The nation’s largest TV chain orders all 62 stations to show an anti-Kerry movie without commercials next week.

More at CNN Money. Why isn’t this worthy of their front page I wonder?

Discussion at Democratic Ungerground.

President Bush again sounded insulted that anyone could dare criticize him or ask him a question. Kevin Drum sums it up nicely for me. Really. He does remind me of someone who is a bit… bipolar. And Kerry does need to find a new way to say “I have a plan”. Then again, Mithras could be right in saying that Bush may have won slightly since his strategy seems to be to pursue the ‘dumb’ vote.

Bottom line, even with a better Bush effort, Kerry sounded and looked Presidential, gave substantial answers to questions, and handled the heat nicely, while Bush did not. Like Garret, I gotta wonder about those folks who want to see Bush reelected in the face of so much evidence. As he says, leadership requires effective communication. Something Bush is not capable of.

That’s Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., summarizing the long awaited report intended to be last word on WMDs and Iraq. The report lays bare that Iraq’s last secret factory was destroyed in 1996 by President Clinton. There were no WMDs in Iraq when we attacked. There haven’t been for a long, long time. Meanwhile Iran has tested a strategic missile.

Dick Cheney said he never met John Edwards, so what about this Dick:

“Congressman Wamp, Senator Edwards, friends from across America, and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world: Lynne and I are honored to be with you all this morning.” – Dick Cheney

Judging how well the candidates got their message across I would relunctantly say it was a draw. Too many of Cheney’s lies went unchallenged. As I said to many friends, this one would be close to call. Passion, eloquence, and a integrity versus an insider who has been playing the game a long, long time. Hopefully the truth will be outted and the lies exposed for the public to see.

Thanks to Eschaton for the pic and the details.

Update: The more I think about it, the more I believe that Cheney may have fought last night’s battle to a draw, but in doing so, has lost the war. He’s exposed, for the world to see, his lack of credibility and willingness to lie, in a way that can’t be denied.

More at Political Wire.

The DCCC exposes President Bush’s hypocracy. Bush wanted to influence what Kerry would say or make it sound weak. It backfired. Now, whenever I hear someone using the phrase ‘mixed-messages’, I won’t be able to help think of the person as a Bushite.

Over at Political Wire comes some great news. Register if you haven’t and if you know how someone can, help others do the same. This is not an election that we can afford to be decided by others. And then tell Andy Rooney to bite it.

Pennsylvania is one of the states where the election will be decided. Imagine how the past four years would have been with Al Gore. Your vote counts, and if you choose not to vote, you have made a choice for Bush, whether you like it or not. There are reasons they are attempting to depress turnout with their negative campaign. It’s because when people speak up, things can change.

1. You can verify you are registered by calling a phone number on this list. In Philadelphia it is:
   Mr. Bob Lee Voter Registration Admin. Riverview Place, 520 N. Delaware Ave. 5th Fl. Philadelphia, PA 19123-4295 (215) 686-1500 OR 1505. Everyone I have given this number to has been pleasently surprised at the fast and friendly service provided. Go city of Philly! Call it if you have a question. Do it now!

2. If you are not registered, or have changed your personal information in some way, in Pennsylvania, the League of Women Voters give the simplest information on how register or re-register. You’ll want to read their FAQs. The main site is a wealth of information on your rights and what to look out for.

3. Seventy.org has a clickable map, for Philadelphians to locate their polling place.

4. After you are registered and confirmed it, get involved to get out the vote.

5. Help the EFF to verifiy every vote gets counted. The EFF is providing background information on the new E-voting systems that have been rolled out across the country. Seventy.org has details on the machines we are using in Philadelphia.

6. If you’re interested in what money your candidate is taking from whom, check out opensecrets.org. A site many more should visit.

7. Election Protection is a link to pass around. There is a history of voter intimidation in some parts of Philly. This is a national resource to make sure your vote gets counted.

8. The Smithsonian’s “The Machinery of Democracy” is an online exhibit that “explores how ballots and voting systems have evolved over the years as a response to political, social, and technological change, transforming the ways in which Americans vote.” Fascinating stuff.

9. The following is NSFW: Votergasm wants you to take a pledge: Have sex with your friendly voter on election night and withhold sex from your friendly non-voter. Cybersex doesn’t cut it folks.

10. And finally, you maybe wondering, “What Are You Voting For?”. This linked comic book lays it bare for you in clear terms. Pass it around.

The Bush campaign spin seems to be influencing Mr. Jarvis’s take on what John Kerry sees as the real enemy in the war on terror. In this post he’s asking to hear John Kerry admit that the true enemy we face is Islamic fascism itself. Well guess what Jeff?

…The war on terror is as monumental a struggle as the Cold War. Its outcome will determine whether we and our children live in freedom or in fear. It is not, as some people think, a clash of civilizations. Radical Islamic fundamentalism is not the true face of Islam. This is a clash between civilization and the enemies of civilization; between humanity?s best hopes and most primitive fears. The danger we face today will become even greater if the terrorists acquire what we know they are seeking ? weapons of mass destruction, which they would use to commit mass murder. We are confronting an enemy and an ideology that must be destroyed. We are in a war that must be won.

Americans know this. We understand the stakes. On September 11th there were no Democrats, no Republicans. We were only Americans. We all stood together. We all supported the President. We all prayed for victory, because we love our country and despise everything our enemies stand for.

But three years after 9/11, we see our enemies striking — in Spain, in Turkey, in Indonesia, in Kenya, and now every day — in the most despicable and gruesome ways in Iraq, which was not a terrorist haven before the invasion. In fact, there were more terrorist attacks in the world last year than the year before. And we see an administration in confusion; we hear the president, the commander in chief, proclaiming one day that this war can?t be won and then saying something different the next day. And we hear the Secretary of Defense himself wondering whether the radicals are recruiting, training, and deploying more terrorists than we?re capturing or killing.

Then, yesterday, when asked about conditions in Iraq, Secretary Rumsfeld told Congress, and I quote: ?Let?s pretend, hypothetically, that you get to election time in January and let?s pretend that it?s roughly like it is, or a little worse, which it could be, because you?ve got to expect it to continue?.So be it, nothing is perfect in life.? If there was any doubt that the leaders of the Bush Administration are living in a fantasy world of spin, I think Secretary Rumsfeld put that doubt to rest.

We need to end this confusion. We need national leaders who will face reality ? not only in Iraq but in the war on terror. And we need a president who has no doubt that the war on terror can and must be won.

The invasion of Iraq was a profound diversion from the battle against our greatest enemy ? Al Qaeda — which killed more than three thousand people on 9/11 and which still plots our destruction today. And there?s just no question about it: the President?s misjudgment, miscalculation and mismanagement of the war in Iraq all make the war on terror harder to win. Iraq is now what it was not before the war ? a haven for terrorists. George Bush made Saddam Hussein the priority. I would have made Osama bin Laden the priority. As president, I will finish the job in Iraq and refocus our energies on the real war on terror.

I will wage this war relentlessly with a single-minded determination: to capture or kill the terrorists, crush their movement and free the world from fear. To destroy our enemy, we have to know our enemy. We have to understand that we are facing a radical fundamentalist movement with global reach and a very specific plan. They are not just out to kill us for the sake of killing us. They want to provoke a conflict that will radicalize the people of the Muslim world, turning them against the United States and the West. And they hope to transform that anger into a force that will topple the region?s governments and pave the way for a new empire, an oppressive, fundamentalist superstate stretching across a vast area from Europe to Africa, from the Middle East to Central Asia.

The American people have a right to hear the answer to a fundamental question: How are we going to win this war? What is our strategy for eliminating the terrorists, discrediting their cause, and smashing their forces so that America can actually be safer?

John Kerry: Speech at Temple University, 9-24-2004

The long slide is over. Seeing Bush and Kerry side by side exposed who looked and sounded presidential versus who sounded like a spoiled brat with five lines coached to him that he repeated over and over again with increasing frustration. More at Talking Points Memo.