News: October 2004 Archives
Two interesting pieces that illustrate how John Kerry's presidential campaign is dragging the media down with it. First, Kerry Spot has a source inside the Bush campaign who says that the President, with regards to the 380 tons of explosives story, is going to present America with a choice:
The campaign is going to avoid the Russian angle and go with the straightforward, “As the facts mount in this story, American people have a choice between believing Kerry-NYTimes-CBS or believing Bush and the Troops.”Secondly, Dick Morris makes the connection Mike Wallace wanted to avoid at all costs and links "60 Minutes" with "60 Minutes 2" (starring Dan Rather).
Beyond our inability to determine the truth of the Times story lies the sense of dirty tricks that comes from a last-minute journalistic accusation — made even more heinous by the CBS News' now-exposed plan to break the story 48 hours before the polls opened on "60 Minutes." Voters will easily recall how the same show fell for forged anti-Bush documents and tried to palm them off on us just last month."60 Minutes 2" is the show that fell for the forged documents, and Mr. Wallace -- host of "60 Minutes [1]" didn't want to get entangled in that debacle... too bad I guess.
(HT: Power Line.)
There's been a lot of chatter in the 'sphere about Senator Mark Dayton closing his Washington DC office, particularly from the guys at Power Line who deride the Senator as a coward despite his explanation of the situation. Mr. Dayton writes:
My concern was not about my own safety. I accept whatever risks come with the job I was elected to do. Whenever the Senate has been in session, I have been in Washington and my office has been open. When the Senate returns to session after the election, I will be back at the Capitol.That sounds pretty reasonable to me. The Senate could have stayed in session, but decided not to, so the senators went home. Why is it terrible or cowardly for their offices to close?For now, however, the Senate itself is closed. I considered it irresponsible and immoral for me to return to the relative safety of Minnesota and leave my Washington staff exposed to unacceptable risks, of which I was aware and they were not.
Some have said, from their own safety far away from Washington, that my action sends the wrong "message." My staff are not "messages." They are real people, named Jack, Chris, Laura, Demian and Delta. Most of them are young, and many are the sons, daughters, and grandchildren of Minnesotans. Their lives are precious, and they are my responsibility.
My brother Nicholas -- who wrote a couple of posts here a long time ago -- has started his own blog. His second post points out that, relating to matters of life and death:
To have a consistent and sustainable perspective on questions related to the morality of life and death in modern America, one must develop a single, coherent account for at least the following four political issues:To those I might also add animal "rights", mainly because there appears to be a strong connection between those who think killing babies in utero is morally neutral and those who think killing animals is evil. More peripherally, the questions of self-defense and the right to carry weapons also relate to life and death.o Capital punishment
o Euthanasia
o Suicide
o Abortion
Did anyone else hear the rumor about John Kerry claiming to have received a call from Christopher Reeve after the last debate? Supposedly Reeve called to thank Kerry for supporting embryonic stem cell research, but at the time Kerry claims to have received the call Reeve was already in a coma. Reeve didn't go into a coma until Saturday, though, and the debate was Friday night, so it's possible that Kerry's timeline (whatever it is) works. I can't verify whether or not Kerry even made this claim, or when, so basically I'm just asking for information.
