There's something in the water at the State Dept., they've done a most surprizing thing:
First french fries, now Le Monde ? Officially, it's because money's tight, but some Bush administration officials aren't hiding the fact that there is a little payback for anti-American coverage in the State Department's decision not to fund foreign press centers at the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions. "They can come and pay like everyone else!"barked an angry administration official. "It's ridiculous; this is foreign press welfare." Said a British scribe: "I can't believe this is for a little ribbing in the press." What's happening is this: For the first time since Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, the State Department isn't pampering the foreign press by outfitting high-tech briefing rooms at the political conventions. "This year, money was tight," explained State's Adam Ereli. "You can't do everything you want to." The savings: a whopping $500,000. Instead, they'll have to cover the Boston and New York events like the rest of the press. Payback? Gosh no, says Ereli. "That's crazy," said the diplomat."We're not shutting them out." Link
There has already been a debate between this year's presidential candidates!
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Neither candidate seems to remember the historic occasion, but a new biography, "John F. Kerry," by three Boston Globe reporters, breaks the story of a debate at Yale over school busing. It was in the fall of 1965, when Mr. Kerry was a senior and Mr. Bush was a sophomore. David Thorne, a classmate of Mr. Kerry's who would later become his brother-in-law, is quoted describing the argument in the locker room near the Yale playing fields: "John had been participating in busing stuff, but George was very conservatively placed and thought it was a crazy idea."
Given the subsequent unpopularity of school busing experiments, this sounds like a potentially useful moment for Mr. Bush, who could point to it as evidence of his superior common sense even during his fraternity days. But there is a complication. In an interview on Friday, Mr. Thorne said he thought it was actually about a different kind of busing.
"I meant the Freedom Rides to Mississippi," Mr. Thorne said, referring to the trips by college students to protest racial segregation, which he recalled being a much bigger issue than school busing in 1965. "To the best of my memory, John was supportive of the rides and Bush was not. He had a conservative attitude that Northerners shouldn't be messing with the South."
In that context, it looks like a useful moment for Mr. Kerry. But one of the book's authors, Michael Kranish, stood by the original interpretation after reviewing a transcript of the interview. "David Thorne used the word `busing' twice in the interview and never mentioned Freedom Rides," Mr. Kranish said. "I don't think an argument about Freedom Rides makes as much sense." Although school busing in late 1965 was not yet the major issue it would become, Mr. Kranish said, it had recently been in the news because of court cases over school segregation and busing in Massachusetts. Link
At least Kerry is consistent at being wrong.
Chris Wallace says Fox News Sunday will be doing something tomorrow to counteract the Koppel thingie Friday night....
Can you imagine, now Kerry is asking Vets if they have had counselling? (see photo caption) He who guards his privacy so much and won't release all of his medical records.
Also. "Sen. John Kerry, a decorated Navy lieutenant who later protested the Vietnam War, urged veterans on May 1, 2004 to 'get out there marching again' for better benefits."
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass., center, chats with St. Louis, Mo., area veterans during breakfast in a diner in St. Louis, Saturday, May 1, 2004. Some of the veterans raised their hands when asked by Kerry how many of them had received counseling. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)