Conservatives push for prime-time spots at convention By Anne-Marie O’Connor, Los Angeles Times

Many socially conservative leaders feel slighted, saying their representatives have been edged out of prime-time convention speaking slots by more moderate Republicans ….

Conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly said she thought her party was engaged in a misguided attempt to spotlight moderate “political celebrities” who play well to a liberal media.

Janice Crouse, a leader of Concerned Women for America, said President Bush should worry more about evangelical Christian voters, or he will jeopardize their support in tight races in the crucial swing states.

“The gays and pro-abortion people are saying you’ve got to add a plank,” Crouse said. “If the president adds that plank, they will nail him to it.”

Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson is talking about not going to New York at all.

“Apparently political stars get rewarded with a prime-time convention spot if they disagree with President Bush’s position” on a constitutional gay marriage ban, “as well as … President Bush’s position on the right to life,” conservative columnist Paul Weyrich said. “They can also disagree with the president’s position on capital punishment, guns and a host of other issues.”

“As an Orthodox Christian, I am outraged that men like this would be highlighted,” Weyrich said. “If the president is embarrassed to be seen with conservatives at the convention, maybe conservatives will be embarrassed to be seen with the president on Election Day.”

Proof that the Republican Convention is designed to deceive the casual observer, just as it was in 2000, just as most things the Bush adminstration does: they want us to watch what they say, not what they do. mjh

Man fired after heckling Bush

A man who heckled President George W. Bush at a political rally was fired from his job at an advertising and design company for offending a client who provided tickets to the event. …

Hiller said. “It’s just bizarre that you disagree with them and it all turns evil,” he said.

There are so many of these stories: protesters are kept at great distance; loyalty oaths are required for public venues; people are ejected or arrested for t-shirts. This is how fascists campaign. mjh

Mediocre Law Student: So much for free speech…

mjh’s Dump Bush weBlog: Let Freedom Ring?

mjh’s Dump Bush weBlog: Future Docile Citizens of America

Search blog for free speech

Top GOP Lawmaker: War ‘A Mistake’ August 18, 2004

A top Republican congressman has broken from his party in the final days of his career in the House of Representatives, saying he believes the U.S. military assault on Iraq was unjustified and the situation there has deteriorated into “a dangerous, costly mess.”

“I’ve reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action,” Rep. Doug Bereuter wrote in a letter to his constituents.

“Left unresolved for now is whether intelligence was intentionally misconstrued to justify military action,” he said. …

In 2002, Bereuter had spoken out in support of a House resolution authorizing the president, also a Republican, to go to war. …

In addition to “a massive failure or misinterpretation of intelligence,” Bereuter said the Bush administration made several other errors in going to war despite warnings about the consequences.

“From the beginning of the conflict, it was doubtful that we for long would be seen as liberators, but instead increasingly as an occupying force,” he said. “Now we are immersed in a dangerous, costly mess, and there is no easy and quick way to end our responsibilities in Iraq without creating bigger future problems in the region and, in general, in the Muslim world.”

Bereuter said as a result of the war, “our country’s reputation around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened.”

Trying to eliminate Sadam … would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. … There was no viable ‘exit strategy’ we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations’ mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.

– George H.W. Bush, published memoirs, A World Transformed, 1999. [thanks, cko!]

Quote of the Week

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (A Word Transformed) (unedited quote)

::.centre for public opinion and democracy.::

What candidate would you vote for in the 2004 U.S presidential election?

John Kerry (D) 47%
George W. Bush (R) 43%
Ralph Nader (I) 2%
Michael Badnarik (L) 1%
David Cobb (G) 0.2%
Michael Peroutka (C) 0.2%
Other 0.8%
Undecided 7%

NewMexiKen: Presidential debates

First presidential debate:
Thursday, September 30
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
Jim Lehrer

Vice presidential debate:
Tuesday, October 5
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
Gwen Ifill

Second presidential debate:
Friday, October 8
Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Charles Gibson

Third presidential debate:
Wednesday, October 13
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Bob Schieffer

Bush’s two biggest burdens By David Broder

The factors that make President Bush a vulnerable incumbent have almost nothing to do with his opponent, John Kerry. They stem directly from two closely linked high-stakes policy gambles that Bush chose on his own. Neither has worked out as he hoped.

The first gamble was the decision to attack Iraq; the second, to avoid paying for the war. …

If Bush can win re-election despite the failure of his two most consequential — and truly radical — decisions, he will truly be a political miracle man. But as his own nominating convention approaches, the odds are against him. …

Bush finds himself defending the loss of more than 1 million jobs during his tenure — the first president, as Democrats love to point out, since Herbert Hoover to suffer an actual job loss in office. The 32,000 jobs added to the economy in July were the smallest number this year, raising fears that the recovery proclaimed last spring may be losing steam. …

The president has suffered other blows to his credibility…. But they pale in importance compared to Iraq and the economy. In The Washington Post’s polls every month since January, more voters have voiced disapproval of his performance on those two issues than approval.

Time is short for changing people’s minds. Bush is dragging two huge weights – and he has no one to blame but himself.