Goddamit, if we can catch John Kerry picking his nose, were going to show it.

Fox News Channel, whose turn it is under a rotation system to operate the "pool" cameras for all the networks in the first debate on Thursday in Coral Gables, Florida, said it would follow its own editorial judgment in operating its cameras.
"They don't want reaction shots," said Fox News spokesman Paul Schur told Reuters. "We're not going to bow to outside pressure. We're not going to follow these restrictions."

Title of todays MSNBC article:

Economy staggers, but Ohio leans to Bush

If you read the article, it says:
Yet with just five weeks left before Election Day, President Bush holds an impressive lead in statewide opinion polls

Yet it doesn’t mention the results of any of them. Not one.

And today’s (republican over sampled) Gallup Poll?

9/24-28. MoE 4%. (9/4-7 results).
Registered voters
Kerry 49 (47)Bush 46 (48)
Likely voters
Kerry 47 (44)Bush 49 (52)


So gallup, which we know oversampled republicans, shows Kerry, within the last 2 weeks, going from trailing bush by one in registered voters to leading by 3 today, and with likely he goes from being behind by 8, then closing that gap to 2 today.

But “President Bush holds an impressive lead”...

The media is a freaking embarrassment.

MSNBC shitcanned Luntz.

Good riddance.

Thats one for us, 3 million for them.

Hell, gotta start somewhere.

From KOS

As the nation prepares to watch the presidential candidates debate foreign policy issues, a new PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll finds that Americans who plan to vote for President Bush have many incorrect assumptions about his foreign policy positions. Kerry supporters, on the other hand, are largely accurate in their assessments.

Sounds about right. If youre an uninformed moran, you vote for Bush.

Both Media Matters and TAPPED have touched on the subject of a particular pollster named Frank Luntz. He is of course no ordinary pollster. He is a right wing Republican hack. Yet MSNBC still trots him out every election and refers to him simply as a “pollster”.

IF you need to know the sorry details about why he is a discredited right wing partisan hack, go here , here, here or here.

Here’s another interesting little factoid about Luntz most people might have missed. I live in Connecticut where recently our corrupt Governor Rowland was forced to resign over an impeding Impeachment and a Federal investigation into the rampant corruption in his office. An investigation that has indicted many of his top aides, and for which Rowland is still under investigation.

Once he left office he moved into a $350 thousand dollar house in West Hartford. A house they say he is now renting, even though it was on the market up until right before he resigned.

Who is the owner of this house that was taken off the market and given to Rowland to rent, les than a half mile from my Apartment no less?

Frank Luntz.

I am curious to see the rent Rowland is paying, seeing as he is currently unemployed and forced to start a defense fund to pay for his exorbitant legal bills.

The immature 16 year old in me has been having a field day with this all night.

As if anyone needs a reason to be angry about this election, theres an article in this months Vanity Fair that gets a behind the scenes look at what happened in Florida and the Supreme Court during the 2000 recount.
Suffice it to say, it shows what a disgrace the Republican party and this Supreme Court are, and that we have an illegitimate President.

Read part one here. Part two here.

Just when Alan "Homosexuals are sinners and hedonists" Keyes couldn't get more entertaining.

His daughter is a lesbian.



Seriously though. If you had to grow up with that verifiable lunatic as a father, I'm amazed she isnt a lesbian porn star.

A John Kerry vietnam era video game is to be released soon.

The Bush one is already out.

If this is true (And Strangely I haven’t seen it reported anywhere else), and the global Gag rule has been overturned and funding for United Nations Population Fund restored, this is truly a great great day.

Drinks are on me. As soon as my brother tells me the name of the bar he went to that has 50 cent natty light drafts.

Sums it up perfectly.

Too funny. (via Tapped, and about 20 other blogs that have grabbed it)

John Kerry gives a speech on Iraq. A damn good one too.

Afterwards Bush responds with:
“"Forty-three days before the election, my opponent has now suddenly settled on a proposal for what to do next, and it's exactly what we're currently doing."

And his campaign spokesman responds with:
“John Kerry's latest position on Iraq is to advocate retreat and defeat in the face of terror."

Stupid mistakes like that makes me want to practice love with my OBGYN.

Went to the Found Magazine’s Slapdance Across America tour "2004!" last night at the Hartford Stage. They’re a magazine that simply collects found stuff. So we had their editor, a 21 year old kid drinking a 40 (Olde English) and reading from some of the notes they found. It was actually pretty funny stuff. Also, the editors bother, from a band called The Poem Adept, did some songs.
The funniest of which was the Booty Don’t Stop, which was his “cover” of the classic original, with newly added lyrics. You can listen to it here, but its ten times more funny when you know the back story.

From the website.

These ten musical gems came to me by way of Greg Warner in Phoenix. A few years back Greg's friend Nigel Morgan found an unmarked cassette-tape on the street in Ypsilanti, Michigan which contained a string of minute-long booty-rap anthems. Apparently some thugged-out white kids with a drum machine had put together a demo tape.

I've given these dudes the name Ypsilanti All-Starz and titled each of the songs. My favorites are "Yo' Shit Be Up in My Face," "Yo' Ass is So Fine" and "Wiggle on the Flo'."

What's remarkable to me is the earnestness with which these songs are performed. Some folks disagree with me but I don't think the Ypsilanti All-Starz are aware of their comic brilliance.

This tape circulated around south-east Michigan for two years, copied and recopied. Then Greg played it for someone who said, "I know these guys!" This person said it was not a satire; these guys were out to make it big. They were fully confident they'd sell a million records.

If it means anything to the Ypsilanti All-Starz, I'd buy one. Suffice it to say, all the songs are basically the title repeated over and over again over a drum machine.

You can listen to some of them here

The remix they made with new lyrics here.

They will send you a copy of the whole original tape for 12 bucks. I may do that because there’s no way “Ass-Whomp Bustin' Out of Yo' Back Pocket” can be bad.

Yet another reason to not drink Coors. That is, other than the main reason. That its pisswater.

In the lobby, Holly (for Holland) Coors, the thin, blond doyenne of the Colorado beer outfit, had just returned from Madison Square Garden, where her son Pete, the chairman and former C.E.O. of Coors, who is running for the Senate from Colorado, had given a speech. Mrs. Coors, wearing a red St. John Knits suit and pink sneakers, stood in the center of a circle of Rangers. A rhinestone pin spelling out “bush 2004” was fastened to one lapel and a matching pin spelling out “coors 2004” was pinned on the opposite lapel.
[snip]

"The man has a vision,” Mrs. Coors said.
“Vision,” Mrs. Moss repeated.
“It’s his faith,” Mrs. Coors said. “It breaks my heart to hear him criticized. They hated our Lord, too.”

Yea thats right. Bush is like Jesus. And anyone who dares to critizize him, are the evil "they" that hated him. 3 guesses as to what "they" this bigoted pile of slime is referring to.

2 headlines that are on MSNBC’s website right now, both linking to the same story.

CBS admits Guard documents false

CBS: BUSH DOCUMENTS CAN'T BE VERIFIED

If you read the article, guess which headline is more accurate? And guess which one is featured at the top of the page, and which one is buried at the bottom?

Pat Caddell

I remember this lazy eyed sloth was on Hardball every night during impeachment calling Democrats and Clinton every name in the book. And they always called him the "Democratic pollster" and had him on as a counterpoint to the wingnuts who would also call Democrats and Clinton every name in the book.

And now Media Matters, or as O'Reilly likes to call em, Nazi's, has the goods on this duechebag.

What was that again?

ST.CLOUD, Minn. - Seeking to gain ground against Sen. John Kerry, President Bush said Thursday that his Democratic opponent “wants to expand government” in education, health care, taxes and virtually every other area of domestic policy.
“We have a difference of philosophy in this campaign,” Bush told supporters. “It’s a clear difference: My opponent’s programs will expand government. Our programs will expand opportunity.”

It’s amazing that he can just say that and the article doesn’t even bother to mention that its all complete horseshit.

Under Bush federal spending has increased by 30 percent. The fastest rate in over 30 years. Medicare drug benefit, no child left behind act, Homeland Security department, Iraq. Coupled with gargantuan tax cuts for the rich, he’s created the largest deficit in our nations history. And he has already proposed spending 3 trillion MORE dollars in his second term (and thats NOT including Iraq, the White House still refuses to say how much that will cost until the last second like they did last time, then we find out its a gargantuan amount, and they say if you dont give it to them you hate the troops. Then, they say we need more tax cuts).

Now, I can see why Bush will go around the country telling people that its Kerry who will "expand government” because the man is a unrepentant lying sack of shit. But for the Associated Press to simpy pass on this news without letting people know its complete and utter bullshit, kinda goes against what is normally considered, you know, journalism.

Interesting thing about these alleged fake documents. The private secretary of the man who they're supposedly from says she didn’t type them, but they look like recreations of ones that did exist. Of course the wingnuts will simply scream “forgery” in order to divert attention from the fact that Bush ignoring his guard duties in 1973 is a long documented fact with or without these silly memo’s.

But Atrios brings up an interesting point. Here is the White House Pres Secretary:

Q Scott, on the National Guard documents on "60 Minutes," the First Lady says she believes these are forgeries. The RNC has accused the Democratic Party of being the source of these documents. Knowing then what you know now, would you still have released those documents when you did?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, that's a hypothetical question, John. We received those documents from a major news organization. We had every reason to believe that they were authentic at that time.

So the White House had no reason to believe that a document that says Bush disobeyed a direct ordered and shirked his duties was nothing other than authentic.

Tells you all you need to know.

A senior administration official outs an undercover operative, commiting an act of treason that may get people killed.

Ho hum..

CBS has a memo that may or may not be fake.

OUTRAGE!!!

You'd think theyd get tired of being the scum of the earth for like, a minute or two.

Beyond offensive.

It's the U.S. territorial minting of the 2004 "Freedom Tower" Silver Dollar from CNMI. Most importantly, each coin has been created using .999 Pure Silver recovered from Ground Zero!No, this is not a misprint. The silver used in each gleaming dollar coin is from Ground Zero! You see, when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, a bank vault full of .999 Pure Silver bars was buried under hundreds of tons of debris. After months of salvage work, many of the bars were found. Now, the same silver that was reclaimed from the destruction has been used to create the magnificent 2004 “Freedom Tower” Silver Dollar.

Not exactly a shock that their specialty happens to be Reagan coins. Let them know how you feel.

Or call.
Phone: 800.452.4381
Fax: 914.935.3321

Nascar is now more popular than NHL Hockey.

At least the mullet ratio remains the same.

I'm glad I scratched this off my NY itinerary.

Yankees wanted a forfeit for a game agaisnt the Devil Rays. So they wanted simply to be declared the winer of something outright in Florida without ever having to follow the rules of the game.

Reminds me of something.

It’s amazing how the press can excoriate Kerry over whether he did or didn’t go to Cambodia on this date or that date 30 years ago, and it reveals his character, yet Cheney continues to flat out lie through his teeth and no one bats an eye. Or claim that a vote for kerry is a vote for death, or claim that the shitty economy is actually really doing much batter than you think because the statistics aren’t taking into account people selling cock shaped chicken on ebay.

Its 2000 all over again.

The WSJ editorial pages fevered imagination:

Mr. Clinton's 370-168 electoral victory over George H.W. Bush in 1992 put to rest any doubt about the new President's legitimacy.

The truth:

In 1992, after President Bush lost to Bill Clinton, former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said he represented the 57% of Americans who voted against Clinton. In 1997, after Clinton won again, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) refused to answer with a simple yes when I asked him seven times whether Clinton was the legitimately elected President.

Just listened to the twins lame ass speech on Frankens show. I had read parts of it and knew it was awful, but its amazing how Barbara sounds just like I imagined. A woman whose vocal cords were ravaged by years of cigarettes, pot and booze. God that voice just dropped her from a 7 to a 6.

Alan Keyes is a gift that just keeps on giving.


According to a list of quotes put out by the Democratic candidate, Keyes said in a radio interview at the Republican National Convention that Jesus would not vote for Obama. The quote was part of a list Obama sent reporters of Keyes' accusations and epithets about him since Keyes became a candidate, NBC5 political editor Dick Kay said.

Kay also reported that Keyes called Obama a "socialist and a liar" on a cable access news show on Monday. Obama said he wants to win big to give Keyes a spanking because Keyes wages a scorched earth campaign. Keyes then went into a very long analysis of the word "spanking" and suggested it might be related to slavery and insulting to African- Americans.

How I spent my summer vacation

Just got back from NYC where I was, in nutbag Zell Millers words, an "agitator". I spent the day sightseeing, and the nights trying to watch other people get into trouble.

Wednesday started with a trip to the New York City Museum. Somewhat disappointing to be honest. They barely scratch the surface. They did have a Pat Moynihan exhibit that did make up for everything else, but all in all you'd be better off renting the amazing New York Documentary by Ric Burns.


Wednesday afternoon I headed over to McSorleys, one of my favorite bars.

Unfortunantly since its so historic, It's only wotrthwhile on a Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise its overcrowded with tourists and college students. Sadly, there was a fresh signed autographed picture of Dennis Hastert on the wall, which was a bit of a buzzkill. But the cheap beer and Otter, the black lab, made up for it.


After that I went across teh street to Cooper Union where People for the American Way was sponsoring a reading of the Constitution by such people as Betty Friedan, Richard Gere, John Sayles, Alec Baldwin, Robert Byrd (via video) and others. That was quite entertaining. People reacted like ar cok convcert to tehir favorite aprts. "Whooah! 5th amandement ! YEAAAH!"

And to the people who hissed at the second amendment, you should read and understand its actual meaning, instead of the spin from the NRA.

Afterwards as I was walking out I saw John Sayles walking out with the crowd. Being a huge film guy, I've loved his films ever since I saw City of Hope in college over ten years ago. I walked over to him outside and told him I was a big fan and we ended up talking film for a good 10 minutes or so. And then I got a picture with him.


If you haven't seen anyof his movies, youre missing out. He's one of the best indie filmakers out there. My favorite remains City of Hope. But hes also done greats like Matewan, Secret of Roan Inish, Passion Fish, and Lone Star.

His newest is Silver City, which is a political film about a Bushlike idiot son of wealth and power running for giverner. It looks to be another one of his great ensemble pieces. IT opens in a few weeks.

Form there I went up to Central Park for the big NOW rally. Like the one in DC, this one covered the gamut from liekmended protestors, to left wing fruitcakes.
Exhibit a:


PETA was there too. Why I have no idea.


From there , Rob (former creator of Bob's Daily Diatribe and current NYC resident who was nice enough to let me crash at his place) went to this place called the Tank, where many bloggers, artists, and protestors were hanging out. It's a funky art space with an outsude and inside loungue.



There we watched Zell Millers eye bulging Hatefilled nazilike rant and Cheneys lie ridden speech, drank cheap beer and jeered. They had a "blogger ally" where everyone was furiously typing away into their thinkpads. Also, Run Against Bush was headquartered there, so I got to see hotties in shorts stretching before they ran. Protesting is fun!


Then they had an open mic rant against the RNC, which turned into a bunch of drunks using Cheneylike expletives to describe Bush. So we decided to leave and check out Union Square. ALways a hotbed of protesting no matter what the date. there was a smattering of people about, and some guy sleeping out there with a big sign agaisnt bush you were encouranged to sign.


Kinda dull by Union Square standards, so I made a mental note to go back first thing tomorrow. So we toook off. On teh subway ride home we shared a car with some anarchists. Who look like what you expect. Idiot teenagers who need a job and a shower.


Thursday late morning, Union Square was more happening. Veterans against Bush were out in force with signs, installation pieces, and the media was out as well. Theere was one sign that was anti Kerry, but it was dwarfed by the others.


From here I headed over to MSG to check out the scene. I had thought it would be nuts, but it was relativly mild. Everything was cordoned off, cops were everywhere. most of them doing nothing but standing around, shooting the shit, and mentally calcuating here overtime pay. I did see John Sununu waddling into the Hardball trailer to get his makeup done.


As I wandered down the street, I took what I think is the perfect picture to encapsulate the Republican Party:



Then I went to the Upright Citizens Brigade for a show. 5 bucks for some funny sketch comedy. Worthwhile. And it was right outside MSG, which was sweet, so we got to see the big main protests on thursday night. And better yet, I got my second favorite photo taken.


From there we wandered up a block right into the thick of things. We ended up in a throng of some protestors, but Rob pointed out that if you actually read the signs, they were pro bush. Kinda. They were this group called the Protest Warriors. But the only problem was they were a bunch of idiots, there signs were vague and in small print so you had no clue what they were doing until you read them, and they were belligerent tools.

At that point I looked over, saw a long haired hippie hand his kid chalk so he could play on the street, while sourrounded by hundreds of angrey protestors and baton wielding cops. Quiant scene.

Then I turned around and came smack dab in front of this genius, standing before a giant line of cops.

At this point I felt it wise to be on my way. So we backed up bit of range and just soaked it in at a safe distance. Then we moved onto some bars in Chelsea and were joined by our friend Kate, and we all watched Bush's shitty speech in a nice bar, with a flaming bartender who was pretty damn funny.


Friday I headed up to the upper west side to go for a Zabars run and then some bagels at H&H next door, a tradition with me. Had lunch on a park bench on central park west, and headed home.

And now I got a freaking cold.

I love Alan Keyes. He is just stone cold flat out out of his mind insane.