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A Vietnam veteran who defended Sen. John Kerry against "Swift Boat" attacks in the 2004 presidential race has been stripped of his Silver Star by the Navy -- more than a year after he was sentenced to prison on a child pornography charge. But the Silver Star wasn't stripped from Wade Sanders because of the child porn conviction, per se.

Syndicated columnist and PBS regular Mark Shields on Friday actually said on national television that he has never heard a Democratic leader or presidential candidate accuse former President George W. Bush of lying America into the Iraq War. This was said in response to Charles Krauthammer telling his fellow "Inside Washington" panelists that this all too common media assertion is the "essential untruth of this decade" (video follows with transcript and commentary): GORDON PETERSON, HOST: What’s happened to honest objective reporting? EVAN THOMAS, NEWSWEEK: Well, I’m not sure there ever was honest objective reporting, but there is an interesting thing...

The ultimate fall from grace, a Federal grand jury is about to indict John Edwards, The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively. In another shocker, close sources say Edwards' estranged wife Elizabeth could help send the former presidential candidate to jail! Edwards, the disgraced two-time Presidential loser, is being investigated by the feds, including the FBI and IRS, for possible campaign violations related to paying his mistress Rielle Hunter. The grand jury has been meeting since April 2009, and insiders say an indictment is imminent. "John is terrified that he's going to be indicted," a friend told The ENQUIRER. "While he believes...

By the time it was ready for the 2004 presidential election, the Democrats’ “every man’s” presidential candidate, John Forbes Kerry (aka “Lurch”) was not only Bush’s distant cousin but also his challenger for the White House. (Whoever said inbreeding doesn’t result in odd genetic mutations?) Lurch’s biggest claim to fame is that as an ambitious, young man, he served in Viet Nam for several months then spent the rest of his life as a professional politian — sort of like a ward of the state only with a nicer title and better perks. He was also the only known...

Dr. Howard Dean’s fans come out for the big Democratic summer shindig As Tom Andrews, the director of the leading national antiwar coalition, began his speech at the Maine Democrats’ big outdoor summer shindig in Falmouth, John Baldacci signaled his bodyguard/driver to move the large, dark SUV up the driveway. The vehicle soon hid in the trees, its engine quietly humming. At first, the governor seemed to be paying attention as Andrews, the former First District congressman, launched into rousing tales of how the country, under President George W. Bush, had gone "from peace and prosperity to war and recession."...

The final numbers are in -- and turnout in the 2004 presidential election, it seems, was a bit more impressive than previously believed. The Committee for the Study of the American Electorate reported yesterday that more than 122 million people voted in the November election, a number that translates into the highest turnout -- 60.7 percent -- since 1968. Turnout was 6.4 percent higher than in 2000, the largest uptick in voter participation since the 1952 election. The numbers are a bit higher than the research group's initial estimates, which were based on unofficial tallies and released days after the...

He's the star of bulletins chronicling Barack Obama's movements, one of only a few nonrelatives to consistently get time with the Democratic candidate for president and a trusted confidant who has shared some of the most pivotal moments of Obama's career with him. Yet journalists who have followed Obama's campaign for the better part of two years don't know what he looks like, staffers who have logged countless hours traveling with Team Obama didn't even know he works for the campaign and there's never been a story in a major media outlet about him. He is Michael Signator, an aide...

Let me be clear, we are without a doubt behind in this race. The odds are definitely against us, but then again with the right/wrong numbers the way they have been and presidential approval numbers very low, we knew this for over a year. I believe the same party has held the white house three elections in a row only twice the last 100 years. But taking all those things into account, along with the fact that we have BEEN OUTSPENT 3 TO 1. That is about to change, with the RNC committing to about 7.5 million a day along...

The heightened security for the Republican convention resulted in four Pakistani students from St. John's University being detained in Times Square last night. The four, who were in a burgundy van, were taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m. outside the Marriott Marquis hotel on Broadway and West 45th Street after cops thought they were acting suspiciously. They were questioned for at least seven hours at the Midtown North precinct on West 54th Street while anxious relatives waited outside. Police sources said two of the students were on an FBI watch list.

Map of the US after the 2004 presidential election shows where the winning votes have to come from. Victory comes from counties and small towns. McCain and Palin have to carry them all plus enough from the cities to reach the tipping point. THAT is why Palin's small-town roots are spot-on. Sorry, no USA Today link accepted but maybe below will help. Prepare to see red. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm

WASHINGTON — The Arab television station Al-Jazeera is broadcasting a new tape from Al Qaeda (search) leader Usama bin Laden (search). Multiple sources told FOX News that the 18-minute videotape is authentic and said its release was timed to coincide with Tuesday's presidential elections. Bin Laden makes reference to recent conflicts in Iraq and addresses the American people directly, sources said. U.S. officials said the tape appears to have been made recently. Bin Laden is speaking from a lectern and he talks about threats to the United States and he says that President Bush will not protect the American people...

The Milwaukee Police Department has issued an investigative report on a host of election irregularities surrounding the 2004 presidential election in Milwaukee. The report, which covers many issues first reported by the Journal Sentinel in early 2005, provides a look at the level to which police investigated the problems, which included a gap of several thousand more votes counted than people recorded as having voted.

"I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty." Who can forget this now-infamous July 29, 2004, Democratic National Convention acceptance speech when the party's nominee publicly set his course for the next few months? "At the heart of the 2004 presidential campaign was a long-deferred national debate over whether American troops had systematically committed war crimes in Vietnam, as John Kerry and other activists had insisted, and as Hollywood, the media and much of the American public had long assumed," begins Chapter One of To Set the Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John...

If John Kerry had been elected President of the United States in November 2004, especially with the incoming majority Democrat Congress, it is highly likely that Iraq would be in the midst of a civil war, Iran’s regional influence would have increased, Israel would be in more jeopardy than it is now, two Supreme Court seats would be occupied by clones of John Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of by John Roberts and Samuel Alito, judicial decisions would have given even more “rights” to enemy combatants, domestic entitlements and earmarks would have skyrocketed, the Bush tax cuts would be...

The scientist who created Dolly the sheep, a breakthrough that provoked headlines around the world a decade ago, is to abandon the cloning technique he pioneered to create her. [H]e has decided not to pursue a licence to clone human embryos, which he was awarded just two years ago, as part of a drive to find new treatments for the devastating degenerative condition, Motor Neuron disease. His inspiration comes from the research by Prof Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, which suggests a way to create human embryo stem cells without the need for human eggs, which are in extremely short...

A civil servant who leaked a secret memo about George W. Bush wanted it to be seen by US presidential candidate John Kerry, the Old Bailey heard. David Keogh, 50, from Northampton, is said to have passed a highly sensitive document detailing talks between Mr. Bush and Tony Blair to Leo O'Connor. Mr. Keogh told jurors the contents of the memo had preyed on his mind. Mr. Keogh and Mr. O'Connor, 44, also of Northampton, deny three charges under the Official Secrets Act. Mr. Keogh had been asked to copy out the memo for distribution to high-ranking UK officials. The...

George W. Bush was elected to a second term by a big majority of Republicans, half of political independents and 11 percent of Democrats. Now, more than two years later, the majority of those voters say they are satisfied with the Bush presidency. But some have lost faith, and those who have say it is because they can no longer back Mr. Bush’s support of the war in Iraq. Fifty-eight percent of Mr. Bush’s voters say their feelings about the administration can best be described as satisfied but not enthusiastic. Nine percent said they are enthusiastic. But 26 percent said...

Four people were indicted Thursday in an alleged kickback scheme that?s at the core of the debate over the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. Former state Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon, Toby Martinez, Raul Parra and Sandra Mata Martinez all face charges. The U.S. attorney?s office in Albuquerque says Marc Schiff, Ken Schultz and Manuel Guara had already entered guilty pleas in the case. Investigators say the kickbacks were related to the construction of the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse in Albuquerque. Iglesias believes he was fired as the federal prosecutor for New Mexico for resisting pressure from Senator...

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has maintained a decidedly low profile following his self-described botched joke in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections. Many observers concluded that Kerry's silence meant he had given up his dream of becoming the first Democrat since Adlai Stevenson to be renominated by his party four years after losing a presidential race. Wrong. Kerry has recently begun to bolster his Senate and campaign staff in preparation for what some Kerry insiders insist is a likely run for president. Kerry has signed on Erik Smith to serve as a senior adviser to his Senate campaign committee...

MONICA MADNESS BUBBA'S DEM CHIEF BARES HILL TENSION By MAGGIE HABERMAN     (snip)Bill Clinton described that time period as "absolute living hell," McAuliffe said. He uses the book to claim that Kerry, who lost his 2004 challenge to President Bush, had a bumbling and wavering campaign team that was tripped up by a smoother machine. "I thought the decision of the Kerry campaign to back off any real criticism of Bush was one of the biggest acts of political malpractice in the history of American politics," McAuliffe wrote. (snip)McAuliffe says Kerry's aides wanted to oust him as party...