Diarist Sharon Jumper steers us toward some thoughtful Freeper catastrophe analysis in her Pajamahedeen declare terrorism responsible for MN Bridge collapse.  An example:

I agree about terrorism. People on the bridge reported hearing jackhammer-like sounds before the collapse. Multiple explosions of charges under the supports?

Um...no.  The "jackhammer-like sounds"?  A jackhammer.  Occam's Razor much?

So, anyway, today authorities seized a Revolutionary War-era replica "submarine" as it tried to set sail from Brooklyn and detained three adventurers.  The Freeper reaction will not surprise you...

George Bush was recently asked about the photographs known to exist of him in the company of admitted felon and Bush "Pioneer" (style/usage note: the phrase "admitted felon," when used adjectivally in the service of the name "Jack Abramoff," must always be followed by the phrase "...and Bush 'Pioneer'").  Bush's response screams "Sinatra!" as even an extraordinary rendition (oops...AWK-ward!) of "Summer Wind" could not.

Read on.

After her huge score at the National Press Club dinner, The First Stand-up takes her act on the road. Her set:

Thank you for that warm reception, chattel and gentleman.  It's nice to be here at the Dome of the Rock. Of course, the way backward and barbaric Muslims are blowing up Americans these days it's nice to be anywhere.

[more]

Last month, Bush's wranglers committed him to deliver a commencement speech at Michigan's Calvin College, a Christian institution.  Sadly for the pResident, many of Calvin's students and faculty are thinking people as well as Christians.

Reaction was swift and pointed as diaried here by Magorn and here by Addison (as well as by others). Today it went down.  Pithy, incisive and revealing contrast between Bush's Christian supporters and Bush's Christian detractors below...

On March 17th and 18th, "The Family Research Council" headed by Tony Perkins hosted a conference in Washington attended by James Dobson founder of "Focus on the Family."  (How does the Religious Right keep all these "family" groups straight and is it a coincidence that la Cosa Nostra is alternately known as "La Famiglia"?)  This event was addressed by both Bill Frist and Tom DeLay.

Described as a "closed door" meeting, security was apparently limited to closing the doors because someone was wired...

One would think, given that Iraq's January selection...er, election has been held out as some sort of milestone/turning point/golden fleece, that Bush would have at least a rudimentary grasp of what offices are at stake.  One would be mistaken.  

Embarrassing quotes from the LA Times' "Confusion in White House on Aim of Iraq Election" follow.

I hope those of you in South Florida, the Sun Belt and other retiree-heavy areas will consider sending a version of this letter to the editor of your local papers.  Tweak the copy or don't but sign your name and send.  

Though we may not be able to lay the flu vaccine shortage at Bush's doorstep, the clulessness about the issue he's demonstrated makes this issue ripe fruit.  It helps sell the "out of touch" premise.

This is a big story and Bush has allowed us to link it to him.  Letter below.  I think it's tight and right but notes graciously accepted.

Okay, in general terms this story isn't news...at least not to us.  What is news, I think, is that this is a page A1 story, above the fold, titled as I've indicated above.  Lots of good stuff about Cheney's shady energy commission, the many ways he's favored his former company and how he goes to the shopping mall at lunchtime and stalks mothers with strollers so he can snatch and gobble up their infants as Mom waits in line for a corn dog.

...Unless that last bit's a ploy to keep you reading.

Honest to God, I can barely stand to listen to that man speak.  We know from Andrew Card that Bush  envisions us all as 10-year-old children.  Is that why his cadences, vocabulary and sentence construction are those of a pre-schooler?  Or is he simply an imbecile?

Watch my (very) short film and see what I mean.

At the end of "The Chris Matthews Show" he does that "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" seg.  Andrea Mitchell drops the following bombshell:

I'm as tired as the next guy of posts and diaries that say "Kerry will win the debate if he uses this zinger."  I've also posted several just like that (of course mine were killer).

And yet, prior to the first debate several Kossacks pitched the, "Your father knew invading Iraq was a bad idea" tack that Kerry wound up using to great effect.  Coincidence?  Who knows?

Just in case, I posit this precision rhetorical bomb.  Only five words long, this phrase carries with it the recent "Bush is in denial" theme as well as the "This man is a liar" vibe that lurks just below the surface of the new CIA report, Cheney's debate performance, Bush's "rose colored glasses" Iraq outlook, etc. [ED:Retitled]

I'm sure most of us have seen the debate vids making the rounds.  Here are two fine examples (sorry, I've lost the authors' names): "How Bush Did" and "'S Hard Work".  

This next one, though, came from Free Republic.  They allege it makes Kerry look stupid. This is sort of like a prizefighter presenting a montage of himself being relentlessly beaten for 12 rounds and saying, "Okay....right...THERE!  See me stick my tongue out at him?  And coming up...THERE!  Where he knocks me down with 5 unanswered shots!  You can't see it but, inside my glove?  I'm giving him the finger."

I'm gonna call this "Impotent Weenie".

Prefacing a question, Lehrer said to Kerry (paraphrasing here), "You've essentially said President Bush has lied to the American people..."  Kerry replied, "I've never, ever used that harsh a word..."

Turns out he did.  The RNC site has the citations.  

Small thing, really, and all JFK has to say when it's brought up is, "Did I?  I've really tried to avoid that word but...well, sometimes you just run out of euphemisms."

I've watched as much pre-spin as I can before I leave to watch the debate with close friends.  This much is clear now:

For the Republicans it hasn't been about lowering the expectations for Bush (after all, he IS the incumbent).  They paid lip-service to that, sure, but this has all been about RAISING expectations for Kerry.  Not the Cicero crap.  The party line for the last day-and-a-half has been "Kerry must deliver a knockout or he's done."  And the pundits have sucked that up just as thirstily as we've come to expect.

Anything short of a clear KO and we'll hear, "Kerry didn't get the job done." Bank on it.

Off I go.  Get 'em, Big John!

There was some debate in this thread about whether or not Bush could honestly claim that Kerry had the very same pre-war intelligence that the administration had.  The massive Vanity Fair article "The Path to War" (May, '04) covers some of this beautifully.  I've excerpted the article below (and DO NOT miss the amazing graphic, it's a wonderful and damning tool):

It seems everyone's favorite former Iraqi strongman wants to run for office in Iraq's "fair, free and open" election.

My CAN'T MISS campaign slogan below.

In the course of Allawi's Bush/Cheney04 Campaign speech from the Rose Garden today he said:  Mr. Bush himself added:We must not allow this to happen.  The repercussions are almost too horrible to consider.  Almost.

Script below:

According to Bob Novak (that's right, I said it) they are: