Thanks for the tip.

Strange that nobody in the Bush camp ever responds to this. You would think that they could publicly announce that the media are going to try to trash them, and thereby take some of the sting out of the attack.

While I’m hoping for the best, I’m bracing for the worst. But looking big picture here, there are grounds for hope. I see this election as just one more battle in a struggle that has been going on for generations. It is conceivable that we will lose the presidency (although I’m working the GOTV this weekend to try to prevent that). However, it is now inevitable that the MSM will lose clout and prestige as a result of their behavior. The story of this election will keep a lot of writers and film-makers busy for some time to come. Just a simple listing of all the lies the media have told, of omission and of commission, would fill volumes. Look for a glut of books four months from now on media collusion with the DNC, and on Democratic vote fraud. Bottom line; while it’s possible we will lose a rook, the other side have already spent their queen in trying to take it.

A dozen years from now nobody will be able to imagine the power and influence that CBS and the NYT once wielded, and ninety percent of Americans will be claiming that they voted for Dubya back in 2004.

That “Princeton econometrist” is Ray Fair of Yale University. IIRC, You have admitted being an alumni of that institution. I think you need to answer generously the next time they call asking for a contribution.

I stand on those numbers. Remember the polling before the California recall? Remember the polling before the 2002 midterms – Ah, and Terry Mac’s glassy-eyed blurt “It’s a great night for Democrats!” that night?

We have had G.W. Bush v THE MEDIA, plus tens of millions of dollars of bought political sound and fury. Those tens of millions of dollars have been dumped into programs and agendas conceived and executed by the leading lights of progressive liberal theory.

Why is anyone worried about the outcome of this election?

The people pulling the triggers on the left can’t get sh*t done with the entire resources of the federal government at their disposal. They have NEVER have delivered on solutions…just spent massive amounts of money and complimented each other about how much they cared. This election demands convictions and determination. And the candidate that plopped out of the donkey was a Mass Lib?

What makes anyone think that the Dems can survive a market contest where the price of failure isn’t just a missed slice of pork or a bigger deficit but is truly life or death?

What they do still works from time to time in a city or a state…and the days of it working in states are numbered as ad hoc alt media entities like Powerline, Capatain’s Quarters, and Instapundit replicate in order to satisfy the demand of consumers for facts in their media pablum.

Some dumbass is dropping tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars into TradeSports in order to drive the Bush contract down. If it gets below 47% I’m getting in for a thousand on Bush. What motivates someone to try to skew a market like that? Just watching the volumes and the sales illustrates that the strategy bears no relation to what the market values really are…and begs the question “What agent or agencies can spend this kind of money knowing they will lose it if Kerry wins…and what will their payback be to cover their investment?”

I haven’t seen the newest iteration of OBLarama v6.2. Why is it a tip-top digital production facility (with their own branding logo, even) can’t take a better picture than Aunt Sally filming her Eunice’s fourth grade piano recital? The same branding appears on the Assman the American’s (whatever) video that appears on the OBL tape…why? If they share an editing facility, you’ld think the writers might share some ideas over figs and tea about coordinating their exhortations, right?

Maybe there was a dispute over credit or union prerequisites.

I’m not frightened of the prospect of attacks. I am sick and tired of having my time wasted by my own media and the minority party’s chosen loser candidate. Neither of those parties shares my priority: the defense of the nation, and the safety of my family. The last eighteen months have been a necessary operational pause in the war on terror. As soon as we get done with the campaign, the president can get back to dealing with the threat.

They’ve spent the last eighteen months attacking. They never offered believable alternatives in that time – just promises to do BETTER. Even Clinton had numbers and sincere sounding promises. Kerry has brought neither.

I have got just enough Irish in me that I can be nasty. But I think you are right, most people are fairly decent. Politics just makes them crazy sometimes.

“nothing matters more in determining the outcome of the presidential election than the major American media”.

I would hate to think you nice people were living in the worlds first Mediacracy.

My guess is Bush wins about 53%-45% with Nader and others taking about 2%. I loved the comment about the upcoming “Now That He’s Back In, We Can Start Whining and Complaining Again Special”. Nobody can form a circular firing squad like us Republicans.

I’m going to be a little optimistic and predict that John Thune KO’s Tom Daschle, but I’ll admit that may be colored a bit by wishful thinking.

The difference this time is that the blogosphere is a real-time counterforce. Not only are several bloggers brilliant writers, but they also offer venues for dissident MSM reporters, producers, and staffers.

I think most importantly, the MSM serve the Democrats best when they ignore the blatant weaknesses of their preferred candidate. This year, it is the astronomical donations being poured into the pro-Kerry 527s and similar ‘non-affiliate’ organizations. The New York Post’s stellar reporter, Deborah Orin, sums up the torrent of dough coughed up by Kerry-friendly billionaires this way:

Excerpt:

The top five anti-Bush fat cats, including Soros, have anted up $73.9 million so far, according to the Political Money Line. That’s nearly equal the $74.6 million in taxpayer funds that Bush, like John Kerry, received to pay for his fall campaign.

Add in the $3 million that Soros just spent on his personal nationwide anti-Bush speaking tour and it’s $77.9 million.

$77.9 million bucks from just five donors. It kinda makes McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform look like some sort of con game, doesn’t it?

It won’t be too long before Dell does start closing plants I’d say. The cost of living here is getting out of hand these days. How does $5.30/gallon for petrol or $7.00 for a pint of lager sound to you? I live in a small, (by US standards) 3 bedroom apartment, not too far from the city centre in Dublin and it’s worth about $700,000. It’s nuts. European assembly plants will soon be in one the new accession countries in Eastern Europe, I’d guess.

As for the IRA, well it’s not really something people here talk about. If they do, they tend to refer to the provos as “a bunch of feckin eedgits”. They have some support but it tends to be on the poorly educated fringes.

Me? I’m moving back to Arizona in seven days, so it’s goodbye Ireland after ten years. I will keep in touch with most of my lefty friends here though!

Sorry about the long post.

Even though I live in a staunchly Democratic state (NJ like I said before), my county is very Republican. I live in the same town as Jeff Jarvis who complains about us “rabid” Republicans! I have to laugh, because we are hardly right-wing.

Anyway, during a typical election season, there are at least 12 Republican yard signs to 1 Dem. This time around there are a lot more Kerry/Edwards signs. We’ll still have a heavy, dominating Republican vote here – but I think the Prez. race will be another nail-biter if our town is any indication.

For what it’s worth, my SIL is a higher-level officer in CentCom. He has charged me with the duty to get out ALL my Republican friends, and Bush-leaning Democratic friends to vote. He says that the terrorists and *insurgents* over there are just chomping on their bits waiting for Kerry to get elected.

I know I’m pretty much preaching to the choir here – but please make an extra effort you all to encourage your more tepid Bush supporters to VOTE! Our troops need you!