Monday

Kerry v. Bush

We are not divided into Blue and Red States. The US is divided by an astonishing Reality Gap. Republicans believe things that are not true. Let me repeat one from a previous column and a few more recent items.

Many American still hold misperceptions about Iraq war, poll finds, April 22, Knight Ridder Newspapers.

 

A new poll shows that 57 percent of Americans continue to believe that Saddam Hussein gave "substantial support" to al-Qaida terrorists before the war with Iraq, despite a lack of evidence of that relationship.

 

In addition, 45 percent of Americans have the impression that "clear evidence" was found that Iraq worked closely with Osama bin Laden's network, and a majority believe that before the war Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction (38 percent) or a major program for developing them (22 percent).

 

There's no known evidence to date that these statements are true.

Republicans believe lies.

Prisoner Abuse in Texas, Iraq Bear Similarities (St. Louis Post-Dispatch article archived by East Bay Kerry since it fell off the conservative news media's web sites very quickly)

WASHINGTON - Prisoners stripped naked, beaten about the head, set upon by dogs and kicked by verbally abusive guards.

George W. Bush, informed of the alleged mistreatment, says nothing publicly because the incident is the subject of internal investigation - only to have shocking images, taken by the guards themselves, flash around the world.

The incident took place in Texas nearly a decade ago, in 1996, when Bush was that state's governor. The prisoners abused were Missourians, inmates temporarily transferred to county jail facilities in Texas run by private contractors because of overcrowded prisons back home.

Not only did this not bother W., but it gave him ideas.

Ex-head of TDCJ set up Iraq jail

A civilian charged with preparing Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison for U.S. military use headed the Texas prison system during one of its most controversial periods and later resigned as director of Utah prisons after an inmate died while shackled naked to a chair.

Lane McCotter, now director of business development for a private prison company, Management & Training Corp., says he never trained U.S. military personnel working in Iraq's prisons and turned over the management of Abu Ghraib to military officials before the United States began housing prisoners there.

But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, is urging Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate how civilians such as McCotter were chosen to oversee the opening of prisons in Iraq -- noting that McCotter is an executive for a company operating a private prison in New Mexico that the Justice Department criticized last year for unsafe conditions and lack of medical care for inmates.

McCotter returned to the United States in early September after four months of work in Iraq, first evaluating and then preparing the country's prisons for reopening. The first documented abuses in Abu Ghraib prison occurred in October.

Republicans refuse to believe the truth: Bush has no moral compass. He and his oily friends not only knew about Abu Ghraib the previous year, they went out of their way to create the barbaric conditions. And they're such cowards that they refuse to be held responsible for their crimes.

Army Stage-Managed Fall of Hussein Statue (LA Times story archived on Commondreams.org since it fell off the conservative news media's web sites very quickly)

Ultimately, a Marine recovery vehicle toppled the statue with a chain, but the effort appeared to be Iraqi-inspired because the psychological team had managed to pack the vehicle with cheering Iraqi children.

Republicans are quick to believe lies and refuse to believe the truth.

Presented with the astonishing lies spewed by the Bush administration, what do the conservative media elite report? I heard this exact story repeated twice in 24 hours. Once on NPR by a media whore guest and once by Eric Black, a reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Poll: On troops issue, many don't know their candidate

A large portion of Upper Midwestern voters have a wrong impression of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's position on U.S. troop levels in Iraq, according to a University of Minnesota poll in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Most registered voters in the three battleground states want to decrease the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, and most of them believe that Kerry shares that position.

In fact, Kerry and President Bush both say that the United States must maintain the troops necessary to complete the U.S. mission of stabilizing Iraq, and both favor sending more troops if U.S. commanders request them. When the 2004 Election Project of the university's Humphrey Institute polled voters in the three states about what they prefer to see happen with troop levels in Iraq, 28 percent said they favor increased troop levels, 12 percent said they favor maintaining current levels, and 58 percent said they want to decrease the number of U.S. troops.

When those who favor a troop reduction were asked about Bush's and Kerry's stands on the issue, a 76 percent mistakenly believed that Kerry has pledged to decrease troop levels. And 22 percent mistakenly believed that Bush favored troop reductions.

It's the "Every does it" gambit, pretending that a minor example (a poll in three states) of a subset of Kerry supporters ("those who favor troop reduction") is somehow equivalent to the utter disconnect from reality by Bush supporters.

I've met Mr. Black, and have followed his reporting for years. While he's fallen to the Dark Side too often, he at least tries to get his facts straight. His sin, in this case, is a sin of omission. He just printed the RNC handout. (Heck, compare his report to the various freeper postings.) I wrote to him about this, and got an interesting reply. I will paraphrase (and correct his spelling...):

For some general work i'm doing on the electorate, would you be willing to provide a short list on the theme:

Five or so reasons it's important to me that Bush be defeated, and/or, why it's important to me that Kerry be elected.

I emphasize short.

He didn't specify whether "important to me" meant important to Eric Black or important to me the voter. I assumed the latter and wrote back.

Well, if you want 'em short:

Five Reasons Why Bush Should Be Defeated

1) Bush's economic policies have been an unmitigated disaster.

2) Bush's environmental programs have been an unmitigated disaster.

3) Bush's foreign policy has been an unmitigated disaster.

4) Bush has lost the war on terror.

5) After 9/11, Bush had the unique opportunity to prove he was really a uniter, and to show the world that ALL of America was outraged at the attack: He should have appointed Al Gore to head Homeland Security. Gore is an expert on counter-terrorism measures, and his selection would have unified the country instantly. Instead, Bush picked the ineffectual Tom Ridge, and has proceeded to throw away every ounce of sympathy America had abroad and destroyed our military's effectiveness at home. The response to 9/11 proved Bush places politics over the safety of Americans. He is a weak leader, beholden to overseas oil more than any American interest.

Bonus reason:

6) Bush is a lying cowardly weasel with no moral compass.

Five Reasons Why John Kerry Should Be Elected

1) Kerry is a proven leader in the Senate.

2) Kerry is a proven leader in war.

3) Kerry surrounds himself with intelligent and competent advisors.

4) Kerry has the strength of his convictions and the intelligence to turn his convictions into working policies.

5) Kerry is a uniter who will change the tone in Washington. For the better, this time.

Bonus reason:

6) Kerry is a strong liberal just when we need a strong liberal to lead the country out of the moral failing of the Gingrich/Limbaugh/Rove conservative attack on the Constitution.

This was on Friday, and he may not get the e-mail until Monday (today for Bartcop-E readers).

This is a worthwhile challenge. It's not enough to defeat Bush. That's a no-brainer (as are most things about Republicans). We need to demonstrate why we support Kerry and the Democrats.

I hope he won't mind (his e-mail address was printed in the paper under the article) and I hope Bartcop readers send Eric Black five (or so) short reasons why Bush should be defeated and five (or so) short reasons why Kerry should be elected. Be polite and stress the positive. Mention where you are writing from (being in the Minneapolis Star Tribune distribution area will help). Feel free to mention my name (he'll probably wonder why he's getting all these messages from California...) and spread this request through blogs and links.

The case against Bush is easy. Now that the Democratic National Convention has begun, it's time to deal with the case for Kerry.

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