This is Not Safe For Democrats

Worst president in history? Come on!

Frank Hogg — 2004-05-31T21:44:57Z

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January..... in the fair city of Detroit (Michigan) there were 35 murders in the month of January. That's one American city folks, about as deadly as the entire war torn country of Iraq!

Worst president in history?

The following appeared in the Durham, NC local paper as a letter to the editor.

Liberals claim President Bush shouldn't have started this war. They complain about his prosecution of it. One liberal recently claimed Bush was the worst president in U.S. history. Let's clear up one point: We didn't start the war on terror. Try to remember, it was started by terrorists BEFORE 9/11.

Let's look at the "worst" president and mismanagement claims.

Lincoln allowed the US to fall into civil war. How would you like a nice Civil war today? You could go and kill your out of state relatives!

FDR led us into World War II. Germany never attacked us: Japan did.

From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.

Truman finished that war and started one in Korea, North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost, an average of 18,333 per year.

John F. Kennedy started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us. I think history might show Eisenhower committed the troops and Kennedy was honoring that commitment.

Johnson turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost, an average of 5,800 per year.

Clinton went to war in Bosnia without UN or French consent, Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden's head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.

In the two years since terrorists attacked us, President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Lybia, Iran and North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. We lost 600 soldiers, an average of 300 a year. Bush did all this abroad while not allowing another terrorist attack at home.

Worst president in history? Come on!

The Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking, but...

It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51 day operation.

We've been looking for evidence of chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.

It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Teddy Kennedy to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick.

It took less time to take Iraq than it took to count the votes in Florida!!!!

Our military is GREAT!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Frank Hogg — 2004-02-18T17:11:43Z

Telegraph | News | 'This won't go away. What happened is much nastier than is being reported'

Frank Hogg — 2004-02-15T04:55:06Z

The couple have refused to make any comment on her alleged links with Senator Kerry, who is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, an heiress to the food empire.

No comment, this is very bad for Kerry.

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish..

Frank Hogg — 2004-01-26T08:01:30Z

A JUST WAR: And it is in the context of such an argument that the president should clearly restate that this was nevertheless a just war. It was never incumbent on the world community to prove that Iraq had dismantled its WMD program before the war. It was incumbent on Saddam to show otherwise. He refused - either because he was being lied to and wanted to conceal weapons that did not exist, or because such an admission of impotence would have been terribly damaging to the dictator's reputation, both internally and with regard to Iran, or because he was slowly going nutsand his regime was collapsing from within. But what matters is that he refused. The responsibility for the war therefore lies squarely with the dictator. Moreover, we know that if Saddam had been left in power and sanctions lifted, he would have attempted to restart such programs - and indeed Kay has found a vast apparatus of components, scientists and plans to achieve exactly such a result. Kay has now told us that Saddam was working on a ricin-based biological weapon right up to the eve of the invasion. We know now something else: his tyranny was worse, more depraved and more brutal than we believed to be the case before. The moral and strategic case for his removal appears stronger now than ever. We also have a chance to move one part of the Arab world toward some kind of open, pluralist society. Since the appeal of Islamo-fascism is deeply connected to the backwardness and tyranny of so much of the Arab world, this is a fundamental and critical part of the response to 9/11. Iraq was and is a critical component of the war on terror. It's an attempt to deal with the issue at its very roots. I believe the victims of 9/11 deserve nothing less.

Well said

Issue#907, 02/03/04 ... Advocate.com

Frank Hogg — 2004-01-22T17:11:18Z

A saying an old friend of mine used to say comes to mind, "If he's not gay, he's missing a good chance."

Clinton believes Iraq had weapons of mass destruction: Portugal PM

Frank Hogg — 2004-01-09T16:17:21Z

"When Clinton was here recently he told me he was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime," he said in an interview with Portuguese cable news channel SIC Noticias.

EIB Extra: The Making of the Money Shot

Frank Hogg — 2004-01-07T18:15:24Z

"January 6, 2004

Did any of you wonder, when you saw this photo of Howard Dean and Bill Bradley Tuesday in Iowa, how the diminutive Dr. Dean, who claims to be 5'8" and three quarters(footnote), appears the same size as the 6'5" former NBA star? We did too.

Click here for the pictures and story.

(footnote) 'Chatting with reporters on his campaign jet recently, Dean complained about a New York Times story that had described him as 'diminutive.' Dean first noted that the Times reporter, Adam Nagourney, is 'about five-three.' Then he added, 'I don't know that I'm so short.' Well, a reporter asked, how tall are you? 'I'm five-eight,' Dean replied. 'Almost five-nine.' Dean probably should have stopped here, but he didn't. 'Five-eight and three-quarters,' he continued. 'The reason I don't tell anybody about the three-quarters is that it sounds like I'm very sensitive about my height. And I'm not.' Where would anyone get that impression?' "

Newsday.com: Kucinich Shows Pie Chart on Radio Debate

Frank Hogg — 2004-01-07T17:05:04Z

"January 6, 2004, 8:44 PM EST

DES MOINES, Iowa - Federal spending was the topic and Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich came prepared with a pie chart to argue his point about a bloated Pentagon budget.

But although many listened to Tuesday's presidential debate, few could see the Ohio congressman's prop.

The debate was broadcast only on National Public Radio.

As Kucinich challenged Democratic front-runner Howard Dean for refusing to acknowledge that the Pentagon budget needs to be cut, debate moderator Neal Conan of NPR interrupted.

"Congressman Kucinich is holding up a pie chart, which is not truly effective on radio," Conan told his listeners.

Kucinich was not deterred.

"Well, it's effective if Howard can see it," he replied.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press "

Saddam Capture Drives Dems, Media Mad - By Lt. Col. Oliver North

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-20T06:39:52Z

"All of this twisted, blame-America-Bush-bashing and mind-numbing negativism has obscured some very important facts that need to be re-emphasized:

Saddam is responsible for two horrific wars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands. His record is replete with the kind of atrocities that brought the United States into two world wars, as well as a bloody campaign in Korea and the war I fought in - Vietnam. He raped, tortured, robbed, starved and murdered his own people. He acquired and used weapons of mass destruction against his neighbors and countrymen. He attempted to assassinate an American president. He trained and supported Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Muslim Brotherhood terrorists who killed Americans. Are we to believe that Al Qaeda was the only Middle Eastern terror group that Saddam did not support?"

FOXNews.com - Politics - Albright: Bin Laden Comments Were 'Tongue-in-Cheek'

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-17T19:15:28Z

'She said, 'Do you suppose that the Bush administration has Usama bin Laden hidden away somewhere and will bring him out before the election?'' said Fox News analyst and Roll Call executive editor Mort Kondracke. 'She was not smiling.'

Dean Working to Be Seen as Foreign Policy Centrist (washingtonpost.com)

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-16T22:09:01Z

"Dean said it was not worth trying to woo French support on foreign policy initiatives. 'The French will always do exactly the opposite on what the United States wants regardless of what happens, so we're never going to have a consistent policy,' he said. "

I spotted this on Andrew Sullivan.com. You guys should really check him out.

MSNBC - Dean outlines foreign policy

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-14T08:07:10Z

"The interview, the first time Dean has been questioned in detail about his foreign policy views, appeared to be part of an effort to transform Dean from a candidate known largely for a single, defining issue - opposition to the war in Iraq - to someone with the gravitas to be president and deal with the complex foreign policy challenges of the age."

HEY! Look, I found the gravitas... Is anybody surprised?

2004 Will Be the U.S.'S Best Year Economically in Last 20 Years, The Conference Board Reports in a Revised Forecast

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-12T03:41:22Z

"NEW YORK, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Revising its year-end economic forecast sharply upward, The Conference Board today projected that real GDP growth will hit 5.7% next year, making 2004 the best year economically in the last 20 years.

The forecast, by Conference Board Chief Economist Gail Fosler, expects worker productivity, which set a 20-year record in the third quarter, to rise at a healthy 3.6% next year. That would follow a gain of 4.3% this year."

More...:

Iraq behind the cameras: a different reality

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-10T17:14:06Z

December 05, 2003

"BAGHDAD, Iraq - It's a little-known footnote in postwar Iraq that an unassuming Army Civil Affairs captain named Kent Lindner has a bevy of blushing female fans.

Every time Lindner checks in on the group of young, deaf Iraqi seamstresses at their factory here, the women swarm him with admiration. 'I love you!' one of them writes in the dust on Lindner's SUV.

Such small-time adoration is not the stuff of headlines against the backdrop of a country painfully and often violently evolving from war. So on this day, when Lindner and his fellow soldiers are cheered as they fire the deaf workers' boss, a woman who has been locking the seamstresses in closets, holding their pay and beating them, the lack of TV cameras on hand is no surprise.

But later that night, mortars hit nearby. Cameras are rolling, and 15 minutes later folks back home instead see another news clip of Baghdad's latest violence. It's a soda-straw view that frustrates soldiers, like those in Lindner's Civil Affairs unit, who are slowly trying to stitch together the peace while the final stages of the war play out on television.

'We've got a lot of good things going on, but when I went home (on leave), people were just like 'We never hear that stuff,' ' said Civil Affairs Pvt. Amy Schroeder. 'That's what makes the families worry.'

What Iraq looks like on TV, and what Iraq is like for the 130,000 troops living here, sometimes feels like two different realities."

More...

Citing 'Best Chance,' Gore Endorses Dean in '04 Race

Frank Hogg — 2003-12-09T18:54:06Z

"A crowd of about 100 people attended, and roughly half of them were members of the news media."

"This is huge," said Donna Brazile, who was Mr. Gore's campaign manager in 2000. "It gives Dean what Dean has been missing most: stature."

What, no gravitas?

In 2000, Dr. Dean, then the governor of Vermont, considered running for president and met with Mr. Gore, who dissuaded him in what one former Gore aide described as "awkward conversation." At the time, the aide said, Dr. Dean told Mr. Gore that "he's going to challenge him for the presidency," and Mr. Gore "made a bunch of snide comments after he left."

"Aides to Mr. Gephardt seemed equally surprised, noting that Mr. Gephardt had put aside his own bid for the presidency in 2000 to endorse Mr. Gore."

"If that's true, it would be surprising," said Steve Murphy, Mr. Gephardt's campaign manager. "Al Gore and Dick Gephardt fought side by side to pass the Clinton economic plan, to defend against the Republican efforts to cut Medicare, to pass the assault weapons ban and to save affirmative action. Howard Dean was on the other side of every one of those fights."