Several great responses to Bush's lame wolf ad...

The Bush ad is lame, by the way, if only because the fear tactics he's using are all well and good and expected by now (and it's not particularly scary at that), but the "facts" they give about Kerry voting to "gut intelligence" have all been well debunked as nonsense months ago by FactCheck.org (See their article: "President claims 1995 Kerry plan would "gut" the intelligence services. It was a 1% cut, and key Republicans approved something similar.") Nonetheless, they they keep lying about them anyway. Never let a lie get in the way of a good old fashioned fear and smear, I guess.

As I mentioned, more on this whole "White House Website Scrub" story hopefully tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's a White House website video of a Martin Luther King portrait unveiling from January 21, 2002. They haven't removed it (yet) but lord knows they probably should have! Watch the first few incredible seconds of the video to see why.

But in case they take it down after we publish this item, here's the first few words from the transcript to listen out for:

Youch. Yes, he said that.

(Thanks to reader KB for this horrific find!)

Geez, AFP, I always give you guys credit when I report on your stories!

Anyway, glad they finally picked up on it and tossed it onto the AFP/Yahoo wires. Their report is filed here: "Iraq coalition vanishes from White House website"

(NOTE: That's two credits I've now given AFP in the same story! Oops, make that three!)

Oh, well, we're not looking for credit here, but we are glad that some of our work on the White House Website Scrub is finally breaking out of the Blogosphere (where the stories have been linked far and wide of late --- according to Technorati.com last night, one of our items had made it to #10 in all of Political Blogistan, and #6 with a bullet amongst the Liberal/Pinko Sector at the time someone had alerted me to it...But linked, so far, to none of the major Old School "News" Sites that I know of.)

Hey, CNN and MSNBC (won't even bother with Fox) it's your turn to start reporting now!

The specific information from the AFP (Oops...four) report filed today, on the disappearing "Coalition List" was originally reported here on 10/6/04 and then followed up on 10/17/04.

More to report on this whole story by the way. I've been doing a lot of research, and following up as many leads from you guys that I can. So, stay tuned. Thanks to all who have sent in stuff. Apologies for slow email replies, but I'm trying to get to them all.

More thanks though for spreading the information far and wide! We'll get those bastards, yet.

(Special props to reader "pamindurham" for catching the AFP story on the wire and letting us know! Oops...that's five!)

UPDATE 10/29/04: BRAD BLOG SUCCESS! WH restores Audio/Video! Though much still missing...

Just typed "poll" into Yahoo News. These are the first results I got back, both from headlines today:

"Reuters Poll: Bush Holds Two-Point Lead Over Kerry"
"President Bush holds a slim two-point lead on Democratic rival John Kerry in the stretch run of a tight race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Friday."
Results reported in the story: Bush 47% - Kerry 45%

"AP Poll: Bush, Kerry in Tie Before Election"
"Many voters are dissatisfied with President Bush's job performance but uneasy about Democrat John Kerry's ability to protect the nation, according to an Associated Press poll that found the two presidential candidates locked in a tie."
Results reported in the story: Bush 46% - Kerry 49%

Yes. You read that correctly. There's your "Liberal" Media.

And as it turns out, a non-partisan study today shows us that Bush Supporters are so wildly disinformed even about their own candidate(!) that of course they'd believe there is a "Liberal" Media. You gotta click through this link to see what I mean!

And this is from the Washington Times of all places...

No word on whether the Army has cleared this policy with Newt Gingrinch yet.

(P.S. Please click the ad on the left for of our new sponsor, EnjoyTheDraft.com, for more drafty fun!)

Again, we attempt to appeal here to the intellectually honest conservatives out there (yes, there are a few left) who's company we enjoy on the BRAD BLOG from time to time.

In an article titled "Kerry's the One", American Conservative magazine's Scott McConnell endorses Kerry! Here's why:

Of course, I don't personally find endorsements to mean all that much, otherwise I'd link to Iran's endorsement of Bush or Jesse Ventura's endorsement of Kerry. Oh, wait...I just did! Hey, this saying one thing and doing another thing is kinda fun! I got your values right here, Mission Accomplished Boy!

Via Slate:

Haven't we been told by the Bush Administration for months now how al Qaeda would love to disrupt our elections with "a Madrid style attack"? Therefore, shouldn't our National Security Advisor be back at the White House War Room right about now manning her post with ever increasing vigilance the closer we get to the election? Josh Marshall asks just that...

Tough call. The White House has a long track record to support both of those possibilities. But then...anything to win!

Judy Woodruff on CNN was at it again yesterday, only reporting selective polls that were favorable to Bush instead of the several other available polls from the same dates which show Kerry leading, tied, or show a much smaller margin for Bush. That has been CNN's pattern all week.

The possibility that such one-sided reports might serve to dispirit Democrats and keep them away from the polls is potentially true. But brings up an issue I've often wondered about.

Why is it that Americans seem to regard voting in a Presidential Election as if they are placing a bet on a sporting event or something? It's as if there is some urge to vote on who they think will be the winner. This isn't a contest! You don't win a prize for picking the right guy! It's an election! Give your opinion about who you think should win the office!

We've heard so much in previous elections about "wasting your vote" if you voted for a third party candidate like Nader or Perot. True, a vote for Nader this year is certainly a vote for Bush, but in general, it's not a "waste" to vote for anybody you damn well please! There is no prize here for "getting it right"!

So it's troubling to see bad reporting from CNN and others about who's winning the horse-race, but perhaps even more troubling that such reporting should have any effect on that horse-race at all! Sadly, though, it does. So until we can help Americans to understand what the hell voting actually means the media would be far better serving this country if they figured out how to get their shit straight.

But --- since it seems to make a difference to you sports fans voters out there --- my money's still on Kerry! Now get out there a week from Tuesday and go win a million bucks!

As currently seen (at least until it too gets scrubbed) on this White House website page. Will the irony never end?

(Hat tip to reader "qxy" for the find!)

Our friend Krup has Triumph the Insult Comic Dog after Debate #3 in "Spin Alley" (or, "Deception Lane" as Jon Stewart --- our new Patron Saint of Democracy according to Oliver Willis as I recall --- referred to it on Crossfire).

Triumph's questions are at least as good as Wolf Blitzer's! And almost twice as funny! Check it out.

Is it too early or presumptuous of me to start turning on Kerry yet? As you can tell, I'm chomping at the bit to see him safely in office so we can then start tearing him to pieces.

But why wait? No, seriously...why wait?

Gay.com reports in their interview with Teresa Heinz Kerry:

Oh, brother. That's gonna go over well. You think the Clinton years were rough? Just watch how they'll be chewing up the Kerrys.

Oh. And get used to hearing her referred to as "Mama T." Already I hate it.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.