his conclusions with fraudulent data and an attitude whose starting point is the US is wrong, In this most recent dust up, he takes the word of a politically charged UN agency over the voluminous evidence of our own forces.



jfk loves to make the statement that he would not "rush to war" and that our coalition fighting in Iraq is the coalition of the "bribed and extorted." In an executive decision, jfk rushed to war choosing his allies to be the United Nations NOT the United States.



ITEM 3: THE WEAPONS WEREN'T THERE!

A day later, the EEIEEEIO says maybe it was only 3 tons...not 377. Oops! Well, I'm sure the NYT will withdraw their story and jfk will pull his ad. NOPE! They obviously drank from the same Kool Aide pitcher. They push the attack with a very knowledgeable response: "were too!"



OKAY, soldiers from the 101st Airborne then say, "Um, we were there, we didn't see any." The Pentagon releases satellite imaging showing large equipment movers in front of the depot. And now, mid-day today a 3rd Infantry Division Major comes forward explaining that the reason the weapons are gone is because he blew them up! "Blowed up, Sir!" (Think "Stripes")



I think it was Mark Twain who once said: "against a diseased imagination demonstration goes for nothing," What would he say about the "steps" Monsieur Kerhee has taken this week?



ITEM 5: CALLING IT!

A number of you have written me and asked who I think is going to win. Here are my odds:



10% chance jfk wins it outright. He simply has too many mountains to climb and few options left on the Electoral map puzzle.

10% chance jfk wins it "funny." Fraudulent registrations in critical areas coupled with attorneys at the ready and pre-emptive legal motions AND false accusations of race baiting etc. etc.

30% chance jfk or W win it through litigation. God help us. As one wag put it, the lawyers could succeed in making us the laughing stock of Venezuela. But anytime you go into a court, you don't ever really know what's going to happen.

30% chance W wins it close. Close popular vote, close electoral vote, but enough of a margin in enough states that jfk decides not to push it into the courts.

20% chance W wins it in a blow-out. There's some funky stuff happening out there that the polls might not be picking up. Cheney heading to Hawaii? W in New Hampshire? jfk pulling ads in Florida and Colorado? Evangelical Christians registering in record numbers? College kids breaking for W? I sniff it in the wind and it reminds me a little of Reagan's first victory. It broke late and hard for him and the toothy wonder from Georgia was gone!



Net net - 65% chance for W, 35% for jfk.



If you haven't already, get out there and vote! The one silver lining in all this animosity is this could be a record percentage of the population participating in this election. As long as the vote is uncorrupted, that can only benefit our people.

Gee I wish I had said that... (Special Election Guide)

We are seven days out, the polls are all over the place (although the trends seem to favor W),and there are already indications that the next president may be litigated in, not elected to office. In the words of Tom Lehrer, one begins to feel "like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis." I maintain my optimistic view that when you look at the Electoral Map, W has a whole lot more ways to win this election than jfk. I'm guessing the medicine cabinet at jfk HQ is about out of Tums and Motrin.



Chief Justice Rhenquist's unfortunate bout with cancer should sharpen the thinking of voters on both sides. This is a clear point of difference between the two men. W will appoint justices that strictly interpret the Constitution, jfk will make sure they pass a litmus test of being pro-abortion and have a strong streak of creativity to make up new laws that overrule the will of the poeple. If this doesn't motivate conservatives to get out and vote, nothing will. I am sure it will energize the left too. Sensing that their last remaining bastion of power, the court system, is jeapordized, they will turn out in droves... I expect this will help jfk. Wait, I'm wrong. Their LAST bastion of power is the American Academy.



Let's think the unthinkable for a minute...what would a Kedwards presidency look like?



Iraq and Terrorism:

A Kerry presidency would not be a setback for our present winning strategy; it would be an unmitigated disaster. Why such a pessimistic appraisal? First, Kerry's own rhetoric has been abjectly defeatist, if not Orwellian. He promises to bring allies into a war he smears as having

been waged in the wrong place, at the wrong time. He broadcasts in advance a

timetable for withdrawal. His present positions are at odds with his own past

votes to support the Iraq operation, which he has alternately praised and

demeaned depending on the ephemeral news from the battlefield and its immediate

impact on polling. -Victor Davis Hanson

Social Security:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- While continuing his attack on President Bush's personal investment-based approach to save Social Security, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry has finally begun to suggest how he would deal with the program's $11 trillion funding gap. Yet according to Matt Moore, senior policy analyst with the National Center for

Policy Analysis (NCPA), Kerry's approach would be a "recipe for economic disaster."

Senator Kerry suggests a two part plan: increase economic growth, and institute strict pay-go budget rules that would cut all government spending to close the inevitable funding gap. "Economic growth is a good and wonderful thing. We hope we see more of it," said Moore. "But stronger economic growth alone won't solve Social Security's woes." The problem, according to the NCPA, is that Social Security benefits are tied to tax payments. Kerry's theory about increasing economic growth is that it would increase jobs, wages and thus, tax payments. But the more a worker pays in taxes, the more the government promises them at retirement. If wages rise, then so, too, will Social

Security benefits. Thus, we may narrow the gap in the short term with stronger growth, but we make the long-term problem worse absent any other reforms. For Social Security to stay technically solvent until 2075, wages would have to grow 2.9 percent annually above inflation.

-- One would need perpetual, sustained economic growth almost 4 times faster than over the past 30 years, and 41 percent faster than during the booming 1960s. As for the second part of

Sen. Kerry's emerging plan, employing pay-go spending caps to close the $11 trillion unfunded liability, the NCPA concludes that this would result in a 20 percent cut on all other government spending. "It is foolhardy to hope for unrealistic economic growth to sustain the retirement program for future generations of retirees," said Moore. "It is reckless to make draconian cuts in education, healthcare and homeland security to pay for a failure to reform the system."

-National Center for Policy Analysis

Health Care:

Of the 25 million Americans insured under the Kerry health plan, almost 22 million will be in the Medicaid program, which is a government-controlled healthcare program. Just ask any physician or any hospital what happens when a patient is treated in Medicaid. Prices are strictly controlled, and ultimately there is rationing, all of which together destroys innovation and research and development. And what happens to people who have private insurance when the government steps in and vastly expands Medicaid? Under Senator Kerry's plan, about 8 million Americans will lose their private insurance coverage and end up on Medicaid. But for John Kerry, that's not enough government expansion. His plan would create a federally run reinsurance program which makes the government responsible for 75 percent of health care expenses greater than $30,000. If government has the responsibility of everything over $30,000, they certainly will regulate everything up to that

threshold as well. Payments, reimbursements and prices would ultimately be set by government and that turns into government rationing. This plan does nothing to address the underlying root causes of the soaring cost of healthcare today. It simply shifts that cost to the backs of taxpayers - to the tune of an almost $1000 tax increase. From my perspective as a physician and one who has seen firsthand the way a healthcare system should work, we need a system centered on the doctor-patient relationship. The Kerry plan simply fails and moves in the other direction, focusing rather on big government and bureaucrats as decision-makers and that is the wrong prescription for the American people. -Senator Bill Frist, MD

Redstater would add that his Vice President is a trial lawyer...a breed of people who are at the root of the problem with higher costs in healthcare today!

Government Spending:

According to the nonpartisan National Taxpayers Union, John Kerry has proposed spending cuts that would save $300 billion over ten years. While that may look impressive at first glance, it represents a mere 1 percent reduction in projected federal outlays over that period. And let’s not forget that Kerry has also proposed spending increases totaling $2.56 trillion — that is roughly $8.50 in spending increases for every dollar of spending cuts. On net, Kerry’s spending proposals would boost federal spending $2.26 trillion over the decade. The era of “big government” may be over, but Kerry stands ready to usher in an era of “huge government.” -CBS NEWS!!

Taxes:



Read 'em and weep...this guy is the ultimate tax and spend liberal. If he's been consistent on one thing in his tenure in Congress, it has been in earning an "F" every year from the National Taxpayer's Union.







The Bottom Line:



Kerry learned a very important lesson in Vietnam. It was the strategy of the North Vietnamese: they called it "hugging the belly." If they could close with U.S. forces rapidly and stay very near, then the superiority of U.S. firepower was dramatically reduced. jfk's strategy to win this election has been just that...close with W, get as near as he can so the heavy artillery of his own record can't be used against him. The result is a confused electorate...well, not those that ply these pages regularly, but a large number of folks that are "undecided" upon whom this election will turn. Two pieces of good news for W in this department: 1) People vote for the person they can like more. Let's face it, the "Hate Bush" crowd has already voted and if they haven't, they will either not vote or will not be swayed. Remember the beer and baby-sitting test I posed way back when? (See "And So it Begins..." in the September archives) W is simply more human and likeable. 2) jfk has not "closed the sale" on why W should be replaced. If he had, he would be way ahead in the polls. He's pointed out a lot of flaws in the current administration, some justified, many not, but he hasn't spelled out what he would do differently. Why? Because he can't!! Remember, hug the belly!



Be of good cheer dear readers, all shall be well!

Friday Face-Off

FACE-OFF: n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between two opposing players. 2. A confrontation.



Well, we come to the end of a busy week...Redstater's daytime job has interfered mightily with my responsibility to you dear reader. But fear not, a quick trip to the phone booth and all shall be well!



ITEM 1: Theresagate: Note to all those on the right - leave her alone. She does more damage to herself with her bizarre outspokenness than any attempts by pundits to connect her to jfk. Pick on her and it WILL backfire, let's not go there. I come back to one of my rules of thumb: the American people are a LOT smarter than Democrats think they are. Let Theresa run amock and let the people decide.



ITEM 2: The Polls: Be at peace dear reader, with the exception of an occasional outburst from an outlying poll, W has led jfk consistently. Check out the folks at Real Clear Politics, they average all of the polls out at this writing W's up 2.4%. Newt Gingrich has noted that people vote like they buy cars. Early on, all the options are on the table - the 16-cylinder sportscar that can outrun a dragster, the 4-ton pickup truck that you need an elevator to get into the cab. But as they get closer to the purchase decision, sanity kicks in and they settle for a Toyota or a Chrysler. That explanation sheds a lot of light on the Dean collapse - aaaaaaaarghhhhh - jfk was the safe bet, even for the loonier left fringe. Redstater optimistically sticks to his assessment that this thing will break well for Bush. All shall be well.



ITEM 3: Ashley's Story: Guys, W is a genuinely good guy. jfk's little buttons aside, W IS the real deal. If you had any doubts, take a look at this ad. It's an AWESOME piece! To all my friends (you few, you valiant few) who still plan on voting for jfk, I respect you, but you have to ask yourselves: "Do I want a real human being or a phony for my president?" Let your heart be your guide. This is a man of his word.



Be of good cheer all!

Gee I wish I had said that...

Whew! Redstater is almost back home from my trials in the desert. I submit this humble post from Winston-Salem, North Carolina having escaped the Kerry-bumper-sticker-laden confines of Duke University. Today, we'll do a count at the more conservative Wake Forest, but given the general state of academia today I don't expect much improvement. It is a testimony to the fortitude of America's youth that they somehow manage to rise above the brain-washing MTV messages and the intimidation of the typical college professor to still love this great land. Those of you that have children of college or about-to-be college age know the angst I feel in sending one out of the fold into the maw of the university system.



The campaign has gotten meaner - "rise up and walk!" - and I expect it will continue to do so. Barring a Bush blowout, we can expect this thing to go into overtime. The vast new class of voter registrants mixed with legions of lawyers posted at the polls is a poisonous brew that makes the hair on my arms stand up. Regarding the former, I pray that the "get out the vote" movement in the Evangelical community is half as good as the "Vote or die" and "Rock the Vote" and "Cocaine for your vote" movement being put on by the left to attract the chin-dribble voters.



One of the mean voices in this campaign is coming from an unusual source, the woman who would be queen, Teresa Heinz Kerry. A Portuguese who grew up in Mozambique and attended Swiss schools - great that she has an international perspective - but she also has an inbred hatred of America and a lack of appreciation for America's place in the world. Here's Dennis Prager's take:

It brings me no joy to say that Teresa Heinz Kerry is not worthy of being the

first lady of the United States of America. From her public utterances -- such

as young American men and women dying in Iraq because of American "greed for

oil" -- and her many years of financial support for radical groups, it is clear

to me and many others that this woman does not particularly care for this

country. Her primary identity is that of world citizen, and her values are those

of France and anti-American Europe.

OK, OK, one of the mean things those on the right have done is to call the distinguished Senator from the Tar Heel state, the "Breck Girl." Well, there's always an element of truth in these labels... (click it on and watch the whole painful video!!)

Please don't tell me that thing in his hand is a compact. Oh, dear. It is.

I am by nature and by force of trade an optimist. I'm a "half-full" kind of guy who believes, like Reagan, that America's best days still lie ahead. They are not without challenges, however, and Bill Whittle over at www.ejectejecteject.com continues to offer some superlative analysis:

There is a big fight ahead of us, regardless of who is crowing loud in a few weeks time. Other civilizations have fallen; this one may yet. But none have been armed as we are, and our wonder weapon is not the Carrier Battle Group, the Smart Bomb, or the M1 Abrams. This Civilization is

armed with information, with real-time communication, with self-organizing expert systems. And for the first time in history, it has in its quiver the chance to hear from great minds otherwise buried in obscurity, to harness the power of billions of opinions and ideas and little, well-made boxes of

competence and expertise; brilliant and commanding voices thrown away with the chaff in preceeding generations. This is a force multiplier to cheer even the most pessimistic.

We have entered the realm of the ridiculous with jfk now campaigning about the flu virus. Why didn't W get out there and manufacture more of the dang stuff? Hell, he should have set the beakers up in the Green Room at the White House...what a slacker! Well, here's a humorous take on that score:

Flu Threat Spurs Kerry to Suspend Campaign

by Scott Ott

(2004-10-19) -- America's flu vaccine crisis claimed its first victim today as John Forbes Kerry preemptively suspended his presidential campaign in an attempt to slow the advance of the impending epidemic.

"I defended this country as a young man in Vietnam, and I will defend this country now from the terrifying specter of influenza," said Mr. Kerry, a professional Vietnam veteran and distiguished war protestor who is also a U.S. Senator. "At my last rally, I shook hands with hundreds of people, many of whom routinely sneeze into those very hands. So, in a sense, I took part in atrocities, in that I engaged in a kind of bioterrorism or germ warfare, potentially ravaging entire local populations of Democrats in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan."

Mr. Kerry said his campaign would "remain on hiatus until every man, woman and child in this country receives a free vaccination and a year's supply of hand soap and Kleenex." A spokesman said Mr. Kerry's absence from the campaign trail is just an extension of what he has done to protect his colleagues in the senate for the past year. "Sen. Kerry believes that all Americans are entitled to the same healthcare that senators get," the source noted.

At long last, a visual interpretation of "THE PLAN!" Now I get it...maybe I should vote for jfk after all!





Well, got to get back to that "work" thing...hope y'all have a great week!

Friday Face-Off

FACE-OFF: n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between two opposing players. 2. A confrontation.



SPECIAL DEBATE EDITION You must read the transript ...it is your homework!



Don't you feel like you just got an extra scoop of ice-cream in your float? The Friday Face-Off a day early! This actually works out for me, your humble "pajamahadeen" will be off tomorrow, returning to familiar ground in Tidewater, Virginia for the wedding of a very dear friend.



Well, the results are in. CNN's viewers and website responders say jfk won. FOX's viewers and website pollsters say Bush won. So there. Where does that leave us? It leaves us, I submit, with a waiting period of several days to see how it sinks in. What were the memorable lines, what was the body language, how did it "feel?"



From this viewer's perspective it went extremely well. W was clearly "on his game." I wonder if the old political Svengali, Mr. Rove suckered the Kerry camp into this trap. Remember, Bush was supposed to be strong on foreign policy weak on domestic. Perhaps the calculus in W's camp is that jfk has done so much damage to his own credibility on the foreign front that they prepped hardest for domestic issues and had that debate come at the end of the three, acknowledging that W hadn't been battle tested this season yet like jfk had been. No primary opponent means no practice.



So what are the memorable lines? Well, here's the one that may have finished the junior senator from Massachussetts: "We're all God's children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as. " Stay with me here:

1. This arrogant know-it-all has determined that homosexuality is genetic.

2. He has brought a candidate's child into the debate (it was bad enough when Little Johnny did it with Cheney, but this was truly horrid.)

3. I thought you were pro-gay! But, oh -no, the Cheney's have one of "those people" several heartbeats away from the Oval Office...Evangelicals take note and don't vote!!!!



One of Redstater's close liberal friends confided this morning that this was the worst he's heard in a political debate EVER. For an interesting gay perspective on the comment, check out one gay conservative's viewpoint at GayPatriot.



Incidentally, when Bush was asked the question that started this exchange, I thought he handled it extraordinarily well. This is what compassionate conservatism is all about:



Q: Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?



BUSH: You know, Bob, I don't know. I just don't know. I do know that we have a choice to make in America and that is to treat people with tolerance and respect and dignity. It's important that we do that.

And I also know in a free society people, consenting adults can live the way they want to live.

And that's to be honored.

But as we respect someone's rights, and as we profess tolerance, we shouldn't change -- or have to change -- our basic views on the sanctity of marriage. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I think it's very important that we protect marriage as an institution, between a man and a woman.



This one sailed out of the park! He then went on with a defense of marriage and although Redstater disagrees with the need for a Constitutional Amendment, I certainly agree that activist judges pose a serious threat to our society and need to be reigned in. Hey, re-electing W for four more years should help a lot!



How about some more memorable lines?



Well, I don't know if the lines were memorable on W's part, but how about the last question where Schieffer asking about wives and daughters said:

I'd like to ask each of you, what is the most important thing you've learned from these strong women?

BUSH: To listen to them.

(LAUGHTER)

To stand up straight and not scowl.

(LAUGHTER)

I love the strong women around me. I can't tell you how much I love my wife and our daughters.

I am -- you know it's really interesting. I tell the people on the campaign trail, when I asked Laura to marry me, she said, "Fine, just so long as I never have to give a speech. "I said, "OK, you've got a deal. "Fortunately, she didn't hold me to that deal. And she's out campaigning along with our girls. And she speaks English a lot better than I do. I think people understand what she's saying.



But they see a compassionate, strong, great first lady in Laura Bush. I can't tell you how lucky I am. When I met her in the backyard at Joe and Jan O'Neill's in Midland, Texas, it was the classic backyard barbecue. O'Neill said, "Come on over. I think you'll find somebody who might interest you. "So I said all right. Bopped over there. There was only four of us there. And not only did she interest me, I guess you would say it was love at first sight.



This is quintessential W. This is a guy that speaks from his heart, that is humble enough to be self-deprecating and that has genuine love for his family. Remember my "beer test" way back when? This is a guy you wouldn't mind quaffing some cold ones with! Call me crazy, but in my heart, I believe the American people want a president they can relate to and that they can LIKE.



OK, there was another memorable line...it was from jfk again, and it was on the same question...here it is:



KERRY: Well, I guess the president and you and I are three examples of lucky people who married up.

(LAUGHTER)

And some would say maybe me more so than others.



How many of you had to control the gag reflex on that one! "Hey, hey I'm rich cause I married a rich widow...woo hoo!! I'm not a schlup from Texas who married a librarian...got me a rich one!! Parteee!" Note, he then went on to talk about his dying mother (PULEEESE!!!!) "...integrity, integrity, integrity." Maybe she was trying to tell him, "Son, you don't have any, so don't run!" He never mentioned Teresa by name nor talked about what a "guiding light" or something she is...she isn't! She's his bank account! Note to Teresa: check your pre-nup closely!!



Now there was a lot of back and forth on specific policy issues. I counted 18 uses of the word "plan" by jfk...for God's sake tell us what's in one of your plans! A lot of the same lines were used by both sides. But my hunch is the Bush folks ought to be feeling pretty good about now. And as we get a little further away from these debates we're not going to remember the specifics, but we'll remember those few lines that stick...for good or bad. We're also going to remember a haughty professorial sanctimonious Boston brahmin who gets on your nerves. Then we'll look across our memory's aisle and see a genuine man, a hard-working, caring, thoughtful and warm God fearing man who has come to this place in time as our President. We have been blessed by his service to date, he has led us through a horrible dark tragedy with strength and character. He will lead us for the next four years and make us proud. He is an American in the best embodiment of the word.

Gee I wish I had said that...

They are gearing up in Tempe for tonight's showdown! Since I will be travelling on Friday, I will post the "Friday Face-Off Special Debate Edition" tomorrow. In the interim, here's this week's installment of "Gee, I wish I had said that..."



One of the most incisive columns I've read in awhile come from http://www.ejectejecteject.com/ you have to read the entire piece on Deterrence!! Here's a taste:

It all comes down to carrots (liberals) or sticks (conservatives). By the way: if you’re in a rush and need to run, here’s the spoiler: You can offer a carrot. Not everybody likes carrots. Some people may hate your carrot. Your carrot may offend people who worship the rutabaga. But no

one likes being poked in the eye with a stick. That’s universal.

I’m a stick man. I wish it were different. But part of growing up – in fact, the essential part of growing up – is realizing that wishing does not make it so.

Good stuff!



More mass graves have been found in Iraq, the most recent in the northern section of the country. The fact that Saddam was a mass-murderer of Hitlerian proportions is simply lost on the left...and the entire EU, except England.

Mr Kehoe said that work to uncover graves around Iraq, where about 300,000 people are thought to have been killed during Saddam Hussein’s regime, was slow as experienced European investigators were not taking part. The Europeans, he said, were staying away as the evidence might be used eventually to put Saddam Hussein to death.

This is moral equivalency run amock! These are the "carrot men" jfk would have us wait on before we could engage in self-defense. The whole revolting story is available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3738368.stm



When Redstater was in his liberal phase and spending entirely too many hours at the fraternity house sampling ale at the ol' Alma Mater, we got a big kick out of Earnest Angley, the TV Evangelical who was out "heeeeeeling people." Little Johnny Edwards must have been watching the same show! Why yesterday, he claimed...folks, I couldn't make this stuff up:

"Well, if we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again"

Charles Krauthammer, the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter said this in response on Fox:

For Edwards to make the claim he did is the worst demagoguery I've heard in Washington in a quarter century. To imply that Christopher Reeve was kept in the wheelchair because of the policies of the Bush administration on stem cells is ridiculous and insulting.

Folks, Charles Krauthammer ought to know - he is a former MD and a paraplegic: Time Column.





OK, on to the funny stuff!

"The second presidential debate was tonight. It was a town hall meeting. Sure you all watched that. Last time John Kerry did a town hall meeting, true story, a woman in the audience told him he was 'hot.' Yeah, then she told Kerry she needs healthcare so she can afford a pair of glasses."

--Conan O'Brien

"(Friday's) debate in St. Louis will be before an audience made up entirely of undecided voters. That creates a huge dilemma for Kerry. Does he stand on stage beside Bush or sit in the audience with all the other people who can't make up their minds?" --Jay Leno

"Martha Stewart's empire is said to be worth a billion dollars. Or as John Kerry calls her, the one that got away." —Jay Leno

Behave yourselves out there folks!!

Friday Face-off

FACE-OFF: n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between two opposing players. 2. A confrontation.



SPECIAL DEBATE EDITION For the complete transcript...and it's worth the read go to: http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004c.html

That WAS a face-off in St. Louis last night. If anyone is still "undecided" after that, then they fail the basic test of citizenship: being able to fog a mirror that is held under your nose. Clear distinctions were drawn between the candidates on how they would handle national security, on taxes, on domestic priorities, on abortion,and a number of smaller in-betweens.

STYLE: BIG WIN FOR W.

To the relief of Republicans, and Redstater himself, W showed up in fighting form. He was energetic in springing into his answers. He managed to turn his height disadvantage into a plus by appearing solid and athletic, like a defensive middle-linebacker waiting for the running back to come through the hole. I'm almost starting to like the blue tie! The roles were reversed - jfk was on defense, seemed programmed and in the cutaway shots he appeared to be smirking, overbearing and arrogant. As an old debater myself, one sure sign that your opponent is on defense is when he has to use time to address a prior question..."I'd like to answer your question, but let me first address what my opponent said in his last statement..." Edwards had to do frequently against Cheney and Kerry did it numerous times last night. Looking at body language, jfk actually managed to do an "AlGore" with the red line drawn between them! jfk's height advantage was erased last night as he Ichabod Cranely perched (http://www.schooltales.com/sleepyhollow/title.html ) on his stool and, dare I say it, scowled at the President. Those long, girlish, well manicured fingers wrap around the microphone like a talon...I know Halloween is approaching, but that was scaaary!

NATIONAL DEFENSE: BIG WIN FOR W.

Unless you are a multilateralist who wants to cede decisions on our safety to the EU, UN and any other alphabet soup that you think deserves a say-so, W won big. He hammered jfk on his indecisiveness and yes, flip-flopping: "I don't see how you can lead this country in a time of war, in a time of uncertainty, if you change your mind because of politics." He raised the good Senator's record (talk about Halloween horrors!) of voting for then against measures. W clearly laid out why we are fighting in Iraq...despite the Duelfer Report's findings that there were no WMD's in Iraq. W pointed out that Sadam was gaming the system...the coalition of the bribed was the UN Security Council.

W effectively pointed out the lunacy of jfk's position on coalitions:

"It is naive and dangerous to take a policy that he suggested the other day, which is to have bilateral relations with North Korea. Remember, he's the person who's accusing me of not acting multilaterally. He now wants to take the six-party talks we have -- China, North Korea, South Korea, Russia, Japan and the United States -- and undermine them by having bilateral talks."

And he rightly defended our allies like Great Britain and Poland who jfk seems to think are insignificant:

"You tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Tony Blair we're going alone. Tell Silvio Berlusconi we're going alone. Tell Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland we're going alone. There are 30 countries there. It denigrates an alliance to say we're going alone, to discount their sacrifices. You cannot lead an alliance if you say, you know, you're going alone. And people listen. They're sacrificing with us."

Redstater would have added that Kwasniewski publicly scolded jfk earlier this week and called W a "Texas gentleman."

Net, net, W has a vision for solving the terrorist problem: fight them over there and bring freedom and opportunity to them for a long range solution. jfk's response? "I have a plan" (which he said 14 times last night without ever offering specifics) and "let's get the UN, French and Germans to help." Great jfk moment last night that summed it up: Bush claimed if jfk had been the Prez, Saddam would still be in power..."Not necessarily in power..." came the reply.

TAX AND FISCAL POLICY: BIG WIN FOR W.

jfk looked squarely into the camera and said he wouldn't raise taxes on those making less than $200,000. Bush simply pointed out the Senator's record: over 200 times he's voted to raise spending caps and over 600 times he's voted to raise taxes. He also tagged our gangly Massachussetian with the "L" word. Slip up or purposeful mistatement: "Senator Kennedy has the most liberal voting record in the Senate."

The Medical debate was over when the subject of malpractice insurance costs came up:

W: "...you're now for capping punitive damages? That's odd. You should have shown up on the floor in the Senate and voted for it then. Medical liability issues are a problem, a significant problem. He's been in the United States Senate for 20 years and he hasn't addressed it. We passed it out of the House of Representatives. Guess where it's stuck? It's stuck in the Senate, because the trial lawyers won't act on it. And he put a trial lawyer on the ticket.

ETHICS 101: BIG WIN FOR W.

Stem cell research - W stood by his guns that Federal funds should not be used for embryonic stem cell research...it is not a ban, just your tax dollars can't be used for it.

Abortion - perhaps no place else was jfk's weakness exhibited:

"Now, I believe that you can take that position and not be pro- abortion, but you have to afford people their constitutional rights. And that means being smart about allowing people to be fully educated, to know what their options are in life, and making certain that you don't deny a poor person the right to be able to have whatever the constitution affords them if they can't afford it otherwise."

W responded with the zinger of "I'm trying to decipher what he just said..." and went into a passionate defense of life. He drilled Kerry with jfk's own vote against a ban on partial birth abortion.

CLOSING STATEMENTS: BIG WIN FOR W.

Peggy Noonan once noted that Democrats are great in press conferences and Republicans are better at giving speeches. The closing statement was an endorsement of that theory. jfk used the phrase "I have a plan" four times on a laundry list of items that seem small when you consider that we are at war. W didn't use the soaring rhetoric of a Ronald Reagan, but he painted a vision for the future and closed strong with his guiding belief:

"But our long-term security depends on our deep faith in liberty. And we'll continue to promote freedom around the world. Freedom is on the march. Tomorrow, Afghanistan will be voting for a president. In Iraq, we'll be having free elections, and a free society will make this world more peaceful."

This man has a core and deserves to be re-elected.

The press will try to spin it as a "tie," the CNN.com website will get swamped by DNC faithful voting on-line to say that jfk won. But at the end of the day, the man from Texas bested the man from Massachussets badly. Whatever loss of momentum his march back to the White House sustained last week has been replaced by a big, burly "MO" on his side. Thank you, Mr. President!

Gee I wish I had said that...

I don't know about you, but jfk's powers of ESP are becoming somewhat annoying - Q: So was it a mistake to go to war in Iraq? jfk: "It depends on the outcome." On-line columnist David Warren puts it well:



To blame the Bush administration for not having anticipated everything that has

happened since they entered Iraq, is to assume they have godly powers of

clairvoyance.





Concerning the "coalition of the bribed"...which now turns out to be France, Germany and Russia, blogger Instapundit quips:



How do you pass the "Global Test" when those grading it have been bribed to flunk you?

From blogger California Yankee comes this reflection:

After watching the Cheney - Edwards debate, I now understand why Edwards only won one primary battle.

I've directed you to the Victor Davis Hanson site before, but I've got to do it again...this is in the "must read" stack...make sure you scroll back through and get parts 1 through 3 as well:

http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson100204.html

Finally, I've got to direct you to the new video at www.jibjab.com . If you haven't seen the remake of "This Land is Your Land," watch that...then catch their latest addition, "Good to be in DC." It's irreverent and hits at both sides...but we've got to keep our sense of humor.

I plan to publish the Friday Face-Off tomorrow after tonight's debates. Meet me in St. Louis!!

REAL Navy, REAL people, REAL smiles! 

A Heartbeat Away

Let's be adults here...Dick Cheney won this dust-up last night going away. There were some spots he could have done better, but I suspect they are brushing up on seppuku ( http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=seppuku) procedures over at jfk central. Who was that kid up there with the Vice President?



There's a picture posted below about mate selections and what that says about a man...last night spoke volumes about the President and jfk. W picks his Veep to be a man that can assume the role of President with confidence...as Cheney himself quipped last night: "he didn't pick me because I could deliver Wyoming's three electoral votes." jfk picks HIS man for what? Sex appeal? Some more Hollywood type glam on the ticket? Smile wattage? Maybe it's 'cause he has a "pla- ya- an." (Dammit, I'm a Southerner and that accent grated on me! One radio wag this AM was speculating that Little Johnny was trying to channel Bill Clinton and he's still alive!)



At the start, in the weird 5 minutes before the official start, when Cheney and Edwards first walked in, you sensed a presence from the Vice President...he was pleasant, matter of fact, in-charge. Edwards looked like he was trying out for the lead in the Senior play - big toothy grin to the camera, eyebrows shifting up and down with the "how do you like me now?" look. Cheney sat down and wrote some notes on the pad...Edwards sat down looked over at Cheney then HE pulled out his pen and started scribbling notes. ("Oh! That's what I'm suppposed to do...OK. Damn, there's only one color of crayon!") Both were probably writing down the zingers they would use later...difference is, Cheney delivered, Edwards got drubbed.



Cheney was crisp and succinct in his answers. He bolstered the Administration's argument for going to war ("we feel we should hunt them down over there"), he spoke glowingly of the President's courage in making difficult decisions and he ripped the top of the opposing ticket, jfk, to shreds. When Johnny Edwards got in the way, he got mauled too: "Frankly, your Senate record isn't very impressive." This was a Chicago Bears circa 1985 style defense ( )...it was smothering. I was reminded of the Sean Connery line in the untouchables (Italians, no disrespect intended!): "isn't that just like a Dego, bringing a knife to a gun fight."



THE killer line came during the discussion of Iraq policy. Little Johnny kept talking about their "plan" and how magically everything will get better in the future if they are elected to play at 1600 Pennsylvania. Dick Cheney nodded with that little smile he gets, then pounced. He reviewed the switching positions and connected them to the Democratic primary results then finished with: "If you can't stand up to Howard Dean, how are you ever going to stand up to Al Quaeda?" If this was a boxing match, it was a body blow that you could hear ribs crack under.



At the mid-point of the debate, Cheney TKO'd Edwards with the zinger on the latter's Senate attendance and performance. "...I hadn't met you until you walked on this stage tonight." Little Johnny's knees buckled...his hand visibly shook as he reached for the coffee cup. The moderator should have called the fight at that point. They went on to trade jabs over domestic policy, but I expect most people tired of the civics lesson that was being given to a sitting Senator and tuned out.



The final bumbling funny was the " Aw shucks, I broke the rule again..." moments when Little Johnny couldn't stop repeating the phrase "John Kerry and I." He was out of ammo by the 30-minute mark and the only thing he could mutter in defense of the pummelling he took was "Halliburton."



Big Mo is back in the Bush camp and it should help carry the President through the next two debates.

I knew I saw something in that smile...did you catch the eyebrows too? 

Friday Face-Off

FACE-OFF: n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between two opposing players. 2. A confrontation.



At long last, the first debate is in the bag. Consensus is that it was a draw, with maybe a slight edge to Kerry. The orange glow was gone and he scored points with the metro-sexual set waving his long, recently manicured fingers around. W has a funny way of twisting his mouth that appears to be somewhere between a grimace and a half-smile...not flattering, but I think he made up for it by speaking directly into the camera. jfk spoke to Jim Lehrer. So here's how I scored it:



1. Style: A tie, although if the poofy-haired look is back, jfk wins. Kerry's height was an advantage, but his wierd Lincolnesque facial structure is cold on TV. W comes across as warm, caring and engaging. jfk comes across as the arrogant professor in the required course you hated.



2. Iraq: A tie. jfk managed to weasel out of his shifty record on the war. W failed to deliver a knock-out blow. The illogical thesis jfk puts forward regarding the "$200 billion spent in Iraq that could be spent at home" needs to be addressed - so you would stay in Iraq and finish the job but spend the money at home?



3. Korea: Big advantage for W. He communicated that he understood the complexities of this situation, that he knew all the world leaders involved and that a 6-way negotiation was the way to keep pressure on Kim Jong mentally Il. In an ironic twist, Mr. Multi-national said he would move forward with a bi-lateral negotiation with KJL, ignoring our allies in the region!



4. Iran: How 'bout them Moolahs? Advantage W. Especially if you saw any of the O'Reilly interviews earlier this week. W is crystal clear : Iran will not have nuclear weapons. jfk has a "policy" - he'll tell the IAEA we're "really mad now" and insist on sanctions. If that doesn't work, he'll convene a summit, go to the UN, derive another policy...hey, I'm serious dammit!! Hey, jfk, it's hard to see the nuance in a mushroom cloud!



5. W's Best moments: There were several...the wrenching story about meeting with parents of a fallen soldier showed how genuinely human this man is. jfk could not articulate a decent answer to this other than raise his experience in Vietnam again. I think W landed a solid body blow when jfk said that a "global test" would be applied before preemption. A stinging right hook caught jfk when W challenged him to explain his "coalition of the coerced and the bribed" to Tony Blair. W's humanness came through again when he ducked the "character" question and complimented jfk on his service, his fatherhood and his daughters. Finally, I think his closing statement was far superior.



6. jfk's Best moment: The shot at W about how his father pulled up short in lieu of marching to Baghdad in the first war was a solid jab that visibly landed on W's cheek - the split screen showed him glaring across the divide. Of course in Texas you don't talk about a man's daddy without 'spectin' to have to step outside!



Net, net, the "Insta-polls" will give Kerry the edge. He may have breathed a little life into his flagging campaign, but Redstater believes the lingering images will be a sincere W staring into the camera and talking to YOU versus elegantly manicured jfk pontificating on why his position in Iraq is actually consistent. Interestingly, the local rag, Pravda on the Cumberland - I mean The Tennessean polled 5 undecided voters...after the debate - 3 went for Bush, 1 for jfk, 1 still undecided.

Vietnam Vets: Welcome Home!

I wrote about the redemption of Vietnam Vets earlier in this blog - but here's a column that puts it all together quite well: http://www.omegaletter.com/articles.asp?ArticleID=3707

In the must read category...

I think very highly of Victor Davis Hanson's work: here's a link to his piece on the United Nations that is a must read:



http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson092404.html

Gee I wish I had said that...

Well, the yard-sign thieves struck again. Maybe next time we'll swab the edges with curare to put an end to this! Anyhow, browsing through the week's reading, here is the September 29 edition of "Gee, I wish I had said that..." Enjoy!



Debra Burlingame is the sister of Chris Burlingame, the pilot of American Airlines Flt. 77, which crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11. Though a lifelong Democrat, she has put principle above party and has been an eloquent defender of W's Iraq policy. I don't know about you, but I was outraged last week when jfk attacked Prime Minister Allawi...here is her take:

It was these young people whom I thought of when Interim Prime Minister Ayad

Allawi stood before a joint session of Congress last week and paid tribute to

the sacrifices of his countrymen and the coalition forces fighting for us all.

For political partisans to call the hope of so many a cynical calculation or a

foolish dream risks, with a few cheap words, energizing our enemies who measure

their success by the blood and tears of these brave hearts. Optimism in the face

of obstacles is not living in "fantasyland." It's courage.

Whoo boy, if you think we have trouble with the French now, have a read here:



www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/685ozxcq.asp



jfk's somnambulist style is obviously getting to fellow blogger at redstate.org. He weighs in with this:

Will Kerry not shut up? He has run the most bizarre campaign since Michael

Dukakis. I can only imagine that next Kerry will say he would sing kumbaya and

hold hands with the murderer of his wife, before letting the guy out on parole.

I actually found something by Gary Trudeau I like - this from 1971!! Have a read and enjoy:



http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/kerry_faq.html Ahh, the more things change, the more they stay insane!



From the late night circuit, the retiring Mr. Leno:

You see the pictures in the paper today of John Kerry windsurfing? He's at his

home in Nantucket this week, doing his favorite thing, windsurfing. Even his

hobby depends on which way the wind blows.

I always said, humor is the best medicine! 

Down here in the South, we respect a man that can throw a tight spiral...AND catch it! 

OK - who do YOU want protecting the country? 

If the most important choice a man makes is the selection of his life partner, what does this say? 

Friday Face-off

FACE-OFF:n. 1. A method of starting play in ice hockey by dropping the puck between opposing players. 2. A confrontation.

Dear reader, Redstater is on a plane headed to Baltimore. From there it is over to Harper's Ferry, WV for a weekend of biking and kayaking.

We will ride from Harper's Ferry to Antietam - from the site of one of the first terrorist acts in American history (We'll check to see if John Brown's body is still mouldering!) to the site of the bloodiest day of the Civil War. On September 17, 1862, 12,410 Union soldiers died in the process of killing 10,700 Confederates. Lee was forced to retreat back across the Potomac, but more significantly, England decided to not recognize the fledgling Confederacy. Lincoln, sensing the tide was turning, issued the Emancipation Proclomation three months later. Wierd thought about this history drenched trip: if John Kerry had been around back then, John Brown would have lived to be an old man and you might need a passport today to travel from Maryland to Virginia.

Because I'm already in a vacation mindset, I only have one item for the face-off today for you to consider.

I. What's the real story in Darfur? Obviously the UN won't do anything but blow air at the problem...but why? It's uniquely suited for them: ill-equipped and poorly trained army, lot's of Brownie points. Hell, even the French might be able to handle this one...like they did Bosnia...wait, the French didn't handle Bosnia.

But dammit, we're approaching 1 million dead or soon to be dead and Brer Kofi and pals are too busy undermining US efforts in Iraq to say a word? Wait, what was that you just whispered? OIL??!! From the Wall Street Journal: “The picture wouldn't be complete without mentioning the most promising oil field. Block 5 is situated in the south, where Khartoum just agreed on a peace deal after a 21-year campaign against the local Christian and animist Africans that left 2 million dead. Because of the fighting, TotalFinaElf, the FRENCH OIL GIANT that owns the concession to this field, suspended operations there in the 1980's. It can only tap those reserves if the peace holds.”Hmmmm, French oil interests versus a despotic government? Maybe Kofi can set his son up in another oil for food scam!


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