I make this charge based solely on observing the various O'Reilly photos featured on Fox News's front page:

Q Mr. President --

THE PRESIDENT: Identify yourself, please.

Q I'm with Bloomberg News. I'm Jay Newton-Small.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, welcome.

Q Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you know Scott? (Laughter.)

Q Very well.

Q We ride in a lot of vans together.

THE PRESIDENT: You might ask him why he didn't shave. But go ahead.

THE PRESS: Awww .

He's just too fucking adorable.

Doesn't that last line just really sum everything up?

link via Wonkette

I noticed this too... but couldn't think of anything clever to say about it.

I still can't.

9-11 comissioner Tom Kean on yesterday's MTP:

When we say we want to reform intelligence and change it fundamentally, making this restructuring of government one of the largest in history, we think that's pretty major. We have to remember that we know we've got this problem with the military. But more people died on September 11, double the number that have died so far in Iraq. I mean, we are facing very serious problems on the home front here, and we believe the kind of recommendations we've made, the kind of criticisms we made in the report are valid and that, therefore, changes have to be made to protect us all.

I hope he just misspoke. I hope he's not really under the impression that more innocent people died on 9/11 than in Bush's "shock and awe"-ing of Iraq.

I hope a lot of things.

Alabama voters narrowly rejected a Constitutional amendment that would have removed, according to the Washington Post, "segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks."

Here's more:

(Alabama Christian Coalition President John Giles) was aided by a virtually unparalleled Alabama celebrity in his battle against the amendment, distributing testimonials from former chief justice Roy Moore, whose fame was sealed in 2003 when he defied a federal court order to remove a two-ton granite Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court. They were joined by former Moore aide Tom Parker, who handed out miniature Confederate flags this fall during his successful campaign for a seat on the Alabama Supreme Court.

You've gotta love the company that Republicans keep.

Here's some of the Daily Show's coverage of the turmoil at the CIA and Bush's Cabinet shake-up from last week.

David H. Hackworth reports that Don Rumsfeld and George W. Bush may have found a way to further insulate themselves from the deaths of our soldiers- using an autopen to sign letters to grieving families.

And now, apparently, Rumsfeld's obsession with machines and their efficiency has translated into his using one to replace his own John Hancock on KIA (killed in action) letters to parents and spouses. Two Pentagon-based colonels, who've both insisted on anonymity to protect their careers, have indignantly reported that the SecDef has relinquished this sacred duty to a signature device rather than signing the sad documents himself.

[...]

Dr. Ted Smith, whose son Eric was among the first 100 killed in Iraq, notes that the letter he received from the commander in chief was signed with a thick, green marking pen. I thought it was stamped then and do even now. He had time for golf and the ranch but not enough to sign a decent signature with a pen for his beloved hero soldiers. I was going to send the letter back but did not. I am sorry I didn't.

More about the Autopen machine:

Autopen signatures have a couple of giveaway flaws: First, they are often done in Sharpie, which hides the fact that the machine signatures are of a consistent line width from beginning to end, due to the unchanging pressure-- not often the case with actual signatures, which will show some variance of line width, particularly at the end of strokes. Indeed, autopens will often show a wider spot, or "dot" at the beginning and end of the signature, where the pen was placed on the paper, and where it stopped and was lifted off the paper.

Second, autopenned signatures will be EXACTLY the same every time, from a given matrix. This is sometimes disguised by movement (intentionally or not) of the paper. Still there will be the same spacing, height of letters, length of signature, etc. Autopens can be sniffed out and confirmed if two signatures are identical. Humans aren't that precise. It's impossible for a live person to generate identical signatures even if they try.

Here are some samples of GWB's autopenned signature from Stephen Beck's site:

Apparently Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will not run for the head of the DNC. How will we go on? Here's my favorite part of CNN.com's report on this heart-stopping announcement:

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean has called party regulars, expressing his interest in the DNC job. Other Democrats interested in the job or being asked to pursue it include Harold Ickes, adviser to former President Clinton; Leo Hindery, former chairman of the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network LLC, a New York-based sports cable channel that televises New York Yankees' baseball games; former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk.
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said Monday that the Democratic Party is fortunate that Hindery wants the job, describing the former chairman and CEO of AT&T Broadband as a successful New York City businessman who understands the Republican-leaning regions of the country.
"He can be a unifier and be a neutral broker," Kerrey said in a telephone interview.

I like Dean. He was marginalized by Democrats and Republicans during his presidential run, in part because he promised to clean out the DNC if elected. Terry McBucks (as David Corn calls him in The Nation) and the Clintonian corporate liberals had their shot. They've been an unmitigated disaster. It's time to torch the political landscape and let new growth appear. The only remaining use for the DNC's current leaders is as compost.
The Democrats need a populist -- badly -- not a corporate CEO from New York. Dean may be the best choice. He's certainly been the most creative Democrat in message and tactics in recent years, which is probably why he got such a severe beatdown in the primaries. He actually stood for change -- something the Democratic National Corp. wanted no part of.

Tom Shales gives FCC commissioner Colin Powell's Son a long overdue beat-down:

Powell belongs at the bottom of the barrel with the lowliest of the bunch. He is an agenda masquerading as a man, the proverbial pompous ass and, worse, a genuine threat to freedom of speech.

Speak it, brother...

link

I watched maybe five minutes of news over the weekend- and it turned out it was the five minutes where Bush announced that Iraq elections were being held in June instead of January.

From the CNN transcript:

"I notice today that the elections are on schedule for June (sic) 30th. Think how far that society has come, from the days of mass grave and torture chambers to the day in which they're going to be voting for a president."

Again, I'm a little concerned that Bush still hasn't been told that they're not voting for a President- they're voting for representatives in a National Assembly... but that's a lesser point. Either Bush let a secret backup date slip, or he's a moron.

Tough call.

There's so much to be appalled at I don't even know where to begin my ranting, but I'm working on some stuff today and tomorrow that's severely limiting my ability to post...

Thanks for picking up the slack, AJ, I'll be back late today...

Alright, we've all probably seen the dirty tax trick pulled by Republicans, so there's not much to say along those lines. But, here's a couple of questions:
1. What kind of mindset decides to get this passed? Everybody thinks this is a bad idea, but there it was, a vote away from being law. What's scary is Istook says it was all a "misunderstanding," which will probably pass as acceptable to mainstream media. This may be a forecast of the years to come: Shit, we got caught ... we didn't really mean it.
2. What else is in the 1,000-page tax bill? Maybe the blogosphere should undertake a collective project to read everything the GOP is passing, because it doesn't seem like we can rely on our elected officials to do it.

Here we are on a Saturday afternoon that feels more like evening because it gets dark so early these days. I haven't posted in awhile, because, frankly, how often can you say, "Fuck Bush"? Not that there isn't a place for this weblog in a Bush world, and not that politics won't rise again to capture the public imagination, or whatever. But I think we're heading into some apolitical times. We're just too damn tired after the election.

That said, here's my take on the current situation (for what it's worth). I happen to have working knowledge of my community's Democratic and Republican parties. The Republicans are young, slick and devoted. They move where they're needed and spend tens of thousands of dollars ferociously contesting state-level races in the hopes of expanding their parties state house majority. They're great at what they do, and they're having a great time doing it.

Local Democrats are old, naive and arrogant. They believe they're right, and dismiss everyone else. They leave important local offices uncontested and offer no resistance to our Republican congressman, state senator or assemblyman. They don't organize. They're not diverse. They have no money. They're annoying to talk to. There's just no life there. (Think about it: Who are the political stars of the moment? Bush, Cheney, McCain, Schwarzenegger ... would a Democrat crack the top 10? Maybe Hillary and Obama -- I'm sure they'll play well in the red states.)

I speak all of this as the critic outsider -- a despicable role to be sure -- but Democrats have proven their inaptitude over and over. They just ran two failed presidential elections based on "anybody but the other guy." The party allowed Al Gore and John Kerry to be completely defined by Bush, et al. As Democrats search for their direction, people keep asking the question: Now where do Democrats go? My guess: Anywhere Karl Rove wants them to, unless they can invigorate the local parties. The difference between the parties is the young Republican in a suit working 80 hours a week for a property tax ban, and an unkempt Democrat blaming "rednecks" for Kerry's defeat. One side actually does something, while the other side whines and laments.

Of course, this isn't everyone. But in my community, a mid-sized city in the Midwest, it's certainly the case. The Democrats here are sick, and it may be spreading.

I'm probably the last person to notice that Neal Pollack is updating pretty regularly again...

I buy all his crap. It's like a compulsion- ever since the masterful "The Neal Pollack Anthology Of American Literature" I've been addicted.

Click here to see the cover story.

We know the truth, and we have enough tin foil to last years!!! YEARS!!!

Some girl drops a towel on Monday Night Football and we see her back. Her NAKED, NAKED, horribly NAKED back! Little kids shouldn't be exposed to this! I mean... they can be exposed to grown men endlessly beating the shit out of each other on the football field, sure, but not a naked back!!!

It's been five days and somehow people are still expressing outrage over it.

The only thing offensive about this was that ABC used NFL players to promote their horrible programming- I think we can do without that. If it was truly offensive you'd think Entertainment Tonight wouldn't air it in the middle of the day and that ESPN wouldn't have aired it every hour on the hour.

The more troubling question is this: Would this be a big deal if it had been a black chick? Or a white player? Could this be a race thing? (I admit, I'm always the last to see that angle... but I'm cribbing that thought from Howard Stern's show a few days ago.)

So which is it, hopeless puritanism or latent racism?

Update:
My God- how naive of me... check out what Limbaugh said about the skit:

Even Rush Limbaugh, who made a racially charged critique of McNabb last season, chimed in on his radio show, saying he was "shocked" by the content, which was "too close to this Kobe Bryant situation for comfort."

I'm sure I'm pointing out the obvious here, but that's an incredibly racist thing to say. Are we to understand that every time a black man and a white woman are in the same room a rape case will result?

Rush- whatever it is you're taking this week, do us all a favor and double the dosage.

Why not just make up a number, like a quadfajillion dollars? I mean, it's not like we'll ever stick to this number.

At least, I won't.

I hereby raise my debt ceiling so's I can buy a ninja uniform. On account'a I wanna be a ninja.

link

I understand why he was holding it by the neck... no one wants to see this happen again:


I would bet he's pardoned more turkeys than prisoners on death row. Wacky.

Last month, the appeals court rejected the conservative radio commentator's claim that his privacy rights trumped investigators' power to seize his medical records. Limbaugh appealed, asking the appeals court to rehear his case or refer it to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court could decline to hear the case, which would allow the lower court's decision to stand.

It's not hard to imagine Limbaugh's mindset- thinking about those bygone days of hitting the maid up for thousands of OxyContins, Lorcets, hydrocodones... and the little blue ones... what are those called? Bluies? Going to the "grocery store" to get some "cabbage," waiting in the Denny's parking lot, handing over the cabbage for the cigar box full of pills... All just hoping to ease the pain of his horrible, horrible life. Gotta be really hard.

Good times.

link

Anyone have any other pictures of Presidents making out with their Secretary of State?

Just curious.

Update:
Well... today we got a president and an Education Secretary...


You just know this is a result of all the Cabinet orgies.

Hadley's the guy who couldn't decide what to do in response to the USS Cole attack. Now he's going to be National Security Advisor.

This appears to be the new Bush Doctrine- promote those you should fire for incompetence.

link

...on second thought, that's not so new, is it?

Good. Get it right, that's all we ask.

Half-Life 2, here I come...

I've been trying all day to write a post on this without using the word "scumbags" but thus far all efforts have proven unsuccessful.

I'm gonna go play Half-Life 2 now.

The FCC isn't stopping at moving to regulate cable and satellite- they know you have a PC- and they want in.

link

I had a big ol' post about the CIA purge all written up and ready to publish when I read Josh Marshall and James Wolcott's comments- they of course sum it up better than I ever could.

I'll just add that I think this is one of the most dangerous, destructive and evil occurrences in a neverending string of dangerous, destructive and evil occurrences from this administration.

The guys who were right about the Iraq war are being fired for standing up for the truth. The guys who were wrong are now being promoted. The fact that Bush can get away with this obvious sham in plain view says a lot about our media.

Someone (bigger than us...) needs to call bullshit on this right now.

Powell, who's first name is for some reason pronounced like the part of the body that expels feces (irony!) leaves the administration as the guy who sold America on the war in Iraq even though he didn't believe in it.

He lied to the American people and the world.

Now that he's ruined his credibility hopefully he'll have the decency to slink off into the darkness never to be heard from again.

Update: I should say also that Colin Powell is the most decent and respectable member of the Bush administration. That's how bad they are.

I have great respect for James Carville's genius- anyone who's seen The War Room probably does... but he really needs to pull himself together.

Yesterday on "Meet The Press" Carville, when confronted with his eight month old prediction of who would be elected president, pulled out a raw egg and slapped it on his head and started giggling, "I got egg on my face! I got egg on my face!"

I think he could have made the point just as effectively and not lost his dignity in the process...

link

That's unfortunate.

link

Just saw the picture. (My Internets were down longer than I thought they would be...)

I say again: NO FUCKING WAY.

That's a medical device of some sort. Gotta be. We'd be hearing about Cheney's persistent back problems otherwise...


This seems more likely:


Can't wait to see Charlie Gibson ask Cheney about this bulge...

From Uggabugga:



link

Upon closer inspection, it seems the vice president’s smile was not his biggest, ahem, asset. Is that what we think it is?

“You’re not imagining it,” Guldan says of the unintentionally revealing photo.

Let’s just say the snugness of Cheney’s pants left little to the imagination, and we’re not talking about his waistline.

link

That's all I have to say about that.

link

...at least at my house.

Someone (not me) cut the wrong wire or flipped the wrong switch yesterday and cut off my internets, so I couldn't post all my incisive and witty commentary or ride the Daily Show's glory by posting clips.

Lemme tell you, it's like living in the early '90s- I see a hot girl on TV and I can't instantly find naked pictures of her. That ain't a world I wanna live in.

A team of internets repair technicians are supposed to arrive shortly to fix the problem, but I'll never forget the night I lived without the info-cyber-dubyadubya-interweb-net, and without fresh pr0n.

(By the way, I'm posting this via a revolutionary new process- first I write the post longhand on parchment dating from the 1700's, the text is then transferred from the parchment to a grain of rice using laser calligraphy, the grain of rice is mailed to a PO box Sandusky, Ohio. There the grain of rice is lost. So then I just go in to work and type the post there.)

...Too bad they're not having one.

The LA Times:

"Well, I'm confident when people realize that there's a chance to vote on a president, they will participate," President Bush said Wednesday when asked whether the participation of Sunni Muslims would be necessary to make the elections free and fair.

Bush went on to draw a comparison with recent presidential elections in Afghanistan.

"As I reminded our citizens prior to the Afghanistan elections, there's a deep desire in every soul to vote and to be free, and to participate in the presidential elections," he said.

In fact, Iraqis will not choose their president directly. They will be voting to choose a National Assembly of 275 members, which will elect from its members a president and two deputies and write a constitution.

I guess this is what happens when you refuse to read the newspaper.

link

If one has enough disposable income one can choose to buy oneself a satellite dish or cable TV service. Those who can't afford those options (or choose not to buy them,) are collectively viewed by the federal government as a six year old child.

The FCC has created a system where broadcast stations are unable to air realistic, edgy material for fear of fines and other less obvious consequences. Case in point- Saving Private Ryan.

More than 20 ABC affiliates have decided not to air Saving Private Ryan for fear of reprisal from the FCC.

When Bono said the word "fucking" during the 2003 Golden Globe awards the FCC ruled that use of the word was "indecent and profane." Since the word "fuck" appears in various forms throughout SPR it would appear that this movie is, by definition, indecent and profane. I can understand why the ABC affiliates would hesitate.

When ABC asked the FCC to clear their SPR broadcast they refused, saying they only act on complaints. To do otherwise would be censorship. So broadcasters aren't allowed to ask where the line is, but once they cross it they're fined millions. If they don't pay up right away the FCC exerts pressure on other facets of their business until they pay.

Quite a scam Colin Powell's son is running over there.

So it comes down to this: We live in a country where a federal body decides what the American public can and cannot see, not directly, but through threats and intimidation. The segment of the population most directly effected by this regulation? The poor.

Which all makes me wonder- when will we start legislating C-sections so that newborns aren't exposed to female genitalia at birth?

link

I thought this was a joke at first, but it's actually pretty touching.

The new AG nominee is the guy who told the president the Geneva Conventions are "quaint."

When I see this, "quaint" isn't exactly a word that springs to mind... but whatever.

Democratic leaders should be raising holy hell, but they seem to be resigned to accepting this scumbag.

Hey Democrats, get a fucking spine. It's gut check time- we all watched Porter Goss as he promised not to be partisan during the confirmation process, then hired four Republicans staffers for the top posts in the agency.

It's pretty obvious that Bush is surrounding himself with a cabal of boot-lickers who will do and say anything he and his advisors tell them to do, all in a dark chasm of secrecy.

That is not how this government is supposed to work, but what's that old saying about absolute power? That's right- abso-fucking-lutely.

Any flicker of hope for the ideal of an open and honest government died November 2nd, 2004- and the folks on our side seem to be peeing their pants instead of actually doing something about it.

I realize things have been a little quiet around here... thanks to Applejack for posting.

I've got an admission to make. I'm an addict.

The most recent release from RockStar Games- Grand Theft Auto- San Andreas has taken up all my free time- time which was usually dedicated to this site.

Things should return to normal shortly- I'm pretty sure I hit bottom tonight, I'm Googling 12 step programs as we speak.

I'm not ready to concede the election. There's just too much weird shit going on, and it seems like there are enough questions about results in Florida and Ohio -- maybe elsewhere -- to do more with an investigation than write a screenplay for a future Oliver Stone movie. While Atrio is set on irregularities in Ohio, my two concerns are:

1. Exit polls just aren't that wrong. Any statistics expert is going to point out that it's highly unlikely that all of the polls were so far off. I wonder if there's a statistical study on the probability of the exit polls being so far off from the actual results ... I bet it's pretty low.

2. Lessig points out that Democratic counties in Florida seem to have defected to Bush in this election, while voting Democrat on the rest of their ballot. Do you know a single Bush-Democrat crossover voter?

I know Kerry and Edwards have given up, likely because both candidates want to run in 2008. I know the media has packed up and gone back to writing hit stories on college students who stole the new Green Day album online. I know the president says he has a mandate. But there's still work here to be done, if, for no other reason, to prevent future problems.

Every time I think this guy couldn't be a bigger tool he surprises me...

Quick review:

• Lost to a dead man
• He told the FBI he didn't want to be briefed anymore on terrorism in July, 2001 (that worked out nicely, didn't it?)
• Spent $8,650 to cover a statue's boob
• Tommy Fucking Chong
• He hates your freedoms, (and unlike Osama actually managed to take many of them away)
• He's 0 for 5,000.

There's more. Oh so much more.

I say again, what a fucking tool.

I guess this has been out for awhile, but for anyone who hasn't seen it ... this must have taken forever to edit together.

Here's Lewis Black's segment on last Thursday's Daily Show.

link

- Bush's tailor is unhappy at being blamed, but still likes 43.

- A Secret Service source says it was a bullet proof vest.

- We'll never know for sure.

link

The point here is he'll lie to your face about the little things... why trust him on the big things?

Here's a clip from the 11/4 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart-

Covered in the clip:

- International reaction to the election
- Bush's new "One Question" rule
- "Political Capital"
- Mr. Arafat is not dead.

link

Wow. That strikes me as rather optimistic.

link

I thought if you give the terra-ists a deadline they'll just wait until one day after the deadline- remember- they's only gotta be right once to kill our freedoms!

--

So, now that the election is over all the bad news the Bush administration was able to cover up before the election is finally seeping out.

Seriously- check out this article keeping in mind the election was held Nov. 2nd:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 - American intelligence agencies have tripled their formal estimate of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile systems believed to be at large worldwide, since determining that at least 4,000 of the weapons in Iraq's prewar arsenals cannot be accounted for, government officials said Friday.

It would take someone exceedingly stupid not to see how ridiculous and corrupt this is. Unfortunately, as we learned recently, 51% of our country is in that camp.

Igorance is bliss. Terra terra terra!

Interesting perspective-

If you voted for Bush, didn't vote, or voted no on gay marriage, I hope you get drafted.

I hope they stick you in my unit, and you go with me to Iraq when my unit goes back in September. I will laugh when you see what soldiers in that country face on a daily basis. I hope you work with gay soldiers too. I did. One of them saved my life. Think he shouldn't have the right to get married? Fuck you. He fought just as hard as I did and on most days, did his job better than me. Don't tell me gays don't have the same rights you do.

Think the war in Iraq is a good thing? I'll donate my M-16 to you and you can go in my place.

link via MeFi

On the one hand it's really cold there in the winter... on the other hand their leader isn't a retard who's attempting to end the world...

Tough call...

link

Sorry for the lack of posts lately- I'm not heartbroken or suicidal because of the election. Just insanely busy at work.

I'm sure I'll have some video up this weekend, since the Daily Show has had some good stuff- though if you need a fix right away Lisa Rein is posting clips galore.

Ohio voting was hosed.

A computer error involving one voting-machine cartridge gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in a Gahanna precinct.

Franklin County’s unofficial results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Democratic challenger John Kerry’s 260 votes in Precinct 1B, which votes at New Life Church on Stygler Road. Records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.

Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, said Bush received 365 votes there.

The remaining 13 voters who cast ballots either voted for other candidates or did not vote for president.

Damschroder said he received some calls yesterday from people who saw the error when reading the list of poll results on the election board’s Web site.

"It’s why the results on election night are unofficial," Damschroder said.

link

Pretty cool map showing every county's results with proportional colors (instead of just red and blue).

link

Adam Felber's concession speech- well said.

link

...the most nuanced coverage came from outside the studio...


Thanks HardJustice!

Dark days ahead.

But at least I get to keep making fun of this moron.

Bad time to be busy at work- I'll be posting more soon- I'm still amazed at how close this race was, and I'm glad so many people got out to vote.

Update: Blogger is sucking today.

It would have been nice to have a margin of victory (either way) above and beyond Ohio, where Diebold promised to deliver the electoral votes to Bush a couple years ago.

Still, with all that going against Kerry, he's had a hell of a showing.

Pretty exciting stuff, eh?

Unfortunately I've got an early morning tomorrow... Gotta go to bed sometime. See you in the morning- good luck to whoever you voted for.

Watching the live episode of The Daily Show- great to see Steve Carell stop by.

C-SPAN has the best map I've seen so far.

link

...but I'm not gonna buy into it until every vote is lost or counted twice or whatever.

link

Note to CNN: More swooping dolly shots- I'm not nauseous enough.

...and more closeups of Wolf- I ain't gay, but he stirs something in me.

MUST CREDIT OVERSPUN!!!

6, 14, 11, 167, 42.

As always, take these with a grain of salt.

Oh- I did get in to vote around lunch time- amazingly enough my ward had no wait, the other ward sharing the polling place looked to have around 100 people in line.

In and out in three minutes.

October 30:
Fox poll shows Bush up by 2.
Headline: "Fox Poll: Bush Up By Two Points Over Kerry"

November 1:
Fox poll shows Kerry up by 2.
Headline: "Fox National Poll: Voters Split."

(stolen nearly word for word from Andrew Sullivan... never thought I'd say that....)

Drove by my polling place this morning- I've never seen the parking lot full on election day, (it's a big lot) today it's overflowing and there's a line around the block.

I'll be casting my vote for John Kerry.

Here's a little video I put together from a segment on "FOX & Friends" last week- it was their main coverage of the 377 tons of high explosives looted under our watch.

They lie, they cover for Bush, and they try to create a dust storm to obscure the truth. When the facts are inconvenient they're ignored.

After the storm, here's what we know: Bush lost 377 tons of high explosives which are now being used against our troops- and FOX News won't report it.

link

Here's Bob Nardo, Former Executive Director of the D.C. Federation of College Republicans, talking about rumors of a draft:

"A lot of people who want to portray your young people as out of control or afraid are people in John Kerry's campaign who are running this scare tactic of saying there's gonna be a draft. Not only is it- is it flatly true, as the president and the militiary leadership will tell you, but what it says is that John Kerry thinks he can control young people by using scare tactics-"

Here's the video

Bob- I don't think John Kerry has to say much of anything about the draft, you just need to keep on talking. We're getting the message.

Whatever that thing was on Bush's back during the debates has apparently started leaking.

ABC News had several producers attempt to attend campaign rallies wearing t-shirts supporting the opposing candidate. The article wimps out right at the beginning by saying both camps are aggressively on the lookout for these shirts and acting on them- but only the faltering Bush campaign is throwing people out of the rallies and threatening them with arrest:

(Actual quotes)

Kerry event:

"We hold the right to remove you, but other than that, enjoy and hopefully at the end of the event you'll want to wear a Kerry T-shirt."

Bush event:

"Hey folks, it's a private event. Can you find your way to the nearest exit? Maybe some law enforcement can help?"

link

The faltering Bush administration is continuing to ignore the Supreme Court ruling on Guantanimo- the NYT reports:

Lawyers for many of the detainees, including the ones named in the Supreme Court ruling, say the Bush administration is purposely ignoring the justices' mandate and stalling.

They cite the government's refusal to acknowledge that detainees are entitled to free access to lawyers to make their cases before federal judges. More broadly, they argue that the government is still trying to argue issues it has already lost in the Supreme Court, especially that the detainees have full rights to challenge their detentions in lower federal courts.

The Justice Department responded to demands by the detainees' lawyers with language remarkably similar to that it used almost two years ago in the case it has already lost.

Can't wait to get some adults in there and clean up this mess. This shit is really indefensible. If we're attempting to be a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world, what does it say about us when we give up following the law when it gets hard?

Once the president decides he's above the law, it's not like the Supreme Court can stop him- at least, not this Supreme Court... We'll be repairing this damage for decades. With any luck, the repairs will start tomorrow.