Is it 1:17 AM already? Where did the time go? Well, early to bed, early to rise, makes a man ready to go see "Team America: World Police" tomorrow (look for the review on Monday).

I've also set-up another blogger symposium on the 2004 election that'll be up Monday and there's another big interview in the works although I won't say who it is yet...nope, no way, no how, will I say this person's name....

Last but not least, I may answer another 1-2 more of these questions on Monday because there were some interesting ones (really good questions this time) that I didn't get a chance to dig into.

On that note, have a nice week-end. It's time for me to crash...

*** Update #1 ***: I caught "Team America: World Police" today and on a 1-10 scale, I'd rank it about a 14. It may very well be the funniest movie I've ever seen in my life. Full review on Monday.

Also, may I note that nobody wants to hear details of your disgusting fantasies about you-know-who in this thread. I'm cleaning this thread to get rid of the comments from the pervs and the people commenting on the pervs.

Question: "What are your favorite TV shows currently on the air?" -- Carstairs38

Answer: Let's see, currently I'd have to say...

-- The Simpsons
-- Southpark
-- Reno 911
-- CSI (Las Vegas)
-- WWE Raw
-- WWE Smackdown (Semi-Regularly)
-- X-Files
-- Carolina Panther Football Games
-- Chappelle's Show (Semi-Regularly)

Believe it or not, I watch very little Cable News, I usually don't watch the Sunday morning shows, and other than Panther Football, I don't watch sports. I do, however, watch quite a few movies. In fact, I've bought a Blockbuster pass so I can rent out 3 movies at a time, any time I like and it's not unusual for me to have a movie rolling while I work on compiling news for RWN.

Question: "You are an obvious supporter and admirer of President Bush even though you have expressed doubts about certain portions of his domestic agenda. Who do you honestly think would be the ideal President, and why?" -- JSingh

Answer: That's an easy question. Ronald Reagan. Since the Gipper was in office, the country has moved to the right and now he'd have a Republican Congress to work with. That would mean he'd probably be EVEN MORE effective than he was when he was back in the eighties.

With Reagan in office, I think you'd see a foreign policy agenda similar to the one that Bush has and a more conservative domestic policy. That would suit me perfectly.

But of course, it's not really fair to compare W. to the Gipper. I consider Reagan to be one of the great Presidents of all time, right up there with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, & Lincoln. So measuring up to Reagan is a task almost no one on the political scene today can do...

Questions: "And the question in my mind is how many additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the answer is not that damned many." - Dick Cheney (1992)" What changed in Iraq?" -- faithfull

Answer: Two things.

Back when we originally hit Saddam, the thinking was that he would be overthrown after the war by his own people and quite understandably rolling into a foreign country, smashing their army, and taking responsibility for helping them get back on their feet is a last resort type of option that didn't seem to be merited by what we knew back in 1991. Of course, it goes without saying that things didn't work out as the first Bush administration hoped.

However, we probably would have been largely content to proceed with the status quo -- trying to cause regime change by any method short of an invasion -- until 9/11 changed the equation.

Here we had a country -- Afghanistan -- that we knew was supporting terrorists. However, they were contained, we had sanctions in effect, and they were not an "imminent threat". Knowing all of that, we chose not to act. Then on 9/11, terrorists who were based in Afghanistan flew our own airplanes into the Pentagon and WTC.

Since that day, what's considered an "acceptable threat" has changed.

To allow nation-states to continue to fund, train, and protect terrorist groups, especially in an age when WMD are becoming easier to acquire, is to invite a horror that's an order of magnitude worse than 9/11.

So once you make the decision that rogue nations must be forced to get out of the terrorism business, you use strategy. Some nations you can reach with diplomacy like Pakistan and Libya (and likely Syria and North Korea in a 2nd Bush term), others require force to make a regime change -- like Iraq and Afghanistan. In other nations, you hope that with a little encouragement, the people will make a change themselves (Iran).

But to continue to allow Saddam Hussein, an avowed enemy of the US and supporter of terrorists -- who as we now know didn't have stockpiles of WMDS, but did have access to sarin, mustard gas, and nuclear material that could be used in a dirty bomb -- to continue ruling Iraq was an unacceptable danger after 9/11.

Question: "What's your prediction for the election and EV count? Don't bother with polls and breakdowns, what's your gut feeling?" -- Mike_M

Answer: My gut feeling is that the voters who will definitely turn out to pull the lever for Bush based on national security will far outnumber the lefties who will make sure to show up so they can vote against Bush. Because of that, I think turnout for Bush will be bigger than expected and he'll win most of the states that look like toss-ups before the election.

End Result: So in conclusion, my gut feeling is that Bush will win by about 75-100 electoral votes.

Question: (Via Email) "Dear John,

My name's Joel from Australia. Recently the Conservatives had a land-slide victory against Labor (the Left) who were preferencing with the far-left Greens. We increased our majority in the Lower House in which Prime Minister John Howard governs, while in the Upper House we are looking at gaining complete control.

For the first time in decades we are looking at having an unrivalled majority! Surely this is good news for President Bush who called to congratulate Prime Minister Howard, and I was hence surprised when the Australian election was not even mentioned on your website.

Love the website keep up the good work." -- Joel

Answer: I was on vacation when John Howard won election. Had I not been, I would have posted multiple daily news items about the election.

In any event, Australia has been a fantastic, stalwart, ally in the war on terrorism and I'm thrilled to see that John Howard won again. In my opinion, Australia is one of the crown jewels of Western civilization. May John Howard help to keep her standing tall...

Today will be Q&A Friday #6 at RWN.

So, if there's a subject you've been wanting me to tackle or an issue you want to hear my opinion on, just ask your question in the comments section. Your question can be about politics, ideology, history, blogging, RWN, from a liberal, conservative, or libertarian perspective, heck it can even be about movies, music, TV, and film.

Later today, I'll select some more interesting questions and answer them. My posts will probably be a little shorter than normal and I won't be able to get to every question (so don't even bother asking fluff like "what is your favorite color" or "How often do you clip Patton's nails"), but expect at least twice as many posts as normal.

So ask away!

Question: "Hey, If Bush is re-elected come November, and he gets his picks for supreme court justices approved, is it possible that abortion could be put to an end?" -- Randompasserby

Answer: There will likely be multiple Supreme Court slots opening up in the next term and if Bush is re-elected, it may be a dogfight, but he will eventually put conservative judges in there.

If that happens, I think there is a good chance Roe v. Wade may be overturned because I believe it's bad constitutional law that's based on a right to privacy that doesn't exist in the Constitution.

Would that mean abortion would be put to an end? No. But if Roe v. Wade were overturned, it would mean that the decision would go back to the states. some states would then ban abortion, some states wouldn't, and some would split the difference (more restrictions, but not an outright ban).

So abortion in the US wouldn't end, but the number of babies being snuffed out by their own mothers would likely drop precipitously and that's certainly a good thing.

Question: "Any thought of ever running for office yourself?" -- Bull_Moose

Answer: When I was in college, I toyed with the idea of running for office one day. But, even then when I wasn't all that serious about politics, I decided that I'd rather be a campaign manager than a candidate. To be honest, I don't have much interest in doing either today.

Politics requires making too many bad choices you don't believe in for political purposes, figuratively prostituting yourself to people who can give you money or help your campaign, and constantly holding your tongue when you'd rather just say what you think.

Instead, I'd rather do exactly what I'm doing: build an audience for RWN, take it full-time eventually, and do my best to promote conservative ideas that I think are good for the country. Long term, I think I can make a bigger difference doing that and will enjoy it more.

One of the things that came up in the debate last night was the shortage of flu vaccine. Rush Limbaugh explains why we REALLY don't have enough flu vaccine and I think it'll be an eye opener for people who don't understand why socialized medicine is such a terrible idea. You want to turn our health care system into a dysfunctional disaster? Let the government takeover and you'll see this sort of thing on a regular basis...

"Do you remember something called the Clinton Government Vaccine Buying Program?

It was sold to us as a way to get prices down and get more children vaccinated and, of course, to keep the evil drug companies from making a profit. The Wall Street Journal says today, "Companies that decided to run these regulatory traps also know that they'll be doing so for very little reward. Before her big health care reform crashed and burned in '94, Hillary Rodham Rodham managed to get Congress to pass a government vaccine buying program for children. Her sales pitch was free vaccines for all kids and higher immunization rates. If we would give this stuff away, she said, more children would be immunized." Oh, goody, wonderful, wonderful. Thus, as a result of Hillary's plan, the government now purchases about 60% of all pediatric vaccines, forcing huge discounts and imposing price caps. The manufacturers were told, ''You can only make so much profit, and you're gonna make this amount, and we're gonna give it away.''

So they just simply got out of the business. In addition to that, one of the companies that remained and stayed in business was a company called Chiron. They're being sued left and right over financial problems that have nothing to do with the quality of their vaccine. I'm not going to detail what those problems are because it's not relevant, but they're being targeted now. So that's another manufacturer that has put up their hands and said, "Whoa, it isn't worth all this," and so that's why we have to import from Britain, and, lo and behold, they had a company that ended up with their flu vaccines contaminated. Half the supply had to be dumped and this is where we are. We have "outsourced" flu vaccines, essentially, to use a John Kerry word because of Mrs. Clinton's great-sounding program -- remember the name -- the government vaccine buying program."

As most of you may have heard, former Fox employee Andrea Mackris is suing Bill O'Reilly for sexual harassment. She says he's a bizarre pervert and Fox says she is trying to extort $60 million dollars.

It is of course too early to say who's right and who's wrong, but I can tell you the complaint Mackris filed against O'Reilly makes for some fascinating reading.

For those of you who are looking for lurid details, they start on page 6 and go through page 18.

Mackris alleges that O'Reilly started sexually harassing her back in May of 2002, told her he had phone sex with other women, offered to have phone sex with Mackris & a friend of hers who was along at a dinner, told her in a conversation that he had a "vibrator shaped like a c*ck that a woman had given him" and he also apparently masturbated himself to climax during the conversation, that O'Reilly had unsolicited, one way, phone sex with her, & that O'Reilly used the vibrator on himself while he was talking to her.

Is it true? I don't know. I would note that there are some aspects of Mackris' story that I find a bit suspicious.

For example, Mackris left Fox for CNN in January, a year and a half after she says O'Reilly started harassing her. However, she then agreed to come back just a few months later after she says O'Reilly agreed to be professional. That tells you that at best, she wasn't very bothered by any "sexual harassment" that had taken place up to that point and at worst, that it never happened at all.

The complaint also notes -- with no real details -- that Mackris' boss at CNN was fired for sexual harassment in April of 2004. I'd really like to know if Mackris was involved in that in any way.

Also, I'd note that according to Mackris own account, O'Reilly never touched her or threatened her job, and Mackris never talked to any of O'Reilly's supervisors at Fox about his alleged behavior. So even if everything she said was true, O'Reilly deserves to be immediately and unceremoniously fired, but in my opinion, she doesn't deserve a dime even though our haywire court system doesn't look at it that way.

Last but not least, I think if Mackris is telling the truth, there will turn out to be plenty of evidence to support her claims. Mackris paints a picture of a man who's obsessed with sex to such a degree that he can barely control himself. She says he's saying grossly inappropriate sexual things to her time and time again over a two year period despite her objections, sexually harassing her in front of a friend, having phone sex with women he knows, having affairs, even showing his...uh...let's say "little bill" to a woman giving him a massage.

In other words, this is a description of a man who wouldn't be able to keep his lewd private life hidden from the world once the glare of the media spotlight shines upon it.

In any case, I think it's too early to make a judgement at this point, but as the case drags on, we should get a much better idea of whether O'Reilly is a scumbag or Mackris is just looking for a payday. Whatever the case may be, given all the spicy details that are out there and O'Reilly's status as Fox's #1 guy, expect this case to stay in the news long term.

John Forbes Kerry, father of two heterosexual daughters, today apologized for referring to the sexual preference of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter during last night's final presidential debate.

"There's nothing wrong with being one of God's homosexual children," said Mr. Kerry, an openly-heterosexual veteran of foreign war who is also a U.S. Senator, "And far be it from me to pry into the private life of Mr. Cheney's lesbian child, who is gay and a homosexual. People can't choose whom they will love, and so I should not have mentioned that his daughter is a lesbian person, and not a heterosexual, but in fact a gay homosexual woman who is a lesbian with the last name Cheney."

Mr. Kerry said he would send a card to the vice president's daughter to fully express his regrets.

"I'm sure Hallmark has a nice collection of cards that say things like, 'I'm sorry I talked about your sexual preferences on national TV'," said Mr. Kerry. "But I really wasn't trying to remind conservatives that the vice president has a daughter who is not heterosexual, but rather a homosexual lesbian gay woman named Cheney."

Mr. Kerry's running mate, John Edwards, will reportedly issue an apology tomorrow for similar remarks he made during his debate with Mr. Cheney.

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can see more of his work at Scrappleface.

The 10 most notable quotes of note from the debate, in order...

---

10) George Bush: "You know, he talks to the workers. Let me talk to the workers. You've got more money in your pocket as a result of the tax relief we passed and he opposed. If you have a child, you got a $1,000 child credit. That's money in your pocket. If you're married, we reduced the marriage penalty. The code ought to encourage marriage, not discourage marriage. We created a 10 percent bracket to help lower-income Americans. A family of four making $40,000 received about $1,700 in tax relief. It's your money. The way my opponent talks, he said, "We're going to spend the government's money." No, we're spending your money. And when you have more money in your pocket, you're able to better afford things you want. I believe the role of government is to stand side by side with our citizens to help them realize their dreams, not tell citizens how to live their lives."

--

9) George Bush: "I think it's important, since he talked about the Medicare plan, has he been in the United States Senate for 20 years? He has no record on reforming of health care. No record at all. He introduced some 300 bills and he's passed five. No record of leadership."

---

8) George Bush: I want to remind people listening tonight that a plan is not a litany of complaints, and a plan is not to lay out programs that you can't pay for.

--

7) George Bush: "You know, there's a mainstream in American politics and you sit right on the far left bank. As a matter of fact, your record is such that Ted Kennedy, your colleague, is the conservative senator from Massachusetts."

---

6) You could almost imagine David Lee Roth singing "Just A Gigolo" in the background when Kerry answered this one. So were people laughing with Kerry on this one or at him?

Bob Schieffer: We've come, gentlemen, to our last question. And it occurred to me as I came to this debate tonight that the three of us share something. All three of us are surrounded by very strong women. We're all married to strong women. Each of us have two daughters that make us very proud.

John Kerry: "Well, I guess the president and you and I are three examples of lucky people who married up. (LAUGHTER). And some would say maybe me moreso than others. (LAUGHTER). But I can take it. (LAUGHTER)"

---

5) George Bush: "My opponent keeps mentioning John McCain, and I'm glad he did. John McCain is for me for president because he understands I have the right view in winning the war on terror and that my plan will succeed in Iraq. And my opponent has got a plan of retreat and defeat in Iraq."

---

4) George Bush: "(O)nly a liberal senator from Massachusetts would say that a 49 percent increase in funding for education was not enough."

---

3) Bob Schieffer: We've come, gentlemen, to our last question. And it occurred to me as I came to this debate tonight that the three of us share something. All three of us are surrounded by very strong women. We're all married to strong women. Each of us have two daughters that make us very proud. I'd like to ask each of you, what is the most important thing you've learned from these strong women?

George Bush: To listen to them. (LAUGHTER) To stand up straight and not scowl. (LAUGHTER)

---

2) This one is worth noting because it's the second time Kerry and Edwards went out of their way to make Dick Cheney's daughter's sexual orientation a campaign issue. What a cheap tactic.

John Kerry: "We're all God's children, Bob. And I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she's being who she was, she's being who she was born as."

---

1) John Kerry: "Well, two leading national news networks have both said the president's characterization of my health-care plan is incorrect. One called it fiction. The other called it untrue...."

Bob Schieffer: Mr. President?

George Bush: In all due respect, I'm not so sure it's credible to quote leading news organizations about — oh, never mind.

Last night, I debated Jeff Seemann, a liberal Democrat running for the House in Ohio. We duked it out on the draft, Iraq, Afghanistan, health care, the economy, the deficit, and a number of other topics. It was a fun debate and you'll definitely want to check it out.

You can read the debate by clicking here.

8:50: I am preparing for the debate. Taking the dog out, ordering Chinese food, and waiting for George Bush "to be real positive, while I keep my foot on John Kerry's throat". Figuratively of course! I have no idea if that's a real quote or not, but it should be.

9:01: I didn't get time to finish the debate drinking game because I was so busy, but here's what I came up with so far. Besides, this should be enough to get you hammered if you're so inclined. Take a drink every time...

-- Bush calls Kerry a liberal.
-- Kerry says he has a plan.
-- Kerry mentions Herbert Hoover.
-- Bush says 1.9 million jobs have been created in the last 13 months.
-- Christopher Reeves is mentioned.
-- Kerry name drops a celebrity.
-- Either candidate mentions Iraq.
-- Either candidate tells a story about some anonymous citizen they met.

9:02: Ugh, I forgot Bob Schieffer was moderating this debate. What, was Brit Hume busy? How about one conservative moderator in 4 debates?

9:03: Will we ever be safe and secure again ? WW2? The Cold War? Kids were worried about being obliterated by nukes. Did we really feel all that safe back then?

9:07: Ok W, should have smashed him on the "We lost Bin Laden at Tora Bora" thing. 3 debates and W. has just let it pass.

9:09: Flu vaccine? That's the best thing he could come up with in a presidential debate? How silly.

9:11: Kerry: George Bush has turned his back on the wellness of Americans! Whereas as John Edwards has informed us, Kerry and Edwards will make the crippled walk again if they're elected.

9:15: Gloom and doom on the economy again. From my debate tonight at Blogcritics,

"Over the last 4 quarters, the average GDP growth has been a sizzling 4.85% as compared to an average rate of 3.1% in the 90s and 2.9% in the 80s. During that same time period, we've created 1.7 million jobs. In other words, the economy has been booming for a year and as long as we keep doing what we're doing now, the economy has been booming for a year and as long as we keep doing what we're doing now, the economy should keep growing strong."

9:17: "What do you say to a guy who lost his job to someone overseas?". Sorry? That sucks? Would it make a difference if he lost his job to someone in the US? Lame, lame, question although Bush handled it fine.

9:21: OK Kerry, beat up on the President for why it's his fault that jobs have been lost overall. It's 9:21 and I have already officially declared Bob Schieffer the worst moderator yet.

Meanwhile, the economy has been booming for a full year and John Kerry is talking like we're in a depression.

9:25: "Ted Kennedy is the conservative Senator from Massachusetts". Good line and true.

9:28: What is with Kerry and Edwards' obsession with Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter?

9:29: John Kerry: he's for and against gay marriage! He voted against Doma by the way.

9:32: John Kerry: Holly Roller! Know why libs don't say that? Because they know this is just fluff for the election.

9:40: If you take my health plan, you'll have the best health care plan in the world and everyone will have choice and will be cheaper and rainbows will shine over the horizon and your medicine will be brought to you by Swedish models & Carebears!

9:41: Bush was going to slam CBS there..he should have finished his thought.

9:45: Great Social Security answer by George Bush.

9:46: The reason why Democrats hate privatizing part of Social Security is because it takes the money out of the hands of the government and allows the people to choose what to do with their money.

9:47: Good question Bob to Kerry on Social Security. Kerry's answer is complete gibberish. I'll roll back Bush's tax cuts and it'll fix every problem! You can have free health care, it'll fix Social Security, wheeeeee!

9:51: An immigration question too? I take back what I said about Bob Schieffer. He's better than Lehrer at least.

9:53: By the way, both candidates stink on immigration although Kerry is worse....wait, "the American middle class isn't making it"? People should laugh at him when he says things like that. And the tax burden on the middle-class has gone up? That's just a lie...

9:55: Here's my immigration plan. Put business owners who hire large numbers of illegals in jail. Use the military to lock down the border. Aggressively work to kick out every illegal we can find.

9:58: The minimum wage kills jobs for poor people. If you force businesses to pay people more than they're worth, they will find a way to have less people. Either they'll use machines, get by with less people, they'll do SOMETHING to even things out. That's how capitalism works.

And equal pay for equal work? Men go into higher paying fields and women take time off of work for babies. That's the majority of the difference.

10:01: Kerry thinks abortion is a constitutional right? Wonder what Jefferson, Madison, and the rest of the Founders would say about that.

10:02: 49% isn't enough for liberals. It's never enough for liberals.

10:04: A big, underhanded, floating softball pitch for Kerry on the National Guard. Let me translate: Tell us how much Bush sucks because we're in Iraq and tell us how you'd fix his mistake. Ok, he's behind Lehrer. By the way, isn't this another foreign policy related question? Wasn't this supposed to be a domestic debate?

10:09: Another loaded question: So Bush, you support the Assault Weapons Ban, but it never got to you. Isn't that your fault? L-I-B-E-R-A-L bias...

10:11: The Affirmative Action question is one Bush could knock out of the park -- if he were more conservative and had strongly opposed. There are people all over America who want to hear "Yes, Affirmative Action has outlived it usefulness, if it were ever useful in the first place. It's unconstitutional, I oppose it". Bush can't say that because he has triangulated on the issue...

10:17: Bush seems to be losing focus just a bit. Maybe, losing concentration a bit.

10:19: Maybe I shouldn't say this, because I can't prove it, but Kerry sounds like the biggest phony in the world on religion. It sounds like pure election year, Howard Dean style, pandering....

10:21: John Kerry: If I become President, Democrats and Republicans will walk hand in hand over rose petal covered floors, Ted Kennedy will hold hands with Tom Delay, Robert Byrd with Newt Gingrich, love will be in the air, and it'll be peace, love, and harmony forver!

10:23: "We're all married to strong women!" Bush is knocking the question out of the park, he's funny and warm, but it's still a stupid question. Too bad Bob Schieffer's strong woman couldn't have looked these questions over for him.

10:25: Listen to Schieffer giggling like a school girl at Kerry making referrence to being a gigolo.

10:30: I've changed my mind again. Schieffer is definitely the worst moderator yet, by far.

Conclusion: I give a slight edge to Kerry for this debate.

Kerry relentlessly criticized Bush with some success and while Bush fired back, but trying to hammer Kerry is like trying to nail jello to the wall because he's all things to all people.

On the other hand, I don't think this should hurt Bush since Kerry has the edge on domestic issues anyway and since it was a small win.

A blogosphere round-up should be up in about 20 minutes or so, so hang around for that.

*** Update #1***: So far, the verdict seems to be that Bush verbally ripped Kerry's skull open and punched him directly in the brain. Here's what I've found so far. More are coming...

"Bush 3, Kerry 0. Now let’s get this election thing over with it." -- La Shawn Barber's Corner

"A smashing victory for Bush." -- William Kristol on Fox News

"It was a home run tonight (for Bush)" -- Sean Hannity

"Bush stomped Kerry, without a doubt. Not only did he project a more interested demeanor, but he also showed a more pleasant speaking style and a superior grasp of detail. He projected an optimism that completely escapes Kerry, especially tonight. Kerry was the one stumbling through answers this time, including inexplicably on the question about his experience with strong women. Kerry could not stay on topic, and like John Edwards, wound up simply regurgitating his stump speeches. Bush offered more thoughtful answers, more extemporaneous, and seemed much more genuine as a result." -- Captain's Quarters

"THE CONCLUSION: Again, not bad for Kerry, but Bush is at the top of his game here at the end. He's still no Ronald Reagan, but he's good -- much better than at the beginning or in the earlier debates. If he'd been like this in the first debate he'd be up by 10." -- Instapundit

*** Update #2 ***: More reactions from around the right side of the blogosphere. There are a few dissenters, but most of them seem to think this is a HUGE win for W. I can't say that I agree, but I guess see how it plays out in the polls...

"Again, I'm not sure whether either man won this one on substance. Indeed, I would say both had their worst debate on that score. Stylewise, Kerry has been pretty even in all three debates. Nothing spectacular but enough to come across as reasonable and decent. Bush was awful the first debate, quite good in the second debate, and mediocre tonight. If the debates are going to be the decisive factor in this election, I fear we're going to have a new president come January. Kerry did we he needed to do in all three of them, Bush in at best two of them." -- Outside The Beltway

"We told you not to believe the hype about this topic being Kerry's home turf - because tonight proved it wasn't. If tonight is the last impression people got of these candidates then the President served himself extremely well this evening. Let's just hope they weren't glued to the baseball games. For whatever reason the President seemed to pull it all together tonight and it was perhaps his best performance in his 6 Presidential debates." -- Crush Kerry

"I know that this is a boring, repetitive assessment, but ... very close to an effective tie. But with the strength of his closing, Bush actually won. The momentum is to Bush." -- INDC Journal

"I thought Bush lost badly. Most of my readers seem to agree." -- The Spoons Experience

"I've seen enough. John Kerry is a crashing bore. My goodness he's a condescending jacka**. Bush is on fire, beating Kerry about the head and shoulders like a dusty rug." -- JunkYardBlog

"Bush won it. I missed the first few minutes (and I couldn't blog from where I watched it). But I don't think you can score it any other way. If Bush had given this performance the first night he might have put this election away. Kerry was generally back on his heels throughout the night." -- Jonah Goldberg

*** Update #3 ***: The last group of reactions from round the right side of the blogosphere...

I was watching the debate with a bunch of folks at a hotel bar. The consensus by far was that not only did Bush win, he had Kerry on the defensive on nearly every question." -- GayPatriot

"Zzzzzzzzz. I change my prediction that the debate is a draw, and I now declare that the winner is Ralph Nader...OK so the winner isn't Nader, it's whoever is ahead in the next set of polls. My suspicion is that there will be no movement in the polls over the next few days, which of course means it's a draw. It was a greatest hits collection from the first two debates." -- Wizbang!

"BOTH CANDIDATES came primed. But Bush won." -- Citizen Smash

*** Update #4***: Lefty blogger Roger Simon makes some interesting points...

"Why did Kerry's mother feel she had to remind him "Intergity! Integrity! Integrity!" from her hospital bed when he told her he was thinking of running for President? What did she know? My mother would have assumed I would have integrity in the same situation.

...Kerry is a strange dude. Bringing in Cheney's daughter Mary's sexuality was weird indeed. She's not running for office.

UPDATE: CNN's Instant Poll shows Kerry winning by 13 points tonight. I don't get it. Who are they polling? They did say the poll was conducted immediately after the debate, before the spin doctors made their rounds, but still... I'd like to know where this comes from. It would be interesting information. These post-debate polls become self-fulfilling prophecies, driving water cooler talk the next day. If it ever becomes clear, that they were slanted by the media running them, there will be hell to pay and I will be one of those breathing the fire."

Hat tip to the fine folks at the Barking Moonbat Early Warning System for creating this graphic.

President Bush will "tote along a Twister mat and fourteen flexible Romanian gymnasts" for tonight's debate to "further illustrate John Kerry's multiple positions on Iraq," Republican operatives said yesterday.

The third presidential debate, to be held at Arizona State University tonight, was to focus primarily on domestic issues, but Bush's stage props should ensure that foreign policy, particularly Kerry's wishy-washy stance on terrorism, will once again carry the day.

Vice President Dick Cheney said Bush's on-stage accessories should rival Carrot-Top, a notorious prop comic. "George will not only get his point across...he'll also have the audience doubled over with laughter," said Cheney.

Kerry said in the second debate that he's "only had one position on Iraq." Republican advisers and statisticians, meanwhile, estimate that Kerry has "held no less than 814 positions on Iraq."

"Once these Romanian gymnasts start bending all over the place," said the president, "the American people will realize the crazy stances John Kerry has taken. By the way, all the gymnasts will be female, of course," the president said with a wink.

When notified of Bush's plan for the debate, Kerry campaign strategists immediately complained of "blatant sexism in illustrating Kerry's foreign policy stances."

Kerry campaign manager Tad Devine said if the American people "need any more proof this president will outsource our jobs, this is a perfect example."

"There would've been nothing wrong with the president asking American gymnasts like Carly Patterson or Courtney Kupets to flop around of the Twister mat," Devine said. But no...he's having cheap Romanian labor to his dirty work."

If you enjoyed this satire by Matt Myford, you can read more of his work at Broken Newz.

I will be liveblogging the debate starting tonight at 9 PM. Pop a bag of popcorn, grab a few beverages and tune in for the fun =)

Maybe we can come up with a drinking game by then? Let's see...every time Bush calls Kerry a liberal, take a drink. If Kerry says he has a plan, take a drink. A Kerry mention of Herbert Hoover? Take a drink. If Bush says 1.9 million jobs created in the last 13 months? Take a drink. Keep adding some suggestions in the comments section and I should be able to have it up before the debate.

Also, I'll be debating Jeff Seemann, a candidate for Congress in Ohio tonight, and the results will be posted at Blogcritics. When the debate is up at Blogcritics, I'll let you know so you can check it out.

*** Update #1***: I just finished the debate with Seemann. It should be up later tonight. I will give it the big link later tonight. Here's a little sample of the action to whet you appetite. This is part of what I said in a debate question on the draft...

"You don't need a crystal ball to know there isn't going to be a draft. Almost the only people even advocating a draft are anti-war Democrats like Chuck Schumer. To even sit there and tell people there might be a draft when you know, 100% for a fact that it isn't going to happen proves you're too dishonest to represent a district in Congress."

Oh yeah, it was on...here's more from me on the same question,

"Nobody supports a draft except a bunch of anti-war Democrats and I find it to be totally irresponsible for someone who is running for Congress to claim that there's going to be a draft when he knows the Bush administration and the military is adamantly opposed to it and there is almost no Republican support for it. That's the sort of thing I expect to hear on crackpot conspiracy websites, not coming from someone who wants to represent the American people in Congress."

Bam! Kaplow! Now that's fun stuff for a debate...

Democrat presidential candidate John Forbes Kerry today announced the details of his plan to completely eliminate the nuisance of terrorism.

"I have a plan," said Mr. Kerry, "to create a do-not-terrorize list that Americans could sign up for on the internet. And if any terrorist would flout the law and attack someone whose name is on the list, he and his terror cell would be slammed with a $1,000 fine for each person killed and $500 for each injured survivor."

Mr. Kerry, who is also a U.S. senator, announced the plan after receiving international acclaim for telling The New York Times, "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance.''

The Democrat said his plan "hits Al Qaeda in the pocketbook where it hurts the most."

He said he's also considering a suggestion by running-mate John Edwards to double the fines for nuisance terror strikes during the dinner hour.

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.

-- You know, I've seen politicians make some outrageous promises before an election, but I'm not sure I've ever seen anything to top this...

"If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is President, people like Christopher Reeve will get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.."

That's right folks, if you vote for John Kerry, the crippled will literally be able to get up out of their chairs and walk again! However, there's no word yet on whether John Kerry will also find the Fountain of Youth, invent a time machine, figure out how to turn lead into gold, or raise your loved ones from the dead. But stay tuned, the campaign isn't over yet...

-- If you take a look at the Battleground Polls, John Kerry has definitely helped himself with the debates. But, given how things have changed, I can sum it up for you like this....

If Bush wins 2 out of 3 in Florida, Ohio, or Pennsylvania, he wins the election. If Kerry wins 2 out of 3, it's going to be another nail biter, like 2000, but maybe even worse because of the Colorado initiative that would split their electoral votes retroactively for this election. If either candidate wins all of the "big 3" states mentioned above, they win the election.

-- The producers of In The Face Of Evil put together a nifty little commercial featuring Ronald Reagan blasting Walter Mondale and his ideological soulmate John Kerry in this SWEET commercial...

-- Here's the latest JibJab video, it's Good To Be In DC!, which I think every blog junky around may have already seen except me. But heck, there may be a few stragglers left, so enjoy!

-- Jay Nordlinger warns Americans that they better understand exactly what they're going to get if they vote for John Kerry...

"I really don't care how people vote as long as they know what they're voting for. (Needless to say, I care — but you know what I mean, in this instance.) In the last few days, I've thought about 1992. In that year, Governor Clinton of Arkansas ran a quite conservative campaign, getting to the right of the incumbent Republican on issue after issue. Americans elected him by a plurality. At the time of his inauguration, Barbra Streisand shrieked into a microphone — this was at an event held in the Cap Center, outside Washington — "We're in, we're in! At long last, we're in!" And I remarked, "What do you mean, 'we'?" Clinton hadn't campaigned that way. He was anything but Hollywood Left.

This is how it could happen next month. Americans may vote for this tough-minded, articulate hawk we see in the debates — the guy who looks uncannily like Senator Kerry, the longtime senator from Massachusetts. And then, when he's in, that whole crowd will be in: Charlie Rangel, the Deaniacs, MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, Bill Maher, all of them. It'll be their victory."

John Kerry is a very liberal, dovish, internationalist, who considers Ted Kennedy to be a mentor, has a record of supporting tax increases, and is hostile to the military and our intelligence services. It doesn't matter how he campaigns, if he wins, that John Kerry, the real John Kerry is going to shine through...

-- Any movie that features Euro-weenie Hans Blix being fed to a shark by Kim Jung-Il is a movie you can be sure that I'll be going to see this week-end...

Also, I'm hearing that Michael Moore literally EXPLODES at one point during the movie. Now, if I find out that Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan also explode and/or are fed to sharks during the movie, I may actually go see it TWICE this week-end.

From the movie, "Team America: World Police", courtesy of INDC Journal.

I received an email from a reader, jsl@be**.***, that covered a topic I wanted to address. Here's the email in it's entirety...

"Your editorial "11 reasons why we were right to hit Iraq" abstracts the war into ideas and ideals. How do you feel about the 13,000 - 15,000 Iraqi civilians killed as a result of our invasion? You can be proud of what we have done, but this deserves at least a mention.

Personally I am horrified to be a citizen of a nation that can kill innocent people on so large a scale and call it a success."

First of all, let me set aside the fact that I think it's totally despicable -- although all too typical for liberals -- to blame America for Iraqi civilians murdered by terrorists, criminals, and insurgents. Some Al-Qaeda terrorist cuts some poor guy's head off and people like jsl go, "See, the United States caused that!" If these people could get half -- no, one third -- as mad at the terrorists as they do at the US, maybe the left wouldn't be dead weight in the war on terrorism.

But I digress. That wasn't what I wanted to really talk about. Here's what I wanted to really hammer home...

The reality is that you fight a war; innocent people will die. That's what war is like and there's no way around it, particularly in this age of Jihadi terrorists and militia fighters who dress like civilians and use innocents as cover. That's how it is, how it was, and probably how it always will be.

So if you say, "Hey, no matter what happens, I don't support any war that gets innocent blood on our country's hands," what you're in a roundabout way saying is that there is nothing worth fighting for. Maybe people like jsl believe that, but I don't.

A lot of innocent people died in the Revolutionary War, but I'm proud we fought in it and won it. I'm proud that America fought to keep Europe free in WW1 and WW2.

Maybe jsl isn't. Maybe he thinks we should have left France in the hands of the Germans rather than kill civilians to kick them out. Maybe he thinks the Philippines would have been better off pinned underneath a Japanese boot than freed at the cost of Filipino lives. Perhaps he believes we would have been better off letting North Korea swallow South Korea than shedding enormous amounts of American blood and, yes, killing a lot of innocent South Koreans fighting that war...but I think we did the right thing.

And we're doing the right thing in Afghanistan and Iraq by helping those people towards freedom. Yeah, it's hard on our soldiers; yes, it's expensive; yes, innocent Iraqis & Afghans have been killed. The flip side of that is that Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, and much of Al-Qaeda's leadership have been smashed and 50 million people are going to become FREE.

If -- God forbid -- the US were ever enslaved and there were nations that could help us regain our freedom (although if we can't help ourselves, who could?), I'd want those countries to fight to help us even if a lot of innocent Americans died. Better to die on our feet than live on our knees. That's what our Founding Fathers believed and it's what I think most Americans believe. But again, I expect jsl and company have a philosophy more akin to "better red than dead".

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on the subject.

A forensic scientist studying photographic evidence has identified an object which caused a bump on the back of a suit jacket worn by President George Bush during his first debate with John Forbes Kerry.

"It's a spine," said the unnamed scientist. "The president's backbone, in a sense, was showing during his debate with Mr. Kerry."

Similar images of Mr. Kerry showed "no comparable spinal features."

When asked about the new evidence, Mr. Kerry said, "I had a spine when I defended this country as a young man, and I will have one again when I defend her as president of the United States."

If you enjoyed this satire by Scott Ott, you can read more of his work at Scrappleface.

Last night, I got together in a private RWN chat room with Bill from INDC Journal, Ace from Ace of Spades HQ, Michele from A Small Victory, & Frank J. from IMAO and we discussed the media and blogosphere. We talked about a variety of topics including money, memogate, women in blogging, criticizing other bloggers, bloggers vs. the MSM, and a variety of other topics.

You can read the edited transcript by clicking here.