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The good and the bad...

web posted September 27, 2004

"Terrorists aren't interested in guilt or innocence, or whether it's Iraqi or American blood they spill. They're just out to kill, maim and destroy. Anybody. The purpose is to instill fear and create the kind of chaos in which their kind prospers -- a power vacuum they can fill." -- Paul Greenberg

"Few things have been more grossly distorted than tax cuts. Liberals in politics and the media seem to think that what matters is what happens to the money. In reality, what matters is how the cut in tax rates affects people's behavior." -- Thomas Sowell

"Democrats still seem to believe they can win back the White House without making any significant modification to their party's policies -- that they are the natural majority party just waiting to be given back control." -- Brendan Miniter

"The Bush campaign is executing with confidence and verve a game plan it set out long ago. The Kerry campaign has been regrouping and lurching from one emphasis to another. It is proof of the old political saying: The campaign always reflects the candidate." -- Michael Barone

"I'm surprised at their reluctance to concede they're wrong." --Andy Rooney on CBS' refusal to question the authenticity of the Killian documents

"[The Bush administration hasn't] even engaged in a legitimate effort to try to really transform the ability of Israel to find a legitimate entity to negotiate with." -- John Kerry

"My favorite gun is the M-16.... I don't own one of those now, but one of my reminders of my service is a Communist Chinese assault rifle [AK-47]." -- John Kerry

"[T]he Associated Press reports that Massachusetts' Sen. Ted Kennedy 'is launching a seven-week election drive' on Kerry's behalf. As if Kerry needs help running his campaign off a bridge." -- James Taranto

"Kerry...probably still believes there is a French division somewhere over the horizon that will bail us out in Iraq, if only we bow and scrape enough. In any case, now the election will turn on exactly what it should, and be won or lost on the most important issue facing the country." -- Rich Lowry

"[John Kerry] and his new campaign handlers (most of whom are retreads from the Clinton presidency) have reportedly decided on a novel strategy: Staking out just one position on the war in Iraq." -- Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

"[John Kerry] says he's in touch with the West. He must mean western Massachusetts." -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney

"John Kerry in New York Monday accused President Bush of creating a crisis of historic proportion in Iraq. He called for a national debate on Iraq and the war on terrorism. Then he voted to cut funding for podiums, moderators and water glasses." -- Argus Hamilton

"According to the latest crime statistics, crime in the U.S. is at a 30 year low. John Kerry blamed this on President Bush. He said, 'See even criminals are having a hard time finding jobs to pull off.'" -- Jay Leno

"At the root of what is today treated as an embarrassing blunder by duped CBS journalists may turn out to be a felony by its faithless sources. ...[That person] then helped cause the fraudulent file to be transmitted by means of television communication to millions of voters for the purpose of influencing a federal election -- [which is] no mere 'dirty trick,' but a potential violation of federal law." -- William Safire

"The Democrats purposely chose a candidate with a 22-year history in elective office entirely barren of any distinction. Can you name a single significant bill that bears John Kerry's mark? A single important speech? A single legislative achievement? A single idea of any kind associated with Kerry's name?" -- Charles Krauthammer

"I smell the same New England genius that I smelled in the Dukakis campaign in 1988. Kerry wants to run as a man of the people, and where do they put him for photo opportunities? Snowboarding in Sun Valley, shooting skeet in the Ohio valley, and windsurfing off that great working-class vacation paradise, Nantucket." -- Gerald Austin, Ohio Democrat campaign consultant

web posted September 20, 2004

"[Senator Kerry] woke up yesterday morning with yet another new position. And this one is not even his own. It is that of his one-time rival, Howard Dean. He even used the same words Howard Dean did, back when he supposedly disagreed with him. No matter how many times Senator Kerry flip-flops, we were right to make America safer by removing Saddam Hussein from power." -- U.S. President George W. Bush

"Kerry [has] presented himself to the nation as a bitter weakling who can't abide criticism and who takes his foreign-policy cues from Michael Moore." -- James Taranto

"Here's the problem. Kerry is, as he's been known to brag, a 'man of nuance' or of 'complexity.' What he means by these terms, of course, is that he should be permitted to say whatever he wants -- or whatever the audience at a particular moment wants to hear -- without feeling like he's contradicting, or making an ass of, himself." -- Jonah Goldberg

"[A]s we enjoy the unprecedented prosperity that our freedom has made possible, we are losing a sense that every benefit has a cost, and that the other side of the coin of increased freedom is increased responsibility." -- Star Parker

"A relatively small group of people who control the mechanisms of laud and lucre can have a tremendous influence on ambitious academics." -- Marvin Olasky

"The federal government is slowly but surely destroying real families, but it is hardly a benevolent surrogate parent." -- Ron Paul

"One of the many places where public schools have failed and failed badly is in the teaching of civics -- what the constitution is about, how government functions, why it is important that the individual citizen stay abreast of issues and candidates." -- Lyn Nofziger

"According to the Kerry campaign, President Bush has 'lost' over a million jobs since taking office. This of course assumes that jobs are Presidents' to win or lose." -- Thomas Sowell

"[F]ormer President Clinton, recovering from open-heart surgery, could run [a better] campaign while under ether." -- Gerald Austin, Democratic strategist on the Kerry campaign

"According to the Bush campaign, John Kerry's record of vacillation and inconsistency in the Senate would make him a disastrously indecisive POTUS -- an IMPOTUS, as it were." -- Niall Ferguson

"So John Kerry now is the first self-confessed war criminal in U.S. history to be nominated for president. Normally this would be considered an electoral plus only in the more cynical banana republics. But the Democrats seemed to think they could run an antiwar anti-hero as a war hero and nobody would mind." -- Mark Steyn

"Democrats can dish it out but have trouble taking it. If one wishes to go down the alley of such political rhetoric, one should not be surprised to get mugged at the end of it. ... Democrats can't credibly complain of a bloody nose when they threw the first punch." -- Cal Thomas

"While waiting for the Ouija board to give us Kerry's final answer on the Iraq war, perhaps we could get an answer on something simpler -- like whether or not Kerry owns an SUV. ... While Kerry works out his positions, apparently the voters have decided that their legitimate act of self-defense is to vote for Bush." -- Ann Coulter

"Did you hear this? '60 minutes' has a new policy. From now on they're going to spend at least 60 minutes verifying their stories." -- Jay Leno

"I think it was the right vote based on what Saddam Hussein had done, and I think it was the right thing to do to hold him accountable...[My position] can't be clearer." -- John Kerry on Iraq

"I asked him a number of questions about Iraq, and I can't tell you what he said." -- radio host Don Imus, self-described Kerry supporter, on Kerry's position on Iraq

"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims." -- Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya news channel, responding to recent Islamist terrorism in Russia, Iraq and across the Middle East

web posted September 13, 2004

"Unlike the present income tax system, the Fair Tax treats each and every person in this country exactly the same. This, of course, presents somewhat of a problem to politicians who like to use the tax code to foment class distrust or outright warfare." -- Neal Boortz

"Freedom of choice for abortion, but no freedom of choice for children already born as to where they might best be educated -- this is a triumph of politics over common sense and a denial of the right of a child to the best possible education." -- Cal Thomas

"A House-Senate conference committee is considering legislation to hand billions to tobacco producers and extend Food and Drug Administration rules to cigarettes. President Bush seems prepared to accept anything that passes. More spending and regulation together: The GOP, no less than the Democrats, is the party of big government." -- Doug Bandow

"[O]ur modern culture, and the press in particular, has a total double standard: when liberal Democrats talk of God, the press has no problems, but when a conservative president talks of God, the liberal media loses its collective mind." -- Paul Kengor

"I remember a couple of days after Sept. 11 writing that weepy candlelight vigils were a cop-out: the issue wasn't whether you were sad about the dead people but whether you wanted to do something about it. Three years on, the two conventions drew the same distinction. If you want passivity and wallowing in victim culture, the Dems will do. If you want to win this thing, Bush is the only guy running." -- Mark Steyn

"What's your plan for parenting & educating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets & maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents & the system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?" -- Reuters news service editor Todd Eastham, responding via e-mail to a National Right to Life Committee press release

"Get out of my face. If you are going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer. I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel...don't pull that kind of stuff on me." -- Zell Miller responding to "Hardball's" Chris Matthews

"If John Kerry announced today that he was The Manchurian Candidate and that he has a chip implanted in him so that when he's President, his wife Teresa 'Sweetness' Heinz Kerry will turn over the Queen of Diamonds and he will immediately hand over control of the United States to the United Nations or, even worse, agree to make this country a colony of France -- he still will carry New York and California." -- Jerry Della Femina

"[L]et me take the time to do what no other pundit has been willing to do: to thank Georgia Sen. Zell Miller for being named Zell. It's been a long time since a politician occasioned such euphoria over euphony in political commentary. From the conservatives I've already heard 'Give 'em Zell!' 'Zell it like it is!' 'Zelling it Old School!' From the other side of the aisle we've had 'Zellotry' and 'Zell-out.' And who the Zell knows what else is coming down the pike -- Zello-Dolly?" -- Jonah Goldberg

"Perhaps like the many and various meanings of the word 'we,' liberals use the word 'unsubstantiated' to mean 'tested repeatedly and proved true'." -- Ann Coulter

"John Kerry was in Nashville Wednesday for a showdown speech to the American Legion convention. Television cameras followed him everywhere. It reminded him of his days in Vietnam, only this time he didn't have to hold his own Super Eight." -- Argus Hamilton

"I was stunned when I heard Bill Clinton was in the hospital. I just assumed Hillary finally ran over him with the Mercedes. He looked so healthy." -- Jay Leno

web posted September 6, 2004

"The American people are living at the expense of their children and grandchildren who are virtually being sold into slavery as these future generations are being saddled with a monstrous debt that they will never be able to repay. When the system finally collapses bringing chaos and fear, who wins? The winners will be those at the top who have their own wealth protected in family trust funds and tax-exempt foundations. These elite few will gain the TOTAL control over our entire society that they have so long strived for as the people cry to them for help, willing to give up their precious freedoms for 'security'. Of course history shows us that people who have no liberty have no say about their security either. They instead become pawns in the hands of tyrannical government." -- Debbie O'Hara

"When you talk about [No Child Left Behind], you are indisputably implying that you are going someplace, indeed that you are leading everyone someplace. That's not a responsibility I want the federal government to have. Indeed, that's a responsibility the Founders explicitly wanted to deny it. I see nothing wrong with a local community saying 'none of our children should be left behind.' I see everything right with a church, a corporation, a professional association or a philanthropy saying, 'We're going to help the kids left behind.' But when the federal government says this we have real problems. Leaving no child behind is an impossible standard for the federal government. Indeed, if truly implemented, such a standard would constitute a colossal and unprecedented waste of resources." -- Jonah Goldberg

"In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table. But make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win. We will win by staying on the offensive, we will win by spreading liberty." -- George W. Bush

"President Bush sees world terrorism for the evil that it is." -- Rudy Giuliani

"[My husband] was a fireman who ran through the doors of the World Trade Center, but did not walk out. He was a patriot, a tremendous spirit. Timmy is my hero. I am honored to share him with you, just as I am proud to lend America my oldest son, Kevin, who is headed to Iraq with his Navy unit. America must never forget the sacrifices of September 11 or those that are made every day by our sons and daughters in the military service." -- Tara Stackpole, wife of FDNY firefighter killed on 9/11

"Kerry has draped himself in red, white and blue for 2004. But his new clothes cannot obscure the truth -- that his record is one of appeasement and weakness." --Mona Charen

"[W]hen Kerry castigates President Bush for acting 'solo' in Iraq, what he's really crabbing about is that the United States is acting without France. For Kerry and his Francophile set, acting sans France is a major problem, a veritable crisis. Since he is one of two men who may occupy the White House next year, his crisis is our concern." -- Diana West

"I've never before supported a Republican for president. But I'm doing so this time because of the one issue that trumps everything else: international terrorism. In my judgment, the Democrat Party just doesn't have the stomach to stand up to the terrorists. But Bush is a fighter. ... Already, most of the world is caving. If you didn't have Bush standing there, you'd have everybody following Spain and the Philippines." -- Ed Koch, former NYC mayor

"They're not one of us, they're making us look bad." -- Arrested protestor at the rally against the GOP after he assaulted a counter-protestor

"You people sold all that out, you sold out your own class to join the f***ing pigs. You sold out your own people. Someday you will stand before some kind of judgment." -- Protestor "Zack from California" to a black police woman

"If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal. Besides, when I read the list of people who are supporting Kerry, if I wasn't already a Bush supporter, I would have immediately switched. Linda Ronstadt? Don Henley? Geez, that's a good reason right there to vote for Bush." -- Rock star Alice Cooper

"I tried to accept that letter [from Max Cleland] and he would not give it to me. He would not face me. He kept rolling away from me. He's quite mobile." -- Jerry Patterson, Vietnam Vet tasked with accepting Cleland's letter to President Bush

"I watch a lot of the cable news shows, so I understand that you were never in Vietnam." -- John Stewart to John Kerry

"In this great struggle, we need a commander-in-chief who is a beacon, not a weathervane." -- Rep. Heather Wilson

"Kerry said the [Swift Boat] ads hurt him deeply and emotionally then asked, 'Does that make me eligible for any kind of medal?'" -- Craig Kilborn

"'This is what democracy looks like!' the [Democrat] crowd chants as they demand that Republicans' right to assembly and speech be beaten to a bloody pulp." -- Shawn Macomber

"What if Bush is re-elected? If they lose to him again, Democrats will need more than just consolation. They'll need therapy." -- Charles Krauthammer

"Al Gore was caught driving 75 miles an hour on the highway up in Oregon and cited for speeding. Well you know Al Gore, he'll do anything to get his name on a ticket now. Poor Al, he didn't get paid because he didn't get the pizza there on time." -- Jay Leno

"George Bush is a leader who doesn't flinch, doesn't waiver, does not back down. My fellow Americans, make no mistake about it: terrorism is more insidious than communism, because it yearns to destroy not just the individual, but the entire international order. The President didn't go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn't about polls. It's about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions. That's why America is safer with George W. Bush as President." -- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"I ask which leader is it today that has the vision, the willpower and, yes, the backbone to best protect my family? The clear answer to that question has placed me in this hall with you tonight. For my family is more important than my party. There is but one man to whom I am willing to entrust their future and that man's name is George Bush. ... He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words. I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel." -- Zell Miller

"Thank God George Bush is our President. ... Since September 11th President Bush has remained rock solid. It doesn't matter how he is demonized. It doesn't matter what the media does to ridicule him or misinterpret him or defeat him. They ridiculed Winston Churchill. They belittled Ronald Reagan. But like President Bush, they were optimists, leaders must be optimists. Their vision was beyond the present and set on a future of real peace and true freedom. Some call it stubbornness. I call it principled leadership. President Bush has the courage of his convictions. In choosing a president, we really don't choose a Republican or Democrat, a conservative or liberal. We choose a leader." -- Rudy Giuliani

"For giving America courageous leadership in times of trial, decisive leadership in times of crisis, we thank you, Mr. President. You have restored honor and dignity to the White House." -- Elizabeth Dole

"I want to help voters compare President Bush's record of achievement with Senator Kerry's. That way they'll be able to see the difference, which is that President Bush has a record of achievement." -- George Pataki

"Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls. ... Only the most deluded of us could doubt the necessity of this war." -- John McCain

"Let's be clear: you can no longer be both pro-patient and pro-trial lawyer. John Kerry has made his choice. He put a trial lawyer on his ticket. By his votes and by his actions, he is the 'Dr. No' of tort reform in America." -- Bill Frist

"[John Kerry] also recently said that he doesn't want to use the word 'war' to describe our efforts to fight terrorism. Well, I don't want to use the words 'commander in chief' to describe John Kerry." -- Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele

"[Kerry] voted NO on Desert Storm in 1991 and YES on Desert Shield today. Then he voted NO on troop funding, just after he had voted YES. He's campaigned against the war all year, but says he'd vote YES today. I don't want Presidential leadership that comes in 57 varieties! I want a strong President who stands his ground." -- Mitt Romney

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