*Ramesh Ponuru notes the Kerry campaign’s misuse of a study whose author contends that it did not, as the Kerry folks claim, show that President Bush’s Social Security reform plans would lead to massive benefit cuts.
What else is new?
*It’s official: the Kerry campaign is raising the white flag in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana and Missouri, all once thought of as potential swing states. Kerry has pulled any plans for running additional ads in those states.
*Jon Stewart last night, on Rathergate: “To see fake journalism taking off like this is very refreshing.”
*Progress in winning over African-American voters is, like the Yeti, a durable yet mythical figure in Republican circles. But hope springs eternal. Red State has a chart (the second one, not the first, which is a sample of 40 voters) that seems to show President Bush doubling or tripling his support among black voters in several states compared to 2000, mainly in the South. I’m not sure if this is reliable stuff, but if it is, I’d bet that military families are heavily represented among those willing to give Bush a hearing.
*Captain Ed’s readers keep digging up new documents at the Navy Archives regarding Kerry’s tour in Vietnam. This one relates to David Alston, who spoke persuasively at the Democratic Convention but has tended to tell stories about engagements where he and Kerry did not serve together.
*Wizbang sees Kerry throwing the Swift Boat Veterans into the briar patch.
*Try this one on:
The Commission on Presidential Debates told the Bush and Kerry campaigns Tuesday that it could not accede to their unusual request that it sign by Wednesday their 32-page agreement detailing parameters for the debates.
First of all, the commission said, it has to determine which candidates have enough support in the polls to qualify for the debates, which it does not plan to do until Friday.
They need a poll to determine if Kerry still has enough support to be included in a debate? 😉
*What is Kerry hiding? Quite a lot of things major candidates usually disclose, including medical records, tax and financial records, and military records. (via QandO). The press usually doesn’t tolerate this – they didn’t let go with Bill Simon’s tax returns in 2002 or Jack Ryan’s divorce records this spring (in each case, inflicting huge damage on the candidate), and we saw in the case of Paul Tsongas why the medical records of a candidate – especially a cancer survivor – can be a significant omission. Yet the media has given Kerry a free pass on stuff that he would have to disclose if he was running for Senator or Governor.