Category: Politics & Elections

From the East Valley Tribune:

Kerry was riding the 16-car train that he boarded in St. Louis. The train includes a car used by former President Harry Truman during his 1948 whistle-stop campaign for the presidency. Kerry was originally supposed to slow down to wave at supporters in Winslow, but with a huge crowd at the train station, he decided to make a brief stop. Kerry said he saw a sign that read, “Give us eight minutes and we’ll give you eight years.”

“Just for an insurance policy, I gave them 15 or 20,” he said.

Link via Atrios.

Atrios is on to something that NewMexiKen has been saying for a couple weeks — it’s not going to be that close.

There are moments of disconnect, when the reality on the ground diverges sufficiently from the media spin that people start realizing something’s up.

The sheer size of the crowds attending Kerry/Edwards rallies are impressive. Something’s happening here.

There’s something we used to hear a lot — that incumbents with under 50% approval ratings are in deep deep trouble. We haven’t heard it much since Bush dropped below 50.

In national polls, Kerry is almost always ahead. In electoral vote analysis, Kerry has consistently been ahead.

…. but they [the press] do seem to be doing a pretty good job of not mentioning the obvious — right now, Kerry’s ahead, and that isn’t good news for that other guy.

As Ralph said in his comments on the assault with a deadly horse story, “Horses, headboards, doesn’t anyone in New Mexico have a GUN?”

Appropriately it’s Ralph (of Makes Me Ralph) who brings us up to date on the headboard story:

New Mexico State Representative Rory Ogle refuses to resign after assaulting his wife with the headboard of their bed. Ogle doesn’t have opposition in November and says the issue is private and between him and his wife.

No, Rory, what happened between Jack Ryan and his wife was private. Criminal proceedings are public.

Now, Ogle is getting it from both sides. Republicans plan to run a write in campaign against him, as do Democrats. New Mexico Attorney General and Democratic Hottie Patricia Madrid issued a forceful call for Ogle’s resignation, as well as stiffer penalties for domestic violence.

At Slate, William Saletan thinks it’s Kerry’s race to lose. (Though, as he admits, he thought Bush was toast with similar numbers four years ago.)

It’s no This Land, but Will Ferrel’s ACT Bush reelection video is pretty amusing — well, I don’t suppose that’s true if you support Bush.

From the Albuquerque Journal:

Some would-be spectators hoping to attend Vice President Dick Cheney’s rally in Rio Rancho this weekend walked out of a Republican campaign office miffed and ticketless Thursday after getting this news:
Unless you sign an endorsement for President George W. Bush, you’re not getting any passes.

The Albuquerque Bush-Cheney Victory office in charge of doling out the tickets to Saturday’s event was requiring the endorsement forms from people it could not verify as supporters.

From the Arizona Daily Star:

President Bush’s re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Star refused to provide the information.

*****

Journalists covering the president or vice president must undergo a background check and are required to provide their name, date of birth and Social Security number. The Star provided that information Thursday for Popat and this reporter.

“That’s all anybody has been asked to provide,” said Hayt, adding that this is the first time in her 26-year career that a journalist’s race was made an issue.

From Zogby via Eschaton:

Among Hispanic Voters:
Kerry 69%
Bush 19%

Among Southern Voters:
Kerry 48%
Bush 46%

Among Young Voters (18-29) :
Kerry 53%
Bush 33%

Among Single Voters:
Kerry 69%
Bush 19%

In the Red States:
Kerry 46%
Bush 48%

In the Blue States:
Kerry 50%
Bush 38%

Among People Who Did Not Vote in 2000:
Kerry 50%
Bush 25%

In the words of William Saletan at Slate:

In his determination to unite the right, Bush hasn’t just united the left. He has lost the center. Look at last week’s New York Times/CBS News poll of registered voters. “Do you think the result of the war with Iraq was worth the loss of American life and other costs of attacking Iraq or not?” Fifty-nine percent say it was not. “Which do you think is a better way to improve the national economy—cutting taxes or reducing the federal budget deficit?” Fifty-eight percent say reducing the deficit. “When it comes to regulating the environmental and safety practices of business, do you think the federal government is doing enough, should it do more, or should it do less?” Fifty-nine percent say more.

“Illinois senatorial candidate Barak Obama, he’s the new rising star of the Democratic party. He gave the keynote address at the Democratic convention. When they told President Bush about Obama, Bush said, ‘Isn’t that the guy we can’t find? Why don’t we grab him? He was right there!'”

Jay Leno

From Wired News:

When was the last time you saw John Kerry on his knees before world leaders, clad in S&M gear and with a ball gag in his mouth? Or eyed President Bush looking sheepish in a red dunce cap?

Chances are it was sometime this past week on national TV and maybe 10 times before that on the Internet, thanks to JibJab, a site that is posting animators Evan and Gregg Spiridellis’ latest creation, This Land.

The film features Kerry and Bush dissing each other like boys on a playground to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s classic song, “This Land Is Your Land.” It’s made it around the world, with enthusiastic viewers commenting about the film on the site’s blog from as far away as the Netherlands, New Zealand and Guam, and its historical value has been noted by the Library of Congress, which on Tuesday e-mailed the Santa Monica, California-based Spiridellises asking to add the animated short to its archives.

But while about 25 million viewers have been clogging JibJab to chuckle at the film’s South Park-like Flash animation and juvenile insults (Bush labels Kerry a “liberal sissy,” and Kerry responds by calling Bush a “right-wing nut job”), the Spiridellises aren’t exactly laughing their way back to the drawing board.

In the wake of their short’s popularity, which began soon after its July 9 Web release and has been punctuated by appearances and mentions on almost every major U.S. news show, the brothers found themselves in a legal skirmish with Ludlow Music, which, Ludlow attorney Paul LiCalsi said, owns the copyright to Guthrie’s famous tune.

Read more from Wired.

Barack Obama, Tuesday night:

When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they’re going, to care for their families while they’re gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

Excerpt from the speech of Barack Obama Tuesday:

For alongside our famous individualism, there’s another ingredient in the American saga. A belief that we’re all connected as one people.

If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for their prescription drugs, and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandparent. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

E pluribus unum. Out of many, one.

“As you know Teresa Heinz Kerry has been taking criticism for telling a reporter to ‘shove it’ the other day … Can you blame Teresa Heinz Kerry, really? I mean what’s the point of having a billion dollars if you can’t tell someone to ‘shove it’?”

“It’s now being reported that John Edwards’ younger brother, Wesley, turned himself in to the state of Colorado for a warrant relating to a 1993 DUI arrest … This proves Edwards is presidential. Have you noticed that most presidents have embarrassing brothers? Bill Clinton had Roger Clinton; Jimmy Carter had his brother, Billy Carter. You know the embarrassing brother in the Bush family? George.”

Jay Leno

Al Gore:

I’m going to be candid with you. I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election. But you know the old saying: you win some, you lose some. And then there’s that little-known third category.

But I didn’t come here tonight to talk about the past. After all, I don’t want you to think that I lie awake at night counting and recounting sheep. I prefer to focus on the future, because I know from my own experience that America’s a land of opportunity, where every little boy and girl has a chance to grow up and win the popular vote.

and Kerry is beginning to pull away. View a map of the latest polls.

As usual, Mark Morford minces no words on Just how far will desperate Republicans go to trick America into another BushCo victory?

Semi-clever, ultra-wealthy Bush supporters suddenly donating piles of money to the Nader campaign in an obvious attempt to steal votes from John Kerry? Pshaw. Ptooey. Child’s play. Tip of the iceberg. A mere distraction.

We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

This is the time of desperation and anxiety. This is the time of hysterical Orange Alerts and imminent al Qaeda attacks coming from outta nowhere at any minute and violating our children and kicking our puppies and badly denting our Honda Accords. And, yes, this is the time of election-year political tactics coming from the increasingly anxious Right that will make Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” look like a cupcake cookbook.

Continue reading.

Link via The Sideshow.

Apparently some of you missed this when I posted it last week.

As I said, “Go and be amused.” (Animation with sound.)

Aladdin President Bill Timmins ordered security guards to escort pop diva Linda Ronstadt off the property following a concert Saturday night during which she expressed support for controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore.

Timmins, who was among the almost 5,000 fans in the audience at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, had Ronstadt escorted to her tour bus and her belongings from her hotel room sent to her. Timmins also sent word to Ronstadt that she was no longer welcome at the property for future performances, according Aladdin spokeswoman Tyri Squyres.

How much weight that carries is debatable, since the bankrupt Aladdin is in the process of being sold to a group headed by Planet Hollywood International Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Earl.

Near the close of her performance, Ronstadt dedicated the Eagles hit “Desperado” to Moore, producer of “Fahrenheit 9/11,” and the room erupted into equal parts boos and cheers.

She said Moore “is someone who cares about this country deeply and is trying to help.”

Ronstadt has been making the dedication at each of her engagements since she began a national tour earlier this summer, but it has never sparked such a reaction.

Hundreds of angry fans streamed from the theater as Ronstadt sang. Some of them reportedly defaced posters of her in the lobby, writing comments and tossing drinks on her pictures.

Source: Las Vegas Sun