Debate One Deconstruction

Part of blogging for me is honesty. There's no room on my blog for spin, and i hope long time visitors know that about me. So it pains me to say that, in my opinion, President Bush was bad tonight. Not fatally bad, but still bad.

Sure, the president scored some points. His approach to North Korea clearly makes more sense than Kerry's. He was effective in highlighting Kerry's tendency to insult the same allies he says he wants to court. He was reassuring on continuing the all volunteer armed forces. And he struck the right tone when criticizing Putin.

But the president was also repetitive, hesitant, and defensive. He slouched, his ears seemed to stick out more than i remembered, and he pounded the podium too much, which i hate because Hillery does that too. He also missed numerous opportunites to point out major Kerry contradictions, passing them up in favor of repeating the same conclusory slogans.

Why didn't Bush list all the anti-military votes that Cheney reviewed in his convention speech? He should have hammered on Kerry's "87 billion" vote at least two more times. And it still boggles my mind why Bush can't or won't effectively explain the reason why we have to be on offense in the War on Terror (like Giuliani did so beautifully at the convention) and why Kerry's plan is solely and dangerously defensive.

(And why did the president have to buy into Kerry's "war should be the last resort" bullshit. After 9/11, the last resort is too late. Isn't that part of the Bush Doctrine? Yeah, yeah, i realize that Bush has to agree with that "last resort" line for political reasons, but in this new world of terrorist sleeper cells on our soil, i'd much rather have war be the third or fourth from the last resort.)

i cringed a number of times watching the president search for words. But i do that every time he speaks formally. He doesn't do that on the stump, so i can't understand his difficulty in debates, speeches and press conferences. The truth is that the president is just not the best spokesman for himself. In fact, i think i could have done a better job tonight than he did.

But tonight i also realized that this election is more of a battle of surrogates than any other election i can recall. The greatest vulnerabilities of both candidates are things that neither candidate can talk about.

Bush couldn't talk about Kerry's betrayal of this country while he was in uniform. He couldn't bring up the questions about Kerry's medals. He couldn't equate Kerry with the loony America-hating left that supports him. He couldn't put down Teresa.

Kerry couldn't accuse Bush of having been AWOL. He couldn't accuse Bush of being a religious fanatic, like so many of his supporters do. He couldn't call Bush evil, or Hitler, or even use the word "liar." And because Kerry still has to win over pro-war voters, he had to straddle the fence on Iraq.

Actually, i thought Kerry's reconciliation of his various Iraq policies was rhetorically pretty effective - at least on the surface. As i understand it, Kerry now says he is for the war, wants to win the war, but thinks that Bush is doing it all wrong and he'd do it better. The problem is, Kerry's new position still contradicts his many old positions, and maybe even some new ones too.

The blogosphere is already compiling a pretty good list of Kerry's contradictions. Right on Red names a few:

He said Saddam was a threat, but the war was a mistake, we should’ve brought allies on board, but the allies we did bring were not enough. He said that he would never ask permission to defend the country, but then later said that any preemptive action must pass 'the global test'. He said he would increase troop strength but would decrease it in Iraq. He said that something must be done about Darfur, including possible deployment of some kind I suppose, but criticized the President for over-committing troops!

At any rate, i still think Bush could have done a better job of confronting Kerry on his record. Kerry sidestepped Bush's repeated "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time" attacks. But i would have asked rhetorically why Kerry voted for the 2003 war, when we didn't have France and the UN on our side, yet he voted against the 1991 war, when the UN approved and the French contribution was considerable.*

As for Kerry's performance, i was impressed. If one ignores every contrary thing Kerry has said in the past, and his lackluster political career, and his demonstrated arrogance and unlikeability, you might almost think he looked presidential tonight. He certainly gave the impression that he was the more knowledgeable and relaxed candidate.

However, the biggest flaw in Kerry's perfomance to me was one that might not be obvious to the casual debate observer (by that i mean, those idiots who still, for some insane reason, have not yet made up their minds). It's one thing for Kerry to insist that he has a plan. But i still need to hear what that plan is. Kerry couldn't tell us. i guess you could call it the six million dollar man plan: "better, stronger, faster." But when Lehrer asked Kerry to be more specific, he wasn't.

The bottom line is this: Kerry didn't lose tonight. He stayed alive by exceeding expectations. Bush didn't lose tonight either. He kept Kerry alive by reminding us all that we should not have high expectations of Bush in a debate. i only hope people remember that debating skills are not necessarily reliable predictors of presidential leadership. And i expect Bush will watch the tape, cringe like the rest of us, hopefully work on his presentation, and show some improvement next time.

* In 1991 the French sent their 6th Armored Division and two regiments of Foreign Legionnaires (their only really badass troops), among other forces.

Keys To The Debate

It is a cliché, but worth repeating: A candidate can't win the election with a debate, but he can lose it. The only exception to that rule i can think of was Ronald Reagan, but he was exceptional in so many ways.

Tonight, watch for Kerry's zinger. i'd be very surprised if he didn't work in a Bentsenesque sound bite, hoping it will become water cooler talk tomorrow. He has to try, he's losing the election and his only chance to turn things around is to be aggressive.

But Kerry, and his team, are also desperate. And desparation breeds disorganization, which breeds failure. Look at Gore in 2000. Remember how he had a different persona for each debate? There was "sighing Al," and "friendly Al," and "macho Al." None of them worked, and he ended up looking silly, like he was trying too hard.

Bush needs to simply stick to his game plan and let Kerry self destruct. i hope Bush doesn't do anything out of character because he doesn't need to. He just needs to hammer the same points he's been hammering on the stump for the last month, and Kerry should start to come apart.

Look at the Superbowl Raiders of two years ago, if you like sports analogies. Or this week's Cowboys - Redskins game. Or any Muhammad Ali fight. When you got your opponent on the run, he tends to fuck up more.

You like war analogies? Patton knew this trick, as did Guderian. And Napoleon was a master of the rout. So was Schwarzkopf in 1991. But these men kicked ass by careful planning and a wise reliance on the incompetence and/or unpreparedness of their opponents.

Tomorrow, if all goes well, try to resist the temptation to boast that Bush won the debate. In presidential debates, it's the loser that matters. If Kerry looks silly, or arrogant, or desperate, or if he tells a whopping lie a la Al Gore, emphasize that aspect to your co-workers during your lunch break.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Wednesday Is Poetry Day

No commentary is necessary on this one. It's just a really fine poem, by Alice Corbin Henderson (1881 - 1949). Enjoy:

Muy Vieja Mexicana

I've seen her pass with eyes upon the road --
An old bent woman in a bronze-black shawl,
With skin as dried and wrinkled as a mummy's,
As brown as a cigar-box, and her voice
Like the low vibrant strings of a guitar.
And I have fancied from the girls about
What she was at their age, what they will be
When they are old as she. But now she sits
And smokes away each night till dawn comes round,
Thinking, beside the pinyons' flame, of days
Long past and gone, when she was young -- content
To be no longer young, her epic done:

         For a woman has work and much to do,
         And it's good at the last to know it's through,
         And still have time to sit alone,
         To have some time you can call your own.
         It's good at the last to know your mind
         And travel the paths that you traveled blind,
         To see each turn and even make
         Trips in the byways you did not take --
         But that, `por Dios', is over and done,
         It's pleasanter now in the way we've come;
         It's good to smoke and none to say
         What's to be done on the coming day,
         No mouths to feed or coat to mend,
         And none to call till the last long end.
         Though one have sons and friends of one's own,
         It's better at last to live alone.
         For a man must think of food to buy,
         And a woman's thoughts may be wild and high;
         But when she is young she must curb her pride,
         And her heart is tamed for the child at her side.
         But when she is old her thoughts may go
         Wherever they will, and none to know.
         And night is the time to think and dream,
         And not to get up with the dawn's first gleam;
         Night is the time to laugh or weep,
         And when dawn comes it is time to sleep . . .

When it's all over and there's none to care,
I mean to be like her and take my share
Of comfort when the long day's done,
And smoke away the nights, and see the sun
Far off, a shrivelled orange in a sky gone black,
Through eyes that open inward and look back.

Lynx

Tony gives us the good news and the bad news about changes at The Tonight Show.

Dawn debriefs us on her visit to Panama.

Congratulations to The Physics Geek family on their new little physics geeklette!

Jen resists the siren call of the waffle king.

Thomas Galvin picked last night's MNF winner, and a few others, too.

Moxie, Paul, and Kin are among the many bloggers making fun of Kerry's latest attempt to become (his words not mine) the second black president. And Ann Althouse provides a historical perspective on this issue.

It's Victor's birthday today! If he and Nic decide to go out for dinner, who do you think will be picking up the check?

i have to agree with Professor Hewitt on the great tie controversy. That thing is butt ugly. (scroll down to see it)

Monday Night Football, Week Three

Tonight it's Dallas at the Redskins. Both teams are led by elite coaches trying to restore some former glory to their respective teams. Both teams have one and one records. The spread is 1.5 points, with Washington as the favorite. It sounds like a close one, but i need only one reason to pick Washington to cover the spread: Vinnie Testaverde sucks.

Update: Testaverde still sucks. Defense won that game. Like Dallas, i'm now 2 and 1 on Monday night. In Fantasy Football, DFMoore kicked my butt on the strength of Peyton Manning's performance Sunday, and i've now fallen to 2 and 1.

The Winner, Part 2

way to increase hits
hold a contest then withhold
ha ha the winner

Plus, i have a real tough time with decisions. Each of the haikus had at least one thing i really really liked, and of course i knew how eagerly my visitors awaited the announcement of the winner. The wagering, i imagine, was frenzied.

However, the more i read the nine finalists, the more my aesthetic sense gravitated toward this one, by gcotharn:

Groesbeck, Texas sits
sleepily west of Waco,
until the bar fight.

What i like most about it is that in the first two lines nothing is happening, then in the last line, something happens. i think that's great. It's almost Basho-esque, don't you think?

So, the winner of the Joe Don Baker Haiku contest is gcotharn! My condolences to everyone else. Remember the Olympics? It's not whether you win a medal, just being there makes you a winner, right?

Gcotharn will now proceed to the winners circle, where he will drink a glass of champagne (at his own expense) and e-mail me with instructions on how he wants to claim his fabulous prize, which i have already selected for him.

Who Said It?

Update: The following post is apparently fake, and not so accurate either. Sorry.

Who said the following quote:

We know we can't count on the French. We know we can't count on the Russians . . . We know that Iraq is a danger to the United States, and we reserve the right to take pre-emptive action whenever we feel it's in our national interest.

If you guessed George W. Bush, you are wrong.

If you guessed Dick Cheney, you are wrong.

If you guessed Don Rumsfeld, you are wrong.

If you guessed Condi Rice, you are wrong.

If you guessed Colin Powell, you are wrong.

If you guessed Paul Wolfowitz, you are wrong.

In the words of THK, wrongk, wrongk, wrongk.

It was the Democratic candidate for president, John Kerry, who said it way back in 1997 on CNN's Crossfire.

You anti-war liberals, i've said it before, Nader is still your best option.

Via Powerline

The Winner

The winner of the Joe Don Baker Haiku contest is . . .

. . . i don't know yet.

This is a very hard decision for me. Forty-six poems were submitted, and there were some really excellent entries. i found myself literally doubled over with laughter at all of Kevin Kim's. Especially this one:

I once saw Joe Don
tear a wolf in two using
only his nipples

Interestingly, despite the requirement that a true haiku make some reference to a season, only one entry, by Matt Rustler, came close to doing that:

Joe Don, sixty-eight,
Lion in winter. Still not
One to trifle with.

And Victor had me rolling with this one too, which i think is inspired:

Mitchell! A cop with
A gun, a drink, and no friends.
Well, there's that hooker.

Scof's use of the dead/head rhyme, while not what i'd expect in a haiku, is a rather appealing musical reference for this former bay area girl. Plus he introduced me to a new website reference, DeadorAliveInfo.com:

Large is joe don's head
Which makes this all funny since
I thought he was dead

And Shelly does some interesting, experimental, and not entirely successful stuff with vowel alliteration and slant rhyme:

The haiku is done
Where is Annika now that
We need her wit now?

i particularly liked this next one, by Rocket Jones' Ted, because it combined Victor's rat obsession with an oblique reference to a Crispin Glover movie. What actor could be more antithetical to JDB than Crispin Glover? And Ted's haiku is perfectly free of enjambment:

Remake Willard flick
Joe Don Baker in the lead
Victor's fantasy

While it may or may not be technically correct to use enjambment in haiku, i think it should be used sparingly in most poetry. But almost every single haiku in the contest contained some form of enjambment. So, like that unfair professor you hated in college, i used this technicality to eliminate many otherwise worthy poems from contention, based on their degree of reliance on enjambment.

GEBIV posted what i thought was a solid haiku, relatively free of enjambment, but he committed the fatal error of ignoring the 5-7-5 rule:

Great shades of Elvis,
Rocking the gates of Graceland.
Who is this Joe Don Baker?

Still other poems were easily eliminated because they had nothing to do with Joe Don Baker. After winnowing down the list through various secretive and unfair methodologies, i came up with these eight nine finalists:

Mitchell! A cop with
A gun, a drink, and no friends.
Well, there's that hooker.

Remake Willard flick
Joe Don Baker in the lead
Victor's fantasy

Dictionary page
Joe Don Baker defined as
Genius with a sneer

Baker, broad-shouldered:
late-night tv heroics,
stuff of my childhood...

Joe Don walked tall
When Dwayne Jonhson wore diapers.
Johnson is his bitch.

Annika's secret
she's got a Joe Don tattoo
on her inner thigh

Joe Don Baker is
Gary Cooper in High Noon
for the Nascar set.

Groesbeck, Texas sits
sleepily west of Waco,
until the bar fight.

I don't know Joe Don.
Don't really give a rat's ass.
Wrote a haiku, though!

A haiku should reveal some sort of spiritual enlightenment, and i'm going to need some spiritual enlightenment to pick a winner from these eight. i'm now going to go sit under a lotus blossom or whatever and try to make a decision.

No Poetry Today

No Poetry Today, but be sure to check out Poetry Thursday on Hugo's blog tomorrow.

Update: Victor the Rat has unilaterally decided to turn this into Joe Don Baker Haiku Day, which is such an absurd idea that i have to give it my hearty endorsement.

annika isn't celebrating Poetry Day today. In protest, I'm turning her comments into Joe Don Baker Haiku Day. Frequent annika commenter Scof has already submitted an excellent one that offers an insight into JDB that I hadn't realized before. I, of course, have submitted a couple and I'll do a couple more before the day is over.

i will judge all haikus submitted before 7:00 a.m. PDT tomorrow (for the benefit of my overseas visitors - Kevin Kim, that means you) and the winner gets a prize from my stash of highly coveted annika's journal merchandise!

Don't know who Joe Don Baker is? Click here.

Update: Deadline extended to 10:00 p.m. Thursday night.

Ra^ther Caves

Now that CBS News and Dan Rather have accepted the obvious, i think its an excellent time to hit them with another round of e-mails calling for Rather's resignation. Throw Mapes in there too, for good measure.

In case you haven't seen it, here's the statement:

STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:

Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.

Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.

But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.

Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.

Contact CBS News by clicking here.

More: Why does it take "extensive additional interviews" (presumably referring to CBS's upcoming Burkett interview) for Rather and company to discern what anyone else can see, simply by looking at the documents for five minutes.

That's the problem with "journalists." They don't have the brainpower to understand technical issues (which the bloggers grasped immediately), so they rely on hearsay almost exclusively. They would make horrible lawyers.

He that liveth by hearsay, must perish by hearsay.

Send those e-mails, please.

Update: A rather amusing poem by Smallholder at Nakedvillainy.com.

Gimme A Quick Pick, Cash Value

Quickly, tonights game, Vikings at Eagles, McNabb and Owens vs. Culpepper and Moss, blah blah blah. The difference for me is Westbrook over Onterrio Smith, though the Vikings might have a better run defense. Spread is Eagles minus three. i think the Eagles will cover, go with Philly.

Update: Eagles over Minnesota, 27-16. Moss and Owens were roughly even in effectiveness. But Brian Westbrook rushed for 69 yards and caught for 69, including several big plays. Whereas Onterrio Smith only had 28 yards rushing.

Go ahead and say it: i fucking rock!

Update 2: Oops, i just checked out this weeks results for the Blogger's Bowl fantasy football league. My opponent this week is Victor's Rats of Chaos (what is it with that boy and rats?), and while i currently lead him by a hefty margin, Yahoo has not yet updated the stats and he has four Philly players on his team. He's predicting an additional 60 points based on McNabb and company's performance tonight.

As Charlie Brown would say: "Rats!"

Stupid And Ironic Comment Of The Week*

What do herpes, hurricanes**, crabgrass, Carrot Top, and commenter Robert McLelland have in common?

Nobody wants them, nobody likes them, they keep coming back, and they just . . . won't . . . fucking . . . go . . . away.

Usually i either delete McLelland's shit, or i fuck with it by translating it into French, then into German, then back into English and leave it there. Strangely, i find his comments make more sense after the Google translator has shredded them.

But Little Mac's latest comment, under my Fat Ollie Willis post, is going to stay right where it is, unaltered, (except for his link, which i deleted).

The comment is so deliciously ironic, i want everyone to see how Bush haters think:

Reich Whingers will do anything to get Dear Leader facsist re-selected to office for four more wars. . . .

ps. Don't think because I'm Canadian that I won't influence this election. I have absentee ballots from New York, Michigan and Florida from three different identities. On each I will loudly vote for John Fitzgerald Kerry (unless I decide to write in Osama). [emphasis mine]

i wonder if Mac is familiar with the psychological term "projection." Or maybe he's too dense to be aware of it.

i think this little anecdote is a perfect illustration of the message behind Professor Hugh Hewitt's excellent book: If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends on It

_______________

* No, i don't plan to make this a regular blog feature.
** of both the meteorological and football variety.

Extra Friday Poetry

Today is William Carlos Williams' birthday (1883 - 1963). i don't think you can make a list of the greatest American poets without including Williams. What i like so much about WCW was that he wasn't neurotic or mentally ill, he didn't commit suicide, he was like a normal guy who wrote great stuff. In fact, he was a practicing physician in Rutherford New Jersey and happily married. Here's a well-known fragment from one of his longer poems, which is so simple, but so good.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

And another, one of my favorites:

The Young Housewife

At ten AM the young housewife
moves about in negligee behind
the wooden walls of her husband's house.
I pass solitary in my car.

Then again she comes to the curb
to call the ice-man, fish-man, and stands
shy, uncorseted, tucking in
stray ends of hair, and I compare her
to a fallen leaf.

The noiseless wheels of my car
rush with a crackling sound over
dried leaves as I bow and pass smiling.

i like this one too:

The Term

A rumpled sheet
Of brown paper
About the length

And apparent bulk
Of a man was
Rolling with the

Wind slowly over
And over in
The street as

A car drove down
Upon it and
Crushed it to

The ground. Unlike
A man it rose
Again rolling

With the wind over
And over to be as
It was before.

Williams had this ability i envy so much. He was able to create a full picture of a moment in time with only a few words. It's like reading a Hopper painting.

ROTFL Moment Of The Week

Fat-lard-ass Ollie Willis* comes up with some doozies, but yesterday he farted out a real howler of a line:

John Kerry is a better leader, a better man, a better patriot than George Bush and everyone else on the left (and a few honest folks on the right) knows it.

Yah? In what freaking parallel universe, lard butt?

* For whom no amount of money would induce me to give a link.

Updated Thoughts On E-mailing CBS News

On Friday, i began my crusade to get people to e-mail CBS News and ask for Dan Rather's resignation. i also think it's a good idea to demand that CBS release the name of the person who gave them the forged memos.

The issues that arise from this scandal are too big and too far-reaching to ignore, and that is why i'm so passionate about this. Thank you for the sincere concern of those of you who e-mailed me, reminding me not to neglect the demands of my first year law courses. i know you are right. But i also know that i have built a small reservoir of goodwill among the few readers of this blog, and if i can multiply that goodwill for this important purpose, i see it as my duty to do so.

My own e-mails to CBS have evolved with the story, and as CBS's stonewalling has progressed. Here is my latest version, which i sent after reading CBS News President Andrew Heyward's long awaited, and anti-climactic press release:

I eagerly awaited CBS News President Andrew Heyward's press release regarding last week's 60 Minutes II program and the Killian memos. When the three sentence statement was finally released, I was left with the impression that CBS's news division is in disarray.

It is now beyond doubt that all of the memos disclosed by CBS News on the 60 Minutes II program are forgeries. It is also beyond doubt that Dan Rather, his producer and the staff of 60 Minutes II failed to exercise even the most rudimentary journalistic neutrality or judgment concerning the use of these forged memos.

Accordingly, I cannot see any reason for Dan Rather to remain employed as anchorman of the Evening News, or in any capacity at CBS. His continued evasions and denials contradict reality and reflect badly on your organization's public image.

Every day that Mr. Rather remains as the face of CBS News brings further lost credibility to your once great news department. Please forward this message to the appropriate person, as my request that Mr. Rather resign immediately.

In addition, there is no longer any reason to protect the identity of the person or persons who transmitted the forged documents to CBS News. In fact there is ample reason to disclose that information immediately.

I'm sure you will agree that manipulation of a presidential election through deceit and fraud is a serious matter. I'm sure you will also agree that CBS News should not appear to be tolerant of such acts, and certainly should not be seen as an abettor to fraud. Yet, unless CBS News discloses the name of the person or persons responsible for the forgeries, your organization will suffer a loss of prestige and credibility that may take generations to rebuild.

CBS is still entrenched. The emergence of the secretary will probably prevent Rather from being fired, which is unfortunate. But one thing is clear. CBS News has no intention of doing the right thing. They had plenty of chances to do that already, and they went in the opposite direction. i think their lawyers may have had something to do with that, and Rather probably begged them to give him one more chance to buttress his story. He outfoxed everyone with this latest coup, but it doesn't change the fact of his egregious breach of journalistic ethics. Nor does it absolve the mysterious forger of any wrongdoing.

Regardless of whether Rather resigns, or CBS discloses the forger, i remain convinced that people should continue to e-mail CBS News with their opinions. If there are Congressional hearings, someone is going to ask the CBS representatives how many complaints they received concerning this whole scandal. And i want their response to be as large a number as possible.

Contact CBS News by clicking here.

See also: Kevin at Wizbang has background on how CBS developed the National Guard story. And Val Prieto at Babalu Blog has a link for you to contact your local CBS affiliate too.

The Secretary

Am i the only one who saw 60 Minutes II tonight?

i think CBS rushed the interview with the secretary onto the West Coast broadcasts only, because there's no word of it on any of the blogs i've checked.

She was probably well coached beforehand. She agreed with all the allegations raised by the forged memos, while at the same time denying their authenticity.

Her demeanor seemed credible, but i have to ask. With this lady out there, why did anyone feel the need to pull such a clumsy forgery stunt?

Score one point to CBS, apparently.

By the way, Rather was positively disgusting. He visibly sighed with relief after one of the secretary's statements. And he did his best to keep spinning this story in his favor.

So now we're supposed to forget about the forgery and talk about Bush? i ask again, if this lady was out there, why the forgery?

And despite the secretary's comment that Killian's son "wouldn't know nothin'" there's still the matter of Killian's wife and son.

Question

Which organization is in greater disarray at the moment: CBS News or the Kerry Campaign?

i realize it may be hard to distinguish between the two.

Now seems like an excellent time to e-mail CBS News again!

Where's My Check?

Ra^ther says:

. . . powerful and extremely well-financed forces are concentrating on questions about the documents because they can’t deny the fundamental truth of the story . . .

i agree i'm powerful, but where's my money?

Have you e-mailed CBS News Today?

Wednesday Is Poetry Day

Here's a good poem for first year law students, like me:

Insomnia

Even though the house is deeply silent
and the room, with no moon,
is perfectly dark,
even though the body is a sack of exhaustion
inert on the bed,

someone inside me will not
get off his tricycle,
will not stop tracing the same tight circle
on the same green threadbare carpet.

It makes no difference whether I lie
staring at the ceiling
or pace the living-room floor,
he keeps on making his furious rounds,
little pedaler in his frenzy,
my own worst enemy, my oldest friend.

What is there to do but close my eyes
and watch him circling the night,
schoolboy in an ill-fitting jacket,
leaning forward, his cap on backwards,
wringing the handlebars,
maintaining a certain speed?

Does anything exist at this hour
in this nest of dark rooms
but the spectacle of him
and the hope that before dawn
I can lift out some curious detail
that will carry me off to sleep--
the watch that encircles his pale wrist,
the expandable band,
the tiny hands that keep pointing this way and that.

By poet laureate of 2001 - 2003, Billy Collins.

Realize Your Womanly Qualities Through Better Handwriting

So when Sister Mary Margarita kept smacking my knuckles with that ruler in first grade, she was really only trying to help me fully realize my womanly qualities.

The "top" expert who examined CBS and Dan Ra^ther's forged documents -- the only document expert they have identified, who has said that he cannot authenticate the memos without examining the originals, who never saw any originals because even CBS doesn't have the originals, and who has since been told by CBS to stop talking to the media -- is not even an expert on the very issues that prove the documents are forgeries.

[I]n a 1995 California court deposition obtained by The Post, Matley acknowledged that he had no formal training in a document lab, in identification of papers, inks or "machines, typewriters, photocopies." He also acknowledged he'd had no training from the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, U.S. Army, California Department of Justice or any other law-enforcement body.

Instead he's apparently some sort of New Age handwriting guru.

Have you emailed CBS News today?

The Return Of annika's Picks

Yes, it's that time of year again. annika's Monday Night Football Picks is back in da house.

Tonight, Carolina hosts the Packers, and Carolina is favored by three points, according to ESPN.com.

Tough pick, but i gotta go with Green Bay. Favre is getting slower, but he's not done yet. And Ahman Green is simply awesome. Spot these guys three points and i'm going to take that bet.

"But These Go To Eleven"

Does it make you mad that Dan Rather and CBS still insist that the Microsoft Word created forgery is not a forgery? Does it make you mad that they think they can so easily lie to America and get away with it?

Look at this animated gif file, created by the folks at Little Green Footballs, showing the CBS forgery and a Word document that you can create for yourself in just a few minutes.* As you can see, they are identical.

Now here's a detailed post at The Shape of Days, which shows the unsuccessful attempt to reproduce the memo on an early 70's IBM Selectric Composer, a typewriter that featured superscript and proportional font capabilities. The most interesting information is at the bottom of the post, regarding the difficulty in centering text on a 70's era machine.

[C]entering type is hard on the Selectric Composer. Two of the memos, May 4 and August 1, 1972, feature a three-line centered head. Each of those lines of type had to be centered by measuring it carefully, doing some math, then advancing the carrier to just the right point on the page. The margin for error would be pretty wide because type can be off by a few points in either direction and still look pretty well centered. It wouldn't be objectionable unless you went looking for it. So it wasn't necessary for Lt. Col. Killian — or his typist — to be millimeter-precise.

And yet … he was.

Contrast that with the ease and duplicability of the same task using Microsoft Word.

If Rather and CBS News are not liars and crooks, then they are morons and incompetents. Either way, their attempt to slander the President and to influence an election during wartime is so despicable that i think it's almost treasonous.

It takes only two seconds to click on the "Contact Us" link at CBS's website and demand that 1) Dan Rather resign and 2) CBS disclose who gave them the forged documents. If you have already done so once, it certainly wouldn't hurt to keep at it.

Please join me in this crusade. Click here to learn how.

Update: Bill at INDC Journal has information on how to let the Boston Globe know what you think of them, too.

* i've done this myself, on my own computer, using the default settings on Microsoft Word 2000. i now have in my possession an exact duplicate of the CYA memo. Perfectly congruent down to the tiny superscript characters. Try it on your own computer, it's fun.

Only a supreme fool or a liar would say that the CBS memos are not forgeries after having done this simple experiment. It is obviously impossible for Killian to have made the exact same mental choices about tab settings, and carriage returns on an analog mechanical typewriter as a digital computer program that had not yet been invented. Unless Killian was a time traveller, which according to the logic of CBS and Rather, is remotely possible and therefore a rational explanation.

9/11/04

It wasn't just a tragedy.
We were attacked.

We are not victims.
We will be victorious.

We will never forget.
We will always remember.

Deal with it.

Take It One Step Further

Please, i have a suggestion for all of you outraged, as i am about the fraud perpetrated by Dan Rather and CBS News.

Go to the CBS News website, at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml

Scroll all the way to the very bottom and click on the "Contact Us" link. A simple form will appear in a pop-up window.

Write a very short, polite expression of your opinion and request that Dan Rather resign as anchorman of CBS News.

i would suggest being very brief, and polite. Don't label the message as a complaint, instead use the comment, suggestion or request button, as i did.

i wrote this:

I have been following the CBS News coverage of the Killian memos with interest.

Now that it is clear that most if not all of the memos are forgeries, I cannot see any reason for Dan Rather to remain employed as anchorman of the CBS Evening News.

Every day that Mr. Rather remains as the face of CBS News brings further lost credibility to your once great news organization. Please forward this message to the appropriate person, as my request that Mr. Rather resign as soon as possible.

I would also suggest that you tell your friends to also send similar messages to CBS News. Copy and paste this post into an email if you want.

It only takes two seconds, and even if it doesn't work, it made me feel good doing it.

Update: Rather isn't going easily. He's dug in his heels. We can do this. Keep up the e-mails.

Update 2: Now CBS News has stupidly dug in its heels with Rather. It reminds me of Clinton's famous line, when he had decided not to admit the truth about Monika: "We'll just have to win then."

(CBS) EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record, CBS News stands by the thoroughness and accuracy of the 60 Minutes report this Wednesday on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.

This report was not based solely on recovered documents, but rather on a preponderance of evidence, including documents that were provided by unimpeachable sources,

If they're so unimpeachable, CBS should name them. Otherwise why should anyone take their word for it?

interviews with former Texas National Guard officials and individuals who worked closely back in the early 1970s with Col. Jerry Killian and were well acquainted with his procedures, his character and his thinking.

Here, CBS is making the incredible claim that Killian's widow and son, who both doubt the authenticity of CBS's memos, are somehow less familiar with the late Colonel's procedures, character and thinking than the mysterious "deep throat" sources cited by CBS.

In addition, the documents are backed up not only by independent handwriting and forensic document experts

A lie. No handwriting expert contacted by anyone in the blogosphere or the media thinks the memos are authentic. And some very highly qualified forensic examiners are on record as saying they are probably forgeries.

but by sources familiar with their content. Contrary to some rumors, no internal investigation is underway at CBS News nor is one planned.

Why the hell not? Have they even tried this simple experiment? Can they possibly be that stupid at CBS?

We have complete confidence in our reporting and will continue to pursue the story.

As will the blogosphere, you idiots.

Outrageous, Stupid, Fraudulent And Despicable

Laura Ingraham had it right when she said that Dan Rathre has basically signed on as a consultant to the Kerry campaign.

The CBS forgery scandal, and that's what it is, plain and simple, has me absolutely freakin' boiling livid!

Don't know about it? That's understandable. How many people knew about the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth outside regular blog readers and talk radio listeners. How many people knew that Schwarzenegger's main grope accuser had been exposed as a liar by at least two eyewitnesses? How many people knew Jason Blair was lying at the New York Times. How many people know that the same paper distributed a COMPLETELY MADE UP report about Republicans booing Clinton on the day he was hospitalized. The list goes on and on.

The mainstream media will never advertise its incompetence, its ignorance, its foolishness, its astounding errors of judgment, its complete failure to exercise even the most rudimentary skepticism on stories that favor their side of a political fight, or its blatant and obvious pro-Democratic Party bias.

Read this Powerline post from beginning to end. Then you'll be up to speed.

Anyone who has ever looked at documents from the 1970's (and as a former graduate history student, i've seen plenty) knows how crude typewriter print was in those days. Anyone who's ever worked on a military base (as i have, for two months on an externship), knows that the equipment they get often lags behind current technology by a few years, due to the inherent slowness of the procurement contract process.*

But i didn't need to know all that to recognize an obviously MS Word generated document when i see one. Gimme a break.

Whoever did this spent too much time researching the character, to get the tone of the memo to sound just right, and not enough time researching what a document created with 1973 technology should look like. That doesn't surprise me. Our opposition just ain't that bright, look who they nominated.

Of course the forgery was good enough to fool your average journalism school graduate at CBS, but a memo written in crayon probably could have done that much.

What gets me so livid is this: Imagine that CBS had done this kind of sloppy journalism on a consumer fraud story, or a defective product story. You know, the kind of story that built the reputation of 60 Minutes in the first place. Imagine that CBS had slandered a legitimate business, basing its false allegations on a sloppily forged document, as sloppy as these Texas memos.

Do you know what would happen? CBS would be sued. They would be exposed to a multi million dollar lawsuit, including punitive damages, (which by law can't be covered by insurance) for reckless disregard of the truth. Their lawyers would never have let them air the story. But, because this is all about politics, and because the target of CBS's fraud and slander is only the sitting President of the freakin' United States, and because this is just payback for the Swiftboat Vets, we Republicans are supposed to just shut up and take it and CBS will probably never admit they blew it.

Well CBS and Dan fucking Rathre, all you assholes can just kiss my ass. i haven't watched your propaganda for years and it don't look like i ever will.

well that felt good

P.S. The CBS story itself doesn't bother me in the slightest. Last minute hatchet jobs by a desperate press never work (and this wasn't even last minute). It didn't work during the Schwarzenegger election. What gets me is that the LA Times didn't pay enough of a price for trying to throw that election, and CBS won't either.

More: Kevin at Wizbang is also on top of this story. And Paul is pissed too.

More: It keeps getting more and more beautiful.

Update: This has been a wonderful twenty-four hours for anyone associated with the blogosphere. Even somone on the periphery, as i am. Hearty congratulations should go to Bill at INDC Journal, the Powerline and LGF guys, Professors Hewitt and Reynolds, Captain Ed, FreeRepublic and everyone else who investigated this hoax and pushed its disclosure.

* i externed at the DLA, the Defense Logistics Agency. We were in charge of purchasing stuff like typewriters and computers. And i can tell you, even the stuff we had in our office was far from state of the art. What kind of equipment do you think a National Guard base in Texas got in 1973? i'll gaurantee you, it wasn't typewriters with proportional space capabilities.

Thursday Can Be Poetry Day When i Miss The Last Two Wednesdays

Today's short poem is by the Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova. No stranger to death and horror during her own lifetime (she survived the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin's purges, the siege of Leningrad, the imprisonment of two sons and one husband, and the execution of another husband), the following poem is terribly poignant this week.

Why is this Age Worse?

Why is this age worse than earlier ages?
In a stupor of grief and dread
have we not fingered the foulest wounds
and left them unhealed by our hands?

In the west the falling light still glows,
and the clustered housetops glitter in the sun,
but here Death is already chalking the doors with crosses,
and calling the ravens, and the ravens are flying in.

You can find a short biography of the poet here. And Dustbowl Blues compares alternate translations.

Al Goer Is A Bitter Man

Not supposed to be posting at school, but i have to call attention to an outrageous statement by Al Goer.

It's so ironic that the Democrats are all bent out of shape about so-called negative campaigning, then Al Goer goes and says this shit in The New Yorker:

'I’m not of the school that questions [President Bush's] intelligence,' Gore went on. 'There are different kinds of intelligence, and it’s arrogant for a person with one kind of intelligence to question someone with another kind.[*] . . . He seeks strength in simplicity. But, in today’s world, that’s often a problem. I don’t think that he’s weak intellectually. I think that he is incurious. . . . But I think his weakness is a moral weakness. I think he is a bully, and, like all bullies, he’s a coward when confronted with a force that he’s fearful of. His reaction to the extravagant and unbelievably selfish wish list of the wealthy interest groups that put him in the White House is obsequious. The degree of obsequiousness that is involved in saying "yes, yes, yes, yes, yes" to whatever these people want, no matter the damage and harm done to the nation as a whole—that can come only from genuine moral cowardice. I don’t see any other explanation for it, because it’s not a question of principle. The only common denominator is each of the groups has a lot of money that they’re willing to put in service to his political fortunes and their ferocious and unyielding pursuit of public policies that benefit them at the expense of the nation.'

That's pretty brutal rhetoric, even from a career hatchet artist like Goer. It's ironic that his mentor was the man who coined the phrase, in a negative context mind you, "the politics of personal destruction." Even the old Bill Clinton wouldn't have stooped to calling a sitting President "incurious," morally weak, "a coward," a "bully," "fearful," "obsequious," and basically crooked. Does that sound like a man who is at peace with himself, as we are so often told Goer is?

It's also ironic that Goer accuses the President of bowing to special interests when Goer was the man who bought and sold access like he was a ticket counter at Yankee Stadium. Two words: "Buddhist Temple." Three words: "No Controlling Authority."

Link via Llama Butchers.

* Isn't it also arrogant and egotistical to crow about one's own intelligence?

A Couple Of Useful Legal Maxims

Mike (a third year):

"Annika, there is only one secret to law school and it is this: time management."

Me:

"Okay, so what's the secret to time management, then?"

Mike (with totally straight face):

"Cooking in bulk."

Kerry Is An Idiot

Perhaps you've seen the story about Kerry accepting a shotgun* as a gift, then joking about being unable to bring it to the presidential debates.

You might have also heard that the very same gun he was happy to receive would have been banned if legislation he co-sponsored had become law!

Rush Limbaugh apparently talked about Kerry's Senate Bill 1431 this morning. Drudge also posted about it. Now, i don't entirely trust information i get from either of those guys (i've learned my lesson), so i went immediately to the source: The font of all ballistic knowledge. The man. The legend. The myth. Whom the ancient Greeeks revered as Basilios Ballistikos, the king of ballistics, whom the ancient Romans feared as Dominus Armas, the master of weaponry, the one, the only, and fellow Munuvian . . .

Publicola!

Who, in a nutshell, confirms the story. The shotgun in question, a Beretta A300, violates Kerry's law in at least four ways. Publicola also picks apart Kerry's vague and poorly drafted law.

I see several areas where the shotgun pictured would run afoul of S.1431. For starters it does define pistol grip as simply a grip. It's badly worded in that an english style grip could be considered a pistol grip for the purposes of the bill.

& using the bill's definition of pistol grip (which means any grip at all) we are then confronted with the bill's definition of a forward grip: 'a grip located forward of the trigger that functions as a pistol grip'. Since a pistol grip is defined more or less as any type of grip then the forward stock of any long gun would constitute a pistol grip.

. . .

S.1431 never specifies which length of shell is to be used to determine magazine capacity. It stands to reason that the intent of the writer of this law is to ban as many firearms as possible, so using the smallest shell capable of being fired in a shotgun would be consistent with the legislative intent.

He's for gun control . . . no wait . . . he's a hunter . . . no wait . . . he wanted to ban hunting guns . . . no wait . . . The only thing i can be sure of is . . . Kerry's an idiot.

* You may notice that the geniuses at the Seattle Times don't know the difference between a rifle and a shotgun. Journalists! Continuing to prove my point that they're all idiots too.

Chicks For Bush!

All chicks who support our president are invited by The Irish Lass to join "Chicks For Bush."

(insert Whoopy Goldberg type joke here)

My Fantasy Football Team

As you may know, i am participating in Blogger Bowl 2004, a Yahoo! Fantasy Football league started by Nick at Patriot Paradox. My team's first game is a big one, this weekend against Ted of Rocket Jones and his Rockets.

i'm gonna beat Ted like a drum. Like me, he's a Raider fan, and his wide receiver corps is heavy on the Raiders. He's got Jerry Rice and Jerry Porter, to go along with St. Louis' #2 option, Isaac Bruce. Now i love the Raiders, and Rice may be my favorite player ever, but i think my receivers, Marvin Harrison, Chad Johnson and Justin McCareins are gonna lead annika's journal to an easy victory this week.

Here's my team:

• Quarterback - Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks


• Wide Receiver - Marvin Harrison, Indianapolis Colts


• Wide Receiver - Chad Johnson, Cincinnati Bengals


• Wide Receiver - Justin McCareins, New York Jets


• Running Back - Clinton Portis, Washington Redskins


• Running Back - Chris Brown, Tennessee Titans


• Tight End - Kellen Winslow, Cleveland Browns


• Kicker - Matt Stover, Baltimore Ravens


• Team Defense - Philadelphia Eagles

i took a chance on Justin McCareins, but i got a good feeling about the kid. i think he'll have a breakout year.

i had originally drafted the future hall of famer, Morten Anderson of Kansas City. Not only is he one of the greatest kickers of all time, but we were both born in Copenhagen, so i had to have him on my team. Now i find out that KC cut him on Friday, so i had to scramble to find a replacement! i can't believe they cut him. Sure he's 44, but he was still effective, i thought. Now, if Stover gets hurt i'm in trouble at kicker.

It would be nice if i could post a link to the league like i did with my baseball team, so you all could watch our progress. But i tested the link and apparently Yahoo! won't let you look at it unless you're a member of that league, for some dumb reason.

Anyways, season starts for real on Thursday and i can't wait.

Hey Ted: "We want the ball and we're going to score!" Ha ha! : )

Sweet Mother Of Satire!

OLDCATMAN does it again.

Check out The Mafia Lives.

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Bryon at Slings and Arrows is absolutely right when he attrubutes the Bush convention bounce to three things: Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, the wacky protesters, and the Republican Party's forward looking message.

First the Swiftboat ads. Bryon says:

[T]he effect was less a result of people changing their position on Kerry than it was about the Kerry camp's reaction. Kerry went to ground, the media went to ground, everyone went to ground -- except, of course the blogosphere and certain radio personalities. By the time the story filtered into the mainstream media almost every reader already had a sense for it. Whether or not it was the case, the story already felt like a cover-up. And 'cover-up' is not a phrase anyone like to have associated with a presidential candidate.

Here, the left wing media tried to run interference for their boy, by ignoring the story and hoping no one would notice. Kudos to the blogosphere and talk radio for pushing the story until it could no longer be ignored by the left wing media. What killed Kerry is that, by stupidly ignoring the Clinton rule (answer every attack immediately), they allowed us to define the debate for a critical one or two weeks, without any alternate explanation. Kerry still hasn't answered the most serious allegations of the Swiftboat Veterans (except to retract the Xmas in Cambodia story and backpedal on one of the purple hearts), and his defensiveness now seems like guilt.

On the effect of the protesters, Bryon and i are on the same page.

Millions of Americans woke up late, or returned from church on Sunday morning to be greated electronically to images of hundreds of thousands of wacky protesters. . . . Pictures such as these have a markedly greater effect on one's impressions of the goings-on than any verbal commentary. Add to that 900 arrests on a single day and almost two thousand over the four day period of the convention. When viewers see protesters breaking into and disrupting the convention, and even storming the set of Hardball they come to one conclusion: 'I might not be in love with the current president, but the last thing I want is to give these protesters more control over my country.'

i predicted that the effect of the protests would be the exact opposite of what the protesters intended. For that prediction, i became the object of the Democratic Underground's scorn. But i was right. This is not the sixties anymore, despite what the unholy alliance of professors, reporters and entertainers think. Freaks in pink thongs and feather boas are not the best advertisement for any political movement. And when Fox News is getting the ratings it currently enjoys, that means a lot of people like them, including a lot of undecideds. It's therefore probably not a good idea to chant "Fox News sucks!" and "Fox News - Bullshit!"

And on the Republican Party's superior forward looking message, Bryon contrasts the two conventions thusly:

Almosot every DNC speech looked backwards at Vietnam -- a war thirty years in our past about which most of us would much rather not be reminded. . . . Of all the speakers, the DNC only had one, Barak Obama, who gave any hope for the future of the party -- and he almost sounded Republican at many points in his speech.

Contrast that to the RNC convention. Rudy Guliani, John McCain, Arnold Schwarzenegger. None of these men have yet reached the zenith of their political career. Each has bright moments both behind and before them. Each inspire hope and vision for America and the youth and vigor to accomplish it. . . . Each was hopeful and excited about America.

i might add the first lady to the list of hopeful and optimistic speakers.

People may criticize the Zell Miller speech, but in retrospect, it seems to have worked. It wasn't a liability, because of the protesters outside, and three years of over the top rhetoric by the entertainment and academic elites. Zell Miller spoke to the "silent majority" who is tired of the America hating that has been going on unchallenged in this country for too long.

Do i think the "bounce" will hold until November? Barring any intervening events, a trumped-up scandal or another terrorist attack for instance, yes i do. But on the other hand, there's nothing i trust less than a desperate Democrat about to lose an election. There's no telling what they have up their sleeve.

This Is Despicable

Left wing media bias. Facts=anything they want to believe. Doesn't matter if it's a complete and bald-faced lie. Nor if it's a lie that can easily be caught and exposed.

SpinSwimming Link via Speed of Thought.

More: Hindrocket has more. The AP reporter who filed the false story was wearing earplugs?

Good Luck Bill

Keep former President Bill Clinton in your prayers today. My dad went through two quadruple bypasses, and while they seem to be routine these days, they're never without risk.

What A Speech!

i don't quite know what to make of tonight's keynote speech by Zell Miller. Needless to say, as a Republican, i loved it. i was floored. i was amazed at his zeal, his guts and the guts of the RNC who allowed him to let loose like that. If you missed it, you missed one of the great partisan political speeches of all time. I wish i had taped it.

But as an amateur pundit, student and observer of politics, i'm perplexed. The Republican leadership hinted at a new "kick Kerry when he's down" strategy on Monday night. There were some definite moments in Giuliani's speech that we would call "defining the opposition," and the Democrats would call "negative attacks." But Giuliani delivered the blows with his signature humor and good-naturedness.

Tonight however, and i'm trying to be fair here, Senator Miller's tone matched the anger and vehemence i've been hearing from the left ever since Florida. Part of me wants to say "it's about time the Republicans got some balls and started hitting back." In that sense, if the Democrats are upset by what Zell Miller did, they have Michael More to blame. They had it coming. Senator Miller not only kicked Kerry's ass, he bitch-slapped the entire America-hating left.

A prime example:

[N]othing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.

Tell that to the one-half of Europe that was freed because Franklin Roosevelt led an army of liberators, not occupiers.

Tell that to the lower half of the Korean Peninsula that is free because Dwight Eisenhower commanded an army of liberators, not occupiers.

Tell that to the half a billion men, women and children who are free today from the Baltics to the Crimea, from Poland to Siberia, because Ronald Reagan rebuilt a military of liberators, not occupiers.

It is not their patriotism—it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. They claimed Carter’s pacifism would lead to peace.

They were wrong.

They claimed Reagan’s defense buildup would lead to war.

They were wrong.

All i can think to add to that is . . . Fuck yeah!

Another part of me is reminded that it wasn't a Republican who delivered tonight's scathing keynote. Perhaps because no Republican knows how to fight like that. We are wimps when it comes to the political knife fight. Always have been.

The gamble, as i put my pundit hat back on, is that such strong words, however true, will backfire as they are dissected and spun by the Kerry-leaning media tomorrow. Aaron Brown, interviewing Joe Klein after the convention adjourned, seemed to wonder the same thing. Klein responded that he'd never seen two more divergent strategies from the parties in a presidential race. The Democrats deliberately underplayed at their convention, and it seems the Republicans have decided to overplay.

The conventional wisdom (pun intended) has always been to play to the center at the nominating convention. This late in the game, it's not the time to solidify your base. That's why i gasped a bit when Mike Reagan brought up the A word earlier in the night. But of course you'd have to wire his mouth shut to keep Mike Reagan from speaking his mind, God bless him.

i'm scared though, not because i think the middle 20% was watching, i don't. If they had been, i think they would have enjoyed Zell Miller's show. i'm scared because they're going to hear about the speech through the filter of Chris Matthew and Greta Van Susternernen and the rest of the left leaning media "analysts" who just don't get it.

Speaking of Matthew, i caught the entire interview with Zell Miller afterwards, where the senator challenged that blowhard to a duel, literally. i haven't laughed so hard in ages. Miller was well aware of what Matthew had done to Michelle Malkin, and he clearly was not going to fall for that shit. It was awesome.

So getting back to my punditry, i don't know whether it was a wise move by the Republicans to go so negative tonight, even though i loved it. i'm well aware of the difference between preaching to the choir and converting the undecided.

On the other hand, there's something to be said for setting the record straight on such a big stage. And after enduring four years of irrational Bush hatred it feels good to hear someone finally take the gloves off. Maybe such straight talk on a national platform is the perfect way to counter the unholy left-wing alliance of media, academia and Hollywood and their constant stream of bile.

Only time will tell, and the next eight weeks promise to be the most fascinating political stretch run in my lifetime. And after 2000, that's saying a lot.

Update: The lefty spin has begun, and the talking points are too predictable: Zell Miller is evil. Zell miller is crazy. Zell Miller is Pat Buchanan.

Daily Kos:

Why does he look like he's looking for babies to eat? That's Cheney's job.

Atrios:

Wow, I never thought Zell would be able to improve on the original German version of Pat Buchanan's '92 speech, but he did.

Fat Ollie Wills:

The sight of a rambling old man screaming hate while being cheered on by the party of Bush is doing our job for us.

Andie Sullivan:

Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats. Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul to the negroes. His speech tonight was in this vein, a classic Dixiecrat speech, jammed with bald lies, straw men, and hateful rhetoric.

More: Don't you find it ironic that Andie berates Senator Miller for "bald lies, straw men, and hateful rhetoric," at the same time as he calls Miller a racist? Was Senator Miller a racist when he spoke at the Democratic convention and endorsed Bill Clinton? If so, why didn't the left say anything about it back in '92?

i'd be intersted to know if Andie thinks he's more or less of a racist than Sheets Bird.

Bunch of fucking cry-baby liars.

Russia Under Assault

Remember the Russian people in your prayers today. Even if they haven't been with us as much as i'd like, they are a people of incredible strength and they stand on the front lines of this war too.