Now that the stock market is at a historical high and unemployment is about the lowest it can get, what do Democrats have to say about an economy that equals or betters the numbers of the Clinton economy they continue to praise? “The Bush Economy continues to benefit only the wealthiest Americans“, of course.

Oops.

Wages and benefits paid to American workers rose in the July-September period at the fastest pace in more than two years.

Nevermind, nevermind… it’s, uh, not the economy, stupid…

*18 Updates below*

From the Pasadena Star-News

Kerry then told the students that if they were able to navigate the education system, they could get comfortable jobs - “If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq,” he said to a mixture of laughter and gasps.

Here’s the audio (hat tip: HotAir).

Kerry: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

John Kerry always has a funny way of showing his support for the troops. At least he didn’t call them dumb, lazy terrorists… again.

Support the troops today.

UPDATE:
I was reminded of a study done last year that debunked the Democrat myth of the “underprivileged and uneducated soldier”.

According to a comprehensive study of all enlistees for the years 1998-99 and 2003 that The Heritage Foundation just released, the typical recruit in the all-volunteer force is wealthier, more educated and more rural than the average 18- to 24-year-old citizen is. Indeed, for every two recruits coming from the poorest neighborhoods, there are three recruits coming from the richest neighborhoods.
…
If, for example, we consider the education of every recruit, 98% joined with high-school diplomas or better. By comparison, 75% of the general population meets that standard. Among all three-digit ZIP code areas in the USA in 2003 (one can study larger areas by isolating just the first three digits of ZIP codes), not one had a higher graduation rate among civilians than among its recruits.

UPDATE 2:
I’m getting the standard stream of leftwing emails trying to defend Kerry’s comments as mere bush-Bashing as opposed ot troop-bashing. Of course, that would be an ironic position for Kerry to take, considering Bush made better grades than him.

In 1999, The New Yorker published a transcript indicating that Bush had received a cumulative score of 77 for his first three years at Yale and a roughly similar average under a non-numerical rating system during his senior year.
…
Kerry, who graduated two years before Bush, got a cumulative 76 for his four years…
…
The transcript shows that Kerry’s freshman-year average was 71. He scored a 61 in geology, a 63 and 68 in two history classes, and a 69 in political science. His top score was a 79, in another political science course. Another of his strongest efforts, a 77, came in French class.
…
In addition to Kerry’s four D’s in his freshman year, he received one D in his sophomore year.

‘’I always told my Dad that D stood for distinction,” Kerry said yesterday in a written response to questions, noting that he has previously acknowledged that he spent a lot of time learning to fly instead of focusing on his studies.

It also stands for Dumbass, you french-loving twit. But then again, maybe he’s right. If Kerry had studied and worked harder, he might’ve known where Cambodia actually was.

UPDATE 3:
John McCain calls on Kerry to apologize. Kerry responds with this:

If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m appalled that McCain’s been faking his war service and POW status all this time.

Oh, and speaking of “despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war”… here’s some more reaction from those poor, uneducated and apparently non-serving troops.

UPDATE 4:
More “right wing nut jobs who’ve never served in the military” are responding to Kerry’s comments.

The National Commander of The American Legion called on Sen. John Kerry to apologize for suggesting that American troops in Iraq are uneducated.

“As a constituent of Senator Kerry’s I am disappointed. As leader of The American Legion, I am outraged,” said National Commander Paul A. Morin. “A generation ago, Sen. Kerry slandered his comrades in Vietnam by saying that they were rapists and murderers. It wasn’t true then and his warped view of today’s heroes isn’t true now.”
…
“The senator’s false and outrageous attack was over-the-top and he should apologize now.”

UPDATE 5:
John Kerry to deliver a press conference around 1:30 PM CDT. I’m sure it won’t be the apology that many in the military are seeking.

UPDATE 6:
Kerry is melting down. He’s angrily claiming it was a “botched joke about the President”. (see update 2 above) “Botched Joke” - wasn’t that the theme of his Presidential campaign? He’s coming off as an arrogant ass… as usual. Tying it back to Vietnam… again. He’s calling it a “typical textbook Republican tactic”. He’s claiming it’s all a big lie and big distortion. Someone might want to remind Kerry it was his own damn words. Now he’s calling John McCain a liar. He’s claiming his critics owe him an apology. I just have one word for Kerry’s antics… desperation.

About the return to the “misled us to war” rhetoric, let’s stroll down memory lane to what John Kerry was saying about Iraq and Saddam Hussein long before March, 2003.

UPDATE 7:
More reaction from the “drooling, knuckle-dragging, terrorists” that make up the U.S. military.

AMVETS’ National Commander expressed disbelief and disappointment in the comments by Senator John Kerry Monday.

“For the Senator to suggest that today’s United States military is made up of uneducated men and women who didn’t ‘study hard’ or ‘make an effort to be smart’ is ridiculous and appalling,” AMVETS National Commander Thomas C. McGriff said Tuesday. “The men and women in uniform today make up the most advanced, highly-educated force ever seen. To suggest otherwise is a slap in the face to every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine and Coast Guardsman who has spent countless hours working to better him or herself. This is also an insult to every person and organization who has worked tirelessly to provide our troops and their families with education benefits.

“Senator Kerry should retract his remarks and apologize immediately,” McGriff said after listening to comments made by Senator Kerry at a political rally in Pasadena, Calif., Monday. “It is especially outrageous coming from a member of the U.S. Senate.”

UPDATE 8:
A mother whose son was killed in Iraq urges Kerry to “learn more about the military“.

“I am very disturbed. I am very insulted and very sad that he doesn’t understand how highly educated and well trained our military men and women are,” said Debra Booth, whose son was killed in Iraq.

Second Lt. Joshua Booth died on Oct. 17. His mother said that what makes Kerry’s words so offensive is that they come one day after Kerry called the family to offer condolences.

“We did appreciate the call. I am appreciative of anyone who reaches out to me and to then turn around and say something that is so totally incorrect,” Booth said.

As to whether Kerry should apologize, Booth said that Kerry needs to do more to make amends.

“In addition to apologizing, he needs to learn a little bit about what our men and women in the military are actually made up of,” Booth said. “We don’t want to send that kind of signal, that you only go into the military if you are not good at anything.”

But somehow I don’t think those who’ve been parading around with Cindy Sheehan will care much for Booth’s stance. It’s just simply too… pro-American.

UPDATE 9:
President Bush addresses Kerry’s remarks head on.

UPDATE 10:
Looks like the nutroots are following Kerry off the cliff… again.

UPDATE 11:
Looks like the “botched joke” excuse isn’t even going over well within the party.
-A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry.
-A Democratic congressman told ABC News Tuesday, “I guess Kerry wasn’t content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too.”

UPDATE 12:
The troops respond.

UPDATE 13:
Kerry cancels event with Bob Casey. Or did he just get disinvited again?

UPDATE 14:
Democrat Harold ‘Playboy’ Ford says Kerry should apologize. Not because he cares if it offended the troops, but because it brought the Democrat campaign momentum to a halt.

UPDATE 15:
More Democrats joining the “right wing smear machine”.

UPDATE 16:
Hillary joins the “right wing smear machine”

UPDATE 17:
Claire McCaskill has joined the “right wing smear machine”

UPDATE 18:
Kerry, with his finger firmly extended into the prevailing wind of public opinion, decides to apologize, even after declaring he owes an apology to nobody. Of course, it’s the typical apology you’d expect… not “I’m sorry I offended” or “I apologize for my inappropriate remarks”… no, he’s apologizing that people “misinterpreted” him. Yet again, it’s their fault. Oh well, it’s the best we can expect from the man who once called his comrades rapists and murderers, I guess.

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I will be on the Allman & Smash in the Morning show this morning at 7:45 AM Central.

Click here to listen

I want to congratulate St. Louis on beating Detroit… but enough about the crime stats.

It’s Halloween and I was going to wear the scariest costume imagineable… but none of the stores carried a President Hillary Clinton costume.

It’s no wonder Democrats continue to complain about technology in the election process. It’s just another way for mean old Republicans to catch them cheating.

A new statewide database of registered voters contains as many as 77,000 dead people on its rolls, and as many as 2,600 of them have cast votes from the grave, according to a Poughkeepsie Journal computer-assisted analysis.
…
Among the Journal’s findings:

- There were dead people on the voter rolls in all of New York’s 62 counties and people in as many as 45 counties who had votes recorded after they had died.

- One Bronx address was listed as the home for as many as 191 registered voters who had died. The address is 5901 Palisade Ave., in Riverdale, site of the Hebrew Home for the Aged.

- Democrats who cast votes after they died outnumbered Republicans by more than 4 to 1. The reason: Most of them came from Democrat-dominated New York City, where the higher population produced more matches.
…
In one reported case, a dead man’s signature was clearly spelled out on voting records even though while alive he could only mark an “X” because he had no fingers.

So when you see ghosts and goblins on the streets tomorrow night, remember, some may be trick-or-treaters…

…and some may be Democrats heading to the polls.

If you’re going to pretend to know something about a subject, at least be informed enough to fake it (video).

Michael J. Fox: “Well, I don’t think that’s true. You know, I campaigned for Claire McCaskill. And so I have to qualify it by saying I’m not qualified to speak on the page-to-page content of the initiative. Although, I am quite sure that I’ll agree with it in spirit, I don’t know, I— On full disclosure, I haven’t read it, and that’s why I didn’t put myself up for it distinctly.”

Why am I not surprised? Democrats don’t care if he’s read the legislation, all they care about is the fact that he has Parkinson’s… and therefore they can attack anyone who criticizes his position on the bill.

I have a bank account, does that mean I have enough expertise in government regulation of the financial market to do an ad myself?

Liberal elites in Hollywood snub the Clintons.

When America’s liberal elite were offered the chance to pay up to $500,000 each (about £260,000) to attend Bill Clinton’s 60th birthday extravaganza tonight - with the added promise of a private Rolling Stones concert - a packed house was expected.
…
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that last Wednesday the Clintons drastically slashed prices to $12,500 (£6,500) for one reception and the concert, or $5,000 (£2,600) for just the Stones.

Liberal Chris Matthews forgets Al Gore.

Chris Matthews: “Most of us, John, will never forget watching, uh, Vice President What’s His Name?, uh, what’s his name, Vice President…, uh, …the one before Cheney, uh…”

A liberal campaign fund falls flat.

The September Fund was created last month by a top Democratic operative, Harold Ickes, to combat an anticipated pre-election onslaught of advertising by Republican groups. The fund reportedly hoped to raise between $10 million and $25 million, but its filing yesterday with the Internal Revenue Service indicated the total received through October 18 was only $3 million.

With an upcoming election, this can’t be an exciting trend for the Left…

CHENEY: You made a point last night of a man who had a bookstore in London where radical islamists gathered. Who was in Afghanistan when the Taliban were there. Who went to Pakistan. You know, I think that you might be a little careful before you declare this as a person with clean hands.

WOLF: You are receiving to the CNN “Broken Government” special. This is the one John King reported on last night.

CHENEY: Right there, Wolf. ‘Broken Government.’ What kind of stance is that? Here we are. We are a country where we have been mightily challenged over the past six years. We’ve been through 9/11, we’ve been through Katrina. The president and the vice president inherited a recession. We are in a country where the economy is healthy. That’s not broken. This government has acted very well. We have tax cuts responsible for the healthy economy. We are a country that was attacked five years ago. We haven’t been attacked since. What this government has done is effective. That’s not broken government. So, you know, I shouldn’t let media bias surprise me, but I worked at CNN once. I watched a program last night.

WOLF: You worked on CROSSFIRE.

CHENEY: …And i was troubled.

WOLF: All right. Well that was probably the purpose, to get people to think. To get people to discuss these issues. Because —

CHENEY: Well, all right. Wolf, I’m here to talk about my book. But if you want to talk about distortion —

WOLF: We’ll talk about your book.

CHENEY: Right, but what is CNN doing? Running terrorist tape of terrorists shooting Americans. I mean, I thought [Rep.] Duncan Hunter asked you a very good question, and you didn’t answer it. Do you want us to win?

WOLF: The answer of course is we want the United States to win. We are Americans. There’s no doubt about that.

CHENEY: Then why are you running terrorist propaganda?

WOLF: Well all do respect, this is not terrorist propaganda.

CHENEY: Oh, wolf.

WOLF: This is reporting the news. Which is what we do, we are not partisan.

CHENEY: Where did you get the film?

WOLF: We got the film, look, this is an issue that has been widely discussed. This is an issue we reported on extensively. We make no apologies for showing that. That was a very carefully-considered decision why we did that. And I think, I think —

CHENEY: Well I think it’s shocking.

WOLF: If you are a serious journalist, you want to report the news. Sometimes the news is good, sometimes the news isn’t so good.

CHENEY: But wolf, there’s a difference between news and terrorist propaganda.

Lots of readers from St. Louis, thanks to the Allman & Smash show. Tonights your night. Congrats on winning the World Series.

*For those who keep asking, no, the bet remains unpaid. (Though I fully expect Jamie to send me tickets to Games 6 & 7 of the World Series now)

I will be on Allman & Smash Tuesday, October 31st at 7:45 AM central. Click here to listen live.

All I’ve heard for months now is how the Democrats are going to win big and take over control of Congress. Voters are abandoning Republicans. Republicans are toast because of scandals. Democrats are favored to control Congress. Democrats are firmly ahead.

So why then all the hedging? While the MSM is telling us Democrats will take this cycle in a landslide, they’re simultaneously trying to lay the foundation for excuses, blame and challenges should their predictions turn out as badly as the 2004 exit polls.

First, they claim some great conspiracy behind electronic voting machines. Of course, if we still had paper ballots, they’d find a way to complain about them too.

Next, they challenge the technology behind voter databases. Nothing like creating an atmosphere of fraud just before an election. Probably so that when they successfully accomplish such fraud (it was Democrats that broke into the voter database, afterall) they can project their own shenanigans on Republicans.

Then, it’s the black voters. MSM is carefully laying the proper foundation to later allege widespread disenfranchisement and Republican racism. They have good reason to.

But if Democrats are so poised to completely dominate this election cycle, as we keep hearing MSM repeat over and over… why are they hedging with stories of electronic fraud and problems with black turnout? Maybe it’s because MSM knows the real story.

With all the admissions of bias lately by the MSM, it’s no wonder they’re covering the 2006 election cycle as a an uphill battle for one party… it’s also no surprise who they’re claiming is at the bottom of that hill.

Can you imagine if Republicans needed to win six Senate seats and 15 in the House of Representatives to win a majority they hadn’t held in years? Especially in such a terrific economy… Would MSM be writing about how wonderful Republicans’ chances were? Or would they be talking about what an uphill battle Republicans face in taking control of Congress?

Yet, here we are watching the complete bias of MSM on parade as they continuously call this election cycle an uphill battle for the party in control (and enjoying successes across the board) who can lose 21 total seats across Congress and still retain power…