Base10Blog
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
 
In a Similar Item

In keeping with the spirit of this item, Base10, the son of a Democrat, will be voting for Bush. Why doesn't Base10 get an item in Yahoo? How lame is this as a story? If there is one moment that readers should remember as the utter end to any credibility the media has regarding political bias, this story may be it. After reading the article the inescapable conclusion is--who cares? It's almost as stupid as asking musicians for their political advice.
 
Tuesday Night Redux

Base10 penned this screed last night but due to the vagaries of Microsoft products and the increasingly unreliable Blogger API, he lost an hour and a half's work. Rather than try to recreate it, Base10 was sorely tempted to smash his deck into little pieces. Instead, he decided to settle into a nice depression and watch the Mets lose to Atlanta. (More on the Mets later this week).

Here is the attempted recreation:

First item is Christopher Hitchens piece in Slate. Base10 doesn't regularly read Hitchens but occasionally he comes up with a gem. (Like this scathing review of documentarian/propagandist/loser Michael Moore's latest smearing of excrement on the big screen). Noting that Mrs. Kerry suggested that the administration is hiding Osama for some October surprise, Hitchens writes:

Some really bad news from Iraq, or perhaps Afghanistan, and/or a sudden collapse or crisis in the stock market, and Kerry might yet "turn things around." You have heard it, all right, and perhaps even said it. But you may not have appreciated how depraved are its implications. If you calculate that only a disaster of some kind can save your candidate, then you are in danger of harboring a subliminal need for bad news. And it will show. What else explains the amazingly crude and philistine remarks of that campaign genius Joe Lockhart, commenting on the visit of the new Iraqi prime minister and calling him a "puppet"? Here is the only regional leader who is even trying to hold an election, and he is greeted with an ungenerous sneer. The unfortunately necessary corollary of this—that bad news for the American cause in wartime would be good for Kerry—is that good news would be bad for him. Thus, in Mrs. Kerry's brainless and witless offhand yet pregnant remark, we hear the sick thud of the other shoe dropping.


The shame is that the Kerry camp is pinning their hopes on American military diaster. The idea the administration is hiding OBL is clearly entering into the realm of tin foil hats.

In a follow up to Monday's screed about Kerry's feckless treatment of America's allies, see this link for Bill Kristol's excellent argument that Kerry's recent statements alone are compelling evidence that he is unfit for office.

Considering Kerry's hopes for Islamic terrorist success, here's another endorsement that he probably wishes he didn't get.

Speaking of tin foil hats. There's this item from our beloved ex-president, Jimmy Carter (who clearly is suffering from the late stages of Alzheimer's disease--no, that's an insult to senile people everywhere) about his concern over fair elections in America and their apparent impossiblity in the great state of Florida. The WSJ editheads note that the widespread claims of voter intimidation in the 2000 election in Florida are completely false.

There's an odd thing going on at Yahoo News. Base10 read an article about how police unions have split on endorsing Bush and Kerry. Base10's original comment on this was the fact the the FOP was endorsing Bush but the organizations endorsing Kerry were never heard of by Base10. This is not to say they aren't influential, but they appear to be umbrella groups of some kind. Now the interesting thing is that this article has disapeared from Yahoo News. Here is the story in the Trib (soul sucking registration required), but where is it in Yahoo? This was on the Yahoo entry page news links! Even the Trib article only lists NAPO as the endorsing organization for Kerry. Was the original report (from AP, I think) which listed the International Brotherhood of Police Officers (who ever they are) in error? This could be a CBS News moment.

And finally, smack dab in the intersection between football and politics is this web site. Absolutely right! We cannot afford this man becoming the Fan-in-Chief.
Monday, September 27, 2004
 
So Many Idiots, So Little Time...

Lots of good political items over the weekend. Where else to begin but with that party animal, Teddy K. In a speech to be given this evening, Senator/national disgrace Teddy Kennedy claims that America is more likely to be the victim of a nuclear attack because of George W. Bush. Wow! That's pretty tame compared to the RNC's claim that John Kerry will ban the Bible. Interestingly, the elder Kennedy claims that "it was a good thing Bush was not in charge during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962," a nuclear confrontation with Russia when Kennedy's brother was president. Base10 has read a little bit about this and disagrees. Many historians believe in hindsight that the Cuban Missile Crisis was handled very dangerously because JFK could not aford to be seen as soft on communism. One thing that can be said for sure, Teddy would have been better off had Bush been driving on one cetain fateful night in Chappaquidic.

While the boorish Kennedy is easy to ignore, recent statements by Kerry need to be taken more seriously. It seems that Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi visted Washington and the UN to urge the world to help his fledgling democratic country. Instead, the message he got from the Kerry camp--obviously part of their non-stop effort to give aid and comfort to America's enemies--was that he is a liar and a puppet. (More from Maureen Dowd, who called Prime Minister Allawi Bush's "Mini-Me". How clever! Why does she have a column in the Times again?)

Senator Joe Biden, perhaps realizing the damage that Kerry was doing to himself, quickly and strenuously backed off these remarks assuring Allawi that America would always be his ally. Nobody said all the Democrats were idiots. You never know what will drive someone to vote for Kerry or Bush, but Base10 thinks that his continued devotion to Islamic terrorists will ultimately cost him. Allah puts it succinctly.

Kerry's POV seems to be a case of the endless equating of Iraq with Vietnam. It's a quagmire just like Vietnam since the situation in Iraq is going very badly. It must be true if you read it in Newsday. It's not so obvious--and maybe downright wrong--if you read the Wall Street Journal.

One of the reasons for the growing pessimism over Iraq is the leak of a National Intelligence Estimate that paints a grim picture of Iraq's future. Some have speculated on the identity of the leaker. Aside from the shock that such a document can be casually leaked by CIA employees, Base10 doesn't think that there is a partisan war going on at the CIA. He merely thinks that the career CIA people are mired in Kissingerian let-the-despots-stay-in-power-at-all-costs-for-stability's-sake. When you have been committed to this philosphy for a generation, it becomes hard to deal with a visionary President who when faced with domestic attacks by extremists, no longer accepts this position as the natural state of affairs. Click here for a really good discussion on why this NIE is hopelessly out of date on Strategypage.com.

And there's more good news. Pakistani security forces have killed Amjad Farooqi, a high ranking member of al Qaeda who porportedly was involved in the murder of WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl. In a related item, four other al Qaeda members were captured by Pakistani forces. There is a tantalizing rumour that one of those captured is Osama's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahr. (Via Allah).

And maybe some disturbing news too. Iran and Syria are just ducky about getting some Iraqi nuclear physicists. Maybe this will shake up the Europeans. (Also via Allah. Base10 has been reading Allah lately. So?)


Saturday, September 25, 2004
 
Shoutfest Preview


On Meet the Press, Tim Russert interviews Gen. John Abizaid, CENTCOM commander, on the war in Iraq.

On This Week, George Stephanopoulos interviews Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Iraq.

Fox News Sunday features a Chris Wallace interwiew with Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Massachusetts Governor William Weld.

Finally, on CBS News's Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer interviews Sen. Edward Kennedy and Sen. Lindsey Graham. But then again, who cares what CBS News does?

Base10 will probably watch Fox and Meet the Press, but Ted Kennedy is always good for a few laughs.

 
No, the Media isn't Biased...

"Bush Twists Kerry's Words on Iraq," by Jennifer Loven, AP. Here's the so called story:

Bush claimed in a speech yesterday that: "[Kerry] would prefer the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to the situation in Iraq today."

What Kerry really said in a speech at NYU was: "[Saddam is] a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: We have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure."

What the "story" purports to portray is that Bush has somehow misrepresented Kerry's statement. But what else is Kerry's statement supposed to mean? Kerry came out clearly anti-war in this speech. That means that if given the choice, Kerry would have let Saddam remain in power.

Read the rest of the article if you need to raise your blood pressure. This piece does not belong in the news section. It is an op-ed piece.
 
Making Up for Lost Time

Unfortunately, Base10 has missed commenting on the most significant story in the election so far. Some pundits are describing it as "Rathergate" or "Memogate." Base10 prefers the moniker with the superscripted "TH." While many others have critically analyzed this issue, Base10 still feels he should weigh in with his opinion. There is no point in describing the matter. Many much more capable bloggers have done so like Allahpundit, Powerline, Roger L. Simon and Little Green Footballs.

  • The memos are clearly forgeries. While some of the true believers are still arguing about it, no amount of half-hearted and patronizing statements defending the story can overcome the simple fact that these documents are clearly fake.

  • CBS News lied to you. This is not right-wing hyperbole. No reasonable person could give credit to these documents. In spite of being presented with these facts, CBS still ignored warnings and kept insisting that their story was true. Two major news organizations have deliberately misrepresented the truth.

  • Why doesn't CBS give the documents to independent experts for evaluation? The answer is obvious and equally damaging. The memos were clearly provided by the Kerry campaign. If CBS were to admit the documents were false, they would have to provide their source. (No privilege if the source is lying to you). Since they are unwilling to give up the source they must credit the story.

  • Before issuing a half-hearted retraction, CBS News thought that the members of their audience are stupid and that they could ride this out on the basis of their so-called reputation. What they fail to see is that their audience is smarter than they are and CBS has therefore lost all credibility and the pretense of being unbiased.
  • The "fake but accurate" meme is still being repeated, even by the news organizations. Don't you get it? No one cares about what hapened 35 years ago. What the public does care about is that a major news organization has become a partisan actor. It gets worse when you look at the CBS producer Mary Mapes relationship with the Kerry campaign.

    There's also an issue here larger that CBS. Dozens of newspapers used to be published in New York. At some time in the fifties, television and radio caused the newspaper industry to contract. New York now has four major dailies. What happened? People started getting news from other sources. The news cycle changed and became more compressed as a result. The broadsheets couldn't keep up. This is really easy to see now, but was very difficult to see at the time if you were in the industry. You can picture editors in boardrooms saying, "Radio will never take off. People trust the papers. It's just a passing fad." Base10 thinks Dan Rather is saying this kind of thing now. What you have just witnessed is the begining of the end of "big media."

    Meanwhile, Bush is still ahead.
  • Sunday, September 19, 2004
     
    Live Blogging...from Newark?

    Thanks to the magic of the wireless internet, Base10 is live blogging from Newark International Airport. Base10 is on his way to Chicago for the annual convention of the International Association of Law Enforcement Planners (sort of a geeks-with-guns organization). Base10's only complaint is that the scheduling of this flight conflicts with Sunday's NFL services. However, Base10 has already printed a map to get him to the nearest sports bar upon his arrival in order to watch the Jets. Let's hope the pilot understands the urgency of the situation. However, given that Base10 is being given a week in Chicago on the Department's dime, how can he complain? More upon arrival.
    Monday, September 13, 2004
     
    Base10 Returns.

    Base10 is back in the blogs. The services have still not been held for Dame Base10 and will probably be held sometime next week. He will probably write something about this affair at some point, but not just yet. Base10 would like to thank those that have expressed their condolences.
    Sunday, September 05, 2004
     
    Wither Base10?

    Base10 has just found out that his mother, Dame Base10, has passed away. She died peacefully and at home in her own bed under hospice care. Base10 will once again be travelling to the great state of Florida for services.

    Although there were some choice statements from the Democrats that beg for comment, Base10 does not think he will have the heart for blogging this week.

    And remember, Base10's mom was elderly and infirm at the end. He understands that all lives must end. His grief does not compare to the anguish of the survivors in Russia. Base10 urges his readers to shed a tear for them instead.

    Please click on some links to the right for your entertainment. Base10 will be back soon.
    Friday, September 03, 2004
     
    Protestor Dramatizes Convention
    Senator Patronizes Veterans,
    President Summarizes Term,
    and More Politics as Usual

    Base10 caught the president last night. A good, but not great, speech. Best line: "You may have noticed I have a few flaws, too. People sometimes have to correct my English. I knew I had a problem when Arnold Schwarzenegger started doing it."

    Read it all here.

    Base10 had a conversation with another lieutenant today who remarked that RNC security went "mostly okay" referring to the fact that protestors managed to infiltrate the event and make it to the floor to heckle some of the speakers. Base10 pointed out that having the week end without a big explosion pretty much made it a giant success. But the infiltrators are a cause for concern and the recriminations have begun. The Police Department and the Secret Service are blaming the Republican National Committee for issuing ID cards without photographs or other identification technology.

    It's clear that protestors will stop at nothing, but Base10 wonders why there is never any such shenanigans perpetrated by the Republicans at the DNC. That type of behavior would be unheard of by GOP'ers and would be roundly condemned immediately by their fellow Republicans. Well, were are the condemnations?

    Base10 thinks that there may be a significant shift in the workings of American politics afoot. The stability of our political system has depended in the past upon the fact that we have only a two-party system and each of those parties--more or less--encompass a broad spectrum of political views from right to left. Base10 would argue that this foundation premise, which is not written in law anywhere but is merely a political custom, is crumbling. What we are heading for is a parliamentary type system where entire governments are shifted when the nation's ideological mood changes. Base10 finds this an interesting idea and hopes to explore it in future posts.

    James Taranto (wow, two links in one week) had a great column again yesterday. Of particular note is his description (and link to the Washington Times) on Kerry's speech to the American Legion. First of all, Kerry broke an unwritten rule that candidates don't actively campaign during their opponents convention. (Kerry has also significantly upped the rhetoric in other ways today). Apparently, the vets gave him what can only be described as a cool reception. Taranto's comments and links are great:

    John Kerry, who by the way served in Vietnam, got what the Washington Times calls a "lukewarm reception" for an unremarkable speech yesterday before the American Legion, which was meeting in Nashville, Tenn. In the second paragraph of the speech, Kerry committed this blunder:

    You are the citizen soldiers who know that our service does not end on the battlefield--it begins there. You know that the pledge we took to defend America is also a pledge to protect the promise America offers. And let there be no doubt--when I am president, you will have a fellow veteran in the White House who understands that those who fought for our country abroad should never have to fight for what they were promised at home.

    Kerry must've thought he was speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The American Legion is open to all vets, whether they served overseas or not. Rush Limbaugh notes that in "The New Soldier" (1971) Kerry, then an antiwar agitator, wrote: "We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans' Day, waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the greater glory of the United States. We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars."

    Not unless they think it might help them win an election, anyway.


    Finally, the bounce may be sticking. Rasmussen has two consecutive days of Bush ahead nationally but still has Florida as a dead heat. Also, Bush's approval numbers are up to 54%.

    Now that the Republicans are leaving New York, Base10 can concentrate on important matters like football. Tonight, the Jets face Philly in the final preseason game. The last preseason game is usually a bust, but Base10 must scout Chad Pennington who is available in his fantasy league.
     
    Get Well, Mr. President!

    Several news sources are reporting that former President Clinton was admitted to NY Presbyterian with chest pains. Unconfirmed reports say that he will have quadruple bypass surgery as early as tomorrow. While I'm sure the conspiracy minded among us would suggest that this is a Democratic attempt to detract from a possible Bush RNC bounce, Base10 hopes that the President is okay.

    While some people excoriate Clinton--and Base10 certainly has done his share--Clinton did not ruin the country. Indeed, his mostly moderate politics should stand as a lesson that the left has no chance at the Democratic Party to the White House. Base10 hopes he gets well, since the world would be a far smaller place without Bubba.
    Thursday, September 02, 2004
     
    Zell Gives 'em Hell,
    and more Politics as Usual

    Base10 would like to make a quick post. He is hoping to catch some of the Giants game since he is still scouting Eli Manning for possible inclusion into Base10's ever important fantasy football team. Base10's draft is on Monday and this weekend will be filled with quantitative analysis.

    In any event, Base10 caught the speakers last night. What can he say? Zell Miller's oratory left Base10 speechless. He not only comes off as a trusted uncle, his striking criticism of the Democrats would not have been possible if he were a Republican. Cheney was okay, but I wonder if people were paying attention after Miller.

    Here are a few links: Lileks has some interesting comments, as does Allah with complete convention blogging.

    Base10 realizes that no comment he could make could possibly take the place of Miller's speech. Here is a link for transcripts and video.

    Even better is this link (via Wizbang) that shows the pummelling Chris Matthews received from Miller during an interview after the speech.

    Also, the situation is starting to look better and better for Bush, especially in Florida.

    And finally, in the "I'm not sure if this is a gag or not" department, The Post's Page Six reports (hat tip to Mrs. Base10) that the Reverend Jesse Jackson led a march and asked the marchers to kneel and join him in a prayer near the Garden. According to the Post, the group following him was Atheists for Kerry.
    Wednesday, September 01, 2004
     
    Burly Republicans,
    Girlie Economists,
    Surly Protestors,
    and More Politics As Usual

    Base10 missed Aaaarnold's speech last night. Base10 instead saw the Yankees lose by the biggest margin in the history of their club and tie the record in baseball since 1900. The Tribe scorched them at 22-0. That is not a typo. The Mets lost too, but who cares anymore? The press is insinuating that Art Howe may be gone if they don't break .500, but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

    I digress. Base10 did catch Laura Bush. She gave a very nice speech, but hey, if a presidential candidate can't depend on his wife to say good things about him, he has no business running. The First Lady's speech was tasteful, decorous and devoted to her husband. The qualities of the speech are assuredly the qualities of the speaker.

    Reviews of Arnold are pretty good. James Lileks has a nice commentary. You can decide for yourself by reading it here.

    While I read James Taranto everyday, I usually don't link to him. Today's column is particularly good. Mr. Taranto points out that Arnold used the phrase "girlie man" in reference to those who doubt the strength of the US economy.

    You know, Base10 wonders about the phrase "girlie men." Shouldn't the Democrats be able to get more mileage out of criticism of this term? It occurred to Base10 that this is an old Saturday Night Live line coined when the Governator was still big in the movies. One wonders, did Al Franken write this line during his tenure with SNL? Mere speculation, of course.

    Taranto also makes an interesting point about the protestors. The press treats them as youthful, exuberant peaceful folk "doing" democracy. Taranto describes them quite differently as "global village idiots." Quoth he:

    Street protest is central to the mythology of the liberal-left in America, which romanticizes (rightly) the civil-rights marches of the early 1960s and (less rightly) the antiwar demonstrations of the late '60s and early '70s. In contrast, there's nothing like this on the right, except for the antiabortion movement and the occasional ad hoc protest, like the one in Florida against the Clinton administration's abduction and deportation of Elian Gonzalez. The liberal media generally present these protests as if they're wholesome, all-American expressions of opinion, glossing over the reality that the protesters are a motley collection of extreme partisans, antieverything nihilists and single-issue fanatics. This allows liberal elites to imagine that their loathing of the president is a populist posture.

    Taranto also challenges the idea that the mainstream Democrats are really different from the looney left. The distinction, he argues, is is getting harder and harder to see. As proof, he quotes from this article about a speech that "girlie man" economist Paul Krugman gave at an NYU event on Monday. The remarks were clearly right-wing conspiracy gibberish, but as Taranto points out, they are deeply disturbing when they come from a formerly well respected economist who has a twice weekly op-ed column in the New York Times.

    Last, but not least from Taranto, see this unfortunately worded headline from the Times.

    The above article is about the supposed Bush statement, "We can't win the war on terror." Base10 previously posted that this was actually a thoughtful comment given the context after reading this article on the AP wire. After reading this piece by Donald Sensing, Base10 is even more convinced of left-wing media bias. Why in the world didn't the AP include the rest of this transcript in its article?

    Finally, America should realize that they are not alone in this fight. Chechen rebels seized a school in southern Russia earlier today and are holding up to 400 children hostage. And all threats are not from terrorists. A half-million people in southern Florida were told to evacuate from the path of hurricane Frances which is likely to make landfall sometime on Friday. Base10's hopes and prayers go to the displaced Floridians and most especially to the families of the hostages.

    Tonight, Zell Miller and the Cheneys. TTFN.

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