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In choosing Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate, Barack Obama has acknowledged his own shortcomings while recognizing that the election he and his people thought a cakewalk a few months ago is now a battle royale along the lines of the 2000 and 2004 contests. Republicans would do well not to celebrate too much over this choice. On the surface, it may appear to be a mistake - an almost comically bad selection by Obama due to Biden's well known (and well documented) verbal gaffes. And, as Politico points out, this should worry the Obama camp: But...

As we all remember from the 2000 election the MSM, more accurately called the Democrat Media believes Gravitas is extremely important. They talked about G-A-V-I-T-A-S more than any issue for quite some time. Bush was a very risky candidate because he lacked a certain level of, of, ah, hold it…GRAVITAS. Now I just watched the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency hosted by Rev. Rick Warren. Senators Obama and McCain were both asked essentially the same questions. And I have to say that while Sen. Obama did OK without his teleprompter Sen. McCain came off much more Presidential with much...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for White House hopeful Barack Obama, said on Saturday he would visit Georgia this weekend. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, said he had been asked to go to Georgia by President Mikheil Saakashvili for talks over the conflict with Russia. "I am going to Georgia this weekend to get the facts first-hand and to show my support for Georgia's people and its democratically-elected government," said Biden in a statement. "I look forward to reporting to my colleagues in the...

Quote: "It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

Marc Ambinder declares Fred the winner: On points, Fred Thompson won the debate. Every answer was thoughtful and well-crafted; his tone matched the tone of the question; he wisely refrained from interjecting in the back and forth squabbling. He very deftly reminded viewers that he served on key Senate national security panels and is bringing his experience to bear. Even his insults were subtly and gently constructed In some ways, Thompson did McCain’s bidding. You skeptical readers can tell me that if Thompson had finished a solid fourth in Iowa, I might not be writing about Thompson at all, that...

Here is an outstanding piece about Fred Thompson and his ability to connect with people, focusing on his recent campaign swing through Florida. The writer does a good job of conveying Fred's ability to connect on an emotional level to the crowds that come to see him. While the beltway pundits are saying Fred is "boring", the people who actually see and hear Fred are telling a different story. He is coming across as real, genuine, and conservative. That is a winning combination. I have bolded some key statements in the portion of the article posted below. The Dr. Phil...

Very seldom will I venture a prediction on a major race like president, especially over a year out and with each party having 10 candidates openly vying for their nomination. In addition, it is the most open presidential race in my lifetime. It has been 80 years since a president was not seeking reelection and a sitting vice-president was not seeking to move up. The race is truly wide open. I am going out on a limb and predicting that Fred Thompson will be chosen as the republican nominee for president at their convention this time next year and that...

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Republican Fred Thompson says the terrorist threat from Islamic radicals is going to pose danger to the United States for a long time. He says "We have got to be more united and more committed than ever before." The former Tennessee senator and actor known for his role on NBC's "Law & Order" spoke last night at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference in Indianapolis. Before his speech, he said he's in a sound position to make a run for the Republican presidential nomination, even though he hasn't declared his candidacy and others in the crowded field announced months ago. Thompson...

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070826/LOCAL19/708260382 Cannot be posted on FR due to copyright limitations...

When Fred Thompson makes his long-delayed entrance into the Republican presidential race, he will not tiptoe quietly. Instead, he will try to shake up the establishment candidates of both parties by depicting a nation in peril from fiscal and security threats — and prescribing tough cures he says others shrink from offering. In a two-hour conversation over coffee at a restaurant near his Virginia headquarters, the former senator from Tennessee said that when he joins the battle next month, he "will take some risks that others are not willing to take, in terms of forcing a dialogue on our entitlement...

WASHINGTON - Although he frequently makes a point of finding something charitable to say about his opponents’ arguments, Sen. Barack Obama almost always ends up voting liberal. “The arguments of liberals are more often grounded in reason and fact,” the Illinois Democrat wrote in “The Audacity of Hope,” a memoir published last year. “Much of what I absorbed from the sixties was filtered through my mother, who to the end of her life would proudly proclaim herself an unreconstructed liberal.” Obama has a 95 percent liberal rating from Americans for Democratic Reform, a liberal advocacy group that ranks all members...

Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned, according to tales of ancient history. So did Katie Couric, sort of. She played badminton in New York while other news anchors were in Baghdad to cover the opening day of Saddam Hussein's trial. Couric was recently plucked from NBC's Today show to read the evening news on competing CBS. I wish her good luck; she's certainly going to need it. Couric's new job probably saves NBC the possibility of letting her go when her contract expires next month; 15 years is a longtime for a TV personality to stay in one place. CBS...

Back in 2000, whenever you turned on your TV, you almost couldn't escape the word. Gravitas. It was everywhere. Did Bush have enough of it? Did Gore? What about Ted Koppel's hairpiece? Charmingly clichéd: CBS's John Roberts and NBC's Nora O'Donnell This year, the cliché-of-the-moment seems to be the term "charm offensive." Someone on the "CBS Evening News" has used the words every single day this week. The biggest offender has been John Roberts, CBS's White House correspondent who used the phrase three of the past four days. Dan Rather picked up the slack Tuesday. CBS hasn't been alone in...

Listening to Limbaugh and the replay of liberal press people 4 years ago accusing Bush of needing Cheney for "gravitas", now suddenly Bush has "hubris"

Rumsfeld Discusses Iraq, Afghanistan on Radio Show By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2004 -- While there are hurdles to overcome, the people of Iraq are better off than they were under Saddam Hussein, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said during a radio interview Oct. 26. Rumsfeld said the bottom line in Iraq is that 25 million people have been liberated from an oppressive dictator. "The schools are open. The hospitals are open. The clinics are open. They have an economy that's growing at a good clip," he told a Cincinnati radio station. Rumsfeld reminded listeners...

Imagine the weight of a nagging suspicion that what held your world together, a constant and consistent presence you had come to understand and rely on, wasn't what it seemed. That's how scientists feel when they ponder gravity these days.

GIRL MIDI CAN BE FOUND HERE - http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/7842/rubbsoul.htm He arrived at the debate on his new yellow skateboard And he met a great vice president You could tell that he spent many minutes on his flossing After he had used his Pepsodent The Breck Girl...Breck Girl There's no gravitas existing...he's in too deep water Yes, he was in way over his head When it finished he was let out and they really hurried It was late, he had to go to bed The Breck Girl...Breck Girl He's the kind of girl who thinks that spitballs are good weapons...just like Kerry...

Ford Foundation Honors Cheney, Rumsfeld at Anniversary Dinner By Kathleen T. RhemAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2004 – Former President Gerald R. Ford chose an occasion commemorating his presidency to honor two men who served him in the White House and continue to serve their country today. At an Aug. 9 dinner marking the 30th anniversary of Ford taking office, the Gerald R. Ford Foundation presented the Gerald R. Ford Medal for Distinguished Public Service to Vice President Richard B. Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld was called from his position as NATO ambassador to...

Turning 35 entails a new level of responsibility: I am now eligible to command this nation You hear a lot of talk about all of the angst and emotional turmoil that come along with turning 30 or 40 -- why, I even heard Larry King whine for a whole hour on CNN a few months back about what a drag it was to turn 70 -- but the most traumatic (and, sadly, overlooked) birthday of them all really has to be 35. Reaching one score and 15 years packs a wallop like no other age, and no less an authority...

Lyn Nofziger, a White House aide under Ronald Reagan, is a Washington political consultant. Four years ago, when Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush selected Richard Cheney as his running mate, the word among political pundits was Cheney brought much-needed gravitas to the ticket. From the dictionary, where most people had to go because they'd never heard the word, the world learned gravitas means seriousness of purpose. A person with real gravitas is a mental heavyweight. Bush was seen by his critics to lack gravitas and Cheney assertedly balanced the Republican ticket by bringing gravitas to it. Yesterday Massachusetts Sen....

Rumsfeld Praises Iraqi Security Forces, Says to Expect Ups and Downs By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, May 11, 2004 — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld praised the progress being made in training the new Iraqi security forces for their critical role in their country's future, but warned naysayers that it's unrealistic to expect too much too quickly. Rumsfeld told service members, DoD civilians and government contractors at a Pentagon town hall meeting today that they're likely to hear "mixed" reviews of Iraq's security forces in the weeks ahead. This, he said, is because they've been recruited quickly, have...

Indeed, the Republican Attack Machine is now such an entrenched part of the political landscape that it no longer seems remarkable - until you stop and think about the corrosive effect it has on our political discourse. - Dan Kennedy- March 11, 2004- The Boston Phoenix "We have no illusions about the Republican attack machine and what our opponents have done in the past, and what they may try to do in the future. But I know that together, we are equal to this task. I am a fighter, …" - John F. Kerry- Super Tuesday II- Washington Times Lockhart...

Vice president visits base in Ohio by Brett Turner88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs 3/26/2004 - WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFPN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney expressed his appreciation for the Airmen and community here during a visit March 26. A throng of enthusiastic people from the base community waved flags and cheered loudly for the vice president during a ceremony. Gen. Greg Martin, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, introduced Vice President Cheney, who wore a brown leather flight jacket. "I never got that response when I was secretary of defense," the vice president said jokingly in his opening remarks. "I'm...

Isn't it ironic that as the Republican primaries were gearing up four years ago, Democrats and the media began their refrain that George W. Bush was not presidential material because he lacked "gravitas"? Today, Bush is overflowing with the stuff, and not one of the Democratic presidential contenders can rise above "dwarf" status. But in 2000, there were so many allusions to Bush's dearth of gravitas that it's difficult to narrow a Nexis search to find fewer than 1,000 entries on it. In January 2000, Chris Matthews asked George Pataki, "And you have to ask about George W. Bush, is...

After his courageous whirlwind 30 hour trip to Baghdad International Airport to have Thanksgiving dinner with the troops, share the support of the American people with them, and offer encouragement, President Bush returned to his Prairie Chapel Ranch to spend time with his family this Thanksgiving weekend. There are a few new pictures from his incredible trip, and inspiring visit with the troops in Baghdad, and some from his arrival home. Enjoy your Daily Dose of Dubya!!

BERLIN (Reuters) - The heatwave sweeping Germany claimed an unlikely victim when a man sleeping on a roof to escape the high temperatures rolled off, suffering fatal injuries, Berlin police said Wednesday. A tenant of the building found the 28-year-old still alive after his 70-foot fall, but he later died in hospital. The man had bedded down with two friends as temperatures neared 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in the German capital. The friends only learned of the man's fate after being awakened and informed by police. "The man must have ended up on the steep part of the roof...

At 4:15am EST a strange thing happened on the Internet. Two Freepers were posting pictures and communicating with each other, one in Spain and the other in Florida. Suddenly all logos and pictures filed to appear on the separate sites although the text did. Up to that time the refresh time was two to three seconds. A single server going down or a photographic site disabled is common and would not be a cause for concern. But when servers in two different countries are affected at precisely the same time with only graphics involved then we have a very unusual...

All pictures and logos on the world wideweb disappeared at 4:15 easter until 4:20 EST. I check France, Spain, Germany, America, and Japan. American contacts confirmed this also.

<p>Since my last vanity announcement on keywords went so swimmingly (it ended up with something like 5000 keywords added to it) I thought a great idea would be to throw some propane on some other fires with a vanity.</p> <p>Breaking news is being abused again, big time. This goes in cycles, with sometimes people being responsible, but other times people not being very responsible.</p> <p>We are in one of the not-very time periods.</p>

As expected, President Bush made a statement regarding racial quotas at the University of Michigan, and strongly condemned the policy as 'fundamentally flawed.' Bush also stated that he would file a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that Michigan's admission policy is unconstitutional. The President also made a videotaped statement regarding the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which will be aired as the AGOA forum. In lighter news, Bush met with members of the NASA Space Shuttle and International Space Station crew. Enjoy your daily dose of Dubya!

His foreign policy style, marked by decisiveness, prompts a more serious respect for US power. By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor WASHINGTON – Washington types like to play a parlor game that might be called "What If?" Here's one round: What if Bill Clinton had still been president on Sept. 11? The former chief executive himself has almost complained that he led the nation in dull times, deprived of an opportunity for greatness. Indeed, says presidential scholar Fred Greenstein of Princeton University, there would be great similarity between Presidents Clinton and Bush - or almost-President...

<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Close friends and advisers say U.S. Sen. John Edwards will almost certainly run for president in 2004, The Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday.</p> <p>Eight close associates told said they expect Edwards, D-N.C., to join the race. He is expected to take the first formal step soon by announcing an exploratory committee, supporters said.</p>

Headline says it all. Developing...

Gravitas alert: Non-Latinists lack auctoritas by Greg Swann The Latin word 'gravitas' is leaking back into the news. As you can see in my discussion of Roman virtues, it is being used incorrectly. This is a piece of email I wrote two years ago. It in turn incorporates an historical narrative by Kent Polk. (We're nested like Russian cups!) As Rush Limbaugh and others have been pointing out, the press is leaning all over the word gravitas, even though they seem to not know what it means. They use it as though it means weight or heaviness, when actually it means...

<p>October 12, 2002 -- If voters got a second chance to pick between George W. Bush and Al Gore, it would be a Bush blowout by 59 to 34 percent, according to a new nationwide Marist College poll.</p> <p>There could well be a Bush-Gore rematch, because Gore remains the top 2004 presidential pick among Democrats. Meanwhile, Gore's spokesman yesterday said Gore would have voted against the Iraq resolution, putting him at odds with all potential Democratic presidential candidates in the House and Senate.</p>

Al Gore. State election officials ultimately declared George W. Bush the winner by a margin of 537 votes, but during and after the election dispute, questions remained about the uncounted ballots of 175,010 voters, ballots that had been rejected by error-prone tabulating machines employed in many Florida counties. Confusion and conflict, much of it generated by partisan intrigue, prevented these ballots from being counted during the election controversy. However, in 2001 every uncounted ballot was carefully examined in a scientific study by the University of Chicago, which concluded that when all the votes were counted, more votes had been cast...