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The good and the bad...

web posted August 23, 2004

"[R]especting the right to keep and bear arms is one of the best ways governments can reduce crime. Conversely, cities where the government imposes gun control have higher crime rates. Far from making people safer, gun control endangers innocent people by increasing the odds that they will be victimized! Gun control also increases the odds that people will lose their lives and liberties to power-hungry government officials. Tyrannical governments throughout the world kill approximately 2,000,000 people annually. Many of these victims of tyranny were first disarmed by their governments. ... I would remind my colleagues that policies prohibiting the private ownership of firearms were strongly supported by tyrants such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung." -- Rep. Ron Paul

"But it seems to me emblematic of the Democrat Party's problem intellectually: It's almost wholly reactionary: on national security, on Social Security. What are the Democrats for? Well, they're for getting rid of George W. Bush, but what else?" -- Mark Steyn

"America has been in too many wars for any of our wishes, but not a one of them was won by being sensitive. A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans. ... The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our sensitivity." -- Dick Cheney

"[Kerry] should quit trying to be 'us' and stop running those Mayberry RFD commercials starring Kerry as Andy Griffith when he's anything but: he's the most liberal Senator in the Senate and his values in no way mirror middle class Americans." -- Doug Giles

"Again, when politicians come to us pretending they're Santa Clauses or tooth fairies delivering benefits only, we should ask what's the cost, who's going to pay and why." -- Walter Williams

"Obviously, someone at Foggy Bottom misread the Constitution. According to our Founding Fathers, it is the 'States' -- not the 'State Department' -- which are in charge of overseeing federal elections." -- Tom Kilgannon

"John Forbes Kerry is going to make America Stronger At Home, Respected In The World? And will Bill Clinton lead a moral revival? Will Larry Flynt return traditional values to the media? Will Mullah Omar...forge a new chapter in tolerance and understanding?" -- Don Feder

"[W]ho brought up Kerry's military record in the first place? If Kerry had not made his Vietnam service the very centerpiece of his campaign -- 'I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty' -- this attack on his record could more justly be deemed scurrilous mudslinging. But if you run as a war hero, your claims of heroism are fair game." -- Charles Krauthammer

"If you want to file your taxes on a form the size of a postcard, then you need a government with a list of powers closer to the size of the Constitution." -- W. James Antle III

"I'm Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States. ...I flew on Air Force Two for eight years. Now I have to take off my shoes to get on an airplane." -- Al Gore

"I would do just about anything I could to see George W. Bush back in the White House. But I don't think the stage is the place to campaign. To get into politics on the stage would be working a little outside of your profession, as far as I'm concerned. I don't think that would show a whole lot of taste." -- Country singer Darryl Worley, whose 9/11 anthem "Have You Forgotten?" reached No. 1 last year

"[I]f you are racist you have no one to vote for." -- Alan Keyes on the election in Illinois

"The media often mention 'ultra-conservatives' but never 'ultra-liberals.' Have ultra-liberals become extinct, gotten lost, or met with foul play? We cannot ignore the fate of fellow human beings, even if we differ with them politically. At the very least, we can report them as missing persons." -- Thomas Sowell

"Can there be a less self-aware creature in the entire universe than an American liberal?" -- George Shadroui

"Sometimes a little sunlight shows that a 'rebel with a cause' is really a bigot with an agenda." -- Mike Adams

"John Kerry in Oregon Friday lashed out at the White House over the high price of gasoline. He was sincerely upset. If John Kerry had known how much money the oil companies were going to make, he would have married one of the Rockefeller widows." -- Argus Hamilton

"According to the Drudge Report, John Kerry and his wife had a huge argument after the campaign rally in Arizona [last week] and had to sleep in separate hotel rooms. So apparently they're going after the Clinton vote. .... Apparently what happened was, while they were having an intimate moment Kerry accidentally yelled out the name 'John Edwards.'" -- Jay Leno

web posted August 16, 2004

"In Kerry's insistence that the commitment of our allies -- British, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian, Dutch, Australian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Japanese, Thai, Danish and others -- adds up to a big fat zero in a 'unilateral' American adventure, he has shown himself bereft of all diplomatic smarts. Talk about Ugly American. Only this one speaks perfect French." -- Diana West

"What the Democrats never seem to understand is that government doesn't create jobs, it kills them. Entrepreneurs and businessmen create jobs. On the other hand, government policies wrapped in bureaucratic red tape and high taxation cause many would-be job creators to just say, 'the [heck] with it.'" -- Chuck Muth

"The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform...was supposed to decrease spending in politics -- especially large contributions from wealthy individuals and interest groups. Would anyone in his or her right mind suggest this has been the result? George Soros alone has donated more than $13 million to anti-Bush 527s." -- Paul Jacob

"Let me get this straight: Vietnam vets -- especially those who served with Kerry -- are allowed to praise him to the skies. But Vietnam vets -- including those who served with Kerry -- are not allowed to criticize him. We revere veterans when they're for Kerry; we revile them when they're against." -- Jay Nordlinger

"If Bill Clinton created 22 million new jobs in the 1990s, then I'm the Easter Bunny. ... The economic boom of the 1990s was the peace dividend for our victory in the Cold War, made possible by the national defense policies of Ronald Reagan, sustained by the fiscal discipline imposed by a Republican Congress, and created by the will of the American people." -- House Majority Leader Tom Delay

"While Senator John Kerry and his running-mate Senator John Edwards were recently being photographed at lunchtime at Wendy's, to show what regular guys they are, their real lunch was from a local yacht club, which is more their speed in real life. There is nothing wrong with eating lunch from or at a yacht club. What is wrong is being phony -- and thinking that the American people need to be conned." -- Thomas Sowell

"Given that the Kerry convention featured a skipper brave and sure, a first mate who makes others comfortable, a millionaire called 'Lovey' by her spouse, two pretty young Kerry castaways and a movie star (the ubiquitously annoying Ben Affleck), I suppose we should be grateful that Camp Kerry didn't introduce the nominee with the 'Gilligan's Island' theme song. Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip." -- Maureen Dowd

"Yeah, there are a lot of people who are worried. [Teresa], in general, is not a perceived liability. But as a public spokesperson, she is perceived as a liability. I think a lot of people cross their fingers when she talks." -- Unnamed Kerry organizer on Teresa Heinz Kerry

"He's a scumbag." -- Chip Carter, son of Jimm Carter on Democrat Senator Zell Miller

"I was under the naive impression that Clinton administration scandals would end once the Clinton administration ended. Even I...did not imagine that the most corrupt administration in the history of the country would find a way to keep having scandals while out of office." -- Ann Coulter

"It's clear that the Democrats are prepared to lose the presidential election. Their candidate already has a long face." -- Lyn Nofziger

"When I hear John Kerry and John Edwards try to pawn off on the American public that they are defenders of middle class Americans...veritable ubermen for us struggling underdogs...yes, advocates of our values, fears and needs. I wonder, what time does 'The Three Stooges' come on?" -- Doug Giles

"John Kerry was blasted in a new ad by his fellow Vietnam swift boat veterans. ... They dispute his medal-winning heroism. They say John Kerry phonied up his wounds, which if true, would mean that his dependence on ketchup is nothing new." -- Argus Hamilton

"There's a reason the Kerry Democrats are the political equivalent of a general anesthetic. They can't risk leveling with us. If they told the electorate what they really want, voters would run screaming into the night." -- Don Feder

"A domestic centerpiece of the Republican agenda for the second Bush term is getting rid of the Internal Revenue Service. They want to do away with the IRS. Whew! So I guess they are serious about going after terrorist organizations." -- Jay Leno

web posted August 9, 2004

"You cannot solve problems by throwing stones, and you cannot solve problems by telling lies, and you cannot solve problems by wishing ill to other people. The only way you solve problems is by holding hands and talking about it, and that's what we want to do in this campaign." -- Teresa Heinz Kerry

"In the ideal world of today's liberals, apparently, there simply would be no conservatives -- or, if there were, they'd keep their mouths shut. For the Left, free speech is a 'fundamental liberty' only so long as it's their own." -- Steven Zak

"[T]here is already stem-cell research taking place. The media would have you believe -- and my brother would have you believe -- that stem-cell research is not going on. But it is." -- Michael Reagan

"[T]he real Democrat base...is less an ideological movement than an agglomeration of interest groups that have perfected the art of demanding a handout and sounding self-righteous while doing it. The picture here is of an electorate of the needy and demanding, constantly asking not what I can do for my country, but what my country can gimme, gimme, gimme." -- Holman Jenkins, Jr.

"If there is anything that makes rich, liberal politicians happier than having power over their own money, it's having power over yours." -- Terence Jeffrey

"If you chase down a Viet Cong and kill him -- which is, granted, very admirable -- does that ipso facto qualify you to be president of the United States? If so, let's find a guy who killed more Viet Cong than John Kerry, since he would be an even better president." -- Rich Lowry

"This is a party that from the beginning to the end of its convention pretended to be what it is not. And that is because it fears that American people already know what it is." -- David Horowitz

"John Kerry says he's running on his record, but, of his four decades of adult life, he's running on his four months in Vietnam. Of the other 39 years and eight months, there's nary a word." -- Mark Steyn

"[R]arely has a convention ended on such a wheeze, whine and whimper. The early tracking polls showed Monsieur Kerry leaving town with almost no 'bounce,' certainly not the seven or eight points almost any challenging candidate reasonably expects." -- Wes Pruden

"The Bible itself...I mean, everything talks about different layers of development. That's what Roe v. Wade does. It talks about viability. It's the law of the land." -- John Kerry stumbling on after admitting he believes a human fetus is a "form of life."

"[Ron Reagan] seemed a nicer person years ago when he was dancing in his underpants on Saturday Night Live. He is that unusual person who seems less authentic when not in a tutu." -- Peggy Noonan

"[A] Republican is by definition 'divisive' whenever he does things Democrats don't like. It's similar to the way Democrats bang their high chairs about 'wedge issues' -- which is to say, issues that work better for Republicans than Democrats." -- Jonah Goldberg

"[A]nother DNC official tried to save face by saying they planned it that way, that they wanted the balloons released slowly so that they lasted a long time. Suuure...if that were the case, I think the convention director would have known. My goodness! If they're going to lie about a balloon drop...where does it go from there?" -- Neal Boortz

"[John Kerry arrived] at the convention site by boat. He started his career by ramming his boat into a shore full of Communists and that's how he's going to end it." -- Argus Hamilton

"In ESPN magazine, John Kerry said he's learned a lot about life from playing sports. Yeah like so many other kids in impoverished areas who turn to polo as a way out." -- Jay Leno

"And having opposed the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein to liberate Kuwait, and having been proved wrong, Senator Kerry then voted for this war -- only to turn around and vote against the appropriations needed to support the troops and rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. If a single vote disqualifies a candidate for president and commander-in-chief, that vote was it. What kind of American leader, whether he is for or against a war -- and John Kerry was supposedly for this one -- votes to cut off support for troops in the field?" -- Paul Greenfield

web posted August 2, 2004

"Does the Democrat Party take African-American voters for granted? Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat Party truly served the African-American community? Have class warfare or higher taxes ever created decent jobs in the inner city?... I'm here to say there is an alternative this year... I'm here to ask for your vote." -- U.S. President George W. Bush to the Urban League

"This is the essence of the modern Democrat Party, polished to perfection by Bill Clinton: They are willing to insult the intelligence of 49 percent of the people if they think they can fool 51 percent of the people." -- Ann Coulter

"In their [leftist] view, society's unfairness compels people to break the law. To them people like Saddam and Osama bin Laden are not morally depraved murderers, but men driven to their bad acts by the injustices of Western society." -- Sean Hannity

"Religious indicators can predict political activity. Show me somebody with a Ph.D. who doesn't go to church, and I'll show you a Democrat." -- Frank Newport, a researcher with the Gallup Poll

"We have a dream of a nation in which the Congressional Black Caucus will not judge people by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -- James Taranto

"Bush hatred isn't a considered judgment. It's a distemper; a derangement. To those afflicted with the mania, denouncing the 43rd president as an evil moron may seem perfectly reasonable. But normal voters are not likely to find it a persuasive argument. More likely, they will be repelled by it." -- Jeff Jacoby

"The one thing you won't hear John Kerry talk about this week is the record that earned him the ranking of the Senate's most out of the mainstream member." -- Bush campaign spokesman, Steve Schmidt

"I didn't say that. You're putting words in my mouth. I didn't say that... Are you from the Tribune-Review?... I thought so. You said something I didn't say. Now shove it." -- Teresa Heinz Kerry in an (using her own words) "un-American" response to a "right-wing rag" Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editor

"In fact, everything at this convention and on this year's campaign trail seems carefully designed to create the opposite impression from what Senator Kerry's voting record shows. Over the years Senator Kerry has voted again and again to cut spending on the military and on the intelligence services. In short, his votes have weakened this country militarily. Therefore the rhetoric of the convention and the Kerry campaign uses the word 'strong' or 'strength' at every opportunity. By repeating such words incessantly, the rhetoric counters the reality -- at least for those voters who cannot be bothered to find out the facts.... The strenuous efforts of the Democrat convention and of the Kerry campaign in general to create an image that is the opposite of the reality tell us that they know where he is weakest -- and that they think the voters are fools enough to elect an image without bothering to check out the reality." -- Thomas Sowell

"Most of the speakers [at the Democrat Convention] engage in ceaseless doubletalk. They promise not to disparage the President, even as they do. They accuse the Republicans of 'dividing' America, even as they [attempt to] divide America. They say they will fight terrorism and also the insurgents in Iraq, even as they express ambivalence. Such equivocalness has got to drive viewers away. The Democrats' speakers also say things that are obviously untrue: that the Florida vote in 2000 was stolen from them, that George W. Bush has some arcane relationship with Enron, that the Republican Party is the Party of The Rich, though most of [the Democrats'] speakers seem to be millionaires." -- R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.

"This whole war record business is new to the Democrats. The notion of needing to have been in combat before you can be President has not been in the forefront of their thinking since about 1960. That year, an extremely wealthy Democrat Senator from Massachusetts with the initials JFK ran on his having been in the Navy during a war, having commanding a small boat, and having rescued one of his crewmembers." -- Rich Galen

"Democrats are representative of the nation only if the nation we're talking about is Brazil. For Democrats, there is only the maid and millionaires. There are no Americans in the middle. To the extent Democrats are forced to recognize working-class white men, they call them 'fascists'." -- Ann Coulter

"By my calculations, his 5,221-word speech contained exactly 71 words about his 20-year Senate career. That is the dog that didn't bark tonight." -- Dan Casey on John Kerry's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention

"Here's the drill: State the obvious as if it is insightful. Then twist it to make it sound like the Republicans are fools or ogres for not seeing the wisdom in what you're saying. 'The Republicans in Washington believe that America should be run by the right people -- their people,' Bill Clinton declared to thunderous applause here Monday night. What in the world is he talking about? This is an election, right? The Republicans think Republicans should run things. Democrats think Democrats should. Is there something I'm missing? Are Republicans somehow 'cheating' because their campaign platform suggests that their own party is the right one to run America?" -- Jonah Goldberg

"John Kerry once administered CPR to a hamster. This was one of the poignant vignettes we learned tonight from one of his daughters. Is there some gerbil-loving swing demographic out there we are trying to connect with?" -- Barbara Comstock

"I oppose the UN or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle. I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end." -- Michael Moore

"Gone is the Massachusetts of Pilgrims and Puritans, of Minutemen and Tea Parties, of John Adams and Calvin Coolidge. If the militias of Lexington and Concord showed up at the Fleet Center for the Democrat bash, they'd be branded a bunch of right-wing, racist gun nuts and forced to undergo sensitivity training." -- Don Feder

"Greece asked NATO...for a presence in Athens in case the Olympics are attacked by al-Qa'ida. Everyone's skills can be utilized. The U.S. will provide the armor, Britain the air cover, Germany the street patrol, and France the evacuation." -- Argus Hamilton

"Expect Bergergate splashed all over your front page, making headlines for weeks to come! Providing you live in an alternate dimension, of course, a place where the press isn't actively pulling for Kerry, that is." -- James Lileks

"Kerry's prescriptions (the UN, the French) are so Sept. 10. A holiday from history is one thing. The Democrats are now embarked on a holiday from reality." -- Mark Steyn

" The Kerry Campaign said that Kerry will show his "softer" side for the convention. We've already seen him and John Edwards fondling each other. How much softer than that can you get?" -- Jay Leno

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