Bob Kerrey is a Blue Falcon

This is difficult for me to say because Bob Kerrey is one of three Navy SEALs to have received the Congressional Medal of Honor, but his statements today on "Meet the Press" were abominable.

"No, Saddam Hussein was not a terrorist."

That is straight off the transcript folks. I am ashamed that this dirtbag is a fellow frogman. When asked by Russert about the UBL videotape and whether Kerry should be using it to criticize the President, Kerrey said...

"Oh, I think it was. Look, essential to John Kerry's campaign has been the assertion that we took our eye off the ball...We need to track this guy down and arrest him or kill him, one of the two."

One of the two? Drive a stake through his f#%king heart! Karen Hughes was on "Fox News Sunday" this morning. I can't speak to the operational deployment activity of Delta Force, but as a close advisor to the President, she can. She responded to the Tora Bora outsourcing question by saying that Delta was sent in to Tora Bora to kill UBL. What else do you need to know? If the D-boys didn't find him, the 10th Mountain sure as hell wasn't going to. I have friends who spent 9 days searching those caves in the immediate aftermath of the offensive, and they found fingernails and tooth chips. To even insinuate that the President and the military didn't pull out all the stops in Afghanistan to annihilate AQ is an outrage and an insult.

Kerrey was doing a phreakin' gymnastics floor exercise during this interview. He could not have been more incoherent or inconsistent. Russert reminded Kerrey that his candidate had specifically praised the military, its leadership, and the President by name with regard to Tora Bora during a contemporaneous CNN interview, and this was the response...

"Well, there was a lot to praise in the Afghan War. A lot to praise in the Afghan War. And it's been--you know, John Kerry and I and all of us, George Bush included, were changed by 9/11. Those sanctuaries in Afghanistan were allowed to remain. We demeaned them. We diminished their capacity to do damage to us, but not after 9/11. Our forces performed brilliantly in that war in Afghanistan. But his observation I think is not incorrect, that bin Laden is not in Iraq. He supported the war in Iraq as well by the way at considerable cost to him politically and has not repudiated that vote which is very impressive to me."

What the hell is this guy talking about? We demeaned their sanctuaries? They just had their first election in the history of the country, I'd say that the sanctuaries were a little bit more than "demeaned". "His observation is not incorrect"? Who said UBL was in Iraq? Bob, you are "impressed" by Kerry not having repudiated his vote and for his continued support for the war in Iraq? With all due respect sir, you are insane.

Then Russert moves on to the missing demo story, but Kerrey tires of this subject before long and gives this brilliant analysis of the Ohio electorate...

"I was in Galena, Ohio, down in the southeastern part of Ohio. They don't give a damn about the war in Iraq."

That's not all. Witness this dazzling exploitation of dead Marines to support your political ideology...

MR. RUSSERT: But is it inconsistent for John Kerry to be criticizing the missing weapons of mass destruction when, if he had been president of the United States, Saddam may be in power with all those potential biological, chemical weapons or munitions, however you want to describe them?
MR. KERREY: Well, first of all, we don't know that. We don't know that that's the case. We don't what John Kerry would have done if he had been president. But this much we do know, that even with Saddam Hussein in power, those weapons were not in the hands of terrorists, and they are today. And today Iraq has become a place where Muslim youth go and do jihad against U.S. forces. Today, if you want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq to kill American soldiers. Eight Marines died yesterday. Eight young men who will no longer be able to vote, no longer be able to go to the football games and base-- their families are wondering what in the heck is going on, and what's going on is this thing has been badly mismanaged since the
American forces won this war in March of 2003.

I am disgusted that this man, who by all accounts is a legitimate war hero, would rub the deaths of eight Marines in the President's face. I have a news flash for you jackass, those men ALREADY VOTED FOR THE PRESIDENT! Their ballots are in the mail, and unless these men are from Pennsylvania, their votes will be added to the thousands sent in by the troops in combat who are supporting the President! Where is your decency sir? Where is your honor?

There is more, much more hypocrisy, equivocation, and distortion. I linked the transcript above if you think you can stomach it.

h/t instapundit

Brother Needs Help

Blackfive is linking to Soldiers Angels right now and seeking donations for the family of a critically wounded soldier for lodging costs near Walter Reed Hospital in DC. I gave $50, if you have something to give, please do so. Froggy

More on the UBL Video

Couldn't help myself. Fighting through illness to bring you the razor sharp analysis that you all depend on for your very existence. Or something like that.

Reports are coming out that lend credence to all of the main points that I mentioned in my big crow cruncher story yesterday. According to the NY Post, UBL acknowledged in the unreleased portion of his video that AQ has been ravaged by the tender mercies of the US military. This is not news to anyone, but for UBL to make this admission is quite astonishing. This jibes perfectly with his notable omissions regarding the inevitable victory of Islam against the worldwide infidel scourge. Nobody thinks UBL is a quitter though, and this portion of the video is clearly meant to falsely allay American fears of AQ's effectiveness and reach. UBL clearly needs some kind of pause in the relentless assault on his organization, and he rightly sees John Kerry as his best hope for this to happen.

Also in the unreleased portion of the video, UBL rattles off a series of Michael Moore's talking points. It seems clear that UBL's personal attacks on the President and his father are directed toward his followers in the muslim world as a means to perpetuate the hatred for public infidel enemy number one. He levels the "Iraq war was for oil" charge which, again, is right out of F911. I know that Moore hates Bush with a passion, but I wonder if he is given any pause at all with the knowledge that UBL himself is quoting his movie.

The MSM in the US and the muslim world seem to have come to an agreement on "anybody but Bush". Al Jazeera clearly has held back parts of the video that it knows would "help" the President because they have clearly thrown in with islamofascist terrorism. The American MSM doesn't seek the victory of the islamofascists, but it most assuredly seeks the defeat of the President. The MSM has essentially co-opted the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" strategy, and has joined up with AQ, Al Jazeera, and the Iraqi insurgency against the President and the US military.

I don't blame UBL for trying to inspire his followers and keep his organization relevant enough to accomplish its goals; that's his job. I don't even necessarily blame the international left for trying to achieve there own nightmarish utopian vision; they are mentally ill useful idiots. But for the vast majority of the American MSM to aid, abet, and lead the charge for these groups in a concerted effort to take down a President that they disagree with is a very dangerous development. If John Kerry is able to defeat the President it will be taken as a green light for the MSM to cravenly and openly advocate on behalf of their corporate beliefs. This is a very ominous prospect, and if it were to happen, our nation would be paralyzed by the level of propaganda that the MSM would feel emboldened to promulgate. There will be no accountability for an MSM that is able to force feed the vast majority of the population that is only tangentially engaged in the news and politics of the day.

To me this election is just as much about the Commander in Chief as it is about who will prevail in the information war domestically. If the President prevails, the alternative media will have been the deciding factor without question. The nation needs a decisive victory by the President so that the tactics of the MSM since the 2000 election can be totally repudiated.

I don't want to seem hyperbolic, but the future of the United States hangs in the balance. If you haven't traveled much of the world in your life, trust someone who has. America is a very special and unique place, and if we allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security we will be sorry.

H/T Polipundit

Whole Family Sick Day

No promises for today. Bad coughs all throughout the house. No trick or treating for the little one. My prescription. Couch. Football. Hot tea.

Good News

It looks like sanity is being restored to the Navy, and hopefully this is only the beginning. One of the SEALs charged with with aggravated assault on Iraqi prisoners in combat has been cleared at his Article 32 hearing (similar to a grand jury proceeding). There are six more Teamguys that have been charged with this ridiculous crime. Here is the no $hitter of the week...

"My client is a true war hero, like all of these SEALs," defense attorney Jeremiah J. Sullivan III said. "These guys should have been awarded medals rather than given (criminal) charge sheets when they returned."

This case really pissed me off because it is patently absurd to even contemplate charging someone with assault while they are conducting an actual Fing assault! In what universe does this kind of situation contain any semblance of logic? Forget that the allegations were made by a Blue Falcon in the platoon who was being $hitcanned from the Teams for stealing a Teammate's body armor. What kind of jackass NCIS agent wrote up these seven criminal complaints and what moron NCIS supervisor approved the ROIs (Report of Investigation) related to this case? And where did they find a JAG supervisor that was willing to put this case in front of a Judge? This is phreaking madness! The NCIS is a podunk federal agency that generally specializes in the theft of wallets from barracks rooms. They have obviously let it go to their head that they now have a TV show, but just like all TV shows, it is a highly embellished version of reality. The NCIS has generally called in the FBI when they have been presented with a complex investigation; they should stick with the missing CD player capers from now on.

Reaching Out to the Community

The prolific history of Marine Corps snipers is well known by military historians, and veterans in general. Even though the MSM could care less about the skill and bravery of these operators, here's another story to be written in the annals of Marine Corps history. h/t hamilton's pamphlets

The Nuisance is Back

Let me start by saying that I am truly humbled by the support I have received from so many of you in the comments of the last post. I wanted to open a thread up so that I could be flamed for being proven wrong about my most popular post. But that did not happen, and I am very grateful.

Despite my fervent hopes, it seems that UBL is alive and kicking and probably registered to vote in Ohio as a Democrat. ACORN must have a Central Asia outreach team I guess. The two main points that stand out in his latest video are that he needs some time to regroup and rearm, and that he is an unofficial advisor to the Kerry campaign. In addition, he may very well be signaling followers to conduct a new attack on the Homeland.

Of course the most notable sentiment that he expressed in the statement was an effort to "avoid another conflict about the war and its reasons and results." In fact, that was practically the first thing out of his mouth. At best, UBL is offering America terms for his own surrender, but more likely he is taking a page out of Muqtada al Sadr’s playbook. Sadr never wanted to come clean and give up game, but his Mahdi Army was being slaughtered wholesale by the Marine Corps, so he frequently retreated to a mosque and began to negotiate to buy time. Eventually, all of his drug addicted followers were either dead or too scared to face the Marines even on dope, and he was forced to disband and give in. This is precisely the situation UBL is facing right now. His organization has been savaged by the relentless assault of the US military and intelligence services, and he is in effect asking for a "time out". Wretchard at the Belmont Club points out some notable omissions by a once very belligerent bin Laden...

He has stopped talking about the restoration of the Global Caliphate. There is no more mention of the return of Andalusia. There is no more anticipation that Islam will sweep the world. He is no longer boasting that Americans run at the slightest wounds; that they are more cowardly than the Russians. He is not talking about future operations to swathe the world in fire but dwelling on past glories. He is basically saying if you leave us alone we will leave you alone.

Wretchard also correctly notes that the United States will answer his offer one way or the other on November 2nd. Which brings us to the other main theme of UBLs message: Bush lies, Bush is Hitler, Bush is arrogant and stubborn, the Patriot Act is tyrannical, and mocking the President for not leaping from the school kids to order the planes shot down. Sound familiar? It seems like we have some additional proof that Hizbullah and al Qaida are allied organizations, since Fahrenheit 911's terrorist distributors in the Middle East must have slipped UBL a copy of the DVD. His litany of charges seem to be addressed to the President and his father, but it is difficult to determine. But it does not seem to be an accident that he mentions Sweden as an example of a good country that is not deserving of AQ attention. Sweden is a liberal wonderland with cradle to grave welfare programs and the highest taxes on the planet with a benevolent monarchy that has a reflexively anti-American population. Of course he throws in the standard Jew hating rhetoric that we regularly hear from leftists and terrorists around the globe. But when he came with the "My Pet Goat" crack, I knew he was getting the DNC fax blasts.

So what are the consequences? As for the election, I don’t see how this can help Kerry. If you contrast the statements the candidates made immediately after receiving the news, Kerry felt compelled to actually say that he would "hunt down UBL, blah, blah, blah..." The fact that he felt he needed to say this for the 10,000th time, shows you that he knows Americans see him as the weaker man and the weaker candidate. Sometimes when he makes the "I will hunt them down" chant, it seems like he is trying to convince himself. It sure didn’t take him long to flip flop on the obligatory "we’re united to fight terror" line. He dropped the Tora Bora "outsourcing" bomb in a nanosecond even though this has been soundly rebuked by Gen. Tommy Franks and Froggy too! Interesting to note that although his shameless comments have been widely reported in the blogosphere, I have yet to see it on any MSM outlets.

No matter how you slice it, this revelation makes it even more critical that the President is re-elected. Either UBL is about to strike us again or his organization is on the verge of collapse. The only man that has proven his willingness and ability to drop the hammer on our enemies is the President. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it, Kerry has no respect for our troops, and he has proven his disdain for us since the inception of his political career. He has no credibility as Commander in Chief in the view of those who serve, and he will backstab us again if given the opportunity.

Unfortunately, it seems that America needs a boogeyman to keep the fire lit under our collective ass. The last thing that I will leave you with is the phenomenon that makes the success of this blog possible. The MSM has crossed a line in this new century that makes continuing our way of life increasingly difficult. My father mentioned this yesterday, "Something has got to be done about the media." I told my dad, "Something is being done." Folks, we are doing it. I pray that the movement that bloggers and bloggees have started will force the MSM to react to market forces by cleaning up their act. If not, we'll have to keep evolving this communication medium to make it a more efficient and pervasive source of factual information that is instantly subject to verification. I guess we'll find out together. Froggy OUT.

MMM MMM Crow, It's What's for Dinner

Looks like Froggy had it all wrong about old Usama bin Laden. It seems UBL has been getting the DNC faxes though. I am surprised and grateful for the lack of hate mail in my inbox. But when I am wrong I will acknowledge it. Standby for my take on this situation tomorrow. I guess I'll find out then if I have any readers left. Froggy OUT.

Walking my Precinct

Light blogging today. I am leaving work early to walk my precinct and get out the vote. I have 400 houses to do before Tuesday so we'll see how long it takes me. If you are physically able to do so, I would encourage my readers to go to their local Bush HQ and volunteer to do the same. If you live in a battleground state, you have no excuse not to unless you are in some way handicapped. Although I live in California which Bush is unlikely to win, there are many important ballot initiatives that need to be defeated, so those of you in CA are not off the hook either. If Kerry were to prevail in this election and you did not do everything in your power to prevent it, then you will have to look at yourself in the mirror for the next four years. You will also have to look into the eyes of American troops who will be the ones most directly betrayed, again, if Kerry is elected. If you see this as an unfair guilt trip, I don't care. Excuses are like @$$holes, everybody has one. If we are not able to keep the President in office, then none of your excuses will matter. That said. We are going to win. God is on the throne. Now, get out there and win one for the Gipper! Froggy OUT.

Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel

The meltdown continues on Screwball with Chris Matthews. Chris led the show off with a story about Halliburton Whistleblower Bunnatine H. Greenhouse. Bunnie is a "senior" civil servant whose job it is to review Army contracts to ensure that minority owned businesses are fully represented. Apparently the FBI is investigating. OOOOOOHHHHHH First of all, the fact that someone is getting paid by my tax dollars to do that is ridiculous. Secondly, who cares? I didn't even watch the whole segment because I was reading my daughter a story.

Bored. Liveblogging Screwball.

Next segment, Jimmy Hoffa was interviewed by Chris and even with the tee ball that was being played, Hoffa looked like he was pretending. I think his left hand was off screen holding up the DNC fax. Behind him was a motley assortment of Teamster meatheads. One idiot in particular had the sleeves cut off his Teamsters for Kerry shirt and he was trying to do a double biceps pose while giving the camera his best scowl.

Stephen Hayes, Frank Rich, and Vaughn Ververs (who the hell is that?) are chatting up the BIG HUGE EVIL HALLIBURTON story. Are you kidding me?

Matthews just quoted the AP story saying, "this is the AP, they're pretty straight don't you think?"

Frank Rich just said, "Enron miasma."

"It's one more permission slip for people who supported the war to vote against the Bush administration", Chris Matthews. Permission slip?

NEWSFLASH: No media bias, its just the media making up for having gone easy on Bush before the war. Phew.

Frank Rich: "We have not retracted a single fact in the story (Missing explosives) Unstoppable looting except for the Oil Ministry." No bias there.

Now, in voter disenfranchisement news... Leonard Pitts Miami Herald columnist, "failure of oversight" Who is it that oversees Florida elections again?

Chris, "How much street anger is there in the African American community for having been robbed?"

Leo, "I don't think there are numbers high enough to measure that." What the hell does that mean?

Chris, "Tell me some stories about voter disenfrachisement in 2000."

Leo, "Stories of people told at the polls that they were not on voter rolls. State investigation into Law Enforcement Officers going to black homes 'strapped' to ask these questions." I can give you 10 specific stories of Republican voters intimidated at the polls in Florida already. Have you EVER seen ANYBODY come out with anything better that these manufactured scenarios?

I usually don't watch Screwball because it makes me upset. Now it just makes me laugh. When in doubt, yell HALLIBURTON.

Next, Jerry Springer's get out the vote plan on Countdown!

A Real Ally

Robin over at Winds of Change shares an inspiring story of courage about a young woman in Iraq.

Part 2: Kerry is a Diplomatic Disaster

In part 1 and a few subsequent posts, I focused on why Kerry is not an acceptable CINC to the servicemembers that would serve him. In this column, I am going to lay out some of the reasons that national security minded people should not support him.

The whole world knows what the Bush Doctrine is and what it means. “You are either with the terrorists, or you are with us.” Very simple, very direct, and very powerful. The President has acted on his policy by using every type of power or influence that the US has to take the initiative and attack the enemies of the United States. Nations that have answered the call to fight terror and promote freedom are readily accepted into the fold, and nations that may have been an ally of the past are left out in the cold. The President has said unequivocally to the nations of the world, “Put your money where your mouth is.” The President has also made it clear that while he would prefer to work with the UN to resolve international conflicts, the UN is only as useful as it allows itself to be. Moreover, President Bush has been holding the UN accountable for actions in respect to the Oil for Food Scandal, Darfur, and the efficacy of the IAEA.

Meanwhile, the John Kerry foreign policy dictum can be summarized by the invocation of a “Global Test” with regard to engaging in any sort of controversial activities abroad. While Kerry is known to be a flip flopper, it is apparent that the Global Test represents Kerry’s consistent calculation with regard to the use of American power in any of its forms internationally. He first invoked the Global Test in an interview with the Harvard Crimson.

“I’m an internationalist,” Kerry told The Crimson in 1970. “I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.”

This is probably the most consistent and deeply held political belief that John Kerry holds, and he reiterated it in an appearance on Meet the Press with Tim Russert on April 18, 2004 answering a question about President Bush’s handling of post-war Iraq.

“…he won't transfer to the U.N. the real authority for determining how the government emerges, how we will do the reconstruction of Iraq. I think that's a prerequisite to bringing other countries to the table… Now, here's what I'll do. If I'm president, I will not only personally go to the U.N., I will go to other capitals and I will have my secretary of state legitimately empowered to be able to be a full secretary of state, speaking for the administration…”

This statement and many like it serve to paint a portrait of what US foreign policy will look like if he is elected. Looking at the permanent members of the UN Security Council (who are the only ones that matter); there emerges a disturbing pattern of corruption and betrayal.

As we all know the French had a vested interest in obstructing the US from obtaining an explicit UN mandate for the invasion of Iraq. Many French politicians and businessmen were accepting bribes and kickbacks from Saddam Hussein personally under the supervision of the UN Oil for Food Program. France was also supplying Iraq with weapons right up until the time of the US invasion. French President Jacques Chirac reportedly told President Bush that not only would the French support us in the UN Security Council, but that he was going to send military attachés to CENTCOM in Tampa to plan the coordination with French forces. Foreign Minister de Villepin told Colin Powell the same, and invited him to a lunch at the French Ambassador’s residence where Powell watched, “slack-jawed” as de Villepin announced that France would never support military action against Saddam Hussein.

The Russians also profited from the Oil for Food Scandal in much the same way. They have also been the largest weapons supplier to Iraq since Saddam took power. Most recently, it has been reported by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times that Russian Spetnatz coordinated the removal of the much ballyhooed HE that had IAEA seals on it. Of course, if this story is accurate, then Iraq’s WMDs most probably were spirited away in much the same way.

The Chinese are reported to be providing arms to AQ via Pakistan even now in an effort to destabilize the Karzai government. Of course the Chinese wish for the US to falter internationally so that they might be in a position to assert themselves as the next global superpower.

The UN bureaucracy itself not only opposes the actions of the US, but has now attempted to affect the outcome of the US elections. Failed IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei personally leaked documents relating to the RDX/HMX “looting” story in the NY Times. Combine that with Kofi Annan’s personal enrichment from Saddam, the conclusion is that the UN is a hopelessly corrupt and impotent organization that would do anything within its power to prevent the US from defending itself.

These are the pillars upon which John Kerry rests his foreign policy initiatives. Such a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” could scarcely be found on the planet today with a few notable exceptions. These nations and entities have decisively proven that they are not on our side and have, in fact, done much harm to the US. To think that through his force of personality, John Kerry could reverse this tide of anti-Americanism and turn the UN Security Council into a 60’s love in is a fantasy at best. At worst, it is a prescription for disaster that would leave the US unable to continue forward with a war that we are decisively winning. The US would be restrained by foreign powers that wish nothing more than the dissolution of American primacy in the international arena. This is a vision that John Kerry, himself, shares. These cretins would be more than happy to see “blood flow” in the streets of America if it would achieve the balance of power that they seek.

Of course there is this and much more which makes Kerry a unique threat to US national security. John Kerry’s natural tendencies that look to the UN for guidance and legitimacy make him a very dangerous man to occupy the Oval office. His election would be tantamount to a foreign agent filling the post reminiscent of the Manchurian Candidate.

Kerry's Vietnam Flashback

I have received quite a bit of correspondence from Vietnam veterans in the last week or so analogizing Kerry’s actions and statements of the Presidential campaign with those he made during his tenure as a radical anti-war protester. The specter of his Presidency so eerily parallels his achievements in American withdrawal from Vietnam that the comparisons are impossible to miss.

It is clear now that the Iraq insurgency is holding on by a thread with only one hope in mind; the election of John Kerry. The desperation is palpable within the ranks of the insurgents, and they correctly recognize the blow to US and Iraqi morale a John Kerry Presidency would deliver. They are throwing everything they have at us and the Iraqi people in a last ditch Democratic get out the vote campaign.

US troops are equally as desperate for the President to be re-elected because they recognize that if Kerry emerges victorious on November 3rd, the job of pacifying Iraq becomes exponentially more difficult. In addition to that practical reality, US troops greatly fear that a Kerry Presidency would usher in a Somalia type scenario under which US troops who fought heroically were then pulled out prematurely thus returning the situation to what had existed before. Except in the case of Iraq, the situation would certainly deteriorate into something much worse and much more threatening to US security. Not to mention the squandering of more than 1000 American lives for the “wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time”.

Kerry famously asked the question during his 1971 Senate testimony, “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?” He answers that explosive question today by saying, “Elect me President of the United States.”

Kerry Fundamentally Misunderstands the Role of Commander in Chief

In light of the MSM and the Kerry campaign’s collaborative hatchet job on the President and his conduct of the war in Iraq, I think that it is an appropriate time to point out the basic misunderstanding that these entities share regarding the role of the CINC. The latest charge of Presidential incompetence regarding missing RDX/HMX from a site designated by the IAEA is disingenuous not only because the story is patently false, but also because it lays the responsibility for this action at the feet of the President. Much like Kerry’s repeated charges that the President failed to capture Usama bin Laden at Tora Bora because of “outsourcing” this Al Qaqaa ammo dump charge is specious.

The President’s role in conducting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was multifaceted and strategic. The President along with the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Advisor set goals for the military actions proposed. The Joint Staff was tasked with planning the overall campaign and designating individual combatant commanders to be responsible for planning to execute their portion of the campaign plan. These plans were submitted back up to the Joint Staff for approval and then once approved, sent to the President for inspection. As you might imagine, the entire war plan for Iraq or Afghanistan is extremely complex and elaborate and relies on certain assumptions made by the Intelligence services about the characteristics of the situation in the theatre. The President’s vision for how he wanted the war conducted was borne out in these plans, but it is foolish to assume that the President would have been or should have been poring over target lists and plans made by field commanders related to tactical contingencies.

The President had other things to do. In the case of the Iraq war, he had to meet with the Secretary of State and his staff to formulate the Diplomatic plan that would be used to convince the UN Security Council, NATO, and other allies to either participate or at least not to obstruct the US war plan. This diplomacy was performed by hundreds of ambassadors around the world and different diplomatic devices were utilized for different nations. The UN resolution effort required different emphasis and language than the diplomacy directed toward NATO, which was different from diplomatic appeals to our strategic rivals like the Chinese and our enemies like the North Koreans and the Iranians. Then there was the diplomacy directed at Iraq itself which included a disinformation campaign meant to confuse and disrupt enemy forces and to disguise our intentions. This effort is notwithstanding the conspiracy of corruption with regard to the UN, members of the Security Council, and NATO allies working to undermine our diplomatic goals to protect themselves from exposure to the Oil for Food scandal. Incidentally, the President was involved in all of this simultaneous to the war planning.

The President also had a responsibility to the American people and Congress to explain the reasons why the invasion of Iraq was necessary to the security of the US. He had to meet with legislators in an effort to gain bipartisan support for the Iraq war resolution. He also had to fashion a message to the MSM and thereby the American people to garner public support for his plan. This includes responding to critics and MSM inquiries about justifications for going to war, and deciding what kinds of sensitive intelligence information must be released to affect this support without harming the ability of the CIA to continue to collect it.

John Kerry seems to think that being President during a war means that every tactical decision that comes up in the course of the conflict is to be shelved until it is forwarded to the CINC for action. In other words, Kerry is saying that at Tora Bora he would have been briefed on this rapidly developing situation, asked by the Joint Staff what he wanted to do about it, then Kerry would have redirected the 10th Mountain Division in Uzbekistan to perform a long range helo borne infiltration into an area with no inherent combat support elements and deployed them into the vastness to assault AQ. Furthermore, he would have told the SF A-Teams leading the Northern Alliance to back off and wait until 10th Mountain got there. Allrighty then. Next, the Al Qaqaa ammunition depot would have been ostensibly chosen from thousands of similar facilities in Iraq as a key target by President Kerry himself. He would have then ostensibly ordered a Company of Rangers to perform an airborne assault on the site with instructions to hold until relieved. Super.

Kerry thinks like a Lt. on a Swift Boat in the Mekong, not like a Commander in Chief. On a Swift Boat, he had his little part of the war to worry about. He and the other PCF officers could game plan the evening's ambush operation in some tributary like kids playing touch football in the park (Billy, you go deep and Johnny you run ten yards and out and Bobby…..) This is not how wars are directed from the Oval office. The Presidency is the ultimate multi-tasking job, and this is never so much in evidence as during the conduct of armed conflict. What makes anyone think that a backbencher with no legislative accomplishments, whose most impressive leadership role in government was a delegation with John McCain to normalize relations with Vietnam is up to the challenge of leading the greatest military force ever assembled on the planet? Not a chance.

Kerry, true to form, has denigrated the actions of the US Military even though he knows the Tora Bora operation successfully killed Usama bin Laden. Kerry’s persistent disparagement of the US Military in a futile effort to achieve his life’s ambition is further evidence for his unfitness to serve as CINC. Kerry has no idea how to be President, and he has no business trying to learn it on the fly during one of the most dangerous episodes in US History.

Axis of Evil: UN, MSM, Kerry Campaign

Beware of the blogosphere! You will rue the day that you tried to take down the President with ANOTHER fraudulent story. I can see my bloggin' brothers licking their chops. We have been waiting for something to fisk and flip in your faces and now our patience has been rewarded. Team America: Blog Police is going to be all over this like white on rice. We are going to stuff this story down your throats and make you choke on it. Stay tuned.

Part 1: Kerry is Unacceptable to Veterans

This is the first installment in a series of columns contrasting the candidates for President in various aspects of their personality, policy positions, and general fitness to serve. I am going to write this series from the perspective of the different voter groups, some of which I am a part, and some of which I consider myself knowledgeable. This first essay will be from a veteran/active military member’s point of view.

Any comparison of the candidates by a veteran or servicemember must begin with the military service of the men themselves. As for the President, his service is not particularly distinguished with regard to battlefield heroics. The President did complete 73 weeks of flight school/fighter-interceptor training and flew weekly training missions until the time of his departure from the Texas ANG to Alabama to join the staff of a Senate campaign. Many have attacked the President for missing drills in the Spring of 1972 and for requesting to go IRR (Individual Ready Reserve i.e. Inactive Reserve). In fact, I am on a six month leave of absence from the Naval Reserve right now. I haven’t been to drill since July, and I won’t go back until February. In order to maintain a satisfactory drill year, I pre-drilled in July and I will flex drill for a couple weeks in January or February to get my points back up. President Bush was not particularly interested in going to Vietnam, I’m sure, but he did serve with honor, and received good marks for his time in. To me, his service is neither an asset nor a liability, and it has no bearing on what SEALs and veterans think of him as a man or as a President.

John Kerry’s service in the military, if taken the way the campaign has presented it, strikes a sharp contrast with the President and was indeed heroic. But when taken in context and measured against his activities as a leader in the anti-war movement, a much different impression emerges. First of all, John Kerry was by his own account, anti-war before he even entered the Navy. Although he likes to boast that he volunteered for Vietnam and the Swift Boats program because he wanted to fight for his country. His first tour in Vietnam was miles offshore on the USS Gridley, and for his second tour he volunteered for Swift Boats at a time when they were being used as coastal patrol craft, not riverine warfare platforms. His abbreviated tour on the PCFs is well documented and despite his heroic claims (with medals to back it up) 250+ of his former comrades have disputed nearly all of this. Without getting into specifics there is no dispute that he received 3 minor wounds that required no hospitalization, applied for and received 3 purple hearts, and used a technicality to leave his crew 8 months early. Knowing nothing else about the man, I would regard that as completely unsatisfactory behavior for an officer in a combat assignment. That is the essence of his military career; do the minimum and leave when your crew needs you the most. Having nearly everyone who served with him take the time to form the Swift Vets group and put themselves on the line to defeat him is a powerful testimony in and of itself.

By all accounts John Kerry was hankering to be President since he was a young boy. Brit Hume of Fox News went to prep school with Kerry and remembers his fascination with his JFK initials and what that would portend for his own political future. Kerry’s Swift Vet colleagues report the same kind of naked ambition for political power and rightly attribute his medal hunting and home movie production in Vietnam as a symptom of this disorder. Having gained the credibility of “distinguished” military service, he wasted no time ingratiating himself with the anti-war left. His testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971 was the zenith of his fame, and is one of the more instructive public addresses of his life. In it he lied profusely and defamed millions of American servicemen as war criminals and compared the US Army to that of Ghengis Khan. We know now, as he must have known then, that these statements were used with merciless effect upon US POWs still being held in NVA custody at the time of the address. These statements also served to unleash one of the ugliest barrages of anti-military sentiment in modern recorded history. Kerry’s followers went on to spit upon and beat returning veterans of the war, calling them baby killers, and even making phone calls to families of deceased vets mocking the death of their loved one. As a result of Kerry’s Presidential campaign, we are witnessing similar acts being perpetrated on Iraq war veterans today. Finally, as a traitorous act by a man with no shame, Kerry met with representatives of the Vietcong and North Vietnam in Paris with a message of sympathy and solidarity. That he did this as a Naval Reserve Officer is almost incidental, but adds to the incredibly offensive act by its sheer disrespect to the Naval Service.

No single individual has made the task of pacifying Iraq more difficult than John Kerry. His statements that it was, “the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time,” have had an effect similar to that of his 1971 Senate testimony. There is no question that VVAW and their analogues prolonged the war beyond the 1972 election in the hopes that a dovish George McGovern might be elected on the platform of ending the war. Statements such as those by an aspiring President serve to inspire our enemies in the region to resist if only to wait until a man sympathetic to their cause is elected. There is no question that the elections the insurgents are trying to impact are in the US in November, rather than in Iraq in January. In addition to inciting our enemies to further acts of resistance, Kerry’s statements have served to demoralize US troops engaged there in battle. By characterizing the war in such stark terms, Kerry has sent a message to our troops that their daily sacrifices and the fatalities of their comrades have been a waste. If he were to be elected, morale of US troops in Iraq and elsewhere would plummet immediately, and I suspect would lead to a mass exodus from the volunteer force. This scenario is the only one under which a military draft will be required to sustain force levels for US commitments worldwide.

These actions by John Kerry paint a disturbing picture for any US Citizen, but for a veteran or servicemember the level of revulsion sparked by this man cannot be measured with existing technology. No heroic act in his past could ever make up for the patterns of betrayal that litter the public life of this candidate. There could hardly be a man chosen by the Democratic party that personified more clearly the antithesis of what a Commander in Chief should be in the opinion of those who would serve under him.

This column can also be read at MensNewsDaily.com

A Veteran's Testimony

Just got an email from a lady named Carol who had written an essay about why John Kerry was an utterly unacceptable President. She forwarded this link from Bad Example Blog from a man named Peter who relays his heartfelt revulsion for a man who achieved a level of Blue Falcon status that has not been equaled in the annals of American politics.

Democrat's Response to Wolves Ad

This despicable attempt to misrepresent the President and his followers will go down in political history as an assault on the democratic process, and represents all that is evil and unholy in this world.

Your Mission is to Penetrate Deep into Enemy Territory and Strike Them in Their Midst

Are you wondering what you can do to help the troops who form our vanguard against the barbaric islamofascist hordes? Would you like to send them an unequivocal message of support and encouragement? First let's review the tactics our adversaries here at home are employing to deny the President the opportunity to prosecute the GWOT.

A story on Powerline about MSNBC pretty boy, Lawrence O'Donnell losing his mind on Scarborough Country. Watch the exchange here on the Daily Recycler. Sweet Larry shouted O'Neill down with such zingers as, "you're a lying liar writing a lying book that is nothing, more than a pack of lies!!! You are unfit to publish!" or something really catchy like that. Sweet Larry was literally screaming at the top of his lungs while O'Neill, as usual, remained calm, cool, and collected as he refuted sweet Larry's charges.

Update: Greyhawk has more from this bafoon. Update: Smash has a story about spitting on veterans...Iraq war veterans

Read this article in the Sun-Sentinel of Palm Beach where union thugs are openly intimidating Republican voters during the early voting. This is another post from Powerline that points to an article in the Arizona Daily Sun regarding the vandalization of Bush/Cheney HQ in Flagstaff. The windows were smashed the place was egged and anti-Bush literature was left. This attack comes the day after a bomb threat on Bush HQ in Havasu City, AZ.

Of course Ann Coulter was sort of attacked during a speech at University of Arizona by a couple of jackasses calling themselves Al Pieda. That is a very funny name, but if you see the video, it is apparent that this must have been terrifying for Ann.

What we are seeing here is an animal (Jackass) that has been trapped by its own lies and distortions coming to the realization that the jig is up. The American people are witnessing the death throes of a bankrupt and immoral ideological system on the brink of insignificance and desolation. But they're not going out without a fight. Totally bereft of any intelligible argument or functional platform, they have no other option than to succumb to their emotions. Panic being the overwhelming corporate outlet which is manifesting itself in any number of violent actions.

Now is the time to strike for the heart, and slay this beast thereby preserving the integrity of our Homeland and continuing the annihilation of our enemies abroad. Do not strike with anger and force, but with persistence and guile. Don't rip down signs, or vandalize, or intimidate; but point out these tactics to others that they might be persuaded by the contrast. Do not respond to the intimidators asking you, "Who are you voting for?". Tell them, "John Kerry, of course," and continue forward on your Direct Action mission. Feel the exhilaration of mingling with the enemy and striking him in his very midst. Do not fear; infiltrate the enemy positions and deliver your munitions of democracy before they even realize that you were in the target. The mission is all that matters, do not rest until the mission is complete.

Captain (SEAL) Larry Bailey Needs Our Help

Over at A Collection of Thoughts, Jen Martinez has posted a letter from Navy SEAL legend and President of Vietnam Veterans for Truth, Capt. Larry Bailey. Capt. Bailey (that's like a Colonel for all of you non-Navy people) is trying to purchase space on billboards in Battleground states, but he needs our help. Go to Jen's and read the letter, and then donate if you are able. Froggy

Smackin' Down a Kennedy

Despite Democratic efforts to sabotage Dave Rogers' campaign with phony allegations, Dave came strong in a recent debate hosted by Channel 12 (WPRI) in Providence, RI. Here's the first paragraph of the story:

In his first TV debate with his Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy yesterday publicly apologized for telling a crowd of young Democrats in Washington a year ago that the Bush tax cuts primarily helped wealthy people like himself, and "I have never worked a [bleeping] day in my life."
"Listen Dave, I don't disagree with you. What I said was wrong. I am embarrassed by it. I shouldn't have done it,'

Can't you just taste the sincerity? Wait a minute, that's bile. I believe that little Patrick Kennedy is truly sorry...that his true sentiments were revealed to the voters of RI. With no intention of ceding Rogers any ground in his quest for hypocrisy, Kennedy went on to scold Rogers for supporting tax cuts for the rich. Reading from a cheat sheet scribbled during a drunken binge from a Boston area pub by his daddy, Ted:

Kennedy said, "It's a difference of philosophy. I think we ought to have a demand-side [economy] where working families, by having more money in their pockets, can drive the economy because they are able to pay for more . . . You're for a supply-side, tax-cut economy, where you give all the money to the wealthiest, let them put it in the bank and hope that they're going to create jobs."

But Dave Rogers was able to jolt little Patrick, bringing his ivory tower crashing down around him with a little dose of medicine all Kennedy's should be getting in their prescription drug plans, reality.

"I think you mischaracterize my position on this because, again, I have a front-row seat to being a working family here. I am the head of one . . . I do see what the tax cut has done for my family . . . it might not look like a lot of money to you, but it looks like a lot of money to me."

Ouch folks, that is going to leave a mark. Well done Dave, the sword of truth is capable of penetrating any armor. Keep hackin' away!

New Tadpole is on the Way!

Mrs. Froggy and I decided to start another blog for the purpose of memorializing the daily blessings we receive from God. Right after I created the new blog, the phone rang. It was Mrs. Froggy's doctor telling her that she is pregnant! So we made our first post to the blessing blog this morning thanking God for his wonderful blessing! Hooyah!

I Never Do This, But.....

Just look at this "poll". Trust me, you'll laugh. Via the Blogfather

Bush Just Won Florida

Forget the polls folks, its over in Florida. Algore has just announced that he will be campaigning for Kerry in the state which means that Kerry has lost any chance of victory there. Algore's psychotic ramblings can only be construed as a desperately ill man responding to internal stimuli. Algore has an uncanny knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time in order to accomplish the precise opposite of what he had intended. Rarely in this life are we afforded the privilege of witnessing an idiot, that hasn't the slightest inclination of his affliction, flail about wildly on the national stage as if he were a drunken grinder monkey. (Was that too harsh?) This man sees himself as a messianic figure of great stature and dare I say gravitas, whose unique insights into the EEEEEvil of the Bush administration are to be accepted as gospel by a willing throng of worshippers. The truth is that Algore, having served as VP, has enough clout in the Democratic party that Kerry people don't feel comfortable telling him to shut the hell up. That or the dems have reached a level of corporate self-delusion that would make the leaders of Heaven's Gate blush with pride. I report, you decide. All I can say for sure is that Republicans are content for Algore to support any democrat initiative or candidate as vociferously as possible because there is no stronger predictor of failure.

Late Hit

UPDATE: According to the Political Grapevine on Special Report with Brit Hume, the newspaper reporter present at the Tenet speech was incorrect with regard to Tenet's characterization of the Iraq war. A retraction tomorrow in the Herald-Palladium will report that Tenet was referring to the intelligence the CIA reported on Iraqi WMD stockpiles which Tenet did say was "wrong". Is this mischaracterization of Tenet's remarks accidental? Impossible to say for sure, but it certainly seems unlikely given current political climate that this was a harmless transcription error. We'll see if the Herald-Palladium of Benton Harbor, MI features the retraction as prominently as the original story. Don't hold your breath.

It looks like we are seeing the beginnings of a Democratic late hit strategy be implemented. This speech (via Drudge) by former CIA director George Tenet is an apparent move by the Democrats to undermine the President on the issue of Iraq in the waning days of the campaign. Let me remind you that Tenet was appointed DCI by Bill Clinton, and President Bush did not see fit to replace him even after 9/11. This is the thanks the President gets for that act of trust and loyalty.

It is unclear at this point if Tenet said that the Iraq war was "wrong" or just that he and the analysts at the CIA were wrong in their predictions regarding WMD stockpiles. I have not seen a transcript nor do I know if one exists. Tenet, who was quoted by Bob Woodward as having told the President that the presence of WMD stockpiles in Iraq was a "slam dunk", resigned in July when it became apparent that the CIA and he personally were going to take the rap for 9/11.

If, in fact, Tenet did tell a Michigan audience of 2000 that the Iraq war was "wrong", then he is a hypocrite and Blue Falcon of the first order. The DCI is the intelligence gatekeeper for the President of the United States, and as such, bears considerable responsibility for the conduct of foreign affairs. He sat behind Colin Powell at the UN Security Council while Powell laid out the case for Iraq WMD and terrorist ties. According to Woodward's book, Plan of Attack, Bush is said to have challenged Tenet in a pointed exchange about the evidence he had provided the President regarding the presence of WMD. Tenet's reply, "It's a slam dunk," could hardly be construed as anything but an ironclad guarantee by a President facing the real threat of WMD armed terrorists infiltrating the American Homeland. To wait until the 11th hour of the election to drop a bomb like this is a purely partisan political move made by a man whose reputation has no depth left to sink.

There are going to be more of these late hits coming, and we must be prepared to repel them if we want the President to remain in office.

When its worth it for American troops to die

Wretchard at the Belmont club while commenting on this piece in the Washington Post has taken John Kerry to task for this statement made to Frank Sesno about US involvement in Bosnia on CNN in 1994.

"If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no."

Wretchard rightly castigates Kerry for his tendency toward "We are the World" foreign policy solutions, and skillfully makes the case that John Kerry is reminiscent of another radical John from the 60s and 70s, John Lennon.

Interesting to me is the concept that the UN not only imputes righteousness to the military cause, but also has a higher probability of "affect(ing) the outcome". In my experience, UN military operations, NATO military operations, and other coalition type military operations that the US participates in have one thing in common. That is that the US is the main source of troops, weaponry, leadership, mobility assets, and money. To me, John Kerry is making a distinction without a difference with regard to the actual effectiveness of a military operation based on who is the sponsoring entity. The determining factor with regard to the success of international military coalitions has never been who is sponsoring the effort; rather it is whether or not the US is participating.

A good example of this is the 1994 Rwanda genocide that occurred in the presence of 2500 UN troops from Belgium 90% of which were withdrawn at the height of the massacre. No US troops were engaged in Rwanda at any time during the 100 day genocide of 800,000 people from April to July. By all accounts, the UN response to the situation in Rwanda was a complete failure, and President Clinton contributed to the unremitting horror by his inaction.

UN military deployments that include US forces invariably are much more successful primarily because the US commanders take responsibility for effectively employing US assets, and ensuring that mission focus is not lost. Two recent examples of this are Bosnia and Kosovo where US leadership in a UN mandated deployment stopped genocides in progress and attenuated humanitarian disasters. It is certainly debatable whether US forces should continue to participate in these missions under our current circumstances, but there is no debate about the fact that the US is chiefly responsible for any successes that have resulted there.

The 1994 statement by John Kerry is entirely consistent with the position he held during his tenure with Vietnam Veterans Against the War when he told the Harvard Crimson

“I’m an internationalist,” Kerry told The Crimson in 1970. “I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations.”

It is also perfectly compatible with the concept of a Global Test...

"No president, through all of American history, has ever ceded -- and nor would I -- the right to preempt in any way necessary, to protect the United States of America," "But if and when you do it, Jim, you've got to do it in a way that passes the, the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people, understand fully why you're doing what you're doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons."

This sentiment expressed by Kerry across four decades is literally the most consistent foreign policy position that he has held. Clearly he misunderstands the reason why any UN initiative has ever borne fruit since the inception of the organization. Without the US, nothing of consequence can be achieved militarily on this planet, and the UN has proven to be not only inept and ineffective, but corrupt and obstructionist. Voters ought to recognize the consequences of John Kerry's worldview on the security of the United States.

How to Defeat the US Military

Recently, my blog has been experiencing especially high traffic and interest, and first I would like to thank each and every one of you for visiting and especially for coming back! That said, I have also been getting more and more emails from my visitors, and by and large they have been very encouraging and supportive. But I did get one from a young man named Scott, that was indicative of the misinformation and propaganda that is so pervasive in the MSM. He wrote...

For one minute, lets put ourselves in the shoes of a iraq cillvillian. Lets say 5-6 middle eastern countries said we was doing something illegal.They said they was going to strike us and over throw our government.Nothing we did or said seemed to help matters. Then these countries invaded us. Killed hundreds of cillvillians trying to target the president. Bombed hundreds of buildings and ultimately killed tens of thousands of our fellow Americans. Then they occupied our country. Then to find out, ALL of the reasons they invaded was false. I and you and millions of other Americans would be out there every day killing these bastards.

There are so many blatant fallacies contained in this paragraph that I could write 10,000 words refuting it. In fact I did here. Nevertheless, let me show you some of the next paragraph..

On the other hand Hussein should have acted defeated after the 91 war. He shouldn't have invaded Kuwait,used WMD against the Kurds, iranian's. I know Hussein would have acquired WMD again. This idiot would have used them again. I know that things wouldn't have gotten any better. When he died then one of his sons would have taken over.

Clearly this young man's instincts are intact, as he intuitively realizes the natural progression that flows from a dictatorial terrorist regime armed with WMD. History tells us and has informed young Scott, that evil murderers in control of vast economic resources and large amounts of weapons will naturally tend to put them into use to harm his enemies.

This one email demonstrates quite clearly a young man who knows what the truth is, but has been talked out of his internal conclusion by an artful but fundamentally false argument. The lie begins by creating a false analogy comparing the US to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Beyond the obvious differences, Scott is encouraged to take his current mindset and attitude living in the US and impute that to the citizens of Iraq living under a brutal dictatorship. Once Scott was convinced to accept this straw argument, the remaining elements of the lie neatly fit into the story without much in the way of substantiation. The propagandist is free to assert "facts" not in evidence by replacing truth with lies repeated by leftists in various media outlets.

The reason many of us are in the blogosphere is to avoid the constant repetition of "spin" or outright untruths. Statements made on the Today show are not challenged for accuracy, but statements made on this blog certainly are. If I publish something that is factually incorrect, I hear about it in the comments with links to back it up. I took the time to reply to Scott's message by explaining to him respectfully where his logic has been subverted and by whom.

As you all well know, the US military can only be defeated here at home in the battlefield of ideas. Many of you have never served in the military, but you are more than able to fight and win this important battle. And those of us who are veterans have no excuse for not using the platform that we have resulting from our service to help our comrades who remain in the fight. We all have someone like Scott in our sphere of influence, and I encourage my readers to take the time to set someone like Scott straight. By the way, you've got 2 weeks to get it done! Froggy OUT

Panic Time

I smell fear. The odor is a mixture of sour grapes, soiled underpants, and rotten apples. Its coming from the Kerry/Edwards campaign and their supporters, and America is beginning to recoil in horror at its eye watering stench.

The reek of sour grapes is emanating from Algore, who, looking like a junky trying to kick his smack habit, vomited forth yesterday with a gutload of bile yesterday at Georgetown University. Preaching to a choir reminicent of the Koolaid congregation at Jonestown, Algore gave the enthralled this inspired revelation...

"Truly, President Bush has stolen the symbolism and body language of religion and used it to disguise the most radical effort in American history to take what rightfully belongs to the American people and give as much of it as possible to the already wealthy and privileged,

and this thoughtful admonition to the assembly...

"It is love of power for its own sake that is the original sin of this presidency,"

It is hardly necessary to attempt to ascribe any rational basis for the rantings of a man who millions of Americans reflexively thanked God on 9/11 for the mercy shown us by his absense from the White House.

The soiled panties are being worn by the candidate himself, who in a moment of panicked pandering rarely seen or heard in the US, appealed to Haitian immigrants in French. This moment of sheer desperation culminated a day spent flailing and shrieking tired Democratic refrains about Social Security, black voter disenfranchisement, and a new one, THE DRAFT! Plodding from venue to venue with a pantload like that has got to be taxing, speaking of taxes...oh never mind.

As they say there's a rotten apple in every bunch, but sometimes there's more than one. Kerry, Edwards, and his lovely wife all tag-teamed Vice President Cheney's daughter last week. In what can only be described as a coordinated attack on a candidate's child considered to be "fair game", this trio went for a hail mary pass to drive a wedge between evangelical Bush supporters and the President. Of course, hail mary plays are only attempted when the playbook has proven insufficient to the win the game.

The Democrat's tired playbook has been shown useful for one last play...wiping up the mess.

Vox Blogoli: Why George Bush

President Bush’s actions and words following 9/11 exemplify a grace under pressure, outstanding leadership, and steely resolve that will not soon be replicated. His response to the assault on our Homeland was the perfect combination of effective force, assertive diplomacy, and crisis management. The Afghan campaign will go down in military history as a textbook implementation of Unconventional Warfare techniques to achieve with a small number of SOF operators what the entire Soviet Army could not. This was set in motion within a month of the precipitating event, which is all the more amazing. Not all Presidents would take the risk of confronting our enemies in Afghanistan in such a manner. He managed to kill Usama bin Laden without martyring him, which has allowed the US to continue to pursue AQ elements in the tribal border regions under the pretext of revenge. The President also understands very well that without the boogeyman, his momentum on the GWOT would be jeopardized by squishy liberal opponents.

As for Iraq, everyone who is honest will concede that Saddam Hussein was a significant threat to the US that could not be ignored. Admittedly, the President overemphasized the WMD issue as justification for the war, but by all accounts this was a "slam dunk". He signed some treaties, violated every single one, shot at our pilots every day, committed a genocide against the Shia, gassed the Kurds, openly collaborated with terrorists including Al Qaeda, promoted palestinian suicide bombing, brutally oppressed dissent, torture, executions, assassination attempt on US President, assisted bin Laden with WMD R&D in Sudan, created an environmental disaster in the Gulf, there is much more and all that before 9/11. Saddam by all accounts is a sworn enemy of the US with goals analagous to Al Qaeda, and his actions suggested that he had continued his WMD programs. More importantly, Iraq has now become what Afghanistan was in the 80's, the place where every terrorist wannabe wants to go to get their jihadi street creds. The obvious benefit being that the people who need most to be killed are now in contact with the people whose job it is to do the killing. It is this fact that not only makes Iraq a critical part of the GWOT, but also makes the Homeland more safe. The withdrawal of US troops from Iraq before this slaughter of terrorists is complete places the Homeland at much greater risk.

As a SEAL Reservist, I have tried to maintain contact with my friends in the Teams who have remained on active duty. This President has authorized SOF operations that were unthinkable with the prior administration. If I told you the places my friends have been, you would be shocked. President Bush’s risk tolerance for operations in support of the GWOT is satisfyingly high. While John Kerry promises to double SOF which is impossible, the President has shown a detailed understanding of what the SEALs are up to and how they are getting it done. The President has mandated the creation of 2 additional SEAL Teams, but he told our top Admiral that he would not abide the degradation of training and selection of men. This is music to the ears of a Navy SEAL who places his life in the hands of his comrades in training and war.

SEALs that I have talked to love the President and Donald Rumsfeld as well. The CINC matters to the military more than you could imagine, and this is a personal matter for me. I served under Bill Clinton, and at the time everybody in the Teams knew that we were never going to be unchained to conduct Direct Action against America’ foes. I was constantly on the road traveling around the country and around the world on training evolutions. It was so frustrating to know that you were going to be away from your family to practice for a game that the coach would never let you play in. Many experienced operators left the Teams with me at the end of the 90s for the same reason. It wasn’t like we didn’t see threats or targets out there, but after Somalia, we knew Clinton didn’t have the sack to pull the trigger. So did UBL as it turned out.

The Pope is a Bigot?

According to Rhode Island's leading authority on moral issues and reputed Catholic Patrick Kennedy he is. The Vatican, in an edict released in August, stated that it is a moral duty for Catholics to opposed same-sex marriage. People are going to disagree on this issue, and that's fair enough, but being a Kennedy means you can call anybody out.

Rep. Kennedy called the Catholic church's opposition to same-sex marriage bigotry."

That's quite a statement from the latest in a line of family members that can be described as nothing less than paragons of virtue. It seems that Patrick has been hiding until that recent condemnation of the Holy Father. Why would that be? Hasn't the son of Ted Kennedy shown to be a capable legislator in his decade in office? Well, he's been a capable fund raiser at least.

"If his last name wasn't Kennedy, he would be at Thom McAnn, helping you try on these shoes," one critic says. But Patrick's name is Kennedy and, as it turns out, he excelled at fund raising.
"Patrick Kennedy means $20 million on top of what the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) would raise, that's how good he is," David Jones, a professional fund-raiser, told me. "He has got access to people the rest of us can't get a call returned from. Some of them have known him since he was 5 years old or they know his father. The Kennedy magic exists. Big time."

Pretty much what you'd expect from a child born into royalty more or less. He's nobody without his family name, and it shows. Dave Rogers, his Republican opponent, was actually raised in Newport, RI, and like his father, he joined the Navy after college. Dave was in BUD/S class 150 and was decorated for valor in Panama in 1989 as a Navy SEAL. He and his wife live in a modest home Portsmouth and work for his family's software business. Dave recognizes the disconnect between a carpetbagging, liberal Kennedy representing a community of which he is not a part, and he is running to put a moderate representative of the community in the local House seat.

Patrick came to RI when even his family connections were unable to get him into the Ivy League. After graduating from Providence College, he was elected to the RI State House by using an interesting gimmick.

On election day, the celebrity clan gathered outside the main polling booth (there were only two in the district) offering every citizen a photo opportunity with one of the famous Kennedys, complete with autograph, just before he or she went in to vote.

Must be nice to have all that weight to throw around. Patrick parlayed that electoral "achievement" into a Congressional seat by outspending his opponent 50 to 1. The balance of his five terms has pretty much involved collecting chits for political favors later, when he achieves elder statesman status and goes for the big move to the Senate when Linc Chafee steps aside. Well that, and trying to keep his name out of the paper for acting like a...Kennedy. In addition to the LAX incident, he has managed to trash a rented yacht to the tune of $28k, and have the Coast Guard respond to an argument with his girlfriend on a different rented yacht.

Much to the dismay of his constituents and the delight of his neighbors, Patrick isn't seen much in his home district, even though its a short yacht trip from DC. He has settled into a beltway insider routine, carefully positioned by his daddy in all the right committees and with all the right lobbyists. He dutifully brings home the pork as a member of the appropriations committee in hopes that it will keep getting him re-elected against his district's better judgement.

Dave Rogers is no arch-conservative-right-winger like me. But he is a solid guy who has proven himself in the real world as a scholar, SEAL, and businessman. Unlike Patrick, Dave Rogers has worked hard his whole life and served his country, instead of asking his country to serve him. His cousin Kathleen was taken down in Maryland in 2002 in the Governor's race by Bob Ehrlich, and now its Patrick's turn. We may never get Ted, but can't we all just agree to stop this movement here and now. Let's snuff out the Kennedy's Pepsi generation before it has a chance to do more damage. Froggy OUT.

Help a Navy SEAL beat a Kennedy

Could there ever be a more worthy cause? Well, I'm sure there is but hey, punching little Patrick Kennedy out of the House would be a nice gesture, don't you think? Dave Rogers is a former Navy SEAL comrade of mine who is running to unseat Patrick Kennedy from the House seat he has held in Rhode Island for the last decade.

I have been following Dave's campaign for a few weeks now, and it just got ugly the other day. Dave is a family man who's wife made $55k working as a nurse. To make a few bucks, he rented out a donor list to other candidates reaping a grand total of $72k in two years. Dave has been running to beat Kennedy for the past year, and has only been able to obtain a few consulting gigs in the meantime. So what?

Trustfund baby Kennedy and the RI state Democratic Party have tried to refer "the case" to the FEC for criminal investigation on the eve of the candidate's first televised debate. That's correct, a millionaire Kennedy has charged a former Navy SEAL with "profiting" from his campaign. But the truth is that Dave has called this Kennedy Klansman on his voting himself a raise last year. It used to be that Kennedys lived on their trustfunds and donated their govt. salaries to charity, but that guy got shot.

Rogers told WPRO's Dan Yorke: "The only guy I can find in the region who voted for a 4,000 raise is the same guy who says that he's 'never worked a day in his life.' "
"I mean, right now, the economy is tough. People are having a harder time making ends meet. . . . To me, it just seems like Patrick really doesn't understand who he is representing."
"When I get elected to Congress," Rogers said later, "it will be the most money I've made in my life."

Yes, Kennedy actually blurted that out at a Young Democrats dinner in DC in 2003.

Speaking about his opposition to the part of President Bush’s tax cut package that reduces the rate for wealthy earners, Kennedy declared: "I have never worked a (bleeping) day in my life."

And this guy wants to call Dave Rogers out for "profiting". How about, "Hey pot, this is kettle. Your'e black." Don't get me wrong, I want to apply the beat down on a Kennedy whenever I get the chance, but this little punk is begging for it.

Yes, this is that Kennedy, the one that pushed a female security guard at LAX out of his way after she tried to prevent him from carrying a steamer trunk in his carry on luggage.

Anyway, Dave needs your help and he deserves our support and admiration. If you are able please contribute to his victory.

UPDATE: If you get bored, Google "Kennedy; allegations" and see how many interesting hits that pop up. Hours of fun.

UPDATE #2: Fellow blogger Duane from Forest for the Trees shot me a link to a PBS documentary about how Patrick Kennedy destroyed an idealistic physician to win the House seat that Dave Rogers MUST win. Duane reveals in his comment below that Kennedy got elected to the RI State House at age 21 right out of college with a boatload of Kennedy cash. This, of course, lends further credence to his own admission that he never worked a day in his life. This family is in the business of politically destroying opponents, and Dave Rogers is in the crosshairs. I only wish I had known about Dave's race before now, I would have done more to help him out. This snot-nosed punk deserves a comeuppance like no other candidate I can think of besides John Kerry himself. Pray for Dave to prevail in his fight against what can only be described as a man who BELIEVES that he is ENTITLED to political office. And for goodness sake, if you live in RI's 1st District, pull the lever for Dave Rogers, and flatten the tires of your liberal neighbors if at all possible.

Usama bin Laden is Dead

You hadn't heard? Well, I'm not breaking news, President Bush knows damn well that UBL has been dead for quite some time. But why would Bush keep it to himself? If he were to disclose his knowledge that UBL is dead he would blow John Kerry's doors off in the election, and yet he remains silent. Why?

Maybe you're wondering how I know he's dead. Perhaps one of my SEAL buddies let me in on the secret? NO. I know because a publicity whore and grandstanding scumbag like UBL could not possibly resist the multitude of opportunites to inspire his cult members. His number 1, Zwahiri, has appeared on video or audio broadcasts every few months since 9/11. UBL has not been heard from since Tora Bora despite developments in the GWOT in Afghanistan and Iraq that make it unthinkable for him to have remained silent. Not to mention successful attacks in Bali, Madrid, Turkey, and Jakarta to name a few that remain unremarked upon by UBL. The invasion and occupation of an Islamic state by the US and not a word. Elections held for the first time in Afghan history, and he had nothing to say about it in the lead up. AQ tried once early on to air a tape that never mentioned key developments in the Afghan campaign and was quickly discredited as an attempt to put one over on his followers by airing a previous recording. Zwahiri decided that it was better to just pretend that UBL was alive because there was no plausible martyr story to tell. UBL went out running for his life like a coward. He is dead. His remains are turds shat by scavenging animals in the mountains of Afghanistan blown by the wind and stomped on by US troops.

By why not make it public? After all, this is the one thing that could ensure the President's re-election. Have you noticed how coy DOD officials and high ranking officers are when the question is posed? They know. They certainly have intelligence to this effect. Of course, the President could have instructed subordinates to start saying that intel indicates UBL is dead. This would have put pressure on him to prove otherwise by issuing a statement which he is clearly unable to make. This process could have started 6 months ago, and if UBL did not answer, it would in effect prove the case. But it didn't happen. Why not?

Because the President knows that making UBL a martyr would serve to further inspire his minions, and he realizes that preventing this from happening is more important than his re-election. Instead, UBL remains forever silent even as his recruits yearn to hear his voice. Eventually these cultists will realize themselves that UBL went out like a punk, not a martyr and that the AQ head shed has been lying to them for years. That realization combined with US combat boots knocking their teeth down their throats will go a long way to beating this cult into submission. But it is important to recognize that the President's committment to killing terrorists supercedes his committment to his own re-election. I'm sure he hopes that the American people will come to this conclusion on their own and vote for him anyway, but it is quite a risk to take in the ultimate ME situation.

This kind of integrity and committment stands in stark contrast to his opponent. Kerry has proved to be a Blue Falcon, a traitor, a louse, a shameless opportunist, and an lazy bureaucrat that pads his resume. Kerry is a smart guy too, and he realizes what is going on. But it hasn't stopped him from trying to bait the President into abandoning a critical propaganda victory in the GWOT by incessantly peddling his Tora Bora "outsourcing" charge in all three debates. He knows that the President will not respond to this charge so he is free to make it. Just like the Cheney lesbian scheme, this is a coordinated hatchet job, but this is on an issue that Kerry knows the President must choose to either defend the SOF troops that got the job done or remain silent. To his personal credit he never took the bait, but to his professional detriment he must let an unanswered charge linger. Do you have that kind of discipline? Especially in crunchtime? I don't know if I do, and I'll be happy to never have to find out.

President Bush, meanwhile, has just continued to keep the pressure on the terrorists, get us out of a recession, protect the homeland, and generally put the country's interests ahead of his own. He deserves your vote.

UPDATE 10/17/04 0847: Investigative aids / Fake Tapes

Mutiny

This story posted on Drudge today needs to be spanked down with authority before the Dems try to spin our troops in Iraq into victims of an evil Bush plot. According to this story, an entire Army Reserve motor transport platoon refused to go on a "suicide mission" to deliver fuel and supplies to fellow soldiers in Iraq. The platoon was apparently arrested for disobeying a lawful order, and is being held as prisoners in Iraq. The platoon claims that they were denied the usual Humvee/helo escort to their destination, thus turning the delivery into a suicide mission. In addition, the platoon claimed that their vehicles were in poor condition.

This is outrageous! In a war zone, resources and manpower are finite. Nothing, and I mean nothing can be planned and executed with strict adherence to procedure in combat. Units and individuals have to make due with the skills, abilities, and equipment available at the time to accomplish tasks that are subject to change on a moment's notice while priorities are constantly in flux. In my experience, the people that drive the vehicles are the same people that maintain them. If the vehicles are unservicable then this platoon bears some responsibility for that. In combat, there is no UPS truck to roll up and bring you every single part for the truck just when you need it. Nobody said you have to like it, but you do have to do it.

There is no doubt that driving in a military convoy in Iraq is a very dangerous proposition, especially with regard to avoiding roadside IEDs, but it is a critical job that must be done. Under ideal conditions, they would have M-1 tanks and Apache gunships escorting them, but hey, they're busy killing terrorists in Falluja, Ramadi, Samarra, Mosul, Sadr City, and elsewhere. In fact those tanks that are doing all of that killing are probably waiting for the fuel truck to show up so they can keep on slaughtering these scumbags. Everybody has a role to play in the victory in Iraq, everybody is taking risks, and it is incredibly difficult to keep the operations going fully supported all over the country. But when a platoon decides that they just aren't going to do their job because its too dangerous, that is not acceptable.

If you knew what SEALs do to clandestinely board ships underway, at night in a high sea state, you would be shocked at how dangerous that is. That's just training; add real live hostiles to the mix, and a legitimate case for suicide mission can be made. Soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen willfully put themselves at risk during armed engagements with the enemy in order to accomplish their mission or save a buddy every single day in Iraq. For an entire platoon to just say "Hell no, we won't go" at the POSSIBILITY that they might run into trouble is completely unsatisfactory. They should be charged, and hammered for this if it turns out to be true. And don't tell me that they are reservist victims of a backdoor draft, because just like me, they signed up to serve when the nation called.

I predict that this will be spun by Kerry on the stump as the President not sending enough Humvees to Iraq to protect our troops or some other tripe. This is tailormade for democratic victim-mongering, and Kerry is the candidate who was born to do this work. He is very familiar with the concept of backstabbing your comrades in war, and he will take to this issue readily and with vigor. But do not be deceived, war is an uncertain business, and force protection while being a worthy goal, is secondary to victory.

Leadership and Padding a Resume

Being a Petty Officer First Class on active duty in a SEAL Platoon, I was called upon to demonstrate leadership by ensuring people were where they were supposed to be, managing the daily workload of the platoon, planning travel for the platoon, inspecting gear and the quality of work done by subordinates and the suchlike. But I didn't have any illusions that I could walk across the street and tell the Commodore that I was just as qualified as he to administer the operational activities of 5 SEAL Teams. I didn't have the experience to do that, and I'm not ashamed to tell you so. John Kerry is trying to tell America that he has the leadership experience to get up in the big boy chair and run things. I don't think he does.

Vietnam. Kerry was an officer and commanded a Swift boat in South Vietnam. He definitely gained some leadership training in that assignment, but there is nothing to indicate that he was an extraordinarily proficient leader. There is, however, quite a bit of evidence to the contrary. First of all, despite the current incantations of his "Band of Brothers", he left them high and dry on the battlefield at the first opportunity. Leaders do not abandon their troops in the field for no good reason. If he had been grievously wounded, then fair enough, but he worked the system, turned tail, and ran.

VVAW. To add insult to injury, Kerry arrives home from his abbrieviated tour to become a leader of a radical leftist anti-war group. He used lies and distortions to advance his political agenda in regards to the war, and for his own personal gain. He condemned POWs to horrific torture, and then met with our enemies in Paris while still a member of the armed forces. He coerced activists to make false charges of war crimes which he used to tarnish the service of millions of honorable Americans whose only crime was to answer their nation's call to serve.

Middlesex County, MA Prosecutor. Kerry claimed last night in the debate that he

"ran one of the largest district attorney's offices in America, one of the ten largest. I put people behind bars for the rest of their life. I've broken up organized crime. I know something about prosecuting."

His job as a prosecutor lasted from 1976 when he passed the bar to 1979. This was basically his first real job. I assumed that the city of Boston was in Middlesex county, but its not. Boston is in Suffolk county and may very well be one of the 10 largest DA offices in the country but I doubt Middlesex is. Anyway, being an assistant district attorney is hardly the same thing as having "ran one of the largest district attorney's offices in America..."

Lt. Governor, MA. Here is the entire record of John Kerry according to the bio on his website regarding the two years he spent as Lt. Governor:

John Kerry was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1982. In that office, he organized the nation's Governors to combat the acid rain that was polluting lakes, rivers, and the nation's water supply.

Wow! That's really impressive! No need to elaborate on that job.

US Senate. I don't want to go into what he voted for and didn't vote for because we all know that Kerry is a big time liberal. The interesting point here is that he accomplished almost nothing in a 20 year career in the Senate. Ted Kennedy, like him or not, has shown significant leadership during his Senate career. Liberal donors have gotten there money's worth from him, and according to his senate website, he has sponsored an average of 80-100 bills per year. Kerry's senate site his greatest accomplishments were things like Massachusetts Telecommunications Council "Policy Maker of the Year" and Visiting Nurse Association of America's "Legislator of the Year". I haven't found a record of him being the chairman of any Senate committees during his 20 years. He is currently the ranking member of the Sub-Committee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Sub-Commitee on Oceans, Fisheries, and the Environment, and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. That last one is a bit ironic don't you think? As the President said last night,

He has no record on reforming of health care. No record at all. He introduced some 300 bills and he's passed five. No record of leadership.

Exactly right! Kerry admittedly talks a good game, but where is the executive experience, where is the leadership, hell, where is the integrity? Look, everyone has padded their resume once or twice trying to get a job that they knew they could do. It's not a big deal when your goal is get your foot in the door and prove to the management that you are a go-to guy. I don't begrudge anyone that. But when it comes to padding a resume to become President of the United States during a time of war, that just cannot be allowed to happen. This guy has being riding other peoples backs throughout his entire life. Jane Fonda, District Attorney John J. Droney, Michael Dukakis, Ted Kennedy, Teresa Heinz and many nameless others have all carried John Kerry at one time or another.

The problem is, once in the Oval office, there is no one left to carry you. In fact, the President has to carry us all.

Game, Set, Match

President Bush came strong once again tonite, making Kerry eat his words and defend himself from an onslaught of his own BS thrown back in his face. Kerry is nothing more than a kept man coasting in the Senate, trading on his contrived military record in an effort to bamboozle America into thinking that he is a leader. He is a panderer that demonstrated that he has no shame with regard to saying anything and being everything to everyone. He has a "plan" for everything, but nary a detail to share. He had to actually tell America that he won't let foreign governments dictate US defense policy. He senses correctly that America thinks he's a weak leader and he is left twisting in the wind as he dodges his true liberal roots. He is afraid to be himself because he is smart enough to know that hardcore leftists are not going to be elected in this country until the GWOT is won.

President Bush has shown by his leadership that he trusts the American people with respect to domestic issues, and he will continue to put foot to ass in the GWOT. The President was thrown curve balls all night by a biased moderator, and he smacked the ball hard in every at bat. He exposed Kerry at every turn as a tax and spend liberal, and forced him to defend his outrageous promises on health care and taxes. He showed that Kerry has accomplished almost nothing in 20 years in the Senate which demonstrates his lack of leadership ability.

The other story here is that Schieffer was about as biased a moderator as you could be under the circumstances. Alan Colmes is left saying the National Journal has changed its mind about Kerry being the most liberal, and repeating an offhand comment that the President wasn't worried about UBL. Chris Matthews could do nothing but babble on about the assault weapon ban to Bill Frist. The MSM was on display tonite as de facto campaign assets for Kerry, and the blogosphere is picking up the slack for the President.

The President is going to win big on November 2nd.