Month: June 2004

On June 10 2004, the IRS

sent a strongly worded letter to both the Republican and Democratic national committees, reminding them that tax-exempt charitable groups “are prohibited from directly or indirectly participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.”

So what does the Bush campaign do? They send out a detailed 22-point plan to volunteers about how to bring their chruch members into the Bush fold.

The instruction sheet circulated by the Bush-Cheney campaign to religious volunteers lists 22 “duties” to be performed by specific dates. By July 31, for example, volunteers are to “send your Church Directory to your State Bush-Cheney ’04 Headquarters or give [it] to a BC04 Field Rep” and “Talk to your Pastor about holding a Citizenship Sunday and Voter Registration Drive.”

By Aug. 15, they are to “talk to your Church’s seniors or 20-30 something group about Bush/Cheney ’04” and “recruit 5 more people in your church to volunteer for the Bush Cheney campaign.”

By Sept. 17, they are to host at least two campaign-related potluck dinners with church members, and in October they are to “finish calling all Pro-Bush members of your church,” “finish distributing Voter Guides in your church” and place notices on church bulletin boards or in Sunday programs “about all Christian citizens needing to vote.”

Why don’t they just take our ads that say, “Jesus wants Bush re-elected” and be done with it?

Source: Yahoo! News.

Call me a pessimist. Call me gun-shy after watching Howard Dean go from hero to zero inside of a month. You may be right. But still, I’m a little concerned this day, wondering whether the tides are swinging in Kerry’s favor too soon.

As Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne Jr. points out,

How this election turns out will depend a great deal on how the situation in Iraq looks to voters on Election Day, and how many middle-class and blue-collar voters feel the economic recovery in their own lives by then.

The fact that Fahrenheit 9/11 did boffo box office not just in liberal enclaves, but nationwide, is a hopeful sign. Pollsters have been saying for some time now that the race is tight and could even be tipping in Kerry’s favor. But this is a dangerous time too.

People are not happy with the way the country is going right now, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to people thinking Kerry is the man to lead a change. Or so says the NY Times:

45 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of Mr. Bush himself, again the most negative measure the Times/CBS Poll has found since he took office. And 57 percent say the country is going in the wrong direction, another measure used by pollsters as a barometer of discontent with an incumbent.

Yet the survey found little evidence that Mr. Kerry has been able to take advantage of the president’s difficulties, even though Mr. Kerry has spent $60 million on television advertising over the past three months.

My feeling is, it’s going to be a long slog to November, and the results are no means certain.

Enough teasing everyone that you know something the rest of us don’t about the forged Niger uranium documents.

If you’ve got the story, run with it. If you don’t, stop hinting that you do. In short, as the old saying goes, shit or get off the pot.

I have a hard time viewing the US transfer of power to Iraq and Bremer’s hasty departure as anything other than an admission that the situation is a big mess. I’m wondering how soon the current administration will start to spin it as a sign of success that they could hand over sovereignty two days early.