Sure hope so.

No telling what happens on wiggle room when Saddam's 11/5 verdict is announced, oil prices continue to fall and Osama makes his pre-election statement. And possibly a terror alert.

I am interested to see how Saddam's guilty and punished by execution verdict (how do I know the verdict already, you ask?) will play out. The R's obviously think it will help them, but I have a suspicion that it may cause an outbreak of just an unimaginable amount of violence, soliders getting killed, and general anarchy.

Thus, it may completely backfire, if all we're watching on TV Monday nite is the results of 148 car bombings and (God-forbid) a score of US troops in coffins...One must believe the Sunnis will react, and probably not by wagging their finger...

Kerry made no "unfortunate remarks about the intellectual level of soldiers on the front line." Even Andrew Sullivan has figured this out, though it did take him two days. (He's kind of slow. Look how long it took him to figure out he'd been lied to about Iraq.) I'd expected better of you.

I've long wondered whether this republican collapse and the impending loss of the house and possibly the senate, was part of some evil plan by Karl Rove to hold onto the white house in '08.

After all, wasn't the republican revolution in '94 the best thing that ever happened to Clinton come '96?

Thoughts?

JoJo -- I respect Andrew Sullivan, but we see things differently. Yes, many are making too much of what Kerry said -- but he said it, botched joke or not, and he needs to rank this comment up there with "I voted Agsinst It before I Voted For it."

Sorry, you get no sympathy from me for John Kerry and his comments. He was a candidate for President whose judgment was risk-averse and who simply didn't have the kind of tough-minded tenacity and vision that someone challenging Bush needed.

I can't spend time here worrying about whether Kerry is being treated or well for what he said. His wounds this time are totally self-inflicted.

Steve Clemons

Kerry has a history of shooting himself in the foot. The sooner he relinquishes any presidential ambitions, the better. He's an unmitigated disaster for progressive Democrats. I feel nothing but contempt for the man.

I'd like to see some polling on the Kerry "gaffe". I don't think the Republicans help themselves by focusing on a minor misstep by someone who is not running for office.
The media----especially CNN----wildly overplayed this story.
Kerry's second apology should have killed the story, but still CNN and the GOP are talking about it. That has got to turn off voters who want to hear about serious issues. How is this going to hurt some Democrat? I don't buy it.

By the way, CNN has really gone to pot. Hours of vapid, detail-free political meta-analysis.. and what is this new found love of local crime and fire stories? It's like watching a semi-pro station in a medium sized city sometimes.

Your pretending that Kerry insulted the troops is as reprehensible as Bush's.

You have to be a true blinkered beltway insider to believe that Kerry's remark has any large significance.
Steve, I just read your comparison of this with his "voted against it... " remarks.
I really think you ought to reconsider that comparison.

By the way, when I hard Kerry's remarks for the first time, I thought they were funny and didn't see anything wrong with them.

Steve--

How does Kerry's lack of spine as a candidate somehow make it OK for the GOP noise machine and you to willfully misinterpret his comments? He was clearly speaking about Bush, and your willingness to cover your error on this by citing "I voted Against It before I Voted For it" shows that you have sunk very low. All you need to do is mention "nuance" and you could be one of Cheney's speechwriters.
Congratulations.

Oh, that "congratulations" was sarcastic, in case you choose to ignore the context.

I gotta agree with Steve about Kerry. His moves and comments can be so friggin' ignorant politically that at times I would swear he was a shill for the Republicans. And his early concession, coupled with his slithering out of the country while Conyers was holding the hearings on the stolen election, pretty well cinched it for me. The guy mighta had some balls in 'Nam, but he lost them somewheres between then and now. I think the smarmy ass should just quietly fade away and go spend Theresa's money.

John Kerry's remarks, as you well know, were not directed at troops but at the president.

Really, if we were to seriously debate "damaging" remarks, we should be taking a hard look at Monkey Boy's comments about Rumsfeld and Cheney, about how they are "doing a fantastic job". In fact, never mind the actual words. Just the fact that Bush granted Rush Limbaugh an interview speaks volumes about how slimey the little bastard is. I mean good God, what reasonably moral human being of even moderate intelligence takes that fat drug addicted asshole seriously? Bush even went so far as to say that "people walk up to me and thank me for protecting them". ARE YOU FUCKIN' KIDDING ME???? Now who the hell can "walk up to" George (your highness) Bush??? Christ, they keep the little pissant in a bubble. There is no such thing as "walking up to" George Bush. What, is the liar trying to tell us he has recently visited one of the fenced enclosures that they designate as a "free speech zone" everytime he slinks out of his bunker?? Give me a break. The only people that are apt to walk up to Bush and say "thanks for protecting me" are the criminals he has on his staff, like that satanistic monster Cheney, who should be straight-jacketed and caged, if for nothing else than that unbelievably insane comment he made about the "insurgency is in its last throes".

If these bastards weren't causing so much death and destruction it would almost be laughable. Its like a Fellini movie, in 3D. Wheres my 3D glasses? I want to get the full benefit of this surreal matinee.

Kerry has a habit of putting his foot in his mouth, but making a stink about his "mispoken" remarks is idiotic.
This whole campaign season is idiotic. The politicans are idiotic and the talking heads are idiotic.

Steve, I am stunned by your stubborn refusal to admit that Kerry, politically bone-headed though he may be, was viciously misinterpreted by Bush, the Republican machine and, to a large extent, the media. Can't you at least admit that Kerry in no way whatsoever was directing his comments at the troops?? You are blowing my mind, and if I don't see some words from you stating that, yes, Kerry's joke was intended solely at the expense of Bush and not the troops, well, then, I will lose a whole lot of respect for you. It's mind-boggling that you are being so pig-headed about this.

Hell, even Christopher Hitchens sees through it: "I don't remember anything being as shamelessly distorted as Kerry's hapless attempt to tell a feeble joke about Bush's I.Q. But it seems to be quite Nixonian what the White House and the Republican Party's been doing. It's self-evident that Kerry wouldn't have tried to equate stupidity with military service, and it's an attempt to change the subject in the crummiest way.... It's almost degrading to have to discuss it...."

Looks like the latest scandal has already overtaken Kerry's unfortunate misspeaking.

Boy, I sure miss the old fashioned sex scandals that involved women.

It's true, Sullivan and Hitches both now admit that while what he said was stupid, what he actually meant to say was "if you don't study hard you end up like Bush, and look where that got us, stuck in Iraq!"

You people don't get it. Steve does. It doesn't matter whether or not Kerry's comments were directed towards Bush. It was a ridiculously stupid thing to say, and it was said in a ridiculously stupid manner. Anyone that can repeatedly make such flagrant political blunders has no business in the political arena. You people that are defending Kerry are acting no different than Bush when he makes statements like "You're doing a hell of a job, Brownie". Kerry has blown it. Not just by this latest blunder, but by a series of them. He needs to get the hell out of the kitchen.

POA is on target on Kerry.

Steve Clemons

I agree with Steve and POA. It should not matter, but politics today is 24/7 media coverage with opposition also following candidates around (e.g., George Allen's mistakes, etc.)recording every word out of their mouths. CNN is little better than Fox in exploiting and exaggerating such gaffs. So the only places were issues get discussed in depth are NPR, PBS, and C-Span.

Since the media climate is not likely to change, skills that politicians need are ability to stay calm, to stay on talking points but also be able to ad lib when necessary. Kerry doesn't do this well nor does Allen or Bush. Obama and Pelosi are very good at this--calm, cool, caring, courteous and in control.

POA is not on target, methinks. I am not defending Kerry; his muff of already slightly risky text is his own fault.

Not standing up for Kerry, however, does not prevent me from ridiculing Clemons for making this statement:

"...Kerry's unfortunate remarks about the intellectual level of soldiers on the front line."

Kerry made no remarks about the intellect of soldiers on the front line. That he made remarks that could so easily be distorted to mean that is clear, and for that he is responsible.

But Clemons is also responsible--for buying into and repeating talking points that took advantage of Kerry's sloppy speech.

So: A pox on both their houses.

.

Here's the subtle distinction.

Kerry is an idiot. His remark, just like the "for and against" remark, was simply stupid.

And here's why . . .

Because the main-stream news media in this country is owned, managed, and controlled by the corporate interests that put Bush and his regime in power, and are determined to keep him there. Thus, we don't need Bush's lying reimagining of Kerry's stupid joke to turn what he said into something that no one believes. The right-wing-controlled main stream media does that for him.

The evidence?

All this about insulting the troops when it was clear that Kerry was talking about Bush. But not one word about Boehner's saying that the generals are responsible for messing up the Iraq occupation. A senior Republican Congressional leader directly and unambiguously insults the military -- and clearly lies when he does so (remember /Fiasco/?) -- and nobody says a word about it. Kerry botches a joke and it dominates the news in a distorted fashion for three days.

This is like the "Suport the Troops" mantra, from a leadership that sent them to an unneccessary war with no plan, insufficient equipment, and then cuts them loose when the dead and wounded come home. But no one questions the clear hypocracy.

Not even you, Steve.

no. No. NO!!!

Messaging discipline!! Messaging discipline!! Messaging discipline!!

FACTS!!! FACTS!!! FACTS!!! FACTS!!! FACTS!!!

How many of you read the full transcript of Kerry's response to the DISTORTION of what JFK said originally? To say that Kerry was speaking about the TROOPS is COUNTER-FACTUAL. Once again, media negligence has resulted in smearing a progressive spokesperson who said eminently quotable words that would have put this administration on the defensive. Read below for those juicy quotes. (Which words did the sensationalist elements in the media and their far right RNC allies choose to reproduce ad nauseam?) Once again, irresponsible progressives, e.g. HRC, have hopped on the Limbaugh bandwagon without even paying their ticket to join in the collective lynching of one of their own. No wonder the far right dominates the country's media and three branches of government. Transcript below. Video of the 9 minute speech available on the Kerry web site. Share with everyone.

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/release.html?id=34

Below is a transcript of Kerry’s remarks, as delivered:

SENATOR KERRY: Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy.

If anyone owes our troops in the fields an apology, it is the President and his failed team and a Republican majority in the Congress that has been willing to stamp -- rubber-stamp policies that have done injury to our troops and to their families.

My statement yesterday -- and the White House knows this full well -- was a botched joke about the president and the president's people, not about the troops.

The White House's attempt to distort my true statement is a remarkable testament to their abject failure in making America safe. It's a stunning statement about their willingness to reduce anything in America to raw politics. It's their willingness to distort, their willingness to mislead Americans, their willingness to exploit the troops, as they have so many times at backdrops, at so many speeches at which they have not told the American people the truth.

I'm not going to stand for it.

What our troops deserve is a winning strategy. And what they deserve is leadership that is up to the sacrifice that they're making.

Sadly, this is the best that this administration can do in a month when we have lost 100 young men and women who have given their lives for a failed policy.

Over half the names on the Vietnam wall were put there after our leaders knew that our policy was wrong. And it was wrong that leaders were quiet then, and I'm not going to be quiet now.

This is a textbook Republican campaign strategy: Try to change the topic; try to make someone else the issue; try to make something else said the issue, not the policy, not their responsibility.

Well, everybody knows it's not working this time, and I'm not going to stand around and let it work. If anyone thinks that a veteran, someone like me, who's been fighting my entire career to provide for veterans, to fight for their benefits, to help honor what their service is, if anybody thinks that a veteran would somehow criticize more than 140,000 troops serving in Iraq and not the president and his people who put them there, they're crazy.

It's just wrong. This is a classic GOP textbook Republican campaign tactic.

I'm sick and tired of a bunch of despicable Republicans who will not debate real policy, who won't take responsibility for their own mistakes, standing up and trying to make other people the butt of those mistakes.

I'm sick and tired of a whole bunch of Republican attacks, most of which come from people who never wore the uniform and never had the courage to stand up and go to war themselves.

Enough is enough. We're not going to stand for this. This policy is broken. And this president and his administration didn't do their homework. They didn't study what would happen in Iraq. They didn't study and listen to the people who were the experts and would have told them.

And they know that's what I was talking about yesterday. I'm not going to be lectured by a White House or by the likes of Rush Limbaugh who's taking a day off from mimicking and attacking Michael J. Fox, who's now going to try to attack me and lie about me and distort me.

No way. It disgusts me that a bunch of these Republican hacks who've never worn the uniform of our country are willing to lie about those who did.

It's over.

This administration has given us a Katrina foreign policy: mistake upon mistake upon mistake; unwilling to give our troops the armor that they need; unwilling to have enough troops in place; unwilling to give them the Humvees that they deserve to protect them; unwilling to have a coalition that is adequate to be able to defend our interests.

Our own intelligence agency has told us they're creating more terrorists, not less. They're making us less safe, not more.

I think Americans are sick and tired of this game. These Republicans are afraid to stand up and debate a real veteran on this topic. And they're afraid to debate -- you know, they want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men.

Well, we're going to have a real debate in this country about this policy. The bottom line is: These Republicans want to distort this policy. And, this time, it won't work because we are going to stay in their face with the truth.

And no Democrat is going to be bullied by these people, by these kinds of attacks that have no place in American politics. It's time to set our policy correct.

They have a stand-still-and-lose policy in Iraq and they have a cut-and-run policy in Afghanistan. And the fact is, our troops, who have served heroically, who deserve better, deserve leadership that is up to their sacrifice, period.

QUESTION: Senator, John McCain said that you owe an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered this country's call because they are patriots.

To those people who didn't get your joke, who may have misinterpreted you as saying the undereducated are cannon fodder, what do you say?

KERRY: I never said that, and John McCain knows I've never said that and John McCain knows I wouldn't say that.

And John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Donald Rumsfeld for making the mistakes he's made. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from this administration for not sending in enough troops.

He ought to ask for an apology for putting our troops on the line with a policy that doesn't have an adequate coalition, that doesn't have adequate diplomacy, where we don't have a strategy to win.

And what we need is to debate the real issues, not these phony, sideline issues that are part of the politics. Americans are tired -- sick and tired of this kind of politics.

They know my true feelings. They know I fought to provide additional money for veterans. They know I fought to provide money for combat for veterans. They know I've fought to put money for V.A. They know I've honored those veterans.

They know that this is the finest military -- and I've said it 100,000 times -- that we've ever had. They know precisely what I was saying.

And they're trying to turn this because they have a bankrupt policy and they can't defend it to the nation and they can't defend it to the world.

KERRY: And I'm not going to stand for this anymore; period. That's the apology that people ought to get.

QUESTION: Do you need to go to joke school?

KERRY: Sure.

QUESTION: Senator, do you regret saying the remark? And what were you trying to say?

KERRY: Very simple: that those who didn't study it properly, those who made the decisions, they got us into Iraq. Very simple.

The fact is they know that. The administration knows that. And they're simply trying to distort this. They're trying to play a game.

And, again, I'm not going to stand for it. This is the kind of thing that makes Americans sick. People know -- I mean, there ought to be some level of honor and trust in this process.

I have fought a lifetime on behalf of veterans. We have the finest young men and women serving us in the United States military that we've ever had, and I'm proud of that.

But this administration has let them down, and that was clearly a remark directed at this administration. They understand it. They want to distort it. It's a classic Republican playbook. They want to change the topic.

We're not going to let them change the topic. The topic is their failed policy in Iraq. The topic is that they don't have a strategy, they don't have a way to be able to win.

You got Dick Cheney saying everything's just terrific in Iraq only a week ago. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Dick Cheney for misleading America. He ought to ask for an apology from the president for lying about the nuclear program in Africa. He ought to ask for an apology for once again a week ago referring to Al Qaida as being the central problem in Iraq, when Al Qaida is not the central problem.

Enough is enough. I'm not going to stand for these people trying to shift the topic and make it politics. America deserves a real discussion about real policy. And that's what this election is going to be about next Tuesday.

One more question, then I got to run.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

KERRY: Let me tell you something: I'm not going to give them one ounce of daylight to spread one of their lies and to play this game ever, ever again. That is a lesson I learned deep and hard.

And I'll tell you: I will stand up anywhere across this country and take these guys on. This is dishonoring not just the troops themselves by pointing the finger at the troops, it's abusing the troops. They're using the troops. They're trying to make the troops into the target here. I didn't do that, and they know that.

KERRY: And for them to suggest that somebody who served their country, as I did, and has a record like I have in the United States Congress of standing up and fighting for the troops would ever, ever insult the troops is an insult in and of itself.

And they owe us an apology for even daring to use the White House to stand up and make this an issue again. Shame on them. Shame on them.

And may the American people take that shame to the polls with them next Tuesday.

Thank you all.

QUESTION: What do you say to the men and women fighting in Iraq if they hear this in passing, that may be confused on the issue, sir?

KERRY: They will hear what I just said. I honor their service, and I always have.


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More evidence of the spineless, pandering pond scum Senator McCain has become:

QUESTION: Senator, John McCain said that you owe an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered this country's call because they are patriots.

To those people who didn't get your joke, who may have misinterpreted you as saying the undereducated are cannon fodder, what do you say?

KERRY: I never said that, and John McCain knows I've never said that and John McCain knows I wouldn't say that.

And John McCain ought to ask for an apology from Donald Rumsfeld for making the mistakes he's made. John McCain ought to ask for an apology from this administration for not sending in enough troops.

Did President ever apoligize for his jokes/skit in the whitehouse concerning the WMD'S remember that?????????

Did President ever apologize for his jokes/skit in the whitehouse concerning the WMD'S remember that?????????

I still would like to see some polling on this.
I bet that the Republicans shot themselves in the foot with this one.

I totally agree with Steve and POA.

Kerry is a bumbler. People here and on other threads who make excuses for his blunder can't seem to see this objectively.

Kerry should know that every burp and cough could end up on a blog in a microsecond. He should know that the opposition will do everything to twist and exaggerate his statements. Is that fair? No. Is it reality? Yes. Can he change it? No.

To express surprise about the milieu is to demonstrate either ignorance and/or intellectual dishonesty.

I suspect many who rationalize on behalf of Kerry really intend to curse the sewer-like condition of politicking arena. Rants supporting him as such should make this clear. To do otherwise, is appear naive.

He should know that the opposition will do everything to twist and exaggerate his statements. Is that fair? No. Is it reality? Yes. Can he change it? No.

Should we repeat the distortions of his opponents? No.

Below appears one of the fundamental problems of progressive impotence: defeatism. Failure to examine and address what DOES need to be changed -gross media negligence through mismanagement of the facts, among other problems - is naive.

What have you done today to improve journalism?

* * * * *

Can he change it? No.

[...]

Posted by JoJo at November 3, 2006 02:07 PM

Steve and POA are, of course, right about the irrelevancy of Kerry's intentions, but people are also right to remember that his intentions were pure, if only to keep the list of Republican lies complete.

I think people misinterpreted Steve's criticism of Kerry just as others did Kerry's joke. Steve was making a profound point: running Kerry again in '08 would be like salvaging the skeletal frame of the Hindenberg, re-skinning it with the type of latex used in early breast implants, and powering it across the Atlantic with the engine from a junked Ford Pinto. And we ought to be open-minded to the idea that there might be a candidate available with fewer known vulnerabilities.

The Republicans dropped this attack like a dead fish? Wonder why? It stank. I think it's possible that the days of the guaranteed success of the Republican noise machine are over.
People like Steve and POA have accepted a delusional school of interpretation as valid.
The Republican style of attack, which is to take what a Democrat says and claim it means the opposite, only worked because the media and pundits gave it so much play.
If Kerry said "I like Ham sandwiches", and the GOP used this to proclaim "Kerry casually admits his anti-Semitism", it won't work anymore.
Same with the attack based on Kerry's remarks last week. Were they clumsy? Arguably, yes.
Could any reasonable person infer that Kerry was slamming US troops? Absolulely no---not a chance.
Maybe several years of national hallucination are about to end.

Again:

How many of you joining the Kerry-bashing brigade have bothered to check the FACTS by viewing the video on the Kerry web site or reading the transcript of his remarks responding to this umpteenth character assassination attempt of a prominent Democratic Party leader with unimpeachable military bona fides???? Links to the transcript and video appear above.

Things you can do about media negligence in regards to important public debates:

mediamatters.org
thinkprogress.org
freepress.net
stopbigmedia.com
cjrdaily.org

Reader, I was quoting JoMoHo at 01:01 PM. Italics tags got eaten and I failed to preview.

I can't really decide who Kerry was referring to but it makes sense that he wouldn't insult the troops considering he is a veteran.
oh I'm gonna get skewered for this one but...it seems that everyone is afraid to admit what's under the surface here... the only people I know who joined the armed forces are those who couldn't get into college on academic scholarships or who couldn't afford(parents couldn't afford) to pay for college and had no other options for a career. I would love to see the stats but my gut feeling is that most of those who enlist (non officers) in the military are from the lower socioeconomic levels(middle, lower middle class and the poor)and less educated with no options. The military does much more successful recruiting in the south Bronx than they do in Scarsdale or Tarrytown...

Well, Foley was honest about his orientation. But Ken Mehlman can't decide if he's for or against taking money from porn producers.

Guess he's against it when it's Harold Ford.

Guess he's for it when the checks are coming his way as reported on here.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2006_10_22.php#010647

For the life of me I cannot understand why Steve, POA and others supporting their view on this matter cannot make a simple distinction between their anger at Kerry's ineptness and the FACT of what his actual intentions were. Can you not hold two thoughts in your head at one time? Has your pissed-offness truly made you this dull? Frigging unbelievable.

On to more clear-headed critics, you guys have completely lost it. Sad.

And JoMoHo, who said anything about supporting Kerry? Of course it was foolhardy, stupid and incredibly inept. That's not the issue. Why do you guys conflate his ineptness with, again, the FACT of his obvious intentions?

And moreover, why in the world do you join the Bush crowd in perpetuating this conflation? Can somebody explain this? Why can't you at least say, Kerry, you goddam idiot, why did you let your obvious support of the troops get torpedoed by such rhetorical ineptitude?

And back to Steve et al, why do you choose to magnify the damage done? Can somebody please explain?

I love Rummy even if he is CFR. If everyone hates him, he must be doing something right.

If I understand the anti-Kerryites here correctly, it's OK to join in a Republican campaign of lies aimed at a Democrat if we find that Democrat inept. Apparently we can trust Unka Karl's judgment as to which Democrats need to shut up, and we don't need to observe the practice of honesty in order to do so. Some will say "but I chose to not like Kerry all on my own." So why are you coming after him now, right before the election? That was Rove's idea.

And if you don't want Kerry to be the nominee in '08, support someone else.

"For the life of me I cannot understand why Steve, POA and others supporting their view on this matter cannot make a simple distinction between their anger at Kerry's ineptness and the FACT of what his actual intentions were."

His "intentions" are irrelevent. He clumsily fed the Republican slime machine, even after the damned fool had been slimed repeatedly by that very same machine. Whats it take for him to learn a lesson?? You are gonna defend the blundering jerk to the detriment of our goals. He needs to shut his mouth and step aside, before he does anymore damage. The guy is an idiot.

"So why are you coming after him now, right before the election?"

I have had problems with Kerry ever since the slimey worm abandoned his supporters with his early concession, and slinked out of the country when John Conyers was working hard to expose Kenneth Blackwell's THEFT of the Presidential election. And I have not been silent about my disgust with Kerry. The mewling fraud was lukewarm about filibustering Alito. He has not managed to make hay out of ANY of the obvious Bush foreign policy blunders. He was a complete and utter COWARD when it came to defending himself against the Swift Boat slime machine, and he has done virtually NOTHING about voter fraud. Bottom lne, Blackwell has Kerry's balls hanging in his trophy case.

Look, if some of you naive blatherers want just another posturing fraud to stick his finger to the wind, than Kerry is your man. But don't expect those of us with more than two brain cells synapsin' at once to follow you into the romper room.

Wise up, Kerry is a dead end. Want to lose an election? Run with Kerry.

Again I say---POA and Steve, you've been had.
The attacks on Kerry did NOTHING to hurt Democrats. Why blame Kerry when there wasn't even a foul?
What we saw this last week was a bunch of hot air being blown on this issue---to no effect at all. That's the real story.
The slime machine doesn't work anymore.
But you're still wrong.

POA, why do you keep insisting that we're defending Kerry? We're not, or at least I am not; I am questioning your mindless support of Rove's methods and goals here. You're way too pissed off to see straight. But then that's been noted before.

Anyway, marky is right. We're disagreeing about something of no consequence to Tuesday's election.

"POA, why do you keep insisting that we're defending Kerry? We're not, or at least I am not; I am questioning your mindless support of Rove's methods and goals here."

Well, if you suggest my comments are "supporting Rove's methods", than I suggest you ask yourself why you EMPLOY Rove's methods.

(Good God, is this a nation of idiots?)

"Not standing up for Kerry, however, does not prevent me from ridiculing Clemons for making this statement:"

""...Kerry's unfortunate remarks about the intellectual level of soldiers on the front line.""

"Kerry made no remarks about the intellect of soldiers on the front line. That he made remarks that could so easily be distorted to mean that is clear, and for that he is responsible."

Posted by MFA

Heres today's $64,000 dollar question...

I intend to say "Bob is an asshole", but through a slip of the tongue I instead say "Ed is an asshole".

Now, kiddies, who did I just call an asshole?

I have read all of your arguments with interest. The winning hat? Well, for me it's like choosing a derby, a Stetson or a beret. I'll have to take the Stetson. It offers superior protection from the heat and glare of the sun -- you can use it for a bowl -- you can herd sheep with it, and, at the end of a long day, you can use it for a pilla under yer head. When you wake up, I guess you can even pee in it.

Man, it's the Boss of the Plains. :D

POA: The statement in question is hardly that clear cut.

Hey ET. I miss ya. Any chance of you and Den rejoining the party?

BTW, never pee in your Stetson, it causes yellow dandruff.

POA, I never see him anywhere anymore. I've been busy teaching the little kids -- but I obviously need to come by here more often to check in on you. You need a major tune-up on grammar and spelling. But, hey, look on the bright side -- ya got love wired.