Nutjobs Ranting About Politics.

[sgtclub]

Interesting article in todays WSJ. Seems that some Germans who were displaced by the Poles in 1945 want their homes back.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
"The Mary Ann myth:
Kerry falsifies NH woman’s story

NEXT TIME John Kerry accuses President Bush of misleading the American people, remember Mary Ann Knowles.

Knowles is the Hudson woman whose battle with breast cancer Kerry has turned into a campaign anecdote. Here is what Kerry said about Knowles during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on July 29:

“What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer I met in New Hampshire, had to keep working day after day right through her chemotherapy, no matter how sick she felt, because she was terrified of losing her family’s health insurance? America can do better. And help is on the way.”

What it means is that John Kerry is fibbing. As Union Leader correspondent Scott Brooks reported on Sunday, Mary Ann Knowles did not have to work through her chemotherapy for fear of losing her health insurance. Employed by Elderhostel, the Boston-based non-profit travel organization for people 55 and older, Mary Ann had 26 weeks of paid disability at her disposal. More was available for a long-term illness. She did not have to work through her chemotherapy. She chose to.

Knowles would have lost some income had she taken the disability leave, said her husband, who is unemployed. But she would not have lost her health insurance, as Kerry has repeatedly misstated.

Asked if the Kerry campaign bothered to get the details of Knowles’ personal story, spokeswoman Judy Reardon said Kerry’s use of the words “every day” in describing Knowles story was “a colloquialism.” She went on: “When a woman has a mastectomy and goes through therapy, I don’t need to double-check on her.”

In other words, Kerry knowingly used the words “every day” when he did not mean “every day,” and he used the phrase: “she still has to go to work every day — just to hang on to their health insurance” when she did not have to work every day and was in no danger of losing her health insurance.

In short, he lied. Repeatedly.

With all that has come to light about Kerry’s voting record and his Vietnam service, his misrepresentation of Marry Ann Knowles’ story should surprise few. Kerry cannot even get his own personal history straight, so how can we expect him to correctly relay someone else’s? "

(From The Union Leader . )

Remember "I invented the internet"? Remember how Gore never recovered popular credibility?

Kerry invented . . . well . . . lots of stuff, apparently.

But he never invented WMD. Or uranium from Niger.

Which isn't to suggest that lying is a good thing. But it isn't unique to Kerry. And so far, none of his lies have led to the deaths of 900 US soldiers.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
Thanks! It's temporary, but so's the absence. I'll resume overposting eventually. The damned ankle-bracelet interferes with the wi-fi.

If you put your aluminum foil helmet back on, like I told you to, that wouldn't happen. Geez!

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Apropos of not much, but worth a chuckle...

Drudge is claiming the Kerry's spent the night in separate hotel rooms after a heated argument.

Link

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Aloha Mr. Learned Hand
Apropos of not much, but worth a chuckle...

Drudge is claiming the Kerry's spent the night in separate hotel rooms after a heated argument.

Link

Though entertaining, it is this kind of stuff that should be off limits.

[SEC Issues]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Though entertaining, it is this kind of stuff that should be off limits.

I disagree. They chose to do the campaign travel together, publicly. Besides, it makes me think better of Kerry cuz it makes him seem more human. Who wouldn't be tense and testy with their schedule and demands? Overall, I think that Drudge running this will get JFK more votes, out of sympathy.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by bilmore
Fuck, it's all as ephemeral and noteworthy as "I invented the internet". Thing is, this isn't a campaign about two candidates with differing plans for our country. It isn't about the simple divide between liberal and conservative.

I prefer to think that for the majority not part of the rabid "cores" its mostly about the first thing, the "different plans." Even most of the "core" folks will _think_ that's what its about.

Originally posted by bilmore
And, at this point, it's not even about Bush-haters and Kerry-haters. It's gone way past that. It's now simply two armed camps made up of the "bases" who hate each other so much that no prisoners will be taken. People are now fighting dirty for this election simply because they can't stand the thought of those other shits who've been calling them idiots and liars and assholes for a year or more winning.

(A) Well then, the obvious way to fix the problem is to let the DEMS take everyone's guns away.

(B) This hasn't been much different since Clinton won in 1992 -- and the efforts began to gear up to destroy him. It is more intense now, and flowing from both sides, but in some ways I prefer this. The problem has become blatant enough that many people profess disgust and that the campaigns and parties stay away from it (officially), so that is good. Perhaps a stronger backlash is coming.

(C) OK, let's you and me fight.

S_A_M

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by bilmore
To take out a murderer responsible for - what did National Geographic estimate - seven million dead Kurds alone? with only 900 casualties is, on balance, a good trade for humanity.) I think he chose the safer option, for all concerned.

Yeah, but the bitter truth is that this decision may cost Bush his job NOT solely based on the invasion itself, but based on the effects that the increased costs of energy have on the economy. (Slowing growth, weak job creation, etc.)

Sure, lots of the increase in oil prices is due to the demand from China, but the "terror premium" of $8-$10 per barrel due to the instability in Iraq makes a big difference.

In the end, American voters will respond to the economy more than the rest of it, and a 43% Bush approval rating at this stage isn't good for him.

So, in your scenarios Bush is a good, honest and honorable man who works hard to do the right thing, but he may still end up fucked as a direct result of doing the right thing. Tough pill, isn't it?

(I feel your pain, brother. I'm still bitter about what happened to Clinton, although I will concede he isn't so honest or honorable.)

Hah!

S_A_M

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by bilmore
Wow. You spent HOW MANY WEEKS crowing about Wilson back then? (Boy, poor Josh took quite the hit, too, didn't he?) At some point, Ty, you start to sound like Kerry. "I thought Wilson was the smoking gun before I thought he was irrelevant"?

Wilson was important for what he said, but little now turns on his credibility (which is not nearly as damaged as you seem to think). Whether or not crimes were committed in the defenestration of his wife does not turn on what he has said. Likewise, he turns out to have been right in the main about Niger and the uranium. He does give you guys someone to beat up, though, which must be nice for you.

Don't make me start linking to what I posted three weeks ago.

Nope. I heard contradictory evidence, as did we all, and came down on the side of "there's a very good chance they're there, and we need to decide based on a calculus of the dangers of action versus inaction." I was more certain that he had the facilities up and running to make them, and I was wrong about that, but, again, it's a cost-benefit equation.

You moved from "we all knew he had WMD" to "we all knew he didn't necessarily have WMD" in a frighteningly small number of posts.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by bilmore
4. The part that I think will make you bellow - I have a much higher opinion of Bush's sense of honor than you do (not a high bar, I know), and I don't think Bush is the type to fight these kinds of battles, in this way. I agree that this has degenerated into a dishonorable campaign, but I am comforted by the fact that youse guyz started it about two years ago. I think he's uncomfortable with it, and isn't going to be spouting off such personally insulting crap.

It's kind of like the original Mayor Daley. For 21 years, he ruled Chicago with an iron fist, while all around him his cronies and machine pals got indicted and went to prison.

If you lie down with dogs, you wake up smelling like them.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by taxwonk
If you lie down with dogs, you wake up smelling like them.

To respond to bilmore, three words:

McCain. South Carolina.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
Night. See ya'all in a few weeks.

Boy, you sit out a night, and you miss the whole conversation.

And just like that, Club's shoulders are again heavy, Hank has to pick up the baggage and content himself with lazy dreams of regime change and poster destruction ("Guardez", Hank? You fracophile, you!), Slave slumps back to the filming studio, and Penske continues ... uh ... being Penske.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

According to Karen Hughes, anyway:

• In her new book, "Ten Minutes From Normal," Hughes recounts a conversation with Bush after Russian President Vladimir Putin grilled him on his Yale days.
  
  "President Putin knew you had played rugby, but he didn't have the context. I mean, you just played for one semester in college, right?" Hughes said.
  
  Bush corrected: "I played for a year, and it was the varsity."
  
  Yesterday, a Yale spokeswoman confirmed that there's no such thing as varsity rugby at Yale - not when Bush was an undergrad in the 1960s and not today.

Lloyd Grove

I really don't care about this, but post it only to note that if this was an anecdote about Kerry, conservatives would be trumpeting it as evidence of moral failings that render him unfit to serve.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by bilmore
"The Mary Ann myth:
Kerry falsifies NH woman’s story

[stuff]

Remember "I invented the internet"? Remember how Gore never recovered popular credibility?

Kerry invented . . . well . . . lots of stuff, apparently.

Oh, give me a fucking break. If this is where you want to plant your flag, be my guest.

I know this is a moot point since you're gone again and all, and won't review the stuff you miss in the interim, but could someone explain to me how the accuracy of anecdotes should be anything that anyone gives a shit about.

If Reagan* taught us anything (other than bilmore's favorite lesson, that "Deficits don't matter") he surely taught us that anecdotes are pure fucking gold in American politics, and that making them up from wholecloth not only improves the story, but seems to be a requirement.

Gattigap

* With an Honorable Mention to Smilin' Phil Gramm, and his buddy janitor, "Charlie."

[Tyrone Slothrop]

To answer my own question from last night (thanks a lot, people), this morning's paper informs me that Porter Goss had already announced that he would not run for re-election this year.