06-17-2004 

QUOTABLES:

"There are modern day economic pessimists around who are quick to offer dire predictions and complaints," Bush told the gathering of the National Federation of Independent Business. "But you know what they do not offer is pro-growth economic policies. They can find the dark cloud but they can't see the sunshine. They don't know where to take the country and they don't know how to lead."

“People here still haven't stopped buzzing about the president's bizarre behavior at the White House unveiling ceremony for the Clintons' official portraits on Monday. Mr. Bush acted totally out of character: witty, engaged, amiable, bipartisan and magnanimous. Even to Bill and Hillary.” – writes Maureen Down, New York Times.

"Kerry's contrived misery index tells Americans that the days of Jimmy Carter, stagflation, and long gas lines were better for the middle class than the days of Ronald Reagan. His campaign's press releases have resorted to citing mangled statistics unused by economists. Kerry's days of malaise won't create jobs for the American people," said Ken Mehlman chairman of Bush-Cheney ‘04

"In just three months, 800,000 Americans have contributed over $100 million to John Kerry's run for the White House, responding in record-breaking numbers to John Kerry's positive vision to create jobs and grow the American economy," said campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill.

"The problem the administration has is that the predicates it laid down for the war have not played out," said Warren B. Rudman, the former Republican senator from New Hampshire, who has extensive experience in assessing intelligence about terrorism. "That could spell political trouble for the president, there's no question."

BUSH BEAT

Bush to pause advertising

Advisers to President Bush said that commercial for the Bush-Cheney ’04 would stop running on network television stations in the 19 states where he has primarily been advertising starting Sunday. They also said the commercial would continue to run on cable channels through June 24.

There has been some debate over how effective these commercials have been given the closeness in the polls between Kerry and Bush. The Bush-Cheney ’04 Committee states that the plan was to demonstrate the doubtful characteristics of Kerry and that has been accomplished.

There was no word from the campaign as to when they would restart the television ads.

 Just POlitics

Political predicates

Analysis by Roger Wm. Hughes

There is a strange debate beginning to be framed over the issue of Iraq and the reasons for going to war. The 9-11 Commissions staff report currently states that Iraq did not assist al Qaeda in attacking America. This has prompted John Kerry to seize on the opportunity to say once again that President Bush misled the American public on going to war.

Some Republicans are equally concerned:

"The problem the administration has is that the predicates it laid down for the war have not played out," said Warren B. Rudman, the former Republican senator from New Hampshire, who has extensive experience in assessing intelligence about terrorism. "That could spell political trouble for the president, there's no question."

Vice President Dick Cheney is continuing to insist that Iraq had connections to al Quaeda. The White House Communications has backed up his claim.

There is, of course, another problem for President Bush’s reelection chances -- Michael Moore’s movie, “Fahrenheit 9-11.” The church learned long ago the power of art in transforming public opinion and Moore and his liberal couture know it as well. So, liberals continue to try and frame and define the criteria for the debate on Iraq.

The good news for the President is that the 9-11 Commission does admit that the relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Quaeda was moving towards cooperation. The commission report to date states that al Quaeda and Hussein were in conflict and then agreed to stand down for their mutual interest. The report also states that before the 9-11 attack al Quaeda and Hussein were entering into agreements of support for sharing of weapons of mass destruction.

Certainly part of the problem for the Bush Presidency is the fact that the administration did not clearly define to the public the reasons for going to war in Iraq. It is not clear whether the administration was distracted by its two-front effort against terrorism or they did not want the public to know everything. Whatever the reason, it now is a problem because what is undefined is likely to be defined by your opponents.

The Bush campaign must remind the public that Hussein had the capacity to: 1) make WMD and pass them on to al Quaeda; 2) Hussein was a sponsor of terrorism and associated with al Quaeda; 3) Hussein used WMD on his own people; 4) Hussein was a part of the Arab-Islamic coalition that wants to destroy Western Civilization; and 5) deposing Hussein will go a long way in changing the Middle East culture that promulgates continued hatred of the West.

Otherwise, the Kerry campaign will continue to point to his predicates that President Bush misled the American public; no weapons of mass destruction have been found; there was no welcoming committee; we tortured Iraqi prisoners; it is a quagmire. Kerry knows how to do this. He rehearsed it against the Vietnam War.

Kerry’s Raw Deal

The Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign took on Sen. John Kerry’s new found love for tax cuts. The campaign suggested that the Kerry "real deal" is actually a "raw deal."

"John Kerry has voted against tax cuts for the middle class, including an extension of the child tax credit and marriage penalty relief for couples earning less than $50,000 per year. It's tough for him to claim that he understands middle class issues, when he repeatedly votes to tax the middle class more and tries to talk down the economy with his pessimism and misery," said Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman.

The Bush campaign offered this history of Kerry not supporting tax cuts and credit that he said he was now for:

John Kerry Is No Friend Of Middle Class Taxpayers

Kerry Voted Against Amendment To FY 2004 Budget Resolution That Would Extend $1,000 Child Tax Credit Until 2013.

Kerry Sponsored And Voted For Motion To Kill Marriage Penalty Relief For Couples Earning Less Than $50,000 Per Year. "Kerry, D-Mass., motion to table (kill) the Gramm, R-Texas, amendment … The Gramm amendment would allow couples with combined incomes under $50,000 a year to claim an additional $3,300 income tax deduction, thus eliminating the so-called marriage penalty for those in that income bracket." Sen. Gramm's marriage penalty relief would have saved taxpayers $46 billion over 10 years. The amendment also would allowed self-employed individuals to deduct health insurance costs on their income taxes. (S. 1415, CQ Vote #154: Rejected 48-50: R 5-49; D 43-1, 6/10/98, Kerry Voted Yea)

Kerry Voted Three Times Against Repealing The 1993 Clinton Tax Increase On Social Security Benefits.

Kerry Voted Against The 2001 And 2003 Tax Cuts.

Kerry Voted Against Eliminating Clinton-Instituted 4.3-Cent Tax On Transportation Fuels.

In 1995, Kerry Voted For A Resolution That Said Middle Class Tax Cuts Were Not Wise. The sense of the Senate amendment, killed on a motion by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), said, "reducing the deficit should be one of the nation's highest priorities, and that a middle-class tax cut would undermine and be inconsistent with the goal of achieving a balanced budget." (H.J. Res. 1, CQ Vote #67: Motion Agreed To 66-32: R 49-3; D 17-29, 2/14/95, Kerry Voted Nay)

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), Sponsor Of Resolution, Said Senators Need "Will" To Resist Middle Class Tax Cut. (Sen. Russ Feingold, Congressional Record, 2/14/95, p. S2617)

The 2004 money scorecard

The Kerry campaign reported raising a record $100 million in three months.

At the end of April, the Bush campaign had raised $204.3 million, spent $131.5 million had $109.5 million in cash on hand. The Bush campaign owed $185,000, compared with $7.6 million for the Kerry campaign.

The Kerry campaign had $28.7 million in cash on hand, out of a total of $114.2 million raised at the end of the month, according to its May filing with the FEC.

When you ad in the 527 PAC’s that are supporting Kerry he is probably even with the Bush campaign in money.

MoveOn.org promotes: Fahrenheit 9-11

MoveOn.org believes that Michael Moore is their savior and wants you to see his latest movie:

Dear MoveOn member,

Last night, I got a chance to see a sneak preview of Michael Moore's new film Fahrenheit 9/11. It is an incredibly powerful movie that lays bare the cynicism and greed behind Bush's war policy. And the astonishing and revealing footage in it has the power to change the course of the 2004 election. (There's a full review below.)

Given how devastating the movie is to President Bush's carefully crafted facade, it's hardly surprising that right-wing groups who call Moore a "domestic enemy" are using censorship and intimidation tactics to try to get it pulled from theaters. That's why we've got to do everything we can to make the opening a huge success.

Today, we're asking MoveOn members to pledge to see the film on the opening night -- Friday, June 25th. (If you can't make it on Friday, pledging to go on Saturday or Sunday is fine, too). It'll be fun, of course -- you'll be watching the movie with lots of other MoveOn members. It'll also send an unmistakable message to the media and theater owners that the public is behind this movie.

To see the Fahrenheit 9/11 trailer and pledge to see the movie on the opening weekend, go to:

http://www.moveonpac.org/f911/?id=2949-3383857-5Mt8U3YXbb0ROB4mQCUg3g

Then please pass this message on to your friends, family, and co-workers.

Fahrenheit 9/11 isn't just the most powerful and complete indictment of the Bush administration that I've ever seen - it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's a knockout blow: a poignant, darkly funny film that deftly interweaves footage of the President, his allies, and the Americans his policies betrayed. As Fox News' reviewer put it, the movie "is a tribute to patriotism, to the American sense of duty - and at the same time an indictment of stupidity and avarice." (See http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,122680,00.html for the full review.)

Despite years of television coverage on Iraq and the war on terror, most of the movie consists of footage you'd never see on TV. There are heart-breaking interviews with troops in Iraq, chilling scenes of the civilian consequences of that war, and footage of Bush so candid and revealing that it's hard to imagine how Moore got his hands on it. In one unforgettable scene from the morning of September 11th, Bush blithely reads a children's book to a classroom of kids for seven long minutes after his chief of staff quietly informs him that the second plane has hit the World Trade Center and "we're under attack." The film is filled with this stuff, and it's hard to imagine seeing it and not being moved, shocked, and outraged.

Fahrenheit 9/11 opens with footage of Bush administration officials putting on their TV makeup. Paul Wolfowitz sticks his comb in his mouth, slathers it with spit, brushes it through his hair, and grins a toothy grin. Colin Powell eyes the camera nervously as a makeup artist dusts his face. And, moments before President Bush goes on TV to somberly announce the beginning of the Iraq war, we see him goofing around, making funny faces at the folks behind the camera.

These candid portraits encapsulate the genius of Moore's documentary. Compared to his other films, there's little pranking or moralizing. Moore basically stays out of the picture: he doesn't have to indict the Bush administration, because with powerful and indisputable video, Bush and the rest indict themselves.

As Moore unravels Bush's story, he joins it with the stories of the real Americans who have shouldered the burden of the post-9/11 war policy. In Flint, Michigan, we hear from a group of inner-city kids whose only option for education and a better life is to enlist in the Army - and then, in a scene that's both humorous and deeply creepy, join two Marine recruiters as they case a local mall for possible enlistees. We watch a California peace group that was infiltrated by the local police department under the Patriot Act. And, in the final heartbreaking scenes, we witness the pain of a mother who lost her son in Iraq.

In the hands of other directors, the content could easily feel exploitative. But Moore is grounded by a patriotism that rings through every frame of the film. Compassion and love of country give the film its striking authenticity: it's clear that what stings most about the President's behavior, for the subjects of the film, is Bush's betrayal of our country's soul.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a film with the power to change hearts and minds. It's brilliant, funny, moving, and authentic. And together, we can make it a huge success.

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