07-01-2004 

QUOTABLES:

"Obviously, it will be different now," Kerry adviser Tad Devine said of the campaign's changing emphasis. "There will continue to be fund raising for the party, but it will be directed in different ways and the pace will not be as brutal."

"Maybe they'll give a little more money, or maybe they'll work a little harder. But the people who are going (to Fahrenheit 9-11) now are about as activated as you can be. ... If it goes beyond the true believers, that's the real test," Stephen Hess, a senior fellow of the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said.

"It's [Fahrenheit 9-11] really a piece of political propaganda ... and it has replaced (former Democratic Vermont governor) Howard Dean as the catalyst of the hate-Bush crowd," Republican political consultant Allen Hoffenblum said. "The question is: Does it go beyond preaching to the choir? And no one knows the answer to that yet."

“In an unusual rebuke of his party's nominee, [Boston Mayor Thomas M.] Menino told the Boston Herald that he found the Kerry campaign small-minded and incompetent, and expressed frustration over a report that he had hung up on Kerry during a phone conversation about the canceled speech.” -- writes the Boston Globe.

BUSH BEAT

 Just POlitics

Kerry’s campaign shifts

Sen. John Kerry’s campaign is making adjustments in response to the upcoming Democrat National Convention in Boston and the changes in rules governing campaign expenditures.

Kerry will buy another round of advertising in battleground states in order to spend his primary money before the national convention. He will cut back his fund-raising appearances and participate in more grass roots events. Beginning this weekend he will participate in a three-day bus trip in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Another Kerry flip-flop

Sen. John Kerry, after announcing to the Hispanic community that he would sign a law to allow illegal immigrants to become citizens, has subsequently announced that he would not allow illegal immigrants to get a driver’s license.

Some view Kerry’s no drivers licenses as trying to curb the anger of many union members against Kerry’s offer of citizenship to illegal immigrants. Others see this as just one more illogical distortion of Kerry’s viewpoints.

Explaining his denial of drivers licenses, Kerry said, “I think that driver's licenses are part of the legality of being here and if you've been here a period of time we may work something out as part of that immigration process, but I wouldn't give somebody who is automatically one year in here illegally all the rights and privileges of being here legally."

Vice Prez Hillary?

Will Hillary Clinton be Sen. John Kerry’s choice for V. P.? Matt Drudge reports that it is so:

Official Washington and the entire press corps will be rocked when Hillary Rodham Clinton is picked as Kerry's VP and a massive love fest will begin!

So predicts a top D.C. insider, who spoke to the DRUDGE REPORT on condition he not be named.

"All the signs point in her direction," said the insider, one of the most influential and well-placed in the nation's capital. "It is the solution to every Kerry problem."

Church wars

The Bush campaign and the Kerry campaign are entering into a chilling battle regarding the status of how religious affiliation is allowed to participate in the politics of the nation. The Bush campaign has asked churches to do those things that do not constitute asking individuals to vote for Bush or against Kerry -- the point where the Federal Election Commission draws the line on whether an action is educational or political.

The problem is that nonprofit entities are, for the most part, banned from engaging in political activities. The Internal Revenue Code does allow for certain kinds of hybrid nonprofits through strict regulations to engage in both. Churches do not qualify for such nonprofit status.

Liberal Democrats are working to send a chilling message to the churches. "I think it is sinful of them to encourage pastors and churches to engage in partisan political activity and run the risk of losing their tax-exempt status," said Steve Rosenthal, chief executive officer of America Coming Together, a group working to defeat Bush.

"We strongly believe that our religious outreach program is well within the framework of the law," said Terry Holt, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

In covering this story, the Washington Post interviewed a tax specialist who expressed concern about the Bush campaign’s efforts to mobilize their religious base:

Rosemary E. Fei, a tax specialist at the San Francisco law firm of Silk, Adler & Colvin, said the campaign checklist "feels dangerous to me" not just because of what is in it, but because of what is not. "There's no mention whatsoever that churches should be careful to remain nonpartisan," she said.

Holt suggested such warnings are unnecessary. "Why would we warn one citizen about the boundaries of their political discussion with another citizen?" he said.

Kerry attacks military call up

The Boston Globe reports on Sen. John Kerry’s attack on the Bush administration’s call up of military ready reserves:

Kerry advisers contend that the call-up of the Individual Ready Reserve is the result of a series of bad decisions and poor war planning by Bush and his top advisers. His campaign released a ''fact sheet" and brought forward a retired Air Force chief who campaigned for Bush in 2000 to reinforce its claims.

''The troops are paying the price for arrogant mismanagement and poor planning at the civilian policy level," retired Air Force Chief of Staff General Merrilll ''Tony" McPeak, a Kerry adviser, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday. ''The force we have in Iraq today is part of what I call an in-between force -- too small to solve the problem and too big to be supported by our force structure."

MoveOn.org calling Powell

MoveOn.org latest action e-mail has their members being asked to call Secretary of State Colin Powell about the Sudan tragedy. They are asking Secretary Powell to refer to the Sudan civil war as a genocide.

Strict international standards require that an event can not be called genocide unless certain specific requirements are met. Liberal groups who have been collecting information on the Sudan horror have stated that, " currently actions in the Sudan have the appearance of a developing effort at ethnic cleansing."

Here is part of the latest e-mail from MoveOn.org:

A major human tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, one that has reportedly
claimed at least 30,000 lives, and could claim hundreds of thousands
more unless the world community works together, starting immediately,
to end it.

Although Secretary of State Colin Powell is in Sudan now, he has yet
to declare that the atrocities there constitute genocide. Such
recognition would make a huge difference, catalyzing the world
community to help stop the bloodshed. Powell should also publicly
condemn the genocide -- so far, he has stopped short of that.

Please call Powell today

clinton comedies

Clinton’s women

ABC’s Prime Time has a show that will bring out the purients to witness Bill Clinton’s other women berate him for his abuses of women.

"You know, he did it because he could," [Paula] Jones told McFadden in an interview airing Thursday night on ABC News' Primetime. "Because he used his power. So that's exactly my thought when he said that."

How about poor Hillary:

Jones was asked if she felt sorry for former first lady Hillary Clinton, now a U.S. senator from New York. "Well that's between them, I guess, you know. To each his own," Jones said.

But she added, "If she knows a lot of the stuff that he has done to her and if she's still with him, that's what she wants to do. And, no, I don't feel sorry for her. She's a very big, strong political woman. She knows what's going on and, you know, there's no reason for me to feel sorry for her. If they want to be together, let them be together. Probably they're happy together."