Bad news for the Bush-Cheney campaign came this week in the form of, surprisingly enough, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson. In an interview with CNN’s Paula Zahn, Robertson said of a meeting with Mr. Bush, “I met with him down in Nashville before the Gulf War started. And he was the most self-assured man I ever met in my life. You remember, Mark Twain said, he looks like a contended Christian with four aces. He was just sitting there, like, I’m on top of the world, and I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties. Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties. Well, I said, it’s the way it’s going to be. And so, it was messy. The lord told me it was going to be, A, a disaster and, B, messy. And before that, I had deep, in my spirit, I had deep misgivings about going into Iraq.” As if on instinct, the White House immediately went into attack mode. Senior campaign bitch advisor Karen Hughes was the first to respond to Robertson’s comments on CNN’s Inside Politics. “Judy, I cannot imagine that that conversation would ever take place,” Hughes said. “I’ve never heard the president say anything of the sort. Of course he knows that wars result, unfortunately, in the loss of lives. That’s one of the reasons it makes it such a difficult and agonizing decision for a president to decide to commit troops. And of course, at the time that conversation took place, we had already lost casualties in Afghanistan, in the war against terror. So I just can’t imagine what — whether he misunderstood, or what happened. But I’m certain that the president did not say that remark.” White House fall man press secretary Scott McClellan later added to that by saying, “Of course, the president never made such a comment.” Nobody in the Bush campaign came out and called Robertson a liar. But they came startlingly close. The implication here is clear. Either Robertson is lying, or he just has no idea what he’s talking about.

In the last few weeks of the campaign, the draft has finally come up as a real issue that the candidates are talking about. It started in the second presidential debate when Mr. Bush for the first time gave a straight answer as to whether or not he would reinstate the draft. Said Bush, “We’re not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer army works.” Yet given Bush’s excellent track record for honesty, there are those still questioning his intentions. Chief among those is his campaign rival Senator John Kerry, saying last Friday, “With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great potential of a draft.” Bush so far has been dismissing such accusations as “scare tactics,” even saying that voting for him is the best way to prevent a draft. He made a bit of a Freudian slip on Saturday saying, “After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain: We will not have an all-volunteer army.” He soon realized what he had said and corrected himself. But the question of Bush’s plans for a draft remain.

“I don’t think he’s funny. And I know he’s uninformed,” blasted an angry Robert Novak in his slurred, drunken-old-man voice. He was responding to the now widely talked about Crossfire appearance by Daily Show host Jon Stewart. Stewart set the tone for the discussion early in the show when he said of the debate show, “It’s not so much that it’s bad, as it’s hurting America.” He went on to use his time to criticize Crossfire and the media in general. Said Stewart, “I’m here to confront you, because we need help from the media and they’re hurting us.” A full video of the Stewart’s appearance can be viewed here.

Round 1: Rumble in the Gable

Senator John Kerry and Mr. George W. Bush came together for their first showdown in the vital swing state of Florida on September 30. The topic, national security. And though it was a subject that was assumed to be Bush’s strong point, Kerry came out as the clear winner. Due largely to Bush’s own inability to control his facial expressions and his continuous repitition of the same one or two talking points, Kerry dominated the debate and closed an eight point gap in the polls to tie the race.

Dear Mr. Bush,

During your first debate against Senator John Kerry in Coral Gables, Florida, you said, “You cannot lead if you send mixed messages.” I agree that this is a sensible position. That is why I would like you to clarify certain statements you have made about your opponent on the campaign trail. After all, I would hate for the American people to think that you are not practicing what you preach by sending your own mixed messages.

This is it. The final battle between Senator John Kerry and Mr. George W. Bush. Tonight the two go head to head one last time to decide the fate of the universe. Or something like that. At the very least, though, this final Kerry-Bush Debate could be a deciding factor in the election, now only 20 days away. A decisive victory in the first debate put Kerry in a statistical tie with Bush. The vice presidential debate was seen as a draw, as was last Friday’s debate in St. Louis. That is, it was a draw at the time. But in the two days after the second debate, Kerry’s lead over Bush grew to 15 points–another decisive victory for the senator. But with the two still in a dead heat in the polls, this last debate could be the most crucial of all. Bush’s performance could spell the difference between staying in the game and falling out of the race altogether. And another Kerry victory could potentially guarantee a Democratic victory in November.

During the race for the presidency, Senator John Kerry has picked up the support of a number of traditional Republicans. These include John Eisenhower and General Tony McPeak among many others. Why would such dedicated Republicans endorse a Democrat? Perhaps Kerry is closer to the kind of candidate Republicans are looking for than Bush would have us believe.

The truth is that Bush is by no means a true conservative. He spends more than any self respecting Republican would dream of doing. This is something that has earned him the wrath of many “normal” Republicans. If we were to map Bush’s position on the political spectrum, we would find that he is not a pure conservative. He is actually a mix of conservatism and authoritarianism. So it would look something like this:

Vice President Dick Cheney is a man of some mystery. He’s the only member of “the Big Three”–Bush, Cheney, and Perle–for whom I do not know much about what is personally motivating him. This past Tuesday during the vice presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio, I think I came a little closer to understanding what makes him tick (no pun intended).

It came when Gwen Ifill asked him, “When the president says that Senator Kerry is emboldening enemies and you say that we could get hit again if voters make the wrong choice in November, are you saying that it would be a dangerous thing to have John Kerry as president?” Cheney responded with the following:

In just a few hours Senator John Kerry and Mr. George W. Bush will take to the stage once more for the second Kerry-Bush Debate. This comes only days after the Edwards-Cheney Debate which apparently came out as a tie. And that’s a good thing, because I thought that Cheney was going to dominate. I must admit, I was thoroughly disappointed in Edwards’ performance. But he held his own, and that’s all a vice presidential candidate really has to do.

Well, another Columbus Day is almost upon us. And for those of you with kids, it’s a good excuse to teach them a little lesson about American history. After all, they’re getting two days off from state-sanctioned indoctrination. We don’t want them to start thinking independently, now do we? So in the spirit of blind patriotism, I give you a fun Columbus Day activity the whole family can enjoy. Make history come alive and show the kiddies that they, too, can be great explorers like Columbus!