More cognitive dissonance for you. Hard to believe, but it turns out that the North Vietnamese government strongly approved of John Kerry's version of "patriotism":

The communist regime in Hanoi monitored closely and looked favorably upon the activities of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War during the period Senator Kerry served most actively as the group's spokesman and a member of its executive committee, two captured Viet Cong documents suggest.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 07:44 AM | Comments (6)
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Desperate to find some shenanigans on the GOP side for once, ABCNews & AP get suckered by an obvious Democratic plant

The ABCNews piece:

Oct 22, 2004 — In several battleground states across the country, a consulting firm funded by the Republican National Committee has been accused of deceiving would-be voters and destroying Democratic voter registration cards.

Arizona-based Sproul & Associates is under investigation in Oregon and Nevada over claims that canvassers hired by the company were instructed to register only Republicans and to get rid of registration forms completed by Democrats.

...

Substitute teacher Adam Banse wanted a summer job with flexible hours, so he signed up to knock on doors in suburban Minneapolis and register people to vote.

He quit after two hours. "They said if you bring back a bunch of Democratic cards, you'll be fired," Banse contends. "At that point, I said, `Whoa. Something's wrong here.'"

He actually said that. He said "Whoa." And then he said "Wyld Stallyns rule," and played some air-guitar with Napoleon.

Nathan Sproul, a former head of Arizona's Republican Party and the state's Christian Coalition branch, denies any wrongdoing and accuses Democrats of making things up.

"This is all about making accusations," Sproul said Thursday. "They allege fraud where none exists and get the media to cover it."

Republican National Committee spokeswoman Heather Layman responded that her party accepts all voters, and she accused the Democratic Party of operating under this mandate: "If no sign of voter fraud exists, make it up, manipulate the media into covering baseless charges and spread fear."

So, is Adam Banse an "unimpeachable source" akin to Bill Burkett? You won't find your jaw dropping into your lap when you read he's not. From an interview he gave, now pulled, as it undermines his tale of Republican skulduggery:

Marc: So how's disenfranchising the masses going for ya?

Banse: Difference between me and them -- I registered 8 voters -- all Republicans or people undecided. I then used the information I gleaned from my time with them and went to the Kerry-Edwards campaign headquarters where I sat down with Ted Irgens, the campaign organizer in Minnesota and told him everything I knew. I met with the group one more time after that and again called Ted and told him what I knew.

Posted by: Ace at 07:31 AM | Comments (6)
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Florida-Cracker discovers the reason the UK Guardian is so enamored with the idea of using political violence to win elections: seems the paper's editor and two of his brothers have had a hard time convincing the American people to vote for them.

You keep getting drubbed at the voting booth and you start pining for John Wilkes Boothe, I guess.

Posted by: Ace at 11:46 PM | Comments (2)
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Seems more and more folks are getting their news from something called the "Internet":

Even though Piasecki is firmly committed to voting for President Bush, he doesn't rely on the large conservative news organisations. Referring to the openly right-wing cable news channel owned by Rupert Murdoch, he says: "I'm a Fox kind of guy, but if I want to find out about the reality of what our forces are experiencing in the war in Iraq, or the huge wealth that John Kerry and his family have, I look for it on the internet."

...

Travelling through the heartlands of the United States, one comes across many Americans like Piasecki and Cheramie, who rely on websites not just to find opinions that match their own, but also to uncover facts they believe bolster those views. It is a trend that reflects a deeply divided US electorate coming to the end of a bitterly contested presidential campaign.

...

Also present, however, was a new media class: the bloggers. These individuals are part-diarists, part-polemicists, who publish their journals and accounts of the election campaign directly on the internet. If nothing else, the 2004 presidential election campaign will be noted as probably the first Western election where bloggers joined the ranks of journalists courted by the main candidates and parties, and were given similar kinds of privileges to travel with candidates and be afforded the same level of access at conferences and rallies.

Errrr... Um....

Alas, overstating it a bit. At least from my point of view.

...

he first and most important challenge that the mainstream US media faces is getting it right this election, one that many predict will be just as closely run as its predecessor. Whether it succeeds or not could determine just how many people decide to consult the mainstream media on defining national issues in the future.

I should note this is from the BBC. And, oddly enough, the writer finds that the reason more Americans are tuning out from the MSM is because it's apparently too darn pro-Iraq-War:

The second factor is a slowly growing unease within America about the current situation in Iraq. Here again, one detects a sense that many Americans are beginning to doubt what they are getting from much of the mainstream press. News organisations themselves have admitted to failures. The New York Times was one of the first to declare that it had failed to be robust enough in its coverage of the build-up to the invasion of Iraq.

Ummm... okay.

But, you know, the BBC isn't pathologically pacifist or anything. I mean, millions of Americans are just tuning out the MSM over their arrogant and self-satisfied liberal condescension, but that isn't a simple enoug answer for the BBC.

No, they dig deeper, to find the reason for the rise of the alternative media is a growing displeasure with American warmongering.

What can you say? They invented the "rueful chuckle" for a reason, and this, I think, is one of them.

Thanks to Alarming News, who also links a cool little feature, a little search engine to find your local polling place.

Posted by: Ace at 11:32 PM | Comments (7)
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US airstrike bullseyes terrorist bastard in Fallujah:

BAGHDAD, Iraq Oct 26, 2004 — The U.S. military said Tuesday that an aide to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in an airstrike in the militant stronghold of Fallujah.

The 3 a.m. strike hit a known safehouse being used by al-Zarqawi's terrorist network, killing a "known associate," a military statement said.

In related, sad news, Kevin Bacon was reportedly trampled during an ensuing riot at the Food King.

Posted by: Ace at 11:02 PM | Comments (4)
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Some of you think I'm being a nervous Nelly. Well, I'm just telling you my gut, which frankly changes week-by-week. If you want to prove me wrong-- vote.

But just to inject a little optimism into the discussion, Hugh Hewitt interviewed the indispensible political analyst Michael Barrone, a man who has a reputation that's more important to him than political pimping. He says that Bush could win 35-36 states.

That's not as big a statement as it may read at first blush; for one thing, a lot of things could happen. I could, for example, be hired on as Paula Zahn's guest-host for election week.

For another, we already know (or at least we hope!) that Bush is going to win a majority of states, but many of those states are pretty small.

Still, sounds kinda good to me.

I'm confused. How can you be both
so insightful and so goshdarn funny at once?
You're like James Spader in Tuff Turf, only
hotter, and without the slightly
Cornelius-from-Planet-of-the-Apes nostrils.

Update: Hugh Hewitt also links an article further exploring John Kerry's continuing insistence on posing as a "real man" and "regular guy" who "really digs this crazy new sport of 'Base-Ball' that's so popular with the masses" and yet who continues incorrectly announcing the scores of Red Sox games.

He reminds me of Dennis Finch from Just Shoot Me, a geeky guy lying to his wife in an effort to appear more manly. When Finch was actually exhibiting his prized Abyssinian at a cat-show, he claimed to have been playing rugby. "It was rough stuff," he said. "Lots of blood. I scored two tabernacles and a walkabout."

Go Sox! Really knock those tabernacles out of the park.

Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Kim Richards: CNN/Gallup/USAT have Bush up by 8, 51-43, in Florida.

Oddly enough, Florida is shaping up to be semi-safe for Bush.

That CNN article is pretty funny. Although the main hed announces their own poll shows Bush beating the crap out of Kerry, a sub-hed is quick -- too quick, one might say -- to announce that other polls show the contest tighter.

Once again, the liberal media seems to be rather begrudging about their own polls when they show the wrong man ahead.

Posted by: Ace at 09:56 PM | Comments (9)
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First phoney documents, now a wholly fabricated report about "missing explosives."

But you didn't think it could possibly stop there at a simple debunking, did you?

John Kerry wants the DNC house organs to be believed, and so he is now crying coverup by the RNC.

Because, you know, NBCNews is such a right-leaning organization.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Posted by: Ace at 09:01 PM | Comments (17)
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It's strange to link Ken Wheaton a third time this week, but, hey, let's face it, when a guy pushes you into a corner in a bar and says "Your blog is so damn smart and funny I just have to give you a non-gay 'friendship handjob' right here and now," you tend to remember his URL.

I'm not saying anyone else should try this, by the way. For some reason I was just receptive to it. I had just finished watching Youngblood again, and, welll... let's just say Rob Lowe was practically packed into that hockey uniform.

At any rate, this post should help clarify what this election is about:

If you think this war started on Sept. 11 ... hope is on the way.

If you think that we are in a war against terror, rather than a war against Islamic fundamentalists ... hope is on the way.

If you think that these Islamic fundamentalists are basically the same as Westernized Christian fundamentalists, no worse, no better ... hope is on the way.

If you think that these Islamic fundamentalists will suddenly be charmed by reason, persuaded by logic, if you fail to learn the lessons of the Communist intellectuals who helped the Iranian Revolution ... hope is on the way.

That's the kind of hope we don't need. If you're looking for that kind of hope for the next four long, bitter, hellish years, by all means, sit on your ass on election day and pick your toenails.

What the hell does it take to get committed-but-nonvoting conservatives to vote, anyway? Maybe this: On November 2nd, Impeach President John Forbes Kerry pre-emptively.

And, if you can, try to do more than vote. Captain's Quarters has some suggestions. So does Slantpoint.

Those links, and plenty more, from Kesher Talk. There's more that needs to be done.

And me? Well, I'm trying to figure out what I can do, too. I'm going to be knocking on doors or manning the phone banks somewhere. I'd hoped to be some sort of impressario/host, maybe wearing a Captain Stubing captain's jacket of some kind (don't know why, just always wanted to strut around like a big macher on the Aloha Deck), but it seems I'm to be a grunt.

It's that important. It's that important that I'm going to get my lazy ass to do something. Maybe look into it yourself, too, if you can find the time.

Update: Carnivorous Conservative, for one, says he's a former non-voter who's now definitely voting.

And if You Live in NYC or NJ: Alarming News wants you to go to Hackensack and help make phone calls to drum out Republican voters.

I've been to Hackensack. It's not nearly as bad as the name might suggest. Maybe I'll return this weekend...

The Black Republican is taking the the next week semi-off (?) from his blog to work for the RNC. Good for you, man.

Posted by: Ace at 08:48 PM | Comments (7)
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He gets an Honorable Mention from the Washington Post for Best Inside the Beltway Blog.

Meanwhile, here at Ace of Spades HQ, I just got linked in a sub-thread in a forum dedicated to busty women and large-capacity pistols. So, don't you worry about me. I'm doin' all right.

(crunches forty pain pills in teeth before swigging it all down with jug of Val-U-Rite discount vodka)

I'm doin just fine and dandy.

Posted by: Ace at 03:57 PM | Comments (21)
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CNNGallupUSAToday: Bush by 5 with likelies 51-46, by 2 among registered.

Zogby: In ten Battleground states, Bush holds most 2000 Bush states, and picks up a couple of Gore states (New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin), but may lose Colorado. OTOH, Most polls seem to show Bush ahead in Colorado, and Kerry is scaling back his advertising there.

Washington Post Tracking poll: Kerry ahead 49-48.

But most importantly of all, the one poll that's consistently predicted the winner since 1956 -- the Weekly Reader poll of school-aged children, not yet young enough to vote. They're decisively in favor of Bush:

Hundreds of thousands of school students ranging from first grade through to 12th grade (aged six to 1 gave the incumbent president the nod in a poll published Monday by Connecticut-based Weekly Reader magazine.

More than 60 percent opted for Bush over Democratic challenger John Kerry (news - web sites), who only won one state, Maryland, in the underage mock election.

It sounds kinda silly, polling underage children who don't know much about anything about their political preferences. Obviously, they're just going on looks and charisma and personality and gut.

But then, that's what a lot of adults vote on, too. And what we find appealing as children doesn't change that much as we grow older. When I was nine, I would have killed or died to be with Kim Richards from Hello, Larry and of course Tuff Turf.* (Misspellings in titles are always a sign of a quality motion picture.)

I don't know that that's changed very much since then.

Gosh, Ace, you're so smart. Explain to me again
why Andrew Sullivan is a bitchy little ninny.

Thanks to GregS for the last tip.

* Well, okay, I think she's probably most famous for Escape from Witch Mountain too, but she was just a little kid.

Update: Was sure I'd already have a dozen guys telling me how much they still loved Kim Richards. Either it was just me, or I really have gotten too old.

You know who else is hot? Donna Reed. Yuhp, there. I said it.

Random Celebrity Connection Update: Bud Tugley (if that is his real name) tells me in a comment that Kim Richards Paris Hilton's aunt.

Well, look, I guess there were some very rich guys watching Hello, Larry and Tuff Turf when they were growing up, too. I guess one of them was able to execute his life's ambition and bag her.

Damnit.

Kinda makes Dan Snyder look like a piker, doesn't it?

And Yet Another: Sharkman sends some quality cheesecake.

Important Announcement: Kim Richards is the new good-polling-news cowbell.

Please note this for your records.

Posted by: Ace at 02:22 PM | Comments (32)
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