This Modern World: Parallel Earth

Oh man, are we really this dumb?

All evidence points to "yes."

The Guardian: Bush sent out of Texas by father as a 'drunken liability'

The widow of a Bush family confidant says her husband gave the future president an Alabama Senate campaign job as a favor to his worried father. Did they see him do any National Guard service? "Good lord, no."

Please, oh please, let this be as much of a scandal as the swift boat lies were.

Here's the original Salon.com piece.

John Kerry's Response to RNC Attacks

The Republican National Convention is over and now it's time for John Kerry to start hitting back. Here's the Kerry campaign's response to Bush' convention speech. Maybe now we can re-focus on the issues, rather than whether or not Kerry was being shot at 35 years ago (he was...duh).

Some high points:

The election comes down to this. If you believe this country is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush. But if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us. John and I offer a better plan that will make us stronger at home and more respected in the world. And we need your help to do that.

For three days in New York, instead of talking about jobs and the economy, we heard anger and insults from the Republicans. And I'll tell you why. It's because they can't talk about the real issues facing Americans. They can't talk about their record because it's a record of failure.

We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican Convention. For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief. Well, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.

The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi royal family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.

Go get em Johns! We are counting on you. Seriously.

FactCheck.org: Zell Miller's Attack on Kerry: A Little Out Of Date

Zell Miller is off his rocker. If his RNC keynote weren't enough evidence of this, then his unhinged appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews clinched it. He wished he could challenge Matthews to a duel! Doesn't he remember how badly that went for Homer Simpson?

Glove slap! Shut yer big yap!

Anyway, as always, the people at FactCheck.org have, well, factchecked Miller's histrionic charges. Check their report out

William Saletan: Imperial President: Opposing Bush Becomes Unpatriotic

According to William Saletan, the 2004 election is becoming a referendum on your right to hold the president accountable.

Michael Moore: Why Democrats shouldn't be scared

Michael Moore, as pointed out rather stupidly by John McCain in his speech, attended the Republican National Convention for USA Today. Here is an index of all his reports and here is the last one, explaining to Democrats why things still look promising for a Kerry victory in two months.

The Seattle Times Endorses Kerry for President

Just when I was beginning to think that the media personally disliked Kerry as much or more than it did Gore, in one of the first newspaper endorsements in the country, the conservative Seattle Times, which endorsed Bush in 2000, has endorsed Kerry. Read it here.

Here's an excerpt:

Four years ago, this page endorsed George W. Bush for president. We cannot do so again -- because of an ill-conceived war and its aftermath, undisciplined spending, a shrinkage of constitutional rights and an intrusive social agenda.

The Bush presidency is not what we had in mind. Our endorsement of John Kerry is not without reservations, but he is head and shoulders above the incumbent.

Cool. Keep 'em coming.

"Let's turn a corner, any corner"

I initially passed right over this, mistaking it for serious commentary. Nope. It's an Onion-like parody of Bush's nomination speech. It's probably the best Onion piece that wasn't in The Onion.

The Washington Post: Bush Q&A's Are All on the Same Side

This is just SO gross.

Now I understand why Kerry got almost five times as many attendees to his Grand Rapids rally (19,000 to Bush's 4,000) than Bush did to his. Bush only admits his most fervent supporters. I wonder if, in addition to the loyalty oath, there are other tests to weed out anyone who might pose a question, much less a challenging one.

For Sale: 1971 Chevrolet C-10 Pickup

My Dad's got another truck from his collection up on eBay. Check it out here.

A Web of Connections

The Bush campaign denies that it and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are connected, but an obvious web of connections exists.