THE PRESIDENT MAKES HIS CASE

President Bush gave his acceptance speech last night.  For the most part the message was on the right track.  Sorry to say, though, it is a lot easier to read George Bush's speeches than it is to listen to them.   I was transfixed by by Arnold and  Zell ...but delivering a speech is not Bush's strong suit.

The message  was very strong on national security and the war on terrorism.  It was also loaded with billions in new government spending, as if Bush hasn't spent enough in his first term. 

He started off talking about September 11th in broad terms, and also praised Americans in uniform that  have served in the war on terror.  From there, he launched into his laundry list of spending initiatives, beginning with talking about the No Child Left Behind Act.  He also talked about the prescription drug benefit for Medicare, which might get him more votes in Florida, but will cost us all billions of dollars.  Boy, compassionate conservatism sure is expensive.  He also talked about the economy, particularly job creation.  "To create jobs, we will make our country less dependent on foreign sources of energy. To create jobs, we will expand trade and level the playing field to sell American goods and services across the globe. And we must protect small business owners and workers from the explosion of frivolous lawsuits that threaten jobs across America."  Rhetoric?  We'll see.

By the way ... do you realize that trial lawyers cost the American economy about $600 billion a year? 

Then he got to the tax code, and came up a bit short.  "Another drag on our economy is the current tax code, which is a complicated mess - filled with special interest loopholes, saddling our people with more than six billion hours of paperwork and headache every year. The American people deserve - and our economic future demands - a simpler, fairer, pro-growth system. In a new term, I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code."  While the idea of tax reform is a good one, simplifying the tax code is not good enough.  Rearranging the window dressing on the IRS does not get to the root of the problem.  Too bad he didn't talk about H.R. 25, which is the Fair Tax proposal.   My information is that there is a strong contingent within the White House that is promoting the Fair Tax ... we'll see how that pans out IF George Bush wins reelection.

Bush talked about lawsuits, and how they drive up the costs of health care, particularly with lawsuits against OB-GYNs.  That, by the way, is how John Edwards became a multi-millionaire.   (which is how The Tort King made his millions.)   The president also touched on Social Security, and once again advanced his proposal that younger workers be allowed to invest a part of their own money in a retirement plan instead of having it confiscated by the federal government in the "Social Security" scam.  He didn't quite put it that way, but you get the idea.

Then he got to the good stuff, the War on Terror: "Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror, Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders, Saudi Arabia is making raids and arrests, Libya is dismantling its weapons programs, the army of a free Iraq is fighting for freedom, and more than three-quarters of al-Qaida's key members and associates have been detained or killed."  He also talked about the tough decision he faced in ordering the invasion of Iraq, and made a pretty good case for doing what he did.  Bush also took the Johns to task over their vote to authorize force, saying "In Saddam Hussein, we saw a threat. Members of both political parties, including my opponent and his running mate, saw the threat, and voted to authorize the use of force."  Of course, they now say they voted for the war, just not the way the president fought it.  Whatever.

President Bush also called out The Poodle for criticizing out allies..."In the midst of war, he has called America's allies, quote, a "coalition of the coerced and the bribed." That would be nations like Great Britain, Poland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, El Salvador, Australia, and others - allies that deserve the respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician."  Of course to the left no international coalition is legitimate without full participation of the Axis of Weasels. 

The speech ended strongly, with the president talking about spreading liberty and freedom in the world, which is a cause the appeasers do not believe is just.  It's too bad Bush doesn't believe in limited government just half as much as he believes in freedom.  The two go hand in hand.  You can't promote freedom and big government at the same time.

The speech was interrupted a couple times by malcontents trying to embarrass the president, but they just wound up being dragged out while the audience shouted them down.  Good riddance and may they spend a few weeks as guests of New York's finest.

So now the convention is over, and the 60-day sprint to the general election begins.  The first debate is September 30th.  Will the president get a large bounce out of the convention?  We'll see.  One things for sure, if he gets no bounce, you can expect the Bush-hating media to talk about it more than they did when The Poodle's convention fell flat.

THEY'RE STILL JUST "ARMED TERRORISTS"

This morning Russian security forces launched an assault on the thugs holding women and children hostage in a Russian school.  Hopefully a lot of the terrorists are dying, and a lot of children aren't. 

Once again this morning, it doesn't make any difference which news outlet you're listening to ... those Islamic radicals holding those hostages in a Russian school (and now hopefully dead) are still just "Chechnyan rebels", "hostage-takers" or "armed terrorists."  It seems that nobody in the media is willing to identify them for what they are ... Islamic terrorists.  By the way ... Russian authorities are now saying that there may be as many as 800 children in that school .. or more.  These peace-loving Muslims saw some children trying to escape the school earlier today.  They shot them in the back.  That, I believe, is what led the Russians to finally act.  These Islamic killers must be absolutely delirious over the prospect of being able to kill that many innocents in one action.

We'll keep you posted on the action during the show today.  Not one of the Islamic terrorists should be allowed to leave those school grounds alive.  Those who already have should be tracked and killed like the animals they are.

EDWARDS:

Interesting words from John Edwards yesterday:  "I want a president who will stand up and fight for us, not one that will fight other politicians."  This comment was made by Edwards at the very same time that the Kerry campaign is making plans to focus on what they consider to be the "failures" of George Bush for the next week or so.

Is anyone really listening to what these people are saying?

SO .. NOW ZELL MILLER'S A RACIST.

In the 1960's Zell Miller was the Executive Secretary to Georgia Governor Lester Maddox.  Maddox is commonly referred to as a "segregationist."  When Miller delivered a keynote address for Bill Clinton during the 1992 Democratic National Convention no mention was made of Miller's relationship to Maddox.  Now that Miller is supporting a Republican the Democratic Party is starting to call him a "racist."  West Virginia's Robert Byrd, a former KKK member, had better be careful not to stray too far from the Democratic plantation.  God only knows what they would say about him.

THE POODLE'S MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

Speaking of The Poodle, Kerry and Edwards gave a midnight speech in Springfield, Ohio as a sort of response to the president's speech.  The Democrats know they  have to carry Ohio, so the choice of venue was not a surprise.  It was the standard sKerry stump speech, but contained a number of outright lies that are worth nothing.

Right off the bat, The Poodle said "For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander-in-chief."  Sorry, folks.  That's a lie.  It's the Max Cleland lie.  There was not one single speaker at the Republican National Convention attacked John Kerry's patriotism.  In their dishonest desperation, the Democrats are resorting to simply repeating over and over what they know not to be true.  Then The Souffle continued with his nonsense: "I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq."  So .. there you go!  It's the leftist standard "If you didn't serve in Vietnam you can't comment on anyone who did" line.

First of all Senator Kerry, I thought whether you served in the military or not didn't matter?  Kerry had no problem with Bill Clinton, who dodged the draft outright.  Does is sound to you like the Kerry campaign is getting desperate?  They know they cannot refute the message, so it's time to attack the messenger.  Is this all they have?  Are we going to have to sit through two months of the same broken record over and over?  Ahhhhh yes ... 'fraid so.

And what of this nonsense that we were "misled" on Iraq?  Didn't we just learn that two government reports have now exonerated President Bush on intelligence used as the basis to invade Iraq.  There was no misleading.  You can only mislead someone if you know to be untrue what you are telling them.  If anything, The Poodle is the one misleading people.  Don't expect the mainstream media to call him on it, though.

He also took a lame, weak personal shot at the president by calling his speech "All hat, no cattle."  That's a reference to the president somehow being a phony cowboy.  John Kerry ... mounting his trusty windsurfer and skipping across the waves into the sunset.  All wetsuit .... all wet.

AND NOW HE'S ATTACKING DICK CHENEY

At the same speech last night, The Poodle also took a shot at Vice President Cheney's deferments he received while not serving during the Vietnam War.   Amazingly, Kerry still can't let go of the Vietnam War.  "The vice president even called me unfit for office last night.  I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty."

So let me get this straight...five deferments to avoid serving is wrong, but three questionable Purple Hearts used to get out of Vietnam after four months is better?  Right. 

Let's recap:   The Kerry/Edwards plan for winning the presidency seems to revolve around a few central themes:

• My patriotism is being attacked by the evil Republicans (it isn't, and never has been)

• They didn't serve in Vietnam, I did (So what...neither did Bill Clinton, and his opponents in '92 and '96 were both war heroes)

• President Bush misled the nation on Iraq (He didn't, and the evidence exonerates him)

• Don't bring up my Senate voting record.  This is all about my Vietnam service record.  Any mention of my Senate voting record is an attack on my patriotism.

• I snowboard and windsurf.  Wouldn't I look good in the White House?

Where's the beef? What are their issues?  The economy is taking off like a rocket...they've got nothing to talk about, and it shows.

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