Politics Blog

I don’t normally like to resort to name calling, but Ron Reagan is a crybaby weenie. He is whining about how Rudy was so mean to Kerry, and how at the Democrat convention there was a “no Bush bashing” rule, and they stuck to it. He thinks it isn’t fair that Kerry was criticized by name. When Ron Silver embarrassed him by immediately quoting the “misled into war” and other attacks from the Democrat convention, Reagan’s defense was that they didn’t call Bush by name. Hey, Ron, the reason they had a ban on Bush bashing is because they had done nothing but that for 18 months and it was starting to backfire. Remember the AWOL deserter charges by the head of the DNC and the candidate himself? Remember the “Coalition of the Wild-eyed” ad?

I could go on to list some more of the childish things Reagan went on to say, but why bother? He is doing the same thing he did at the Democrat convention – attacking Republicans at every opportunity with such thinly veiled anger and hatred that it is uncomfortable to watch. Joe Scarborough had to step in a couple of times just to keep the guy from embarrassing himself too badly. MSNBC should at least identify Reagan as a Democrat spokesman, rather than a journalist. What a joke.

UPDATE: Okay, I am a glutton for punishment. I am still watching Ron Reagan because I cannot believe his weird behavior. He is on a mission to convince everyone he talks to tonight that Bush decided to abort all efforts to capture Bin Laden so that he could go into Iraq. He is actually giving a lecture disguised as a question to a woman in the crowd that he is supposed to be interviewing, about how Bush 41 failed by not going into Iraq after Kuwait was liberated. Joe Scarborough had to rescue the poor woman who was beginning to look a little threatened. In the same night, he has also suggested that we are responsible for Saddam’s actions because we supported him against Iran. He continually makes catty little remarks that are so nakedly partisan and childish that I find it hard to believe that MSNBC allows him to continue, but there he is – still on the air.

– Lorie Byrd

Swiftee ad #4 focuses on Kerry’s medal/ribbon-toss. The ad will air in Nashville when Kerry addresses the America legion on Wednesday.

UPDATE: Remember Slate’s hilarious PowerPoint take on Kerry’s medal-tossing? Click through the slide show.

— PoliPundit

Talk radio isn’t just big in the US. It’s big in free Iraq.

— PoliPundit

Mickey Kaus makes a great point:

If President Bush were to tell the Swift Boat Veterans, “Those are great ads. Please run more of them,” he’d immediately be accused by the Kerry campaign (and maybe the Federal Elections Commission) of illegal “coordination” with an allegedly independent political group. … Now suppose Bush did what Kerry and David Broder want him to do and told the Swifties “Those are terrible ads. I call on you to stop running them.” Why isn’t that also illegal coordination? Coordination involves telling someone when to start and also when to stop, no?

— PoliPundit

Bob Novak looks at Kerry’s miserable August and the upbeat GOP.

— PoliPundit

Presidential second terms aren’t much fun:

Bill Clinton was impeached in his second term. Richard Nixon would have been if he hadn’t quit first. Ronald Reagan was wounded by the Iran-Contra scandal. Lyndon B. Johnson sank into the swamp of Vietnam.

Dwight D. Eisenhower had health problems and Sputnik. The high point of Harry Truman’s second term was the day he won it in a stunning upset. After that, it was war, scandal and legislative gridlock. Woodrow Wilson suffered through World War I, the rejection of the League of Nations and a stroke. Even Franklin D. Roosevelt reached his lowest point during his second term, when Congress blocked his plan to stack the Supreme Court.

— PoliPundit

“This has been just a brutal two weeks for him. He had people telling him the Swift Boat ads weren’t going to take because the media was going to ignore them.”

– a Kerry adviser, explaining Kerry’s missteps in August.

The Kerry people can’t be blamed for their assumption. The old media certainly did their very best to ignore the Swiftees.

— PoliPundit

For those who missed the convention speeches, particularly those of Ron Silver, Rudy, and the three woman tribute to the heroes of 9/11, C-Span has the video available online here. Please watch them. C-Span is also currently posting on their homepage the link to yesterday’s Washington Journal episode with Hugh Hewitt. It is worth watching to hear him explain how the “New Media” is combating the misrepresentations and ommissions of the Old Media.

UPDATE: Jay Nordlinger really loved the Ron Silver speech as well. He also pointed out something that I didn’t – how articulate Silver was in the post-speech interviews he gave. He really is a thoughtful and intelligent guy.

— Lorie Byrd

Andrew Sullivan is back from vacation and doing some great writing. I have been critical that he seems to have let gay marriage trump all other issues of late, but his reviews of the McCain and Guiliani speeches are definitely worth reading.

Giuliani was on fire. He spoke so easily, so amusingly, and so emotionally that for long passages, you forgot he was giving a speech and felt he was talking with you. His iconic status is oddly a problem for him, because it has tended to obscure his street-smart, clear-eyed chattiness - the kind of thing a New York mayor can use from time to time. But it was on display last night to great effect. Again, Giuliani spoke to Bush’s emotional intelligence after 9/11, his genuine attempt to do what he believed was best for the country at a time of terror, and to Bush’s personable nature. You just cannot imagine a story in which a huge, ham-handed construction worker would ever give John Kerry a big, warm bear-hug. Or that John Kerry would answer a long disquisition from a man in a hard-hat and feel satisfied to respond with two simple words: “I agree.” Again, Giuliani reminded us of why we tend to like George W. Bush. (Personally, I’d rather have pins stuck in my eyes than endure a conversation with John Kerry, but I’d love to hang with Bush.) All of this matters. A president in wartime needs to be able to connect with people. Bush can. Kerry can’t.

— Lorie Byrd

Alert Reader Gary pointed out this telling passage from today’s must-read Note:

What Democrats really fear now: that they might only be able to win the White House when an anomaly occurs (Watergate or the once-in-a-lifetime political skills of Bill Clinton).

— PoliPundit