] Nevada election officials have launched an investigation
] into allegations that a Republican-led voter registration
] drive improperly disposed of forms it collected from
] potential Democratic voters.

As far as I'm concerned, this is right there with Watergate. The next step up is shooting people who try to vote.

CNN.com - Nevada investigates voter registration - Oct 14, 2004

] What did Dem presidential contender John Kerry take out
] of his jacket as he approached the stage [with his back
] to the auditorium's audience]?
]
] What did Kerry place on the podium?

From the people who brought you the CBS news document forgery scandal, here's Jacketgate. Kerry won the debate because he seemed more on message. He didn't flounder around much and he made points his opponent couldn't rebut. Having a cheat sheet when your opponent doesn't could easily produce this effect.

Neither Rathergate nor Swiftboatgate seemed very serious to me, but I must confess to their effect. If it turns out that Kerry did bring a cheat sheet, his campaign is toast.

The mainstream press hasn't picked this up, yet.... The NY Post is claiming that if you look at it from another camera angle its a pen. I never believe anything I read in the NY Post. So, where are the other camera angles? Lets have 'em out on the net!

U Turns out it WAS just a pen.

[ Also turns out, in the video, both men take something out and put it on the podium. So, whatever, mostly. Granted the rules state that no candidate was allowed to bring anything to the podium but seriously, what the fuck. If we can't trust the candidates not to hide some sort of magic crib sheet in their pen, then they shouldn't be there in the first place. It's a dumb rule. -k]

DRUDGE REPORT 2004: Did Kerry Cheat?

John Kerry is this country's intellect. George Bush is our heart.

Kerry clearly won the debate. He made strong points that Bush couldn't counter. Bush had his moments too, but they were fewer. Bush did not build the coalition that he said he was going to build. Bush did not use war as a last resort. With we did win concessions from Lybia, and possibly Syria, through the invasion of Iraq, Iran is moving forward with their nuke plan.

Bush was defensive, and in a sense you have to identify with his position. I don't like a number of his policies. I don't want to see him win. But he is a sitting President, and he may have been goofing off before 9/11, but he hasn't since. He kept repeating that its a hard job. It is a hard job. Most countries leaders are either corrupt enough to have opulent wealth and pleasure as a result of their position, or lucky enough to be running some place like Canada that basically just needs maintenance and isn't at the center of World affairs. Bush has worked his ass off and he has fought hard, and all he gets in return is jeers from his political enemies. At the end of the day you want the American people to show you that they appreciate it. Its impossible to simultaneously honor someone's service to his country while you're firing him, and that is a shame on some level.

Kerry is right, in a moral sense, that we need more people in Iraq to secure the country. If we really care about Iraq, we need to secure it. At the same time, the costs and risks that this entails are staggering. Are we really prepared for this commitment? This is the draft.

John Edwards sounds like a fucking redneck. In a sense he is the Dem's dark horse. All of the Democrats who've won elections in the past half century have been Southerners. The South's Democratic block is the thing that has kept this country from completely turning into an Urban vs. Rural culture war. Southerners like to vote for Southerners, even if they are Democrats, because Southern is still a cultural identity that is stronger then urban or rural. Furthermore, in the South the local Republicans have traditionally been the guys with holes in their sheets. No one wants to vote for a racist.

If the Republicans can pull the South, they win. Thats why they support the fundamentalists. Christian is a more important cultural identity then Southern or Republican. If they can connect with it over the next few cycles they'll control the country, and it will become a very uncomfortable place for multiculturalist intellectuals from the big city.

Some have argued that because Kerry is a Northerner, and Bush is from Texas, that Kerry really doesn't have a prayer. The visibility of Edwards during these debates might change that. Thats really Kerry's best hope.

K is right that the Dems need to think more strategically. To put a point on it, the Dems will loose the South over the next few years as the Republicans work to extend their concep... [ Read More (0.1k in body) ]

Debate

[ * GOLD STAR

And if it was a tad less repetitive and a little longer, maybe it'd get another half star on top of that.

This book is essentially a quick condensation of the salient concepts from Lakoff's earlier book, Moral Politics, together with updated insights and recent examples of where and how they apply.

The author describes in detail why voters on the political right seem so often to be voting against their self interest, how the rightwing power elite constructed the framework which enables and propagates it's message and why the left will always be frustrated by trying to fight them with facts.

He presents a cogent assessment of the importance of frames, and how they've been effectively used by the right, and ignored by the left. He constructs a model on which to base such frames, explaining the right in terms of theirs, and offering suggestions for the left on the basis of ours.

It's a small handbook, just an introduction really, to get people to start thinking about these issues, and start working to counter the 30 year head start the right has built.

It's no secret that I speak from a left perspective, and the book is also written as a guide for us, the left, but I think even politically moderate but intellectually progressive people would gain a lot from this book, if only by exploring the way in which frames are created, installed and exploited. For many of us, this will reinforce analyses or knowledge we've had for some time, for others it may catalyze some activity you felt but never quite saw full on. Maybe it'll be a total wake up call for some. Regardless, it's worth a read.

It's short, only 8 bucks at Amazon, and for those in the 404 I'd be happy to lend out my copy. -k]

] The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems
] of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are
] conducting elections that are internationally certified
] to be transparent, honest and fair.

Welcome to the Bush America. You'd think with the problems of 4 years ago that Florida would have used the intervening time to get their act together. I'm not going to blame them for not doing it right now, they've had 4 major hurricanes hammer them, but in the intevening period what they've done is abhorrent. They've kept things as they were so they can ensure that they steal an election this time that was a coin toss last time.

Still Seeking a Fair Florida Vote (washingtonpost.com)

] What you will see on the ballot
]
] Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that
] this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of
] man and woman?"
]
] ( ) YES
] (X) NO
]
] What you will NOT see on the ballot
]
] Paragraph I. Recognition of marriage.
]
] (a) This state shall recognize as marriage only
] the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of
] the same sex are prohibited in this state.
]
] (b) No union between persons of the same sex shall
] be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits
] of marriage. This state shall not give effect to
] any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any
] other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship
] between persons of the same sex that is treated as a
] marriage under the laws of such other state or
] jurisdiction. The courts of this state shall have no
] jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate maintenance
] with respect to any such relationship or otherwise to
] consider or rule on any of the parties respective
] rights arising as a result of or in connection with such
] relationship.

What possible honest reason could exist for asking the people of the State of Georgia to sign off on a constitutional amendment that they haven't read?!

[ Because all that text won't fit on the fucking screen of our Diebold fucking voting machines. And old people will be *con-fucking-fused*. And immigrants too. Fuck, man, people would have to know how to SCROLL DOWN or press NEXT PAGE. And read. We'd have to translate that shit into spanish... i mean, that's a lot of work.

Filthy. -k]

Georgians Against Discrimination

] The most dramatic polls were those published immediately
] after the Republican convention. Among likely voters, a
] poll by Gallup for CNN and USA Today found Mr Bush seven
] points ahead; Time put the lead at 11 points; a Newsweek
] poll gives the same lead among registered voters. No
] challenger has overcome a deficit that size after Labour
] Day and come back to win.

Bush's lead is not a temporary "post convention bounce."

[ Fortunately, he doesn't have to overcome that since those numbers are bullshit. Both Time and Newsweek collected their data *during* the convention, and NONE of the polling since then comes even close to echoing that kind of a lead. The word I've been seeing is that the bounce is closer to 4, and that in some highly independent areas, Bush actually lost support during the convention.

I wouldn't make the statement that the RNC was a failure, but it was not the coronation that Time and Newsweek made it out to be. The conspiratorial buzz on the liberal blogs is that the media purposefully inflated that score in order to generate a "Kerry's Unbelievable Comeback!" story down the line. I don't buy that either, but I'm convinced that Time and Newsweek are outliers, and that the real bounce, the small bounce, *is* temporary, particularly in light of the barrage of AWOL documentation, the worsening Iraq situation, the horrendous job picture and the mounting deficit projections.

In fact, this article supports what i said above, despite it's retarded headline. Their own poll put the bounce at 1. ONE. That's not even outstide the MOE, which means it's fucking worthless.

Also they blather about how there's some kind of "crisis of confidence" in the Kerry camp because some personnel was added after the RNC? Maybe it's because the campaign was saving their limited funds until after the convention, and that they wanted to see what was said there before hiring on the people that will help counter it. Deep fucking analysis there.

Did a bunch of us get a whole lotta worried when the first "BUSH IS KICKING ASS" stories started coming out? Hell yeah. But it's temporary, seeing now that those were retarded claims which never should've been published.

There are some trends which are disturbing, but it's way too early for fatalism here, and this article misleads. -k]

Economist.com | Bush is winning

] A November win by Democratic presidential candidate John
] Kerry would put the United States at risk of another
] "devastating" terrorist attack, Vice President Dick
] Cheney told supporters Tuesday.

We're not even pretending that we're not playing the fear card anymore.

I was thinking yesterday, the RNC had a basic contradiction that is easy to exploit. The official platform of the republican party was written by, for, and of the fundamentalist Christians. However, Rove did everything in his power to spin things at the RNC so that they would appeal to moderate "swing voters." The platform wasn't discussed. Cheney made scripted comments about his daughter.

All the Dems need to do is make sure that details about the Republican's actual platform gets into the hands of the moderate voters.... "Bush promises to do X if he gets into office." If the Republicans play down the discussion they alienate their base, if they admit it (which is what they'll do) they alienate the center. This tactic is too obvious for the Dems to have missed it. I can't think of a good reason for them not to play it...

CNN.com - Cheney: Kerry win risks terror attack - Sep 7, 2004

] If it walks like a Republican, and votes like a Republican ...

] Zell Miller was once a centrist Democrat. But, in the
] past few years, he's increasingly supported George W. Bush
] and the Republican agenda in the Senate. The non-partisan
] National Journal's 2003 ratings say Zell Miller is more
] conservative than 73% of his fellow Senators. In fact,
] his voting record is more conservative than 23 Republican
] Senators. For more information about Zell's record, see
] "Has Zell Miller become a closet Republican?" or listen to
] his 1992 convention speech at www.listentothisvoice.com.
]

I've been asking for weeks how can Zell Miller claim to be a democrat. He claims his party has sold out the ideals of Truman and FDR, but I think he's just gotten more senile w/ age.

zellout.com

] Though the "swift boat" controversy is a convenient foil,
] and can't have helped Kerry, the shift looks to represent
] broader assessments. The Massachusetts senator has lost
] ground on unrelated items ranging from "a vision for the
] future" to trust to handle health care and education.

This is a detailed collection of data about where the public stands right now. The above discussion is a little bit disingenuous. Much like Dean's "YARRR," its clear that "swing voters" are extremely vulnerable to meaningless attack politics, especially when they are carried in the mainstream press, and their perceptions of a candidate on one issue impact their perceptions on totally unrelated issues.

Kerry's attempt to handle the swift boat veterans clearly failed. The press may also have chosen their candidate and may be spinning things in his favor. Monday's USA Today headlined a picture of Cheney getting off of a plane, and trumpeted Bush's strengths. Protestors where mentioned, but their message was heavily spun down. One would think 100,000 people in the streets of New York would be a more newsworth photo then Cheney's daily deplaning.

Our election is a popularity contest; a football game. If the press is really smart they'll steer things back to Kerry next month, and then back to Bush again in October... Keeping you on the edge of your seats until the big event. Gotta sell copy...

ABCNEWS.com : Poll: As Convention Opens, Bush Has Edge