"Shortly after Christopher Reeve passed away, his wife, Dana, stood with me on a stage in Columbus, Ohio. She wanted to talk to America about her gutsy, heroic husband and his dreams for the future. She told us, 'He imagined living in a world where politics would never get in the way of hope.' Also with me that day was John Glenn, whose daring journey to explore the heavens made us hopeful again. In the closing days of this campaign, I ask Americans to choose the vision John Glenn embodies and Christopher Reeve never abandoned. On Tuesday, Americans face a fundamental choice: We can choose to continue the failed policies of the past four years -- or we can vote for a fresh start for America. For the past four years, George W. Bush has made the wrong choices for America. Nowhere is this more clear than in his catastrophic misjudgments in Iraq."

The Kerry campaign: "Kerry-Edwards campaign today announced the new video 'Your Stories,' and launched a comprehensive online effort to ensure an unprecedented number of individuals view it in the closing hours of the 2004 campaign. Through Banner Ads, Blogs and the JohnKerry.com e-mail list, the video will be viewed by an estimated over eight million individuals. 'Your Stories' features John Kerry on the campaign trail talking about the people he met along the way and the people he will fight for in the White House. This morning, the video is being emailed to Kerry's online supporters, as a special thank you for their support throughout the campaign. These are the millions of individuals that helped Kerry raise over $80 million online, have contacted more than half a million volunteers through JohnKerry.com's online Phone Corps, participated in thousands of canvasses across the country and tomorrow, will be a vital part of John Kerry's Get-Out-The- Vote effort."

USA Today: "Kerry said he has addressed voter concerns about changing leaders at a perilous moment. He noted that 35 newspapers that endorsed Bush in 2000 switched to supporting him this year. If your horse is heading 'over the waterfall,' he said, it's 'time to change horses.' Which is where he asserts Bush is heading. (Bush) has made 'bad decisions,' Kerry said, and 'does not know how to do the diplomacy necessary to make us safer. I know how to do the diplomacy. I can lead well enough to find out what all the options are. George Bush has never explored all the options.' What message would he give Americans as they go to the polls? That he can make America safer, fight a more effective war on terror, put the country back to work, be fiscally responsible, and make health care more affordable. In short: 'I can do a better job of meeting the needs of middle-class Americans and lift the country up and unite it. Period. End of story.'"

Reuters: " Democratic challenger John Kerry urged Americans on Friday to "wake up" and choose a new start on the economy and Iraq instead of four more years of President Bush 's "catastrophic mismanagement." Four days before the United States chooses its next commander in chief, the Massachusetts senator told supporters in Orlando they could not afford to re-elect Bush, "a president who's unwilling to admit the mistakes he's made and says he would do the same thing all over again." In the last of nine "closing argument" speeches in which Kerry laid out what he called the clear choices voters face on Tuesday, the former prosecutor offered a summary of his case: a fresh start versus more failed policies. "

The New Yorker: "Throughout his long career in public service, John Kerry has demonstrated steadiness and sturdiness of character. The physical courage he showed in combat in Vietnam was matched by moral courage when he raised his voice against the war, a choice that has carried political costs [such as the] Swift Boat ads. As a senator, Kerry helped expose [BCCI] the Bank of Commerce and Credit International, a money-laundering operation that favored terrorists and criminal cartels; when his investigation forced him to confront corruption among fellow-Democrats, he rejected the cronyism of colleagues and brought down power brokers of his own party [just as he went after] Oliver North in the Iran-Contra scandal. His leadership, with John McCain, of the bipartisan effort to put to rest the toxic debate over Vietnam [which] is emblematic of his fairness of mind and independence of spirit. Kerry has made mistakes [but] in contrast to the President [Kerry] has learned from them."

The New Yorker: "[When Kerry's] foes sought to destroy him rather than to debate him they found no scandals and no evidence of bad faith in his past. In the face of infuriating [attacks], he kept the sort of cool that the thin-skinned and painfully insecure incumbent cannot even feign.... Kerry's mettle has been tested under fire ... of real bullets and the political fire ... and he has shown himself to be tough, resilient, and possessed of a properly Presidential dose of dignified authority. While Bush has pandered relentlessly to the narrowest urges of his base, Kerry has sought to appeal broadly to the American center [in] a time of primitive partisanship, he has exhibited a fundamentally undogmatic temperament. [He] has insisted that this election ought to be decided on the urgent issues of our moment, the issues that will define American life for the coming half century. That insistence is a measure of his character. He is plainly the better choice."

AP: "Rocker Bruce Springsteen is joining Sen. John Kerry in the final days of his bid to become the nation's boss. Springsteen plans to play a song or two at campaign rallies Thursday in Madison, Wis., and Columbus, Ohio, both in battleground states likely to determine the winner of the election. He'll join Kerry in Cleveland the night before Election Day. Springsteen's song "No Surrender" has been one of several played daily at Kerry's campaign stops. Jon Bon Jovi, another rock musician supporting Kerry, played a few songs to open rallies Michigan and Wisconsin on Monday and expects to rejoin the Massachusetts Democrat later this week. As he leaped atop a stage in a hotel parking lot at a late-night rally in Green Bay, Wis., Bon Jovi said, "Surprise," to several hundred chilled Kerry supporters. "Thanks for coming out tonight," he said. "Eight days from now, you get the microphone. The world's going to be listening."

Q: "What has Bush failed to do to protect us?" A: "The list of things undone by this president to make America safer is staggering. The 9/11 Commission report contains a full list of what a creative, proactive leadership should have done by itself -- rather than resist the 9/11 Commission, as they did. On homeland security they've talked a good game, and not implemented or acted. Ninety-five percent of the containers that come into our country don't get inspected. Bridges and tunnels don't have the security and escape routes that ought to have been put in place. On planes, the baggage is X-rayed but not the cargo holds. It's absurd. Firehouses are understaffed. Police officers are being cut from the streets of America... There are chemical, biological and nuclear plants around the country that don't have the protection that they ought to. The president actually gave in to the chemical industry and folded, instead of doing what was necessary for some of the chemical-plant protection."

Tired to the endless Bush campaign lies about Kerry and having to waste valuable time trying to refute them to the clueless? Here's a FANTASTIC site drily called "Compassiongate" that neatly exposes and elucidates just about every Bush campaign lie about Kerry yet spewed. PASS THIS LINK ALONG FAR AND WIDE! Among the Repug myths exploded at Compassiongate is Kerry's "poor" voting record - here's the REAL record laid out in detail. Also covered: Kerry's Vietnam record, Kerry as highly effective prosecutor, Kerry as senator, Kerry on lobbyists and porkers, Kerry on national security. What's pathetic is that we here at the progressive media - many of us unpaid and burning midnight oil, must do this job because the sell-out mainstream media REFUSES to.

The incomparable eRipste.com writes, "Many Republicans question how they could vote for Kerry by claiming he has a poor (Senate) record... and they also claim his anti-war activities were treasonous...I have compiled a somewhat comprehensive response for such doubters. I suspect even Kerry supporters might find this compilation useful. So I'm sending it to you."

SF Chronicle: "Jim Rassmann, saved by John Kerry after being blown off Kerry's boat during a 1969 Vietnam firefight, said Friday that a Sinclair Broadcast documentary critical of Kerry's anti-war activities amounts to campaign trickery. Rassmann...said the 'Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal' documentary amounts to Kerry foes 'using any trick they can possibly use' to help Bush win a second term. Critics who question Kerry's service are 'making this story up as they go along,' said Rassmann 'These guys can't keep their stories together. They've got a poor lie and let it fall apart..This campaign has reinforced my view that American politics is a bunch of garbage..No one will ever be able to convince me that (Bush chief political adviser) Karl Rove is not orchestrating this from the wings.' "

St. Paul Pioneer: "Flanked by a sign reading 'Minnesota is Kerry Country,' Sen. John Kerry rallied thousands of supporters Thursday night outside the Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis to make it so. The crowd -- 30,000 by organizers' estimates -- may have been the largest gathered for a presidential candidate in two decades. It was a mix of longtime party activists, union members and newcomers energized by the election. They gathered in the autumn chill because, as one supporter said, 'We don't want Bush in office anymore.' Kerry, making his seventh visit to this battleground state, told the crowd, 'We are going to get rid of George Bush in 12 days...George Bush wants this election to be about one thing -- terrorism,' he said. 'You know what, my fellow Americans and Minnesotans, we deserve a president of the United States who can do more than one thing at the same time,' Kerry said."

Harvey Wasserman writes: "In the greatest comeback in sports history, the Boston Red Sox have done the impossible---and so can John Kerry....The Red Sox were down 3 games to none in a 7 game series. That meant they had to win 4 in a row. It had never been done before. In fact, no big league baseball team down 3-0 had ever come back to even a series by winning 3 to tie, let alone taking four to win. But the Red Sox did it." The Dems were like down to the wire, too. "But then came the debates. Trailing badly...Kerry suddenly emerged as an actual adult: calm, well- spoken, gracefully presidential. Bush showed himself to be the stereotypical frat boy: arrogant, clumsy, brutish, out of touch. Because he apparently believes himself to be anointed by God, he cannot admit to even a simple error." But, " the Red Sox have done what looked impossible. If they keep swinging for the fences, there's no reason the Democrats can't do the same."

Times Leader: "Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John Kerry may hail from Massachusetts, but he looked right at home Tuesday during a raucous campaign event at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. He headed on stage with U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, to a packed house of supporters chanting "Two more weeks! Two more weeks!" - a reference to the final days before Nov. 2, when Kerry hopes to unseat Bush. "We love you, senator," one audience member shouted. Kerry smiled, responding, "I'm just asking for you to give me the chance to give you a little of that love back." One fan was so enthusiastic that in her efforts to leap up to the stage for Kerry's autography, she hurt her ankle. Even as she limped out of the building, the woman exclaimed, "I love John Kerry!I love everything he stands for."

AP: " Kid power! Democrat John Kerry is the winner, and the rest of the country should pay attention because the vote on Nickelodeon's Web site has correctly chosen the president of the United States in the past four elections. Nearly 400,000 children and teens voted, and the results were released Wednesday. Kerry received 57 percent of the vote; President Bush got 43 percent. Nickelodeon has been airing information on the Nov. 2 election, plus sponsoring debates where kids could put forth their views on the environment, the war in Iraq and terrorism. Some animated shows on the cable channel also have been focusing on the election. Linda Ellerbee, who writes and hosts "Nick News," says their voting usually reflects their parents' views â?? but not all the time." Just the last FOUR elections...make that FIVE.

So, ladies....who would YOU rather share the cozy confines of a voting booth with? A handsome, passionate young hunk....or a balding, scowly, jowly ex-senator? Ah! We thought so! The Guardian reports that "Titanic'' star Leonardo DiCaprio stumped for John Kerry, while [ex-senator] Fred Thompson of NBC's ``Law & Order'' campaigned for Bush in Florida, one of the swing states in the presidential election. DiCaprio spoke to some 400 students - mostly female - at the University of Central Florida on Tuesday, while 200 more waited outside. ``I believe, without a doubt, this is the most important election of all of our lifetimes,'' DiCaprio said." Meanwhile, Thompson held forth to a small crowd of senior citizens, who were no doubt frisked at the door and made to take an oath of loyalty to Bush!

From the Daily Kos: "I heard Dana Bash doing a news report on the 'nuisance' story on Lou Dobbs (watching late replay), and she said she had received an email which quoted Bush 41's NSA calling terrorism a nuisance. She just sort of brushed over it quickly -- she didn't even mention his name (Gen. Brent Scowcroft) and didn't show the actual quotation -- but the tidbit has bubbled at least here up for those who are paying attention. Here's the quotation: 'Can we win the war on terrorism? Yes, I think we can, in the sense that we can win the war on organized crime. There is going to be no peace treaty on the battleship Missouri in the war on terrorism, but we can break its back so that it is only a horrible nuisance and not a paralyzing influence on our societies.' -- General Brent Scowcroft, Bush 41 National Security Advisor, Bush 43 appointee to the Forum for International Security '9/11 a Year On' conference, Sept. 2002." Hey Dubya, Kerry agrees with your Daddy's NSA!

CBS's top political writer David Paul Kuhn writes: "What happened in 180 minutes of debate? Kerry defined himself for the first time. After an insubstantial Democratic convention, after an August of Republican attack ads that damaged his perceived character, Kerry stood before America and appeared a composed man in command of his views. 'There is movement in Ohio and Iowa; I think it was a combination of the Republican bounce after the convention deflating and the president's poor performance in the first debate,' said political analyst Stu Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. 'That's energized Democrats and it's taken the race from a Bush three-to-six point advantage, to a dead heat.' " What could prove tragic for America is that, thanks to the media's blackout of Kerry until now, the public was never allowed to see what they had been missing.

An interview with Robert Parry: "[At the Associated Press] we were beginning to investigate this. I did an early story mentioning Ollie North in 1985. We were digging into this secret operation which the White House was denying it existed. In doing so, we also began stumbling on to evidence that the Contra units had turned to drug trafficking to help fill the void of money that the CIA had stopped providing. The only person in the Congress who showed any imagination or strong interest in these criminal activities that were going on underneath the nose of the U.S. government was Senator John Kerry... Kerry had heard about this through his family connections in Massachusetts, and he took an interest. He turned his staff loose on looking into the Contras. Working through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they pressed the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide information about this that was available. The Reagan/Bush administration tried to block Kerry's inquiries at every turn."

Crosswalk: "The Kerry-Edwards Campaign is releasing a new 30-second TV ad saying that President Bush lost the first presidential debate - and is now desperate. The ad begins with the narrator saying, 'George Bush lost the debate. Now he's lying about it.' It features Sen. John F. Kerry saying, 'The president always has the right for pre- emptive strike' and that Kerry would 'hunt and kill the terrorists, wherever they are.' The Kerry campaign says its new ad is a response to the 'latest desperate and false Bush ad,' called 'Global Ties.' In that ad, the Bush campaign says John Kerry would not defend America against terror threats."

US Newswire: "More than 180 former US Ambassadors have endorsed John Kerry for president on Monday. 'We [ambassadors have] had the privilege of representing our country around the world under nine presidents, Democratic and Republican - from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. Almost half of us were nonpartisan career foreign service officers. We believe it is imperative to our national security that we change the leadership of the nation we all love and elect John Kerry and John Edwards. After September 11, the world was fully behind us, but George W. Bush has needlessly squandered much of that support and undermined our ability to win the war on terror. He has also seriously eroded the alliances we need to keep our nation safe. Now, we face a loss of respect and trust amongst our allies such as we have never seen. As a result, our troops and taxpayers must bear the risks and costs of building a safer world virtually alone."

The media polls that have shown Bush inexplicably and continually ahead of Kerry do so because they are grossly manipulated by selectively "weeding out" respondents -- and then weighting the remaining results using a grossly slanted system of "likely" versus "unlikely" voters. But for questions on the debate, voter status was irrelevant and thus the answers were not "weighted." The result, what America REALLY thinks about Bush. We commented last week that Barak Obama's 68% - 22% lead over his GOP challenger in Illinois probably more closely reflected America's mood than the bogus corporate polls on the prez election. Now the unweighted post-debate response seems to bear that prediction out (one poll showed a 61-19% Kerry lead in debate)! Bush's real base is probably so low that the truth would be just too hard for the corporate world to take.

David Sirota and Jonathan Baskin write: "As the BCCI investigation shows, Kerry developed a very different record of accomplishment--one often as vital, if not more so, than passage of bills... [He] shrewdly used the Senate's oversight powers to address the threat of terrorism well before it was in vogue, and dismantled a key terrorist weapon. In the process, observers saw a senator with tremendous fortitude, and a willingness to put the public good ahead of his own career. Those qualities... would surely aid Kerry as president in his attempts to battle the threat of terrorism... Kerry's record in the BCCI affair, of course, contrasts sharply with Bush's... as a director of... Harken Energy, Bush himself did business with BCCI-connected institutions almost at the same time Kerry was fighting the bank... Make no mistake about it, BCCI would have been a player. A decade after Kerry helped shut the bank down, the CIA discovered Osama bin Laden was among those with accounts at the bank."

The National Guard bulletin reports that John Kerry says he would give the National Guard a more significant role in homeland security if he is elected. "'As president I will recognize that homeland security is a Constitutionally-mandated mission of the National Guard.' Kerry spoke before 3,000 Guard leaders and other members on Sept. 16. 'In addition to their current duties overseas, I will assign Guard units an additional mission to a standing joint task force commanded by a general from the Guard.' 'I was pleased that Sen. Kerry understands and appreciates the role of the citizen-Soldier that has always served this country so well in times of peace and war,' said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau. His service in the Navy means he understands us in a way that only a fellow comrade in arms can understand us,' said Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, chairman of the Guard association's board, while introducing Kerry."

"Before the war, the president said that there were lots of terrorists causing the trouble; that's why we had to go to war. Just yesterday he says to the American people, now that we are at war, that there are only a handful of terrorists. And yet only two days earlier Prime Minister Allawi said that's not true; thousands of terrorists are crossing the borders and entering into Iraq. It has become a magnet for terrorism, and that is what Secretary of State Colin Powell said... America needs leadership that tells the truth. George Bush just yesterday said he was just -- the CIA was just guessing on Iraq. Just guessing, America? The CIA? They're not just guessing; they're giving the president of the United States their best judgment. It's called an analysis. And the president ought to read it, and he ought to study it... The president says just stay the course and everything will be fine. I laid out a plan in New York to win. I laid out a plan which will help America protect our troops."

Seattle Post Intelligencer: "Washington state, once considered a fiercely competitive presidential battleground, is firmly in Democrat John Kerry's column heading into the final weeks of a volatile campaign, according to a new poll commissioned by The Columbian. Kerry, who considers the three West Coast states a key part of his electoral math to defeat Bush, led the Republican president 51 percent to 42 percent among Washington respondents."

Reuters: "The Democratic presidential challenger's guest spot gave the show its biggest autumn season opener since Letterman's first year on CBS in 1993, registering a 5.4 'metered-market' rating, or 5.4 percent of all households with TV sets in more than 50 major cities, Nielsen Media reported on Tuesday. The Letterman show also led its arch-rival 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' on NBC by a full ratings point. As has become customary for major guests on the 'Late Show,' Kerry took over Letterman's nightly 'top 10' list with his own countdown, reciting his own list of tax reform proposals by President " (#8: "Under the simplified tax code, your refund check goes directly to Halliburton"; #3:"Cheney can claim Bush as a dependent")

A Seattle P-I Editorial: "Accusing the administration of damaging critical alliances, Kerry said, 'Let me put it plainly: The president's policy in Iraq has not strengthened our national security. It has weakened it.' Just as important, Kerry presented a much-needed elaboration on his goal of withdrawing all troops from Iraq within four years. He focused on quickly holding a summit of major powers; providing better training to Iraqi forces, particularly in cooperation with NATO allies; stepping up reconstruction projects and ensuring security before Iraq's planned general election." Kerry also said he plans on beginning the withdrawal of troops next summer.

"Cut middle-class taxes and health costs. Families are being increasingly squeezed by falling incomes and rising costs for everything from health care to college. But spiraling health-care and energy costs squeeze businesses too, encouraging them to lay off workers and shift to part-time and temporary workers. Under my plan, the tax cuts would be extended and made permanent for 98% of Americans. In addition, I support new tax cuts for college, child care and health care - in total, more than twice as large as the new tax cuts President Bush is proposing. I have proposed a health plan that would increase coverage while cutting costs. It builds on and strengthens the current system, giving patients their choice of doctors, and providing new incentives instead of imposing new mandates. My health plan will offer businesses immediate relief on their premiums... we will save employers and workers about 10% of total health premiums."

"Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: we have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure. The President has said that he 'miscalculated' in Iraq and that it was a 'catastrophic success.' In fact, the President has made a series of catastrophic decisions...from the beginning...in Iraq. At every fork in the road, he has taken the wrong turn and led us in the wrong direction. The first and most fundamental mistake was the President's failure to tell the truth to the American people. He failed to tell the truth about the rationale for going to war. And he failed to tell the truth about the burden this war would impose on our soldiers and our citizens. By one count, the President offered 23 different rationales for this war. If his purpose was to confuse and mislead the American people, he succeeded."

The Bushie media would LOVE for the public to believe that Kerry's aggressive confrontation of Bush on the big issues - esp. Iraq - is hurting him. HARDLY! Here's just a little sampling of the response to today's speech in which Kerry assailed Bush on Iraq: "Finally!" "It's about time!" "It's about time he spoke up. I might just vote for him after all!" "Good for John Kerry!"

Capital Times: "John Kerry's last-minute decision to move his rally Wednesday from the Capitol Square to the Alliant Center paid off in buckets. Buckets of people inside and buckets of rain outside. At 1 p.m., just as Kerry was taking the stage before a crowd estimated at more than 10,000, there was a torrential downpour. Inside the convention hall, Kerry was giving President George Bush a thorough soaking. 'W stands for wrong,' Kerry said to cheers. 'Wrong choices, wrong direction, wrong everything. He goes around America telling Americans he makes big decisions. But it's not just about making big decisions. That's a requirement of being president. It's making the RIGHT decisions that counts! And when you make the wrong decisions, it's about having courage enough to say we're making a mistake." Go, JFK, go!

Bush must think the American people are as stupid as he is! The one thing NO ONE would dispute is that under the Bush regime, government has expanded in an unprecedented way, plowing over states' rights, grossly intruding on individual rights and privacy, and sucking up taxpayer dollars like a vacuum - right out of their wallets, not even waiting for the IRS! In exchange for a few hundred a year in tax cuts, citizens now, thanks to Bush, pay an average of $1,000/year more per household in energy, at least $900 more per person in insurance. In short, taxpayers get $400 in taxcuts, then pay out $1,900 to Bush's donors in the insurance/energy industries! As for Kerry's plans - if actually giving money, jobs and services back to Americans while cutting off the gravy train to corporations through a change in policy is "expanding" government, as Bush accuses, then most folks will WELCOME it!

Yahoo: "Democratic candidate John Kerry blasted George W. Bush's 'excuse presidency' on Wednesday and demanded that he take responsibility for the economy instead of playing victim. 'This president has created more excuses than jobs,' Kerry told the Detroit Economic Club. Trailing in several polls seven weeks before the Nov. 2 election, and heeding advisers who have urged him to be more forceful [can you BELIEVE this outrageous Yahoo spin!!], [Kerry] rejected the White House 'perfect storm' explanation that recession, war and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were to blame for a tepid U.S. economy. 'The president wants you to believe that this record is the record of the victim of circumstances, the result of bad luck, not bad decisions,' Kerry said. 'Well, Mr. President, when it comes to your record, we agree -- you own it.' "

While Kitty Kelley's book describes the "values" of the Bush family, here's a wonderful portrait of the Kerry family. In this interview, John's older sister Peggy describes her 40 years of social activism, including fighting apartheid in South Africa, organizing a grape boycott for the United Farm Workers, working for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. She is now working for the UN as the US liason to NGO's, and recently adopting an abandoned Chinese infant. Peggy's anti-war work brought John into Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the rest is history. Their two other siblings, Cameron and Diana, are also social activists. "I think the Kerry brand of family values is an American brand of family values. ... It's standing up for what is so deeply American which is reaching out and helping other people. It's what America has been known for for so long. It's reaching out and helping people who are less well off." What a wonderful family!

"John Kerry accused the Bush administration of letting 'a nuclear nightmare' develop by refusing to deal with North Korea when it first came to office. In an interview, he argued that Bush's preoccupation with Iraq let the North Korean crisis fester to the point that there were now indications that the country might be preparing to test a plutonium bomb... Meanwhile, American intelligence officials and policy makers scrambled to determine what caused a [mushroom cloud!] spotted Thursday.... Kerry insisted that the fact that North Korea was threatening such an action was a sign of failed diplomacy. 'This is one of the most serious failures and challenges to the security of the United States... They have taken their eye off the real ball,' Mr. Kerry said, his voice almost shaking in anger. 'They took it off in Afghanistan and shifted it to Iraq. They took it off in North Korea and shifted it to Iraq. They took it off in Russia, and the nuclear materials there, and shifted it to Iraq.'"

The fact is, after a brief dip in the polls, which was never as great as the media hoped the Dems would believe (a clear psyche-out attempt), Kerry has rebounded with a bang and leads in electoral votes, while his popularity is growing in many states that earlier favored Bush, like Washington and NH. Not only that, but Kerry's lead is rapidly widening in states where he already leads, while Bush's lead is rapidly narrowing in states where Bush was ahead. In short, don't let them psyche you out!

"In the years ahead, all of us will complete this mission as we share the lessons of September 11th with our children and grandchildren. We will tell them that on September 11th, ordinary men and women became heroes at a moment's notice - and so can you. We will tell them that we were strong because we took care of each other - and so can you. We will tell them that we came together in tragedy, chose confidence over fear, and that our love for America far outshines the darkness of those who hate. Finally, we will tell them that on September 11th and the days that followed, we learned in the hardest way possible that the American spirit endures. It is that spirit which leads us to defy those who would harm us, and affirm that freedom will win. It is that spirit which sustains all of you as you continue to rebuild your lives. And it is that spirit which will guide us all as we rebuild those towers - stronger, higher, and more beautiful than ever before. Just like America."

Washington Post: "John F. Kerry journeyed Wednesday to the spot where President Bush made his case for the Iraq war two years ago to accuse Bush of making 'catastrophic choices' that have cost the nation $200 billion and shortchanged education, health care and job creation.... Kerry offered his sharpest criticism yet of the mounting economic costs of invading, occupying and stabilizing the country with little assistance from other nations. 'George W. Bush's wrong choices have led America in the wrong direction in Iraq and left America without the resources we need here at home,' Kerry said [and] blamed Bush's [admitted] 'miscalculations' before and after the war for leaving children with fewer after-school programs, older veterans with inadequate health care, neighborhoods with fewer police officers to keep the peace and workers with fewer jobs. 'When I'm president, America will once again stand up to our enemies without destroying or denying our best hopes here at home,' Kerry said."

"Democrat John Kerry, on a Labor Day tour of Midwestern states where polls show the presidential race virtually tied, told voters he would try to pull out troops in Iraq within four years. 'We want those troops home, and my goal would be to try to get them home in my first term,' Kerry said, speaking to a fellow Vietnam War veteran in the audience of his campaign event. Faulting Bush on almost every aspect of his move toward war, Kerry said the United States is carrying the burden in casualties and cost. He called the president's coalition 'the phoniest thing I ever heard.' 'This president rushed to war without a plan to win the peace, and he's cost all of you $200 billion that could have gone to schools, could have gone to health care, could have gone to prescription drugs, could have gone to our Social Security,' he said. 'It's the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time,' he said.' "

"After being targeted for weeks by criticisms of his service in Vietnam, Sen. John F. Kerry looked on Saturday as a series of his supporters lambasted Bush and Cheney for avoiding combat service during those years. Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) made the strongest attack at an evening rally here on the banks of the Ohio River, saying that Kerry 'was carrying a gun through the jungles of Vietnam while George Bush was neglecting his military service and carrying out his responsibility as a cheerleader at Yale University.'... At a rally at an Akron baseball stadium, Mayor Don Plusquellic said Bush hid from his duties. 'The simple truth is, John Kerry was in Vietnam and George Bush wasn't,' Plusquellic said. 'George Bush was hiding in the woods in Alabama and John Kerry was defending our country.'... John Wagner, a local labor leader, said: 'In the last four years, George Bush has served the American worker in the same way he served the Texas National Guard - he was absent without leave.'"

It just gets sleazier and sleazier! AP: "Two former Vietnam prisoners of war who appear in ads attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry were appointed by the Bush administration to a panel advising the VA..The former POWs in the ad, Kenneth Cordier and Paul Galanti, serve on the VA's 12-member Former POW Advisory Committee. VA Secretary Anthony Principi appointed Cordier in 2002 and Galanti in 2003. Cordier said the VA panel has nothing to do with the Bush campaign or the anti-Kerry group. 'It's totally apolitical.' " Yeah, sure, tell us another good one! LOL! Oh, but that's right - the media will buy ANYTHING Bush & Co. are selling.

"On Friday, Kerry assailed Bush for a 'record of failure' on everything from jobs to Iraq. He listed some of Bush's reasons for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq - WMD and connections to al Qaeda - and added after each: 'That wasn't true.' Kerry said Republicans had distorted his 20-year record in the U.S. Senate, including his vote authorizing the use of force against Saddam Hussein and his subsequent vote against $87 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He predicted voters would reject cynical politics when they went to the polls on Nov. 2. 'All this negative advertising, blah blah blah,' Kerry said. 'It turns people off'... 'I read the speech last night of the president and I guess I'd sum it up in just four words: all hat, no cattle,' he said. 'What we've learned now is that the president and the Republican Party will say anything and do anything in order to try to get re-elected - anything except really take care of middle class American families that are struggling.'"

The entire Bush Campaign is built on smears against Kerry delivered by two Daddy's boys who hid from harm during Viet nam, not because they were against the war, but because they were cowards. Is it any wonder Kerry finally had it with these creeps? ''The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. Well, I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of combat duty." Go, JFK, go!

"Kerry lashed back at Bush and Cheney tonight, saying that he would not remain quiet while his patriotism was being questioned by men who had not served in Vietnam and who had 'misled the nation into Iraq' ... 'For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief,' Kerry said. 'Well, here's my answer. I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.'... Kerry said Bush and Cheney had already demonstrated their unfitness to lead by taking the country to war in Iraq under false pretenses; allowing America lose millions of jobs; neglecting a crisis in health care; and cozying up to the Saudi Royal Family and letting the Saudis 'control our energy costs.' 'Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit.'" You GO, John!

"The man who John Kerry pulled from a river in Vietnam in March 1969 came to West Virginia on Wednesday and denounced ads questioning Kerry's heroism as lies. 'People are angry at the Bush administration,' Jim Rassmann said. 'And a lot of veterans are offended by the swift-boat ad controversy. What is being said in these ads is absolutely not true.'... Rassmann's praise for Kerry included his testimony to Congress after returning from Vietnam. 'When you are involved in madness - and war is madness - then terrible things happen. That is what he said in 1971.' He defended the right to dissent then and today. 'You not only have a right to dissent, but a duty to dissent,' Rassman said. 'If you go on a bus and the bus is out of control and is about to go off a cliff, you have a duty to go up and replace the driver.'"

Coward Bush speaks only before guaranteed pro-Bush audiences, and even has screeners making sure no undecideds or liberals are anywhere NEAR a speech audience. Kerry, by contrast, is not afraid to go man to man/woman before an audience of conservatives and undecideds with his message because he believes we are ALL Americans with a right to hear our candidates' views firsthand. There is no more pro-Bush group than the conservative American Legion. But Kerry spoke out courageously to a convention full of vets - many of them outwardly hostile to anything non-Bush. Even when he was greeted by stony silence, he continued to say what he believed to be true - NOT just what he thought they wanted to hear. Now THAT, folks, is a LEADER!

"Former Viet Cong soldier Duong Hoang Sinh remembers them well -- the one time he tangled with three Swift boats, the Americans killed all of the insurgents in his unit except for two. 'It was very fierce fighting,' said Sinh, 52, who lost his left eye during the war... 'Each side tried to eliminate the other.' Sinh and John Kerry, the U.S. Democratic presidential nominee, were fighting along the Dong Cung canal around roughly the same time 35 years ago in early 1969, experiencing the intensity of war along these muddy waters, but from opposite sides. Although Sinh had never heard of Kerry, he has a strong opinion about the debate surrounding the candidate's Vietnam War record as a U.S. Navy Swift boat commander: Kerry must have had guts to troll the Mekong Delta's spider web of rivers and narrow canals knowing that Viet Cong like himself were waiting to pick him off. 'Kerry served in Vietnam and he was awarded the medal for his bravery,' Sinh said. 'He deserves the medal.'"

Washington Monthly: "Two decades ago, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a highly respected financial titan. In 1987, when its subsidiary helped finance a deal involving Texas oilman George W. Bush, the bank appeared to be a reputable institution, [but] that changed in early 1988, when John Kerry, then a young senator from Massachusetts, decided to probe the finances of Latin American drug cartels.... By the end, Kerry had helped dismantle a massive criminal enterprise and exposed the infrastructure of BCCI and its affiliated institutions, a web that [became] a model for international terrorist financing. As Kerry's investigation revealed [BCCI] had a fundamentally anti-Western mission. Among the stated goals of its Pakistani founder were to 'fight the evil influence of the West,' and finance Muslim terrorist organizations. In retrospect, Kerry's investigation had uncovered an institution at the fulcrum of America's first great post-Cold War security challenge."

"John Kerry has been attacked for his testimony before Congress in which he referred to the testimony from Vietnam veterans who spoke at the Winter Soldier Investigation. Here are some excerpts from the Winter Soldier Investigation. 'My name is John Beitzel. I'm 21. I served in the 11th Brigade, 4/21 Infantry. I served as a sergeant and as squad leader. Worked in Quang Ngai Province. I worked around My Lai and Duc Pho. I've witnessed the mutilation of bodies. This consisted of cutting off ears and plucking out teeth for souvenirs. I have pictures of this that I've showed to the press at other times. Don't have them with me today. I've witnessed electrical torture many times with not only VC suspects and prisoners, but also detainees. I've witnessed the relocation of villagers. One particular operation was a three-day operation where we took all the villagers out of the village, put them in a barbed wire compound, interrogated them. Tortured some of them. Beat some of them.'"

Hardball's Chris Matthews interviewed former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey a highly decorated Marine who served in Korea, earning the Navy Cross, a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts. He testified before Congress that Americans had committed war crimes in Vietnam. He also marched with John Kerry in the 1971 peace march. "There is still a division between the people who fought honorably there and are angry because they were criticized. But we were pursuing policies there that were war crimes. We were burning down villages that harbored terrorists or harbored Viet Cong. We had executed General Yodel (ph) after Nuremberg for doing that very thing. We knew it was a war crime, burning those villages down. Kerry had the guts to come back. He testified I think the same day as I did in front of Kennedy's or Fulbright's subcommittee about the same things." McCloskey supports Kerry.

Pittsburg Gazette: "Ed Belfoure, who flew helicopters as a Marine in Vietnam, is a registered Republican. But he promises to cross party lines in November to vote for John Kerry. Belfoure said he cannot abide the "despicable television ads" that donors to Bush's campaign have aimed at Kerry. A group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has attacked Kerry's service record in Vietnam. Belfoure, appearing yesterday with other veterans at a news conference at Kerry's Downtown Pittsburgh headquarters [said] "In their perverted attempt to discredit John Kerry, they have done a greater harm to all Vietnam veterans who for years have sought validation for their service to country," he said. About a dozen other military veterans sounded a similar theme." And that's just in Pittsburg! The same thing is happening all across the nation.

Proving his incisive grasp of the situation in Iraq, John Kerry has laid out in detail the astounding, inexcusable chain of failures in Iraq that led to the present horrific situation. . These include: No clear mission, pathetically inadequate troop numbers; inadequate or no preparation for the conditions encountered in the war/post zone; failure of leaders to recognize signs of dangerous insurgency building,; The military police were not properly trained, equipped, or organized; lack of adequate equipment; lack of mid-level leadership; failure of higher-ups to learn lessons of near-past; poor intelligence through poor interrogation techniques; the failure to search for alternatives to a clearly failing strategy.

Jim Russell was aboard Swift Boat No. 43 on March 13, 1969. "Three things that are forever pictured in my mind since that day over 30 years ago are... (3) John Kerry bending over his boat picking up one of the rangers [Jim Rassman] that we were ferrying from out of the water. All the time we were taking small arms fire from the beach... To say that John Kerry or any of us were on that river to intentionally collect Purple Hearts really does every soldier and sailor, past and present, a disservice. We were going up those rivers (with an ongoing casualty rate of 86 percent at the time) on the orders of the same people who approved of Kerry's medals and who are now joining in the attacks against Kerry. Unbelievable... I would hope that the American public sees these evil extreme right wing attacks for what they really are and also pray that the veterans being used by these unpatriotic right wing extremist political operatives will divorce themselves immediately from them. "

William Rood writes, "There were three swift boats on the river that day in Vietnam more than 35 years ago - three officers and 15 crew members. Only two of those officers remain to talk about what happened on February 28, 1969. One is John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate who won a Silver Star for what happened on that date. I am the other... Kerry, who had tactical command of that particular operation, had talked to Droz and me beforehand about not responding the way the boats usually did to an ambush. We agreed that if we were not crippled by the initial volley and had a clear fix on the location of the ambush, we would turn directly into it.. What we did on Feb. 28, 1969, was well in line with the tone set by our top commanders. Zumwalt made that clear when he flew down to our base at An Thoi off the southern tip of Vietnam to pin the Silver Star on Kerry and assorted Bronze Stars and commendation medals on the rest of us."

There are so many specifics in Kerry's plan to save and create American jobs that ya gotta see it to appreciate it. But here's a few highlights of proposed actions: Move towards universal broadband access; Double the funding for Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) and restore funding for the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). immediate reinstatement of the "Super 301" process to force the Bush administration to report and act on foreign trade barriers; Structural reforms to enhance small business and high-tech trade enforcement capacity; More forceful efforts to stop illegal currency manipulation by China and other countries, Support jobs in America through "Buy American" guidelines; New Jobs Tax Credit that will pay the employer share of the payroll taxes for any net new jobs created in 2005 and 2006 by manufacturers, other businesses affected by outsourcing, and small businesses.

Kerry: "The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth...isn't interested in the truth - and they're not telling the truth. They didn't even exist until I won the nomination for president. But here's what you really need to know about them. They're funded by hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Republican contributor out of Texas. They're a front for the Bush campaign. And the fact that the president won't denounce what they're up to tells you everything you need to know - he wants them to do his dirty work. Thirty years ago, official Navy reports documented my service in Vietnam and awarded me the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts. Thirty years ago, this was the plain truth. It still is. And I still carry the shrapnel in my leg from a wound in Vietnam. I'm not going to let anyone question my commitment to defending America then, now, or ever. And I'm not going to let anyone attack the sacrifice and courage of the men who saw battle with me." Go, JFK, go!

AP: "Kerry [states] that Bush's policy would dangerously reduce forces at a time when the nation is fighting the al-Qaida terrorist network in 60 countries across the globe. Kerry said the redeployment would undermine relations with U.S. allies needed to help fight in Iraq and in the war on terror. It also would endanger national security as the United States is working to deter North Korea's nuclear program, he said. 'North Korea has built up their nuclear weapons program over the past three years,' said a statement from the Kerry campaign. 'Why would we pull back our troops and give North Korea something for nothing?' The Kerry campaign statement also said the redeployment does nothing to relieve the problem of an overextended military in Iraq. It cited a Congressional Budget Office report that said a large reduction of the U.S. military presence overseas could cost $7 billion up front, although the same report said annual savings could be more than $1 billion."

"While George Bush has spent four years raising the tax burden on middle-class families and allowing corporate lobbyists to ghostwrite regulations that affect important environmental, energy, and health policies, families have been struggling to get ahead. Across the country, family income has dropped $1,462." The Kerry plan to help ease the current squeeze on middle America calls for: a tax cut for 99% of Americans, including tax breaks for childcare, healthcare, and education; a "new jobs" tax credit; federal subsidy for health plans to cut citizen premiums by up to $1,000,; cut tuition costs; emphasize affordable housing; close pay gap between men and women; raise minimum wage; keep public schools open until 6:00 pm for aftercare programs. And that's just the start!

Guardian: "After months of research into Mr Kerry's ancestry, Burke's Peerage, experts on British aristocracy, reported yesterday that [Kerry] is related to all the royal houses of Europe. Burke's director, Harold Brooks-Baker, said Mr Kerry had his mother, Rosemary Forbes, to thank for most of his royal connections. "Every maternal blood line of Kerry makes him more royal than any previous American president," Mr Brooks-Baker said. "Because of the fact that every presidential candidate with the most royal genes and chromosomes has always won the November presidential election, the coming election - based on 42 previous presidents - will go to John Kerry. "Mr Kerry is a descendant of Henry III and Henry II of England and is distantly related to Richard the Lionheart" - the guy who helped Robin Hood overthrown the evil Sheriff of Nottingham (Bushingham?).

"The median rural household earns $11,600, or fully one-third less, than the median urban household, and at the same time rural Americans face higher health care, transportation and child care costs. Of the nation's 500 poorest counties, 459 are rural. Kerry and Edwards have developed a detailed plan for turning this situation around. Just a few areas of the plan include: Encouraging Investment In Rural America through The Greater Rural Opportunity and Work (GROW) Initiative to bring venture capital and management expertise to small town America; Investing more in renewable energy sources such as biodiesel and ethanol; insuring ranchers and farmers receive a profit from the marketplace; investing more money in initatives to attract more teaching and medical professionals to rural areas, bringing in Universal High Speed internet (this was done with great success in very rural Alberta, Canada).."

Everyone knows how John Kerry heroically saved Jim Rassman's life in Vietnam. Few people know how Kerry saved former Senator Chic Hecht's (R-NV) life in 1988. "On July 12, 1988, Hecht was attending a weekly Republican luncheon when a piece of apple lodged firmly in his throat. Hecht stumbled out of the room, thinking he might vomit but not wanting to do it in front of his colleagues. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., thumped his back, but Hecht quickly passed out in the hallway. Just then, Kerry stepped off an elevator, rushed to Hecht's side and gave him the Heimlich maneuver -- four times. The lifesaving incident made international news, and Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented the maneuver in 1974, called Hecht to say that had Kerry intervened just 30 seconds later Hecht might have been in a vegetative state for life." Gee, how come the media isn't covering THIS story?

While Bush continues to find ways to pay off his drug baron backers out of the pockets of poor Americans, especially the elderly, John Kerry has outlined a real plan for IMMEDIATELY helping citizens. Kerry said he "will allow reimportation of safe, FDA- approved prescription drugs to give Americans access to the substantial discounts for prescription drugs in Canada, and require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate better prices for prescription drugs under Medicare. They will end loopholes that keep more affordable prescription drugs from the market and help states provide relief by allowing them to extend Medicaid discounts. "When John Edwards and I are in the White House, drug companies won't call the shots," Kerry said." In the long term, Kerry has said he will push for a nationwide plan that will insure that ALL Americans have access to health care.

AZ Daily Sun: "For the city of Flagstaff, it was practically the second coming. Presidential nominee John Kerry arrived to screaming crowds in downtown Flagstaff Sunday night, where an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 local residents welcomed the candidate looking to unseat President Bush in November. 'We're at 7,000 feet, and we're getting close to heaven,' Kerry told the cheering Flagstaff crowd. Kerry's comment came after, preceded by Flagstaff High School's marching band, the energetic Kerry and his wife darted into dark alleys and rushed up to crowds to press flesh and exchange greetings. Kerry towered over almost everyone pursuing him down a brightly lit San Francisco Street, which made it easier to keep track of his exuberant and unpredictable route."

Unlike W, John Kerry actually reads newspapers - "I read four or five papers a day if I can," he told John Nichols of The Nation. "I can't imagine being president and not reading as much as I can about what people are saying," explained Kerry. "I don't want (information) varnished by staff. I don't want it filtered by staff. I want it the way it is. And I think you get a much better sense of what's going in the country (when you gather information yourself)." He also said "I'm against the ongoing push for media consolidation. It's contrary to the stronger interests of the country." Diversity of media ownership and content, the candidate explains, "is critical to who we are as a free people. It's critical to our democracy." Beware a vicious counterattack from media monopolists, like they did to Howard Dean after he criticized them...

eRiposte writes, "Many media outlets have been providing a relatively easy outlet for the so-called 'Swift Boat Veterans for Truth' (SBV for short; more appropriately described as the Swift Boat Veterans Who Have a Problem With The Truth or as Swift Boat Veteran Flip-Floppers for Bush or as Smear Boat Veterans for Bush). Since the media continues to parade these folks (fondly and appropriately described by Hesiod as 'Swift Boat Liars for Bush') before viewers, often without critically examining their egregious charges against Senator John Kerry (some media outlets are far worse than others on this), I wanted to get a clear picture for myself on what is being said and what is really the truth. What emerges is simply the fact that this is the beginning of Part II of The Hunting of the President." This is an amazing compilation of the details of Kerry's medals that counters the SBV's smears.

Jim Rassman writes, "35 years after the fact, some Republican-financed Swift Boat Veterans for Bush are suddenly lying about John Kerry's service in Vietnam; they are calling him a traitor because he spoke out against the Nixon administration's failed policies in Vietnam. Some of these Republican-sponsored veterans are the same ones who spoke out against John at the behest of the Nixon administration in 1971. But this time their attacks are more vicious, their lies cut deep and are directed not just at John Kerry, but at me and each of his crewmates as well. This hate-filled ad asserts that I was not under fire; it questions my words and Navy records. This smear campaign has been launched by people without decency, people who don't understand the bond of those who serve in combat. As John McCain noted, the television ad aired by these veterans is 'dishonest and dishonorable.' Sen. McCain called on President Bush to condemn the ad. Regrettably, the president has ignored Sen. McCain."

AP: " At this small town on a rail track, supporters brought John Kerry's train to a halt with a homemade sign made of white bedsheets asking for just a few minutes of his time. The train should have slowly rolled through and allowed the Democratic presidential candidate just enough time to wave and thank supporters, but Kerry ordered it stopped when he saw the plea. Late for his next stop, a rally in Flagstaff, Ariz., Kerry apologized to the crowd. "Somebody put up a sign, and it said 'Give us 10 minutes, just 10 minutes.' And another sign said 'Give us 8 minutes and we'll give you 8 years,'" Kerry said. "So just for an insurance policy, I gave them 15 or 20, and that's why we're late." Of Course AP (A.merican P.ropaganda couldn't just report a positive Kerry story! The last paragraph HAD to be about an anti-Kerry sign.

As Dubya stumbles city to city trying to whip up support by promising Americans a future of "ownership" -as in homes, a college degree, etc., he's leaving out one little detail: WHO WILL PAY? Certainly not the family pulling down just enough to pay the bills but not enough to save for a downpayment, or even closing costs on a house. Surely not the parents who cannot pay all of their childs' medical bills, let alone put money toward college. Read Kerry's point by point response to Bush's "Let them eat twinkies" philosophy!

Bush has become so desperate that his lies are becoming reckless - even bizarre. In his latest ad, the voice over states: "Some politicians are like clockwork. Take John Kerry. He talks tough on terrorism but Kerry voted against needed funding for our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq even after saying it would be irresponsible to do so." In reality, Kerry did not support the $87 billion BECAUSE he feared it would NOT be spent on our troops. And the record supports his doubts. Most of the billions spent in Iraq have gone to corporate contracts - like Halliburton - not our troops. Not only did Bush send many troops into battle sans body armor, 40,000 got poor grade equipment. Only so-called "front line troops" got the good stuff - and as soldiers in Iraq know - there is no "front line" - everyone is a potential target.

US Newswire: "John Kerry used his radio address to the nation Saturday to assure the American people that he will overturn this ban as president as part of his comprehensive plan to put America back on the path of scientific excellence. Kerry said 'George W. Bush has led one of the most anti-science administrations in our nation's history. He has politicized science, putting his conservative, ideological agenda before sound science and crucial research. This Monday marks the 3rd anniversary of the Bush decision to gut federal stem cell research by setting an arbitrary limit on what stem cells can be used for. His approach not only limits the research that our scientists are doing today, it undermines important discoveries of tomorrow and threatens America's critical edge in innovation.' "

USA Today: "Journalists usually are polite but not enthusiastic when politicians speak at their conferences. In the USA, at least, most reporters and editors try to appear to be non-partisan." [Out of fear of swift repercussions from the Bush-supporting owners, advertisers, and publishers of their newspapers/media outlets!]. But at the Unity Convention , "There was applause nearly 50 times during his address. There was laughter when he took a shot at the Bush administration by noting that 'just saying there are weapons of mass destruction (in Iraq) doesn't make it so.' He got a standing ovation at the end." Bush's appearance at Unity the next day was greeted by reserved [some might say strained] politeness and only a tepid, seated applause.

This Reuters article is typical of the misleading, fact-omitting, Bushie crap that is being cranked out full steam by the corporate media in its efforts to try to derail Kerry and promote Bush. NOT ONCE since the bogus, RNC-funded Swiftboat Veterans for Peace started pushing their groundless, totally unsubstantiated smears of Kerry's service in Vietnam has the media questioned the facts. Even now, when the group has been exposed as a fraud, stories like this Reuter's piece carefully omit any mention of the fact that NOT ONE of the Swiftboat phonies actually served WITH Kerry. Not once does this article mention the author of the upcoming "Unfit for Command" - John O'Neill - or the fact that O';Neill never clapped eyes on Kerry until years after they were both out of Vietnam. For a real journalists perspective see www.washingtondispatch.com/opinion/article_9754.shtml

Shane Cory writes: "After looking into the formation of [the Swiftboat Veterans for Peace"], this group which was funded by Republican donors and put together within the past four months, something looked odd. Yesterday afternoon, the first hole appeared in the hull of the Swift Boat Veterans' ship of lies. A key figure in the SwiftVets' attack... George Elliott, Kerry's former commanding officer, admitted that he was given an affidavit to sign by the SwiftVets that attacked Kerry's nomination for the Silver Star. He admitted to feeling pressured to sign the false affidavit due to the approaching deadline of the book by John O'Neill. John O'Neill, the author of the [book of Bush bilge], never even served on a swift boat at the same time as John Kerry. Kerry was back home in the US by the time O'Neill took command of his first unit! O'Neill did not even know John Kerry until he was tapped by Richard Nixon. Yes, this story gets even more interesting."

Boston Globe: "Kerry's former commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander George Elliott said he had made a 'terrible mistake' in signing an affidavit that suggests Kerry did not deserve the Silver Star -- one of the main allegations in the [lie-filled, Bush-money-financed] book, 'Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry.' .Elliott is quoted as saying that Kerry 'lied about what occurred in Vietnam . . . for example, in connection with his Silver Star, I was never informed that he had simply shot a wounded, fleeing Viet Cong in the back.' " Now Elliot says, "I still don't think he shot the guy in the back. It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words. I'm the one in trouble here."

Boston.com: "To illustrate how the federal government needs to make health care more accessible to all Americans, John Kerry spoke of Mary Ann Knowles, of Hudson, N.H., during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. "What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer that 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?" Knowles, an editor and communication specialist at a nonprofit, said she was amazed by Kerry's decision to include her in such a high-profile speech."It was a rather incredible experience," said Knowles, who recently finished her treatments. "He's been so sympathetic and compassionate." John Knowles lost his job two years ago and Mary Ann Knowles was diagnosed with breast cancer during the campaign. The couple exemplifies how the "Bush economy" was failing Americans."

David Espo writes: "Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Thursday that America remains a nation divided along racial and economic lines, and pledged to "lift up those who are left out." Kerry coupled his vow with criticism of Bush's claim that the nation has "turned a corner" in an era marked by terrorism and economic recession. "Just saying that you've turned a corner doesn't make it so. Just like saying there are weapons of mass destruction (in Iraq) doesn't make it so. Just like saying you can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. Just like saying 'mission accomplished' doesn't make it so," Kerry said."The last president who used that slogan, who told us that prosperity was just around the corner, was Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression," he said."

The Atlantic reports: "John Kerry enlisted in the Navy in February of 1966, months before he graduated from Yale. In December of 1967 Ensign Kerry was assigned to the guided-missile frigate USS Gridley; after five months of service in the Pacific, with a brief stop in Vietnam, he returned to the United States and underwent training to command a Swift boat, a small craft deployed in Vietnam's rivers. In June of 1968 Kerry was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior grade), and by the end of that year he was back in Vietnam, where he commanded, over time, two Swift boats. He received the Purple Heart three times for wounds suffered in action, and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Navy's Silver Star for gallantry in action. Kerry was discharged from the Navy in January of 1970."

CNN: "Retired Gen. Tony McPeak, the Air Force chief of staff during the first Gulf War, delivered the Democratic radio address supporting implementation of the 9/11 commission's recommendations for national security. McPeak, a former fighter pilot who campaigned for Bob Dole in 1996 as well as Bush in 2000, said Bush's inability to craft a true allied coalition was a serious deficiency. Bush has 'alienated our friends, damaged our credibility around the world, reduced our influence to an all-time low in my lifetime, given hope to our enemies...The real deal for me is not whether a strategy or a plan or an idea is Republican or Democrat, but whether it makes us safer,' he said. 'And it means an awful lot to me that John Kerry fought for his country as a young man.' "

You watch! If Bush gets so much as a two-point "bounce" from the GOP Convention, MSNBC and other media cohorts will describe the jump with headlines like "Bush Leaps Forward" or "Big Bounce for Bush from Convention!" . But when the latest poll - a full week before the public's real response can be registered (our so-far always accurate rule of thumb is 7-10 days for a trend to register) - shows Kerry ahead of Bush by 7 points, even in a three way race with Nader. MSNBC calls it "A Baby Bounce?" (note the question mark to make it seem as if MSNBC is being apologetic about having to report good news for Kerry!). MSNBC also feels compelled to point out "It is the smallest bounce in Newsweek history."

Bush has launched one of his most reprehensible attacks on Kerry yet, concocting a new meaningless dittohead catchphrase: "signature achievement" in order to attack Kerry's senate record. What exactly does "signficiant achievement" mean? According to the "instant definition" by Bushies you can be "significant" only if you have your name on a piece of high-profile legislation (doesn't matter if it's anti-American legislation, like the Patriot Act!). It means that helping solve constituents problems on the personal level, helping to end corruption through pursuit of critical, tireless investigations, working unselfishlessly with other senators, often allowing the "name credit" to go to others, taking stands unpopular with your NeoCon colleagues just because it is the right thing to do - all these things are "insignificant."

In 1972, Congress passed one of the most critical marine conservation bills ever enacted: the Marine Mammal Protection Act. This legislation stopped the wholesale decimation of whales, dolphins, seals, manatees and other species. When the NeoCons strong-armed their way into Congress in the early 1990s, one of the many beneficial things they tried to dismantle was the Marine Mammals Act. But in 1994, Kerry successfully defended the act, insuring its continued funding and expanding the protections to wildlife afforded by the bill.

"[John Kerry] has guts," Jack Blum, who investigated the drug-contra connection for a subcommittee on terrorism that Kerry headed, told me recently. "So many politicians are in the job so people will love them. Kerry is a throwback to senators like Phil Hart, who, even though he came from Michigan, investigated the auto industry. They run for office not so people will love them but to use the powers of office"--in Kerry's case to expose betrayals of the public trust. He sees his Senate career as continuous with his anti-war activism. Then as now, he says, he sought to hold power publicly accountable. Making government obey the laws and its officials tell the truth, Kerry says, is a precondition to restoring the public trust on which any progressive use of government depends. Kerry's investigations can thus be seen as means to a liberal end: to put government on the side of the governed. "

The Agonist: "In his first month as a senator, in January 1985, he discovered the thread that would unravel the Iran-contra scandal - the creation of an illegal foreign policy apparatus run out of the national security council by Reagan's military aide, Oliver North, and the CIA director, William Casey. Kerry had the training and instincts of a prosecutor. As a district attorney in Massachusetts, he smashed the local mafia. Now, as senator, he has surrounded himself with tough investigators. In south Florida, they found men accused of drug-running who were shipping guns to the Nicaraguan contras and claiming to be instructed by the NSC. They tracked down a contra adviser in Costa Rica known as 'Colonel Flaco', who had evidence that North was involved in financing the contras with Colombian drug money. The path led further, to Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and to Saudi funding sources."

"Deb Price writes in Detroit News: "As a freshman senator in 1985, Kerry introduced a bill to ban anti-gay bias in hiring, housing and credit. In 1993, while fellow Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn warned of gays on subs, Kerry, a decorated war hero, spoke up for the gay soldiers heâ??d served with. When the Senate voted to deny married gay couples federal benefits in 1996, Kerry was one of only 14 senators to oppose the move â?? and the only one up for re-election. â??John Kerry really gets it â?? itâ??s in his spinal cord, his DNA,â?쳌 says lesbian Mary Breslauer, co-chair of the Kerry campaignâ??s huge gay outreach effort and a Kerry friend of nearly two decades. Unlike other politicians sheâ??s worked with, she says, Kerry never needs the â??Gay 101 manual.â?쳌 No retired gay couple needed to be brought in to explain how they are harmed by current federal law."

For 20 years, John Kerry, Robert C. Smith of New Hampshire, and John McCain of Arizona, conducted a dogged investigation of the fate of Vietnam POW/MIAS. Thanks to a hostile and uncooperative Vietnamese government, the three investigators did not turn up a single answer for families for two decades. Then, finally, under Clinton, the answers began to come at last. So what thanks has Kerry gotten for his effort? None. Just a relentless, irrational bashing from rabid rightwingers who accused him of failure and coverup - omitting entirely, of course, any mention of McCain and Smith (both Republicans). Just imagine the Dems trying to pull the same game! How the Repugs would howl with indignation! Scroll down to the fourth-to-last paragraph.

John Kerry had two principal tasks Thursday night. First was to distinguish himself from the incumbent president he hopes to unseat. Second - for that majority of Americans who still know little about him - distinguish himself from the unflattering portrait being painted by Republicans. The coming weeks will determine whether or not he succeeded. But the immediate response from nonpartisan observers is a thumbs up. "Kerry did what Kennedy did in his first debate with Richard Nixon - presented himself as a credible candidate," says John Allen Williams, professor of political science at Loyola University Chicago. "He was optimistic, he was articulate, and he was bright," says Dr. Williams, who describes himself as fairly conservative. "He did what he needed to do." "I thought he did what he wanted to do, which is come across as strong, well-informed, and presidential in appearance," says William Lunch, head of the political science department at Oregon State University.

US Newswire: "On the first weekend of their 15 day, 21 state, 3,500 mile 'Believe in America' tour across the United States, John Kerry and John Edwards will storm through the battleground states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. Campaigning separately and together following the Democratic National Convention, Kerry and Edwards will take their message of a stronger America from the podium in Boston to rallies in Greensburg, PA, Wheeling, WV, Zanesville, OH and Bowling Green, OH. In Taylor, MI, Kerry, campaigning solo, will attend an evening barbecue and baseball game. At every stop, Kerry and Edwards will tell the American people directly that hope and help are on the way and talk about their optimistic plan to make America stronger at home and respected in the world. Kerry and Edwards are riding a wave of momentum following the convention. With America still buzzing about Kerry's acceptance speech, they began their cross-country tour this morning in Boston."

Cincinnatti Enquirer: "National pollster Frank I. Luntz sized up a group of Cincinnati-area swing voters Wednesday night with just three questions before declaring, "This room is George Bush's greatest nightmare." Of the 20 voters he had lined up in front of national television cameras, 14 voted for Bush in 2000. Only eight said they plan to vote for him again. "These are quintessential swing voters. They have swung away from Bush, but they've not yet decided - as of tonight - whether John Kerry deserves their vote." But, in the days to come, despite the media's best suppression efforts, Kerry's voice will come through and there will no longer be any doubts. What an anti-American state the media is in - withholding vital information (sufficient info on the opposition candidate) from the American public in one of the most important elections of our time. We are glad to hear that media malpractice suits are in the offing.

Former Navy officer John Kerry and his Vietnam-era swiftboat crewmates hailed a water taxi for a splashy entrance to this Democratic convention city Wednesday, with the presidential hopeful promising "No retreat, no surrender" in political combat against Bush. The Lulu E - a white ferry decorated with red, white and blue bunting - lumbered across Boston's inner harbor, flanked by Coast Guard speed boats mounted with machine guns as it cruised past the FleetCenter convention site to the Charlestown Navy Yard. Kerry snapped salutes and gave thumbs-up to a crowd of roaring supporters, as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his fellow crewmates at the ferry's rails. Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender" blared from speakers as the ferry pulled into the dock. Kerry said "Bruce Springsteen has it right. No retreat. No surrender. We are taking this fight to the country, and we are going to win back our democracy and our future."

Unlike the GOP scam group, Swift Boat Veterans for "Truth", David Alston really did serve with Kerry - on the same boat at the same time Kerry was its skipper. At the DNC Convention, Alston recalled: "In the toughest of situations, Lieutenant Kerry showed judgment, loyalty and courage. Even wounded, or confronting sights no man should ever have to see, he never lost his cool. And when the shooting stopped, he was always there too, with a caring hand on my shoulder asking, 'Gunner, are you OK?' Lieutenant Kerry always took the time to calm us down, to bring us back to reality, to give us hope, to show us what we truly had within ourselves. I came to love and respect him as a man I could trust with life itself. I came here to share my personal knowledge of a young naval officer who rose to the challenges and responsibilities of leadership, and who has always shown the courage to speak truth to power."

Dana Hull of Knight-Kidder is a classic example of the "truth is optional " Bushie media. While forced to report the presence on stage on Monday night of a bona fide swiftboat mate of Kerry in Vietnam, Rev. David Alston, who paid high tribute to his skipper, Hull can't resist also inserting the tired, much-exposed lie of the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth": "Not all veterans back Kerry. Some still are bitter about his testimony against the Vietnam War as a young veteran. Some who served with him have started a small group called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" to campaign against him." The truth, of course, is that NONE of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" actually served WITH Kerry. The closest one came was to actually be assigned to the same boat - AFTER Kerry had left Vietnam. It was all a White House-sponsored creation, which, like all of the White House's lies, the media has swallowed unquestioningly.

For MONTHS, the GOP and their army of minions in the mainstream media have colluded tirelessly to keep any hint of the "real Kerry" away from the public. A recent report shows that Kerry is given less than 1/3 the coverage Bush got in 2000 when running for prez - ABC is the worst of the worst, alloting him just 15% of candidate coverage. Now that the Convention has put Kerry in the limelight (FINALLY!) the GOP is calling it "an extreme makeover." From what bizarro world braintrust is this idea coming? Reports CNN (who is one of the GOP's top minions): "In Boston, GOP leaders set up a 'war room' to combat the themes and theater inside the nearby FleetCenter, where Sen. John Kerry is expected to formally receive his party's presidential nod later this week."

Kerry: "Being pro-choice is not pro-abortion. And I have very strong feelings that we should talk about abortion in a very realistic way in this country. It is a very complicated, incredibly important moral issue that people have to face, also. And if you talk to any woman, as I have, who has faced that choice or who's been raped or who's suffered incest or who's faced that kind of choice, there are huge moral implications. I think leadership needs to honor that, those moral implications, appropriately, and I think we need to adhere to the standard that Bill Clinton, in fact, so adeptly framed, that abortion should be rare, but legal and safe. And that's the standard that I apply. But I think we should talk more about alternatives to abortion."

On July 21 on NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw interviewed John Kerry. It was one of the best Kerry interviews we'd seen - despite the typically leading questions put out by Brokaw. For example, when Brokaw asked Kerry how he thinks his handling of the war could be any different than Bush, who, Brokaw claimed, had appealed to all our allies, Kerry's response was beautifully firm and direct. Going to your friends and asking them to send men and money while making it plain they will have no input, no chance at reconstruction contracts, no real say, is hardly an offer anyone WOULDN'T refuse. By contrast, said Kerry, he would make a SINCERE effort to mend fences with allies and to truly share both the load and the decision making process. Now today, a thorough search of the NBC online and google news search engine yielded no link. Instead, we tracked this video version down using an indirect strategy:

Scoffs the Kerry campaign: "You don't suddenly become president when its time to run for reelection. In the 1,298 days since Bush has taken office, 4 million have lost health insurance, 1.8 million jobs have been lost and four million young people have dropped out of high school. That's what a lack of a domestic agenda will do for a nation. It shouldn't take a political campaign to focus on families! After 1,298 days in office, he has yet to offer middle-class families his plan for the future. America shouldn't have to wait for an election to get help with health care costs and education." Here's a checklist of what Bush's 1,298 days of 'NonPresidency" has done for America.

Tom Oliphant:"On the threshold of his more than decent shot at the presidency, something un-chic has occurred to me: Odds are that he could be a successful, even excellent, president... This is a contemplative, serious person - well-grounded in progressive principles - who has the good habit of getting interested in new ideas that survive scrutiny. His work habits reveal an iron butt for grunt work, as well as considerable experience in working across party lines. A non-Bush president will have to repair considerable damage abroad and at home, complex tasks that will resist grand fixes and reward the patience and tough negotiating that are Kerry attributes. But a non-Bush president will also have to think and act big and new, and the work Kerry has already done on a range of issues should inspire confidence. He is a sober yet imaginative person for sobering, dangerous times, but his looks and wealth conceal the steel that got him this far and often cause him to be underestimated."

"In a symbolic journey that will highlight both America's past and Kerry's life, John Kerry and John Edwards will, beginning Friday, travel from Kerry's birthplace in Aurora, Colorado to Boston, Massachusetts, the birthplace America." The trip will be kicked off on July 25 in Aurora, where Kerry, joined by family and friends, including many veterans, will talk about his parents and their contribution to the American ideal of service. Stops, each with an American theme, will include Sioux City Iowa (optimism), Columbus Ohio (opportunity), Cape Canaveral, Florida (the future), Norfolk, VA (strength and service), and Philadelphia, PA (a stronger America).

Florida Today: "The poll of 732 likely voters statewide taken over the weekend shows 47 percent of the respondents said they would vote for Kerry if the election were held today. Forty-three percent said they would vote for Bush. The rest said they would either vote for another candidate or were undecided." A graph with this story shows that in less than one month, Bush has plummeted from a 50-43% lead over Kerry to a total reversal of position. Even MORE significant - Kerry now leads Bush among military personnel!

The media - even more progressive commentators who should know better - is once again being used to push the bogus 'Swiftboat Veterans for Truth' Scam. This group, headed by long-time rival of Kerry, John O'Neill claims that "fellow swiftboat veteran" Kerry is unfit for service. O'Neill claims he served "on the same boat" as Kerry, in fact. But the reality is, none of the group ever actually served WITH Kerry. O'Neill served on the same boat allright - AFTER Kerry had left Vietnam! Those who DID serve with Kerry give him their whole-hearted support (see http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-04-12-kerry-vietnam_x.htm). But the planted GOP lie is being disseminated unquestioningly by the media - the same media who disseminated the phony GOP-planted "Kerry rejected by McCain" story. Scroll down in this blog to "If You Only Care About the Lies...." and find the section "Case study."

When Leslie Stahl (for one) interviewed Kerry about the Iraq war on 60 Minutes, she worked overtime to make it seem that because Kerry voted for the war, but now believes the war was wrong, he is somehow "flipflopping. But Stahl's logic is as flawed as her journalistic ability: How was Kerry, lacking a crystal ball, supposed to have known last fall that Bush's case for war was all lies? Yet Stahl now assumes that Kerry, having now been presented with evidence that his vote was based on lies, is STILL supposed to support that lie - or be accused of flipflopping. This is the type of vicious, cynical media manipulation the campaign is up against, folks! Sad to say, we must go to a British news source to learn the truth

Andrew Buncombe writes from Cleveland: "The faithful had been queuing for hours, gathering alongside the slate-grey waters of Lake Erie in anticipation of the 'New Start'. Excited, expectant and - in the main - easily won over, they wanted to be first to see the two-man ticket they hope will win back the White House. The rough-around-the-edges city of Cleveland may not have been the most obvious place for a presidential candidate and his newly minted running mate to launch their tag-team bid for the nation's highest office, but from the moment John Kerry and John Edwards arrived shortly before noon local time, the crowd of hundreds treated them like rock stars. There was screaming, a band, placard-waving and even one or two cases of fainting."

The Bushies are painting Kerry/Edwards as the "anti-business" ticket. But several surveys in recent months reveal that business is leaning heavily toward Kerry - realizing, no doubt that Bush's disastrous international policies are undermining every advantage he once may have offered. A survey conducted by Oregon Business shows Kerry beating Bush by 47 percent to 43 percent in a two-way race, with women business owners especially supportive of Kerry. This week, several CEOs and well-respected business leaders including Gene Sperling, President Clinton's National Economic Adviser and head of the National Economic Council from 1996-2000 have stepped forward to endorse Kerry and speak out on why the Senator is business's best choice: http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=132-07082004

Beliefnet.com: " Kerry broke new ground in an interview that ran in the Dubuque, Iowa, daily, the Telegraph Herald. A Catholic who supports abortion rights and has taken heat recently from some in the church hierarchy for his stance, Kerry told the paper, "I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception." However, Kerry stresses, "I can't take my Catholic belief, my article of faith, and legislate it on a Protestant or a Jew or an atheist. We have separation of church and state in the United States of America." Kerry believes religion is a personal relationship between each person and the God of their understanding - in sharp contrast to the one-size-fits-all, my way or the highway 'church as a corporate franchise' dogma of Bush and co.

One look at John Kerry's confident, motivated manner and John Edwards bright, dynamic smile, and the Bushie accusation that the duo are "spreading pessimism" is blown right out of the water, leaving the public wondering what planet the RNC is operating. On Wednesday, July 7, appearing together for the first time ever as running mates on the campaign trail, Kerry and Edwards kicked off a four-day barnstorming tour across the United States. US Newswire reports, "After a morning photo-op in Pittsburgh, PA, Kerry and Edwards, families in tow, energized rallies in Cleveland, OH, Dayton OH, and Clearwater, FL. In their remarks, both men pledged to campaign tirelessly over the next four months -- standing up for our values and fighting to build a stronger America. "In the next 120 days, John Edwards and I will be fighting for the America we love," Kerry said. "And with your help, for the next four years, we'll be fighting for an America that is stronger at home and respected in the world."

Hoooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boston.com: "John F. Kerry said he would give $10 billion to states for higher education if they capped soaring college tuition increases." College tuition has been shamelessly raised in the past 3 years. "In one of his most vigorously liberal [note the spin] speeches of the campaign season, [Kerry] also pledged to spend $300 million annually to 'encourage' one million more girls and minorities to study math and science [oh, so now math/sci. for women and minorities is a 'liberal agenda'?], and an additional $100 million a year on a 'college completion fund' to reward schools that graduate more Pell Grant recipients, many of whom come from low-income or minority families. An additional $100 million a year would go for math and science scholarships, and $5,000 bonuses would reward new teachers in those fields." Remember - to pass great initiatives like these, we must also get rid of the GOP deadwood "blockage" in Congress!

"John Kerry says Bush has made the world 'far more tattered and volatile' as a result of the U.S.-led war and occupation in Iraq.[Kerry] also declared 'absolutely stunning' a Pentagon report that only $400 million had been spent on Iraqi reconstruction out of $18 billion that Congress approved last year - and that the US was shouldering about 90 percent of reconstruction costs. His campaign advisers argued that Bush had failed on his promise to rebuild Iraq with international cooperation. Bush's campaign aides scoffed at the attack, noting that Kerry had voted against those funds for Iraq that he was now holding up for scrutiny." Kerry's vote was not against the FUNDING, but against Bush's failure to insure that the money would go to reconstruction and troops, and not "corporate diversions." Just like the Bushies to twist the truth...and just like the media to spread the disinfo.

IHT: "A NY Times/CBS News poll contained a series of warning flags for Bush, and strong evidence that his decision to take the nation to war against Iraq had placed him in a precarious political position. From that perspective, Bush appears to have a lot riding on the transfer of power that he celebrated Monday. Just 42% say they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, the lowest finding in a Times survey since the beginning of Bush's presidency. Similarly, 45% said they had an unfavorable opinion of Bush, the highest the Times has found. " Still blocked from any positive coverage by the mainstream media - including the Times and CBS - Kerry is being forced into obscurity, with 50% of Americans saying they don't know anything about him - which is CLEARLY the media's fault. All the same, the Times poll shows Kerry leading Bush 45-44 in the presidential race.

JFK: "90 percent of the coalition on the ground is American. 90 percent. And 90 percent of the cost is being borne by the American people. I believe it is critical that the President get real support not resolutions, not words, but real support of sufficient personnel, troops and money, to assist in the training of security forces in order to be able to guarantee a rapid real transition, and most importantly, in order to be able to provide adequate security on the ground. You must have security on the ground in order to be able to proceed forward with the reconstruction and the political transformation. It is vital to do the hard work and statesmanship and diplomacy necessary to get that." Too bad those things are in such short supply in this White House.

Boston.com: "Senator John F. Kerry won the coveted endorsement yesterday from a onetime supporter of Bush, former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca, who praised Kerry's proposals for creating 10 million jobs across the country and assailed the Bush administration's economic record.he endorsement by Iacocca, who said Kerry would make ''one hell of a CEO." ''All of my best friends are Republicans, and they ask me, 'Are you crazy or something? Why are you doing this?" Iacocca told an audience of several hundred at San Jose State University, as Kerry grinned, nodded his head, and applauded. ''Well, it's simple. I tell them the world is changing. Our country is changing. And we need a leader who understands that change that's taking place. And most important, we need a leader who will level with us about how we can adapt to that change and make things change for the better.""

Hollywood pooled its abundant resources of talent and cash to throw a star-studded fundraiser for John Kerry that brought in $5 million. Actor Ben Affleck opened the show, saying "A presidential candidate needs all the friends he can get, even if they come from show business." Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond performed their 1978 hit "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" together for the first time in 24 years. Streisand also sang a special 2004 election version of her song "People." The song poked fun at White House figures. Other performers included actors Ben Stiller, Esai Morales, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro and singers Willie Nelson and Angie Stone. Kerry closed the concert by urging the crowd to work for a change in leadership. "There are four months to undo four years and prevent four more." Hooray for Hollywood! Unlike Bush's corporate big-buck fundraisers, Hollywood's popular celebs represent the PEOPLE.

"John Kerry criticized Republicans on Wednesday for denying him a chance to cast a Senate vote, blaming a partisan culture created by President Bush and calling his rival 'the greatest divider as a president in the modern history of this country.' As he returned to the campaign trail after a one-day interruption for Senate business, the four-term Massachusetts lawmaker made it clear that he would try to make the political maneuvering in the Senate an issue in his presidential bid. Kerry ... canceled all his campaign events Tuesday to return to Washington to vote for more spending on veterans' health care. 'But oh, no,' Kerry said at the fund-raiser. 'Oh, no. Not in this Senate, not with these people. Once again, it's my way or the highway, shut the door, lock the people out, don't let them take part in the democracy... [Bush has] been the greatest divider as a president in the modern history of this country. And we need to change.'"

This week, Bush went to Ohio and raised $2.5 million at a fundraiser so swanky that only the country club set had a prayer of attending. The bash was held at an estate on Cincinnatti's "millionaire's row" - an area called Indian Hill. Meanwhile, Kerry will be in Canton, OH on Friday, stopping at a local high school to talk to working class folk who have been hard hit by waves of layoffs in the region. While too many Ohio families are worrying about keeping their houses and paying for basic medical care, Bush has decided his focus in OH will be to "promote marriage." As any financially strapped couple will tell you, if ya wanna promote healthy marriage, try supplying the bride and groom/man and wife with a decent income.

Boston.com: "John F. Kerry announced late last night that he would scrap his campaign plans in New Mexico today and instead fly to Washington for a possible Senate vote on guaranteeing that all veterans have access to the VA health care system. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, credited veterans with his comeback victory in the Jan. 19 Iowa caucuses that put him on track to the nomination. The sudden change comes less than a week after Governor Mitt Romney and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey called on Kerry to resign his Senate seat because he had missed 87 percent of Senate roll call votes this year. " Yeah, right! As if Repug Healey's Bush-orchestrated manipulations had anything to do with Kerry's desire to help vets. What a stretch!

CNN: "Democrat John Kerry, touting the endorsement of 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists, has criticized President Bush for relying on ideology rather than fact in the pursuit of science and repeated his pledge to overturn the ban on federal funding of research on new stem cell lines."We need a president who will once again embrace our tradition of looking toward the future and new discoveries with hope based on scientific facts, not fear," the presidential candidate said in a speech prepared for a Monday afternoon appearance in Denver." Kerry sympathizes with the plight of scientists of integrity, hundreds of whom have found themselves sidelines or smeared by the Bush administration, while said administration props its agenda up with "voodoo science" from a handful of researchers of dubious integrity.

Capitol Hill Blue: "Stung during the 1990s Democratic fund-raising controversy, John Kerry is returning a $2,000 check from the son of South Korea's disgraced ex-president after learning the donor was charged with tax evasion. Kerry's presidential campaign also acknowledges that some of its fund-raisers met with a South Korean government official who was trying to organize a Korean-American political group. That official has been sent home amid questions he was involving himself in American politics. The Kerry campaign said it did not know about the $2,000 donation from Chun Jae-yong or his background until informed by The Associated Press. 'We are sending the check back,' spokesman Michael Meehan said." Unlike Bush, when Kerry is given facts, he acts on them and admits when he has erred.

Mickey Edwards writes: "Now that John Kerry has accepted the fact that the person he wants to take to the big dance just isn't interested (that's OK, John, it was an ill-advised dalliance all along), he can finally get serious about choosing a running mate. Kerry should be happy that John McCain brushed him off: According to the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, in 2002, the last year reported on the ADA website, Kerry and McCain were on opposite sides on every single one of the 20 issues ADA considered important enough to include in its annual ratings.). As for who can best help the national ticket, there are several obvious possibilities -- Bill Richardson, Bob Graham, Bill Nelson, and perhaps John Edwards."

Independent: "John Edwards' chances of being selected as Kerry's VP have been boosted by polls that show the former southern senator would provide a vital boost in key 'swing' states. With the decision due to be announced early next month, aides of Mr Kerry say he feels he must pick someone considered a moderate in order to bolster the party's centrist credentials against attacks from Republicans." Oh no! If this is true, Kerry is playing right into the GOP's hands - look what happened in the 2002 races when Dems were convinced thru GOP intimidation that they had to act like "moderates" and support the war in Iraq - a move led by Dick Gephardt. They were given a "punishment vote," just like the UK's Labor Party received this month and lost the Senate. Kerry is said to favor Gephardt. This astounds us, considering our polls have consistently shown Gephardt one of the LEAST popular choices among Dems. Don't blow it now, JFK!

Ben Goddard writes, "At the beginning of June, John Kerry made a well-timed pivot in his message strategy. He had patiently worked on building his credentials while President Bush was sinking in the polls. Though he occasionally took shots at the president, Kerry kept his focus on building his image as a war hero and dedicated public servant. It was a sound strategy. If the incumbent is foundering, just make yourself an acceptable alternative. Now, when the president is finally seeing some daylight after Ronald Reagan's passing diverted America's attention, Kerry has launched a new offensive. In his paid media and public statements, Kerry is beginning to offer an alternative. And, I must say, he's doing a pretty damn good job of it so far. The opening salvo was a dramatically different television commercial released in early June. Kerry presents a much more dynamic image than we've seen in the primaries or his early character-building spots, which ran in May. "

US Newswire: "John Kerry today called for raising the minimum wage to $7.00 by 2007. The increase will impact nearly 15 million workers, helping families make ends meet and move another step towards the American Dream. An increase in the federal minimum wage is well overdue. It has fallen further and further behind the cost of living, and the impact of the last increase has been entirely eroded by inflation. Today, the minimum wage is worth only 33 percent of the average American wage, its lowest level since 1949. In very real terms, this only serves to keep many hardworking Americans from getting ahead and saving for the future. According to a new report released today by nine leading labor economists, no group will benefit more from an increase than working women. A $7.00 minimum wage will help millions of women and mothers pay for education or for household expenses like groceries, healthcare and rent. "

This week, John Kerry addressed the issue on millions of Americans' minds: the cost of child care. The NY Times reports: "For this administration in Washington, after-school is just an afterthought," Mr. Kerry said. "They don't understand how important it is to working parents. Well, we do. We know how much after-school and child care matter for working families, and that's why I have a plan that will help families do the right thing for their kids. 'The Bush campaign was not impressed, noting that Mr. Kerry had opposed some of the tax cuts that were aimed at those same families.' " LOL! This typically skewed NY Times story of course fails to mention that Kerry's program would deliver $800 per family, while the tax cuts delivered a max of $600 - if you made enough money.

AP: "John Kerry raised a Democratic record $100 million from March through May, lifting his presidential campaign to more than $140 million so far. Kerry raised roughly $25 million last month alone, figures provided today by his campaign show. The Massachusetts senator has already surpassed his financial goal of about $106 million for the primary season. Bush has raised at least $216 million since he began his re-election effort in May 2003. That includes at least $13 million raised in May through online and mailed contributions. John Kerry raised a Democratic record $100 million from March through May, lifting his presidential campaign to more than $140 million so far. Bush stopped holding fund-raisers for himself in April, turning his attention to helping the Republican Party and fellow GOP candidates raise millions for the fall election." At least that's the excuse the White House and AP are dishing out!

When John Kerry spoke out this week on the plight of the US Middle Class - which is working harder and longer just to keep the mortgage paid, let alone cover college or other "extras" - he obviously hit a Bush nerve. The AP (A.merican P.ropaganda) story starts with an undercutting swipe at Kerry: "Democrat John Kerry, trying to blunt recent good news about job creation, says Bush has not done enough to help the middle class." Has AP become a "psychic network"? Or did Kerry personally call Nedra Pickler and tell her he was "trying to blunt recent good news." Or is so-called "reporter" Pickler just a misplaced gossip columnist? Back when reporters actually took Journalism 101, they were taught that reporters don't editorialize. But back then, reporters weren't so routinely hired as propagandists.

Chalmers Johnson writes, "I believe that if the Republic is to be saved it will be as a result of an upsurge of direct democracy. A year ago some ten million people in all the genuine democracies on earth demonstrated against the war in Iraq, against George Bush, and for democracy. These were the largest demonstrations in British history -- two million people in London -- but they also included 400,000 people in NYC and a million each in Berlin, Madrid, and Rome. In late April we saw a powerful demonstration in Washington DC of over a million for a woman's right to choose and to encourage younger women to vote. A half-million demonstrated in Rome last Friday against a visit by our Boy Emperor... I intend to vote for Kerry because I believe he is the only electable politician in America who might, like Zapatero in Spain, pay attention to public opinion. If we can demonstrate that a majority of the American people want peace, I believe that John Kerry will heed the call."

Far from making political hay off of Reagan's death (too bad the same can't be said of rightwing politicians!), John Kerry is calling a temporary halt to all "overtly political" campaign events, at least through the funeral. Instead of giving phony tributes to Reagan just because he is dead, Kerry gracefully gave credit where he honestly could: "Ronald Reagan and many of us disagreed on one issue or another, but he always disagreed with a smile, without partisanship. I think he had a sense of idealism and a sense of optimism of the possibilities about our country that define leadership," Kerry said. "We will miss him, no matter what party, no matter what our beliefs. He was a leader, and we'll miss him."

"John Kerry Friday rallied fellow veterans in Minneapolis to kick off a nationwide effort to organize 1 million veterans behind his campaign for the White House. With state Veterans for Kerry coordinators now in place in all 50 states, today's rally marked the beginning of a grassroots push by veterans across the country to elect John Kerry President. To give something back, Kerry is asking all his supporters to demonstrate their support for military families by contributing to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund -- a fund that supports military families who have lost their loved ones in battles since the attacks on US soil. Supporters can show their support by donating through the Intrepid link on Johnkerry.com... State Veterans for Kerry groups will organize and execute grassroots, veteran-to-veteran outreach efforts, including: vet-to-vet phone banks, veterans visibility efforts, veterans motorcycle rides, including one to the Convention in Boston, and Veterans Internet operations."

Houston Chronicle: "Denouncing Bush's crackdown on Fidel Castro as election-year politicking that 'punishes and isolates the Cuban people,' John Kerry said he would encourage 'principled travel' to the island and lift the cap on gifts to its people. Kerry embraced the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba and support for dissidents, but criticized Bush's restriction of travel and cash gifts to Cubans on the island as a 'cynical and misguided ploy for a few Florida votes.' Kerry said Bush's new hard-line policy restricting travelers to a single visit every three years 'punishes and isolates the Cuban people and harms the Cuban Americans with relatives on the island while leaving Castro unharmed.' Selective engagement, not isolation, is the best way for the American people to send real, not just rhetorical, hope for a better future to the Cuban people," he said.' "

This week, Kerry declared that Bush has alienated US allies and other nations so badly that only a change of presidents will restore broad global respect for American policy. "I think the world has been made more dangerous, not less dangerous, over the course of the last few years," Kerry told an audience of students, scholars, and others at the University of South Florida. "I think anger levels are higher. The intensity of anger and focus and hatred towards the United States because of the way this administration has proceeded is greater than it's been." Go JFK, go!!

Not long ago, it was leaked that Pope John Paul II said that he wished he were a younger man, because then he would have the strength required to do battle with the Anti-Christ, whom, he feared, had showed his horns - in the form of G. W. Bush. Now Bush is trying hard to counter that image. This AP (American Propaganda) report touting that Bush and the Pope are eager to put aside their differences, with Rome welcoming Bush warmly, has been stuffed into every wire service, newspaper, and media outlet in the US. We suspect they better send a copy to the Vatican, too, so they know how they are supposed to act.

Thomas Oliphant writes: "For those who think Kerry thinks small, his determination to end nearly 40 years of dangerous dependence on imported oil from the Middle East is powerful refutation. It is just as important, however, that Kerry is determined to renew America's activist role in Middle East diplomacy, and to seek allies internationally to make that role more effective. The contrast with Bush could not be more dramatic. What is on display is the essence of passivity in areas that could not be more related to the threat of terrorism that will be part of our world for years." Bush's "strategy" "consists of periodic meetings to calibrate the US nonresponse to the latest outrage. There is no real road map, there are no partners; periodic, halfhearted attempts to restart a serious pursuit of settlement have gone the way of all halfhearted initiatives. This murderous atmosphere can be projected forward indefinitely."

Boston.com: "Hours before Senator John F. Kerry stepped foot in this Navy town for yesterday's Memorial Day parade, his volunteers had already made a convert out of a longtime Republican voter, 84-year-old Elva Spiaggi, by talking up two issues that are a festering preoccupation here: the economy and the Iraq war. Spiaggi, whose granddaughter just returned from military service in Iraq, was exactly the type of voter that spurred Kerry's unusual visit to southern Virginia yesterday. No Democratic presidential candidate has won the state since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 and the last two Southern nominees of the party, Al Gore and Bill Clinton, made far less effort in Virginia than Kerry is attempting. Kerry and his advisers said they believe that Republican-leaning veterans, military families, and the financially disheartened can be wooed and won -- and even if they cannot, the Bush campaign will be forced to spend money to hold the state in its win column. "

With all the hype about McCain, many are forgetting that as early as February, several polls showed that a Kerry-Edwards ticket would easily trump a Bush-Cheney ticket. The one edge Bush has now - the deep south, would be lost if Edwards were on the ticket. In Feb, MSNBC reported: "Edwards is regarded favorably by 70% of registered Democrats and 52% by all voters. While just 19% of voters view Edwards unfavorably whereas Kerry, at 27%, comes across as more polarizing. With "electability" a buzz word this election season, a Kerry-Edwards ticket tests well among voters: 49% would support a Kerry-Edwards ticket compared to the 45%t who back a Bush-Cheney reelection bid." That was in February, before Bush's "great fall." Meanwhile, 49% is all a Kerry-McCain ticket polls NOW, even after getting a boost from Bush's descent. We'd love to see poll results TODAY for Kerry-Edwards.

In his first of several speeches challenging Bush's failed US security policy, John Kerry made the differences between himself and Bush sharply clear. By making military pre-emption the central doctrine of a new U.S. foreign policy and employing it too quickly in Iraq, said Kerry, Bush ignored Theodore Roosevelt's warning: when a man "lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble." The Bush administration " looked to force before exhausting diplomacy," said Kerry. "They bullied when they should have persuaded. They have gone it alone when they should have assembled a whole team. They have hoped for the best when they should have prepared for the worst. In short, they have undermined the legacy of generations of American leadership, and that is what we must restore, and that is what I will restore."

"The LA Times today described John Kerry's 'stark new challenge': 'As President Bush has moved toward his position, the Democratic Party is moving away from it.' ... Though a small number of prominent thinkers aligned with the Party have advocated setting a firm date for withdrawal, it's not the Party establishment that is moving away from Kerry. ... It's the liberal base. 53% of Democratic voters said the U.S. 'should withdraw its military forces from Iraq' in new ABC poll. Nader's campaign has found a raison d'etre in his antiwar stance, and more important, our activism is paying off: 'The withdrawal idea is certain to receive more attention now that Win Without War, whose members include MoveOn.org, has endorsed it after extensive deliberations.' Now, just a year after the Iraq war, a faultline may be forming in the Democratic Party. Activists have a ripe opporunity to push Kerry to advocate the only sensible Iraq policy: the total withdrawal of American military forces."

Bush's negative campaign is designed to keep Bush from dealing with real issues, and to lure the Kerry campaign into wasting resources over tit-for-tat rebuttals of Bush's false claims. This press release is an example of how easy it is to fall into the trap. It tries to rebut too many issues (we sympathize with the motivating indignation, believe us!), and thereby may (in some minds) raise more questions than it answers. For example, we KNOW he wants to ax the civil liberty trampling sections of the Patriot Act, but in an effort to rebut Bush's lies, the release states without sufficient qualification that Kerry supports 95% of the Act - an alarming statement! Better to ignore the lies and avoid the trap - Bush's is gonna hang himself with his own rope soon enough.

"We can live in an America that is energy independent. We can live in an America that runs on the cars of the future that we only have to fill up once a month, not every week. We can live in an America that invests in new technology that will make us energy independent and provide good paying jobs for every American. We can do this with a president who leads. America's can-do spirit invented the cars we drive and built the roads and bridges we use every day. Our imagination and sense of discovery took us to the moon. And our determination and perseverance helped us conquer diseases like polio. When America sees a problem or a great possibility, it is in our collective character to set our sights on the horizon and not stop working until we get there. That's what America does best- and now we need to let America be America again so we can meet this energy challenge. Our dependence on foreign oil is a problem we must solve together the only way we can: by inventing our way out of it."

"In the weekly Democratic radio address, presidential candidate John Kerry said, 'The United States should strive for energy independence. There are two reasons why we cannot be asleep at the wheel during this current energy crisis... First, soaring energy prices are putting our economy at risk and second, our dependence on Middle East oil is putting our national security at risk. But it doesn't have to be this way.' In the short term [he] said, the US should divert oil being used to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and bring it to market [and] demand that Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing nations increase supply. He said his long-term strategy as president would include investments in alternative fuels and new technologies that are more fuel-efficient... [H]e would establish tax credits to help make fuel-efficient cars more affordable. 'Our dependence on foreign oil is a problem we must solve together the only way we can - by inventing our way out of it.' "

UPI: "The Republican Bush-Cheney television ad campaign has produced more negative ads than the campaign of Sen. John Kerry, a USA Today analysis said Tuesday. The survey found at least $45 million, nearly two-thirds of the $70.5 million spent so far by the Bush-Cheney campaign, has been to air seven negative ads." As to constructive message, we have yet to hear it. Meanwhile, "Kerry has spent $25 million, 56 percent of the $44.5 million he has spent so far, to air two positive, biographical ads about himself." Of course Kerry has one "unfair" advantage over Bush: He has something constructive to offer America and so doesn't need to rely on cheap smear jobs.

US Newswire: "On May 22nd, Kerry supporters across the country will hold nearly 2,000 house parties in all 50 states to organize support in their communities. Kerry will join supporters via conference call to discuss his vision for a stronger America and rally support for his campaign. The May 22nd house parties will be in addition to the thousands of Americans who are attending over 1,000 house meetings in their homes throughout this month to build the foundation of a historic grassroots campaign. Last week, Kerry joined thousands of Hispanic supporters in conference calls with Unidos con Kerry -- the campaign to reach out to and mobilize Hispanic Americans for Kerry." Let's help make 2204's grassroots campaign to give Bush the boot one that will go down in the history books!

Boston.com: "Drawing one of the biggest crowds of his campaign, Senator John F. Kerry whipped up more than 7,000 people here yesterday by challenging Bush's Iraq policies and accusing the White House of wrapping itself in patriotic rhetoric and the American flag to squash dissent over the war. 'The American flag is waving over there, it's standing over here, strong, as we are as a nation,' he said. 'But I'll tell you this, and you know it in your hearts and you know it in your guts, and Americans increasingly feel this all across our land as people feel it all across this planet: We cannot, we cannot possibly prevail in Iraq if we give up our values in the process.' Kerry said dissent and 'alternative views' should be cherished in America. 'That flag does not belong to the Republican Party; it doesn't belong to the Democrats; it doesn't belong to President Bush,' he said. 'It belongs to all Americans."Both remarks brought thunderous cheers from the crowd.' "

Boston.com: "Voting with their checkbooks, college professors are breaking overwhelmingly for Senator John F. Kerry over Bush, with the Democratic challenger raising nearly three times as much in campaign contributions from college campuses. The fund-raising trend contrasts sharply with the 2000 presidential race, when Bush raised slightly more money from academia than Al Gore. 'A whole new mix of issues has come to the front, issues of war and peace, which historically have energized people within the academy more,' said Travis Rendell, director of state policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities." The extent of student support may be far greater than even polls show, as a high percentage of under-25ers use cell phones may be highly underrepresented in polls.

"Why isn't Kerry clobbering Bush?" is the latest question being debated at great and tedious length by armchair campaign strategists.Kerry's too long-winded, he doesn't bash Bush enough on Iraq, he is too focused on healthcare, etc. etc. Not only are they missing the real reason for Kerry's single-digit lead, they are failing to do anything to counter it: The media refuses to give Kerry equal and fair coverage. Never before has a candidate been more alternately blocked from the news and negatively spun when he is covered. If you armchair strategists out there would start helping Kerry get more positive exposure and start demanding better performance from the media instead of just from Kerry, those single digits will start to blossom into doubles!

Sidney Herald: "Sidney High School junior Andrew Huskamp earned a second-place award at the International Moose Student Congress held in Charlotte, N.C. For the honor, Huskamp will receive a $3,000 scholarship. The competition included a half-hour program that needed to focus on building character of younger students. Huskamp, the son of Pastor David and Karen Huskamp, focused on 'being kind.' In his presentation, which included Legos, Huskamp taught his lesson through the experiences of 'Sir Kerry the Kind.' Huskamp describes Kerry as a 'nice knight that helped everybody.' Another character in the program was Prince Bully." (Hmm... it doesn't take much to figure out who may have been his model!).

Our monitoring of Campaign 2004 clearly shows that among Kerry's most dedicated supporters are young, Democrats (like the former Dean folk) while Kerry's biggest liability may be disenchanted Greens and far lefters. If the latter turn to Nader, Kerry would, at this point, lose. What better way to guarantee a Nader coup and a huge loss of Kerry votes thru disenchanted progressives who stay home in protest than to have Kerry name a Republican as his running mate? Yep, that's what the corporate media thought too! Notice that the outlets pushing McCain hardest are hardcore corporate or rightwing media, like this Newsmax story.

"John Kerry has drawn close behind Resident Bush on handling the war on terrorism, a poll out Friday found. The CNN-Time poll found that 49 percent said Bush was stronger on that issue and 42 percent said Kerry... 46 percent said Bush is doing a good job fighting terrorism and 47 percent said Bush is doing a poor job... Bush's poll numbers have been slipping at a time the Iraq prisoner abuse scandal has put the White House on the defensive. Kerry [was ahead five points overall] with 49 percent for Kerry to 44 percent for Bush and 6 percent for Nader. Kerry [still] had the advantage on issues like the economy, health care, unemployment and even taxes... Asked whether the war in Iraq was worth the costs, 37 percent said yes and 56 percent said no. The poll of 1,001 adults including 580 likely voters was taken May 12-13 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 4 points for likely voters."

"Presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry on Friday collected the endorsement of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, a police union that backed President Bush in the 2000 election. 'After three and a half years of disappointing leadership under George Bush, we need to change course in November and elect a president with a real record of supporting police officers and a lifetime of standing with law enforcement,' IBPO President David Holway said in a statement provided by the Kerry campaign."

Vietnam vet Jerry DiGrezio Hollis went to Vietnam believing he was striking a blow for freedom and democracy. 'Although my doubts about the validity of the war started very gradually, it accelerated very quickly when the president of South Vietnam jailed his opponents to run unopposed. So much for the free elections! Additionally, seeing what actually happened there and then reading the hometown newspaper accounts of what the government released to the media was in many instances totally different. " Today, says Hollis, "I am especially frustrated in the fact that Sen. John Kerry saw the futility of the war, had the courage to criticize it and yet is assailed by those who have never been, have never done and will never know.'"

Renewing his call for Bush to take full responsibility for the prison scandal and Rumsfeld to resign despite his apology, Kerry singled out McCain of Arizona, a fellow Vietnam War veteran and frequent Bush critic, when pressed on who he would want running the Pentagon. "I have any number of people that I would make secretary of Defense, beginning with our good friend John McCain as an example." Kerry listed other possible candidates "who could manage it (the top Defense job) very effectively," including Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan and Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia, the top ranking senators on the Armed Services Committee. McCain's name has surfaced on the long lists of potential running mates for Kerry but he has denied any interest. In addition, Kerry used McCain's image in one of his campaign ads. McCain and Warner are hardliners on Iraq and support Bush. Carl Levin, who led the fight against a "blank check" for the Iraq War, would be infinitely superior.

On May 11, Kerry, speaking at a campaign fundraiser in Kentucky, went straight to the root of the problem in Iraq: the Bush administration's arrogant attitude. This attitude has not only alienated former allies with a string of broken treaties and lies, it has fostered a culture that permitted the dehumanizing abuse of prisoners. The blame for that abuse Kerry lays squarely at Team Bush's door - such crimes, said Kerry, are not reflective of 99.9 percent of the troops." Reconstruction in Iraq has gone just about like everything else Bush has promised to do: "Kerry referred to Bush's tenure as 'the biggest say-one-thing-do-another administration in modern history.' " Go, JFK, go!

US Newswire: "Kerry campaign spokesperson Chad Clanton issued the following statement in response to the AP report today that the Bush administration has accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions from companies who received contracts to administer the new prescription drug card program. 'Under this president, the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs have gone sky-high. He's taken money from the drug companies hand over fist and put protecting their profits before cutting costs for consumers.' Major GOP Corporate Donors Selected to Provide Medicare Cards include: Aetna: $25,925 to the Bush-Cheney Campaigns of 2000 and 2004.; $510,000 to the RNC between 1999 and 2002; Anthem Inc. $45,650 to the RNC between 1999 and 2002.;Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association/ Highmark Inc. $12,500 to the Bush-Cheney Campaigns of 2000 and 2004. $317,000 to the RNC between 1999 and 2002...." The list goes on and on.

John Kerry wants an end to the "us and them" system that has become the US government. "Us" being the "ruling party" (Repugs of course) and big corporations and "them" being the majority of Americans and small business. Kerry says as prez, he will allow small businesses "to buy into the same health plan as Members of Congress, so that they can diversify their risks, get better prices and reduce their administrative costs. He will also give small businesses tax credits of up to 50 percent to help them provide coverage for their low- and moderate-income employees. This credit will cover up to 50 percent of the cost of employees' premiums. Finally, Kerry will make health care more affordable for employers and employees by having the federal government help out with certain high cost health cases." In short, Kerry will level the playing field!

Some 275,000 people have signed a petition launched by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry calling for US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign over the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, his campaign director said. "More than 275,000 supporters signed our petition," said Mary Beth Cahill in a statement. "Americans want accountability and responsibility at the highest levels of our government."

With the corporate media scrambling to defend the indefensible by attempting to spin off and cover up the latest Bush administration crimes against humanity, they haven't been able to spend as much time blocking and smearing Kerry. As a result, Kerry's message - there all along beneath the media muzzle - has begun to break through. It is a simple message: Kerry is a real leader - one who will get results FOR the American people. accountability. Says Kerry: ''In the year 2000, when John McCain had him on the run, George Bush made up a slogan, 'Reformer With Results.' And four years later, Americans are still waiting to see the reform, but I'll tell you this: They've had enough of the results -- sure he can make decisions and lead -- but look at the direction he's [leading]!"

"When I was in the Navy, the captain of the boat was in charge, and the captain always took responsibility. After the Bay of Pigs invasion, John F. Kennedy told America 'I am the responsible officer of this government.' Today, I have a message for the men and women of our armed forces: as Commander in Chief, I will honor your commitment and I will take responsibility for the bad as well as the good. As President, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command. I will demand accountability from those who serve, and I will take responsibility for their actions, and I will do everything that I can in my power to repair the damage that this has caused to America, to our standing in the world, and to the ideals for which we stand. This is my promise to our troops and this is my promise to our nation/"

The Bush smear campaign against Kerry is bad enough. The last thing he needs is for "armchair campaign managers" among Democrats to keep carping from the sidelines like old drunks around the bigscreen football game at the local bar, each sure THEY know better than the coach. If anything is making Kerry look "flipfloppy," it's these "armchair coaches!" Kerry finally said, enough already! "I only secured the nomination about seven weeks ago and we had $2 million in the bank...I've raised $80 million and broken all records in seven weeks, and the last time that I looked, the CBS/ New York Times poll had me ahead after $70 million had been spent to distort, mislead, and destroy my record. I think the American people are waiting for a real conversation about where we are going to take the country and what we're going to do to make America strong. I have a plan." Don't worry, WE trust ya, JFK!

Now here's a classic bit of Repug idiocy! Right when allegations of horrific abuses of Iraqi prisoners are shocking Americans and the world, the GOP decides it's a good time to have a couple of Kerry's former commanders stand up and condemn his bid for the presidency because (gasp!) Kerry came home from Vietnam and opposed the war on the grounds that atrocities were being committed there. If anything, this stunt will help Kerry more than anything his own people have done in months! Keep it up, Bushies! Kerry can save millions by just letting you folks handle PR stunts!

When John Kerry returned from Vietnam and became the spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Richard Nixon recruited veteran John O'Neill (no relation to the ex-FBI hero that died on 9-11) to attack Kerry in the media. Now O'Neill is working for another scandal-ridden Republican, George Bush, but his mission is the same. O'Neill has collected signatures from fellow Republican veterans on a letter calling Kerry "unfit to be commander-in-chief." His press conference, which is expected to draw about 25 of the letter-signers, is being organized by a newly formed group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (swiftvets.com). Interestingly, their mission says, "We believe it is incumbent on ALL presidential candidates to be totally honest and forthcoming regarding personal background and policy information that would help the voting public make an informed decision when choosing the next president of the United States." We agree! And that's why we demand the truth about Bush's AWOL!!

AP: "Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has publicly criticized Bush's tax cuts as favouring the wealthy, has agreed to serve as an economic adviser to John Kerry. Buffett, a Democrat, said Sunsay he and Kerry have spoken once -- when Kerry called to ask if Buffett would be willing to serve with a group of advisers that includes Roger Altman, deputy treasury secretary under President Clinton, and former Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling. Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., served on an economic advisory panel last year for then-California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, drawing criticism when he suggested that California's property taxes were too low. Schwarzenegger quickly dismissed Buffett's suggestions."

From the Columbia School of Journalism: "For the past two weeks or so, we've watched as a largely press-manufactured story has made its way from a little noticed CNN.com column to The Washington Post op-ed page to an Associated Press dispatch to a Jodi Wilgoren-penned piece in today's New York Times. The central claim of most of these pieces -- that, as CNN's Carlos Watson wrote two weeks ago, 'Kerry's Inner Circle Lacks Color' -- seems dubious at best, but that hasn't stopped the national media from turning the story into this week's tempest in the teapot. Let's have a look at how we got here."

Excerpt from Kerry speech: "America must... be a beacon of values as well as strength to succeed... The gift of hard truths and a sense of hope... are needed today as we stand on the eve of an anniversary in this country-the day that major combat operations were declared over in Iraq and the President declared, 'mission accomplished.' This anniversary is not a time to shout. It is not a time for blame. It is a time for a new direction in Iraq and for America to work together so that once again this nation leads in a way that brings the world to us and with us in our efforts. In the end, America is safer and stronger when it is respected around the world, not feared. To move to that place of promise and possibility, we must all see and share in the hard truths all around us." Contrast this with Cheney's smear-filled rant at Westminster (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040426-8.html)

Joan Vennochi: "American soldiers died in Vietnam because American presidents lied to the American people about the need for war. American soldiers are dying in Iraq because an American president lied to the American people about the need for war. The fact that Kerry served in Vietnam is fine; the fact that George W. Bush did not serve does not make the difference between who should win the next election. The fact that Kerry served, came back with the understanding that the war he and others fought honorably was a mistake, and told that to the American people is relevant, if linked to what is happening now in Iraq, compliments of the Bush administration."

Under Bush, a staggering 2.8 million manufacturing jobs - that's ONE OUT OF SIX EXISTING JOBS - has been lost. For Bush, making businesses more competitive means more outsourcing - not more innovation to ensure more jobs at higher wages. To fix this broken system, Kerry proposes a 3-part plan: 1. Jumpstart job growth by offering new jobs tax credits to manufacturers and small businesses and enforcing existing trade regulations; 2. Make America more competitive by ending tax breaks for companies that outsource, while cutting taxes for corporations creating jobs in the US, and 3. Invest in the jobs of the future by establishing Manufacturing Business Investment Corporations; and securing universal access to college and expanded job training to prepare workers for jobs of the future.

Walter Shapiro asked Kerry whether his Vietnam protests had larger implications for the 2004 campaign. "I think it is very relevant," Kerry said, "because I think it says a lot of things about... what your perceptions are about events that are different from the way that public officials are telling you that they are, and the way that military people tell you they are. I think it tells you something about your willingness to stand up and fight for the principles you believe in and the lessons you learn. And I think that it tells a lot about the kind of leadership we need now in respect to Iraq and the war on terror."... The anti-war movement, Kerry said in the interview, "was not the place to go to avail yourself of the best opportunity, having won some medals and having fought in the war. Opportunism would have been to go home quietly and sit there... Getting on Richard Nixon's enemies list and challenging the administration was an invitation to the very controversy that followed."

Thomas Oliphant is a respected American journalist known for his penetrating observations. It just so happens he was there that day 3 decades ago when Kerry threw his ribbons away as a protest gesture. "From what I could observe firsthand about Friday, April 23, 1971, Kerry did not make even the slightest effort to pretend that he was throwing all of his military decorations over that fence. He did what he did in plain view, and in my case in the view of someone close enough to kick him in the shins. It was clear to me that Kerry had arrived here with only the ribbons he wore on his shirt -- which, by the way, were referred to as 'medals' by the late Stuart Symington of Missouri, one of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee members present for his famous antiwar statement."

LA Times reports, "Nervous about how the nation might perceive a mass turn-in of decorations, he urged VVAW leaders to lay their honors down with dignity on a table shrouded in white cloth. He was outvoted. The vets chose to heave their medals in protest, then turning them over to the sergeant-at-arms at the Capitol. Kerry's objections left VVAW officers convinced 'he was out,' said Jack Smith, a former Marine who ran the event... He was swaying 'between patriotism and protest,' recalls Kerry's brother-in-law, David Thorne. But when protesters mustered for their last day of protest on the morning of April 23 - 33 years ago today - Kerry was still with them. Overnight, police had erected a high wire fence around the Capitol, preventing the veterans from turning in their combat honors. Enraged, they decided to leave them behind. For nearly two hours, the antiwar troops heaved medals, ribbons, berets, dog tags, and snapshots of dead comrades at a sign marked, 'Trash.'"

As Pres., Kerry would increase the US military by 40,000, send more soldiers to Iraq if necessary and stay there until the "job was done." So, asks Walter Russell Mead "'What's the difference? [between Bush and Kerry]? If I vote for Kerry, I will get a war in Iraq and someone who doesn't believe in the war but is going to have to fight it anyway. If I vote for Bush, I get a war in Iraq, fought by somebody who believes in the war.'" First, Bush's Messianic "belief" in the war underlies the brutal, ill-conceived decisions that are getting US troops killed and maimed. Kerry, by contrast, will use sincere (noncorporate!) diplomacy to disengage the US with a minimum loss of life. For the troops and their families, this is a huge difference! And, with Kerry at the helm and not Bush, the world will again rally behind the US. It is time for Americans to accept that Iraq's rage and world's scorn are drected at BUSH & Co. Change that and you change everything.

"John Kerry will launch his 'Jobs First Express - On the Road to a Stronger Economy' bus tour next week through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan -- states hit hard by the jobs crisis of the Bush economy. The tour is part of a three-day trip by Kerry to discuss with voters and local community leaders his plan to create new and better jobs in America. On the tour, Kerry will unveil new proposals designed to create and keep jobs in America and make our country more competitive in the world. 'We're going to build a stronger America and we're going to do it by putting jobs first,' Kerry said. 'Last month, I announced my plan to create 10 million new and better jobs in America and stop the outflow of jobs to countries overseas. On next week's tour, I'm going to build on that plan and talk with voters about how we are gong to rebuild America by strengthening the economy and putting Americans across this country back to work.'"

The Campaign Desk writes, "How many ways can the press distort the picture painted by John Kerry's military service records? Yesterday, we hoped we had nipped this one in the bud with our report on the press's consistent failure to track down just what the U.S. Navy's policy was for awarding Purple Hearts and for reassigning troopers in Vietnam who received three Purple Hearts. Alas, today, the [Moonie] Times' fatally-wounded coverage of Kerry's newly-released service records makes yesterday's various media bloopers look like journalism at its finest... Little in Hurt's rambling, accusatory article is remotely on the mark... Even for a reporter in a hurry, it almost takes an extra effort to get this many things wrong-- but Hurt seems to have pulled it off. If Campaign Desk ever gets around to awarding its own commendations, Hurt is a prime candidate for our tinfoil star. "

Even the Busheviks admit that Lt. Bush missed over 6 months (4/15/72 - 10/28/72), while getting drunk or high in Alabama and Texas. But after scrutinizing Lt. Kerry's record, their big complaint is that Kerry didn't miss a SINGLE DAY of duty while leading his men into enemy fire in Vietnam! Here's the Moonie Paper version: "It's an extraordinary record, say many veterans, and one that raises questions on its face. For example, those military records do not show Mr. Kerry ever missing a day of duty for injuries." Kerry earned 3 Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star, all of which were awarded by his superior officers - and the Busheviks want us to believe that Kerry pinned those FIVE medals on himself. Sometimes you just have to howl with laughter at the unbelievable hypocrisy of the GOP.

Even the Moonie Magazine (Insight) is amazed at the deafening silence after weeks of Republican complaints. Why the silence? "The [Bush] campaign will need to be careful, however, of Bush's Achilles' heel, the wound he received in AVOIDING the battlefield." You got that right!

Guardian: "Records of John Kerry's Vietnam War service released Wednesday show a highly praised naval officer who volunteered for a dangerous assignment and at one point was 'unofficially credited with 20 enemy killed in action.' Several describe him as a gutsy commander and detail some of the actions that won him three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star. Kerry's records show that throughout his four years of active duty, superiors gave him glowing evaluations, citing his maturity, intelligence and immaculate appearance. He was recommended for early promotion, and when he left the Navy in 1970 to run for Congress, his commanding officer said it was the Navy's loss. The 'lowest' marks Kerry earned were the equivalent of average - in military bearing, reliability and initiative. But narrative comments from his commanding officers said he was diplomatic, charismatic, decisive and well-liked by his men." In short: presidential material!

In response to numerous Republican surrogates attacking John Kerry's military record, DNC chair Terry McAuliffe contrasted Kerry's proud record of sacrifice and service to George W. Bush's own record of "evasion and cashed-in connections." "Since Bush himself is in no position to criticize John Kerry on his military service, he has opted instead to let others do his dirty work for him... We welcome any opportunity to contrast Kerry's distinguished record of service as a Naval officer who faced combat and was wounded in Vietnam to Bush using his family connections to get placed in the Texas Air National Guard, requesting to not be sent overseas and then not even bothering to show up for duty or even fulfilling his required length of service. Simply put, Kerry has a proud record of sacrifice and service whereas Bush has a record of cashed-in connections and evasion." Read the DNC's outstanding side-by-side comparison of Kerry and Bush's military service!

"Sen. John Kerry's military service records, released by his presidential campaign Wednesday, reflect a talented young naval officer who regularly impressed his superiors and received glowing reviews... 'A top notch officer in every measurable trait,' wrote Capt. Allen Slifer of Kerry's service on the USS Gridley on June 8, 1967. 'Intelligent, mature and rich in educational background and experience, ENS Kerry is one of the finest young officers I have ever met and without question one of the most promising.' In another evaluation, Lt. Cmdr. George Elliott praised Kerry effusively on Dec. 18, 1969. 'In a combat environment often requiring independent, decisive action, LTJG Kerry was unsurpassed,' Elliott wrote. 'LTJG Kerry emerges as the acknowledged leader in his peer group.' Throughout his campaign, Kerry has relied on many of the veterans he served with in Vietnam to accompany him before voters, confirming his bravery and service to the country." Vote for the HERO - not the ZERO!

Daily Kos writes: "Who is John O'Neill? The guy who has been blasting Kerry's war service all over the cable news networks. 'I saw some war heroes ... John Kerry is not a war hero,' said John O'Neill, a Houston lawyer who joined the Navy's Coastal Division 11 two months after the future senator left Vietnam. 'He couldn't tie the shoes of some of the people in Coastal Division 11.'O'Neill claims he is a political independent, but political independents don't clerk for Justice Rehnquist A reader pointed me to this, on his firm's website: '... Law Clerk to Justice William H. Rehnquist, U.S. Supreme Court, 1974-1975.' O'Neill was also used by Nixon to try and discredit Kerry's post-service anti-war efforts. Now two Republican presidents have used the guy to try and attack Kerry.Even better is the c.v. of another of O'Neill's firm's partners: Margaret Wilson: '... General Counsel to Governor George W. Bush, 1998-2000...' "

"The Kerry campaign will report having collected $54.8 million in the first quarter of 2004, beating both George Bush's totals this quarter and the previous quarterly fundraising record for a presidential candidate - incumbent and non-incumbent - by more than $2 million. Kerry also broke the record for fundraising in one month, gathering $42.8 million in March after he secured the Democratic nomination. These record-breaking figures were amassed through the largest grassroots effort in history - a groundbreaking 355,000 contributions in the quarter."

The GOP mole in the Bush Administration tells Bernard Weiner: "Bush&Co. are dazed, confused and floored, not knowing what the hell to do, and you let him get up! At times, you even seem to be helping him to his feet! Damn it, this isn't tiddleewinks. Bush&Co. are playing full-contact, crush-your-opponent politics, and too often you seem to be playing to win the good-sportsmanship prize. You want to get rid of Bush and his kind from the White House? Remember where the political jugular is located and go for it!...This is our moment. There is no other chance to take these guys down. If we don't do it in November, it may be a generation or more before we get another reasonable shot. Kerry and the Dems may understand that on an intellectual level, but they need to translate that into unrelenting, tough, street-smart, go-for-the-jugular campaign-activism from now until Election Day."

Boston.com "More than any other top-tier Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry suffered significant campaign defections among elected officials and activists in his home stat. Virtually all those who went over the wall on the Bay State's favorite son publicly endorsed Howard Dean. Kerry loyalists might have been expected to hold a grudge against the defectors. After all, this is the Democratic Party of Massachusetts, famous for feuds and infighting. But there have been no recriminations or finger-wagging since Kerry cleared Dean and his other serious opponents from the field, say those on both sides of the temporary divide. It's a local version of a national phenomenon -- party activists of many stripes coalescing quickly behind Kerry in the effort to defeat George W. Bush. 'Democrats love to fight, but not this time,' said Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

Douglas Brinkley writes, "the Boston Globe and New York Post stories omit fully reporting the bylaws. They present [Kerry critic] Hibbard at face value, downplaying the fact that he is a Republican criticizing a fellow veteran hoping to cause him public embarrassment. According to the Globe, Hibbard - in classic blowhard fashion - said Kerry 'had a little scratch on his forearm, and he was holding a piece of shrapnel.' Adding further verbal insult, Hibbard apparently claimed: 'I've had thorns from a rose that were worse.' The straight-faced Globe reporter, in fact, claims that Hibbard told him that Kerry's wound resembled a 'scrape from a fingernail.' Not included in either newspaper account, however, is Kerry's medical report from the incident. He shared it with me last year when I was writing 'Tour of Duty.' It reads: '3 DEC 1968 U.S. NAVAL SUPPORT FACILITY CAM RANH BAY RVN FPO Shrapnel in left arm above elbow. Shrapnel removed and appl. Bacitracin. Ret. to duty.'"

So far, the entire Bush campaign has consisted of a series of pathetic misfires and smear jobs without a single constructive plan or proposal to offer the voters. So now, as Bush's numbers drop like stones, they are going after Kerry's wife with the hysterical viciousness of desperation. But in targeting Heinz, they picked on the wrong lady! In response, "Kerry adopts a version of her husband's signature 'bring it on' line: 'Just let them,' she says in a soft voice. "When you raise your kids, you say, 'What you say is who you are,' " Heinz Kerry said in an interview, the kind of understated put-down for which she has become famous.

US Newswire: "John Kerry's presidential campaign announced today that it set a fundraising record by raising over $6.5 million tonight in New York City. Additionally, Kerry will help the Democratic National Committee raise another $2.4 million on Thursday morning. The event at the Sheraton New York will generate $6 million for the Kerry campaign and $500,000 will be raised at a 'Kerry Core' young professional event at Crobar. On Tuesday night, Kerry set a Boston record by raising $4.1 million for the campaign. Tonight, Kerry shattered a presidential campaign fundraising record, as well as a New York record, for most money raised in one night for a presidential campaign. The previous record was set in June 2003, when the Bush-Cheney campaign raised $4.8 million at the Sheraton New York -- the same hotel that hosts tonight's Kerry event." Go Kerry, Go!!

Boston.com: "John F. Kerry, in his most detailed remarks yet on the intense fighting in Iraq, declared yesterday that stabilizing the country will require more involvement by Arab and European nations, a diplomatic effort he says the Bush administration has failed to mount because of false pride and ideological rigidity. Kerry, who has come under pressure in recent days to specify how his approach to Iraq would differ from Bush's, advocated turning over control of Iraq to an international body that would make decisions about governing and rebuilding Iraq. He also called for imploring Arab and European allies to realize they are at risk for terrorism emanating from an unstable Iraq. 'If you have a global sense of purpose, the capacity of an insurgency to take hold becomes much harder,' Kerry said."

"Zack Exley will be the Kerry campaign's director of online communications and organizing. He was the MoveOn political action committee's special projects director, focusing on research and mobilizing MoveOn supporters, Eli Pariser, the PAC's executive director, said."

AP: "A new analysis reduces the estimated cost of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's health care plan by more than one-quarter by accounting for savings the government might achieve from a more efficient system of medical care. The assumptions, if correct, would take some of the pressure off Kerry to raise taxes quite so much to pay for his plan. Kerry's proposal to extend health coverage to most uninsured Americans and make premiums more affordable for others would cost $653 billion over a decade, down from nearly $900 billion, said Kenneth Thorpe, who teaches health policy at Emory University." What a sharp contrast to Bush, who intentionally hid the EXTRA billions that his medicare "reform" scheme will cost taxpayers!

Warren Gammel explains why he's voting for John Kerry: "For me it all boils down to deciding if we want conservatives continuing to rule our country (and shoving their radical rightwing extremist agenda down our throats) or if we want liberals governing our country. Politics is the art of compromise. We don't always get everything we want. I would have preferred Howard Dean or Dennis Kucinich but I will gladly settle for John Kerry."

"John Kerry raised more than $50 million for his presidential campaign in the first three months of this year, more than any Democrat has ever raised in a quarter and more than the $49.2 million party nominee Al Gore raised during all of his 2000 primary campaign. The campaign raised $38 million in March alone, campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said in a conference call, breaking the one-month fund-raising record of about $35 million set by George W. Bush last June. The campaign raised $26.7 million from Internet donations in the quarter, Cahill said. Kerry, 60, a four-term senator from Massachusetts, has raised a total of about $83 million since he began campaigning over a year ago. That's less that half the record $175 million that Bush has raised for his re-election effort... Cahill said, 'We do not need to spend as much as the Bush campaign because the three [DISASTROUS] years of the Bush administration are very fresh in the minds of voters.''" You GO, John!

On MTV News's "Choose or Lose: 20 Million Questions for John Kerry" the senator came across as both hip and direct. "In one answer that has gained some attention, Kerry says he believes sexuality is innate. The reply is stark enough to prompt the 26-year-old host, Gideon Yago, to ask one of his few follow-up questions, this one on gay marriage and equality. And while Kerry gives a characteristically nonspecific answer about censorship, it's enlightening, in this blame-the-artists era, to hear him say of hip-hop: 'There's a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it, and I think you'd better listen to it pretty carefully, because it's important.' It's even worthwhile to see Kerry grapple with one young person's question: 'Were you cool in college, and are you cool now?' He's politician enough to give a diplomatic answer: 'If I told you I was cool, I wouldn't be cool.' But then he goes on: 'My daughter would probably tell you I'm a freak at times.'"

John Kerry vows that 'our young men and women will never have to fight and die for foreign oil." Instead of pandering to the oil barons, Kerry says he will pressure the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to provide more oil, simplify rules on gas to reduce costs, and develop more energy-efficient vehicles. 'Instead of secret energy meetings and drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, we're going to have a real energy plan for America.' Kerry demanded that Bush stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserves while prices are at their highest - a practice that fills the oil barons' pockets, while driving consumer prices up. Bush never expected to be called on this ( he never informed the public in any speech). But now that he has, he's using all his resources to spin it away...while continuing to divert 150,000 barrels a day into what should be renamed "The Strategic Petroleum Corporation Cash Reserves."

Boston.com reports that as Kerry's campaign shifts into "long-haul gear," the senator "is delving more into policy, sprinkling his new plan to create 10 million jobs into his speeches and chats with voters, even though the nuts and bolts are sometimes less memorable than the three-word slogan. He is also directly appealing more to undecided voters and Republicans, proposing tax cuts and extolling GOP heroes like Theodore Roosevelt, while starting to exhort Democratic audiences not just to vote for him, but to donate to his campaign as well." As to Bush's sneers at 'Massachusetts Liberal," Kerry responds: "I'm looking forward to America getting to know Massachusetts and reconnecting to Lexington and Concord and the USS Constitution and Paul Revere and the great patriotism that really defines our nation."

The Pentapost is once again proving its shameless collusion with the White House. Apparently indifferent to anything but pandering to Dubya's whims, the paper failed to report on Kerry's detailed plan for creating jobs (including a scheme for how he would pay for the plan). Instead, they ran a story accusing Kerry of not having a plan. So, if readers are dumb enough to use the Post as their only news source, how would they ever know otherwise? Read through this long-winded hot air blast and you will not find a single one of Kerry's plans included, only intentionally vague references to something about taxes (real reporting here - not!).

Gerald Nicosia, author of "Home to War", a chronicle of the Vietnam War protests, has reported that 3 boxes of FBI files on Vietnam Veterans Against the War were stolen from his home on March 25; several of the boxes left behind, which had been sealed, were opened and showed signs of being searched. He suspects that the thieves specifically wanted the files, because a camera and other expensive items in the home were untouched. What are we to make of this 'third-rate burglary'? Maybe the first three places the police should look for the stolen files are Karl Rove's office, Bush/Cheney campaign headquarters, and Robert Novak's house.

Unlike George "Daddy Did Everything But Chew My Food for Me" Bush, Kerry knows that before Americans can think about anything - college, homeownership, taxes, et al., they must first have a JOB. So to create up to 10 million new jobs right here in the USA, Kerry says he will end tax subsidies to outsourcing companies. The money saved will be used to cut the corporate income tax rate by 5 % in the form of tax credits for businesses that create jobs in manufacturing, other businesses affected by outsourcing, and small business. Kerry will also promote health reform to end runaway premium growth and help make employers more competitive. Under George Bush healthcare premiums have risen 40 percent -- making it harder for employers to hire new people." At last, a man with a plan.

"The Democrats seemed giddy that they had settled on Kerry so quickly. With enough delegates already accumulated to claim his party's nomination at its convention in late July, Kerry headlined the evening with what amounted to a nomination acceptance speech. He promised to fight for average Americans by restoring jobs and reducing the nation's dependence on foreign oil. He repeatedly disparaged Bush for policies he said 'have not worked, are not working and will not work.' Much of Kerry's 27-minute speech focused on the economy. 'We need a new economic policy that puts an end to wasteful tax cuts for the wealthy and offers new incentives for manufacturing companies to create and keep good jobs here in the USA,' he said. Kerry also pledged to end 'reckless runaway deficits' and to complete plans first broached by President Truman in 1948 to create a comprehensive national healthcare plan. Warming up the crowd for Kerry were the two former presidents and former Vice President Al Gore."

Back in 1971, John Kerry, after having served his country honorably in Vietnam, returned home to help lead the fight to end what is now universally acknowledged as a disastrous, if not downright immoral war. Kerry spoke out fearlessly with all the fire of youth, and in 1971, while on a romantic trip to Paris with his new wife, met with some of the delegation from North Vietnam in an attempt to help broker peace. The war was still raging because back in 1968, Nixon, urged on by Kissinger, sabotaged peace talks to help his reelection campaign (the old "war time president" scam), thereby costing the lives of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of civilians. So while Kerry risked imprisonment and harassment to save American lives, Nixon threw them away for self aggrandizement.

"We are pleased to announce a brand new veterans' website in support of John Kerry's bid for the presidency. Veterans United For Kerry was started by several of the folks who are involved in VAIW. Please come take a look at it and then join us, as we seek to remove George Bush from the White House. The website will organize veterans to speak out for John Kerry and be a source of campaign information on veterans' benefits and health care, as well as military issues."

By definition, groupies are pathetic folks whose lives revolve around even the remote possibility that they might catch a glimpse or word from the object of their obsession. The only difference between the Bushies and the typical groupie is that their obsession is driven by hatred and fear, not mindless adoration (they save that for Bush). They are now stalking Kerry on ski slopes, infiltrating rallies, etc., taking notes on every thing he does and says, right down to uttering an expletive when he crashed while snowboarding into a clumsy secret service agent. In their weird little world, this is big news! What's even sicker is that the media has become a bizarro world version of a fan mag in reverse - tracking every negative Kerry moment like stalkers and, in huddles with the Bush groupies, speculating and dissecting every one endlessly.

"Asked to summarize his foreign policy philosophy, Kerry emphasizes coalition-building: 'American leadership, robust engagement, stronger alliances and greater cooperation resulting in advancing our interests more effectively.' He noted that 'I will never ever cede to any institution or any country a veto or a definition of those interests.' Kerry added that he is incensed at a Bush campaign ad saying he seeks U.N. approval to defend the US. 'Never. Never have. Never ever, ever in my life in the US Senate have I ever ceded our authority to the U.N. or have I recommended it,' he said. 'Never. Not once in one vote; not in one speech. Never. That is a lie.' ... Kerry has long stressed the need to work with allies and engage diplomatically with countries - even governments distasteful to many Americans. Early in his Senate career, in 1985, he riled the Reagan administration by traveling to Nicaragua to meet with the Sandinistas, saying that 'we've got to create a climate of trust.'"

AP: "Senator John McCain of Arizona, arguably the Democrats' favorite Republican, managed to step all over the GOP's carefully honed message of the week yesterday by rejecting the notion that John F. Kerry is weak on defense." The Bush machine has loudly claimed Kerry is anti-defense. "Asked on two morning television shows yesterday whether he thought Kerry was weak on defense, the Arizona senator was quick to bat down the suggestion." We predict McCain will getting a little visit from a Club for Growth "reeducation team."

Boston Globe reports: "Flanked by his Vietnam boat crew and appearing before dozens of veterans wearing caps designating their American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts, the senator also accused the president of 'trying to blame everybody, except his own administration,' for problems the United States faces at home and abroad. In addition, he rebutted a new Bush ad criticizing him for voting last fall against $87 billion in additional funding for US troops in Iraq -- a supplemental appropriation that included money for body armor -- by saying he would have supported it if it had been financed by repealing a portion of the tax cuts implemented during the Bush administration. Kerry made that proposal in an amendment he cosponsored; the Senate rejected the amendment before approving the $87 billion."

While Bush calls monthly required Homeland Security Photo Ops "fighting terrorism," Kerry has a REAL plan that emphasizes first response: "We will pass the SAFER Firefighters Act, fund the FIRE Act, and create the Father Mychal Judge Fund to hire 100,000 new firefighters. We will direct assistance to the frontlines. So that local firefighters and other first defenders don't have to settle for the left-overs that filter down to them through layer upon layer of bureaucracy. When we passed the COPS program ten years ago to put 100,000 police officers on the beat, it took just 62 days for the first grants to local communities. We will reduce the spread of nuclear and biological and chemical weapons and better guard our ports. We will provide frontline defenders with the gear and communications equipments and intelligence they need. We will make sure our public health system is ready for whatever comes its way."

The Nation: "In the large hall at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City on the afternoon of March 1, Kennedy came out swinging at an Administration that wants to roll back the hard-earned rights and liberties of the 20th century. 'One by one,' Kennedy boomed, 'issue by issue, program by program, the Republican Right has methodically turned away from policies which brought about a century of progress for working Americans. They want to build the 21st century economy on 19th century economic values, as if the last 100 years had not occurred. For them the law of the jungle is the best economic policy for America--not equal opportunity, not fairness, not the American dream. Their ideas will inevitably result in a lesser America, and have already meant a growing gulf between rich and poor.'"

So what if Kerry was overheard referring to the Bush junta as liars and crooks? It was the truth! Reports WPVI "Kerry refused to apologize and said he wouldn't sit still while the 'Republican attack squad' routinely distorts his record. 'I have no intention whatsoever of apologizing for my remarks,' Kerry said at a Capitol news conference. 'I think the Republicans need to start talking about the real issues before the country.'" Instead, the Bushies feel much more at home whining about Janet J's breast, gay marriage, Howard Stern's potty mouth' and how to protect Ronald McDonald from lawsuits.

Boston Globe: "John Kerry yesterday proposed a series of monthly 'issues' debates with Bush during the long run-up to Election Day... The debate proposal was...a 'spontaneous idea,' a senior aide said, offered in response to an 11-year-old student reporter asking how the eight months till the general election might unfold. Yet it reflected Kerry's determination to engage Bush directly on issues such as jobs, prescription drug costs, and Iraq, instead of the rival camp's tit for tat on narrower topics such as gay marriage and Kerry's voting record.' Kerry told Bush last week he wanted a 'really terrific discussion about the real issues' during the campaign. On Mar. 9, Kerry said 'I'm willing to have a great discussion with the country. If the president wants to have a debate a month on just one subject, and we go around the country, I think that'd be a great idea. Let's go do it." The cowardly Bush response was, predictably, na ga da (translation: not gonna do it)...

Dick Meyer writes: "Still, it appears that the states that were close in 2000 will be close in 2004. If you buy that, the big targets for the Democratic nominee are Florida, of course, and Ohio, a state with 20 electoral votes that Gore lost by just 3.5 percentage points. Unfortunately, for the Democrats, Ohio is currently devoid of Democratic stars and Florida is not much better off. The other hot spots from Bush's 2000 column are Tennessee, New Hampshire and Missouri. The states Democrats will have to guard most carefully from Republican poaching are New Mexico, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. So the map points more to a Rust Belt guy than a Sun Belt dude. But the map -- I know, I know -- is just one factor, an old-fashioned one at that."

US Newswire: "Senator Kerry was endorsed for President by the IAFF after an extensive polling process of its members and based on his record as the strongest pro-union candidate in the race with the greatest commitment to national and homeland security issues. The IAFF also values issues impacting working families, including affordable health care, a fair tax policy, protecting social security and job creation. Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and Kerry campaign national co-chair (the only non-elected official to hold that distinction), will join with fire fighters to support John Kerry at his victory rally in Washington, DC. In addition to the nation's capital, IAFF members in Super Tuesday primary and caucus states around the country will be gathering at Kerry events to celebrate the senator's next step toward the Democratic nomination. The IAFF was the first major union to endorse John Kerry for President."

Kerry said yesterday that while he would never let other nations or the UN block the US from defending itself when directly threatened, Bush's Darth Vaderesque policy of "unilateral preemption" is a failure that has made the world less safe for the US by fueling anger. "We must apply the wisdom Franklin Roosevelt shared with the American people in a fireside chat in 1942: 'It is useless to win battles if the cause for which we fight these battles is lost; it is useless to win a war unless it stays won,'" Kerry said. As an illustration of the Bush mindset, the GOP reportedly sent hundreds of "reps" to observe Kerry. As one young Bushie put it, she came out of "curiosity and knowing where your ENEMY stands." In the paranoid world of Bushies, everyone is classed as either an "enemy" or "unquestioning supporter."

At present in the US, miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency is the lowest it has been in 22 years. Bush has made "independence from foreign oil" his sales pitch for everything from drilling in ANWR to giving away millions to automakers in incentives that never translate into reduced gas consumption. But in June 2003, John Kerry said any aid to the auto industry HAS to be tied to improved fuel efficiency. Said a Decatur Daily editorial at the time: "Sen. John Kerry is to be commended for trying to make a difference. Mr. Kerry is calling for tougher fuel efficiency standards coupled with aid to the auto industry. He also wants a new environmental fund to pay for research on expanding the use of alternative fuels, such as hydrogen. This may be the first attempt in years to make America independent of foreign fuels."

The Idaho Statesman reports: "[Teresa] Heinz Kerry talked about how she viewed the United States while growing up in Mozambique. She lived there during a dictatorship and said she saw her father vote for the first time when he was 71, where she had maintained a home since 1966." Teresa Heinz Kerry spoke out with poise and insight. "As a country, we need to revive for our own people and the world what a great idea America is," she said. "Hope, trust, candor and a generosity of spirit." "Terrorism, Heinz Kerry said, is going to be defeated by the 'can-do spirit' and 'happy faces of Peace Corps volunteers' and by better intelligence and support of other countries. 'Right now we don't have intelligence and we don't have friends,' she said."

Houston Chronicle reports: "John Kerry predicted that Bush will 'run away from his own record' when the president unveils a campaign speech that advisers say will highlight his policies on homeland security, tax cuts and other issues. 'We have George Bush on the run because he's going to go out here and start this campaign officially tonight before we even have a nominee of the Democratic Party,' Kerry told supporters at a rally in Harlem. 'And he's going to lay out what he calls his vision, and I think it's extraordinary that four years into this administration we're finally going to get what this president calls his vision for the nation. He certainly has to call something a vision because he can't run on his record.' Some in the racially diverse crowd in Harlem exclaimed in disapproval when Kerry pointed out that Bush has not met with the Leadership Council on Civil Rights or the NAACP."

Otto Reich is a slithery rightwing criminal with a history of helping to foment violence in countries in which US corporations have a vested interest in destabilizing. Incredibly, Bush actually nominated Reich for Assistant Secretary of State. But it was Senators Kerry and Dodd who led the fight to block this outrage. But just as Bush defied the senate with his rightwing judge sneak appointments, he rammed Reich into a key diplomatic position anyway. Now it is Reich and his fellow Iran-contra felon Roger Noriega who are in charge of "engineering peace" in Haiti. With these two creeps on the job, you can be assured that violence in Haiti will resume - as soon as it is politically expedient for Bush. Here's the in-depth scoop on Bush's Caribbean "diplomats."

"Kerry specifically cited Saxby Chambliss and Dick Cheney [for] questioning the patriotism of Democrats who challenge the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. He called it a common tactic. 'This is what they did to Max Cleland,' he said. Mr. Chambliss defeated Mr. Cleland, a Democratic incumbent who lost three limbs in Vietnam, in a 2002 race in which he ran TV ads showing pictures of Mr. Cleland, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to suggest that Mr. Cleland was soft on defense. Kerry has often said that Cleland's failure to hit back hard cost him his seat, and on Saturday he appeared to be showing he would not make the same mistake. He noted that Mr. Bush campaigned for Mr. Chambliss in 2002 and 'didn't say a word' about his tactics. 'Well, I'm going to say a word about it,' Mr. Kerry said. 'I don't think that has a place in American politics. I'd ask the people of Georgia what more Max Cleland has to leave on a battlefield to prove his commitment to the defense of our nation.'"

John Kerry writes to Bush: "Over the last week, you have initiated a widespread attack on my service in Vietnam, my decision to speak out to end that war, and my commitment to the defense of this nation. Just today, Saxby Chambliss- a man elected to the US Senate on the back of one of the most despicable campaigns ever conducted against Max Cleland, a true American Hero- was carrying this attack for you. As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and painful period in our nation's history, and the struggle for our veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would choose to re-open these wounds for your personal political gain. But, that is what you have chosen to do... If you want to debate the Vietnam era, and the impact of our experiences on our approaches to presidential leadership, I am prepared to do so. This is not a debate to be distorted through your $100 million dollar campaign fund. This is a debate that should be conducted face to face." You GO, John!

Robert Poe writes in Salon: "It was an unscripted scene, nothing like the polished photo ops the Bush team, plundering the resources of the government, liked to put together. Near the end of the Iowa caucus campaign, former Green Beret Jim Rassmann stood on a Des Moines stage and quietly described how John Kerry had saved his life in Vietnam. By the time he was finished, something remarkable had happened: a presidential challenger had, as the world watched, grown larger than the incumbent president."

The Age reports: "In a separate statement in the US, her parents, Terry and Donna Polier, dismissed the 'completely false and unsubstantiated' allegations about their daughter. The statement did not address purported quotes by Ms Polier's parents in the British tabloid The Sun that were harshly critical of Senator Kerry. But in a later statement, Terry Polier said he was misquoted by the newspaper and that his wife never talked to the reporter." This must mean that Mr. Polier never called Kerry a "sleazebag", a "quote" which sounded ludicrous to begin with. The "sleazebag" quote looks like a classic case of blowback -- plant disinformation in the foreign press, and then it gets picked up by the US Media. The Clinton haters did this constantly during the '90's, especially by planting smears in the British tabloid press.

Writes Scott Lehigh, "Since emerging as the Democratic presidential front-runner, John Kerry has put his campaign on cautious cruise control." That approach "has brought one of Kerry's worst weaknesses to the fore: his penchant for equivocation. That shortcoming was on full display in Sunday's Democratic debate in Milwaukee." When asked if he thought the Republican campaign against him has crossed the line, Kerry said: "Well, that's for the American people to judge." "Surely Kerry, whose campaign has regularly warned that he will be ferocious in countering unfair attacks, must have an opinion about whether or not the campaign has been above-board." Kerry also failed to deliver a clear response on his votes for the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind Act, and other legislation. In short, Kerry must be blunt, honest and to the point, unafraid to come right out and say "I was sometimes wrong. As president I will seek to fix it."

Reports the Guardian: "Senator John Kerry has castigated Bush, for pushing the Northern Ireland peace process down the White House's foreign policy agenda.... Kerry also criticised Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists for 'refusing to form a government with Sinn Fein'...and, accused the Bush administration of failing to build on Bill Clinton's efforts to promote the peace process. He outlined his views in a comprehensive statement on the process that has been circulated to Irish-American groups over recent weeks. In the statement, Mr Kerry urged the IRA and loyalists to get rid of their weapons and bring an end to all paramilitary activity. A statement from the Massachusetts senator's campaign team said: 'John Kerry will put the Northern Ireland peace process high on America's foreign policy agenda.'"

Even John McCain is outraged by the Kerry-Fonda attack. He has this to say about Ted Sampley, who runs an anti-Kerry site (where he posted a photo of Kerry sitting some rows behind Jane Fonda at a rally -- as though that implied a Kerry-Fonda link!). "Sampley was convicted of misdemeanor assault and sentenced to 180 days' probation for attacking a legislative aide to McCain," reports the Star-Telegram. "Sampley has been criticizing Kerry for much the same reason he made McCain a target for years: Neither man, Sampley contends, has done enough to investigate his assertion that U.S. servicemen were left behind in Vietnam after the war. In defending Kerry, McCain said of Sampley: 'I consider him a fraud who preys on the hopes of family members of missing servicemen for his own profit... He does not speak for or represent the views of all but a few veterans.'"

last several days I have seen Internet and tabloid rumors relating to me and Senator John Kerry. Because these stories were false, I assumed the media would ignore them. It seems that efforts to peddle these lies continue, so I feel compelled to address them. I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry, and the rumors in the press are completely false. Whoever is spreading these rumors and allegations does not know me, but should know the pain they have caused me and my family. I am in Kenya with my fiance visiting his family, and we ask that the press respect our privacy and leave all of us alone." Her parents said, "We appreciate the way Senator Kerry has handled the situation, and intend on voting for him for president of the United States."

In 1992, "Kerry led the Senate's investigation into BCCI's multibillion-dollar crash... But Kerry is probably one of the few people in the world who know the vast and complex BCCI affair inside out. He is one of the Old Lady's sharpest critics and, come New Year, he could also be the world's most powerful man. Among the intelligence received by the Bank [of England] during the Eighties were claims - later proved true - that Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian dictator, and Abu Nidal's terrorist organisation were using BCCI accounts to launder money. Bank officials also had long-standing doubts about BCCI's solvency, but apparently did not step in... On the other hand, one of the (unheeded) recommendations he made in his report - that US authorities actively pursue evidence that BCCI was being used to fund an incipient Pakistani nuclear programme - now seems prescient, given recent revelations about Pakistan's role in nuclear proliferation."

Newsday reports, "As a 20-year-old photographer documenting the country's struggle over the Vietnam War, Ken Light snapped the picture of John Kerry at a peace rally in Mineola. It captured the future senator alone at a podium, squinting into the sun. Light did not photograph Jane Fonda on that warm June Sunday in 1971. The actress, who is reviled by many Vietnam veterans for her vocal stance against the war, did not even attend. But when opponents of the Democratic presidential hopeful began e-mailing Light's picture to one another four days ago, it depicted Fonda standing by Kerry's side. The photo had been doctored... That is apparently where someone found it, and attempted to capitalize on the attention garnered by an authentic photo of Kerry and Fonda at a Vietnam-era rally - seated some distance apart."

John Kerry, reports BBC's Paul Reynolds, is "a politician who is liberal on domestic issues and more conservative in foreign policy. Rather like John Fitzgerald Kennedy himself...(whom he knew when he was going out with Jacqueline Kennedy's half-sister)." Like Bush, Kerry comes from an aristocratic New England background. But unlike Bush, Kerry was born of America's melting pot, with a Jewish Czech paternal grandfather and English Anglican maternal grandmother. Like Bush, he has taken money from lobbyists. Unlike Bush, such donations are rarely associated with legislative favors. And, unlike Bush, Kerry is willing to change his mind on key issues and admit he was wrong when the evidence merits it.

Todd Smyth writes in a Buzzflash reader commentary, "Hey, look over there, it's another intern scandal. As retired National Guard members surface to confirm Bush was AWOL during the Vietnam war, a scandalous rumor appears to divert attention and smear a Vietnam war hero. Gossip maven Matt Drudge has slapped together several different hair thin rumors that have been around for months to make one seemingly plausible thread. Alleging Senator John Kerry may be under suspicion by other news sources to have had a conversation with a woman that is not his wife. When the woman in question, Alex Polier, a journalist (not an intern) traveled on assignment to Kenya, Matt Drudge reported that the mystery woman has fled the country. A key part of the report that is easily overlooked is this statement: 'There is no evidence the pair had an affair.' John Kerry has flatly denied the rumor on the Don Imus show, Friday morning."

Hear that scratching noise? That's the sound of Karl Rove and friends scraping the bottom of the barrel in their efforts to prop AWOL Bush up by tearing John Kerry down. The Bush camp has had to spend MONTHS trying to find a photo of Kerry with Jane Fonda in it they can circulate - as if that would hurt the senator! The fact that Kerry served his time honorably in Vietnam, then came home to protest an immoral war that was continuing to kill his fellow soldiers only makes him MORE heroic, not less. But that's something that the celluloid cowboy mentality of the Bush camp could never understand.

Hesiod writes at Counterspin Central: "Everyone send a message to the Associated Press, and demand that they retract a 100% false and misleading headline that Senator John Kerry signed a letter 'backing gay marriage.' Here's the text of the letter. No matter what your position is on this issue, distortions are unacceptable. I expect this nonsense from Fox News or the Republican National Committee, not the Associated Press. IMPORTANT UPDATE: I was informed by the Associated Press that they only provide the content. The headline, in ths case, was written by someone at Yahoo! In which case, please still contact the Associated Press, but let them know that Yahoo! put a grossly inaccurate headline on one of their stories. The more calls/e-mails they get, the more likely it is that they will contact Yahoo! and get them to correct the problem. Then contact Yahoo! customer service and complain about the headline. Make sure you include a link to the offending story in your complaint."

Arianna Huffington writes: "Instead of dusting off the Democratic Party's tried-and-untrue swing-voter strategy - remember 2002? - Kerry needs to become the pied piper of the discontented, the disillusioned, the disenfranchised and the millions who have stopped believing that politics is the way to make a difference in the world. Dean's message of empowerment brought these disconnected denizens out of the shadows, and his Internet-based campaign connected them to each other - filling them with promise and hope. A promise that is now in danger of turning into disheartenment and disengagement... These are the people Kerry needs by his side. Unlike wishy-washy swing voters, they'll be able to withstand the $100 million mudslide headed his way. Karl Rove and company will do and say anything - and I mean anything - to bury him... But the only way Kerry will be able to get the Dean-o-crats on his side is if he can bring to his campaign the kind of grand, bold vision the times demand."

US Newswire reports: "The 130,000 member Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, today announced its endorsement of Sen. John Kerry for President. TWU International President Sonny Hall said, 'Senator Kerry has proven throughout his life in military service during Vietnam and as a member of Congress, that he has the courage and ability to lead our nation. Sen. Kerry has always been a strong ally of transportation workers, and his voting record on such issues in Congress is second to none. 'We also believe that Sen. Kerry, as President, will focus on the creation of good paying jobs for American workers, rather than on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans who need it least. And we believe he will bring strength and sanity back to our nation's foreign policy, and will successfully conclude America's military involvement in Iraq in a forthright and honorable way.'"

US Newswire: "The New York League of Conservation Voters (NYLCV) today announced its endorsement of John Kerry for President. The decision to endorse Kerry in the New York State primary was made at the February Board of Directors Meeting. NYLCV supports candidates independently of the National League of Conservation Voters. 'Senator Kerry's exemplary environmental record makes him the environmental leader in this race,' said NYLCV President Marcia Bystryn. 'Ever since the first Earth Day, he has proven his commitment to strengthening the environment. We encourage all voters who care about clean air, clean water, kids' health, environmental justice and protecting our open space to vote for John Kerry in the New York state Democratic primary on March 2nd.'"

John Kerry proved today that being a candidate who can beat Bush carries more weight than geography by far. Reports the Va. Daily Press: "By a commanding margin, voters rejected two sons of the South to propel the campaign of a Massachusetts senator who many said stands the best chance of beating President Bush in November "Who is Bubba?" asked former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, referring to the stereotypical southern, white, male, working-class conservative voter. "It's no longer what the stereotype is. You've got as much Bubba elsewhere in the country as you do in Virginia. Virginians are urbane. They are urban and rural, rich and poor and middle-class." John McGlennon, a political science professor at the College of William and Mary and a longtime Democratic activist, said Kerry's New England roots likely did little to undermine his broad appeal."

Writes Cindy Rodriquez, "Ann Coulter, a darling of the right wing, is running around these days calling Kerry a 'trophy husband' and 'gigolo. 'She alleges Kerry married his first wife, multimillionaire Julia Thorne, for her money, then turned around and married another multimillionaire, Teresa Heinz.Coulter implies Kerry got money from wife No. 1 but doesn't back it up. At least she admits that Kerry signed a prenuptial agreement before he married Heinz. And there's Rush Limbaugh, who tries to paint Kerry as an incompetent leader during Vietnam. But Limbaugh shuts up when people point out a revealing tidbit that biographer Paul D. Colford dug up: Limbaugh avoided the draft by reporting that his doctor had found an 'inoperable' pilonidal cyst on his rear end." Hey Kerry, with critics like this, you're looking better all the time!

Newsmax is offering an indistinct photo 'seemingly showing Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry protesting the Vietnam War with anti-American actress "Hanoi Jane" Fonda - the photo Dems fear most - exists, and that has been obtained by NewsMax.com.' Although they say they have the photo they are not absolutely asserting that the person is actually John Kerry. Expect more Fonda and Kerry attacks by the right.

Public Citizen writes, "According to a Jan. 31 Washington Post story, John Kerry is beholden to the very special interests he says he will dismiss... [But] an analysis of PAC and lobbying contributions combined shows Kerry is near the BOTTOM in receiving such funds when PAC money is averaged from 1993 through the present and lobbyist money is averaged from 1990 through present. Further, the lobbyist money that Kerry has taken in the presidential campaign is less than 1% of his total raised. Not only has Kerry historically refused to take PAC money, but his record shows that he been a leader for more than a decade in full reform of campaign financing, advocating for clean public money not only for presidential but also congressional campaigns. Kerry was the lead sponsor with the late Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) on a measure that would have authorized clean money in all federal congressional elections and was a leader in pressing for congressional public financing in 1992 and 1993."

In 1968, George W. Bush graduated from Yale and avoided Vietnam by his using family's powerful connections to get into the National Guard. John Kerry graduated from Yale in 1966 and enlisted in the Navy; by 1968, he was leading men in combat in the Mekong Delta. "To his crew, Kerry was one of the most daring skippers in the US Navy, relentlessly and courageously engaging the enemy. But the battles and moral dilemmas were in shades of gray, and Kerry to this day wrestles with the scenes of death he commanded."

Kerry is being accused of taking too many dollars from lobbyists for the fat cats - the finance, insurance, health care, oil/gas industries, etc. But, unlike Bush, Kerry doesn't reward donors with paybacks. Instead, in a "Robin Hood"-style turnaround, Kerry routinely sponsors and/or votes for bills that HURT these big donors! He received generous donations from the healthcare industry - then voted against the pro-industry Medicare reform bill. He has also sponsored several bills that hurt drug barons and led the fight to save ANWR from the oil/gas industries. Check out these Kerry-sponsored bills; most are focused on the little guy, not the fat cats.

"If there's one single experience that defines John Kerry in all his complexity, it's his military service in Vietnam," reports Boston.com. "Kerry connects with veterans on several levels, says fellow Vietnam veteran John Hurley, who has known Kerry since his short-lived campaign for Congress in 1970 and who now volunteers as the national director of Veterans for Kerry. Many are deeply appreciative that he gave voice to their own doubts about Vietnam. And, Hurley adds, veterans feel a particular camaraderie with Kerry because, as a small unit commander, he lived with his crew, facing the war's daily dangers with them. Which is not to say they are with him on every issue. Some, Hurley acknowledges, were upset by the senator's vote authorizing war with Iraq. 'They say, 'I disagree with him on Iraq, but we want a vet in the White House, and he is my guy.'"

Kerry's ads are making one thing clear: Americans are hungry for politicians unafraid to propose specific solutions, as opposed to vague and hedging, promises. "In both [Iowa and NH], one of Kerry's ads shot off the chart as the voters in the focus groups dialed their approval on 'perception analyzers,' gizmos that viewers manipulate to signal how an ad or speech or debate answer is affecting them. An announcer begins: 'George Bush -- he let corporate lobbyists rewrite our environmental laws, sided with polluters not taxpayers. And now he's trying to roll back the Clean Air Act. John Kerry. He stopped George Bush and the oil companies from drilling in the Arctic and he has a plan for energy independence.' Kerry begins speaking: 'I want to develop alternative fuels and more efficient cars. We'll create 500,000 new jobs, and we'll never have to send young Americans to war for Mideast oil again.'" So reports the Houston Chronicle.

"'In the shadow of Ted Kennedy.' It's been written so often that it has become synonymous with the name of John F. Kerry," writes Susan Milligan in the Boston Globe. In reality, Kerry and Kennedy are close - their friendship spans nearly four decades. In recent months, Kerry and Kennedy's wives, Vicki and Teresa have become even closer friends. Kennedy has come to know the real Kerry and observes that the candidate's alleged "standoffishness is actually shyness. Beneath the shyness, says Kennedy, is real compassion, strength of character, and heroism. It was after Kennedy generously 'loaned' Kerry campaign whiz Mary Beth Cahill that the Kerry's campaign began to take off. Cahill says she is impressed with Kerry's independence and presistence."

Check out how the rightwing National Review smears John Kerry: "Kerry's surprising win in Iowa is widely attributed to the "veterans and firefighters" who provided his get-out-the vote ground troops and we're told that his New Hampshire rallies include large numbers of enthusiastic Vietnam veterans. If some Vietnam veterans are drawn to a brother in arms who shares their pride in service they have hitched up with the wrong guy... The slander Kerry served up in his testimony on April 23, 1971, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should disqualify him from ever serving as Commander in Chief." Will the Rightwing Busheviks do to Kerry what they did to McCain in 2000?

"South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn intends to endorse John Kerry, officials said today, a coup for the Democratic presidential front-runner the day after his win in New Hampshire. The backing of the six-term Democratic congressman, the dominant black politician in his state, is critical in South Carolina, where almost half the voters in the Feb. 3 primary are expected to be minorities. Clyburn was courted by all of the Democratic presidential candidates. 'This is a significant sign of support throughout South Carolina for John Kerry and his plan to change America. Representative Clyburn is a leader in the African-American community.' His decision to side with Kerry was a particular blow to Sen. John Edwards, who has said South Carolina is a must-win state for him and whose campaign recently hired a former top aide to Clyburn who also had been working for Dick Gephardt."

"These are very serious charges by a former high ranking Administration official. We already knew the Administration failed to focus on the threat from Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. We already knew the Administration broke every promise they made to work through the U.N., use the resolution to enforce inspections, build a coalition, and plan for peace. But Secretary O'Neill's revelations would mean the Administration never intended to even try to keep those promises. It would mean they were dead-set on going to war alone since almost the day they took office and deliberately LIED to the American people, Congress, and the world. It would mean that for purely ideological reasons they planned on putting American troops in a shooting gallery occupying an Arab country almost alone. The White House needs to answer these charges truthfully because they threaten to shatter their already damaged credibility as never before." John, this would be a great time to propose IMPEACHMENT!

"I felt my decision was absolutely consistent with the counter-proliferation efforts I have been making as a Senator for my entire career. I felt proliferation was a critical issue. I thought a President ought to get inspectors back into Iraq. I thought a President ought to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. But I knew how to do it right, and my regret is that this President proved he not only didn't know how to do it right, but was prepared to go back on his promises, be deceptive, and mislead the nation. I regret that he did that, and I regret that I put any trust in him at all. I shouldn't have, obviously. Put it this way: Given the circumstances we were in at the time, the decision was appropriate, but in retrospect I will never trust the man again. That's why I am running against him. He deserves to be replaced with someone who is trustworthy." Hey John, Bush LIED to you - and everyone else in the world. You're a brave decorated solider - so why can't you just call Bush a LIAR?

Will Pitt describes a recent meeting John Kerry had with liberal journalists. "The way Powell, Eagleberger, Scowcroft, and the others were talking at the time, I felt confident that Bush would work with the international community. I took the President at his word. We were told that any course would lead through the UN, and that war would be an absolute last resort. Many people I am close with, both Democrats and Republicans, who are also close to Bush told me unequivocally that no decisions had been made about the course of action. Bush hadn't yet been hijacked by Wolfowitz, Perle, Cheney and that whole crew. Did I think Bush was going to charge unilaterally into war? No. Did I think he would make such an incredible mess of the situation? No. Am I angry about it? You're God damned right I am. I chose to believe the President of the United States. That was a terrible mistake." Yes, but only HALF of it - the other half was not calling Bush a LIAR afterwards. It's not too late - yet!

"Responding to a taunt by the White House that he 'looks French,' U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday brushed off the political insult - saying it's part of an expected barrage of Republican attacks on his character. 'It means the White House has started the politics of personal destruction,' Kerry said of the comment by an unnamed Bush adviser... Minutes after Kerry sped off to a campaign speech in New Hampshire, his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, compared the Bush comment to an insult by 'kids in the playground. They'll probably say he's French, he's Jewish . . . he's a monkey,' Heinz Kerry said of her husband, whose Jewish roots recently became a campaign issue. 'I just find it sad.' She added: 'They (White House officials) probably don't even speak French. Republican National Committee spokesman Dan Ronayne yesterday would not respond to the remarks by Kerry and his wife." Xenophobia is yet another characteristic of the incipient fascism that is being widely embraced in this country.

"I say to Tom DeLay, one thing I know about America is that in the face of war there are things more important than cutting taxes and it is wrong to reward the wealthiest Americans before we fulfill our solemn obligations to those that have served... Tonight, our thoughts are with all the prisoners and all the families of those held, lost, or fighting -- let us go home and say a prayer that he and all the troops are safe at home soon. But we need to do more than think and pray -- we need to vow that they'll come home to an America that keeps its promise to them, not one that turns its back on those who served. And let's make sure they come home to an America that is moving forward -- where Democrats are fighting for them and for what's right."

Joan Walsh writes: "The presidential candidate -- and decorated war veteran -- fires back at his GOP critics. Will the rest of the Democratic Party take his lead and fight fire with fire? Watch closely, people, because this is how it works: A Democrat says something vaguely controversial [and the GOP's snarling attack dogs try take their victim down. They won't be happy until he's politically dead or at least maimed, silenced for a good long while. It's happening again right now, and almost nobody's trying to stop it.] Luckily the decorated Vietnam war veteran is defending himself. After first seeming to back away from his 'regime change' quote, when Republicans came after him, Kerry came out swinging. 'I'm not going to let the likes of Tom DeLay question my patriotism, which I fought for and bled for in order to have the right to speak out'... Finally, a Democrat who has the guts to fight back!"

AP reports, "John Kerry lashed out at top congressional Republicans on Friday after they assailed him for saying the United States, like Iraq , needs a regime change. 'The Republicans have tried to make a practice of attacking anybody who speaks out strongly by questioning their patriotism,' the Massachusetts senator said in a telephone interview with AP. 'I refuse to have my patriotism or right to speak out questioned. I fought for and earned the right to express my views in this country.' ... 'If they want to pick a fight, they've picked a fight with the wrong guy'... 'I watched what they did to Max Cleland last year,' Kerry said. 'Shame on them for doing it then and shame on them for trying to do it now.'... Kerry said Republicans have no right to criticize him when they are cutting funds to veterans hospitals." You Go, John!

"Top Republicans chastised Senator John F. Kerry yesterday for saying 'regime change' is needed in the US to heal a rift with other nations caused by Bush's diplomatic failures in dealing with Iraq... In response, the Kerry campaign compared the war credentials of his Republican critics with those of the senator, a Navy veteran who received three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star for combat in the Vietnam War. DeLay did not serve in that war because of student deferments, and Hastert is not a veteran. Racicot, a lawyer, served in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1973 to 1976. 'Clearly, Senator Kerry intended no disrespect or lack of support for our commander in chief during wartime, but the point of this campaign is, obviously, to change the administration of this government. And unlike many of his Republican critics, Senator Kerry has worn the uniform, served his country, seen combat, so he'd just as soon skip their lectures about supporting our troops.'"

"John Kerry surprised BuzzFlash the other day. He actually challenged the administration... [by saying] 'What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States,'... Unfortunately, the almost universal pattern of Democrats is to make a tentative criticism of the Bush Cartel and then apologize and retreat to a corner when Cheney or some other GOP heavy is sent out to bark at them... It's your choice John. If you apologize for your belated, but most truthful remarks, you can start writing your concession speech to Howard Dean in the New Hampshire primary. Americans yearn for leadership.... Tom DeLay, among others, mercilessly attacked Clinton when he sent our troops into combat. He, among other GOP extremists, never apologized -- and look who's running the country now. Are you getting the message John Kerry?"

"I am here today to reject the narrow vision of those who would build walls to keep the world out, or who would prefer to strike out on our own instead of forging coalitions and step by step creating a new world of law and mutual security. I believe the Bush Administration's blustering unilateralism is wrong, and even dangerous, for our country. In practice, it has meant alienating our long-time friends and allies, alarming potential foes and spreading anti-Americanism around the world. Too often they've forgotten that energetic global leadership is a strategic imperative for America, not a favor we do for other countries. Leading the world's most advanced democracies isn't mushy multilateralism -- it amplifies America's voice and extends our reach. Working through global institutions doesn't tie our hands -- it invests US aims with greater legitimacy and dampens the fear and resentment that our preponderant power sometimes inspires in others."

Wayne Woodlief writes for the Boston Herald: "Two huge roadblocks made in Massachusetts - Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry - stand in the way of Bush's ambitious agenda for 2003. With Bush's Republicans now in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, Bush proposes some bold and controversial action. It includes outright elimination of the tax on dividends; a speedup, not a suspension, of the next round of multiyear tax cuts that Bush pushed through in 2001; drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and a partial privatization of Medicare. Plus, in a particularly egregious in-your-face slap to liberal Democrats and other civil-rights advocates, the president has renominated controversial Mississippian Charles Pickering (a favorite of disgraced former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi) for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator John Kerry (D-MA) recently offered these proposals: "To focus tax relief on lower and middle income workers, Kerry proposed 'a payroll tax holiday' on the first $10,000 of income, which would be untaxed. Kerry also proposed extending unemployment benefits that run out at the end of this year for 820,000 families." More proposals: "Raising the minimum wage and expanding the earned income tax credit that rewards low income families for being on payrolls instead of welfare rolls. Passing a new job creation tax credit to encourage employers to start hiring. Letting rapidly growing small businesses defer up to $250,000 in federal taxes if that money is reinvested in business. Simplifying the tax laws and making them more fair by closing loopholes and ending corporate welfare. Increasing investment and accelerating the technology to help with the search for alternative forms of energy."

Senator John Kerry, D-MA, partially detailed his positions Sunday on Iraq, terrorism, Kissinger, the Middle East, taxes, education and the death penalty. On taxes, "Kerry opposes any of the tax cuts proposed by Bush, saying they favor the rich while ignoring severe underfunding for schools, transportation and security. He supports payroll tax cuts favoring the working and middle classes." On education, Kerry "opposes school vouchers, saying they gloss over a crisis in the schools. He says the gap between suburban and urban schools is 'separate and unequal' and more insidious than segregation was in its day. He backs increased flexibility for school administrators to dismiss teachers."

"Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, said Sunday he is taking a first step toward running for president in 2004, forming a committee to explore a White House bid. An official announcement of his candidacy is 'down the road,' some months away, Kerry said. But, he said, 'I've made a decision to file a committee, I'm going to begin this week to file a committee' to test the waters....Kerry, a 58-year-old Vietnam veteran and former prosecutor, has said for the past year that he was seriously thinking about a run in 2004...Kerry entered the Navy after graduation from Yale. He served on a gunboat in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and received numerous decorations for his combat experience, including a Silver Star and three Purple Heart awards. When he returned home he became a spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. He worked as a lawyer and prosecutor...before being elected lieutenant governor. 'I love this country. I have a great sense of what this country can be and what it is,' Kerry told NBC."