In the last days before an election, tiny ripples in teapots have a way of becoming tempests, and so it was with the furor surrounding Sen. John Kerry’s dumb remark about getting stuck in Iraq.
Now that Kerry has apologized — after first fiercely refusing to do so — GOP strategists are jubilant. They should be. With the war going badly and the polls looking grim, a straw man happened along at a very convenient time. And he was bearing gifts.
No matter how obvious it was that Kerry’s original remark was a mangled jest aimed at President Bush, Republicans wasted no time casting the remark as further evidence of Democratic disdain for the military. For the Democrats, damage control meant joining the chorus. Said one Democratic strategist: “He has already cost us one election. The guy just needs to keep his mouth shut.”
Probably not a bad idea. But Republican outrage over his remark was overwrought, and Republican glee now is just unseemly.
Meanwhile, Democrats tried a counterattack, criticizing House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who in an interview Wednesday seemed to shift blame for the problems in Iraq from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to the generals. “John Boehner ought to be ashamed,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “He’s blaming our troops for failures in Iraq.”
Posted by Dave Knadler
Given all the problems in Iraq and the numbers of lawmakers, citizens and retired generals calling for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation, it was somewhat surprising that President Bush reaffirmed Wednesday his support for the secretary of defense. Why remind voters, less than a week before the election, of his stubborn unwillingness to hold Rumsfeld accountable?
Bush said Wednesday that he wants Rumsfeld to remain in the job until the end of Bush’s presidency, and he said that Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney are “doing fantastic jobs.” Bush said he is “pleased with the progress” Rumsfeld has made overseeing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and overhauling the military. But can America survive two more years of this “progress”?
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
If President Bush does make a campaign visit to Topeka this weekend on behalf of Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Topeka, it will be because Democratic challenger Nancy Boyda appears better positioned to beat Ryun this time than she was two years ago. No doubt the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s decision to spend $339,000 on television ads for her got the White House’s attention. This would be Bush’s third visit to Kansas during his presidency, his second to Topeka (he attended the dedication of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in 2004) and his second to Kansas this year (he gave a lecture at Kansas State University in January). Isn’t it time he paid a visit to something other than northeast Kansas, say, Wichita?
By the way, that may be an unusual amount of presidential attention for this Republican state, but three times is comparatively nothing: Bush visited Florida last week for the 44th time during his presidency.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
To hear the White House and GOP operatives talk this week, a Democratic takeover of the House or full Congress would be apocalyptic. One thing is certain: It would be different. USA Today set the scene: The first woman speaker of the House. And committee chairmanships based on seniority, which means that, unlike now, the chairmen won’t be all male and white. “The gavel would go to at least four African-Americans, including John Conyers of Michigan at the Judiciary Committee helm and three women, including California’s Juanita Millender-McDonald and New York’s Nydia Velazquez, who would be the only Hispanic committee leader. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, who is openly gay, would lead a committee.” It’s possible that seven chairpeople could be older than 70. The piece ends with a pre-election caution, though, from Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., who could head the House Energy and Commerce Committee: “Before you sell the bear’s hide, you first have to shoot the bear.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Kansas campaigns have been low on snappy slogans this year. Don’t expect “Kathleen Sebelius. Leadership” and “Todd Tiahrt. Doing the right thing” to linger in the minds after the election. But we can enjoy Time magazine’s list of favorite slogans of 2006, including:
“How Hard Can It Be?” (Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman — in photo)
“Debbie Does Democracy” (Washington state legislative candidate)
“For the Love of God, Send Me to Tallahassee” (Florida legislative candidate)
“More of These Boobs” (Write-in candidate for Alabama governor whose T-shirts feature her slogan, her depicted cleavage, her opponents’ faces and the line, “And less of these boobs.”)
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Christopher Soghoian said he was just pointing out gaps in airline security when he posted a tool on his Web site letting anyone create fake boarding passes.
Right. Just like I’d be pointing out gaps in convenience-store security if I put out a box full of pistols and ski masks.
While Soghoian’s stunt did publicize a known vulnerability in passenger screening, there was probably a better way to do it than potentially endangering travelers — maybe an e-mail to the nearest TSA office. Instead, he took the self-aggrandizing way, proclaiming altruism only after the fact.
Now he’s upset about unwelcome attention from the FBI. Given the times, you’d think a smart guy like that might have seen it coming.
Posted by Dave Knadler
Baseball isn’t the only thing St. Louis is No. 1 at. A report by Lawrence-based Morgan Quitno Press listed St. Louis as the most dangerous city in the United States. The report said the “gateway to the West” had a 20 percent increase in crime between 2004 and 2005, compared with only a 2.5 percent increase nationally. Following St. Louis on the most dangerous list is Detroit and Flint, Mich., and Compton, Calif.
Overall, the 12 states comprising the Midwest region saw a 5.7 percent increase in violent crime. That’s three times higher than the rest of the regions. But maybe it’s like everyone says: The Midwest is always the last to adopt trends.
Posted by Angie Holladay
