Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (65607)	8/30/2004 5:39:41 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794349

GOP upbeat after Kerry's awful month August 30, 2004 BY ROBERT NOVAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST NEW YORK -- On the eve of the Republican National Convention, one of the party's foremost leaders from the South was asked about George W. Bush's chances in November. He replied, in a moment of rare candor: ''If this campaign is about Kerry, Bush will win the election. If this campaign is about Bush, he will win my state.'' That is, the GOP must make sure the focus is on Sen. John Kerry to avoid being reduced to the solid Republican South -- and a lost election. That is no insult to President Bush, who this year has faced and weathered one political mishap after another, along with a Democratic opposition fiercely determined to remove him from office. Rather, the Southern leader's formulation signifies the realization in Republican ranks that they have dodged a bullet. Kerry had the opportunity to open a formidable lead against an incumbent president, and he failed. Tom Rath, the New Hampshire Republican leader who is one of the nation's shrewdest political observers, told me: ''I don't think any candidate has ever experienced a worse month of August since [Michael] Dukakis [in 1988]'' -- when that earlier Massachusetts Democratic nominee dissipated a double-digit lead. Rath contends the Democratic nominee in the last month has given the GOP an inestimable gift. The Republican challenge for its four days at Madison Square Garden is to present a kinder, gentler face to the nation while pounding away at Kerry. The assessment of what has been going on the last four weeks is much the same in both parties. By stressing his professions of military valor in Vietnam, Kerry opened the door to an examination of his questionable performance both during and after his four months of combat. His campaign was slow and then ineffective in its response, got off message, and finally switched from offense to defense. Repeated Kerry blunders have benefitted grateful Republicans. His statement that he would still vote for war in Iraq even with his current knowledge undercut a major emotional support base for him. Sending wheelchair-bound former Sen. Max Cleland to the Texas desert to be turned away at the gates of Bush's ranch was foolish. So was his ineffective challenge for Bush to engage him in a weekly debate. Bush in the end will agree to debates, though impending negotiations may result in only two encounters rather than the three customary in recent years. The call for weekly debates, which was brushed off by a routine Bush campaign press release, had been predicted by the president's political aides. The Kerry campaign book, a pattern developed during three decades of him seeking office, is well-known but not respected by Republican opponents. Kerry's lackluster performance has lifted Republican morale, which had been sagging going into the Democratic convention a month ago. Like the Democrats, the Republicans have set aside their serious doctrinal disputes for the sake of a united presidential front. Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans permitted a semblance of contention over the platform. But it was only a semblance. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, serving on the platform committee for the first time, was unbelieving when he read in the White House-approved draft the opening line of the education plank: ''Public education is the foundation of civic society.'' What about faith and family? Yet, as a loyal Republican, Barbour helped hold the line that the White House desired this language (with the modification that ''the foundation'' was changed to ''a foundation''). When I relayed to Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie complaints by conservative activists that the White House was ''running a railroad'' in imposing platform discipline, he replied that Barbour was ''the conductor.'' Another staunch conservative -- Colorado Gov. Bill Owens -- was similarly resigned to performing any platform tasks that the White House wanted. These Republicans were determined to avoid a real platform fight or a fight about anything at the New York convention. They intend to showcase the party's most attractive and glamorous faces. Bush's acceptance speech is supposed to set an agenda for the second term. But the party's strategists also are determined that this convention keep John Kerry in the cross hairs.

To: LindyBill who wrote (65607)	8/30/2004 5:48:24 PM
From: Andrew N. Cothran	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 794349

Well, Lindy, I did my duty as promised. I went back to Borders this morning. When I walked in the door, lo and behold, Unfit for Command was displayed along with all of the other NY Times best sellers. There were only a few copies however. I inquired of the manager why it was not displayed the day before. His answer was that they held back their limited supply until all who had ordered it in advance had been served and then put the remainder on the open racks. He said that they were selling the allotment almost as fast as they arrived. I checked on the 30% off label pasted on the Un in Unfit. then I checked all of the other 30% off labels. Every one of the discount tabs were placed in the upper left corner of the copy in question, exactly where the tab appeared on the Unfit for Command copies. It seems that Borders has a machine that applies the tabs on the discounted books as they are unpacked. So, no conspiracy! I was disappointed. I wanted to rant and rave. But I was denied the opportunity. I next went across the street to Barnes and Noble. There, too, Unfit for Command was on the open shelves, along with the other NYT bestsellers. The discount tab at B and N was in th lower right corner. They had only a few copies left also. So, it looks as if my fellow Evanstonians have free and clear access to O'Neil's true story of our would be commander in chief's heroic four months in Vietnam. Will it make a difference in how they vote? This being a heavily Democratic community, I am doubtful. But at any rate, some of them are availing themselves of the opportunity to have their conception of Kerry bathed in the facts of the matter. Cheers to you.