A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....08-05-04....Take this Bounce and Shove it!

JohnHuang2;Dutchess;Billie | JohnHuang2

[dutchess]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_bear, Dutchess, Aquamarine

Take this Bounce and Shove it!

by JohnHuang2

Regarding Kerry's convention speech last week (you know, the one where he said he defended America in Vietnam after those 19 Vietcong hijackers crashed jets into . . . oops, never mind), Washington Post reporter David Broder wrote in a column Sunday that "preliminary indications are that it worked well, not just inside the FleetCenter and here in his hometown (in Boston), but with many in the national audience. The first feedback I heard was almost uniformly positive." (The feedback consisted of, 'Wow, he finally broke his silence about serving in Vietnam!)

Richard Cohen, another Post columnist, columnized Sunday that Kerry presented "a package that can only be called presidential. He came across as thoughtful and smart and experienced and, critically important, personally compelling." (No wonder the delegates loved his lengthy speech so much. You should've seen the standing ovation Kerry got when he said, "In closing . . . ")

Los Angeles Times reporter, Ronald Brownstein, declared the speech a terrific success, noting that Kerry, sounding "confident and combative," had "signaled his determination to fight the fall campaign on terrain that the White House has long assumed would belong to President Bush: Strength, integrity, values and the prosecution of the war on terror." Indeed, at the convention, Democrats packed the stage with retired generals and admirals, and, to show they're really strong on defense, not once did delegates call them 'War Pigs!' nor 'Baby Killers!' It was a remarkable show of restraint. (And, speak of restraint, did you see Teresa on Tuesday night? Pundits called her "warm," "spectacular," "likable," "sexy." For John Kerry, no doubt Teresa was love at first Billion.)

In his speech, Kerry vowed to "bring back this nation's time-honored tradition" that the U.S. "never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to," like Kerry did regarding Iraq. Kerry voted for war, not because he wanted to, but because he had to -- he had to avoid looking like Dukakis. Then he changed his mind and voted against it -- the funding, anyway. (Democrats want Bush to confess that taking down Saddam was a mistake, a crime of passion and plead temporary insanity to avoid impeachment.)

Doyle McManus, another L.A. Times reporter, declared Kerry's speech a terrific success. TV "ratings for his acceptance speech" were "strong"; Kerry got a "wave of generally positive news coverage" and the speech conveyed "a message that a Kerry administration would be strong on defense in the struggle against terrorism." (Kerry would be so strong against terror, al-Qaeda plans to disrupt our elections just to get that warmonger from Massachusetts elected to liven things up.) With the speech, "Kerry largely succeeded at the tasks he set for himself at the convention," wrote McManus.

Kerry so largely succeeded, he largely succeeded in giving Bush a 5 point bounce, a new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll shows. (Gallup is deemed "the historic standard" in tracking convention bounces, noted Deborah Orin of the New York Post Monday.) Bush now leads Kerry among likely voters, 51%-47%. Kerry led Bush by 2 points before Kerry 'largely succeeded' in Boston last week. Kerry's speech was effective -- it improved voters' opinion of Bush as President, boosting their willingness to vote for Bush. Millions of voters were moved by Kerry's speech to vote for Bush. The convention gave Bush the biggest lift he could have hoped from a Democrat convention that 'largely succeeded.' Kerry emerged from his 'largely successful' convention with the party unified -- the Republican Party. According to Gallup, "a relatively high proportion of Americans (gave) Kerry's acceptance speech stellar reviews," which all but assured Bush's support would go up. Kerry's speech did seem to bring voters closer together -- closer together against Kerry. (Maybe they should've delayed Kerry's speech to 2 a.m. to limit viewer-ship -- just a hunch.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

USA Today reports that "pollsters and strategists are puzzling over Kerry's failure" to produce any bounce for himself after "a convention that even critics acknowledge went almost precisely as planned." (Indeed, for example, Nielsen ratings showed high viewer-ship during the first half of Kerry's speech, though the high viewer-ship fell asleep during the second half.) Keen observers and campaign watchers have no idea why, after a week of Jimmy Carter, Al Sharton, Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy on primetime TV, no Bounce for Kerry has been found. Search crews have scoured polls for days but have failed to turn up any Bounce, the main rationale behind the convention. Experts insist that conventions have always had plenty of Bounce and urged patience. Eventually the Bounce will be found. Yet, questions continue to be raised: Did John Kerry lead his party into Boston based on lies that a Bounce will be found? Did Democrats go to convention on a false pretense? Or could the Bounce have been hidden? With Kerry's credibility at risk in the search for a Bounce, again, some hold out hope that a Bounce might yet be found.

John Harwood of the Wall Street Journal told Meet The Press Sunday that the reason Kerry didn't get the usual 6-7 point bounce is because voters have already made up their minds, and, anyway, these polls were taken "before the historical peak of these bounces," usually during the weekend, when "low information voters start "absorbing this information" (Honey, playback that convention tape one more time. That balloon-drop looked quite compelling), so expect Kerry to get the usual 6-7 point bounce. In other words, Kerry got no bounce because there aren't enough persuadable voters but, by Monday, Kerry will get a bounce because there are enough persuadable voters. It's not more complicated than that.

So, you'd think Bush would be basking in the glow of his post-convention bounce, resting on his laurels, right? Not a chance. Instead, he went right to work, on Monday endorsing creation of a post of National Intelligence Director and counterterrorism operations center, a move immediately denounced by Kerry as too little, too late. Kerry says he can fight a more effective war on terrorism because he served in Vietnam for four months. (In Vietnam, Kerry says he fought the war on communism and lost. So, to fight the war on terror and win -- who you gonna call? Trust me -- I'm your guy!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Monday, Kerry and the media angrily blasted Bush for not taking the threat of terror seriously enough, of not acting with sufficient urgency. More can be done, and must be done -- now! Call the Congress back and get the job done -- now! Ports, bridges, ships, buildings, infrastructure -- all should be secured . . . now! Hire more FBI -- now! The time to act is now, not later!

Frankly, I question the timing of this fearmongering by Kerry. I'm concerned that every time something happens that's not good for Kerry, he plays his 'trump card', which is fearmongering, and then out comes Howard Dean.

Kerry crowed that he endorsed the 9/11 Commission report as written before it was written. (Bush is a slowpoke! Bush is a slowpoke! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyahhhh, nyah!)

Later on Monday, Democrats and the media angrily blasted Bush for exaggerating the threat of terror, of pushing fear for political gain, of acting as if there was some sort of urgency when there wasn't. The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday raised the threat alert level for financial centers in New York, New Jersey and the nation's capital, a move condemned as political by Democrats. Howard Dean told CNN he questioned the timing, accusing Bush of holding back the new information behind the heightened alert in order to blunt Kerry's post-convention Bounce that hasn't been found, when the right thing to do was to share the information as soon as it was uncovered -- in mid-July -- so that Dean could then accuse Bush of trying to blunt Kerry's pre-convention Bounce that had also never been found. (Notice how we're not talking about Kerry's warm, charming personality nor about the very shy, very quiet Teresa? hmmmmmm?)

Kerry, campaigning in Michigan, told CNN that, by moving so fast and not "reaching out to other countries" in fighting terrorism, "Bush is actually encouraging the recruitment of terrorists." (Bush, in 30-second recruitment ad, with thick Texas twang, says: 'Join al-Qaeda, See the World.') So, lemme get this straight: By killing and capturing so many al-Qaeda, Bush has forced al-Qaeda to recruit more al-Qaeda, in order to replenish al-Qaeda that Bush has killed or captured, or risk running out of al-Qaeda, and Kerry says this is something we should worry about. (I'm melting in fear like marshmallows.) And just think how safe we would be today if only Bush had retaliated more gently after 9/11. (I bet you thought Democrats were Blame-America-Firsters, didn't ya?)

Dean says he's "concerned that every time something happens that's not good for President Bush, he plays his trump card, which is terrorism, and then out comes Tom Ridge" and Condi Rice and Colin Powell and Dick Cheney . . . Yeeeaaaarggggh! Dean's remark should do wonders to reinforce his image as even-tempered, always thoughtful and self-controlled.

Question: Why does Dean say these things? Only a CAT scan of the head can answer.

;-)

Anyway, that's...

My two cents

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 08-02-04...Military Monday 08-03-04...Luvya, Dubya! (Countering the Baddest and Ugliest) 08-04-04...Blue Angels

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

CLICK

[dutchess]

[dutchess]

It's Thursday at the Finest... That means another homerun from our favorite resident author JohnHuang2!!!

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Dutchess.

[Taxman]

Home run, John! Great essay!

[cricket]

Thanks dutchess and thank you. . .JohnHuang 2!

[GailA]

Good morning, will be gone most of the day, it's a primary day here for local and state. I'm poll watching for Chuck Bates who is running for State Rep.

Coffee's on

[Lakeside]

'morning dutchess and all.

And thanks, John, for yet another great read.

Here's wishing you all a good Thursday!

[The Mayor]

August 5, 2004

A Bitter Attitude

Read: Deuteronomy 32:44-52

Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today . . . . It is your life. —Deuteronomy 32:46-47

Bible In One Year: Psalms 68-69; Romans 8:1-21

---

Great emphasis is being placed on living longer and better. Advances in medical science are making it possible for more and more people. Yet in spite of this, none of us can avoid growing old. One day aging will overtake all of us, and our bodies will shut down.

What is preventable, however, is an attitude of bitterness and regret as we grow older. Look at the life of Moses. When he was 120 years old, he stood with the Israelites before they crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land. He could not go with them because he had disobeyed the Lord when in anger he struck the rock in the wilderness (Numbers 20:12,24).

How easily Moses could have slipped into a self-pitying and resentful frame of mind! Had he not borne the burden of a stubborn and stiff-necked people for 40 years? Had he not interceded for them time after time? Yet at the end of his life he praised the Lord and urged a new generation of Israelites to obey Him (Deuteronomy 32:1-4,45-47).

As we grow older, we can dwell on the failures and hardships of our past, or we can remember God’s faithfulness, accept His discipline, and keep looking to the future in faith. It’s the only way to avoid a bitter attitude. —Dennis De Haan

Though wrinkles and weakness come with age
And life with its stress takes its toll,
Yet beauty and vigor can still be seen
When Jesus gives peace to our soul. —D. De Haan

We cannot avoid growing old; but we can avoid growing cold.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Mr. Mayor.

[lonestar]

I think the Dem convention would have had a more spectacular ending if they had dropped, instead of balloons, several thousands of Kerry's Vietnam medals.

[Texagirl4W]

Good morning, everyone. What a terrific Thursday post, again. Have a wonderful day.

[Temple Owl]

Thanks again for another enjoyable post. I always look forward to them. We must not get overconfident, but I am now looking for a clean sweep.

[dutchess]

Goodmorning Aeronaut. Had a GREAT lesson this week. Think I finally broke through a brick wall and really enjoyed myself! It's starting to come together FINALLY! Thanks for protecting the Finest skies!

[Billie]

It's Thursday at the Finest... That means another homerun from our favorite resident author JohnHuang2!!!

Absolutely priceless, you two! Love the bouncing graphics, dutchess! I love Thursdays at the Finest!

[Billie]

I think the Dem convention would have had a more spectacular ending if they had dropped, instead of balloons, several thousands of Kerry's Vietnam medals.

I don't usually do more than LOL, but dang, lonestar! This should be the quote of the week!!!!ROFLOL!!!!!

[Dubya]

Don't bury your Mother-in-Law in Israel

A man, his wife and mother-in-law went on vacation to the Holy Land.

While they were there the mother-in-law passed away. The undertaker told them,"You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here in the Holy Land for $150.00."

The man thought about it and told him he would just have her shipped home.

The undertaker asked, "Why? Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your mother-in-law home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here and spend only $150.00?"

The man said, "A man died here 2000 years ago, he was buried here and three days later he rose from the dead ....... I just can't take that chance."

[Dubya]

Dear Edwin,
Last week in Boston, we introduced a documentary video detailing John Kerry's continually changing position on Iraq.

Rudy Giuliani said he thinks "every American should see this" because "it's going to say a lot more than any speech John Kerry gives." We couldn't agree more.

Watch Rudy Giuliani speak on Kerry's record and introduce the video at www.GeorgeWBush.com/VideoandAudio.

To view the full length video, visit www.KerryOnIraq.com.

From the stage in Boston, Kerry talked about the need to fight terror, but his flip-flopping on this important issue paints a different picture.

From talking tough about the need to remove Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction in 2001 to declaring himself the anti-war candidate in 2004, Kerry's stance on Iraq has shifted with the political wind.

Seeing for yourself the political metamorphosis and verbal gymnastics of John Kerry's Iraq policy over the last three years tells the story better than any speech, ad, or press release ever could.

Once you watch the introduction at www.GeorgeWBush.com/VideoandAudio, we encourage you to view the full length video at www.KerryOnIraq.com, request a copy for yourself, and share it with your friends.

Sincerely,

Ken Mehlman
Campaign Manager

---

Was this forwarded to you?
If you would like to get this sent directly to you, follow this link.

[LadyX]

** LadyX pinches self to gain entry into the Obvious Reality Liberal Pundit Zone described in Essay **

** - - pauses to do Search for channel that carried the Democratic Convention those "Certain Others" watched - - to no avail. **

Pushing on, calm was restored as you 'splained, dear JuanHernando.
So many cliches come to mind now - - "Snooze, you lose, JfK" - " the first one.

Loved the part about how kerry jumped up and down and pointed his finger at President Bush:

Addressing the fearmongering --
"On Monday, Kerry and the media angrily blasted Bush for not taking the threat of terror seriously enough, of not acting with sufficient urgency. More can be done, and must be done -- now! Call the Congress back and get the job done -- now! Ports, bridges, ships, buildings, infrastructure -- all should be secured . . . now! Hire more FBI -- now! The time to act is now, not later!"

Seems to me, JH, kerry is acting out his very favorite childhood story:

(wonder if the wolf likes ketchup ... hmmm...)

Gotta pity him, I suppose, stuck back at age 5 - -
Thanks for the latest scoop...

Hugs,

~ LadyX

[Aeronaut]

Had a GREAT lesson this week.

Good for you! Keep at it.

[Kitty Mittens]

Dutchess, thank you for the thread! John, that was an EXCELLENT essay!