Monthly Archives: October 2004

Al Gore’s Legacy

Don’t miss this superb piece by Joseph Perkins, a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune: Richard Nixon would have captured the 1960 presidential election but for five states he lost by 5,000 votes or fewer »

Is Osama Calling Time Out?

Wretchard has an interesting take on Osama’s video: he’s like the kid on the playground who tries to call “time out” when he’s about to get clobbered: It is important to notice what he has stopped saying in this speech. He has stopped talking about the restoration of the Global Caliphate. There is no more mention of the return of Andalusia. There is no more anticipation that Islam will sweep »

Daschle Brings in the Lawyers

The Washington Post reports on how Tom Daschle is responding to finding himself behind in the polls: Is Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) getting panicky in his reelection bid against former representative John Thune? Republicans gleefully note that after a newspaper poll showed Thune in the lead this week, Daschle’s long-standing ban on third-party ads abruptly ended, and a chartered planeload of Democratic lawyers, lobbyists and loyalists is »

Piercing the Blackout on Good News

During the last two weeks of the Presidential campaign, we expected a virtual blackout on good news of all kinds, as the mainstream media try to drag John Kerry across the finish line. And we haven’t been surprised, as the press has been hysterical over one bogus story after another. So let’s take a moment to shine a little light into the darkness. Haider Ajina sends us the results of »

Cover for Osama’s Video Found

Reader and fellow blogger Andy T. has discovered the cover that accompanied the Osama bin Laden video played on Al Jazeera yesterday: Michael Moore must be feeling proud of himself today. UPDATE: Reader Jerry Cornwell points out that the Kerry camp is getting sensitive about the similarity between Osama’s diatribe and their own talking points: KERRY CAMPAIGN BLOWS UP AT FOX, THREATENS TO THROW FOX OFF THE PLANE, BACKS OFF: »

Bin Laden Tape Seen as Attempt To Swing Election

The Associated Press has a roundup of international reaction to yesterday’s bin Laden tape, which apparently was genuine: [I]nternational experts said the message was a clear attempt to influence the U.S. presidential election. Around the world, observers debated what impact the dramatically timed message would have on the U.S. election, just days away. Many saw the tape – in which the al-Qaida leader warned Americans not to “mess” with the »

Hair Face-Off

This one is for entertainment value only. Most of you have probably seen the video footage of John Edwards’ hair being prepared for a television experts by a team of experts–mostly John himself, who wields his compact like a pro–and also the footage, some years old now, of President Bush straightening his hair (perfunctorily) for the camera and concluding with a somewhat rude but good-humored gesture. The Daily Recycler, with »

The Democrats Finally Find Someone Who Buys Their Spin

A partial translation of “Osama bin Laden’s” video is here. I said on Kudlow and Cramer this afternoon that reports of bin Laden’s speech made it sound as if he had absorbed the Democrats’ talking points quite well. Reading the speech, or excerpts thereof, reinforces that thought: I am surprised by you. Despite entering the fourth year after September 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from »

Strangers on a plane

Recently, we have seen reports that John Kerry is not doing nearly as well among African-American voters as Al Gore did. At first, the conventional explanation centered on Kerry’s aloof patrician personality. Later, the focus shifted to Kerry’s social liberalism and its effect on a segment of black church-goers. Yesterday, on the plane to New York, the man seated next to me was a black, Christian Republican who is attempting »

Mass Infidelity

A PoliPundit reader finds that Osama bin Laden has been following our politics more closely than anyone could have expected. (See comment #2) »

Baffled bloggers

There don’t seem to be many undecided voters left, but there are (or until quite recently were) many undecided bloggers. I’m not sure why bloggers are more baffled than the average citizen by the choice between Bush and Kerry. Maybe they are just overthinking this. One theme I see expressed by some of the agonizers is uncertainty about whether the election of Kerry would force the Democrats to become more »

Kerry Rides a Really Slow Horse

I’ve never understood the Kerry campaign’s decision to make Al Qaqaa–that is, an attack on the competence of the U.S. Army, based on essentially no evidence–the centerpiece of the last week of the campaign. On the merits, the issue has fizzled. We now know (although it has not been widely reported) that around half of the explosives in question were surreptitiously removed from the site by Saddam Hussein prior to »

Bush’s Swing State Ace In the Hole

The Kerry Spot made an excellent point today: President Bush has a significant advantage in swing states because of the top-quality surrogates he has campaigning on his behalf. Today the President is campaigning with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Ohio and New Hampshire. Tommy Franks, the President’s father and John McCain were all in Florida today. Rudy Giuliani is in Iowa, and Mitt Romney is chipping in in Michigan, where his father »

The Rendell machine at work

A reader sent me this message about voter fraud in Pennsylvania: I’m listening to WPHT, 1210AM. Dom Giordano is interviewing PA Congressman Curt Weldon (from Pennsylvania’s Delaware County). Weldon caught four women who visited a prison and they were filmed running from the prison with absentee ballots from the prisoners. It was filmed by a Philly TV station (not sure which one). Weldon caught these women red-handed, allegedly college girls, »

Crunch time in Texas

The Hill, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, provides poll results for the five House races in Texas that have been considered competitive. Recall that redistricting placed seven incumbent Democrats in jeopardy. One retired and one switched parties. The Hill shows Republicans ahead in four of the five races. Louis Gohmert leads Max Sandlin 48-39; Ted Poe leads Nick Lampson 41-37; Randy Neugebauer leads Charles Stenholm 53-23; and Pete Sessions »

An edifying comparison

John Kerry on October 29, 2004: “Wake up, America, wake up…You have a choice.” (Patricia Wilson, “Kerry: ‘Wake Up America’ And Choose Fresh Start.”) Bob Dole on October 25, 1996: “Where is the outrage in America? Where is the outrage in America? Where has the media gone in America? Where is the outrage in America?” ( »

Osama to Endorse Kerry?

Al Jazeera announced that it will broadcast a video starring Osama bin Laden in which Osama will “address the American people.” There are many twists and turns in the road between now and Tuesday. It will be interesting to see whether–assuming this isn’t a complete hoax–Osama, or whoever he is, endorses Kerry. UPDATE (by Deacon): This is the AP report on bin Laden’s (or whomever’s) statement. There’s not much in »