If you haven't seen my item from yesterday on this, please read it!

My very highly placed source indicates that your letters are helping to encourage Fox to offer more balance on H&C's Monday night (Election Eve) show!

If you haven't already sent a polite note expressing your concern about "Fair and Balance" on their show Monday night, please colmes@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, mm-tips@mediamatters.org, mm-actions@mediamatters.org, click">TheBradBlog@cville.com\">click here to do so now!

We've received many comments from Rightwingers expressing that they are quite pleased with their guest line-up, thank you, as it was announced on Friday.

We've also received many from Liberals suggesting that since Fox is so far to the Right, what's the point in trying to get them to level their playing field at all?

I will remind you that, no matter what you may feel about Fox "News", more Americans watch them now for Election "News" than any other news outlet! Those are not all Republican zombies! But many of those viewers are highly influenced by the hard-right slant that FNC offers in every facet of their broadcast day. With a race (possibly) this close, levelling the playing field in any way on FNC can only be a plus!

CNN and MSNBC, unfortunately leaning to the Right as well these days, do not offer balance to FNC!

You Democrats, Liberals and Progressives who are foolish enough to simply write-off Fox "News" as a lost and/or useless cause are doing an enormous disservice to yourself and your cause and are behaving precisely as Bush supporters would like you to!

UPDATE 11/1/04: H&C now announcing that Jeb Bush now added to tonight's show!!! colmes@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, mm-tips@mediamatters.org, mm-actions@mediamatters.org, Write">TheBradBlog@cville.com\">Write those letters!!!

GOOD NEWS UPDATE 11/1/04: Just heard from my source: Terry McAullife now added to show for balance! Your letters are working! Keep it up! You are making a difference!!!

FINAL UPDATE: Victory (mostly)! Final lineup: 2 guests from the Right, 2 from the Left! But H&C managed, incredibly, to skew it to the Right anyway. Click here to read how.

Since 1933, the results of the Washington Redskins final home game has determined the winner of the Presidential Election. If the Redskins won, the encumbent won. Every time.

Final Score of just finished Redskins home game:
Packers: 28 Redskins: 14

Then again, the Boston Redsox hadn't been able to win a World Series since 1918. So I guess we shouldn't get too excited just yet. Nonetheless, I'll take the Skins loss today happily over a Skins win

Surely they must be kidding:

For the record, the John & Ken Show (local here in CA) is ardently rightwing, and they have been highly critical of Drier (and the Republicans) for giving lip-service to immigration policies.

Nonetheless, we agree with the National Republican Campaign Committee! Radio hosts who use the public air waves to support one candidate over another should immediately be censured, fined, and have their licenses revoked! Where do we sign up?

Having watched the bulk of today's Sunday news shows, I can report that the Republicans aren't quite as nervous as they obviously were on last week's shows. Perhaps it's due to the "little gift", as a senior GOP strategist appallingly described it, that they were given by bin Laden on Friday.

Nonetheless, I'll continue to stand by my previous prediction of a Kerry victory on Tuesday. Though now it's all down to "GET OUT THE VOTE", "GET OUT THE VOTE", "GET OUT THE VOTE".

If you are not helping to do that, please go to Voter Call, and join the effort from the comfort of your sofa, now! You. Are. Needed.

That said, here's a round-up of the polls from yesterday, taken after Bush's "little gift":

DCorps: Bush 47 - Kerry 48
Fox: Bush 46 - Kerry 46
ARG: Bush 48 - Kerry 48
Zogby: Bush 48 - Kerry 48
WPost: Bush 48 - Kerry 48
ABC: Bush 49 - Kerry 49

Seemingly, about as close as you could get. But these are not good numbers for either an encumbent or for a Republican. Look at today's numbers, versus 2000's numbers on the same days, according to Zogby:

Election 2004
4 Days Out: Bush 46 - Kerry 47
3 Days Out: Bush 48 - Kerry 48

Election 2000
4 Days Out: Bush 46 - Gore 42
3 Days Out: Bush 46 - Gore 44
FINAL RESULT: Bush 47.87% - Gore 48.38%

Lastly, and perhaps even more reliable than all of the above: Without fail since 1933, if the Washington Redskins won their final home game, the incumbent has been re-elected.

Current score of today's Redskins/Packers game in D.C.
(With 1:44 left in 4th Quarter) FINAL!:
Redskins 14 - Packers 28

(via Electoral-Vote.com)

"I want you to stand, raise your right hands and recite the Bush Pledge...I care about freedom and liberty. I care about my family. I care about my country. Because I care, I promise to work hard to re-elect, re-elect George W. Bush as president of the United States."
-- Dutifully recited by 2,000 standing, hand-raised Bush supporters at a Campaign Rally in Port St. Lucie, FL this week. As lead aloud by Florida state Sen. Ken Pruit.

And they suggest it's the left who are drawing inappropriate allusions to the Third Reich???

This week, Dick Cheney called Iraq a "remarkable success". Previously, George W. Bush called it a "catastrophic success". With 15 dead U.S. troops in Iraq over the past week (at least 9 of them yesterday alone, 8 in a single attack), and a new report detailing that in fact over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since it all began, there is little doubt about the kind of "success" this war has been. No matter what the desperados in office trying to win reelection are hoping you will beleive.

Look at the numbers and decide for yourself. Here are the latest as of 10/31/04...

Ratio of Al-Qaeda Attacks in the 3 years after 9/11
to Al-Qaeda Attacks in the 3 years prior:
2:1

Avg. Number of Attacks on U.S. Military per day:
80-90

U.S. Military Killed
between "Mission Accomplished" and hand-over of "Sovereignty":
1.89 per day

U.S. Military Killed
since hand-over of "Sovereignty" (125 days ago):
2.34 per day

Total U.S. Military Killed
since hand-over of "Sovereignty" (125 days ago):
269

Total UK Military Killed
since hand-over of "Sovereignty" (125 days ago):
9

All other "Coalition" Military Killed
since hand-over of "Sovereignty" (125 days ago):
14

Number of Countries in "Coalition":
Unknown
(White House Removed "Who Are the Coalition Members?" document from their Website. It's still gone. See this BRAD BLOG article for more info.)

Total U.S. Military Dead in Iraq since start of War:
1,123

U.S. Military Amputees, Wounded, Injured & Psychologically Disabled,
All now evacuated from Iraq:
29,550 est.

Iraqi Civilians Killed since start of War:
100,000+ est.

Iraqi Military Killed (prior to end of "major hostilities"):
28,000 est.

Total Iraqis Killed (Civilian and Military) in Iraq War:
128,000+ est.

Population of Iraq:
25 million

Total Killed in the US on 9/11:
2,973

Population of US:
293 million

Stockpiles of WMD's found in Iraq so far:
0

Al-Qaeda Creators/Spiritual Leaders "brought to justice...Dead or Alive":
0

Sources: Iraq Coalition Casuality Count, U.S. Dept. of Defense, McLaughlin Group, Johns Hopkins University

I can't post too much today because the Hannity & Colmes story below is sucking away all the bandwidth for the moment! Knocked us down entirely this morning. So read that story, and then colmes@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, mm-tips@mediamatters.org, mm-actions@mediamatters.org, Send">TheBradBlog@cville.com\">Send Email to these Folks requesting they do the right thing this Monday night!

After that, as a reward for doing something positive for your Democracy, see the first few killer minutes from Jon Stewart's Thursday show on video here.

Keep spreading the word, guys! This world isn't gonna save itself!

SUNDAY UPDATE: My highly placed source inside H&C tells me your Emails are making a difference! Keep speaking up! Your voice matters! If you Democrat/Liberal/Progressives think it makes sense to simply write Fox off entirely, please see this.

It was announced at the end of Friday's Hannity & Colmes on Fox that their Monday (Election Eve) guests would be:

ON THE RIGHT: Karl Rove, Dick Morris, William Weld (UPDATE!) Jeb Bush just added!!!
ON THE LEFT: Bill Richardson

Obviously, this is anything but "Fair and Balanced" and on the eve of a national Election it's simply outrageous!

I have a highly placed source inside the Hannity & Colmes show who I've sent Email to complain about this, and I received back a similar response to the ones I usually receive from them on the lack of balance on H&C. Namely; the Kerry campaign is simply not as willing to help them by supplying guests as the Bush campaign is. (I wonder why!)

I have tried to explain to my source that it's Fox's and H&C's responsibility to ensure that their show is fair and balanced! Not the responsibility of the Kerry campaign or the DNC to ensure that!

No matter how much the Democrats wish (or do not wish) to supply top-level guests to H&C it is the responsibility of the news organization, and debate show --- which claims to offer "Fair and Balanced" debate from both sides --- to do everything they can to ensure that the American people whom they serve receive an equal representation from both sides!

Last week, for example, Hannity had half-hour one-on-one interviews first with George W. Bush and then again with Dick Cheney. After which, both Hannity and Colmes pointed out that they had invited Kerry and/or Edwards to enjoy the same, to which apparently they declined.

In lieu of Kerry or Edwards then, H&C should have given an equal amount of time to a Democratic representative --- any Democratic representative, if necessary! --- to do at least their best to try and offer balance, even if they were not able to get Kerry or Edwards themselves!

And now, on their Election Eve show, such sorry excuses are simply intolerable! Having three Republican guests --- two of them, Rove and Morris, who will likely be offered segments where no balancing Democrat representative is there to supply balance --- is beyond the pale on the final show before Americans go to the polls!

I've contacted MediaMatters.org about this issue in hopes that they can help make some noise about it. I hope you will do the same, as well as helping to spread this word, and contacting the people at Fox News and the Hannity & Colmes show with your opinions about this outrageous example of attempting to effect the Presidential Election on the nation's most-watched channel for Election news coverage on the night before the Election!

CONTACT...
Sean Hannity: hannity@foxnews.com
Alan Colmes: colmes@foxnews.com

FOX News Channel FOX News Channel:
1-888-369-4762
Comments@foxnews.com

Media Matters:
www.MediaMatters.org
Email

Click here to Email all of the above at once!

UPDATE: If you have any question where Hannity & Colmes --- the show that claims to offer "Fair and Balanced Debate" stands, see the front page of their website right now. Here's a screenshot. Note all three featured stories offered to readers: Interviews with Peggy Noonan (Conservative, Ronald Reagan's speech writer), George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

We've come to expect this from H&C by now, of course, but their Election Eve coverage is even more outrageous than on most days! And, certainly more important than just any old day of the week!

UPDATE 11/1/04: Hannity & Colmes now announcing that Jeb Bush is added to tonight's show!!!

GOOD NEWS UPDATE 11/1/04: Just heard from my source: Terry McAullife now added to show for balance! Your letters are working! Keep it up! You are making a difference!!!

FINAL UPDATE: Victory (mostly)! Final lineup: 2 guests from the Right, 2 from the Left! But H&C managed, incredibly, to skew it to the Right anyway. Click here to read how.

As usual, Josh Marshall hits upon the essence of the question:

Marshall also notes, in another item, that apparently the Bush team learned of the impending bin Laden statement yesterday morning, but didn't notify the Kerry camp about it until later in the afternoon.

And then, as Bush finished criticizing Kerry for criticizing Bush for not doing more to catch bin Laden, there was this report from AFP:

Prompting Marshall to aptly note: "There's nothing, it seems, they won't game."

Which is both funny and insightful. But if any of you folks are paying attention, it's Ohio that I'd be very concerned about this year. Seems to me the G.O.P. is just begging to create a race war there.

It's one thing to disenfranchise several thousand elderly Jews in retirment homes in Boca Raton. It's another matter altogether to systematically and aggressively disenfranchise black voters in real time at the polls in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

From what I saw reported on Nightline last night, it looks like the G.O.P. is playing with fire out there, and hoping to start trouble as part of their strategy. I'm very concerned about what may happen in Ohio on Election Day. There's your heads-up for the moment...

Success! Mostly.

Chalk it up to "one for the little guy"!

In the wake of our series of reports on the White House quietly removing embarrassing Audio and Video from their website, it seems the bulk of that material has now been restored online! Thanks, no doubt, to the adverse attention they received via wire reports and Washington Post articles that our reporting was able to spur, the Administration seems to have gone through thousands of web pages and restored the previously available media to them.

That alone seems to disprove the theory offered by Jim Gilliam, one of the creators of the excellent OutFoxed documentary, who reported being told by the White House at the time that there was a policy to remove old audio/media after a year. As we previously reported, there was much media still online well over a year old. If this supposed policy was done for storage-space reasons, the restoration of gigabytes of media now would seem to disprove that notion as well. Looks like the WH was at least victorious in selling their line to those filmmakers. Just another in a series of apparent lies and nonsense peddled, too often successfully, by this corrupt Administration.

So what material is still not restored to the publically owned and historical website?

Their removed "List of Coalition Members", which originally started all of this when it was taken down just after Dick Cheney accused John Edwards of not counting Iraq as part of the "coalition" during the V.P. Debate is still, unbelievably, not available. We caught them red-handed at the time. And as of this date, in the final days of a Presidential campaign, in the middle of a war, the Whitehouse.gov website still has no list or information as to who our allies are in that effort.

Beyond that, there is no way of knowing what else has been deleted, removed, changed, redacted or disappeared since the White House doesn't allow Internet Archive sites to index it's thousands of pages. Thus, it's nearly impossible to track everything that has been changed and deleted. For example, the "Secretary Paul O'Neil testifies about terrorism risk insurance" link in their special report detailing "America's Response to Terrorism" is still missing (as illustrated at right).

At this point, all we can do is hope the Bush Administration has any respect left for "the rule of law" since all of the documents they release on their website are "historical documents" that belong to the people. As we previously reported, their deletion or editing without approval from the National Archives seems to be in clear violation of the "Presidential Records Act".

But they'd never disrespect "the rule of law" at this White House. Right?

EnjoyTheDraft.com's new ad campaign (a couple of ads from it seen below) has been cancelled at the last minute by senior management at Yahoo. John Aravosis of AMERICABlog, part of the group that created EnjoyTheDraft.com, is reporting that management at "the highest levels of Yahoo" decided at the last minute to cancel the campaign after ads were bought, paid for, and set to go live today. The original announcement for their campaign, with more graphics, etc, is here.

{DISCLAIMER: EnjoyTheDraft.com is a paid BRAD BLOG advertiser. We're proud to have them as a sponsor!}

Who stands to benefit from the re-emergence of Bin Laden? The best spinners, I guess. I'm looking over the transcript of the video now, as posted on Drudge.

More on that as I go through it. But in the meantime, no doubt, the Bushies will spin this as proof that bin Laden supports the election of John Kerry. The Kerry team will spin this as proof that Bush took his eye off the ball, and use his statement that he was "truly not that concerned about him" to blast Dubya.

Now the Bushies are better spinners, in general, and have a far more sophisticated "spin apparatus" in place via their echo chamber control of the media. As well, this helps to get the awful al Qa-qaa news and the Administrations disastrous handling of same --- being remarkably flat-footed and ham-handed in their many responses --- off the news. So overall, I'm leaning towards Advantage: Bush on this one for the moment. But I don't know yet.

What are your thoughts? Other than it's the American people (and the world) who "lose" by bin Laden still being alive, who "wins" from today's news on this?