Ace of Spades HQ is far too responsible and classy an outfit to ever engage in this sort of cheap speculation. It fills me with "heart-ache" that I'm required to even link such vile filth.

Whether or not this monstrous calumny is true or not -- and I think there's at least a 10% chance it's not -- I would add four points:

1. While no one can say with certainty whether John Kerry was drunk, except, perhaps, for the bartender who got him all loaded up and sloppy, Kerry does not perform well when trailing.

I certainly would not go so far as to speculate about this decorated war hero hitting the sauce in anaesthetized desperation, but I would say that I wouldn't blame him if he sought solace in a bottle, which, let's face it, he almost certainly did.

2. I'm so pumped right now. Actually, rumor has it that John Forbes Kerry was pretty "pumped" last night, too.

3. Just because the inability to perform routine mathematical operations is a classic sign of intoxication, there is no reason to draw any conclusions from John Kerry's numerical confusion last night. Let us not speculate about him saying, "I have five words for America: This is your wake up call." (Count them.) Nor should we read anything into his claim that the Red Sox had moved 2 and a half back from the Yanks, when in fact they moved THREE and a half back.

We cannot conclude from that slender evidence that Kerry may have downed one or a dozen highballs before speaking, although we all damn well know he did.

4. And most importantly: Getting sloppy slosh-drunk for a campaign rally doesn't indicate anything about one's job performance as President, except to the extent a President is called upon to make lucid decisions about life-and-death matters of national security, and honestly, how often does that come up? No more than four or five times a week, tops.

What business is that of mine? Who are we to judge chronic drunks, gutter-rummies, and railroad hobos such as John Forbes Kerry?

Completely Unrelated Link Having Nothing At All Whatsoever to Do With John Forbes Kerry's state of inebriation: If you missed it, here are the Top Ten Signs That a Bear Might Be Drunk.

This has nothing to do with John Forbes Kerry. Read nothing into it, because John Forbes Kerry is quite plainly not a bear.

At least, I assume he's not a bear.

Honestly, who can say at this point. I haven't seen a DNA test proving he's human, and no one else has, either. I suppose it's quite possible that he's some sort of shaved-down mutant "manimal" created in order to infiltrate our society and ultimately destroy all human life, but really, there's little evidence of that at this point.

Let's just call it an open question whether John Kerry is a kind of ursine Terminator fueled only by a hatred of the human species and copious quantities of peach schnapps.

And on that last point, I see no reason whatsoever to follow NRO down into the gutter of cheap slanders and start calling John Kerry "Senator Schnapps" or "the Schnappster" or even "Schnappmaster McDrunkerton" or, worst of all, "Schnappy, the Genetic-Monstrosity Bear-Thing Intent on Enslaving the World."

Let's keep this civil. Let's keep this on the issues. And the issues are 1, whether John Kerry is a falling-down drunk, and 2, whether he can balance a ball on his nose while riding a tricycle?

I will speak no more of these vicious innuendos until I can think of something else funny to say.

Pardon me, I'm a drittle bit lunk. I love you, man!

But Seriously: I didn't see enough of him to make that sort of evaluation. He looked a little dazed and out of it, but I don't think we need to blame that on the hooch. Kerry does not perform well when trailing, whether sober or feeling no pain.

And, by the way, I consider that to be a near-disqualification for the presidency. When Bush was down -- and he was down for half a year -- he did not let you see him sweat. He was sweating, of course, but he held it together.

We can't afford a Commander in Chief who very visibly goes all to pieces when a poll shows him losing four points. A man who gets rattled by the likes of Howard Dean and Zell Miller isn't the man we want negotiating with Kim Jong Il.

Thanks to See-Dubya for the Kerry beer pic.

Posted by: Ace at 08:58 AM | Comments (32)
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And it's not over yet.

Remember: Michael Moore says this is a "fictitious threat." Zetetic adds that Michael Moore's feet could be "fictititious," for all he knows.

Edited to phrase the sentence about the fictitious threat more sensitively. Sorry if I sounded callous about children's deaths. I'm not. I'm just "sickened" that we are repeatedly told that that terrorism is a fictititious issue designed to "distract" us from more important things, like repealing Bush's tax cuts.

I don't know how the slaughter of innocents and fighting those who butcher children is ever a less important issue than anything else.

There's an old joke that liberals love "the masses" but hate actual people. Every time they minimize the deaths of innocent people, claiming such deaths are merely a "distraction" from some abstract political goal, they prove that humor is rooted in reality.

More... from Curbside Prophet.

Posted by: Ace at 07:33 AM | Comments (8)
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So says Rasmussen:

Bush is enjoying a modest Convention bounce. Today marks the first time since March 19 that he has held a 4-point lead on consecutive days. The President's Job Approval is at its highest level since April and voters now view him a bit more favorably than John Kerry.

How to counter this? Well, if you're John Kerry, you give a desperate-looking flop-sweat-dripping stunt and claim that any who challenge your record are "attacking your patriotism."

If you're a liberal, you try to pretend you're just "super-psyched" by Kerry's non-reassuring words. You might, for example, put aside the Filet-O-Fish for one moment in order to quote John Forbes Kerry's words and then add this insightful contribution:

I'm so pumped right now.

"Pumped."

Whoo-hoo! Check me out! I look awesome!
The people are digging me!
White House here I come! Yeah, baby!

Update: Kausfiles would fall into the non-"pumped" camp. One might almost say anti-"pumped."

Posted by: Ace at 07:31 AM | Comments (5)
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Economy Adds 144,000 Jobs in August; Unemployment Rate Falls to 5.4 Percent

Josh Marshall "Questions the Timing" of the Long-Scheduled Report, Calling it "Just a Little Too Convenient, Don't You Think?"

Pretty good. July's pitiable 32,000 jobs revised upwards to 73,000 -- not good, yet, but better.

America's payrolls picked up in August, with the economy adding 144,000 jobs, slightly less than economists were forecasting and highlighting the slow and uneven recovery in the labor market that jobseekers have braved.

The unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent last month from 5.5 percent in July. But the drop in the jobless rate in August came as people left the work force for any number of reasons, the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists were predicting the jobless rate to hold steady in August.

The gain in payrolls was short of the 150,000 net jobs that economists were calling for. However, it represented the biggest jobs gain since May and marked the 12th month in a row that payrolls grew.

"As far as employment growth goes, it was okay. Nothing good, but nothing terrible," said economist Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. "For jobseekers, it's an environment that provides them with some opportunities but finding jobs is still not going to be that easy yet."

Job gains for July were revised up to 73,000, still a lackluster number but an improvement from the 32,000 advance first estimated. Payrolls for June also were revised up to show a larger gain than first reported.

Also added 22,000 manufacturing jobs, which is pretty good.

I got the fevah.

Posted by: Ace at 07:08 AM | Comments (10)
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Quick version:

I thought it was a good speech. Very bad at first, and then better. Good lines here and there. But I personally didn't feel the sort of "wow" I got from Schwarzenegger, Guilliani, or Z Diddy.

On MSNBC and FoxNews, everyone was saying it was a great speech, but then, they almost always say that.

A B+ overall, grading slightly charitably.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:22 PM | Comments (7)
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I didn't hear it myself, so I can't vouch for it.

It's irresponsible, then, to post it, which, fortunately, I am.

Cue Celine Dion. The Titanic's going down, and I'm pretty sure I just saw Billy Zane putting on a dress.

Update: Okay, okay, that's totally silly; I just wanted to use the Billy Zane line.

I'll say this, though. I remember seeing Kerry on Meet the Press when he was getting his ass fed to him by the likes of Howard Dean. Based on that one appearance and nothing else, Kerry doesn't perform well when trailing. He looked like a beaten and tired old man, he was punch-drunk and robotic, and you could smell the stink of flop-sweat coming off him.

I don't think Kerry righted himself after that. I think Democrats finally heard the GOP's gloating over their impending nomination of Dean and stepped back from the brink of (one) disaster, and this had little to do with John Forbes Kerry.

If that Meet the Press performance by Kerry is characteristic of the man when losing (and I don't know that it is), the definite feeling of "loser" is going to be coming through the tv screens whenever Kerry is interviewed. Assuming he's behind, that is.

Update/Correction: The FreeRepublic post was sorta true but misleading. At least, it didn't mean what I intepreted it to mean.

Bush isn't up 6 to 8 points over Kerry in the latest Zogby poll; rather, he's seven net points up from where he was at the last poll. In the last poll, he was down five, 43-48; now he's up 2, 46-44.

The poll is thanks to MeTooThen.

But, as a pollster was just saying the other night, you have to look at the poll-to-poll difference. We may not know exactly where Bush is right now, but we do know that every major poll now shows him as having gained 4-7 points in the past couple of weeks.

Not too shabby.

I'm still pretty sure I saw Billy Zane in a dress. He was trying to buy babies from poor Irish immigrants and occasionally firing a derringer at the ceiling.

Posted by: Ace at 05:04 PM | Comments (11)
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Llama Butchers will be attending some sort of blog panel featuring Wonkette and Andrew "No Offense Taken" Sullivan.

He wants to know if you have any questions you'd like to see answered. You should probably post them in his comments, rather than here; I don't know if he reads this site.

Liberals allege that MyPetJawa is somehow connected to this ambush-in-the-making by "shadowy links."

Posted by: Ace at 03:46 PM | Comments (8)
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I've got a hundred Zell reaction pieces opened up on my monitor right now. I haven't been able to read any of them.

Allah does a man's job by reading most of them and summarizing and quoting the good bits. And he finds time to skewer Democrats whining about "hate" and "venom" while he's at it.

Posted by: Ace at 02:23 PM | Add Comment
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At some point, with FoxNews beating the broadcast networks and CNN now behind even MSNBC, the Liberal Media Spirit Squad is going to have to admit FoxNews is a real news operation.

And, one day, advertising firms (largely based in liberal cities) are going to have to start paying FoxNews at least as much as they pay CNN to reach one-third or less of FoxNews' audience.

Which may mean that I can one day turn on FoxNews and not be assualted by a commercial for the music of Christy Lane.

No offense. I'm sure she's a nice lady. But I don't think I should have to now know all of the lyrics to her songs (One day at a time, Sweet Jesus... and One set of footsteps, in the sand, though you promsied me you'd hold my hand... and of course I bel-ieeeve in Angels...) just because I want to see what's happening in Iraq.

Posted by: Ace at 02:00 PM | Comments (26)
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Andrew Sullivan is outraged (in an non-offended manner) that a 72 year old white man from Georgia was at one time less progressive on racial issues than is now considered morally acceptable.

I never heard about this record before. I suppose I could have guessed, had I thought about it, but I never did.

Isn't it odd that, once again, the media only seems to be interested in the dubious racial pasts of politicians if they're Republicans -- or, as here, they speak at a Republican convention?

Zell Miller has been a Democratic Senator since-- when? I know he was appointed when Paul Coverdale died; sometime in 1996 or 1997.

So, he's been a Democratic Senator for seven or eight years, but during the period of his being a good Democrat, the media never once saw fit to question this man's fidelity to the virtues of tolerance and nondiscrimination.

Suddenly, he gives a speech at the Republican convention, and it's all the media can talk about.

Isn't. That. Awfully. Convenient. Timing. To become interested in the subject.

The senior Democratic Senator was a KKK Kleagle but, jeepers, they just never have the time to mention that bit of his resume. No, it's always about what a "master of Senate procedure" or "student of Senate history" he is.

Well, at one time he was a master of Grand Wizard strategy. Maybe that deserves the occasional mention, eh?

I should also pass along Simon Oliver Lockwood's tip as to Zell's bio:

"Miller says he is used to alienating his fellow Democrats. As a state senator in the 1960s, he broke with many in his party when he supported keeping the University of Georgia open during integration."

But be that as it may: it's just such a shock to me -- causing me outrage, "heart-ache," and general distemper -- that a dubious record on racial issues in the 1960's was never mentioned by the Democrats (or their Liberal Media Spirit Squad) for all the time he was being a good liberal soldier.

Update: Instapundit discovers that ABCNews approved of Zell's attack-the-opponent convention speech...

...when it was delivered in 1992, against George Bush senior, on behalf of Bill Clinton.

Darn It: Instapundit already beat me to the "suddenly a Dixiecrat" punch. I should have figured he'd already covered it.

Posted by: Ace at 01:33 PM | Comments (8)
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