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I woke up this morning to a ton of e-mail from aggrieved southerners, almost outnumbering the ton of spam for generic Viagra, which I've forwarded to the RNC. Anyway, southern voters resented my (and John O'Sullivan's) assertion that they hadn't voted for Mitt because he was a Mormon. Au contraire, they said they hadn't voted for Mitt because he's a north-eastern liberal. Whatever. I rather enjoyed this Georgia gal's take: I was one of your "No Mormon, no way, no how" Southerners until someone at a dinner party asked me if I'd support Orrin Hatch for President. And you know...

Just 60 days after forming an exploratory committee to defeat John Kerry for the US Senate in 2008, Jeff Beatty is receiving favorable support from voters across Massachusetts. A July poll conducted by the renowned Zogby organization shows Jeff Beatty to be in a virtual tie with the junior senator and former presidential candidate. Zogby provided respondents with basic biographical information on John Kerry, Jeff Beatty and other Republican candidates and then asked “who would you vote for?” Results in the head-to-head competition were: First; Kerry 48 % Beatty 45% (3 point margin – error margin 4.1% = a tie)...

I started a joke, which started the whole world crying, But I didn't see that the joke was on me, oh no. I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing, Oh, if I'd only seen that the joke was on me. -- The Bee Gees, 1968 WASHINGTON -- Tell me if you've already heard this one: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq.'' That was the hilarious...

The most amazing thing about John Kerry is that anyone withhalf a brain would still take him half as seriously as he obviously takes himself. If he’s not putting his foot in his mouth, he’s attempting to extract it, as he is again this morning, trying to blame everyone but himself for his outrageous defamation of America’s fighting forces, slurring them as unproficient, shallow-minded cannon fodder. Appearing in California to ostensibly assist Phil Angelides, a Democratic candidate for governor, Kerry warmed up by suggesting George W. Bush used to live in Texas, “but now lives in a state of denial.”...

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee leaped to the defense of the party's 2004 presidential nominee Wednesday against charges that he was insulting American troops serving in Iraq. Howard Dean, in comments to reporters in his home state, said Sen. John Kerry had committed "a blooper," but the reaction had given Democrats an opportunity to highlight what they describe as the Republicans' weaknesses on the Iraq war. "Kerry made a blooper. Bloopers happen," Dean said at the state party's campaign headquarters. "I think we want to focus on the president's intemperate rhetoric in saying to vote for a Democrat...

You've got to wonder about John Kerry's eye-hand coordination. His career is falling into a pattern. Whenever Kerry is confronted with a big decision, he tries to compensate for his last mistake. He voted against the first Iraq war, which turned out to be a success. So when the second one came around, he swallowed his misgivings and voted for it. That also turned out to be a mistake. So when it came time to vote for the $87 billion to fund the war that he had voted for, he produced what must be the single most damaging sound bite...

Democratic Sen. John Kerry on Monday urged people of faith to work cooperatively on problems such as poverty, global warming and reducing the number of abortions - "godly tasks" that transcend the nation's culture wars. In a speech laced with anecdotes of his own journey of faith, Kerry, a Roman Catholic, told students in a speech at Pepperdine University that "we can take up God's work as our own. "Shame on us if we use our faith to divide and alienate people from one another, or if we draft God into partisan service," Kerry said. "As God gives us the...

By abandoning Joe Lieberman because of his support for the war on terror, Democrats have decided that Kool Aid will be the party drink of choice in November. Poison will be provided courtesy of Howard Dean and the Democratic National Committee. Mass graves are now being excavated, using only union labor of course, in anticipation of November election results. Just a couple of months ago, liberals were basking in the glow of new public opinion polls showing Democrats gaining voter confidence in their ability to handle national defense and terrorism. Imagine that: voters actually started trusting Democrats over Republicans when...

WASHINGTON -- The comic career of Senator Jean-Francois Kerry is picking up steam, or gas, as the case may be. This inveterate windbag is, according to the New York Times, reopening the Swift Boat controversy of 2004 that did such damage to his presidential prospects when hundreds of the Vietnam War veterans who served with him deflated his reckless boasts of military gloire. He has undertaken this quixotic mission claiming that he can repristinate his military record despite the Swifties' evidence against it. Then the delusory senator from Massachusetts seems to think he will be a shoo-in for the presidency...

After making a wrong turn in the lobby of a Washington hotel a few weeks ago, I found myself having to edge my way out of a conference room filled with glassy-eyed liberals, standing in rapt adulation while Senator John Kerry (D-MA) stood on stage, publicly purging himself of his 2002 vote for the Iraqi war resolution. My good friend, Professor Maroon was with me. “I was afraid this might happen,” he said. “We’re in the middle of the ‘Take Back America’ conference. Last time I saw a group of liberals look this catatonic was when Al Gore was in...

While Democrats bristle at Republican descriptions of their Iraq policy as "cut and run," Sen. John Kerry, the author of a bill defeated today in the Senate, used that very term to criticize President Bush's consideration during the 2004 election campaign of a timetable for withdrawal. In a December 2003 speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, the Massachusetts Democrat said he feared that "in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy," notes Townhall.com writer Tim Chapman. "Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop...

WASHINGTON — Two potential 2008 presidential candidates appealed Tuesday for the Senate to support their call to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq"by a hard and fast deadline,"a position putting them at odds with most of their fellow Democrats. "Our country desperately needs a new vision for strengthening our national security, and it starts by redeploying U.S. forces out of Iraq,"Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin wrote in an e-mail sent to 3 million people nationwide. "It's time for every member of the Senate to send an important message that we must change course,"the senators wrote,...

WASHINGTON (National Catholic Reporter) – In the not too distant past it would have been redundant for the Democratic National Committee to hire a “Catholic Outreach” coordinator. Those duties – negotiating with a powerful cardinal, lining up support from an influential union leader, getting out the big-city vote – were handled by party chairman whose names (Farley, Flynn, Hannegan, Boyle, McGrath, McKinney, Bailey, O’Brien) read like roll call at an Ancient Order of Hibernians meeting. Today, however, the creation of such a job is considered not only pragmatically essential but symbolically important, a mea culpa of sorts for neglecting the...

As President Bush and Iraqi leaders on Thursday welcomed the announcement that coalition forces had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, some in the anti-war community used the development to call for troop withdrawals while others downplayed its significance. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who was beaten by President Bush in the 2004 presidential race and had recently renewed his call for speedy troop withdrawals from Iraq, on Thursday praised the service members involved in Zarqawi's killing. Coalition forces "did an incredible job hunting him down and destroying him, and all of America is proud of their skill and commitment,"...

Sure, Kerry has been formally ‘excommunicated’ from the Catholic Church. Actual excommunication was likely long before we thought. But 2004 is when you heard from the Vatican that it was official. But the real question is, what about the rest of all the Catholics in public office? Unfortunately, there are many Catholics who refuse to believe and vote for Catholic principles. What should be done with them? It’s true that 24% of the American population claim they’re Catholic. But it’s also true that voting for a politician who votes for policy in direct opposition to Catholic doctrine(i.e., the “non-negotiables”: 1)abortion,...

While Al Gore is commanding all the attention of those searching for the "un-Hillary," there's another candidate who is quietly doing the work it actually takes to run for president. While Al Gore continues to protest that he isn't running, there's another candidate who is privately making no bones about his future prospects. While Al Gore has yet to acknowledge that he lost, there's another candidate who is belatedly addressing the mistakes that caused his defeat. The "un-Gore," "un-Hillary" is John Kerry. He is doing everything Gore isn't doing to prepare for a presidential run in 2008. He is running...

Sen. John Kerry joined most of his Democratic colleagues last week in voting to build a wall along 370 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border. But he now says that after the wall is built it should be taken down as soon as possible. "I voted for it," Kerry acknowledged Friday while speaking to the New England Council breakfast. But in quotes picked up by the Boston Herald, the Massachusetts Democrat added: "If I were making the long-term decision, I’d announce, you know, hopefully it’s a temporary measure, and we can take it down as soon as we have enough people"...

"If we got out," asked Tim Russert on NBC's "Meet the Press" recently, "and there was a civil war, chaos, and you saw al Qaeda moving in -- in record numbers -- would you go back in?" Russert's guest, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., replied, "Well, first of all, I heard the same kinds of suggestions at the time of the end of the Vietnam War. The 'Great Bloodbath,' we're going to have over 100,000 people that were going to be murdered and killed at that time. And for those of us who were strongly opposed to the war, [we] heard...

John Kerry’s list of travel demands makes Dick Cheney "look like a travelin’ rube,” according to the Smoking Gun, an online site that has obtained both the vice president’s and Senator Kerry’s lists of demands. Kerry’s demand list was compiled during the 2004 presidential campaign and circulated by the would-be president’s advance team to prepare hotels for a Kerry visit. The documents reveal that Kerry "hates celery,” and instructs, "NEVER order Tomato based products OR sandwiches [sic].” Thus, ketchup, the condiment that made Mrs. Heinz Kerry’s previous husband enormously wealthy, is out of the question. Kerry does like fruits –...

SPRINGFIELD, ILL. People who pretend to have earned some of the nation's most prestigious military medals, including the Purple Heart, the Medal of Honor and others, could pay a fine of up to $200 under a bill being considered today by the state Senate. "For one in our society to falsely represent themselves as having received that very, very important recognition, I think is a serious offense not only in law but to our morality," said Rep. Dan Burke, D-Chicago, the bill's sponsor. It makes exceptions for actors, historical re-enactors and costumes at Halloween. The measure, which originally applied only...

If nothing else, this year's State of the Union speech, known inside the beltway as SOTU, served as a reminder to many conservatives why they are so darned displeased with much of President Bush's domestic agenda, but also why they had absolutely no choice but assure his re-election over Sen. John F. Kerry in 2004. Fear is a powerful motivator. And unhappy conservatives in 2004 harbored a double-dose it as they trudged to the ballot box. Fear that John Kerry would be in charge of the war on terrorists. And fear that John Kerry would get to appoint Supreme Court...

WASHINGTON -- Liberal Democrats waged an eleventh-hour attempt Monday to block Samuel Alito's Supreme Court confirmation, arguing that he would tilt the high court further to the right. GOP Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island also announced that he would vote against Alito's confirmation. He is the only member of the Republican Party so far to announce that he will vote against the conservative judge. "I think he is the wrong judge at the wrong time in the wrong place," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a longtime liberal stalwart. "I do not believe he is going to be part of...

Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) is traveling in Davos, Switzerland, but that didn’t stop him from launching what conservatives are calling an “international filibuster” against Samuel Alito. As CNN reported Kerry’s plans to filibuster Alito’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the liberal People For the American Way reacted with glee to the news. Kerry’s cohort from Massachusetts, Sen. Teddy Kennedy, also offered encouragement. Was it a coincidence? At 5:31 p.m., the National Abortion Federation (the professional association of abortion practitioners) released the following statement: "Today, the National Abortion Federation calls on Senators to use the filibuster to stop the confirmation of...

See this thread first for example. John Kerry called a filbuster 'gainst Alito, but he could muster much less than 40 votes so, (unlike the Swift Boats) no Purple Heart--more like George Custer

The Congressional Quarterly reported today that Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) has not only announced his opposition to Judge Samuel Alito’s confirmation to the Supreme Court but has used that as a fundraising platform. Instead of using his senatorial connections to spread the word of his decision, he utilized ties to his political action committee – sending out 3 million e-mails to supporters of his 2004 presidential campaign, according to CQ. The release of Kerry’s statement couldn’t have been better timed. The Senator issued the letter to coincide with the anniversary of Roe v. Wade in his effort to raise funds...

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," Oct. 26, 2005, that has been edited for clarity. COLMES: Democrats are addressing more serious issues, like the war in Iraq. Earlier today Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) spoke at Georgetown University in Washington. I caught up with him for an exclusive interview after the speech. COLMES: Do you expect indictments to come down toward the White House? SEN. JOHN KERRY: I don't have a clue. I read what everybody else reads. Honestly, I don't know. COLMES: Do you think there should be resignations, with or without indictments? KERRY: Well, I...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Entering a fight over union rights that could have national implications, Sen. John Kerry warned Thursday that a ballot initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could tip the balance of democracy by muzzling the voice of working people. Proposition 75 would force public employee unions, such as those representing teachers, firefighters and prison guards, to seek written permission from members before using dues for political purposes. Kerry, speaking outside a downtown firehouse, said the initiative would condemn workers to "a completely unfair system." The proposal "represents part of an ongoing effort by the Republican Party to...

"THEY are like mules," a particularly cool bishop remarked the other day of progressives in the Catholic church. "They have no heirs." Might this also be true of the deconstructionist Left in politics, with its conceivably sui generis progenitors traceable only back to the counter-cultural sixties and seventies? There's an argument to be made. The re-election of George Bush, an unequivocally combative conservative, and the return of John Howard for a fourth term, suggests climate change in American and Australian politics rather than seasonal variation. After fighting Bush with dedicated unscrupulousness throughout the presidential campaign, The New York Times tacitly...

Sen. John Kerry keeps telling us that "the rich" need to pay more in taxes. The senator and his wife are among the 400 richest Americans. He says that he has "a plan to tax the rich." Under the senator's tax plan, what percentage of the Kerrys' income do you think they would pay the IRS? (a) 50 percent, (b) 40 percent, (c) 30 percent, (d)15 percent. The correct answer is (d) 15 percent. According to an analysis by the Argus Group, a well respected tax law and economics firm, the Kerrys' average tax rate would only increase by 1.8...

Less than two weeks before Election Day, Kerry held a statistically insignificant 1 percentage-point lead in three of the key battleground states carried by Democrat Al Gore in 2000, was tied in a fourth, and trailed President Bush in three others. All were within the poll's margin of error

Advisers to the Massachusetts senator acknowledge that he trails Bush in West Virginia, but they insist the state is still within reach.

Poll gives Kerry 48%, Bush 47%.

TRAPPE, Md. - John Eisenhower, son of Republican President Eisenhower, said in a newspaper column this week that he will vote for Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) for president on Nov. 2. In a rare public announcement, Eisenhower said he switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent after 50 years after losing confidence in his former party. He said Kerry has demonstrated courage, competence and a concern for tackling the "widening socio-economic gap in this country."

Here's a letter I received today from Terry Sater, a Vietnam Vet who served with the Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta during 1968 and 1969. He writes that "I'm not part of a 527. I voted for McGovern, Perot and Bush. I didn't volunteer for Nam. I didn't want to go. I am not a hero. I served with heroes. Kerry has dishonored all of us." Sater said he sent the letter to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but doesn't expect it will run. It it is reprinted here in its entirety: People don't get it. They point out...

Last weekend's hatefest in New York City, in which John Kerry endorsed the vicious attack of Hollywood hacks on the Commander-in-Chief, provides a sad portent of things to come. Leftist hate group MoveOn.org announced last week that it has enlisted the help of the Hollywood elite in its partisan campaign to smear the president and stigmatize America’s War on Terror. According to a Time magazine story (“I’m Rob Reiner, and I Approve This Ad”), such Hollywood powerhouses as Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, Rob Reiner, “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin, Ed Asner, Danny Glover, Al Franken, the ubiquitous Kevin...

For Kerry, Taking Care Not to Get Lost in TranslationBy JODI WILGORENPublished: June 7, 2004 OLEDO, Ohio — Senator John Kerry may speak French fluently, but he does not speak it publicly, at least not anymore. In a high school commencement address here on Sunday, on the 60th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, Mr. Kerry skipped yet another opportunity to use the language he learned in high school.In his best American accent, Senator Kerry referred to the "glorious boys of Pointe du Hoc," emphasizing each consonant: POYNT-doo-HOCK. The text of his remarks even left the "e" off the first...

Blanchard says Kerry state director to be named soon By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN The Associated Press 6/1/2004, 6:50 p.m. ET LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has tentatively scheduled another Michigan bus tour for June 16-17 and on Tuesday unveiled new ads to run in Michigan and other key states. But he has yet to name a state director to run his campaign here. Former Gov. James Blanchard, a Kerry campaign adviser in Michigan, said an announcement should come in the next two or three days. He has been pushing for someone to be named for...

Mayor Daley scolded Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry Tuesday for making a wisecrack about the bicycle accident that scraped the face, hands and knees of President Bush. According to the Drudge Report, Kerry was having a conversation with reporters that he apparently believed was off the record when he reportedly asked, "Did the training wheels fall off?" Daley, who ripped the skin off his kneecap during a bicycle accident a few years ago, said the joke was disrespectful. "When someone falls . . . you should not wish ill upon anyone. It's not right. . . . You just don't...

WASHINGTON – It was the news conference John Kerry did not want to see happen. In a standing-room-only suite at National Press Club, former “Swiftee” John O’Neill, spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, told reporters that the junior U.S. senator from Massachusetts spent 45 minutes on the phone with group founder Rear Adm. Roy Hoffman, USN (Ret.), trying to “discourage” the band of brothers from going public with their united sentiment that Kerry is unfit to be the nation’s commander in chief. The effort failed, and in a 90-minute session one veteran after another described with brutal honesty why...

<p>April 10, 2004 -- John Kerry nurses a tot in Chicago yesterday.</p>

<p>March 8, 2004 -- Internet surfers who log onto presumed presidential nominee John Kerry's official campaign Web site can access documents containing obscenities.</p> <p>Typing various curse words into the search-engine box on johnkerry.com will bring up transcripts of press clips that contain the X-rated words.</p>

Among Sen. John Kerry's top fund-raisers are three Iranian-Americans who have been pushing for dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran. Most prominent among them is Hassan Nemazee, 54, an investment banker based in New York. Nominated to become U.S. ambassador to Argentina by President Bill Clinton in 1999, Nemazee eventually withdrew his nomination after a former partner raised allegations of business improprieties. Nemazee was a major Clinton donor, giving $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the 1996 election cycle and attending at least one of the famous White House fund-raising coffees. In 2001,...

Catch The Bleat today. Our good friend, James Lileks, dismantles Kerry's "God is on our side... most of the time..." position. Scroll past all the movie nonsense on the top to get to the following: ------------------------- Love this. From Drudge: Elizabeth Bumiller of the NEW YORK TIMES asked Kerry: "President Bush has said that freedom and fear have always been at war, and God is not neutral between them. He's made quite clear in his speeches that he feels God is on America's side. "Is God on America's side?" Oooooh, that’s a good one. It lets the questioner get in...

Did he or didn’t he? Get Kerry-ed away and have it off with an intern. It’s either one or the other, and I guess we have to take Alexandra Polier at her word and believe he didn’t. Kerry is one bad dude, and I don’t mean just because he didn’t do it. I mean his lifelong habit of getting a rich woman to pick up the tab. I know I’m being old-fashioned and all that, but I was taught that one marries for love, not money. Mind you, he’s not unique. In the circles I used to run around in,...

LONDON (AP) — A British newspaper on Tuesday defended the accuracy of its story quoting the father of Alexandra Polier, the woman who has been the subject of rumors linking her to Sen. John Kerry. The unsubstantiated rumors arose on the Internet last week, saying that Polier, a 27-year-old freelance journalist, had an affair with the front-running Democratic presidential candidate. Both she and Kerry have denied the allegation. On Friday, The Sun tabloid quoted Polier's father, Terry, as being harshly critical of Kerry. In statements released to The Associated Press on Monday, Terry Polier, of Malvern, Pa., said that he...

<p>Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is going personal, working overtime to connect with voters while trying to counter his aloof image and capitalize on his success in Iowa.</p> <p>When a teacher recently complained about low pay and crushing student loans, Kerry pressed her. "If you don't mind me asking, how much do you make?" he asked.</p>

<p>April 28, 1971, 4:33 p.m. President Richard M. Nixon takes a call from his counsel, Charles Colson.</p> <p>"This fellow Kerry that they had on last week," Colson tells the president, referring to a television appearance by John F. Kerry, a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.</p>

Some Duplicates. 1985-1986 S885 - Prohibits the obligation of funds during FY 1985 and 1986 for the testing of anti-satellite weapons against objects in space unless the President certifies to the Congress certain findings on actions taken by the Soviet Union. (Way to react instead of Act Johnny) S.1363 - A bill to prohibit the use of the mails to send dangerous martial arts weapons (We need Karate Control!!!) S.1553 - Prohibits the sale of beverage containers without a minimum refund vale. Prohibits the sale of metal beverage containers with detachable openings. (Like Michigan's refund system, but federalized) S1920 -...