Free Republic

President Bush and Vice President Cheney sounded more presidential than their Democratic counterparts. Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) seemed the most depressed or suicidal. And Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards K(N.C.), sounded the most like a "girly man." Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin collected transcripts of 271 televised interviews, news conferences, town hall meetings and candidate debates conducted in 2004. The speech samples -- more than 400,000 words in all -- were run through a computer text-analysis program... ...The key to their study is previous research that has identified subtle but distinctive linguistic patterns and words...

WASHINGTON -- As Senator John F. Kerry prepared to make a return to presidential-style politics with a classic day of New Hampshire campaigning, he said that the 2004 run left him tougher and more eager to fight. ''When you get knocked on your ass and lose a race, you've got to stop and reflect on what you're doing, why you're doing it, what matters, and what's important. And I did," Kerry said in an interview in his Senate office on Thursday. ''There's a very different John Kerry now who is absolutely crystal clear about how I communicate what I need...

Prof: Don't look to '08 dems by Zack Barangan March 08, 2006 Former Democratic consultant Robert Shrum spoke at the NYU School of Law yesterday, answering students’ questions about his role in John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run and offering his own theories about how the Democratic party can reclaim influence in America. Shrum — who most recently was a consultant for the Gore and Kerry presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004 — spoke at the lecture titled “Using Your Law Degree in Public Service and Politics,” sponsored by the Law Democrats. Shrum, who is now a senior fellow at the...

<p>That's all he has on his site. No link yet.</p>

Kerry Still Thinks He'll Get Nod in '08 If at first you don't succeed... A former top campaign fundraiser to Sen. John Kerry insists that when the smoke clears in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination for president, Kerry will once again be the party's nominee. Here's the scenario the aide outlined for NewsMax: Hillary Clinton is the front-runner and she has the money and the organization to capture the nomination. Other potential candidates, including Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and Mark Warner, don't have the money and will run out of cash before the race is over. Not John...

2006 Some Democrats Are Sensing Missed Opportunities - February 7, 2006 By Adam Nagourney & Sheryl Gay Stolberg - The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/politics/08dems.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1139674067-k3fdmSc/3BoquL+jgwL5Cg&pagewanted=print 2005 Democrats In Disarray - September 27, 2005 By E. J. Dionne Jr. - The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601462.html 2004 Democrats in Disarray - September 8, 2004 By Tony Blankley - The Washington Times http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20040907-095329-3380r.htm 2003 Editorial: 2004 looms larger: With Democrats in disarray and Bush's numbers in decline, the choices of Iowans grow in importance. - August 9, 2003 By The DesMoines Register Editorial Board http://desmoinesregister.com/opinion/stories/c2125555/21954389.html 2002 Democrats in Disarray - November 7, 2002 by...

One word I'd like on my tombstone to describe myself for generations to come? President would be a good one.

Rutgers University scientists say their research suggests some people voted for George W. Bush rather than John Kerry because of concerns about death. Florette Cohen, a graduate student in social psychology and Daniel Ogilvie, a psychology professor, used research based on the 2004 presidential election. They found voters in a "psychologically benign state of mind" preferred Kerry to Bush, but Bush was more popular than Kerry after voters received a subtle reminder of death. Citing an Osama bin Laden tape that became public a few days before the election, the researchers say many Americans' unconscious concerns about death resulted in...

It's the beginning of a new year, and the upbeat State of the Union speech has emboldened me to express deep gratitude. So I would like to take this chance to thank Ralph Nader and the people who supported him and voted for him thereby handing the 2000 election, and maybe even the 2004 election, to George Bush.The truth (or is it truthiness?) of their argument that there wasn't really that much difference between George Bush and Al Gore or John Kerry, between the Republicans and the Democrats is becoming increasingly clear, now that certain developments have taken place. These...

As coincidence would have it, Mark Crispin Miller's new book, "Fooled Again" (Basic Books), documenting the Republican theft of the 2004 presidential election, arrived in the same mail delivery with the Jan. 12 edition of the Defuniak Springs Herald, the locally owned weekly newspaper in a Florida panhandle county seat. The Florida panhandle is thoroughgoing Republican. Even Democrats run as Republicans. Nevertheless, the newspaper's editor, Ron Kelley, believes that American political life is measured by something larger than party affiliation. In his editorial, "The Shepherds and the Sheep," Kelley reports that two Florida counties have banned any further use of...

From a Senate source: Kerry's call for a filibuster comes after his leadership, that is, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, decided there won't be one. In other words, Kerry was making a brave, Kos-friendly pronouncement in the total confidence that a filibuster will never happen. And now, word is, he is off to Davos to continue what some Republicans are calling a "filibluster."

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry has decided to support a filibuster to block the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, CNN's Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry reported Thursday. Kerry, in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum, was marshaling support in phone calls during the day, Henry said.</p>

With Republicans scrounging around for an able successor to President Bush in the 2008 election, Washington's focus is fast turning to an escalating battle on the Democratic side between front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and 2004 nominee Sen. John Kerry . Whispers learns that Kerry is not just testing the waters: He's running . "His family wants him to run again," says one pal. Proof he's in: Kerry has added names to his E-mail list of 3 million, kept johnkerry.com alive and kicking, raised boatloads of cash for friendly Democrats, and moved to seize control of hot-button issues like kids'...

An email from Mark Crispin Miller Regarding his new book Fooled Again Bush/Cheney stole their re-election in 2004. They stole it not just in Ohio, but all throughout the USA, from coast to coast. They stole it not by using any single ploy, but through a stealthy combination of computerized vote theft, bureaucratic monkey business, systematic shortages of viable equipment and old-fashioned dirty tricks, including rampant bullying, disinformation and obstructionism. Such foul play was not apparent "on both sides" in the 2004 election, but was committed mainly by the Bush Republicans. The evidence is both abundant and precise--and it's all...

In late November, George W. Bush went on the political offensive over the state of the war in Iraq. Determined to get his groove back after weeks of being pummeled by revitalized Democrats, Bush delivered a major speech outlining his “plan for victory.” Democrats, smelling blood, carefully plotted their response. The party’s Senate leadership decided that Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island would deliver their rebuttal. As a former member of the Eighty-second Airborne who had opposed the war from the start, Reed had the perfect credentials to remind Americans about Bush’s mismanagement of the war and of the grim...

Is it just me, or is Kerry getting meaner [more desperate?] In any case, here's his latest emailed nasty-gram: Dear , I've been hearing a lot of talk about what we're up against in the critical 2006 elections as we take on the corrupt, power-abusing, Swift Boat style-attacking Republican Party. But, truth is, they need to worry about what they're up against. Just look at what we've done in the last twelve months. Time and again, we've demonstrated that we have the power and political will to fight for the things we value most and for the candidates who embody...

If the Democrats want to know why they keep losing, all they have to do is run a replay of Martin Luther King Day. If they do, and if they are not brain dead, they'll immediately notice the difference between Republican President George W. Bush's MLK Day speech at Georgetown University and the rantings of the opposition party. In one speech, the president took pains to say how proud he was to be in the presence of the president of the NAACP even though that organization has never supported him, has frequently said disparaging things about him, and even ran...

George Clooney, who it seems considers himself a terrorism expert, now may believe himself to be an A-list political consultant if a report from the UK is to be believed. The published report makes that claim that the 'Syriana' actor is the reason that John Kerry was defeated in 2004. No - this is not satire. The report seems to originate with Contact Music UK and the website notes that the actor "was one of several screen stars invited to ride on Kerry's election train." The claim - it all went downhill for the Democrat when Clooney stayed away.

George Clooney is convinced he ruined John Kerry's chances in the race for US president in 2004 - by snubbing an invitation and hurting his feelings. The Ocean's Twelve actor was one of several screen stars invited to ride on Kerry's election train, but it all went downhill for the Democrat when Clooney stayed away. He recalls: "Kerry asked me to ride on his train - he had a train going cross-country after he was nominated and some actors went on board. I called him and explained that I couldn't do it. I'd hurt him. I'd actually caused him harm...

George Clooney is convinced he ruined John Kerry's chances in the race for US president in 2004 - by snubbing an invitation and hurting his feelings. The Ocean's Twelve actor was one of several screen stars invited to ride on Kerry's election train, but it all went downhill for the Democrat when Clooney stayed away. He recalls: "Kerry asked me to ride on his train - he had a train going cross-country after he was nominated and some actors went on board. I called him and explained that I couldn't do it. I'd hurt him. I'd actually caused him harm...