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In the lexicon of Bushisms it may one day make it to the top of the pile.
The American president added to his reputation as a gaffe-prone public speaker yesterday by declaring that the White House was doing everything it could to harm the United States.
Yup, all the big brains of the world.
But Mr Bush's idiosyncrasies are not necessarily an electoral burden. Some believe his folksy delivery and verbal solecisms play well with ordinary Americans wary of slick rhetoric and gilded vocabulary.
Remember the ever hypozitical Right and their indignant outrage when the Clinton's bought a house in New York and Hillary ran for Senate: carpetbagger comes to mind.
Where is the outrage now???
As our wordsmith of a president says, "Bring em on."
Alan Keyes, a Maryland resident, has agreed to run against state Sen. Barack Obama, but will not announce his intentions until Sunday, a senior GOP official said Friday.
Hey zitocrite, while watching Letterman did you share a father/daughter laugh together???
"There's a rumor that President George Bush had a nose job, that he had some kind of plastic surgery, that he actually had a nose job. If this is true, that's the first new job he's created since taking office." —David Letterman
F6, gotta love the 'big brains' and their stimulating economic policy that provides multiple tax cuts to the rich and corporate America, it will trickle down you peons so just wait your turn.
Sounds like we need another tax cut for the upper brackets to turn this economy around...oh, that's right, big bird and zididiot have stated the economy is doing great, we are winning the peace and Bush is gonna sweep into office!!!
But I suppose if there are any problems it's the Dems fault, the Dems fault that caused a bubble, the Dems fault who allowed 9/11 to happen, the Dems fault the Kerry/Edwards ticket is depressing Wall Street, the Dems fault ___________________(fill in the blank oh bird brains).
Easy, Leno showed the clip of Bush, looking down at his speech, looking up and then making that statement:
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
No wonder the rest of the world is laughing at us between their disgust and realizing how far we have fallen.
It is amazing how the Right, like zitocrite, kfc and ed_fascist (aka bird brain, er, big bird, er, big brain) fall all over themselves to proclaim his greatness. I guess big birds of a feather....
This guy is so embarrassing...sheesh...Cheney must have been out of the house and couldn't pull the strings. But, of course, 'we big brainfarts', er, 'we big brains' are amused by those not intellectually comprehending our 'big brain' president.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we," Bush said.
Arth....McCain would have nothing to do with Bush if not for the fact he is positioning himself for 2008. This slimely group will do anything to get, maintain and increase their power.
Fascists, that's right zithead, fascists.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry's military service "dishonest and dishonorable" and urged the White House on Thursday to condemn it as well.
"It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me," McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush. (Related items: Group's ad says Kerry lied / View the ad)
Chief Big Brains.....no wonder your hero is Bush....lol, you made my day. Thanks for making that point. lol :)
big brains.....ROTFLMAO@U
I suppose you are including our president and this is your attempt at making a point. ROTFLMAO@U
sluggo, you may or not be right but one thing is for certain; being the true zitocrite he is, it is just fine and oh so cool to tell a boardmember to put on kneepads and a paper bag yet he has a real problem with my using the word fascist and my son's reaction to my maturity and name calling.
Obviously zitidiot's daughter is quite comfortable with his maturity and name calling.
fascist
does your son read and know the maturity of your name calling?
I'm sure your son knows all about kneepads and paper bags. Good job Dad!!
And by the way, regarding the price of oil:
BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER PRICES... "What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price." [President Bush, 1/26/00]
...BUSH REFUSES TO LOBBY OPEC LEADERS With gas prices soaring in the United States at the beginning of 2004, the Miami Herald reported the president refused to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds." [Miami Herald, 4/1/04]
ed_fascist, for once you may be right. Your thoughts, and I use that word loosely, are so simple it may take a child to explain.
Easy, this is how you win the peace.
Typhoid and hepatitis E are running rampant through Sadr City this summer, as residents rely heavily on a sewage-tainted water supply to endure temperatures of 115 degrees and up. The outbreak has strained local healthcare facilities and left Health Ministry officials able to only guess at the scope of the problem.
Doesn't anyone remember Iraq?
By Molly Ivins
Creators Syndicate
BOSTON - For some reason, the guys in the media pack seem to be having a much harder time getting Teresa Kerry than us news hens. Many of them are stuck on the "loose cannon" view-with-alarm interpretation, not having noticed that the woman has actual charm.
True, she has an exotic background -- sounds and even looks a little like Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca. She's also worth millions -- estimates range from $500 million to $1 billion. I suppose money like that frees one from at least a few of life's petty constraints. The media pack has boiled her long, patient exchange with a writer for conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife's notoriously right-wing newspaper into, "She told a reporter to shove it."
That newspaper has printed ugly and untrue stories about both Kerrys. She said, "Shove it," after she had tried seven times to get the reporter to stop misquoting her and after he either tapped her or grabbed her, depending on who's doing the describing.
Anyone who sees the whole incident on videotape is inclined to agree with Sen. Hillary Clinton: "You go, girl." But those who merely hear the hacks repeat, "She told a reporter to shove it," are certainly going to get the wrong impression.
A beautiful example of distortion by lack of context.
What's interesting is how many right-wing "journalists" seem to feel entitled to do this, as though they have no obligation to be fair. The media get more and more divided into those who have some concept of journalism and those who simply consider themselves political and cultural warriors.
Teresa Kerry's speech was a bit of a camel (designed by a committee): The top third was funny, clever and self-deprecating, and deftly turned the table on her critics.
Then someone stuck in a laundry list of dandy things John Kerry will do if elected, which was just filler and went on way too long. The final part was earnest and sentimental, and likely written by Teresa herself.
The long-awaited and much-heralded Barack Obama did not disappoint, and when you consider the burden of expectation that had been placed on the poor man, that's almost miraculous.
I did not think he was as effective a speaker as Mario Cuomo was in 1984, but at least an A-minus. He uses a wonderful rhetorical device the late senator from Texas, Ralph Yarborough, had down to perfection: topping one applause line with another, then again and again, until the crowd is roaring with approval. A political star is born, always an exciting moment.
The D's all think Boston is a swell town and are happy as clams, which so infuriates right-wing commentators who insist it's all a charade.
According to them, liberals are not allowed to be cheerful, friendly or patriotic; anyone who is can't be a liberal. It'll be interesting to see what becomes of the charade theory in New York, where the R's are planning to put forward only their most moderate faces.
Hate to be the skunk at the garden party, but the one topic the D's, in their determined-not-to-be-negative mode, are avoiding like said skunk is Iraq.
Since their candidate was in favor of going in (Howard Dean, who opposed the war, got a lot of applause Tuesday night), he's stuck with that position.
Ever since poor George Romney (whose son is now governor of Massachusetts) said back in 1968 that he had been "brainwashed" -- meaning he was told a bunch of lies -- over Vietnam, politicians have been afraid of admitting they were misled for fear people will think them simpleminded.
What happened to Romney was that the press turned on him mercilessly and pilloried him as though the fault were his.
The more or less official Democratic line is whether you were for the war or against it, the administration screwed up the implementation beyond recall, which I suppose works politically and has the added virtue of being true.
Nonetheless, I don't think it gets us far enough: We spent at least 20 years after Vietnam arguing about what we needed to learn from that experience, and I don't want to see the lessons of Iraq confused.
It is not just a matter of Use Overwhelming Force and Have an Exit Strategy (two lessons from Vietnam). It really is much more important to understand why we should not have invaded in the first place.
Not just a case of bad information on the WMD, on the supposed ties to al Qaeda, on the nonexistent nuclear program, etc. We need to get it through our heads that the real mistake was invading in the face of almost universal opposition from the rest of the world.
There may be a time and place where we will have to act unilaterally, but this wasn't it. Painfully, clearly not.
The single most important weapon we have against terrorists is international cooperation, and that's what we so stupidly blew in this case. Just threw it away in a miserable display of arrogant "diplomacy" -- a combination of threats, lies and bribes that insulted our closest allies.
And such is the despicable state of our political debate that those making any of these obvious points are promptly accused of being "Saddam lovers" by people who consider concern for human rights a symptom of the dread Jimmy Carter-like softness.
My bold
ed_fascist: With such simple thoughts and simple conclusions I now better understand your unswerving love of Bush. So liberals want nothing but handouts from our government and wouldn't last a day through the great depression. What depth of thought!!
As for 'those who mistakenly think Kerry has the election locked up'...don't think there are many here that expressed that opinion, especially when simpletons such as yourself think any possibility of a hacked vote to be the stuff of liberal conspiracy theories while those in power (read Republicans) do all they can to ensure no such safeguards.
You have been "Running on Empty" for a long time.
I rest my case, you mental munchkin!! When you arrive goosestep with your 'braintrust' and the curtain is pulled back, be sure to say hello to Cheney!!
Talk about family, your wife is an Oprah nut and son is a Blockbuster vidiot. Good job Dad!!
Well Easy, Bush is two for two: Kabul and Baghdad. What front is next?? And there are those that would vote for him again and make it three for three???
So much, then, for the Allawi government, even if the Shia
insurrection is a shadow of the Sunni version. But the evidence of my
journey yesterday - through the southern Sunni cities which long ago
rejected American rule, to the holiest Shia city where its own militia
controls the shrines and the square miles around them - suggested that Mr
Allawi controls a capital without a country.
KFC.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Cheney Blames Democrats for Gas Prices
KFC, go Cheney yourself!!
'Shove it' still reverberating
But, of course, ed_fascist isn't the least bit concerned and hopes all 50 states have Diebold machines with no paper trail by 11/2. It's good for America, right ed??
The result could be the failure of an American presidential election and its collapse into suspicions, accusations and a civic fury that will make Florida 2000 seem like a family spat in the kitchen.
Easy, Kudos for the Reps circling the wagon but I would love to be a fly on the wall as Nancy voted.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan, who opposes President Bush's policy on limiting embryonic stem cell research, is backing the Republican's re-election bid.
"The campaign is certainly about more than one issue," said spokeswoman Joanne Drake, who described Reagan on Tuesday as in "full and complete support of President Bush's candidacy
Speaking of simpleton, zitidiot, from the other room my son heard your cute lil' audio tag as I was reading your nonsense and asked if that was an advertisement. I said no, there is person who embeds these to his posts and thinks they are cute.
Coming from his room he replied, "how annoying". I said yes, son, but you will find that people who have little to offer but are constantly expressing their 'opinions' to be annoying. He asked how old you were. I said don't know but he has a 16 year old son. His reply: "Stupid Man."
Let him serve his 113 days in Iraq riding shotgun on RPG alley. That should make Kerry and Bush about even, huh zitocrite!!
President George W. Bush should have been mandated to serve 113 days of active duty after missing five months of training sessions for the Texas Air National Guard.
Forget about riding the horse hard and put away wet, Bush is gonna ride this horse of FEAR Right through Nov. 2nd. It's all he's got.
Just one day after issuing a major terror warning that was supposedly prompted by new information, the New York Times and Washington Post report that the decision, in fact, was based on old information from before 9/11. Specifically, the Bush administration acknowledged "they had not yet found concrete evidence that a terrorist plot or preparatory surveillance operations were still under way." While the LA Times does point out that "it appears the information was updated as late as 2004" one senior official told the New York Times, "You could say that the bulk of this information is old." The key issue is not whether the threat is real – no one argues that al Qaeda still wants to do great harm to us, and credible intelligence must be acted upon to protect America. But politicizing intelligence and threat reports undermines the government's credibility and blurs the line between protecting the homeland and promoting fear for political gain.
I doubt many here will confuse you with 'understanding'...
Easy, ed_fascist is obviously in the camp of general public leading one to question his so-called computer knowledge and/or true desires.
Despite the concerns of security professionals, the general public has a high level of trust in electronic voting.
More than half of those polled in a recent survey had a favorable opinion of e-voting, and three quarters had confidence in the technology.
But a majority of computer professionals attending recent IT security conferences expressed concerns. Nearly half said they had no confidence in the technology and 60 percent had an unfavorable opinion of it.
what's time to a jackass???
an utter waste of my time
Oil pressures stocks into the red
Crude hits a new record, climbing above $44 per barrel intraday. Martha Stewart’s legal woes are still hurting her company. Priceline.com slammed after disappointing outlook.
High oil prices held stocks below water at midday, but investors again resisted the temptation to cut and run.
New York light crude oil rose above $44 per barrel, another record in the 21-year history of the contract, before easing later to about $43.80. Concerns about OPEC’s capacity helped push prices higher, with the cartel president calling prices “crazy.”Check out your options.
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“I think anything people can look at on the supply/demand front they are looking at,” Jacques Rousseau, oil analyst at Friedman Billings Ramsey, told CNBC’s “Morning Call.” “For me, the biggest factor is that we've heard about OPEC raising supply and we've seen the numbers in print, but we haven't seen the physical barrels yet, and I think that's what the market is waiting for.”
Yet the market wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. The Dow edged down 0.18%, the Nasdaq composite fell 0.75% and the S&P 500 index dropped 0.14%. If stocks can stage another late-day rally it would be the first time the Dow and S&P have finished up five days in a row since December, CNBC’s Bob Pisani reported.
Naturally, oil stocks were reaping the reward of the energy price spike. The list of new 52-week highs was littered with energy companies, including BP (BP, news, msgs), ChevronTexaco (CVX, news, msgs) and ConocoPhillips (COP, news, msgs).
No birthday gift for Stewart
On the founder’s 63rd birthday, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO, news, msgs) disappointed the Street. Martha Stewart’s legal troubles continued to take their toll on advertising. Martha Stewart Living reported a second-quarter loss of 39 cents per share, 6 cents wider than the Reuters Research consensus estimate, as revenues plunged more than 33% from the year-earlier period. For the third quarter, the company said it expects a loss of 50 cents per share, much wider than the 33 cents per share analyst polled by Reuters Research expected.
The company said the results reflect losses “due to the negative effect of Martha Stewart’s personal legal situation.” But it also said the worst of that situation appears to be behind the company. Stewart was convicted of lying to prosecutors over a stock sale and sentenced to five months in prison, plus probation. She is appealing the verdict. The stock sank 2.6% in afternoon trading.
Another scandal-tainted company is doing a little better. Conglomerate Tyco (TYC, news, msgs) reported a fiscal third-quarter profit of 45 cents per share, excluding a charge, with strength in electronics and engineering, Reuters reported. Analysts had estimated a profit of 41 cents per share. Tyco also guided its fourth-quarter profit in line with expectations. Tyco shares rose about 2.24%.
And online travel company Priceline.com (PCLN, news, msgs) beat the Street on second-quarter profit after the bell yesterday, but guidance was a big concern. Priceline.com expects a third-quarter profit, excluding items, of 25 cents to 30 cents per share, compared with the Reuters Research consensus estimate of 31 cents per share. Higher advertising costs and the company’s move to add retail travel sales to its name-your-own-price model are expected to hit the bottom line. Shares plunged more than 13%.
And local phone company Qwest (Q, news, msgs) sank more than 16% in midday trading after it reported this morning a second-quarter loss of 16 cents per share, excluding charges. The loss was wider than the 13 cents per share shortfall analysts surveyed by Reuters Research had estimated. Revenues fell 4.3% from the same quarter a year ago to $3.4 billion, also shy of estimates, as local phone sales fell.
Has the market adjusted to terror?
Stocks aren’t capitulating in the face of increased terror warnings, which means investors are concentrating on the numbers, according to Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Capital.
“I think really what's happened here is that we've sort of accepted either warnings of terrorism or terrorist activities as being part of our financial and economic lives, and we have learned to live with it,” Johnson told CNBC’s “Wake Up Call.” But while avoiding a terror sell-off is encouraging, the earnings and economic indicators aren’t exactly a shot in the arm.
The consensus is that third-quarter earnings growth will fall to 14% from 22% in the second quarter, but, with a steep rise in oil prices, it could drop down to 10%, Johnson said. By the fourth quarter, it could fall to as low to 5%, he added.
As for the economy, the big question is whether June was a blip, as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan suggested, or will weakness persist? The recent Institute of Supply Management survey indicated manufacturing employment and supplier delivery was down in July, indicating “maybe June wasn’t transitory,” Johnson said.
’Crazy’ energy prices as supply and Yukos worries persist
The head of OPEC can’t understand this oil spike.
"The oil price is very high, it's crazy. There is no additional supply," OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters in Jakarta, according to Reuters. Saudi Arabia plans to boost production to 9.5 million barrels per day but can’t do it immediately, Purnomo said. The boost would put Saudi Arabia just 1 million barrels per day short of full capacity.
Read MSN Money columnist Jon Markman’s story on how Saudi Arabia may not have plenty of reserves.
And Russia is investigating the 2002 accounts of Yukos, which could mean even more back taxes owed by the country’s largest oil company. Yukos has one month to pay nearly $7 billion in back taxes, fueling fears that its sales may eventually be halted.
Personal spending lags in June
Personal spending in June fell 0.7%, compared with a 1% rise in May, the Commerce Department said. Economists expected spending to edge down just 0.1%. And personal income rose 0.2%, smaller than May’s 0.6% rise and cooler than the 0.3% rise economists forecast.
“We knew from the (gross domestic product) number last weak that personal spending was a little weaker than we thought,” Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia, told “Squawk Box.” “These numbers from June kind of corroborate that.”
The data is more evidence that the Federal Reserve will follow a plan for moderate increases to interest rates, Bryson said.
“Earlier this year the markets were all concerned the Fed would have to start to get aggressive, start hiking rates 50 basis points at a clip,” he said. “I just don’t see that. Growth is moderating and the inflation numbers aren't all that bad either.”
“We do believe that the Fed is going to continue to raise rates back to a more neutral level, but they certainly aren't in a hurry to get to a more neutral rate,” Bryson added.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/Dispatches/P91012.asp
Drop in spending worst since 9/11
Poor car sales and high gasoline prices are blamed for worse-than-expected consumer spending numbers for June -- further evidence of sputtering growth.
By Tim Ahmann, Reuters
U.S. consumer spending in June took its biggest plunge since September 2001 as shoppers, sapped by high energy costs, cut back sharply on car purchases, a government report showed on Tuesday.
Personal spending dropped 0.7% in June after climbing 1% in May, according to Commerce Department data. Wall Street had braced for a mild 0.1% drop.
Adjusted for inflation, spending tumbled 0.9%.
By both measures, it was the biggest drop in consumer spending since September 2001, when shoppers retrenched in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington.
U.S. stock markets opened lower, prices for U.S. government bonds got a lift and the dollar slipped after the report, which was seen as bolstering the case for the Federal Reserve to move cautiously as it raises interest rates from multi-decade lows. Check out your options.
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"The second quarter was a kind of disappointment, and a lot of that has to do higher energy prices. That zapped some of the demand from the economy,'' said George Mokrzan, chief economist at Huntington Financial Group in Columbus, Ohio.
Many economists are confident the economy has already begun working its way out of a spending soft spot, but a renewed rise in oil prices could throw up an economic hurdle.
U.S. light crude hit $44.24 a barrel before retreating on Tuesday, the highest price since oil futures were launched on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983.
Another report suggested the U.S. labor market recovery was struggling to gain momentum. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said employers announced 69,572 job cuts in July, up from 64,343 in June, but down 18% from a year ago.
Rick Cobb, executive vice president at the firm, said the upcoming U.S. elections and sputtering economic growth seemed to be making employers hesitant to hire.
Hole in the pocket?
The report on consumer spending showed incomes up a tepid 0.2% in June, a slowdown from May's 0.6% gain.
After inflation and taxes, the meager income gain left consumers no better off than they had been a month earlier. The department said disposable income rose 0.2%, but was unchanged when inflation was taken into account.
Wages, which had risen 0.6% in May, were unchanged in June, the weakest reading since December.
In gross domestic product data released on Friday, which incorporated Tuesday's figures, the department had said consumer spending grew at a 1% annual rate in the second quarter, the slowest pace since the 2001 recession.
Economists said the spending slowdown, which put the brakes on overall economic growth, largely reflected weak auto sales.
Tuesday's report showed spending on expensive, long-lasting manufactured goods -- such as autos -- plunged 5.8% in June, after a 3.7% increase a month earlier, on an inflation-adjusted basis.
July may be a different story
Economists think auto sales rebounded smartly in July, and automakers have recently stepped up their buyer incentives. General Motors said on Tuesday it would offer cash rebates of up to $2,500 on some of its 2005 model vehicles.
U.S. automakers are set to report on July sales later on Tuesday, which could provide a clearer picture of how much consumer spending has snapped back.
"Our early indications suggest unit auto sales and other consumer activity bounced back quite solidly, and July might represent one of the largest gains in consumer spending in many months,'' said Steve Wieting of Citigroup Global Markets.
The Commerce report showed inflation moderated in June, with the price index for consumer purchases up just 0.2% after a 0.4% increase in May. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, inflation rose a scant 0.1% for the second month in a row.
Fed officials are set to meet next Tuesday and are widely expected to raise overnight interest rates by a quarter-percentage point to 1.5%, the second step in what they have said should be a "measured'' rate-rise campaign.
Other reports on Tuesday showed U.S. chain stores sales up from year-ago levels.
The International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in a report that sales rose 0.2% last week, matching the prior week's rise and up 3.1% from a year ago.
A separate report from Redbook Research showed sales at major retailers increased 3.9% last week from year-ago levels, but July sales were down 0.1% from June.
And God help you...
The more these Muslim clerics speak out against these bombings, the better for us. If they rally the Iraqi people and get them to show unity, they will rise up against all Terrorist in their country. This is what the main goal of W. is for going to war! Gotta love him!
Sorry easy for the duplicate post. But maybe zitocrite will learn something with a second read..........nah, he already knows it all
And I feel sorry for yours....
but i do feel sorry for edwards wife, she seems like a pretty decent person
zitidiot, get your head out your butt and give those kneepads a rest. Kerry was referring to the same goons that showed up in Florida (sent to Florida) to Cheney our electoral process, but, of course, you come up with half of America. Guess he is getting close to home you zitocrite.
As far as unintelligent, you're unswerving support for this intellectual lightweight of a president speaks volumes about you, so live with it. And your arrogance regarding an intelligent woman and how people may respond to her obviously conflicts with your idea of the perfect woman: an Oprah loving airhead who defers to your infinite wisdom.
so kerry calls half of america goons, his wife refers to a president in hell......he then belittles anyone who doesn't agree with him as being unintelligent......kerry embraces this arrogance, while deluding himself that america will cuddle up to her as a first lady
ed_fascist: keep prayin' Kerry doesn't have a prayer in November...or volunteer to help Diebold ensure our democracy. Either way, you're a loser. ROTFLMAO@U
Reading the Script
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 3, 2004
A message to my fellow journalists: check out media watch sites like campaigndesk.org, mediamatters.org and dailyhowler.com. It's good to see ourselves as others see us. I've been finding The Daily Howler's concept of a media "script," a story line that shapes coverage, often in the teeth of the evidence, particularly helpful in understanding cable news.
For example, last summer, when growth briefly broke into a gallop, cable news decided that the economy was booming. The gallop soon slowed to a trot, and then to a walk. But judging from the mail I recently got after writing about the slowing economy, the script never changed; many readers angrily insisted that my numbers disagreed with everything they had seen on TV.
If you really want to see cable news scripts in action, look at the coverage of the Democratic convention.
Commercial broadcast TV covered only one hour a night. We'll see whether the Republicans get equal treatment. C-Span, on the other hand, provided comprehensive, commentary-free coverage. But many people watched the convention on cable news channels - and what they saw was shaped by a script portraying Democrats as angry Bush-haters who disdain the military.
If that sounds like a script written by the Republicans, it is. As the movie "Outfoxed" makes clear, Fox News is for all practical purposes a G.O.P. propaganda agency. A now-famous poll showed that Fox viewers were more likely than those who get their news elsewhere to believe that evidence of Saddam-Qaeda links has been found, that W.M.D. had been located and that most of the world supported the Iraq war.
CNN used to be different, but Campaign Desk, which is run by The Columbia Journalism Review, concluded after reviewing convention coverage that CNN "has stooped to slavish imitation of Fox's most dubious ploys and policies." Seconds after John Kerry's speech, CNN gave Ed Gillespie, the Republican Party's chairman, the opportunity to bash the candidate. Will Terry McAuliffe be given the same opportunity right after President Bush speaks?
Commentators worked hard to spin scenes that didn't fit the script. Some simply saw what they wanted to see. On Fox, Michael Barone asserted that conventioneers cheered when Mr. Kerry criticized President Bush but were silent when he called for military strength. Check out the video clips at Media Matters; there was tumultuous cheering when Mr. Kerry talked about a strong America.
Another technique, pervasive on both Fox and CNN, was to echo Republican claims of an "extreme makeover" - the assertion that what viewers were seeing wasn't the true face of the party. (Apparently all those admirals, generals and decorated veterans were ringers.)
It will probably be easier to make a comparable case in New York, where the Republicans are expected to feature an array of moderate, pro-choice speakers and keep Rick Santorum and Tom DeLay under wraps. But in Boston, it took creativity to portray the delegates as being out of the mainstream. For example, Bill Schneider at CNN claimed that according to a New York Times/CBS News poll, 75 percent of the delegates favor "abortion on demand" - which exaggerated the poll's real finding, which is that 75 percent opposed stricter limits than we now have.
But the real power of a script is the way it can retroactively change the story about what happened.
On Thursday night, Mr. Kerry's speech was a palpable hit. A focus group organized by Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, found it impressive and persuasive. Even pro-Bush commentators conceded, at first, that it had gone over well.
But a terrorism alert is already blotting out memories of last week. Although there is now a long history of alerts with remarkably convenient political timing, and Tom Ridge politicized the announcement by using the occasion to praise "the president's leadership in the war against terror," this one may be based on real information. Regardless, it gives the usual suspects a breathing space; once calm returns, don't be surprised if some of those same commentators begin describing the ineffective speech they expected (and hoped) to see, not the one they actually saw.
Luckily, in this age of the Internet it's possible to bypass the filter. At c-span.org, you can find transcripts and videos of all the speeches. I'd urge everyone to watch Mr. Kerry and others for yourself, and make your own judgment.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/03/opinion/03krug.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2...
What a bunch of crap letting these companies avoid paying taxes by moving operations offshore and then awarding them government (read Republicans) contracts. But our resident zitidiots will defend them to the hilt while our fearless leaders stick it to the middle class.
Today I heard Dennis Hastert telling Hannity he was for eliminating the IRS. Hannity about busted a nut on the air. But rest assured if it came to pass it would be done equitably. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Thankfully, more and more Americans are wising up, both Dems and Repubs, see what is going on and know we are getting Cheneyed. Keep it up you arrogant right-wingers, your days are numbered.
As reported in an earlier Daily Mislead,[1] the Bush administration awarded
a $10 billion Department of Homeland Security contract to Accenture, a
company that based its headquarters in Bermuda to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
The move defied the President's promise to make sure everyone is "paying
their fair share."[2] As if the Administration's actions weren't enough,
yesterday the White House's Congressional allies defeated legislation that
would have stopped the contract.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Congress "bowed to Republican leaders" and
rejected legislation sponsored by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) that
would have prevented the contract from moving forward.[3] Despite proponents
of the bill noting that Accenture "has shrunk its tax bill by moving its
headquarters to Bermuda,"[4] the White House's allies defeated the
legislation on a party line vote.
Shoot, Kerry is a third-grader compared to the PHD Bush has in flip-flopping. What BS this guy is. Of course, our resident zitocrite will let this post pass as he pursues his trivial pursuit with exta-padded kneepads. Sing to me, zitidiot.
That steady drip, drip, drip of Republicans bolting this president come November will soon be a throng squeezing through the door. ed_fascist, better call Diebold right quick and make plans, but remember, The Whole World Is Watching!!
Chickenhawk-in-Thief is Flip-Flopper-In-Chief!
Good post, Easy. Hypocrites of which our resident zitocrite is proud of and looks up to on his kneepads with a bag over his head throatily singing the Star Spangled Banner.
When President Clinton was in office, Congress exercised its oversight powers with no sense of proportionality. But oversight of the Bush administration has been even worse: With few exceptions, Congress has abdicated oversight responsibility altogether.
Brooks left out the Republicans key subliminal message, fear, cloaked in dishonest facts wrapped around false optimism.
Fear of changing presidents and what that might bring, fear of the next terorist attack, fear of liberals and fresh ideas, fear of homosexuals, fear of telling the truth, fear of admitting mistakes, fear of fear itself.
All the Pretty Words
By BOB HERBERT
Published: August 2, 2004
They were able to sustain the eloquence for most of the week, which had to be a surprise. Bill Clinton told us that "strength and wisdom are not opposing values." Barack Obama called America "a magical place." John Kerry said, "The high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place."
There was no shortage of pretty words and promises at the Democratic National Convention in Boston last week. But there's a big difference between the rigidly crafted reality at the heart of a political campaign and the reality of the rest of the world.
"Practical politics," said Henry Adams, "consists in ignoring facts."
The facts facing the United States as George W. Bush and John Kerry joust for the presidency are too grim to be honestly discussed on the stump. No one wants to tell cheering potential voters that the nation has sunk so deep into a hole that it will take decades to extricate it. So the candidates are trying to outdo one another in expressions of sunny optimism.
President Bush and Dick Cheney deride "the same old pessimism" of the Democrats. Mr. Kerry counters by saying to the president, "Let's be optimists, not just opponents."
The voters deserve better in an era of overwhelming problems. Consider Iraq. Neither the president nor Mr. Kerry knows what to do about this terrible misadventure that has cost more than 900 American and thousands of innocent Iraqi lives. The war is draining the U.S. Treasury and has made the Middle East more, not less, unstable. Dreams of democracy taking root in the garden of Baghdad and then spreading like the flowers of spring throughout the Middle East have given way to the awful reality of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.
You won't hear straight talk about this all-important matter from either camp. And you can forget the chatter about an exit strategy for American troops. There isn't one.
Or consider Afghanistan. Not long ago American officials were claiming a decisive victory and the Bush administration was trumpeting the liberation of Afghan women from the clutches of the Taliban. But the proclamations of success were premature. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar are nowhere to be found. Warlords and insurgents are in control of much of the country and the growth industry is the opium trade. The extraordinarily courageous group Doctors Without Borders is packing its bags and withdrawing from Afghanistan after 24 years because five of its staff members were murdered and the government will not bring the killers to justice. On Friday the U.S. government warned American citizens against traveling to Afghanistan because of the danger of being kidnapped or killed.
Some victory.
Employment here in America is another topic on which the presidential candidates will not tell the voters the cold, hard truth. There are not nearly enough jobs available for the millions upon millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans who want and desperately need gainful employment. The population in need of jobs is expanding daily and no one has a viable plan for accommodating it. Families are being squeezed like Florida oranges as good jobs with good benefits - health insurance, paid vacations and retirement security - are going the way of the afternoon newspaper and baseball double-headers.
These are incredibly difficult issues and an honest search for solutions can only come from a sustained effort by the broadest array of America's brightest and wisest men and women. What the U.S. really needs is leadership that could marshal that effort.
Unfortunately, we've become a society addicted to the fantasy of a quick fix. We want our solutions encompassed in a sound bite. We want our leaders to manipulate reality to our liking.
So there was President Bush in a hard-hit industrial region of Ohio over the weekend telling voters, "The economy is strong and it's getting stronger." And the Kerry-Edwards team is assuring one and all that "help is on the way."
The voters may deserve better, but there's a real question about whether they want better. It may well be that candidates can't tell voters the truth and still win. If that's so, then democracy American-style may be a lot more dysfunctional than even the last four years has indicated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/opinion/02herbert.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dE...
your specialty, zitocrite, though I must admit your genius at ignoring the truth.
and attack by changing the subject
Love this:
I report, you decide.
Another fair and balanced reporter, right zithead?? Yeah, only if it comes from the Right.