Hats off to kerry.....

[Ronnie Raygun]

Kerry did all that he could in the first debate and it worked out in his favor. Politically speaking...he did exactly what he had to do and was coached very well by his advisors.....Bush on the other hand was not and that's what made the difference.

I think next debate you can look for a more optimistic, well rested Bush who will be more active in defending his policies....

Kerry will no doubt "perform" well once again.

p.s.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6294-2004Oct4.html

Bush Has 5-Point Lead in New Poll

By Richard Morin and Christopher Muste
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 5, 2004; Page A06

President Bush continues to lead Sen. John F. Kerry among likely voters despite surging enthusiasm for Kerry among Democrats and new doubts about whether the president has a clear plan to deal with terrorism and the situation in Iraq, according to a Washington Post tracking poll.

In the aftermath of last week's debate, Bush leads Kerry 51 percent to 46 percent among those most likely to vote, according to polling conducted Friday through Sunday. Independent candidate Ralph Nader claims 1 percent of the hypothetical vote. But Bush held only a three-point advantage among all registered voters, down from seven points in a Post-ABC News survey conducted before the debate.


A total of 1,470 registered voters were interviewed, including 1,169 who were determined to be likely voters. The margin of sampling error for results based on either sample is plus or minus three percentage points.

By a ratio of more than 2 to 1, these likely voters said Kerry won the first debate, on foreign policy and terrorism. The proportion of likely voters with a favorable view of Kerry grew from 39 percent immediately before the debate to 47 percent in the new poll. Bush remains slightly more popular, with 53 percent of all likely voters saying they had a favorable impression of him.

Half of Kerry's voters say they are "very enthusiastic" about their candidate, up eight points since before the debate. The share of Bush voters who were similarly excited about their candidate dropped by eight points, to 57 percent.

Kerry made inroads on dealing with Iraq and terrorism during the first debate. According to the survey, 51 percent of all voters said Bush has a "clear plan" for Iraq, down from 55 percent before the debate; 42 percent said Kerry has a plan for Iraq -- a five-point increase. Similarly, those who believed Bush had a clear plan for handling terrorism declined while Kerry improved, though Bush still has a commanding 18-point advantage on this issue.

Other surveys released yesterday showed large variation, suggesting great volatility in the electorate. Polls by the Gallup Organization and CBS News-New York Times found that support for Kerry had increased significantly since the debate and the race was deadlocked. A Zogby International poll had Bush ahead by a single percentage point, largely unchanged from a pre-debate poll. But a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll found Bush with a five-point advantage, essentially the same as its survey before Thursday's debate.

[mburbank]

Does Kerry's excellent 'performance' and Bush's... 'unrested' 'performance' in any way make you concider developing a plan B just in case W doesn't win? I mean I know it's highly unlikely, but being so certain of an outcome that you never even concider anything else can work out really badly.

[Preechr]

Documents reveal gaps in Bush's Service Record

WASHINGTON, DC—Freshly unearthed public documents, ranging from newspapers to cabinet-meeting minutes, seem to indicate large gaps in George W. Bush's service as president, a spokesman for the watchdog group Citizens for an Informed Society announced Monday.

http://www.theonion.com/images/404/article2964.jpg
Above: Bush, who stands accused of shirking his presidential duties.

"We originally invoked the Freedom Of Information Act to request material relating to Bush's spotty record while in office," CIS director Catherine Rocklin said. "But then we realized that the information was readily available at the corner newsstand, on the Internet, and from our friends and neighbors who pay attention to the news."

According to Rocklin, the most damning documents were generated at roughly one-day intervals during a period beginning in January 2001 and ending this week. The document's sources include, but are not limited to, the U.S. newspaper The New York Times, the London-based Economist magazine, and the well-known international business and finance record, The Wall Street Journal.

"Factual data presented in these publications indicates that Bush took little or no action on issues as widely varied as the stalled economy, increasing violence in post-war Iraq, and the lagging public education system," Rocklin said. "The newsprint documents also reveal huge disparities between the ways Bush claimed to have served Medicare patients, and what he actually did."

Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards said he was not surprised by the report.

"These documents reconfirm what they told us the first time we saw them," Edwards said while stumping for Kerry in Ohio. "Namely, that our president was seriously negligent during the three and a half years he was supposed to be serving his country."

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) is one of many Republicans who demanded an independent investigation into the authenticity of the documents.

"We're fairly confident that these so-called 'news stories' will turn out to be partisan smear tactics," DeLay said. "I wouldn't be surprised if all 11 billion of these words turn out to be forgeries. For thousands of reporters, editors, and government officials to claim that Bush compromised the security and fiscal health of this nation is not merely anti-American, but also dangerous."

In addition to the media documents, CIS examined more than 20,000 government records, which ranged from U.S. Department of Labor unemployment reports to transcripts of State Of The Union addresses.

"Bush shirked his presidential duties with regard to the nation's fiscal health," Rocklin said. "Take, for example, the controversial memo in which Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin states that the federal deficit will reach a record high of $422 billion this year. This memo unequivocally shows that Bush was AWOL on the domestic front."

http://www.theonion.com/images/404/article2965.jpg
Above: CIS provided this photo of Bush at a Cardinals game as evidence of a gap in his presidential service.

Rocklin said the documents indicate that Bush used his family's political connections to obtain his job in the executive branch.

"Bush stepped ahead of more qualified candidates to take what he thought would be a cushy job," Rocklin said. "Then, after signing up for a four-year term, he largely abandoned his post in 2004 to go work on a political campaign."

Rocklin said her organization obtained print-outs from the press-briefings section of the White House web site which show that Bush has spent nearly as much time out of the White House as in it.

U.S. Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY) called the print-outs "meaningless."

"If the president said he did his duty, then he did," Enzi said. "Furthermore, so what if a bunch of White House staffers can't remember seeing Bush around the place? The West Wing is full of guys wearing identical blue suits. And how can anyone be expected to remember every little thing that went on 30 months ago?"

While experts say it may be too early to judge the impact the documents may have on the polls, top Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign organizers said they are confident the scandal will be short-lived.

"Our opponents have dredged up this kind of thing every time Bush has run for office," Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said. "We've faced down widely reported, fully researched, carefully documented accounts of Bush's alcoholism, drug use, private-sector business failings, ignorance in matters of state, smug arrogance, and general self-serving lackadaisical behavior. So I'm hardly worried. An overwhelming mass of published information like this has never stopped Americans from voting for him before."

[mburbank]

hee-hee. Wish I'd thought of that .

[KevinTheOmnivore]

maybe next time Bush should try talking about stuff instead of hitting warm, fuzzy cliches. Just a thought. :/

[Ronnie Raygun]

I agree......but I think Kerry already blew his wad..

[mburbank]

Does Kerry's excellent 'performance' and Bush's... 'unrested' 'performance' in any way make you concider developing a plan B just in case W doesn't win? I mean I know it's highly unlikely, but being so certain of an outcome that you never even concider anything else can work out really badly.

[Ronnie Raygun]

Max I don't need a plan B....my life would not change either way....except that I wouldn't get any more tax cuts.

[mburbank]

Typically Republican to say you don't need a plan B. You guys never think you need one.

But to say your life wouldn't change?

I don't know. If I was so dead solid certain of something happening that I refused utterly to think about any other outcome and then that thing happened? Well, it would shake my confidence in myself at very least. That's a change.

I'm glad you think that beyond tax cuts (I didn't know you were wealthy!) you think your life wouldn't change. It's nice to see a Republican admit that life with Kerry as resident wouldn't be an unending nightmare, but would in fact be just fine.

[Immortal Goat]

Words to describe what Max just said? Survey SAYS...

ZING!

Honestly, if is very refreshing to know that Ronnie only supports Bush, not because of the issues at hand, but because he is a die hard Republican, and it would be his duty to vote for a bile of shit if it ran on the Republican ticket. Well done, Ronnie, you are mindless.

[Jeanette X]

Kerry did all that he could in the first debate and it worked out in his favor. Politically speaking...he did exactly what he had to do and was coached very well by his advisors.....Bush on the other hand was not and that's what made the difference.


Why wouldn't Bush have made sure that he was well-rested and coached too? Didn't he think to do that? It's kind of standard practice for a debate.

[Preechr]

Many Republicans were excusing his poor performance as due to his being tired from spending the day helping out hurricane victims in Florida. That's where that MANLY picture of him carrying almost an entire tree with one hand came from.

Many Republicans are also saying that while Bush was getting tired helping the needy, Kerry spent the day resting up, tanning on the beach in one of those French Speedos and probably having sex with men while complaining about the excessive hurricane debris scattered around making Florida look "trashy" and "poor." THK was rumored to have actually squatted over a homeless grandmother, crapping on the poor woman's head while eating a Haitian baby whole.

It's also considered to be possible, and thus quite probable, that the Heinz-Kerrys actually CAUSED the hurricanes. Yep.

[Perndog]

(I didn't know you were wealthy!) you think your life wouldn't change. It's nice to see a Republican admit that life with Kerry as resident wouldn't be an unending nightmare, but would in fact be just fine.

It would be nice to see a liberal admit that life with Bush as President *hasn't* been an unending nightmare and *has* been just fine, and probably will still be so if the poor fool is re-elected.

[Jeanette X]

Many Republicans were excusing his poor performance as due to his being tired from spending the day helping out hurricane victims in Florida. That's where that MANLY picture of him carrying almost an entire tree with one hand came from.


I didn't see this. Where was it?

[Preechr]

http://www.i-mockery.net/viewtopic.php?t=14861&start=50

[Preechr]

(I didn't know you were wealthy!) you think your life wouldn't change. It's nice to see a Republican admit that life with Kerry as resident wouldn't be an unending nightmare, but would in fact be just fine.

It would be nice to see a liberal admit that life with Bush as President *hasn't* been an unending nightmare and *has* been just fine, and probably will still be so if the poor fool is re-elected.

You deserve a hug for that.

Seriously. Go get somebody to hug you. You've earned it.

[Jeanette X]

http://www.i-mockery.net/viewtopic.php?t=14861&start=50

I wish I was photogenic too. :(

[mburbank]

There are way too many carbs in a haitian baby for a metrosexual, vain fag like Kerry to eat one whole.

[Anonymous]

Although he wouldn't mind shooting one in the back to get a Purple Heart.

[davinxtk]

(I didn't know you were wealthy!) you think your life wouldn't change. It's nice to see a Republican admit that life with Kerry as resident wouldn't be an unending nightmare, but would in fact be just fine.

It would be nice to see a liberal admit that life with Bush as President *hasn't* been an unending nightmare and *has* been just fine, and probably will still be so if the poor fool is re-elected.

It hasn't been an unending nightmare, but I wouldn't quite count on the next four years to not include legislation barring gay marriage, illegalizing abortion, adding prayer to the school day, and more right-wing media outlets than you can shake a stick at while their mouthpieces continue to bitch about a liberal bias.

Oh, and I'd rather my country didn't go a full eight years in a row with a president who can't pronounce "nuclear."