WELL ... THAT DAMNED SURE GOT THEM RILED UP

So, why all the fuss? Because I said on Friday that I honestly couldn't make up my mind which group of people was more dangerous to the future of this country: (a) Islamic jihadist terrorists; or, (b) people who intended to vote for The Poodle for president.

It seems that some of the more strident complainers were convinced that I had compared Kerry voters to Islamic terrorists. This quality of thought is pretty much what you would expect from someone who would cast a Democratic ballot, but for those of you who did manage the incredible feat of graduating from a government school .. let's put that to rest. You can die if someone fires an apple at your head at 150 miles per hour. You can also die if someone drops a Volkswagen on you. Either the apple or the VW can be dangerous, but that does not mean that apples and VWs are alike. Ergo ... saying that both Kerry voters and Islamic terrorist can be dangerous is not necessarily comparing one to the other. I know that's a bit tough for you government school grads, but if you read this paragraph a few times I'm sure you'll get the idea.

Now ... let's deal with the question of whether or not I was out of line suggesting that Kerry voters, as a group, could possibly be as or more dangerous to this country as, say, whatever remains of al Qaeda.

First question: Can voters actually be dangerous? That's a hanging curve ball. Hitler was elected in Germany. Nuff said.

So ... second question. Can Kerry voters be dangerous. Well now that would be a matter of opinion, wouldn't it? My opinion is that they very well can be, especially if there are enough of them out there to actually put Mr. Paper Cut Purple Heart into the White House with his trial lawyer pal. I consider Kerry to be dangerous to the future of our Republic, to freedom and to economic liberty. You may disagree. So be it. Consider, though, my reasoning. Here's a brief list of the threats Kerry poses to our country, not necessarily in the order of their severity.

1. Kerry is soft on sovereignty. As Boston Herald columnist Cosmo Macero says: "Never has the dilution of U.S. Sovereignty been so boldly forecast." This is a man who said that the United States should not deploy troops overseas without the "permission" of the United Nations. He made no exceptions. He stated it as a hard and fast rule. Do we want a president who seeks the permission of the United Nations before he can act in what he believes to be the best interests of the United States? Oh .. to be sure, Kerry wouldn't dare make this statement today. He's running for office! Tell me ... just when do you think a person speaks his true mind? Hint: It's not when he's in the middle of the campaign. Remember ... Kerry has instructed Democrats to hold back on their anti-war statements during the convention. He knows that many of the voters he wants to convince approve of the liberation of Iraq. He also knows that most of the voters don't think the UN should have veto power over US military deployments. Believe him now at your peril.

2. Kerry is an appeaser. Kerry knows that many of the principal members of the European Union want to build the strength of that body on the declining weakness of America. The leaders of these countries are quite upset over George Bush's show of strength in the Middle East. They knew the threat was there, but it was a threat they didn't have the courage to face. The US did. The US is showing strength, Europe is showing weakness. Naturally this is going to breed bitterness toward our country. Kerry wants to address and moderate this bitterness by weakening America through a policy of appeasement.

3. Kerry is a tax-and-spend liberal.  Just recently Microsoft announced that it was going to distribute $32 billion ... that's with a "B" ... in Microsoft cash to shareholders via a dividend. Give The Poodle his way and the dividend, which has already been taxed by the Imperial Federal Government, will be taxed again when it reaches the shareholder. How nice. Kerry's spending plans, if enacted, would essentially double the size of the federal government. Virtually every economist out there not working for the government credits Bush's tax cuts with our economic turnaround. Raising taxes is a good way to stop our economy in its tracks.

4. Kerry sends a message of weakness. Islamic terrorists are emboldened when they believe their enemies to be weak. Disagree if you wish, but there's a school of thought out there which believes that the election of John Kerry would send a signal to the wonderful world of Islamic terrorism that America is once again ripe for an attack. I attend that school. How many Americans will die when Kerry brings us the era of appeasement?

5. Kerry sends a message of government dependency. Whatever you need, the government is there to provide it for you. Kerry is pressing the concept of health care as a right. This means that the person in need of health care would have, under a Kerry regime, an enforceable right to a portion of the life of some health care provider somewhere. If health care is a right, what else? The right to a home? The right to a job?

I've said it before, but here we go again for the record. We're in the middle of World War IV. Bin Laden has pledged to kill as many Americans as he can. He has even set a goal of four million. Will you be one of those? How about a member of your family? The Democrats are going to nominate a man who was opposed to removing Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. A man who voted for the Iraq war, and then voted to deny the funding our troops needed to pursue that action. The Democrats are nominating a man who believes that the United Nations should have veto power over American military moves. A man who would weaken the American economy through ratification of the Kyoto Treaty and the imposition of tax increases on the very people who are now powering our economic revival.

Kerry is dangerous. Anyone who would put him in power is dangerous. Islamic jihadists are dangerous. The question as to which group presents a greater threat to our Republic, to our freedoms and economic liberty is a valid one. I suspect that some Kerry voters are just a wee bit uncomfortable with the possible consequences of their actions,

TO BASH OR NOT TO BASH

Well isn't this nice....it looks like the Democrats have had a sudden attack of conscience and are worried about how much they bash George Bush. Apparently, DNC chair Terry McAuliffe has expressed concern that the Bush-bashing could get out of hand. Staffers have been told to be on the lookout for "unreasonable" campaign signs. Drudge has a story quoting McAuliffe as saying "we are not Michael Moore." In other words, these people have to pretend they're somebody else while their convention is going on, otherwise voters will be turned off by their hateful, leftist ranting.

Problem is, the Democrats can't control their flock. Despite the headlines that say Democrats are all united behind Kerry, that's a load. if The Poodle wins, all these groups and protected classes are going to expect to cash in on their promised hand-outs of legislation or funding. They hate Bush on an unprecedented scale, and they're not going to stop bashing the President just because Terry McAullife or John Kerry or anybody else tells them to. The media has made sure the 'Bush lied' Michael Moore crowd is now the face of the Democratic party, and they won't go quietly.

Incidentally, that same story reports that all of the speeches are being edited by The Souffle's people...except for Al Gore and Ted Kennedy. Given Gore's last couple speeches, the Bush-bashing could be off the Richter scale. We'll see.

Anyway, they might not bash Bush at the convention, in order to pretend they're somebody they're not and try and appeal to swing votes, but once they hit the campaign trail, The Poodle and The Puppy and all their surrogates will be right back to the same old same old. Back to the same vote pandering to one group or another.

As you will notice during the convention this week, they will be for or against any issue, and will say anything to get elected.

DNC PUTS PROTESTERS IN A CAMP

Rather than letting people protest near The Fleet Center, they are putting them in a camp....at least, that's what it looks like. I walked through it this morning. The protester's cage is about a block away, a maze of overhead netting, chain link fencing and razor wire will be the protesting area. Can you imagine if the RNC did this? It would be the top story on every newscast and in every newspaper....the left would accuse them of suppressing free speech! It would be compared to Nazi Germany!

But when the Democrats do it, nary a peep. Well, not much of a peep. Some of the protesters have figured out what is happening and are calling it a concentration camp, saying their First Amendment rights are being trampled on, etc. Authorities are actually lowering the amount of people that can protest, from 4,000 to 1,000. 

Democrats know they need to sweep the loony left fringe under the rug if they're going to win....and this is a shining example. We'll see what happens in the media if the Republicans do the same thing.

POODLE'S OWNER TELLS REPORTER TO SHOVE IT

Well, this is unbecoming of a potential first lady. Sunday evening, immediately following a speech she gave calling for a more civil tone in politics, Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry Bonaparte told a reporter to 'shove it.' For those who need an explanation, that's shorthand for "sticking it where the sun don't shine." My, my, my...not very civil, are we?

The Poodle's owner was speaking to the Pennsylvanian delegation at the statehouse in Boston, when she delivered this line: "We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into our politics." Right after the speech, Mrs. Kerry pushed aside the Secret Service and found Pittsburgh Tribune Review reporter, Colin McNickle. She gets to him, asks him if he is from the Tribune Review, he said yes, and she says "Of course, understandable. You said something I didn't say. Now shove it!"

Now that wasn't nice. Just ask yourself what would have happened had Laura Bush told someone to shove it. Compare the coverage that this will get with the coverage Dick Cheney got for telling off Patrick Leahy. But hey ... Teresa's language is mild compared to some of the reports we've heard about The Hildabeast.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Protesters? The anti-war groups are here, of course, but thus far the group that is making the noise would be the aborto-centrists, the anti-abortion protesters. They're armed with huge pieces of chalk and are scrawling their messages all over Boston. Some anti-war protesters beat the dog squeeze out of an aborto-centrist yesterday because they thought his sign was "offensive."

While the fight between the abortion protesters and the non-violent peaceniks was going on, one woman was heard screaming "You're stepping on my peace signs!" The anti-war protesters countered the anti-abortion protesters with chants of "free abortion on demand." So, now not only should abortion be legal ... but someone else ought to pay for it. Typical.

Those speeches you'll be hearing from Shrillary, Bubba and the rest of the speakers this week? All of them have been submitted to The Poodle's keepers in advance. Kerry's dog washers are making sure that all mean references to George Bush and strong anti-war statements are taken out. The Kerry crowd wants to cleanse the entire convention so that the Kerry's phony lurch to the center won't be compromised.

BOSTON TRIVIA

Why does the mayor of Boston's license plate say "576"? It is the number of letters in the name of the first Mayor of Boston to have a car, James(5) Michael(7) Curley(6).

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Check out the video of Mrs. Kerry telling that reporter to 'shove it,' right after giving a speech on civility in politics.

Should The Poodle campaign on national security issues, or domestic ones?  Dick Morris says Kerry has to figure this out-- and soon.

Well, it's finally sinking in at the big three broadcast networks...more and more people are turning to talk radio and cable for their political convention coverage.  The liberal dinosaurs are slowly becoming extinct.

The United States has agreed to grant citizenship, provide housing, provide furniture, teach English to and provide welfare benefits to 7,000 Muslims from Russia.  Go ahead, click the link...I'm not making it up.

The Souffle has decided to stop bashing Bush....and instead focus on what his ideas are for the country.  What a novel idea....too bad it won't last.

This should tell you all you need to know about the Palestinian terrorist organization....with the full knowledge of Yasser Arafat, Palestinian businessmen are making millions selling Israel concrete for the security wall they supposedly oppose.  Hypocrisy, anyone?

Even though the media is sweeping the story under the rug, it looks like Sandy Berger tried as hard as he could to destroy all the copies of the after-action millennium plot review.  Why?  Keep an eye on this story...if even a small percentage of what is rumored is true, Berger could be up the river without a paddle.

Mark Steyn takes on Max Cleland....and laments Democrats' fixation with the past when it comes to the war in Iraq.

sKerry can't win unless he can succeed in answering four obvious questions....and William Kristol tells us what they are.

Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld says Kerry will use the same bag of tricks against Bush that he did against him in the 1996 Senate race...be for and against both sides of every issue.  Fascinating analysis.

The electoral map is tight for the presidential election...currently favoring Bush.  But George Will says if 2004 winds up like 2000, Bush loses even if he wins.

No surprise here, but Dan Rather has really turned up his Bush-bashing lately. The Media Research Center takes note.

So is Sandy Berger just a regular guy caught in a non-scandal?  John Leo looks at the story, and what we know to date.

The Bush-haters aren't doing Kerry any favors, something Kerry seems to have figured out.  Jeff Jacoby has more.

Boston has never before hosted a major party convention....and Michael Barone has some tips on what The Poodle needs to do to be successful.

Some bloggers have press passes for the Democratic National Convention. Here's a site that is aggregating their posts.

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