Sep. 24th, 2002

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In Alabama, Heston's Endorsement of Democratic Governor Riles His GOP Hosts

The Alabama Republican Party thought it had scored quite a coup last week when Charlton Heston, the actor and National Rifle Association president, took a barnstorming tour with GOP candidates. It was Heston's first campaign trip since his announcement last month that he has symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, and the buzz in the hunting-obsessed state was palpable.

But during the trip, which was paid for by Republicans, Heston found time to get together with Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who happens to be a Democrat. In a Thursday meeting at a Mobile hotel, Heston agreed to endorse Siegelman in his hotly contested reelection campaign against Republican Rep. Bob Riley.


As the NRA President, it seems, he has to endorse any incumbent who has an A rating, and Siegelman does.

So I'm reading this, and I say to myself "Hey. I wonder how long it takes some person of rightist tendencies to make the obvious tasteless comment."

A couple of paragraphs, as it turns out.

Heston's Republican hosts accused Siegelman of taking advantage of their guest. State GOP Chairman Marty Connors told reporters that the endorsement was "suspect" and represented "a gross manipulation of Mr. Heston."

Riley campaign spokesman David Azbell said, "You have got to wonder if people are acting in Mr. Heston's best interests."

NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam responded yesterday that such comments were "in poor taste"


Particularly since he raised $90k for the Alabama GOP on the trip.
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You know, Norah warned you people what would happen if you didn't help with her server fees, but noooooo....

Anxiously awaiting the return of blogspot.

horrors.

Sep. 24th, 2002 11:59 am
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Virtue Merchandiser Bill Bennett finds threats to America outside Bill Clinton's pants

from MediaNews:

Lewis Lapham, the longtime editor of Harper's Magazine, laughs at the news. "Great," he jokes after hearing that a neoconservative group called Americans for Victory Over Terrorism has labeled him an "internal threat" to the United States.

Lapham was placed on the same list as Jimmy Carter, Rep. Maxine Waters, novelist John Edgar Wideman and others whom the group -- headed by former Secretary of Education William Bennett -- chastise for not supporting President Bush's war on terrorism. Americans for Victory Over Terrorism says Lapham and the others have a "blame America first" agenda.


They're referring, I believe, to this Stanley Kurtz essay which appears on the AVOT website. AVOT is a project of empower.org, which is a project of Empower America, which is a project of William Bennett and Jack Kemp.

From the front page of the Empower America website:

JACK KEMP | 9/24/02; 8:23:58 AM
Questions to Ponder
Based upon the hard evidence I have seen, I do not believe the administration has yet made a compelling case for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Damn fifth column is everywhere.
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(NY Times) WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 - A moderate Republican senator gave Democrats the margin they needed today to keep President Bush from firing workers in a new Homeland Security Department, setting up a veto battle with an administration that sees such a transformation of federal work rules as vital to national security.

The White House said the Senate agreement would erode the president's authority and was unacceptable. The agreement also raised the possibility that the Senate would not reach an accord with the Republican-controlled House once the measures to create the department are taken up by a joint conference committee.

Republicans said the alliance between the Democrats and Lincoln D. Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, could mean that the reorganization to create the new department would not take place until next year.

Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said that the president "has made it very clear" that he would not sign any legislation if it "doesn't adequately protect the country with the flexibility that the work force needs to do their job well."

The two parties did put aside their differences for one vote in the Senate today, overwhelmingly supporting an independent commission to investigate the government's failure to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks. The provision, approved on a vote of 90 to 8, would give the commission broad powers to investigate any aspect of the attacks, including intelligence failures. That sets up a possible clash with the proposal by the White House last week for a commission that would stay away from an inquiry about intelligence failings.

"To question American policies and practices in the months and years before Sept. 11 is not to engage in a political witchhunt," said Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is a sponsor of the commission proposal along with Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut. "To probe deeply but fairly into American policies predating the terrorist attacks is to examine the scale of American leaders' failure to imagine and plan for a contingency that was not, in fact, unimaginable."

Such a commission of inquiry will be created only if Congress reaches agreement with President Bush on the homeland security department, because it is attached to the legislation creating the department.


It's the end of the world as you know it, and I feel fine.

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