If are a regular reader of this blog (right?) then you will notice I had no comments about the 3rd Presidential Debate held on October 13th. Well, I skipped it. I had to work that night and didn’t get home until it was half over so I just didn’t watch it at all. I did read some of the transcript and a summary or two from non-biased sources but I avoided any and all spin masters. I like to form my own view thank you very much. I was happy to read that Senator John Kerry again cleaned Bush’s clock and looked far more Presidential than Bush ever has.
Now that there are 13 days until the election, the Bush Campaign is getting desperate.
They are now using the “Liberal” label on Kerry in almost every official campaign ad. Kerry is lumped in with the monolithic unnamed group “Liberals” who want to “ruin the country” as if George and his goons haven’t done that already.
The number of votes Kerry made that hurt “Americans” has gone up too. Last month he was accused of voting 98 times to raise taxes, now ads are claiming 350 votes to raise taxes. They ignore that Kerry voted for a balanced budget in the past and for laws forcing a balanced budget. He also voted to leave some taxes unchanged as Factcheck.org states:
As we’ve reported multiple times before , the claim that Kerry voted 350 times “for higher taxes” is highly misleading. As we said on March 23:
FactCheck.org: But in fact, Kerry has not voted 350 times for tax increases, something Bush campaign officials have falsely accused Kerry of on several occasions. On close examination, the Bush campaign�s list of Kerry�s votes for �higher taxes� is padded. It includes votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged (when Republicans proposed cuts), and even votes in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts that Bush aides characterized as �watered down.�
More recently, we debunked the Bush campaign’s improved claim that Kerry voted 98 times “for tax increases.” That number is still padded, including 43 votes on budget measures that only set targets and don’t actually legislate tax increases, as well as multiple votes regarding an individual bill.
Meanwhile yesterday, VP Dick “The Hatchetman” Cheney once again used the “fear” argument against Kerry, claiming that if Kerry is elected the “terrorists” would attack us. He feels Kerry isn’t tough enough to stand up to them. If you have seen the latest reports from Iraq, it looks like the “terrorists” aren’t afraid of Bush either.
The latest tangent issue is that John Kerry spoke French at a recent campaign event. The clip got heavy rotation on CNN and GOP spinners had a field day pointing out how liberal and out of touch Kerry is. So, what? Bush has spoken Spanish before at events. The problem the Republicans want us to see is to paint Kerry as French since we all know real “Americans” hate the French after they declined to help us invade Iraq and opposed our move at that the UN.
It just shows how desperate the Republicans are in what seems like a close vote come November 2nd. I think if the electorate really supported Bush and his policies as the GOP thinks we do, you would see it in the polls now. You don’t. That means that most people are rejecting Bush’s view of things.
I will leave you with a link to one of the funniest political websites I’ve seen so far this election:
