The headlines regarding this guy just baffle me sometimes…

Bush says he answered every question from Sept 11 panel.

Yeah? Does he get a cookie for doing this?

And… why he appeared with Cheney?

Asked for the reasons behind his unprecedented insistence on Cheney’s presence, Bush replied: “I think it was important for them to see our body language as well, how we work together.”

Body Language?

The sad truth with Bush appears to be that the charicatures of the man are true.

Or maybe this is a tell. He was hyper-aware of body language. Cheney was there to make sure that his body language was correct.

And this makes no sense to me…

“There was some laughter from time to time. The president is a bit of a tease,” Thompson said. “There were no tense moments. I thought the president gave a five-star performance. I wish the American people could have seen it.”

Performance? Tease? Did he have any good jokes to share? I guess he’s the veritable life of the party, ain’t he.

While some things irk me (I’m trying to figure out who where and why cares about the “ribbons and the medals”, and why that wouldn’t simply boomerang to the president…) this article is not completely off base.

What’s remarkable about this campaign is that it’s reminiscent of the past to a point where it oughta be unremarkable…

… this smacks of a charade… a set-up. If a candidate had been proferred named “Not Bush” during the Democratic primary season, he would’ve won the nomination by a landslide.

John Kerry is a non-entity. And he is floundering.

He has Nothing.

But similarly, go to George W. Bush’s campaign page. I dare you to. Compare the number of pictures of our glorious leader with the number of pictures of John Kerry…

George W. Bush is floundering.

He has Nothing.

Catholic Senators and Members of Congress.

Let he/she who deviates from key Papal Doctrinal Decrees throw the first stone…

… and not receive those Communion Wafers.

Start with a list of Iraq Hawks and pro-death penalty Republicans.

See where it leads you.

Senators, if you please:
Jim Bunning (R – KY)
Susan Collins (R – ME)
Mike DeWine (R – OH)
Pete Domenici (R – NM)
Peter Fitzgerald (R – IL)
Rick Santorum (R – PA)
George Voinovich (R – OH)

There don’t seem to be any front-bencher Catholic Republicans in the House, sooo skip to some names supplied by Atrios:

George Pataki
Rudolph Giuliani
Tom Ridge
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Now, we move to members of the United Methodist Church who don’t adhere to prominent church doctrine on various matters…

George W. B–

Uh, never mind.

From here, regarding this story: sometimes I feel like I’m living in that old Isaac Asimov story where computers determine through a complex serious of calculations who the one person is who is the MOST “swing voter” in the country. And then only that person gets to vote because all the rest of us are safely “blue” or “red”.

See also, tomorrow’s NY Times Magazine story.

For some reason, I thought that the slate of declared candidates in the 2004 Oregon Voters pamphlet would be full of candidates who had already dropped out. Say, for example: Dean won his homestate of Vermont after he dropped out.

But the only candidates on the ballot are John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, and Lyndon LaRouche.

So, the question is: which candidate’s delegates would have more fun in Boston… or which candidate’s delegate is more deserving, somehow?

Lyndon LaRouche’s supporters, in the unlikely (though possible — it’s been done before in primaries of no significance) if he were to win any delegate by clearing the 15% bar, would not get into the convention. A mildly interesting lawsuit that LaRouche would expound on if asked… why, you can even email him about it. (While you’re at it, ask him what he has against the British Royal Family…)

So, as entertaining as it would be to have a small cadre of LaRouche supporters in that convention hall, being ignored as the procession of the Kerry-Adoration Parade runs its course… it ain’t happening. They’ll just have to be content with their place outside the convention hall, being ignored. Maybe we can throw LaRouche’s vote total to the 15% mark and try to feed their followers’ Messiah Complex, but… that just ain’t happening.

So, we’re stuck with Kerry versus Kucinich.

A no-brainer. Kucinich has a chance … here in this state of Oregon– the state that provided Ralph Nader with 4% of its general election vote in the year 1996 … of clearing the 15% mark, so I say ship some Kucinich delegates over to Boston. I have a reasonable expectation that Kucinich supporters are more idealistic than Kerry supporters… (Though, who knows? Maybe Kerry has an eccentric Vietnam Vet in the delegation wings.) … Perhaps there are some stereotypes that the Democratic Party has been trying to suppress for the last few decades, but: I’d take it over the Republican’s Religious Right any day of the week, and the Democratic Party needs a swift kick in the behind anyways.

So vote for Kucinich. There’s my endorsement. That’s who I’m voting for. I’m voting for their Delegates.

Since George Bush is getting one delegate at that convention (look for Georgia to be pushed back in whatever television coverage the processed waste of time conventions behind Gaum and the Virgin Islands… and look for Fox News to creatively highlight that little moment when Zell Miller’s superdelegate vote comes up), unanimity is not to be achieved. And I frown on unanimity anyways.

As for who I endorse in the Republican race? I say write in Daffy Duck. Hopefully Daffy will clear the 15% line… but it’ll be a tough race. Granted, Mickey Mouse is falling out of favour rapidly, but he still has enough panache to splinter this segment of the voting public.

(1) Perplexing. This man is out there attacking John Kerry’s war record.

With Republicans poised to criticize Kerry for not releasing all of his military records, the campaign decided Tuesday afternoon to post the records on its Web site to defuse the issue. They are expected to be available by Wednesday evening …

Oh Kay. John O’Neil, evidentally was the opposing force from that 1971 Dick Cavett Show debate.

Records released.

Which all leads to the inevitable:

but Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said he is eager to compare Kerry’s record to President Bush’s.

All in all, an idiotic line of attack if there ever was one.

“NBC News’ Meet the Press”, 4-18-04:

MR. RUSSERT:  Before we go, you and George Bush were both members of Skull & Bones, the secret society at Yale.  The rule is, if someone mentions Skull & Bones, you walk out of the room.  If you’re both in a…

SEN. KERRY:  I think you’ll see both of us have our two–you know I’d love to have a debate with the president right now.  There’s so much to talk about for our country.  Why not say to our nation, every month, let’s have one debate on health care.  Let’s have a debate on foreign policy.  Let’s have a debate on education.  Let’s really talk to the country the way Lincoln and Douglass and others have historically.  Barry Goldwater, as you mentioned, was going to fly around with Jack Kennedy.  We can do better for Americans.  I’d love to see that happen.

Questions and implications of the question dodged yet again…

Bob Woodward on 60 Minutes on Bush on History:

How does the president think history will judge him for going to war in Iraq?

“And he said, ‘History,’ and then he took his hands out of his pocket and kind of shrugged and extended his hands as if this is a way off. And then he said, ‘History, we don’t know. We’ll all be dead.’”

Yes. What is this “History” that you elite intellectuals keep yammering about? Why must I contemplate how it might unfold, and in what ways my “actions” might contribute to it?

The odd thing here is I’d feel a whole lot better about his reply if Bush had responded with “History is kind to those who bring freedom to an oppressed people”, or whatever.

But what do we have instead?… A Willfully Ahistorical Perspective.

WE’LL ALL BE DEAD.

Blazing through the Liberal Blog echo-chamber, and for good reason:

Charles Rangel Honors Reverend Moon!!!

It’s worth noting that Charles Rangel is the one who put forward the bill to reinstate the Draft… as a way of making less war, mind ye…

Conspiracy Theorists should go nuts now, pondering who gets which unlikely figure of power to do which unlikely deed for whatever service is being asked for…

From the Bush Press Conference (which Rush Limbaugh described as a “home run”… where that bar was set, I do not know.):

Q Mr. President, why are you and the Vice President insisting on appearing together before the 9/11 Commission? And, Mr. President, who will you be handing the Iraqi government over to on June 30th?

Let’s see —

Tom Tomorrow had this comment on how this stuff just writes itself.

Sooo, my question… What did the President know, when did he know it, and does he know anything — anything at all – now?