'Terri's Law isn't about Terri — it's about Gov. Bush'

That quote is courtesy of bioethicist Jon Eisenberg of Oakland, after Jeb's pandering to Florida's hard-core right, refuting Terri Schiavo's apparent wish to not be artificially kept alive, was unanimously rejected by the Florida Supreme Court.

Terri's husband, Michael, has had a painful personal choice deliberately politicized by people who care nothing for his personal state, while claiming to be about the rights of individual people.

Meanwhile, we have this comment on Florida GOP hypocrisy in this from the state Speaker of the House:

Speaker Johnnie Byrd, the Republican who pushed for the law last year, called the decision "tragic but not unexpected."

Some choice Kitty Kelley quotes from The Family:

”We would soon be friends no more.” — John McCain, between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries in 2000, 593
”People like [Bill Frist] … pander to the 20 percent of their base who are mouth-breahers..” — Ron Reagan Jr., 615
”The stupidest man ever to sit in the Oval Office..” — Historian Robert Dallek, 611
”I knew then Bush had no brains. Now I knew he had no guts.” — Dallek on Bush’s failure to immediately return to Washington after 9/11, 625

Politics trumped principle for Kerry in votes for war against Iraq

So says a fellow member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, quoted in the new pro-Kerry documentary.

In the film "Going Upriver," John Kerry is reported as saying that if “I do nothing else in life,” he will work to convince people that war (this war, or all war?) is a “wasteful expenditure.”

What happened to change that with his Iraq vote in 2002?
Chris Gregory, a former Army medic and VVAW member who appears in the movie and attended the premiere, objected and said, “It’s a little too broad a brush” to say that Vietnam and Iraq are one and the same. “John is very focused on winning this job,” Gregory said. “He wants to be right. But he wants to win more than he wants to be right.”

Freedom of religion should include freedom from religion

It’s old news, but in the time of the Religious Right and its minions in the House of Representatives pushing to keep “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, this Tampa Tribune story underscores that the First Amendment should include freedom from religion among its protections.
Also, for those of you who feel pushed by the Religious Right, read down the story to note that the Supreme Court has already declared explicitly Christian prayers verboten at governmental meetings.

Points for Kerryistas to ponder about Iraq

1. First, Kerry's stance has shifted. Not as much as Rethugs claim, but it has shifted beyond "nuance." And his original votes were for 2004, not 2002, political reasons. See my antiwar POV on this earlier this week, as well as the post immediately below this.
2. No Western European government is going to help us extricate ourselves from Iraq no matter who is in the White House Jan. 21, 2005. Jacques Chirac is not as dumb as you want him to be. Pull your collective heads out.
3. International affairs, contrary to Powell, is NOT Pottery Barn. We don't "own" Iraq, so let's get the hell out ASAP.
4. How quickly that is done, and the connected figure of how many more lives are lost or saved, is a very legitimate Bush/Kerry measuring stick.
And, to the degree Kerry doesn't talk about getting us out ASAP, all other things being equal, probably the diff between him and Bush isn't that great.
Period. End of story.

Kerry has changed on Iraq

But it would be OK if he would admit it ...

admit he blew it, and come out as an antiwar candidate.
I'll even be gracious enough to let him say "he blew it" rather than the truth.
But he won't. He'll continue to fight about where Bush has gotten us now in Iraq, without doing either one of the two things that would truly appeal to antiwar voters — and journalists — like me.
The first would be to start talking about a quick, not four-year, exit strategy.
The second would be to tacitly admit he blew it in his 2002 estimation of Bush. He can do it tacitly and spin it all he wants. Until that point, a skeptical observer must wonder how much better Kerry's judgment is than Bush's.

So, is Kerry now saying we never should have invaded Iraq?

In a speech at New York University, Kerry said:

I would have tightened the noose and continued to pressure and isolate Saddam Hussein – who was weak and getting weaker -- so that he would pose no threat to the region or America.

Since he didn't say anything further about what he would have done in 2003, I am taking that to mean he is now saying we shouldn't have invaded.

Well, if BushCo reads between the lines the same way, unless Kerry comes out and actually says that with conviction, he's really going to get called a flip-flopper.

Klein skewers Kerry as debater

If you expect John Kerry to mop the floor with George Bush in the presidential debates, think again.

So says Joe Klein in a Sept. 18 Time column, saying “Kerry is all oratorical flab” and predicting Kerry could lose the election if he can't nail Bush in the debates.

Maybe Kerry has some fight after all

Last week I wondered when Kerry might start making the debate over the number of presidential debates an issue, and only offering 50-50 odds he actually would hang tough.
Well, it appears all three debates called for the by Commission on Presidential Debates, including the Oct. 8 town-hall format in St. Louis, will be held.
While the Bush camp said it was concerned about the process used to screen alleged undecided voters, I believe it's more a case of being worried about how they will break.