…about tonight’s debate.

Has Kerry learned his lesson yet, or will it still be possible to get hammered by playing the simple drinking game of taking a sip of wine every time he says the word “Vietnam”?

[Friday morning update]

OK, credit where credit’s due. By my count, he referred to his service only three times, and used the actual word “Vietnam” once. Maybe he is learning. However, ultimately, while Bush could have done better, Kerry finished himself off with the “global test,” and the notion that the US can’t be trusted with nukes. It’s the same old nuclear freeze mentality from the eighties. He appealed to his party’s left to hold the base, and he’s lost the center.

Are the Iranians finally starting to throw off the chains of the mullahs?

If so, and it happens before the election, I’m sure that John Kerry will be quite disappointed. He’ll probably send Joe Lockhart out to complain that the new government is a US puppet.

You know, I’ve jokingly blamed George Bush for all the hurricanes we’ve been getting, but the morons at Moveon.org are doing it for real.

Alan Henderson has more.

That’s what the Kerry campaign says about the timing between the “Fortunate Son” campaign and the Sixty Minutes broadcast.

Right.

Who do these people think they’re kidding?

The Senator seems to think that he knows what’s going on in Iraq better than the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Of course, he probably just thinks that Allawi is an illegitimate puppet installed by the imperialist criminal Bush regime.

[Update at 2:20 PM EDT]

It was in response to this amazing question by a reporter:

Prime Minister Allawi told Congress today that democracy was taking hold in Iraq and that the terrorists there were on the defensive. Is he living in the same fantasy land as the president?

Did anyone hear this? Was the question serious, or was it veiled sarcasm at Kerry’s description of the president’s views? I can’t tell from just the words–one would have to hear the tone as well.

If the former, if the press thinks that this is helping their candidate, they’re living in a fantasy land.

similar thoughts.

It would seem that Mr. Kerry is only interested in cultivating “allies” whose foreign policy is opposed to that of the US, while treating with contempt our actual allies in this war (Britain, Australia, Italy, and now Iraq).

I don’t think that’s going to play well on November 2nd.

Mark Steyn has a current snapshot. It’s not a pretty picture:

…

These people are astounding. Or they would be, if they hadn’t been indulging in this nonsense for years:

In response to false Republican accusations regarding the CBS documents, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe issued this statement:

Their reporters think that the posters at Free Republic are “bloggers.”

Have they learned about those new-fangled motor cars, or are they still using buggy whips?

Kirsten Anderson Heffron has an amusing “Dear John letter.”

Did I miss the story about all political prisoners being released from prisons in dictatorships around the world? Has torture come to an end on the planet?

If not, then how to explain Amnesty International’s new-found preoccupation? Remind me of their priorities next time they send me a fund-raising letter.

[Update on Tuesday morning]

In comments, Derek Lyons writes:

…if any of you had actually paid any attention to AI over the years, you’d know well that the US isn’t a ‘new found obsession’, nor is their sole focus…

…If Rand actually bothered to read the article he linked to, he’d find the report was issued by AI-USA, not AI. I myself find it unsurprising that a ‘local’ group concentrates on ‘local’ issues.

I must have missed the part where I said the US was a “new-found obsession”, Derek. I was referring to racial profiling, not the US. I know that AI has long considered the US to be the major human rights violator on the planet.

The point isn’t about it being a “local issue.” It is about dealing with trivia when there probably are people actually unjustly in prison, even in this nation. Why don’t they do something about the prison rape problem, which would be more in line with their original charter? I see this as mission creep to justify their existence and fund raising.