WaxWorks
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Saturday, October 09, 2004
Bush on Judicial Activism
Frankly, I was surprise that Bush needed to go all the way to Dred Scot to find an example of judicial activism by the Supreme Court, because wasn't he a plaintiff in some case four years ago?
But maybe he's forgotten that -- after all, he can't remember his ownership in that timber company...
UPDATE: Apparently, when Bush mentioned Dred Scot, that was code to right to lifers that Bush was actually signalling his continued opposition to Roe. It's now been written in a number of places that the Right to Life movement has frequently equated the two decisions.
They Are Really Pathological
Probably the oddest moment in the debate Friday was when Bush expressed surprise and made a joke ridiculing Kerry's statement that Bush owns a part-interest in timber-growing company that, based on the Administration's definition of small business, would make Bush a small business. Bush said the fact that he owns part of timber company was "news to me."
Well, if you've been following this administration's statements over the Iraq war, you can guess who was right and who was wrong with this one too. According to Dick Cheney's favorite source, FactCheck.org:
President Bush himself would have qualified as a "small business owner" under
the Republican definition, based on his 2001 federal income tax returns. He
reported $84 of business income from his part ownership of a timber-growing
enterprise. However, 99.99% of Bush's total income came from other sources that
year. (Bush also qualified as a "small business owner" in 2000 based on
$314 of "business income," but not in 2002 and 2003 when he reported
his timber income as "royalties" on a different tax schedule.)
Frankly, I'm just surprised that Bush didn't claim that Friday night was the first time he met Kerry...
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Which Is It?
On Tuesday, in response to a question about his comparison to Edwards, Cheney said this:
With respect to how we've spent our careers, I obviously made a choice for
public service.
Hmm. He seems to be forgetting something on his resume. So let's roll back the clock to 2000 and to what Cheney said during his VP debate with Joe Lieberman:
I've been out of Washington for the last eight years and spent the last five
years running a company global concern. And been out in the private sector
building a business, hiring people, creating jobs.
And when Lieberman said to Cheney, "I'm pleased to see, Dick, from the newspapers that you're better off than you were eight years ago, too," Cheney's response was:
I can tell you, Joe, the government had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Sure sounds like someone is having a hard time being straight with the American people...
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Cheney's Pants Are Seriously on Fire
With all the lies put forth by Cheney last night, I thought that denying he ever linked Iraq and 9/11 would be #1. But his lie about never meeting Edwards before is taking the spotlight. It turns out they met on at least three occasions, and Russert said this morning that he witnesseed the two previously shake hands in the green room of his studio. There's also a picture of the two of them on a podium together when Cheney thanked Edwards in his opening remarks.
But the best part is that Elizabeth Edwards remembered all this last night and told Cheney as much on the stage after the debate. His response: "Oh, yeah."
According to Edwards:
"She reminded him about the truth," Edwards told the crowd, "and come
November, we're going to remind him that the American people do not want four
more years of George W. Bush."
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Johnny E Comes Through Big
I must admit, I have waited for this night ever since Kerry picked Edwards back in July. I am unabashed in my respect for Edwards' political talent and I really believed that Edwards would shine in this setting. I confess that I was nervous leading up to tonight, and we still haven't learned who will win the post-debate spin, as the debate just ended 20 minutes ago, but I really thought Edwards did great.
Personally, I had been waiting four years for someone to mention that Cheney voted against Head Start and against a resolution supporting the release of Nelson Mandela from prison while he was in Congress. Lieberman somehow couldn't find the time to mention that in 2000, but Edwards did.
Edwards was strong on the facts and very, very strong on hammering Cheney's claims that Saddam Hussein and 9/11 or Al Qaeda were connected. He was relentless on that point. Edwards' opening line will be replayed over and over, more than anything else said tonight, I wager.
Finally, Edwards' closing statement was masterful, showing all of the skill of years in the courtroom. Let's see what happens now, but 2 debates down, 2 to go and I feel good.
Monday, October 04, 2004
"He Forgot About Poland"
President Bush may need to get a new line for the next president debate when asked about U.S. allies in Iraq. Bush repeatedly stressed Poland's involvement in Iraq, but he may want to change that emphasis now. First, the Polish Prime Minister said that "They deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride." Then Poland announced that it may withdraw forces from Iraq in 2005.
Maybe Bush could stress Palau's involvement in the next debate?
More Debate Thoughts
I've heard Karen Hughes say several times that the reason Bush was acting the way he did during the debate was that he was irritated by Senator Kerry's misrepresentations. Uh, Karen, why do you think Gore was sighing in 2000? It wouldn't have had anything to do with Bush repeatedly denying that the vast majority of his tax cut went to the top 1%, would it? If that's the best you've got Karen, either you or your candidate need to go back to Texas. Actually, how about both of you?
I'm looking forward to the Edwards-Cheney debate, but I've been wondering about something. Earlier in the year, the Paul O'Neill book came out and Cheney was quoted as telling O'Neill, when O'Neill objected to another round of tax cuts in 2003 because of the deficit, that "Reagan taught us that deficits don't matter." To my knowledge, Cheney has never been asked about that quote, mostly because he lives in a cave when he's not trying to scare the American public, but wouldn't that be a pretty good question for him? Or at least something Edwards should mention at some point? Edwards' problem may be he's got too much material to use against Cheney...
Finally, I've been looking at the future debate schedule and I'll just throw this out as a question. Considering how the Bush campaign was reluctant to even have a town hall debate and reportedly agreed only if the first debate dealt with foreign policy, rather than the third debate, who do you think was happier then and who is happier now that this town hall debate will occur on a Friday night, before a holiday weekend, competing with baseball playoffs?
