QandO

Thanks for your appreciation. I enjoy your blog a lot.

Nope, Capt it will stay. That what I was when I got out of the army. joe is my middle name. :)

Posted by: capt joe at August 23, 2004 06:14 PM

"Capt", as opposed to "Capt."? Surely you maintain the right to the honorific, despite your retirement, don't you?

And thank you for the kind words about the blog. I think I speak for the three of us when I say I enjoy doing it very, very much...and the commenters are one of the best parts. Respond or not, I read the comments religiously, and learn a great deal.

Posted by: Jon Henke at August 23, 2004 06:18 PM

Since we're in a catch-all mood ....

Bush today:

"I'm denouncing all the stuff being on TV, all the 527s. That's what I've said."

I said this kind of unregulated soft money is wrong for the process. And I asked Senator Kerry to join me in getting rid of all that kind of soft money, not only on TV, but to use for other purposes as well."

I, frankly, thought we'd gotten rid of that when I signed the McCain-Feingold bill. I thought we were going to once and for all get rid of a system where people could just pour tons of money in and not be held to account for the advertising."

And so, I'm disappointed with all those kinds of ads."

Bush when he signed McCain/Feingold:

"However, the bill does have flaws. Certain provisions present serious constitutional concerns. In particular, H.R. 2356 goes farther than I originally proposed by preventing all individuals, not just unions and corporations, from making donations to political parties in connection with Federal elections."

I believe individual freedom to participate in elections should be expanded, not diminished; and when individual freedoms are restricted, questions arise under the First Amendment."

I also have reservations about the constitutionality of the broad ban on issue advertising, which restrains the speech of a wide variety of groups on issues of public import in the months closest to an election. I expect that the courts will resolve these legitimate legal questions as appropriate under the law."

Bush flip-flops, you decide.

Posted by: mkultra at August 23, 2004 06:34 PM

Mkultra, interesting that you think this is a flip flop. I posted this earlier but you might not have seen it.

You must have missed the neat part where Bush lopped off Kerry's head.

With Bush taking the moral high (waiting for the coffee's spitting to subside) ground on the whole issue of SBVFT.

(from link above)Asked directly whether his Democratic rival for the presidency had lied, Bush said, "I think Senator Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record."

He then proceeds to call for an end to all attacks from 527s.

So as tacitus (who calls this the Admiral Ackbar trap) points out, Kerry is left in the inevitable position of explaining why it won't do the same in calling for an end to attacks from MoveOn and ACT (who have spent 50 Million vs the SBVFT who spent 500K).

The whole SBVFT episode has risen to new level. Lots more free publicity at kerry's expense.

You know, when I first hear the SBVFT case, I thought this would last maybe a week. But so far, it burned Kerry's whole month of August and now it looks like it is going to take September too. Bad for Kerry, now matter how it turns out. He loses valuable time.

Bush has neatly eliminated any attack from the Kerry org on linkage. With Kerry occupied defending himself, Bush can work on getting those battleground states turned around.

Point to Bush, maybe the game point, but too early to tell yet.

Posted by: capt joe at August 23, 2004 07:00 PM

Jon, yes, "Capt.". I have poor proof editing skills. As you can tell from the various spelling errors. :)

Posted by: capt joe at August 23, 2004 07:03 PM

MK: I thought Bush was wrong to sign the McCain-Feingold abomination, and I think he's foolish to preach regulation of political speech now.

I think that covers the bases you mentioned, and I have the bonus of being consistent.

What is your position? If you think Bush flip-flopped, on which position did you think he was right?

Posted by: Jon Henke at August 23, 2004 07:55 PM

OH, THIS IS A PRICELESS EXCHANGE.....(From The Corner on NRO)

KERRY CALLED BOB DOLE THIS MORNING [08/23 05:41 PM]

According to Bob Dole, appearing on Sean Hannity's program, the Democratic candidate called Dole to talk things over.

He said he was very disappointed, we'd been friends. I said John, we're still friends, but [the Swiftvets] have First Amendment rights, just as your people have First Amendment rights.
Dole told Kerry, "I'm not trying to stir anything up, but I don't believe every one of these people who have talked about what happened are Republican liars.

"And very frankly, Bush is my guy, and I'm tired of people on your side calling him everything from a coward to a traitor to everything - a deserter."

Dole said he urged Kerry, "Why don't you call George Bush today and say, 'Mr. President, let's stop all this stuff about the National Guard and Vietnam - and let's talk about the issues."

Dole said Kerry responded, "I haven't spent one dime attacking President Bush."

But the Republican war hero shot back, "You don't have to. You've got all the so-called mainstream media, plus you've got MoveOn.org and all these other groups that have spent millions and millions of dollars trying to tarnish Bush's image."

"Don't tell me you don't know what some of these people are doing," he told Kerry.

"Everybody likes quiet heroes," Dole added, saying he told Kerry, "John, everybody knows you were in Vietnam and the less you say about it, the better."

Dole said he tried to end the tense conversation cordially by telling Kerry, "I wish you good luck, up to a point."

Posted by: shark at August 23, 2004 09:43 PM

Yep, pretty funny.

More funny when he actually says he never attacked Bush.

Posted by: capt joe at August 23, 2004 11:47 PM

Anybody know what Senator Kerry's vote on McCain-Feingold was?

Posted by: Steverino at August 24, 2004 12:47 AM