MY THANKS .......

To the Florida Concrete Products Assn. for their kind hospitality at the Gaylord Palms hotel outside of Disney World yesterday.  I truly enjoyed haranguing you during your convention luncheon yesterday afternoon.   I also want to thank Tom Hoof, Steve, Mike and the great folks at Disney for providing me with an excellent broadcast location for yesterday's show.  If my flagship station treated me the way Disney does ... with the catering and all ... I wouldn't fit into a broadcast booth.

OK ... ABOUT THE DEBATE

I actually stayed up to watch the so-called "debate."  It's now before 5:00 am and I am drawing some notes together.  No problem ... I can always take a nap this afternoon and,  after all, it's not like my job requires any heavy lifting.

Now ... some disjointed thoughts on the debate.

It looked like Bush was a bit slow getting started.  The hesitations in his language stand out in contrast to the determined rhetoric of John Kerry.   It's probably wiser to listen to the actual words being said rather than the hesitations.  There's enough "ahs" and "uhs" during one of my shows to drive anyone nuts.

Kerry failed to make any convincing case that his "plan" for Iraq was any different than what George Bush is doing over there now.

The debates were basically boring and a bit stifled.  Could this possibly be because that's exactly what the candidates wanted?    They don't want an open confrontation with their opponents.  We should demand it.  Wouldn't it have been great to see these two men sit on opposite sides of a table for ninety minutes and just go after each other?  That way the voters really would have learned something.

Strong moment for Bush?  There was one Kerry line that Bush used to good effect; Kerry's line that this was the "wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place."  How, Bush asked, would Kerry ask European allies to send their troops to a battlefield for the "wrong war at the wrong time in the wrong place?"  And what kind of message are you sending our troops when you tell them you are fighting the wrong war, you're fighting it at the wrong place, and you're fighting it at the wrong time?

This, more than anything else from last night's debate, is the most revealing admission from The Poodle.  He was asked by Lehrer about his position on the concept of preemptive war.  What he let slip should give everybody a very good reason to not even dream about voting him into office.

Here is what he said: "But if and when you do it, Jim, you have to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons."  Oh really?  So basically what he is saying...is that the United States is not allowed to defend itself unless and until:

• We pass the "global test."  That means that if attacked, we shouldn't defend ourselves unless France thinks it's okay.

• We prove to the world that we did it for "legitimate reasons."  Really...so who decides whether or not our reasons were "legitimate?"  Our leaders, or world leaders?   What  meets the standard of that legitimacy?  Does the U.N. have final say?

In all candor I have to say that John Kerry will be considered to be the winner, whatever that means, of last night's confrontation.  He didn't win on policy, he won on smoothness.  When I was practicing law there were many times when opposing counsel showed more style and class in presenting their case to a jury.  Didn't matter.  I had the facts on my side ... and my client came out on top.  As for Bush and Kerry:  It's what they said, not how they said it.  I just hope we have an electorate that can figure this out.

Time to sit back and wait for the polls.

A GROUP OF FOLKS?

What the hell was THAT all about?  At one point in the debate last night George Bush referred to these bloodthirsty Islamic terrorists .. murderous bastards who shoot children in the back ... as "a group of folks."  Group of folks?  I saw a group of folks gobbling hamburgers at the airport yesterday.  They weren't plotting ways to kill as many Americans as they possibly could.  They weren't plotting their next assault on a school ... possibly practicing with some target practice on pictures of children.  Group of folks?  How about "These are bloodthirsty killers with the technology, the means and the intention to murder tens of thousands of Americans."

Weak. 

OH...AND THERE WERE FLIP-FLOPS

Despite a decent performance, you don't think The Souffle  made it all the way through a public debate without a few whoppers, do you?  Of course not.  There were some big ones...we'll hit the high spots.

Jim Lehrer asked sKerry about the times he has accused the president of lying about Iraq.  The Poodle replied that "Well, I've never, ever used the harshest word as you just did."  In other words, Kerry says he never directly accused President Bush of lying.  Let's go to the tape.

In December 2003, Kerry told a New Hampshire editorial board that Bush had lied about his reasons for going to Iraq.  In September of that same year, Kerry did the same thing saying "this administration has lied to us."  So if he thinks Bush is lying about Iraq, then he is lying about not accusing the president of being a liar, which he clearly has done.  John Kerry has a problem with the truth.  He just makes it up as he goes along.

Another example was when The Poodle was talking about Bush protecting the homeland.  Kerry said "That's why they had to close down the subway in New York when the Republican Convention was there."  The only problem with this?

Yep. ..you guessed it...the New York City subway did not close at all during the convention.

THE POODLE GOT HIS NAILS CLIPPED

Well, isn't that nice.  On the way to the debate yesterday John Kerry stopped to get a manicure.  Now that's the way to identify with the common man in America .. .get a manicure.  Nothing wrong with manicures ... but my guess is that less than one percent of the people who are likely to vote for Kerry have ever had one.  He would have been better off going to sit in a middle class barbershop somewhere.  Speaking of barbershops .... I wonder if The Poodle flew his groomer down to Miami for a bit of a touch-up before the debate.

THIS IS NOT TO BE BELIEVED.

It's CBS News again.  Seriously, these people have not a shred of journalistic integrity left. 

For the last week or so there has been an email racing through millions of computers claiming that George Bush is ready to crank up the military draft as soon as the election is over.  CBS found some woman named Beverly Cocco who said that she was petrified that her sons would be forced into the service after she got the email saying that the draft was pending. CBS identified Ms. Cocco as an "ordinary housewife."

OK ... what didn't CBS tell you? 

• CBS didn't mention in the story that Ms. Cocco was not, in fact, an ordinary housewife.  She was the president of an organization called "Parents Against the Draft."
• CBS didn't mention in the story that the Selective Service had declared that there was no plan to reinstitute the Draft and that the emails were proven to be bogus.

Now you would think that if you're going to do a story about parent's fears that the draft may be reinstituted, you would want to identify a person profiled in the story as an anti-draft activist, and you would want to give the Selective Service side of the story.  But noooooooooo.

Now ... listen to this.  CBS is defending the story and the way they reported it.  The CBS reporter, Richard Schlesinger, said that whether or not the emails were true was "almost beside the point."  The CBS producer for the story told a writer that "the truth of the emails was absolutely irrelevant" to the story.

Folks ... I really don't know where to go from here.  CBS learns of some bogus email circulating which warns of the resumption of the draft.  They decide to do a story.  They contact an anti-draft activist who expresses her fears.  But never ... never in the story do they identify the story as being debunked or the activist status of the Beverly Cocco.  Then they making statements saying "what the hell, it doesn't really matter whether or not the story is true."

Why did CBS run the story anyway?  One reason.  The template.  Because they felt that the story would harm George Bush.  Now the standard seems to be if the story would hurt Bush, but is provably false ... go with it.  The end justifies the means.

GETTING STRONGER

Media Audit reports that News/Talk radio is number one in terms of total audience and total household income for 81 of the largest radio markets in the country.  Not only does talk radio get the most listeners ... they're also the most affluent listeners.  Just thought I would mention it.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Question:  Who would you trust more to face down the next nuclear threat?  You do know that it is very likely that our president is going to have to face down a nuclear threat sometime soon, don't you?

The media was anxious to report that George Bush's hometown Crawford, Texas newspaper has endorsed John Kerry.  Now you can read what the New York Times and other leftist media outlets didn't tell you about the Lone Star Iconoclast.  For instance; The Iconoclast got its name from someone named William Cowper Brann.  Brann once said "The trouble with our Texas Baptists is that we do not hold them under water long enough."  This one is a good read.  You'll also learn something about Molly Ivins.

Here is the complete transcript of the entire 90-minute presidential debate.  Read it all the way through...impress your friends with your extensive knowledge about each candidate's positions ... or bore them, as the case may be. 

Some strategists are calling the debate a draw...saying neither side gained any ground on the other.

Looks like Jim Lehrer saved his toughest questions for President Bush, but threw plenty of softballs Kerry's way.  More than a few people noticed.

CBS News is defending their ridiculous story about the non-existent possibility of the draft returning.  Check out how they try and spin this one.

What's the easiest way to stop voter fraud?  Require a picture ID, says Michelle Malkin.  It seems so simple, doesn't it?  Too bad the Democrats don't really want to stop voter fraud.

So what is fueling the hatred for President Bush?  It's the moveon Democrats, writes Rich Lowry.  It's how Howard Dean got by for so long in the primaries.

Debra Saunders has an update on that special prosecutor's probe into who leaked the name of a CIA agent...and says it has turned into a colossal waste of money.

Dianne Feinstein has her panties in a knot because the White House may have helped write the speech the Iraqi Prime Minister delivered to Congress.  Just whose side is she on, anyway?

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?
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