I originally blogged this item a thousand years ago on September 26th. Given some of the latest buzz on the issue however --- for example, Josh Marshall asks why then we have a Selective Service at all, and contingency plans now to draft medical workers as discussed in today's NY Times if, as Bush says, there will be no draft --- it seems a reminder might be in order.

As originally blogged 9/26/04...

A Draft? Read Between the Lines.
It's the carefully chosen language, Stupid.

In the buildup to War on Iraq, when the idea was very unpopular amongst Americans just prior to the 2002 Elections, Bush and his surrogates went out of their way to tell the American people that he had no plans for war on his desk...

As we later learned, of course, plans for War on Iraq were being readied at the time by the Pentagon even if they weren't yet "on Bush's desk".

This morning, on ABC's This Week Colin Powell made a careful mid-sentence correction when answering a question about whether there are plans for re-instating the Draft in the U.S.:

In other words, Bush "has no plans for a Draft on his desk."

We report, you decide.

(Fool me twice, shame on me?)

Latest battleground numbers from Zogby (via My DD), who's latest national tracking poll is a dead heat at 45-45. That's not a good score for the incumbent right now:

Kerry supporters, you can win every damn one of those states if you get to work! Pass links to sites like this one around, call your friends and harangue them to call their friends and make sure every goddamn American with a sense of intellectual honesty, a sense of decency and a love for this country stops listening to the bullshit in the "Liberal" media and gets out to the polls to set the record straight this year! If you do, Bush loses. Period. National nightmare over.

(If you need any encouragement, look again at my favorite video so far this year!)

Do you believe for a second that CNN and MSNBC, much less Fox, Rush, Sean, O'Reilly and all the other monkeys out there wouldn't be wetting their panties over the headline John Kerry is being endorsemed by the government of Iran? Drudge would have used two sirens for Christsake. But no, in this case, as reported by AP, "Axis-of-Evil" member Iran endorsed Bush, so it's barely a blip on the media landscape. Hmmm...I wonder why they'd endorse Bush?

For an endorsement that means even more, I'd point all you Fake Conservatives out there to this endorsement from the Conservative/Libertarian publisher of The Columbia Tribune in Missouri. He endorsed Bush in 2000, and again about a month ago, until he finally came to his senses:

I'd suggest reading the whole column, particularly if you truly consider yourself a Conservative.

It's extraordinary, but I still receive Email from folks who really seem to believe that Fox is "Fair and Balanced". They just seem like they favor Republicans, because the rest of the media is so liberal. Or so the folks tell me, many of whom also still believe Dubya is a man of his word and we may still find those WMD's and Saddam probably was involved in 9/11 and things really are going well in Iraq, except for that goddamn liberal media.

Given the real Rightwing bias of that supposedly "Liberal" media, it's probably a waste to even bother debunking the lie that is Fox "News", but sometimes I just can't help myself. After Media Matters documented FNC's "Fair and Balanced" Convention coverage (where they gave 20% more live prime-time coverage to the Republican Convention than they did for the Democrat Convention), it seems they're still at it with just two weeks to go before a national election. Media Matters once again has the proof:

Are those that claim to believe Fox is not biased just stupid? Or are they kidding themselves? Or do they know better, but just don't give a fuck? Anything, after all, to win. What do you think?

If you've been following O'Reilly since his recent fall from pretend grace, you've probably noticed the side-effect as his troubles have smacked him back a few yards closer to reality. His once barely veiled dilligent Pro-Bush spin is now entirely out in the open. I guess he figures since everyone in America now knows what he sticks up his ass, why bother hiding who he supports in this election?

The only thing left for him to do is come out and say "I am going to vote for George Bush and will do anything I can to help him win". Other than that, a few minutes listening to his "Radio Factor" or suffering through the TV show make it clear that he's not even trying to hide his bias anymore.

Now that he realizes he will never get the John Kerry interview that only O'Reilly could make himself believe that he was entitled to, he's given up all pretense. Announcing on both radio show and TV today that George W. Bush is now going to win this election. If you listen to O'Reilly, it's now all over but the recounts.

Sure, he still gives lip service to some mythical "fairness" that he'd love us to believe that he and Fox offer, but you can tell that even he knows he's spinning. Next week, he promises, he's going to make up an interview with Kerry in lieu of getting a real one. That's "the most trusted name in news" for ya.

Tonight, he went out of his way to remind Juan Williams (who actually did get an interview with John Kerry) that it was "Fox News" who broke the Bush DUI story in the days prior to the 2000 election. That, he claimed, showed all those Liberal Fox Haters how "faaaaair" FNC really is.

Too bad he's wrong about that too. It was not FNC, but a local Fox Affiliate (who does not work for FNC in NY) who broke the story. He and Brit Hume, however, have been going out of their way to pass off that particular fiction for quite some time.

In non-fiction related O'Reilly news, his evil nemesis, the much funnier-on-purpose Al Franken, once again beat the "Radio Factor" in the latest NY Arbitron radio ratings, as reported by Drudge. That despite No Spin Boy's repeated assertions on the air over the past year about "Stuart Smalley's failed little radio show". Please stop! I'm dizzy from all that No Spinning!

But apparently there's some things even O'Reilly can't spin his way out of. That seems to be his, as of yet, uncontested guilt in the Andrea Mackris Sexual Harrasment case. His silly cries of "extortion" in his pre-emptive suit against her didn't bother to deny any of her charges. And yesterday's "Radio Factor" featured this moment that should haunt him for a while, as caught by the always vigilant Media Matters (audio here):

Trademark false machismo and bloviation aside...Since he's now all but come out and admitted guilt in the matter, what exactly are the "certain things" he "can't allow" to happen? "What's right is right?" - What the hell is he talking about? He's a married man, with "kids", admitting to making obscene phone calls, while servicing himself with a vibrator, to an underling employee of his. Is he implying that if she'd asked for a few million less, that would have made it all "right"? But since she didn't, he's "gonna fight 'em, because what's right is right?" Apparently so. Just as he forced Fox to file their embarrasing law suit against Franken which was quickly laughed out of court, again he has allowed his over-inflated ego to back him into a No Spin Corner from hell.

But hey, sex scandals with prostitutes didn't seem to hurt tonight's O'Reilly's Fair and Balanced guest Dick Morris, much! Neither did millions in secret gambling losses cause too terribly much shame for Hannity & Colmes' featured weekly guest, William Bennet, just a few minutes later. So perhaps O'Reilly will survive this as well. After all, in the fairy tale Land of Fake Conservatism, "Values" is just a word cynically pulled out every few years to help win elections. Don't make the Red State mistake of thinking these people actually have any.

Perhaps you can fool about 48.9% of the people (MoE 3-4%) all of the time.

The 5 day graph tells the story...

...Which may help explain this just issued poor attempt at face saving:

So now it's "inaccurate political and press accounts" that's done in poor Sinclair.

Here, by the way, is one of those "press accounts", from Sinclair Broadcasting's own DC Bureau Chief, Jon Lieberman, yesterday:

Mr. Lieberman was promptly fired and "escorted from the building" by Sinclair yesterday evening.

UPDATE: More details on Sinclair's latest lame attempt to cover their ass here.

As we reported a few days ago, Bravo's new Queer Eye for the Straight Girl is taping our neighbor, outside our window, as one of their subjects.

We promised any dish we could offer. The previous item reported the rumor that there would be a Fab Three instead of a Fab Five. While it looks like there are at least three guys it also looks like there's a girl along with them as they just filmed the familiar run out of the house to the car with the victim in tow. The girl --- presumably a lesbian, but not Mary Cheney --- was a stylish looking red-head with short hair and a business suit.

Also, lots of British accents were heard during the "knock on the door" entrance segment taped an hour or so ago, so it looks like England may finally be getting their revenge. More as things develop...

AP: "Bush Faults Kerry for Scare Tactics"

We are now officially through the Looking Glass, folks.

Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened and your seats are in the upright and locked position. This could be a bumpy ride.

While Dubya has been sitting on his ass playing "President" while doing nothing for four years to promote the development of automobiles that use alternative fuel sources --- even after 9/11 when it became crystal clear that we've spent enough blood and treasure in the Middle East --- the rest of the world is getting the jump on us.

So while Bush fiddles as Iraq burns, here comes China to do to us what the Japanese did to us back in the 70's and 80's. They've developed a car than runs on hydrogen peroxide! No doubt, this too is Bill Clinton's fault, like everything else.

The car emits only water vapor and oxygen. My favorite quote from the story; the developers would have made it look better, but they "only had three months to develop this."

In related news, crude sweet oil hit a record $55.33/barrel today. Up about $20/barrel from when Bush complained in 2000 that the Clinton/Gore Administration wasn't doing enough "jaw boning" with OPEC to get them to "open [their] spigots".

And oh, yeah, 1,101 U.S. troops have now been killed in Iraq.

(Thanks Desi for the tip!)

Our friend Krup from "I'm Just Sayin'" updates us with this short video from Debate #3. With some music that should make you smile. (DISCLOSURE: Opening voice-over by yours truly.)

Our friend Fin from "What We Know" finds another gem with this one. The song may not be appropriate for work (so play it low) but it should also definitely make you smile...for a completely different reason than the one above.

Finally, we've featured this one before, but we think it should be spread far and wide from now to Election Day cause it rocks and should kick a lot of asses out to the polls! We're getting more hits here now than ever (well over 6,000 unique users today alone so far) so I thought it would be a good time to give it another pop! Hit it!

UPDATE: A bit more Queer Eye dish from the Straight Guy here.