The ad made it sound as though he had signed an executive order that outlawed the practice of paying ANYONE any overtime EVER, which of course isn�t the case. It fits with the worldview of the intended audience, I guess � the people who think that once upon a time the United States strictly adhered to the Kyoto protocols, had legal gay marriage, and allowed overtime pay, and the President has undone these pillars of society one by one. Because he hates people, you know. He really wants to screw people over. That�s how you get reelected: wage unrelenting war against the electorate so they�ll vote for you in hopes that the beatings will slacken somewhat in the lame-duck term.---Lileks.

Read the whole thing. He goes on about the Bush ad.

First thing this morning we went to the Discovery Museum to the new exhibit on Gee Whiz Geology. They have some nice stuff, especially for World's Cutest Granddaughters (tm) who love dinosaurs! So when Monica called in the afternoon to get directions to the playground in Napa, I told her about this. Now I have sort of plans for both girls to come in the summer so the littles can enjoy the dinosaurs, and we could have a picnic in the backyard.

Last year they hardly came here at all, and already this year we're beginning to host events. Hooray! (I didn't much want to till I got over the Gerhard-funk.)

I looked at the Places to Go with Children... book I got for them, when we were at Roni's. There are all sorts of things we've discovered that the book's author has missed. Besides the Napa playground, there are the statues in Sebastipol, and the animal-head restaurant in Rio Vista, and the ferries to get to Rio Vista... all wonderful places for kids.

Rich gave check #4444 to Music Circus, which is sort of interesting, but then I remembered, at last, the voucher I had... darn it. I missed with the tickets for Starlight Express, and for the Producers, and now for the MC season, and we've paid full price for all. Grumble.

Forgetfulness occurs when those who have been long inured to civilized order can no longer remember a time in which they had to wonder whether their crops would grow to maturity without being stolen or their children sold into slavery by a victorious foe. . . . They forget that in time of danger, in the face of the Enemy, they must trust and confide in each other, or perish.

They forget, in short, that there has ever been a category of human experience called the Enemy. And that, before 9/11, was what had happened to us. The very concept of the Enemy had been banished from our moral and political vocabulary. An enemy was just a friend we hadn't done enough for -- yet. Or perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, or an oversight on our part -- something that we could correct.

And this means that that our first task is that we must try to grasp what the concept of the Enemy really means.

The Enemy is someone who is willing to die in order to kill you. And while it is true that the Enemy always hates us for a reason -- it is his reason, and not ours.

---Lee Harris, quoted by Instapundit.

Another endorsement for Kerry, and Winter Soldier.

About the ads:

On CNN, Wolf Blitzer just interviewed Bernard Kerik (sp?) about the ads. He gave the best defense of Bush I have heard. He said he had talked to many 9/11 families that thought it essential that 9/11 be part of the campaign, because previous administrations (and Kerry as Senator) did nothing after the first WTC bombing. Kerry actually reduced intelligence funding after it.

Ted Rall's "terror widows" "cartoon" didn't raise the same amount of comment.

Citizen Smash, Mock Outrage:

comment:
People do not have a right to have 9-11 all to themselves. It is the reason this country is in the middle of a war. Bush has a right to recall that day and his leadership during that crisis. It's what John Kerry is afraid of: he was a hero in his war, but his war was 35 years ago.

another:
This bleating about Bush's ads only shows Kerry and his confederates are crying before a punch has even been thrown yet. This is all anyone has to know about how November is going to turn out. Kerry hasn't even stepped in the ring and he's wet himself. Disgusting.

another:
I think that there should be a daily showing of the planes flying into the WTC every day on tv. We need to be reminded that there are people in this world that want us DEAD. That there has been no repeat of the WTC/Pentagon/PA tragedy is a testament to the response of Bush and co. I don't think another round of talks in the UN chaired by Syria would suffice.

another:
As for the ad, everytime I see pictures from the attacks, besides the chills I get, and the weird feeling in my gut, I think of how nothing of that caliber has happened since, despite bin Laden's calls for it, over and over. I think of how his right hand man claims they're winning, while he's hiding in a cave and we're all going on with our lives. I think of how Saddam is checked off our list. I think of how Libya has given up its nuclear capabilities.

And I can't help but think how all of that probably wouldn't have happened if Gore or Kerry was in office. Sure, American troops are dying. Probably more than there would've been if Gore or Kerry was indeed in office. But as of September 11th, 2001, we should've learned our lesson on waiting for things to happen. Bush obviously did. Kerry and Gore obviously didn't.

Bush runs on his record and Dems say he can't.

I know that, while I don't feel safer than I did on September 10, 2001, mostly because I didn't think about it then, I feel a lot safer than I did on September 12 of that year!

Steven DenBeste is back and he compares tuberculosis to terrorism:

I want to know what he [Kerry] really stands for. (And it better not be E Pluribus, UN.)

But even if he delivers some sort of definitive speech, one which is clear and which doesn't waffle, one which is not ambiguous, one which addresses the deepest issues and takes an un-nuanced stand on them, how can we be sure he means it? Given his record of apparently being on all sides of nearly every major issue, how could we tell if such a speech was a frank declaration of his true principles, rather than the latest in a long line of attempts to tell people whatever he thought they wanted to hear?

Some people swear by tofu as an ingredient in food. I gather that tofu doesn't have any significant flavor of its own. It absorbs flavor from whatever it's cooked with. It is a chameleon, a foodstuff which becomes whatever you want it to be. Kerry seems to be a candidate made of tofu.

War Hero?