The Final Countdown: On Nov. 2, Pundits Go Nuts
The Final Countdown: On Nov. 2, Pundits Go Nuts: "So, as they say in Hollywood, let's cut to the chase: the highlights of Election Night 2004.
8 p.m., E.S.T.: ABC's Peter Jennings kicks off the night with a blatant play for ratings: 'Welcome to the biggest reality show of all time: Who wants the keys to the nukes?' NBC's Tom Brokaw goes for pathos: 'It's a critical election, because it's my last election.' Dan Rather, sweating, on CBS: 'Fasten your seat belts, hold on to your hats: This election is tighter than the character spacing on a 1970's memo from the Texas Air National Guard proving that George Bush went AWOL.'
8:01 p.m., MSNBC: The great Chris Matthews drinking game begins as viewers, panelists and the studio production crew are obligated to take a drink every time Matthews interrupts someone or drops the name Jimmy Carter.
8:06 p.m., Fox News: With early returns indicating a slight Kerry lead, we have our first casualty of the night: Ann Coulter has a nervous breakdown onscreen and is yanked off the air screeching, 'John Kerry isn't half the man Joe McCarthy was!'"
- posted by liz @ 10/29/2004 12:06:00 PM 0 comments

 
Men Nail Conservative Ann Coulter With Pies - "LIBERALS" REJOICE!!
AAAAHhahahaha!!!! Now really, I'm not a mean spirited person. But Ann Coulter is!! She's evil! No really! Evil! And this is awesome!

"TUCSON, Ariz. -- It appears they didn't like what conservative columnist Ann Coulter had to say.

Two men ran on stage and threw custard pies at Coulter as she was giving a speech at the University of Arizona Thursday night. Coulter was hit in the shoulder. The men were arrested by university police."

nbc4i.com - News - Men Nail Conservative Ann Coulter With Pies
- posted by liz @ 10/22/2004 12:48:00 PM 0 comments

 
Salon.com | World to Americans: You're OK -- it's Bush we hate
"Oct. 22, 2004 | Foreigners say over and over that it's George W. Bush they dislike, not all Americans. But what if Americans give Mr. Bush a second term as president on Nov. 2? Will foreigners still say it's the man in the White House who is the problem, not the voters who put him there?

The U.S. presidential election is widely seen as too close to call, but one thing is clear: If the rest of the world could vote, Bush would lose in a landslide."

Salon.com | World to Americans: You're OK -- it's Bush we hate
- posted by liz @ 10/22/2004 09:54:00 AM 0 comments

 
Dean for America
"While Dean has endorsed John Kerry--and is traveling around the country drumming up support for his former rival--he recognizes that victory in this election means the defeat of the right, not the triumph of a progressive movement. Dean understands that no matter what happens next month, it is vital to continue to coordinate, organize and build the infrastructure to drive progressive ideals into the political debate and electoral arena."

Editor's Cut [via The Nation]
- posted by liz @ 10/21/2004 11:11:00 AM 3 comments

 
Gloria Steinem on Electing Kerry
"The legendary feminist hits the swing state campaign trail to get rid of George W. Bush."

RadioNation AudioBlog
- posted by liz @ 10/21/2004 10:50:00 AM 0 comments

 
Salon.com News | Suppressing the overseas vote
Salon.com News | Suppressing the overseas vote: "The Government Accountability Office excoriated the agency for losing thousands of overseas votes in 2000, but the FVAP insists it has corrected its problems this year. Frustrated civilian advocates, however, say the FVAP remains biased and ineffective. Despite reforms, they attest, it still has not shaken its Pentagon roots: It spends the bulk of its energy getting out a heavily Republican vote among a half-million service people -- but has failed the far greater numbers of civilians (an estimated 4 million, by most counts) who tend to vote a different way. "
- posted by liz @ 10/21/2004 10:13:00 AM 0 comments

 
Edwards Lovefest Volume 3: Elizabeth Edwards Edition
"Mrs. Edwards spoke predominately about women's issues and picked up on the 'Orwellian Name' theme raised by Sen. Kerry during the 2nd debate, applying it to Bush's campaign slogan that 'W stands for Women.' Later in the rally she declared that Bush 'appointed people to administer the Violence Against Women Act who are opposed to the Violence Against Women Act'."

Elizabeth Edwards in Vermont [via Blog for America]

- posted by liz @ 10/15/2004 02:29:00 PM 0 comments

 
Socialists Confirm President's Lack of Intelligence:
As in the previous debates, Bush seemed on the defensive throughout the evening.

The explanation for this does not lie primarily in the all-too-obvious intellectual limitations of the president.

Final presidential debate confirms: no choice for working people in Bush-Kerry contest [via World Socialist Web Site]
- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 05:05:00 PM 0 comments

 
"We're all God's children, Bob"
ahem...well...yes...

Hopefully, the reminder that a cruel and offensively dehumanizing constitutional amendment is at stake puts all this in perspective for Democratic partisans who may have grimaced in awkward discomfort at last night's utterances by John Kerry

Debate 2004: Gay, gay, gay, gay, gaygaygaygay [via low culture]
- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 11:57:00 AM 0 comments

 
Wait, I totally forgot to add this too...
Same article, even better:

The strutting, winking, pointing and near-shouting that marked Bush's town hall debate performance all sent the same subconscious message to our fear-fogged brains: 'I'm your daddy ... I've got your back. So just go to sleep and stop thinking. About anything.'

Salon.com | Bush's primitive appeal
- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 11:12:00 AM 0 comments

 
This is exactly what I'm talking about:
Even I'm having nightmares about this shit. Finally, there is this word on the topic, thanks to my idol-du-jour, Arianna Huffington:

'The biggest threat we face today,' said Cheney in his very first answer 'is the possibility of terrorists smuggling a nuclear weapon or a biological agent into one of our own cities and threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.'

Just in case we didn't get the point, he repeated the ominous assertion, practically word for word, two more times -- throwing in the fact that he was 'absolutely convinced' that the threat 'is very real.' It was 'be afraid, be very afraid' to the third power.

And when we are afraid, we are biologically programmed to pay less attention to left-brain signals -- indeed, our logical mind actually shuts itself down. Fear paralyzes our reasoning and literally makes it impossible to think straight. Instead, we search for emotional, nonverbal cues from others that will make us feel safe and secure.

Salon.com | Bush's primitive appeal
- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 11:07:00 AM 0 comments

 
Why I love the BBC:
"It was scheduled to address mainly domestic issues, which have been often overshadowed in the campaign by the conflict in Iraq and homeland security amid Mr. Bush's war on terror. "

BBC NEWS Americas US rivals clash on domestic plans

- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 09:51:00 AM 0 comments

 
Lefigaro.fr, l'actualite francophone au quotidien
Lefigaro.fr, l'actualite francophone au quotidien: "Etats-Unis 2004
Bush et Kerry reactivent le clivage gauche-droite"

heheh.
- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 09:34:00 AM 0 comments

 
Bush 'Not Concerned' About Bin Laden in '02
Bush 'Not Concerned' About Bin Laden in '02: "WASHINGTON - Sen. John F. Kerry caught President Bush off guard during their final debate Wednesday night, asserting that the president once said he was 'not concerned' about hunting down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In one of the testiest moments of the evening, Bush protested, 'I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. That's kind of one of those exaggerations.'

But during a news conference at the White House on March 13, 2002, Bush said something close to what Kerry quoted. 'I truly am not that concerned about him,' the president said, according to the official White House transcript."

- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 09:32:00 AM 0 comments

 
CNN.com - Early poll gives�Kerry the edge in final debate - Oct 14, 2004
CNN.com - Early poll gives Kerry the edge in final debate - Oct 14, 2004: "A CNN/USA Today/Gallup snap poll taken immediately after the presidential debate found that respondents gave a significant edge to Kerry over Bush, 52 percent to 39 percent. "
- posted by liz @ 10/14/2004 09:29:00 AM 0 comments

 
Thank god Bush is so foward thinking and all, y'all.
"Anyone notice how Bush's answer to everything was 'education'? So if you are unemployed, it's because you're uneducated. If you've been discriminated against, you're uneducated. You have no healthy insurance? You're uneducated.

Interesting how A LOT OF PEOPLE GOT STUPID during Bush's presidency, huh? "

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation. [via Daily Kos]


- posted by liz @ 10/13/2004 11:00:00 PM 0 comments

 
Operation Truth
Get out your debit card and give it up. It's non-partisan, you can do it...

Operation Truth
- posted by liz @ 10/13/2004 05:33:00 PM 0 comments

 
In a league of our own?
Earlier today someone sent me this, which reminded me a whole lot of this.

Now my question is, if NYC became a separate nation, with whom would we align ourselves? Or even more interesting-- would we become an oligarchy be default?

- posted by liz @ 10/13/2004 05:14:00 PM 0 comments

 
Watching CNN like a car wreck on the interstate...
'It's not just to be reduced as a nuisance. It is to be defeated by using all of the might of the United States and spreading freedom as an alternative.'

During a rally in Davenport, Iowa, Cheney also ridiculed the comment, saying that when he heard it 'I asked myself, when was terrorism only a nuisance?'

'Was it in 1983, when terrorists hit our embassy that spring in Beirut and killed several Americans, including the CIA station chief?' Cheney said, going on to ask the same question about a series of terrorist attacks, from the 1983 bombing of Marine barracks in Lebanon to the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

Ok, so maybe "nuisance" is not the best word, as it implies a sort of trivial nature that Kerry obviously does not intend, but this is the kind of spin that makes me sick. What John Kerry wants is for Americans to be able to live their lives in a world (albeit a world that will always, inherently contain some sort of "terrorist" threat) without existing in a constant state of fear, encouraged by a regime that thrives on this fear and uses it to subjugate its people. I think John Kerry believes that the US can once again be a place where we understand that threats to our safety do exist (and will ALWAYS exist, regardless of who is elected in November, because of the nature of the goddamn human race...) but where we do not require a barrage of rainbow-colored ALERTS! and memos from The Administration bearing down on us every minute of every day. We do not NEED to live in a country where we are told every day that we SHOULD be afraid, (stock up on bottled water and gas masks!) when there is no need for us to live our entire lives in fear.

But wouldn't it be so nice if Mr. Bush could use his special, er, skills to simultaneously make everone in the world hate us AND defeat all terrorism by "spreading freedom as an alternative." It seems to be working SO well thus far. Oh yes, I can feel the waves of freedom spreading over me like a soft, pink, bullet-proof blanket.

CNN.com - Bush, Kerry near final debate - Oct 13, 2004
- posted by liz @ 10/13/2004 11:14:00 AM 0 comments

 
Yeah MoveOn, work it...
Yikes. I'm slap-happy this morning. Too much coffee, not enough sleep, yada yada... But check out this uplifting news:

"For more than a year, a number of independent advocacy groups that support Democrats have worked diligently to identify and register potential Democratic voters. Even Republicans acknowledge that Democratic-leaning groups have registered far more people than Republican supporters."

What Poll and Registration Numbers Don't Reveal (washingtonpost.com)
- posted by liz @ 10/13/2004 09:34:00 AM 0 comments

 
Moment of Zen?


- posted by liz @ 10/12/2004 02:26:00 PM 0 comments

 
Direct to you from Young Reublica...
And we put up with this nonsense:

"I believe everything george says. he could say we should turn communist and i would go for it... "

just because...

- posted by liz @ 10/12/2004 01:36:00 PM 1 comments

 
Edwards Lovefest Pt.2


heh.

via youforgotpoland.com
- posted by liz @ 10/12/2004 01:22:00 PM 0 comments

 
Returning credibility to the White House, time and again...
The Bush/Cheney new campaign slogan? "Truth Schmooth!" Now there's a winner if I've ever heard one...

Alas, I am LOVING the spin that began last night. JMM does a great job, per usual:

Purely on the basis of this evening's debate, Cheney has a mammoth credibility problem. Again and again he said things that were simply false. In the case of the Iraq-9/11 tie, I think there's no question but that he simply lied when he claimed there was never a connection.

Thanks, Dick!

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall
- posted by liz @ 10/06/2004 09:19:00 AM 0 comments

 
ABCNEWS.com : Meeting Was Not First for Cheney, Edwards
"'The vice president said that the first time I met Senator Edwards was tonight when we walked on the stage. I guess he forgot the time we sat next to each other for a couple hours about three years ago. I guess he forgot the time we met at the swearing in of another senator. So, my wife Elizabeth reminded him on the stage,' Edwards said as the crowd roared.

According to Edwards' staff, Cheney replied, 'Oh, yeah.'

'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.'"

ABCNEWS.com : Meeting Was Not First for Cheney, Edwards
- posted by liz @ 10/06/2004 09:11:00 AM 1 comments

 
Help is on the way.
So, I think it's pretty clear, at least to those who know me fairly well, that my three biggest passions in life are American politics, literature (American or otherwise...probably more European, but...) and this thing (for lack of a more creative term) known as "The Art World." And for the last several months, I've had a loss of hope in two of those. I see no major crisis right now in literature. I've read some amazing novels, classics and new fiction lately. But with politics, and Art, I've had some major doubts. There is a tremendous sense of fear that has grown within me, regarding the state of the country under the regime of George W. Bush, that has only very recently begun to turn into something more hopeful--after last weeks debate, I am beginning to think that there's a chance the general population has the potential to see the light of day, to see John Kerry as a real rival, an electable leader: someone who is presidential. And the state of the arts, at least in this country...well, it's been better. The Bush administration hasn't been particularly positive in supporting the more creative endeavors of the American people either... But more than that, I've found that I've become something that seemed at one time completely impossible and now no less than blasphemous: I'm bored. I'm bored with "drawing as the new painting" and even this nearly obsessive trend towards "installation art" (whatever your take on that definition may be). I can't even begin to describe how forced and just...old... everything has seemed. But a few minutes ago I
finished reading an article by one of my art world heros, Calvin Tompkins, in this week's New Yorker, a sort of profile of Mauritzio Cattelan...and I have for the first time in a long time, a sense of hope about art and the possibilities that exist within its spectrum. I can honestly say that right now I have not the energy to examine my rushing thoughts on this piece, so to do it any justice whatsoever, I'll just quote this one section from Tomkins, where Cattelan speaks of his newly commissioned installation in Paris, a life-size sculpture of John F. Kennedy, lying in a coffin:

"I see that art has a great potential
to refer to a broader debate, to go out there and reach an incredible
audience," he has said. "And if my work can't do that, wekk, it'd
useless." This time, he confided, "I've never had such doubt in
myself." He sees the fallen President as "a kind of secular saint."
Not someone to be worshipped or idolized, that is, but someone who
represented many things about America and the American life which
Europeans admired. To Cattelan, who was born in 1960, Kennedy's death
symbolizes the loss of hope. At the moment, however, he seemed to be
almost comically uncertain about the piece. "Am I doing something
wrong, because I'm not American?" he asked us. "I don't know
anything, I wasn't there, I'm too young. But still, he represents
hope. Kennedy belongs to everybody, I'm sorry."

I couldn't agree more. I think that passage is damn near poetic. And if I could say anything to the author, Tomkins, or Cattelan, or even our new (yes, I'm going to say it) incarnation of Kennedy, I would tell them that they represent hope, to me. And for that I have no qualms at all.

- posted by liz @ 10/03/2004 09:56:00 PM 0 comments

 
Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.
"For any American viewer with a healthy appreciation for common sense, I would think Kerry certainly ruled the night."

Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.
- posted by liz @ 10/01/2004 11:59:00 AM 4 comments

 
Kerry Wins Debate--America agrees with Canada! Yeah!
"PRINCETON, NJ -- John Kerry won the debate Thursday night, 53% to 37%, according to a random sample of 615 registered voters who watched the event. Almost half of the viewers said they felt more favorable about the senator because of the debate, and 60% said Kerry expressed himself more clearly than did President Bush."

Kerry Wins Debate
- posted by liz @ 10/01/2004 10:02:00 AM 0 comments

 
Canadians know what's up.
This is the best take on the debate I've seen. I love canadians! And I think we should definitely let them vote...


Kerry won by a landslide. Bush was unbelievably poor. Most of the time I couldn't understand what he was trying to say, whereas Kerry was quite articulate. I truly feel for the American people if (Bush) is re-elected.

TheStar.com - Voices: Presidential debate winner
- posted by liz @ 10/01/2004 09:59:00 AM 0 comments

 
This is what I thought too...this guy's got it right:
"To be quite honest, Bush reminded me of a flustered school boy, who when criticized retaliated with a, 'I know you are but what am I', mentality."
- posted by liz @ 10/01/2004 09:47:00 AM 0 comments