I take issue with something Oliver Willis wrote about last night’s speech.

Perhaps it was thanks to being surrounded by the real Swift Boat veterans for the truth, or because he’s always been more comfortable with formality than the familiarity of the campaign trail - but Kerry made a clear case for why he’s the man for the job.

There are over 200 individuals, men who served with Kerry, men who served under Kerry, men who served over Kerry, who are a part of Swift Boat Veterans for truth. Of the famous picture of Kerry with twenty-two of his closest fellow officers, a grand total of TWO of them support the man. Eleven say he’s unfit, four are neutral, and two have died. Of the 23 other Swift Boat officers in Coastal Division 11, only two of them support Kerry as commander-in-chief.

You weren’t in Vietnam, Oliver. Either was I. So before you start making snap judgments about who’s telling the truth… why not listen to the men and what they have to say. They’re not against John Kerry’s foreign policy or domestic agenda. They are against a man who they feel betrayed fellow military members by his actions and comments after coming back from Vietnam.

Perhaps John Kerry is telling the truth and the Swifties are lying. I don’t know. You don’t know. But you might acknowledge that there are a lot of Vietnam Vets, including those who served with John Kerry who are angry and feel betrayed.

That’s the truth.

(now, when are you coming on the show?)

That’s my summation of John Kerry’s speech last night. I thought his energy level was good, I thought he looked comfortable (if a bit sweaty), but he ultimately failed to sell himself as a man with ideas.

“You don’t value families by kicking kids out of after school programs and taking cops off our streets, so that Enron can get another tax break.

We believe in the family value of caring for our children and protecting the neighborhoods where they walk and play.”

And what exactly are you proposing?

You don’t value families by denying real prescription drug coverage to seniors, so big drug companies can get another windfall.

We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest Commandments: “Honor thy father and thy mother.” As President, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits. And together, we will make sure that senior citizens never have to cut their pills in half because they can’t afford life-saving medicine.

Then how do you propose saving Social Security?

You don’t value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in the service, if you deny veterans health care, or if you tell middle class families to wait for a tax cut, so that the wealthiest among us can get even more.

First of all, the bake sale for body armor is a myth. As to the “tell middle class families to wait for a tax cut”… I remember getting my tax break. I remember it, Senator. It helped us buy back to school clothes for the kids. And trust me, I’m not among the wealthiest Americans. That you apparently consider me to be in that group scares the hell out of me.

What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, a steel worker I met in Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory literally unbolted, crated up, and shipped thousands of miles away along with that job? What does it mean when workers I’ve met had to train their foreign replacements?

How would you do things differently?

What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer I met in New Hampshire, had to keep working day after day right through her chemotherapy, no matter how sick she felt, because she was terrified of losing her family’s health insurance.

What’s your plan, and what will it mean to me?

What does it mean when Deborah Kromins from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania works and saves all her life only to find out that her pension has disappeared into thin air - and the executive who looted it has bailed out on a golden parachute?

What’s your plan to change that?

What does it mean when twenty five percent of the children in Harlem have asthma because of air pollution?

Pollution’s declining. Asthma rates for children in Harlem are increasing. I really need to hear some more research on this, but in the meantime… what’s your plan?

What does it mean when people are huddled in blankets in the cold, sleeping in Lafayette Park on the doorstep of the White House itself - and the number of families living in poverty has risen by three million in the last four years?

Did you ever notice, by the way, that homelessness only exists when a Republican president is in the White House? Bernard Goldberg documented that strange little fact in his book “Bias”. What Senator Kerry doesn’t point out is that while the number of families living in poverty has increased, so have the number of people who can now afford to buy a home for the first time.

And what’s your plan? Ah, here it is.

So here is our economic plan to build a stronger America:

Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping our jobs overseas. Instead, we will reward companies that create and keep good paying jobs where they belong - in the good old U.S.A.

Great! New incentives! Like what?

Investment in technology and innovation. Great! How much? What technology? Can you invest in innovation? Will these be grants, small business loans… what will they be?

Close tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping our jobs overseas. Mmkay. But what’s to stop the companies from then shipping all their jobs overseas?

Kerry did get specific when it came to the military. I’ll address that in a bit. Right now I have to tape a show with McCarville, airing this weekend on KTOK in Oklahoma City.

My friend Stace from Texas alerted me to the fact that Michael Moore didn’t show up in Crawford for the screening of Fahrenheit 9/11, despite saying he’d be there.

I’m not surprised. I mean, it’s not like you can trust what the man says.

Oliver Willis of Media Matters left a comment in the post about his colleague being outed as a blogger.

I just wanted to publicly thank Oliver for stopping by and leaving a brief comment. You see, last month Media Matters did a story on us, and we wanted Mr. Brock to come on NRAnews.com to talk about what he considered to be conservative misinformation. After several weeks of daily phone calls to Media Matters, we were told that they weren’t interested in appearing.

Now, I don’t about you… but if I were really serious about correcting conservative misinformation, I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to go on a program I thought was biased and let the listeners hear the evidence.

So what’s the deal, Oliver? Why won’t you guys come on the show? We’ll do it live, in studio even… that way we can’t edit you guys or do anything untoward. C’mon… it’ll be fun.

I sometimes get asked how it is that I can be so civil to those I disagree with politically.

My mother likes Teresa Heinz-Kerry.

You can’t call your mother a raving moonbat (though you might in fact, think on this point her grasp of reality is in a somewhat fragile condition).

My mother also likes Michael Moore.

She really likes John Kerry (but didn’t like Bill Clinton).

When those you love love (mostly) those you dislike, you learn not to take it personally. Yes, there are a few people who still get under my skin (Michael Moore, mom? you don’t mean it!), but for the most part, I can have a good natured discussion without wanting to strangle others.

Thanks Mom (but seriously… Michael Moore???)

I can’t even express my bafflement over this story.

Ever since voters began telling Teresa Heinz Kerry that they didn’t think much of the pumpkin spice cookie recipe her office had submitted to Family Circle’s presidential cookie bake-off, an aide said, Mrs. Heinz Kerry, the wife of the about-to-be Democratic nominee, has been thinking how she could tell America the truth: the recipe isn’t hers.

In an interview on National Public Radio that was broadcast yesterday, the cookies came up in conversation and in the direct, unvarnished style that people have come to expect, Mrs. Heinz Kerry said: “Somebody at my office gave that recipe out and, in fact, I think somebody really made it on purpose to give a nasty recipe. I never made pumpkin cookies; I don’t like pumpkin spice cookies.”

Get over yourself, Teresa. You’re neither cheeky nor sexy. You’re not a domestic goddess, you don’t make good cookies, and you don’t know how to handle the media, or even answer an honest inquiry. The more you open your mouth, the weirder you seem to be.

Actually, now that I think about it… keep talking. In fact, if you’d like I could probably get you your own talk show.

Joe Wilson’s Restore Honesty website is no more.

Apparently the “honesty” contained there was a little too dated. Too bad he’s still a Kerry advisor. The Senator really should drop him like Berger, but nope… Wilson’s in Boston today.

Steve, I’ve found your perfect woman.

She’s a Kerry-Okie, and she apparently shares your top hat fetish.

Go get ‘em tiger.

The web world seems to be aflutter with the news that blogger Atrios is really a guy named Duncan Black, who works for the not so balanced (in every sense of the word) Media Matters for America.

For that matter, so does Oliver Willis.

I’m not sure I see what the big deal is, other than the fact that a somewhat credible liberal blogger works for an uncredible organization like Media Matters. I guess it’s the whole “losing anonymity” thing. I’ve never really gotten into the anonymous thing to begin with… it reminds me too much of those guys who call in to sports talk shows with the name of GroundHawg Dave or Roosterman.

It certainly looks like Dr. Tom Coburn has this primary locked up, and could win this one without a runoff. With 26% of the precincts reporting, Coburn has 58% of the vote. I figured there would be a runoff, and I might yet be proven right, but for now it looks like this one is a blowout.

Consider me officially impressed.

Jami, who’s the Wyoming Coordinator for the Second Amendment Sisters, asked me to post her response to New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey’s recent comments.

Her comments are in italics. The original press release is in plain type.

Senate President Says Gun Advocates’ Message “Outside the Realm of Reality”

TRENTON - Senate President Richard J. Codey, the driving force behind New Jersey’s recent law to require childproof guns when the technology becomes economically viable, issued the following statement regarding today’s assemblage in front of the Statehouse of the Second Amendment Sisters, Inc., an organization that advocates for the dissolution of gun control laws under the guise of “a woman’s right to protect herself:”

“It may just be that I’ve been a little preoccupied with the recent enactment of the FY 2005 Budget, but I wasn’t aware that, as the Second Amendment Sisters claim, society had gotten so bad that a woman’s only hope to avoid violence is to carry around an Uzi and not be afraid to use it.

“That statement isn’t exactly true, mind you, but gun advocacy groups, like the Second Amendment Sisters, would rather that the general population believe otherwise, because it’s through misinformation and fear that their cause actually gains any footing. Regardless of the actual facts, they’re willing to push a bleak world view where a woman’s only chance of survival is to have a bigger gun than the next person.

The actual facts are that 1,357 women were forcibly raped in New Jersey in 2000. I take personal offense at the idea that he would ask 1357 New Jersey women to just lay down and take it this year. I find it appalling that he would completely disregard their plea to defend themselves, and say that their need is nothing more than a belief based on misinformation. More over, I would truly love to hear him tell these women why they shouldn’t be afraid of rape. I want to hear him tell all of us, why it’s NOT something to be feared.

“Call me naive, but I’d like to believe otherwise.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the world functioned within what we would all “like to believe.”

“I’d like to believe that there’s enough common sense left in the world that disputes don’t have to degenerate into a Showdown at the O.K. Corral. I’d like to believe that most women will choose to use basic common sense, such as traveling in large groups and only in well-lit, heavily populated areas, before resorting to violence on their own.”

Please somebody tell me why I shouldn’t be able to be alive, all by myself. Why should I not be allowed to ensure my own security, so that I can go about my normal daily tasks safely? We are not talking about disputes here. We’re not talking about the resolution to an argument. We are talking about defense against attack, which could end a person’s life. Since when is it common sense to just die, to avoid conflict?

“The presence of a firearm rarely defuses a potentially violent situation, but rather, escalates violence to the breaking point. Rather than advocating for more guns on the street, we should bring attention to the need for more policemen in high-crime areas. I may be out of line here, but I’d rather see the decision to use lethal force being made by a highly-trained safety expert.”

Yes Sir, you are indeed out of line. Nobody, not even ”highly trained safety experts”, can make criminals decide not to use lethal force. I also must wonder why you would prefer that it be up to the criminal, who would wish to do harm to an innocent, to decide whether or not his/her own violence should be abated. If criminals had that judgment, they would not be criminals. Is that not the argument you have made to try to criminalize self defense?

“While I don’t disagree with the argument that women’s safety issues are very important in today’s society, I think it’s downright unconscionable to use scare tactics to advocate for diminishing gun control laws, and allowing more weapons on our streets.

Sir, what is unconscionable, is to ignore a very real threat to your voting populace. The unconscionable here, is your dismissal of 1357 rapes in a year as ill cause for self defense. The unconscionable is to dismiss the 32,298 violent crimes that happened in New Jersey in 2000, as not worthy of action. For that matter it is truly disgusting that you as an elected official, wouldn’t prefer that 32,298 violent crimes in your own state, be stopped, or at least result in the criminal being the one to lose. How can you possibly dismiss all of that, and try to tell us that women’s safety issues, or the safety issues of anyone, are of any importance to you?

“When the Second Amendment Sisters are willing to have a rational discussion of how to improve women’s safety in a civilized world, I’m open to that discussion. If they’d rather live in the Old West, where gunfights on street corners were commonplace, I have a time machine I’m willing to sell them that will go nicely with their unrealistic world views.”

I would ask that Sen. Codey please define what a civilized world is. Because either the civilized world allows 1,357 rapes in his state a year, or he’s denying that they ever happened. So long as the civilized world contains rape and murder, I will gladly carry my side arm to ensure that it is not I who is raped, or murdered.

Thanks, Jami.

I had an abortion t-shirts from Planned Parenthood.

They have finally arrived!

Planned Parenthood is proud to offer yet another t-shirt in our new social fashion line: “I Had an Abortion” fitted T-shirts are now available. These soft and comfortable fitted tees assert a powerful message in support of women’s rights.

Order yours for $15 each.

Again, I’m not the most reasonable person on this issue right now, and I freely admit it. But I’d still like to offer the following slogans to Planned Parenthood, in case they need more t-shirt designs.

“I Destroyed A Fetus, Not An Unborn Child”

“Life Begins When I Say It Does”

“If My Parents Made The Same Choice I Did, I Wouldn’t Be Here Today”

John Kerry’s suspending advertising in the month of August, in order to save the $75 million dollars in federal spending for months closer to the election.

Luckily, the Democratic 527’s can step in with their own advertising. We won’t have to go a day without getting our reminders that

1- John Kerry served in Vietnam.

2- John Kerry is just like you and me.

3- Bush is a bad, bad man.

On an unrelated note, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen Conan O’Brien’s show. Too bad I missed this comment:

“Last night at a Democratic fundraiser, John Kerry played guitar while everyone on the stage sang ‘This Land Is Your Land’. Then Kerry admitted that much of this land is owned by his wife.”

Listeners to the show are well aware of the recent comments by New Jersey State Senate President Richard Codey, who responded to a recent rally by the Second Amendment Sisters by issuing a press release entitled “Codey to ‘Twisted’ Sisters: We’re Not Gonna Take It”.

Now, NRAnews.com contributing commentator Mike Adams has focused his attention on Senator Codey’s recent statements.

The press release can be found here. I’d like to point out a few of Codey’s statements.

“It may just be that I’ve been a little preoccupied with the recent enactment of the FY 2005 Budget, but I wasn’t aware that, as the Second Amendment Sisters claim, society had gotten so bad that a woman’s only hope to avoid violence is to carry around an Uzi and not be afraid to use it.

“That statement isn’t exactly true, mind you, but gun advocacy groups, like the Second Amendment Sisters, would rather that the general population believe otherwise, because it’s through misinformation and fear that their cause actually gains any footing. Regardless of the actual facts, they’re willing to push a bleak world view where a woman’s only chance of survival is to have a bigger gun than the next person.

I have to say that I’ve never before seen a press release (and I’ve seen many) that actually starts out with a lie, and then admits a lie. It’s odd, to say the least. And the 2nd Amendment Sisters don’t “push a bleak world view where a woman’s only chance of survival is to have a bigger gun than the next person.” As their mission statement says “We believe in personal responsibility, education, and enforcement of laws against violent criminals”. Oooh. That’s bleak.

Codey goes on to say:

I’d like to believe that most women will choose to use basic common sense, such as traveling in large groups and only in well-lit, heavily populated areas, before resorting to violence on their own.

Here that ladies? Just use common sense. Don’t leave the house after dark. Don’t live in rural communities. And for God’s sake, don’t go out alone!

It was pointed out in an email to me that Codey’s use of the Twisted Sisters song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” is a bit ironic, considering the lyrics.

E’VE GOT THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE AND
THERE AIN’T NO WAY WE’LL LOSE IT
THIS IS OUR LIFE, THIS IS OUR SONG
WE’LL FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE JUST
DON’T PICK OUR DESTINY ‘CAUSE
YOU DON’T KNOW US, YOU DON’T BELONG

OH YOU’RE SO CONDESCENDING
YOUR GALL IS NEVER ENDING
WE DON’T WANT NOTHIN’, NOT A THING FROM YOU
YOUR LIFE IS TRITE AND JADED
BORING AND CONFISCATED
IF THAT’S YOUR BEST, YOUR BEST WON’T DO

I’ve extended an invitation to Senator Codey to come on NRAnews.com with Marilyn Lapidus, the NJ coordinator for 2AS. He declined to do so, saying first the environment was “too heated”. We then invited him to appear on the show by himself, but his spokesman said he was far too busy getting ready to go Boston.

So we’ll try again after he gets back home. And we’re going to see if our convention correspondents can’t find Senator Codey while he’s there. If any bloggers attending the convention would like to help with the search for Dick… I’d be much obliged.

So the title of Star Wars: Episode III has been announced.

Click Here For The Title.

I wasn’t a big fan of the love story in Episode II. In fact, it was perhaps the worst love story I’ve ever seen on the big screen. Yet, like the big dope that I am, chances are I’ll see Episode III the first day it’s released.

And I do like the title. It’s obviously a nod to the original trilogy, and I like that… as long as this movie is Ewok free.

She’s not just a self-described sexy 65-year old. Teresa Heinz Kerry is also the proud owner of a bit of a temper.

“Shove it”, she said to a reporter who was seeking clarification on comments Heinz-Kerry made.

You really need to see the video to appreciate what a surreal moment it was.

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From The Corner comes notice of this odd fact.

Ted Kennedy has EIGHT grandparents. The rest of us only get four.

Sean Hackbarth from The American Mind points out a goof by the Kerry/Edwards campaign.

From the Washington Times report:

Sen. John Kerry spoke about the plight of the American worker when he traveled to Detroit earlier this week, a safe message for the blue-collar workers who build cars there.

So it was a little strange that the campaign picked as its press-pass logo for its Motor City tour the gleaming showcase car of a foreign auto company — Rolls-Royce — that makes cars priced far outside the financial reach of any middle-class voter.

“That’s an insult to the auto worker, it’s an insult to the American worker, it’s an insult to mainstream America,” said Sam Burwell from Corunna, Mich., a third-generation auto worker for General Motors. “It also shows who he’s really in touch with: his European, elitist French friends and not Americans like me. A Rolls-Royce, for cryin’ out loud.”

The attempted spin by the Kerry spokesman is almost as good a quote.

“I love the Red Sox.” Those the words of John Kerry, who attended the Red Sox/Yankees game last night.

Apparently he’s a huge fan of Red Sox 2nd baseman Bernie Williams.

I always enjoy reading James Joyner’s stuff, but I think this is an exceptional piece.

It’s a star studded Week in Review this afternoon on “Cam and Company”, heard every weekday 2-5 p.m. Eastern on NRAnews.com and Sirius Patriot 141. Joining me today will be syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, Kerry Spot reporter Jim Gerahty, and Jake from Smack My Booty.

Is it wrong of me to hope that both Jim and Michelle say the name of Jake’s blog on the air?

Topics will include the release of the 9/11 Commission report, Sandy Berger and Trousergate, and maybe even a preview of the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Also on the program today, at 2:20 Eastern time, Mark Levin, known to millions for his frequent appearances on Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh’s radio programs.

There’s a reason I don’t get the Washington Post delivered to my house. I just don’t trust the paper. Paul at Wizbang offers a great example of why you shouldn’t either.

And here’s the key paragraph of the 9/11 commission, as far as I’m concerned.

…In this sense, 9/11 has taught us that terrorism against American interests “over there” should be regarded just as we regard terrorism against America “over here.” In this same sense, the American homeland is the planet. But the enemy is not just “terrorism,” some generic evil. This vagueness blurs the strategy. The catastrophic threat at this moment in history is more specific. It is the threat posed by Islamist terrorism —especially the al Qaeda network, its affiliates, and its ideology.

As we mentioned in chapter 2, Usama Bin Ladin and other Islamist terrorist leaders draw on a long tradition of extreme intolerance within one stream of Islam (a minority tradition), from at least Ibn Taimiyyah, through the founders of Wahhabism, through the Muslim Brotherhood, to Sayyid Qutb. That stream is motivated by religion and does not distinguish politics from religion, thus distorting both. It is further fed by grievances stressed by Bin Ladin and widely felt throughout the Muslim world—against the U.S. military presence in the Middle East, policies perceived as anti-Arab and anti-Muslim, and support of Israel. Bin Ladin and Islamist terrorists mean exactly what they say: to them America is the font of all evil, the “head of the snake,” and it must be converted or destroyed.

It is not a position with which Americans can bargain or negotiate. With it there is no common ground—not even respect for life—on which to begin a dialogue. It can only be destroyed or utterly isolated.

In other words, we didn’t start this war, but we have to finish it… or we’ll be finished instead.

Looks like I’m not the only person having website troubles.

Try clicking the “What I Didn’t Find In Africa” link on Joe Wilson’s Restore Honesty website.

Perhaps Todd or Chris can help you out, Senator.

via Tim Blair

Anybody who tried to access the site yesterday after about 2:00 p.m. was probably unable to do so because of exceeded bandwidth. This is good and bad. Good because lots and lots of people are visiting the site. Bad because they won’t come back if there’s nothing here.

I’ve alerted Chris, who is a godsend when it comes to all technical blog-related issues. Hopefully we’ll get this fixed soon. I’m hoping that I can continue to maintain this blog without costing me a great deal of money. So far I’ve resisted the blogads and the tip jar, and I’d like to be able to continue to do that.