Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Bombs in Israel, Russia; Execution of Nepalese hostages in Iraq?
Corporate Sponsorship at the Conventions:
Bill Moyers’ NOW ran an expose of the corporate parties at the conventions, including almost gory film of Nancy Pelosi being feted by Time Warner, Sen. Corzine skipping out on Teddy K’s speech about Big Money while attending one such extravaganza. Corporate sponsorship of Governor Arnold was also highlighted. The LA Times picked it up:
Instead, he will stick to familiar venues during his three-day visit, the estimated $350,000 cost of which is being paid by corporations, including drug companies who oppose healthcare related bills that soon will land on his desk. He plans to visit a Harlem school to highlight his support for after-school programs, attend a tribute organized by the motion picture and recording industries and drop by a lunch for the California delegation at Planet Hollywood. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-arnold31aug31,1,1173996.story?coll=la-home-headlines
What’s Happening, Iraq: Attacks- 60 a day!- and Casualties Up Since the Handover
Two months after the U.S. handed sovereignty back to Iraq amid hopes of reduced violence, more than 110 U.S. troops have been killed and much of the country remains hostile territory. The toll of U.S. dead since the war began last year is fast approaching 1,000.Although attention in recent weeks has focused on Najaf, where U.S. forces battled Shiite Muslim militiamen, most of the deadly confrontations for American troops in newly independent Iraq have occurred in the Baghdad area and the so-called Sunni Triangle to the north and west.The concentration of attacks in those areas is a reminder that the fiercest and most organized opposition to U.S. forces and the U.S.-backed interim government continues to be in Sunni-dominated cities, such as Fallouja. Nationwide, U.S. forces are being attacked 60 times per day on average, up 20% from the three-month period before the hand-over. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-military31aug31,1,6647155,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Opposition Caucus:
Dozens of Iraqis opposing the American occupation of their country attended a Sunday meeting in Beirut that is designed to form a national council.
The group would form a national council in Iraq parallel to the current one that was formed earlier this month in Baghdad.
The coordinator of the preparatory meeting, Abdul Amir al-Rekabi, told United Press International the gathering includes representatives of different tribes, as well as leftists and pan-Arab nationalists.
He said a preparatory committee meeting soon in Baghdad is expected to attract 1,000 people. http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqtfuWeidBgvIyw5VBI1PCMfX
Ongoing Prison Abuse/Torture: Reports that the abuse is more widespread and ongoing than will be admitted.
While the latest reports investigating the widely condemned events at Abu Ghraib prison attempt to close the book on the Pentagon's culpability with a somber critique, new evidence gathered for a class action lawsuit filed against two US-based private contractors could prove that the scandal at Abu Ghraib was far from an isolated series of incidents perpetrated by a few rowdy "bad apples" working the night shift during Ramadan.
An attorney representing former detainees says his recent fact-finding mission to Baghdad uncovered dozens of cases of physical and psychological abuse, sexual humiliation, religious desecration and rape in ten US-run prisons throughout occupied Iraq. http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=911&printmode=true
The Pentagon Policies have Hurt U.S. Troops
Thoughtful article by Paul Rieckhoff and Dafna Hochman
Four major Pentagon policies in the past year have undermined the morale of U.S. troops and their families - and are likely to leave a negative long-term impact on the ability of the armed services to recruit and retain service members in the long term.
.
First, in the dog days of August 2003, while Congress recessed, the Pentagon quietly cut payments for imminent danger and family separation. Earlier that summer, Congress had given the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq and the 9,000 serving in Afghanistan a $75 a month imminent danger pay increase and a $150 monthly allowance to fund rent and child care for their families at home…
Third, though the Pentagon had not planned sufficiently to protect and equip U.S. troops, in early September 2003 it decided to lengthen the deployment of nearly 20,000 National Guard and Reservists serving in Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/536423.html
Franklin-Israel-Iran Scandal:
How else to identify this? Again, Larry Franklin is the Wolfowitz aide who has been identified as the individual who was telling the Israelis what U.S. actions/thoughts about Iran were. Apparently word getting out has shaken enough people that much shredding has been happening.
It appears to be the case that someone in the Pentagon got wind that Larry Franklin had been flipped, and was terrified that the investigation might go on up the ladder at the Pentagon, in AIPAC, and with the Israelis. So they leaked news of the investigation to make sure that everybody clammed up and shredded everything.The NYT piece today reflects continued efforts at the Pentagon to paint Franklin as a low-level desk grunt with little access to Paul Wolfowitz. This last is just a lie. In a conversation with me, Franklin indicated that he was in very close contact with Wolfowitz, and he offered to get me an audience. www.juancole.com
Election Stuff:
So where is the Democrats’ “Rapid Response Team”?
http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/
In fact, Kerry’s campaign may finally realize it’s floundering. Al Hunt’s Wall Street Journal piece:
As the Bush campaign commands an exquisitely directed convention, the faltering Kerry campaign might be on the verge of a major shake-up.
Ever since the Boston convention, the Bush campaign has dominated the agenda, putting the Democratic nominee on the defensive. While polls still show a close race, everything is tilting in the GOP direction, a movement that almost surely will be enhanced by a successful New York convention.
Dispirited Democrats -- prominent senators, top fundraisers, even a few Kerry confidants -- have told the candidate, who is in Nantucket, that high-level changes are imperative. A few very well-connected Democrats report something will occur in the next few days. One person who might assume more control is Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary to Bill Clinton and a respected public-relations figure, but one who has almost no experience in the high-stakes world of presidential campaigns. Another possibility: veteran Democratic politico John Sasso, currently at the Democratic National Committee.
If there is a change -- Sen. Kerry privately is said to be "bouncing off the walls" in frustration -- it has to be imminent as the eight-week campaign is in full swing by Labor Day. "We have 48 hours," acknowledges an insider. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109396051280705705,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Late Tuesday it was announced that there are some “additions” to the campaign- Joe Lockhart as senior adviser plus a a director of rapid response (Joel Johnson) and 4 others.
FastShip and Swift Boats: Seems like one of Kerry’s new accusers is a Repub. Loyalist who gave Bush big money and whose client (FastShip) received a $40 million contract. Details from Dana Milbank at the Washington Post:
Kerry has said Schachte was not on the boat that night, adding another mystery to the disputed events of 36 years ago. But other events are not in dispute. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip on issues such as the effort to win funding for a new marine cargo terminal. On Feb. 2, Philadelphia-based FastShip announced that it would receive $40 million in federal funding for the project.
In addition, David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York. Records also show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns.
The Kerry campaign alleges foul play. "It's amazing what a $40 million government contract can do for your memory," Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said, noting that Schachte did not challenge Kerry's Purple Heart while describing the incident in an interview last year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47542-2004Aug30.html
Low Moments at Their Convention: Many, but I “liked”:
(1) Giuliani, b.s’ing as to 9/11- when realizing there was an attack, “I said, ‘Thank God George Bush is our president.’”
[Let’s not forget that for most of his time in office, Giuliani was an arrogant, combative, divisive mayor, especially battling the black community, the press and the cultural establishment. 9/11 re-made him as much as Junior.]
(2) Then, there’s the South Carolina delegation’s spokesperson identifying S.C. as the "most patriotic state in the country.” Guess they’ve come a-ways since leading the states rights charge in the 1830’s and the secession/treason [vs the Republican president] in 1861.
Entertaining Moment Away From the Convention:
Bush re the smear-ad: "I can understand why Senator Kerry is upset with us. I wasn't so pleased with the ads that were run about me. And my call is get rid of them all, now."
Hmmm. And what does he mean, "Us"?? He wasn’t supposed to have had anything to do with it. The media, of course, ignored his comment.
Bush Flip Flopping Flipping: In a 28 hour period:
1)"We have a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world."
2) "I don’t think you can win [the war on terror]. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”
3) "Not only are we winning it, but we will win it."
The Media, such as NPR, let him off with “Bush clarified his remark…” while allowing spokespersons attack the media, “If you paid attention to the context of his remarks you’d realize that…”
Military Records:
I casually mentioned “Ben Barnes”, the “prominent Texas politician” noted below, who confessed to getting Bush into the Texas Air National Guard. Mainstream media have continued to ignore it, while the internet is abuzz…
Faced with fresh news in the ongoing debate about the presidential candidates’ military service during the Vietnam War, the media blinked this weekend, doing its collective best to ignore an embarrassing new revelation by the prominent Texas politician who says he landed President Bush a coveted pilot spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and is now "ashamed" of his actions.
The explosive comments from a central player in the National Guard drama -- captured on video and available online -- have received just cursory coverage in the mainstream media since it was brought to light on Friday. The shoulder-shrugging response stands in stark contrast to the media orgy that’s greeted the hollow, secondhand allegations made about John Kerry’s Vietnam service by the Republican-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has yet to make a single factual allegation stick about the circumstances surrounding Kerry’s five war medals. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/30/barnes_update/index_np.html
Bush Second Term: More Transfer to the Extremely Wealthy
The lack of troops may constrain the imperial ambitions, but you know the ongoing transfer of wealth to the extremely wealthy will continue. John Cassidy in next week’s New Yorker posits something similar.
When the President pledges to create an “era of ownership,” he is not talking merely about encouraging people to buy their own homes and start small businesses. To conservative Republicans who understand his coded language, he is also talking about extending and expanding the tax cuts he introduced in his first term; he is talking about allowing wealthy Americans to shelter much of their income from the I.R.S.; about using the tax code to curtail the government’s role in health care and retirement saving; and, ultimately, about a vision that has entranced but eluded conservatives for decades: the abolition of the graduated income tax and its replacement with a levy that is simpler, flatter, and more favorable to rich people. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040906fa_fact
Newspaper “Bravery’: St Petersburg Times Retracts Endorsement of Repub. Mel Martinez (former Bush Cabinet member)
The Times originally recommended former U.S. Housing Secretary Mel Martinez to Republican voters in Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary, but that was before Martinez took his campaign into the gutter with hateful and dishonest attacks on his strongest opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum. The Times is not willing to be associated with bigotry. As a result, we are taking the almost unprecedented step of rescinding our recommendation of Martinez…
No matter what else Martinez may accomplish in public life, his reputation will be forever tainted by his campaign's nasty and ludicrous slurs of McCollum in the final days of this race. The slurs culminated with Martinez campaign advertisements that label McCollum - one of the most conservative moralists in Washington during his 20 years as a U.S. representative - "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" because he once favored a hate crime law that had bipartisan support. A few days earlier, the Martinez campaign arranged a conference call with reporters in which a group of right-wing Martinez supporters labeled McCollum "antifamily." Why? Because McCollum supports expanded stem cell research to find cures for deadly diseases - a position that is identical to those of Nancy Reagan, Connie Mack and many other prominent Republicans. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/30/news_pf/Opinion/McCollum_for_GOP.shtml
A Comment: San Francisco Chronicle’s Mark Morford:
So, let's see: Bona-fide war hero turned incredibly articulate, educated, gifted Vietnam War protester and respected senator on one side, alcoholic AWOL failed-businessman born-again pampered daddy's boy evangelical Christian on the other. Is this really the contest? Bush slugs gin and tonics like Evian while Kerry is accused of ... what again? Not being incredibly heroic enough? Wow. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/08/27/notes082704.DTL&type=printable
The foreign press’s horror re Bush continues. Jefferson Morley at the WaPost:
The Republican Party is about to nominate him by acclamation.
Almost half of all American voters polled say they will vote for him in November.
But in the international online media, the vast majority of commentators are harshly critical of President George W. Bush. On every continent pundits are faulting Bush for his persona as well as his policies. Most dislike his conduct of the war in Iraq. Many say his attitude toward the rest of the world is contemptuous, misinformed and dangerous. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A47622-2004Aug30?language=printer
Including, Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star, who notes
The American presidential election on Nov. 2 is John Kerry's to lose. He very well may, so ineffective has he been thus far.
No contemporary incumbent president has been in so much trouble on so many fronts so early in the campaign as George W. Bush. The sins for which Lyndon Johnson quit, and Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush were defeated, were minuscule by comparison.
There is, of course, the Iraq war, waged illegally and under false pretences. And there is the botched occupation.
There is the anti-Americanism worldwide, including among democratic allies.
There is Abu Ghraib — the initial crimes and the subsequent avoiding of responsibility.
There is Guantanamo Bay, and the setting aside of the rule of law on American soil as well.
There is the fanning of fear and paranoia, along with the creation of a surveillance society where snoops have all the power and citizens few…[The list goes on and on] http://www.maxlogan.com/siddiqui.0829.htm
2008: Repubs line up- Giuliani, Romney et al
[Sen. Chuck] Hagel’s visit began a parade of possible presidential contenders before the Iowa delegation this week.
Today, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will appear at a breakfast reception held by U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also is scheduled to stop by the reception.
Later this week, New York Gov. George Pataki is scheduled to meet with Iowa’s convention delegates. http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1034184&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1034184
Polls: Bush Surge- From Strategic Vision
Florida: Bush 48%, Kerry 44%
Ohio: Bush 48%, Kerry 42%
Wisconsin: Bush 48%, Kerry 46%
But it’s only September… (9 weeks)
-R
Corporate Sponsorship at the Conventions:
Bill Moyers’ NOW ran an expose of the corporate parties at the conventions, including almost gory film of Nancy Pelosi being feted by Time Warner, Sen. Corzine skipping out on Teddy K’s speech about Big Money while attending one such extravaganza. Corporate sponsorship of Governor Arnold was also highlighted. The LA Times picked it up:
Instead, he will stick to familiar venues during his three-day visit, the estimated $350,000 cost of which is being paid by corporations, including drug companies who oppose healthcare related bills that soon will land on his desk. He plans to visit a Harlem school to highlight his support for after-school programs, attend a tribute organized by the motion picture and recording industries and drop by a lunch for the California delegation at Planet Hollywood. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-arnold31aug31,1,1173996.story?coll=la-home-headlines
What’s Happening, Iraq: Attacks- 60 a day!- and Casualties Up Since the Handover
Two months after the U.S. handed sovereignty back to Iraq amid hopes of reduced violence, more than 110 U.S. troops have been killed and much of the country remains hostile territory. The toll of U.S. dead since the war began last year is fast approaching 1,000.Although attention in recent weeks has focused on Najaf, where U.S. forces battled Shiite Muslim militiamen, most of the deadly confrontations for American troops in newly independent Iraq have occurred in the Baghdad area and the so-called Sunni Triangle to the north and west.The concentration of attacks in those areas is a reminder that the fiercest and most organized opposition to U.S. forces and the U.S.-backed interim government continues to be in Sunni-dominated cities, such as Fallouja. Nationwide, U.S. forces are being attacked 60 times per day on average, up 20% from the three-month period before the hand-over. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-military31aug31,1,6647155,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Opposition Caucus:
Dozens of Iraqis opposing the American occupation of their country attended a Sunday meeting in Beirut that is designed to form a national council.
The group would form a national council in Iraq parallel to the current one that was formed earlier this month in Baghdad.
The coordinator of the preparatory meeting, Abdul Amir al-Rekabi, told United Press International the gathering includes representatives of different tribes, as well as leftists and pan-Arab nationalists.
He said a preparatory committee meeting soon in Baghdad is expected to attract 1,000 people. http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=CqtfuWeidBgvIyw5VBI1PCMfX
Ongoing Prison Abuse/Torture: Reports that the abuse is more widespread and ongoing than will be admitted.
While the latest reports investigating the widely condemned events at Abu Ghraib prison attempt to close the book on the Pentagon's culpability with a somber critique, new evidence gathered for a class action lawsuit filed against two US-based private contractors could prove that the scandal at Abu Ghraib was far from an isolated series of incidents perpetrated by a few rowdy "bad apples" working the night shift during Ramadan.
An attorney representing former detainees says his recent fact-finding mission to Baghdad uncovered dozens of cases of physical and psychological abuse, sexual humiliation, religious desecration and rape in ten US-run prisons throughout occupied Iraq. http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=911&printmode=true
The Pentagon Policies have Hurt U.S. Troops
Thoughtful article by Paul Rieckhoff and Dafna Hochman
Four major Pentagon policies in the past year have undermined the morale of U.S. troops and their families - and are likely to leave a negative long-term impact on the ability of the armed services to recruit and retain service members in the long term.
.
First, in the dog days of August 2003, while Congress recessed, the Pentagon quietly cut payments for imminent danger and family separation. Earlier that summer, Congress had given the nearly 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq and the 9,000 serving in Afghanistan a $75 a month imminent danger pay increase and a $150 monthly allowance to fund rent and child care for their families at home…
Third, though the Pentagon had not planned sufficiently to protect and equip U.S. troops, in early September 2003 it decided to lengthen the deployment of nearly 20,000 National Guard and Reservists serving in Iraq.
http://www.iht.com/articles/536423.html
Franklin-Israel-Iran Scandal:
How else to identify this? Again, Larry Franklin is the Wolfowitz aide who has been identified as the individual who was telling the Israelis what U.S. actions/thoughts about Iran were. Apparently word getting out has shaken enough people that much shredding has been happening.
It appears to be the case that someone in the Pentagon got wind that Larry Franklin had been flipped, and was terrified that the investigation might go on up the ladder at the Pentagon, in AIPAC, and with the Israelis. So they leaked news of the investigation to make sure that everybody clammed up and shredded everything.The NYT piece today reflects continued efforts at the Pentagon to paint Franklin as a low-level desk grunt with little access to Paul Wolfowitz. This last is just a lie. In a conversation with me, Franklin indicated that he was in very close contact with Wolfowitz, and he offered to get me an audience. www.juancole.com
Election Stuff:
So where is the Democrats’ “Rapid Response Team”?
http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/
In fact, Kerry’s campaign may finally realize it’s floundering. Al Hunt’s Wall Street Journal piece:
As the Bush campaign commands an exquisitely directed convention, the faltering Kerry campaign might be on the verge of a major shake-up.
Ever since the Boston convention, the Bush campaign has dominated the agenda, putting the Democratic nominee on the defensive. While polls still show a close race, everything is tilting in the GOP direction, a movement that almost surely will be enhanced by a successful New York convention.
Dispirited Democrats -- prominent senators, top fundraisers, even a few Kerry confidants -- have told the candidate, who is in Nantucket, that high-level changes are imperative. A few very well-connected Democrats report something will occur in the next few days. One person who might assume more control is Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary to Bill Clinton and a respected public-relations figure, but one who has almost no experience in the high-stakes world of presidential campaigns. Another possibility: veteran Democratic politico John Sasso, currently at the Democratic National Committee.
If there is a change -- Sen. Kerry privately is said to be "bouncing off the walls" in frustration -- it has to be imminent as the eight-week campaign is in full swing by Labor Day. "We have 48 hours," acknowledges an insider. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109396051280705705,00.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Late Tuesday it was announced that there are some “additions” to the campaign- Joe Lockhart as senior adviser plus a a director of rapid response (Joel Johnson) and 4 others.
FastShip and Swift Boats: Seems like one of Kerry’s new accusers is a Repub. Loyalist who gave Bush big money and whose client (FastShip) received a $40 million contract. Details from Dana Milbank at the Washington Post:
Kerry has said Schachte was not on the boat that night, adding another mystery to the disputed events of 36 years ago. But other events are not in dispute. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip on issues such as the effort to win funding for a new marine cargo terminal. On Feb. 2, Philadelphia-based FastShip announced that it would receive $40 million in federal funding for the project.
In addition, David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York. Records also show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns.
The Kerry campaign alleges foul play. "It's amazing what a $40 million government contract can do for your memory," Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton said, noting that Schachte did not challenge Kerry's Purple Heart while describing the incident in an interview last year. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47542-2004Aug30.html
Low Moments at Their Convention: Many, but I “liked”:
(1) Giuliani, b.s’ing as to 9/11- when realizing there was an attack, “I said, ‘Thank God George Bush is our president.’”
[Let’s not forget that for most of his time in office, Giuliani was an arrogant, combative, divisive mayor, especially battling the black community, the press and the cultural establishment. 9/11 re-made him as much as Junior.]
(2) Then, there’s the South Carolina delegation’s spokesperson identifying S.C. as the "most patriotic state in the country.” Guess they’ve come a-ways since leading the states rights charge in the 1830’s and the secession/treason [vs the Republican president] in 1861.
Entertaining Moment Away From the Convention:
Bush re the smear-ad: "I can understand why Senator Kerry is upset with us. I wasn't so pleased with the ads that were run about me. And my call is get rid of them all, now."
Hmmm. And what does he mean, "Us"?? He wasn’t supposed to have had anything to do with it. The media, of course, ignored his comment.
Bush Flip Flopping Flipping: In a 28 hour period:
1)"We have a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world."
2) "I don’t think you can win [the war on terror]. But I think you can create conditions so that the — those who use terror as a tool are — less acceptable in parts of the world.”
3) "Not only are we winning it, but we will win it."
The Media, such as NPR, let him off with “Bush clarified his remark…” while allowing spokespersons attack the media, “If you paid attention to the context of his remarks you’d realize that…”
Military Records:
I casually mentioned “Ben Barnes”, the “prominent Texas politician” noted below, who confessed to getting Bush into the Texas Air National Guard. Mainstream media have continued to ignore it, while the internet is abuzz…
Faced with fresh news in the ongoing debate about the presidential candidates’ military service during the Vietnam War, the media blinked this weekend, doing its collective best to ignore an embarrassing new revelation by the prominent Texas politician who says he landed President Bush a coveted pilot spot in the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and is now "ashamed" of his actions.
The explosive comments from a central player in the National Guard drama -- captured on video and available online -- have received just cursory coverage in the mainstream media since it was brought to light on Friday. The shoulder-shrugging response stands in stark contrast to the media orgy that’s greeted the hollow, secondhand allegations made about John Kerry’s Vietnam service by the Republican-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has yet to make a single factual allegation stick about the circumstances surrounding Kerry’s five war medals. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/30/barnes_update/index_np.html
Bush Second Term: More Transfer to the Extremely Wealthy
The lack of troops may constrain the imperial ambitions, but you know the ongoing transfer of wealth to the extremely wealthy will continue. John Cassidy in next week’s New Yorker posits something similar.
When the President pledges to create an “era of ownership,” he is not talking merely about encouraging people to buy their own homes and start small businesses. To conservative Republicans who understand his coded language, he is also talking about extending and expanding the tax cuts he introduced in his first term; he is talking about allowing wealthy Americans to shelter much of their income from the I.R.S.; about using the tax code to curtail the government’s role in health care and retirement saving; and, ultimately, about a vision that has entranced but eluded conservatives for decades: the abolition of the graduated income tax and its replacement with a levy that is simpler, flatter, and more favorable to rich people. http://www.newyorker.com/printable/?fact/040906fa_fact
Newspaper “Bravery’: St Petersburg Times Retracts Endorsement of Repub. Mel Martinez (former Bush Cabinet member)
The Times originally recommended former U.S. Housing Secretary Mel Martinez to Republican voters in Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary, but that was before Martinez took his campaign into the gutter with hateful and dishonest attacks on his strongest opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum. The Times is not willing to be associated with bigotry. As a result, we are taking the almost unprecedented step of rescinding our recommendation of Martinez…
No matter what else Martinez may accomplish in public life, his reputation will be forever tainted by his campaign's nasty and ludicrous slurs of McCollum in the final days of this race. The slurs culminated with Martinez campaign advertisements that label McCollum - one of the most conservative moralists in Washington during his 20 years as a U.S. representative - "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" because he once favored a hate crime law that had bipartisan support. A few days earlier, the Martinez campaign arranged a conference call with reporters in which a group of right-wing Martinez supporters labeled McCollum "antifamily." Why? Because McCollum supports expanded stem cell research to find cures for deadly diseases - a position that is identical to those of Nancy Reagan, Connie Mack and many other prominent Republicans. http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/30/news_pf/Opinion/McCollum_for_GOP.shtml
A Comment: San Francisco Chronicle’s Mark Morford:
So, let's see: Bona-fide war hero turned incredibly articulate, educated, gifted Vietnam War protester and respected senator on one side, alcoholic AWOL failed-businessman born-again pampered daddy's boy evangelical Christian on the other. Is this really the contest? Bush slugs gin and tonics like Evian while Kerry is accused of ... what again? Not being incredibly heroic enough? Wow. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/08/27/notes082704.DTL&type=printable
The foreign press’s horror re Bush continues. Jefferson Morley at the WaPost:
The Republican Party is about to nominate him by acclamation.
Almost half of all American voters polled say they will vote for him in November.
But in the international online media, the vast majority of commentators are harshly critical of President George W. Bush. On every continent pundits are faulting Bush for his persona as well as his policies. Most dislike his conduct of the war in Iraq. Many say his attitude toward the rest of the world is contemptuous, misinformed and dangerous. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A47622-2004Aug30?language=printer
Including, Haroon Siddiqui of the Toronto Star, who notes
The American presidential election on Nov. 2 is John Kerry's to lose. He very well may, so ineffective has he been thus far.
No contemporary incumbent president has been in so much trouble on so many fronts so early in the campaign as George W. Bush. The sins for which Lyndon Johnson quit, and Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush were defeated, were minuscule by comparison.
There is, of course, the Iraq war, waged illegally and under false pretences. And there is the botched occupation.
There is the anti-Americanism worldwide, including among democratic allies.
There is Abu Ghraib — the initial crimes and the subsequent avoiding of responsibility.
There is Guantanamo Bay, and the setting aside of the rule of law on American soil as well.
There is the fanning of fear and paranoia, along with the creation of a surveillance society where snoops have all the power and citizens few…[The list goes on and on] http://www.maxlogan.com/siddiqui.0829.htm
2008: Repubs line up- Giuliani, Romney et al
[Sen. Chuck] Hagel’s visit began a parade of possible presidential contenders before the Iowa delegation this week.
Today, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will appear at a breakfast reception held by U.S. Rep. Jim Nussle. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also is scheduled to stop by the reception.
Later this week, New York Gov. George Pataki is scheduled to meet with Iowa’s convention delegates. http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1034184&t=Nation+%2F+World&c=26,1034184
Polls: Bush Surge- From Strategic Vision
Florida: Bush 48%, Kerry 44%
Ohio: Bush 48%, Kerry 42%
Wisconsin: Bush 48%, Kerry 46%
But it’s only September… (9 weeks)
-R
