Ancient Pundits

I love being told what I already know

2004-05-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post has had an epiphany!

Bush Attacks on Kerry Reach New Heights

It was a typical week in the life of the Bush re-election machine.

Last Monday in Little Rock, Vice President Cheney said Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry "has questioned whether the war on terror is really a war at all" and said the senator from Massachusetts "promised to repeal most of the Bush tax cuts within his first 100 days in office."

On Tuesday, President Bush's campaign began airing an ad saying Kerry would scrap wiretaps that are needed to hunt terrorists.

The same day, the Bush campaign charged in a memo sent to reporters and through surrogates that Kerry wants to raise the gasoline tax by 50 cents.

On Wednesday and Thursday, as Kerry campaigned in Seattle, he was greeted by another Bush ad alleging that Kerry now opposes education changes that he supported in 2001.

The charges were all tough, serious -- and wrong, or at least highly misleading. Kerry did not question the war on terrorism, has proposed repealing tax cuts only for those earning more than $200,000, supports wiretaps, has not endorsed a 50-cent gasoline tax increase in 10 years, and continues to support the education changes, albeit with modifications.

Ahhh. So Bush *IS* a liar. Where was this fact in 2000? It was true then, but the press figured that if they wished hard enough, maybe they could make it UN-true. Well, here's hoping that the rest of the papers in this country figure this fact out and begin to finally call a spade a spade.

And people wonder why I'm always raging against the state of journalism in America today

2004-05-31T05:41:00.000-07:00

Just read this article about Kerry, Bush, and their biking habits to understand why I think our press in this country needs to be taken out to the woodshed and never let back inside. My own paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has gone to hell as well-- I'll have a few posts on that a little later. Its a sad day to see once great papers in such decline like the Post and the NY times. Its the stupid article like this that make a mockery of legitimate journalism.

Pre-emptive Strike

2004-05-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

With Memorial Day on the horizon and your humble Publius finding little time for the blogging this coming weekend, I thought I'd take a cue from our Cowboy-in-Chief and launch a pre-emptive strike of my own, based on my ability to predict the future.

You see, I'm pretty sure that when the time comes Sunday to honor our brave men and women serving Texaco--I mean, our country--in those far-off lands, someone, somewhere will pay homage to Pat Tillman, our most recent Great American Hero.

If you've been hiding in a cave lately, Pat Tillman was the former Arizona Cardinals strong safety who walked away from a lucrative football contract to join the Army Rangers and was killed last month in an ambush in Afghanistan.

Much was made at the time of Tillman's brave sacrifice. And that's absolutely, 100% true. Every aspect of Pat Tillman's life seems to show a man of strong character--Tillman spurned a multimillion dollar contract with the national champion St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to the long-suffering Cardinals team. The story of Tillman's career--both in the NFL and the Army--is a story that demonstrates nearly every quality of the American ideal: Hard work, loyalty, self-motivation, and, unfortunately, sacrifice.

It's lavish praise for a humble man, praise that was given a month ago. It's easy to get caught up in. In fact, that's sort of the point here.

For every soldier whose story can be made into a TV movie--which, incidentally, I also forsee--there are hundreds whose deaths go largely unnoticed by the general public. As Geov Parrish notes, the current administration doesn't seem to want us to think about the nearly 800 American soldiers killed in Iraq. It's a mentality that's merely shameful most of the year, but on Memorial Day weekend is absolutely abhorrent.

These soldiers are the ones Memorial Day is meant to honor. In times of peace, it's easy enough for us civilians to neglect the hardships and sacrifices of our men and women in the military. In a time of war such as this, we must not only recognize those fallen in American service, but we must also reflect on what kind of administration censors photographs of flag-draped coffins and blocks media access to military funerals.

Who's supporting the troops now?

From the "Is it news if everyone already knew it?" department...

2004-05-28T22:20:00.000-07:00

Fresh from the AP:

Demand for Medicare drug cards has been disappointing

Surprise!

While most of the 70-plus sponsors are silent about how many people they've signed up, AARP says its number is minuscule.

The group, with 35 million members ages 50 and up, mailed out 26,000 enrollment kits but has signed up only 400 people, said Carol Shirley, a spokeswoman.

At Walgreen Co., "We prepared for a crush of seniors to come in," said spokesman Michael Polzin. "That hasn't happened."

Wow. Is there anyone out there who actually thought this wouldn't happen? This plan was discredited from the moment it was concieved. It does nothing to really help seniors with high drug costs. In fact, I've not met one senior citizen who has been happy with this program-- and believe me, when I hear them talking about it, I always ask questions. Case in point: I was in a 7-11 the other day and in front of me was an older woman talking with the cashier about how she just got back from her pharmacy. She had taken in a full list of her prescriptions so that they could calculate her newfound savings under the program that she wanted to join. She told the cashier she spends nearly $600/month on her pills. Her savings under Bush/Hastert's highly touted "savings" plan? $1.50. I don't know how I kept from laughing out loud in line, but I did. The woman went on to say that she had voted for Bush in 2000 but that he didn't stand a chance in hell of getting it this time. Thank god.

If they took a poll today, why do I get the feeling that they'd find that more people use the Sacajawea dollar coins than are going to use this "savings" program?

AARP's Shirley said the rollout of the drug-card program also "has been a bit rocky." Problems have included swamped phone lines at Medicare, which Thompson and others consider evidence of interest in the program, and discrepancies between prices on Medicare's Web site and what card sponsors say they're charging for medicines.

Well of course the prices didn't match-- I'm sure the Medicare site failed to include the extra "gouge" surcharge typically tacked on to most medicines. Also, can someone tell me what percentage of seniors have a firm grasp of internet usage? I'd wager its not that high, which makes me wonder why they expect them to perform such an important part of the program (signup and savings calculation) at their website. And about those swamped phone lines-- I'd lay money most of those calls are from disgruntled program participants (or possible signees) who are furious at the lies pedeled by the dishonest commercials that were being run, and the constant line of un-truth that the administration spinmeisters like to dish out about it. That $1.50 mentioned above won't even begin to cover the newfound gouging at the gaspump that this administration continues to ignore.

Politically, this program failing is pure gold for Congressional Democrats, who howled with rage when the AARP leadership endorsed it, despite its obvious flaws. Now, the Congressional Republicans who spent bigtime to get this passed look like they didn't know what they were doing-- costs are massive, yet savings for the average senior are nonexistant. The average-joe knows something about this doesn't quite add up, and I've got the solution for them: strike a line of this equation by removing the Congressional Republicans and President Bush from the leadership of this country in November.

Happy Memorial Day

2004-05-28T16:20:00.000-07:00

Geov Parrish has an excellent piece about the true cost of war and how the Bush administration would like us to not remember it.

"It's approximately 500, of which -- I can get the exact numbers -- approximately 350 are combat deaths." -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, April 29, 2004. The correct number at the time was 722 dead, 521 in combat.

Nancy Farmer for Senate

2004-05-26T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be doing a series of posts on some competitive U.S. Senate races, starting with Missouri.

In Missouri we have longtime incumbent Christopher "Kit" Bond versus current State Treasurer Nancy Farmer or possibly (but not at all likely) Charles Berry, an Attorney from Webster Groves.

Farmer:

A nice, quiet, able elected official, Nancy was not really at the top of the list when people would think of possible challengers to Bond this cycle, but she elected to step up to the plate and run against him, even though it meant that she wouldn't be able to run for re-election as State Treasurer. Frankly, Claire McCaskill should have taken on Bond rather than fellow Dem. Governor Bob Holden, but thats neither here nor there.

Farmer suffers from some fairly serious handicaps, but they can probably be overcome. The first is funding-- she needs money in a bad way. Jean Carnahan spent something close to 12 million dollars on her race and still lost. Has Farmer even reached 2 million raised yet? This will be a serious challenge, given that Bond has millions of dollars to spend on his side. The other problem is that Farmer has a very liberal record from her time in the Missouri House. Given that this was a number of years ago, it probably won't be much of a problem, but if the Bond people feel that he is vulnerable enough and that she is close enough, expect them to unload on her with attacks on her record.

Berry:

Charles Berry really stands no chance of winning the Primary, let alone the general. He's a Vietnam vet who is now and Attorney. Good guy, but should have started with a lower office first.

Why Farmer Will Win:

Nancy Farmer will beat Kit Bond if the following things happen:

1. She gets serious about raising money and raises at least 4-6 million dollars, if not more, by the time of the general election.

2. Kit Bond and his team continue to underestimate her, as they and the republicans have done her entire career.

3. A national tide against Bush and his failures sweeps through. While this seemed unlikely as recently as a few months ago, polls now show the American people are fed up with Bush and the Congressional Republicans. In a swing state like Missouri, national tides are really felt. Bond has never been a big vote getter (even having been beaten by 1 term governor Joe Teasdale in 1976) and only won re-election against a wounded Jay Nixon with 53% of the vote.

Why Farmer Won't Win:

Nancy Farmer won't win if:

1. She doesn't raise the money. Cut and dry.

2. Kit Bond and his people unload their massive warchest on her and simply destroy her before she has any chance to define herself.

3. Bush and the Congressional Republicans are somehow majorly vindicated or the polls suddenly reverse and public faith in their leadership is restored.

Bottom Line:

Nancy needs a lot to go her way in order to win, but its honestly not an unrealistic scenario. If Bush and other R's are swept from office in November, Bond will almost certainly go with them. If things don't break for the Dems in November, then Bond will likely remain in Washington and become the longest serving official in Missouri history.

(this post will be cross-posted @ From the Roots, the DSCC blog)

The only way to win

2004-05-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of CNN:

Kerry Faults Bush on Homeland Security

from the article:

Before his Wednesday speech, reporters asked Kerry why he was bringing up the issue of national security more than five months ahead of the fall elections.

"I don't think it's early," Kerry said shortly after arriving in Seattle.

"It's one of the most important issues facing the nation.

"Our young men and women are dying, in another country -- in several other countries -- and the threat of terror is very real.

"And I think I can wage a more effective war on terror than George Bush is" waging.

damn straight. If we're going to win this election for ALL democrats, we cannot cede National Security and foreign relations as issues. The time is ripe for Kerry to begin a systematic and sustained assault on the terrible job that the Republicans have done with National Security these past few years. At this point, I don't think that there is any doubt that we can wage the War on Terror more effectively with Kerry at the helm. Our allies will respect and want to work with us, and he won't seek to use the war to promote his own political chances like Bush and the rest of the Republicans did in 2002.

The DCCC and Stephanie Herseth need your help

2004-05-26T11:33:00.000-07:00

Some important news about the special election for the SD-At Large seat from our friends at The Stakeholder, the official blog for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC):

Out in SD, the GOP is making a last ditch attempt to take the election by harping on a remark Sen. Tim Johnson made about the "Taliban wing of the Republican Party." Now he has already apologized, and the Argus Leader wants to know if you think that suffices. Let them know.

You can vote in the Argus Leader's online poll here.

In other news about this race, Zogby polling has released the latest numbers, and they look golden with less than a week to go:

Herseth leads Diedrich 52 percent to 41 percent, according to a poll of 503 likely voters conducted May 19 and 20 by Zogby International of Utica, N.Y., for South Dakota media outlets, including the Rapid City Journal. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

Seven percent remain undecided.

I'll close with this:

Please contribute to Herseth if you have a few extra bucks lying around. In addition to being something of a hottie (and single), she would be a huge addition to our quest to retake the U.S. House of Represenatives.

Things must be bad

2004-05-26T08:38:00.000-07:00

when an apologist like Hoagland begins to blast you.

How much longer before Congressional Republicans bail on W. too?

Remember what I was talking about yesterday?

2004-05-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

This from Yahoo news service today:

Ridge Says Terror Threat Tied To Major Events

You mean like a PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?

W. on Iraq

2004-05-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

I watched Bush's "first in a series" speech at the U.S. War College last night. CNN today features this headline at their website:

Bush Speech Critiqued

I've got a critique for you right here. It sucked. Rather that admit any mistake, we got yet another "stay the course" message from him. If he'd only add a "thousand points of light" to his speech, I could at least laugh like I was watching and old Saturday Night Live skit. Remember when people thought Rove was a genius? I wonder if he still believes his own hype. Or better yet, maybe he's sulking in some office, Achilles like, because no one listens to him anymore. I'm not sure what the case quite is, but I do know that Iraq needs a real plan in place, and soon. W and the Chimp Whisperer wanted this war, they got it, and now its going to take The Real Deal to fix their little mess.

Don't you hate days like this?

2004-05-25T21:05:00.000-07:00

Story of my life.

Look and laugh.

So the DNC is finally doing something cool for those not yet of retirement age...

2004-05-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine emailed me and tipped me off to this contest today. I, for one, think its a really cool idea. What better way to involve young people in the party than to give them a primetime speaking role and to allow a really young democrat to gavel the convention to order? I hope they get a good response...

Old Reliable

2004-05-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed that when this administration gets into trouble, our "terror alert color code" seems to go up? Or suddenly there are a flurry of "we might be attacked someday" reports coming from "unnamed" sources? Well, here we go again. After seeing his polling hit an all-time low, seeing a record % of Americans in a poll saying the country is on the "wrong track", seeing Congressional Dems absolutely beating the holy hell out of Congressional Republicans on Generic Ballot polls, we get this gem:

Remember when we all took this stuff seriously?

I sure do. And I still want to- unfortunatly, I am not sure that I will ever believe one thing that this administration says ever again. In short, there has been a total betrayal of the trust the American people invested in this President, and I feel that it was maliciously and deliberatly done by a group of individuals so drunk on power and prestige that they literally thought they could do anything. How pathetic.

Quick link

2004-05-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

I'll write more when I have time, but I found this link recently, and it's easily the most disturbing thing I've seen in a long while. My favorite part?

Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets.

God help us all.

Welcome to Ancient Pundits!

2004-05-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings to all who are reading this first post. Publius and I are hoping to provide the blogging world with a new point of view-- ours. In the coming days and months, look forward to posts about politics, modern culture, and pretty much anything else that pops into our heads. Also be on the lookout for a new custom layout that we're working on. Hopefully Publius will make his first post soon and we will be well on our way to having the newest sucessful addition to the blogosphere!