Debate #1 --- The Big Kerry Flip-Flop

I thought President Bush started off slow, but finished strong. Meanwhile, I thought Kerry started off strong, but ended weakly. Kerry got caught in a huge discrepancy in his so-called "plan" (which he never explained or detailed, despite repeated promptings by the moderator) to fight the war on terror. It's a MAJOR FLIP-FLOP that so far no one has caught or mentioned. And it gets to the core of the problem with his shifting positions on the GWOT.

Kerry repeatedly tried to make the case that Bush brought the USA into Iraq virtually by ourselves, and we should have had a more broad approach with a larger coalition of nations (disrespecting 30+ nations contributing money, troops, aid, resources and intelligence... but that's beside the point).

But, when he talked about North Korea, he then criticized Bush for taking that same multilateral approach - instead opted for a "better plan" in which the US should go it alone in dealing with North Korea (a country which already has nukes, no thanks to the failed policies of the Clinton administration).

Well, which is it Mr. Kerry???
Do we go it alone, or do we bow down to the United Nations???
Make up your frelling mind!!!

The other thing that I found so amazing is that Kerry stated the Iraq war was "a mistake" ... and then a few moments later he stated that it was "not a mistake."

HUH???

And for those of you keeping score:

# of times Kerry mentioned his Vietnam service - 4
# of times Kerry mentioned JFK - 2
# of times Kerry mentioned Halliburton - 1

UPDATE: Captain Ed caught the Iraq/North Korea discrepancy I mentioned above!

Iraqi Nuclear Scientist Speaks Out

There was an article in the New York Times (registration required) on 9/26 written by former Iraqi nuclear scientist Mahdi Obeidi. He writes at length about the state of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program program. The key quotes here:

"...the blueprints and prototype parts for the centrifuge, which I had buried under a tree in my garden...

"Was Iraq a potential threat to the United States and the world? Threat is always a matter of perception, but our nuclear program could have been reinstituted at the snap of Saddam Hussein's fingers...

"Iraqi scientists had the knowledge and the designs needed to jumpstart the program if necessary. And there is no question that we could have done so very quickly. In the late 1980's, we put together the most efficient covert nuclear program the world has ever seen. In about three years, we gained the ability to enrich uranium and nearly become a nuclear threat; we built an effective centrifuge from scratch, even though we started with no knowledge of centrifuge technology. Had Saddam Hussein ordered it and the world looked the other way, we might have shaved months if not years off our previous efforts."

Is SeeBS doing a coverup of there latest story?

Read here, here and here.

UPDATE: INDC Journal interviews SeeBS News about the story. Read here.

SeeBS News just can't learn from their mistakes, can they?

*sigh*

So, C-BS News takes the Kerry Campaign's bogus story (about President Bush's "secret plan" to bring back the military draft after the election is over) and runs it unchecked. Classic... just classic. The woman in the C-BS story who claims this falacy is labeled by the network as "a Republican who's going to vote for Kerry." Mass e-mails were sent out to college students all over the country by the Democratic Party (and presumably the Kerry campaign) to scare young voters away from Bush and towards Kerry.

The problems (yes... there are many) are:

* The woman in the story is the Chapter President of an advocacy group called People Against the Draft (PAD) - an organization that's closely connected to the radical leftwing groups International A.N.S.W.E.R. and Not In My Name.

* President Bush, the Republicans and the Pentagon consistently and repeated have stated that they have no plan, no desire, no need for a return of the draft.

* "The plan" to bring back the draft is being spearheaded by seven Democrats in the House & Senate (including Rep. Charles Rangle and Sen. Fritz Hollings).

* Kerry's own website had an archive page several months ago which stated a plan that HE wanted to bring back a form of the draft.

Don't believe me???

Go read all of these postings:

here (Powerline's post),

here (Capt. Ed's post),

here (Betsy's post on the college e-mails),

here (digging up the Kerry archive),

here (Senate Bill 89),

here (House Bill 163),

here (LGF Post #1),

here (LGF Post #2),

here (a little FactCheck.org to set the record straight),

and see Kerry's archived web page here (that is, if they haven't taken it down yet).

HAH! C-BS just begs to get smacked down again. Will they ever learn???

Crass Kerry Quotes

Michelle Malkin has an interesting article commenting on and list some of the choice Kerry quotes of the past year. These are quotes that get to the character of the man, rather than his (shifting) positions on policy:

-- Such as publicly calling one of his own Secret Service agents a "son of a (bleep)" for accidentally knocking him down on his snowboard during a press availability in Ketchum, Idaho. "I don't fall," Kerry sniffed to reporters as he cursed the Secret Service agent on the record.

-- Such as badmouthing NASA for releasing routine publicity photos of Kerry, dressed in a goofy-looking "bunny suit," while on a campaign visit to the shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center. After the pictures caused unforeseen embarrassment, Kerry sent his spokeswoman onto the cable news to falsely suggest that NASA had played a dirty trick.

-- Such as burning his own campaign staff over his failure to effectively counter the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans. "The candidate is furious," a longtime senior Kerry adviser told the New York Daily News. "He knows the campaign was wrong. He wanted to go after the Swift boat attacks, but his top aides said no."

-- Such as ridiculing President Bush for remaining with schoolchildren for a few extra minutes after learning of the Sept. 11 attacks, while neglecting to mention his own emotional paralysis [40 minutes] at the Capitol that morning.

-- And such as using an Outdoor Life magazine question about what his favorite gun is to tout his Vietnam War hero status again, then faulting his campaign staff for fabricating the weapon he named in his interview. "My favorite gun is the M-16 that saved my life and that of my crew in Vietnam," Kerry is quoted as saying in the October issue. "I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle."

Now, according to Monday's New York Times: "Senator John Kerry's campaign said yesterday that Mr. Kerry did not own a Chinese assault rifle, as he was quoted as saying in Outdoor Life magazine, but a single-bolt-action military rifle, blaming aides who filled out the magazine's questionnaire on his behalf for the error."

Add to that the other "gun" comment from a few weeks ago (which I posted here on Sept 8):

-- In West Virginia, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, gave Kerry a rifle as a gift. Kerry, a self-described gun-owner and hunter, quipped: "I thank you for the gift, but I can't take it to the debate with me."

Read Michelle's full article here.

Syria to send Iraqi scientists to Iran?

Captain's Quarters links to a London Telegraph article reporting that Syrian is negotiating with Iran to send Iraqi nuclear scientists to Tehran.

...The Iraqis, who brought with them CDs crammed with research data on Saddam's nuclear programme, were given new identities, including Syrian citizenship papers and falsified birth, education and health certificates. Since then they have been hidden away at a secret Syrian military installation where they have been conducting research on behalf of their hosts...

...Under the terms of the deal President Asad offered the Iranians, the Iraqi scientists and their families would be transferred to Teheran together with a small amount of essential materials. The Iraqi team would then assist Iranian scientists to develop a nuclear weapon. Apart from paying the relocation expenses, President Asad also wants the Iranians to agree to share the results of their atomic weapons research with Damascus...

Syrian Pressure --- Franco-American Style

As was brought up a few weeks ago, the pressure will soon be building for Syria to (1) get out of Lebanon, (2) stop funding and training terrorist organizations, and (3) disclose any Iraqi WMDs within it's borders. American Thinker has the latest here. France is joining the US on this one, folks!

Let's count the flip-flops, shall we...

RWN has a nice compilation of Kerry flip-flops:

Flip

"Those who doubted whether Iraq or the world would be better off without Saddam Hussein and those who believe today that we are not safer with his capture don't have the judgment to be president or the credibility to be elected president." -- John Kerry 12/20/03

Flop

"...(T)he satisfaction we take in (Saddam's) downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure." -- John Kerry, 9/20/04

And it just goes on from there.

Burkett admits giving forged docs to Kerry campaign!!!

This is the end of the line for Kerry and the Democrats!!! An AP article reports that Bill Burkett e-mailed his forged documents information to the Kerry campaign after getting the "ok" from Max Cleland:

A retired Texas National Guard official mentioned as a possible source for disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Guard said he passed along information to a former senator working with John Kerry's campaign.

The retired Guard official, Bill Burkett, said in an Aug. 21 e-mail to a list of Texas Democrats that after getting through "seven layers of bureaucratic kids" in the Democrat's campaign, he talked with former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland about information that would counter criticism of Kerry's Vietnam War service. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the e-mail Saturday.

"I asked if they wanted to counterattack or ride this to ground and outlast it, not spending any money. (Cleland) said counterattack. So I gave them the information to do it with," Burkett wrote.

UN-FRELLING-BELIEVABLE!!!

Kitty Litter

Rachel DiCarlo has a great little tidbit about Kitty Kelly's "meticulous note-taking" during her interview with Sharon Bush for her slimefest book about the Bush family:

On page 266 of her new book The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, Kitty Kelley writes, "[The president's] sister-in-law Sharon Bush alleged that [George W. Bush] has snorted cocaine with one of his brothers at Camp David during the time their father was President of the United States. 'Not once,' she said. 'but many times.'"...

On the Today Show yesterday Matt Lauer, interviewing Kelley, asked her why she didn't tape record the conversation with Sharon Bush. Kelley replied that tape recorders don't work well in restaurants--there's too much noise....

Recalling the meeting in her author's note on page xxv Kelley writes, "[Sharon Bush and I] agreed to meet on April 1, 2003, at a quiet restaurant. When I arrived, the Chelsea Bistro on West Twenty-Third Street was empty."

(Um-hmmm)

Coming Oct 17th & 18th - Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars

Don't know what Farscape is??? Shame on you! It's only the best science fiction TV program ever made. Four awesome seasons on the Sci-Fi Network. All episodes available on DVD for purchase (at places like BestBuys) or for rent (at places like blockBuster).

And the ALL NEW, 2-Part, 4-Hour Mini-Series is set to debut on the Sci-Fi Network. Part One will air Sunday, October 17th @ 9:00 PM. Part Two will air Monday, October 18th @ 9:00 PM.

Want a preview of the Mini-Series??? Go here and see the new trailer!

(You can thank me later.)

U.N. Oil-for-Fraud --> Iraq --> Al Qaeda

Claudia Rosett and George Russell (both at Fox News) start a series of extensive reports on the fraudulent United Nations Oil-for-Food Program and how it fattened and emboldened Saddam Hussain's bloody regime. It also uncovers how Saddam used some of the illegal funds to bankroll and assist terrorist organizations within and outside of Iraq (including Al Qaeda). Part One is here. Part Two will be published tomorrow.

Nowhere left to flop

Charles Krauthammer has a breakdown of Kerry's erratic stance(s) on Iraq, and why he's got nowhere left to flop. (Hah!)

Dan Rather ticks off Vets.

Mudville Gazette clearly explains why what Dan Rather has done is so despicable to military service men and women.

So... how do rabid left wing liberals act?

Check out these links via Michelle Malkin. 'Nough said.

Fisking Burkett.

The Houston Chronicle gives us a clearer look at who and what Burkett is all about. If you've been reading those essential blogs I pointed you to earlier this past week, then you are well aware of the guy's mental and emotional state.

And, is this the possible connection from Burkett to Kerry?

Meanwhile, FactCheck takes another close look at Bush's TexANG record.

So... what do Iraqi bloggers think about things?

AllahPundit has a great link to several Iraqi bloggers who give a much different (and more positive) outlook of the situation in their country. Check it out.

Also, here's a good review of the Abu Ghraib situation.

35 Questions for Kerry.

When (and if) Kerry ever meets with a serious journalist for a lengthy sit-down interview, there are a bunch of serious questions that need to be asked and answered.

This place has 20 questions.

This place has another 12 questions.

And I ask three more:

33) Why haven't you released your medical records yet?

34) Why haven't you released your multi-multi-millionaire wife's financial records yet?

35) Campaign financing laws dictate that financial disclosure of election donations be timely. President Bush has started receiving federal matching funds for the campaign since September 2nd, while Senator Kerry has relied on federal funding since July 30th. Why does your financial disclosure rate for your campaign remain at 78.6% (worse than all other presidential candidates except Wesley Clarke), while Bush has the highest disclosure rate at 92.8%?

"Saint Tereza" says "let 'em run naked"

Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up. You just have to step back and let the fools open their mouths and let their own words tumble on out for all to hear:

Teresa Heinz Kerry, encouraging volunteers as they busily packed supplies Wednesday for hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean, said she was concerned the effort was too focused on sending clothes instead of essentials like water and electric generators.

"Clothing is wonderful, but let them go naked for a while, at least the kids," said Heinz Kerry, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "Water is necessary, and then generators, and then food, and then clothes."

Let 'em eat cake... let 'em run naked... you get the drift. (*sigh*)

Economic Comparisons: Clinton vs Bush (1st Terms)

Let's compare the state of the economy between Clinton's first four years in office to Bush's four years (keeping in mind the impact of 9/11), shall we?

But, you won't here this from the mainstream media... so, I guess it's not true. (*sigh*)