Varifrank

What's Missing From Kerry's Vocabulary?

Once upon a time, someone told me that nothing ever happens in a movie by accident. Every frame is planned, everything that ends up on the screen in the final print is there because someone wrote the scene, someone acted it, someone directed the scene and finally someone edited it. What you see on the screen is a manufactured vision. If you are watching a movie and a small detail occurs at the beginnging, it will almost always relate to something later.

Campaigns for elective office are also like movies, everything you see is a manufactured vision. To see the truth behind the candidate, you have to learn to keep you eyes open for the little details. One thing I like to do is just listen to the candidates. I mean really listen. What words do they choose?, how often do they repeat them. What is it that gets them emotionally engaged?

So for about 9 months, I've been listening to Kerry. I've been trying to put my finger on something thats been bothering me about Kerrys vocabulary and I think I finally figured it out what it was.

Earlier this evening I noticed a parallel between Kerrys Senate testimony in 1971 and something he said today.

In 1971, he said this:

"we cannot fight communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now.

Now, bear in mind that when he said this, this was the prevailing world opinion. Communism was something to be tolerated. We had to maintain the status quo.

A great many learned men believed that this was so. It took one man of faith and another of conviction to free the world of the foolish idea that Communism was something that should be tolerated. Today we accept it as a given that Communism has as much relevance in the world as does zoroastianism, but it wasn't always that way.

Today, Kerry said this:

There are 60 countries around the world with al-queda cells in them. Many of these countries have clearer ties to alqueda than did Iraq. Did we invade Russia? Did we Invade China?

Now, to my mind what Kerry was trying to say was obvious. What Kerry said in that little line was the 2004 version of his 1971 defeatist statement.

To paraphrase:
We can't fight Terrorists, and I would have thought we would have learned that by now

Kerry went on to say that sanctions were working and that they did not have to be lifted if we had used the "right diplomacy".

"Right Diplomacy", who talks like that?

And then it hit me, the little nagging thing that had been bothering me for 9 months. It was the word I never heard Kerry use in the context of the Jihadi War.

Kerry does not talk about Victory.

Oh sure, He uses it it terms of himself prevailing over "the evil Bush", but Kerry never discusses the word or the concept of Victory by the Western Democracies. Kerry has said that he would "fight the Terrorists", but Kerry does not use the word "Victory". He has given up before he has started.

Kerry - doesn't believe in Victory. Kerry doesn't believe in us!

This post features a picture of one of my heroes. The man who saved western civilization, Mr. Winston Churchill. He is flashing the "V for Victory" sign. Winston Churchill and his country stood alone against the dark night of fascism, while my country, the beacon of freedom sat on its hands allowing half the world to become engulfed in flames. Churchill stood on the rubble of his capitol and flashed the V for Victory, While Men like Charles Lindberg and Teddy Kennedys father talked at length about our eventual defeat by the superior forces of fascism. Churchill didnt listen to the voices of defeat, and people hated him for it. The adulation that the world feels for him now happened after Victory was assured, I suspect the same will be true of President Bush, after Victory is assured, everyone will say he was always their hero. For now, he lives in the cold exile that results whenever you do the right thing instead of the popular thing.

Back then, Churchill didn't listen to the voices of defeat, Churchill believed in Victory. Today President Bush is not taking council to the voices of defeat, He believes only in Victory.

Kerry believes only in Kerry and says so with his every breath. To Kerry, There's no enemy of America worth fighting and no virtue in America worth defending.

From now till election day, We need to buck up our spirits by playing the first few notes of "Beethovens fifth" we need to flash the "V for Victory". We need to remind everyone what our goal is, and that is Victory. It is only by being victorious over the Jihadis that can we have peace. There is no co-existance possible with these murdering parasites. Senator Kerry has said his strategy is to have a "Summit". I say the only "summit" we should have is on the deck of the USS New York after the last Islamic country has had a free election.

Then, and only then, can we have peace.

I need to find some paratooper crickets, I'm getting a real "Longest Day " vibe going here. Bumper stickers? I want to go into a grocery store and hear paratrooper crickets from every corner, and know what it means while the democrat defeatists shake their heads and wonder what that sound means.

dot-dot-dot-dash. It means your ass, Mr Kerry.

What Do Winners Act Like?

Now, A few people have written me asking if I'm still confident in a Bush Victory as I was back when I wrote the now famous "Farewell John Kerry" Post.

Oh, you could say that. You could also say that any doubt I may have had, as been erased, not by Bush but by the Democrats themselves.

Allow me to illustrate:

This week Union thugs and Democrat Party Muscle have begun a campaign of terror against Republican voters in several states.

Milwaukee,Wi
Huntington, W.Va.
Orlando, Fla.
Tampa, Fla.
Seattle, Wa.

Now, Why would you do this? Frustration? Anger? Righteous Indignation?

Nahhh. There's a better answer if you think about it, and its obvious if you send anytime looking at polls in detail.

These attacks are designed to do one thing, and one thing only, and it's the one thing that Kerry has never managed to do, and that is suppress the Republican vote. Kerry, a candidate who was picked by the Democrats as their second choice, based purely on their belief that as a former military man, he would be found acceptible by the Republican faithful. Talk about your "Stalingrad" sized miscalculations, this one goes in the books.

All they had to do was ask us, we would have told them, give us a Tony Blair, a Joe Lieberman Democrat, and yeah maybe. But this guy. Are you serious? While we may disagree with those other men, we know that both Tony and Joe are on "our side". In the test of his life, Kerry switched sides, and sided with the murdering thugs that took over Vietnam, and no, we havent forgiven him for that, and no, it wasn't heroic, it was opportunistic and dishonest.

Now The question of the day would be this:

"If the Democrats were winning, why would they need to suppress the Republican voters by threats of violence?"

They arent. They aren't even close, and they know it. What used to be a clear Democrat majority in this country has changed to a Republican majority. Since 1994, there has been a "Sea Change" underway. There are still a good number of people who would never announce publically that they have voted Republican, but they do. Since 1994, in Election after Election, we see polls that say " too close to call", but very often after its all said and done its the Republican who shows up the victor. Lori Byrd of Polipundit, makes this clear with her data in this Post

Theres more going in the this election that most of us realize. Whats happening below are very feet is that the political power in this country is about to change places. This election is the last chance by the Democrats to remain relevant as a political power. Their only hope now is to suppress the vote of a party that used to be weak and incapable of winning offices most anywhere. That does not describe the Republican party of today, but its is increasingly a good way to describe the Democrat party.

If you remember the O.J. Simpson Murder Case Verdict, just remember the faces of the white audiences. That is exactly what the faces of the Democrats will look like on November 3rd.

Yeah, I'm confident. I have one other reason why:

Kerry Then:

"we cannot fight communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now. "

Kerry Now:

On Sudan:
While on BET, Kerry said:

"the United States would have to be in a position in Iraq and Afghanistan to allow that to happen". He also said his options as president would be limited because President Bush has overextended U.S. forces.

"Our flexibility is less than it was," he said. "Our moral leadership is not what it ought to be."

"I don't want to be a country that allows a second genocide in a decade to take place," Kerry said.

But on September 9th, Kerry said:

"The United States should ensure the immediate deployment of an effective international force to disarm militia, protect civilians and facilitate delivery of humanitarian assistance in Darfur," he told the meeting of black Protestant churches here.

"If I were president, I would act now. As I've said for months, I would not sit idly by," Kerry told the group.

On Iraq:
"Kerry said he still believes Saddam was a threat, but that dozens of other countries are capable of producing nuclear weapons or are home to al-Qaida operatives. "Did we invade Russia? Did we invade China?" he said. "

Kerry has decided that Terrorism and Genocide are just too hard to fight, just as Communism was too hard to fight.

To Kerry, There's no enemy of America worth fighting and no virtue in America worth defending.

Not Watching

I'm not watching the debate tonight. I just want to ask why anyone else is watching? Did anyone ever watch a debate and walk away saying " Gosh , I thought I liked Candidate X, but Candidate Y really showed me his stuff last night ". Sorry, to my knoweldge thats never happened. It's the Sasquatch of water cooler life. Youve heard of it, you know people who swear that they know somebody who knows somebody who... but it just aint so.

Look at what happened last week. Kerry gives the performance of his life, Bush is now at a higher job approval than before the debate. Do you know anyone, anywhere who after last weeks show has now said " I can now switch my vote for Kerry". If you do, just ask them for me what is Kerrys position on the War? Because I've watched the debate, and I've read the transcript 3 times and I still can't tell if he wants to leave Iraq altogether or wants to increase troops and spend more money or give Nuclear weapons to Iran and unilaterally disarm. I can't tell.

My guess is Kerry can't tell either, but it doesnt matter because "he's not Bush", and to about 47% of the electorate and just about every Jihadi on the planet, thats all that matters. Kerry or Edwards could walk out on stage in a chiffon dress, with a string of pearls, and there would be many in the TBM who would accuse any of us that point out that "real men dont wear Chiffon", as just another right wing attack on their patriotism.

Let's be honest. The contest is over, everyone who can breathe has now made up their mind, so all of this outgassing in the last 28 days is for nothing. If you still don't know who you are going to vote for by now, nothing anyone says in the next 28 days will make you go " Oh, THATS a good point, Now I'm definitely all for Mr. fill-in-the-blank, oh Honey! get my checkbook, I'm writing a check to that guy tonight".

And all this stuff about "new voters" is also crap. People dont vote out of a sense of duty, they vote out of habit. Kids ( I was one myself once, so I speak from experience) only have bad habits and are usually so self-absorbed and soaking in bong-water that they hardly ever notice that there's an election going on till after its over anyway. Those that do notice are usually pretentious little do-gooders, who will most likely vote for Nader( as long as the ballot is on biodegradeable stock and only if they can use vegetable based ink and the polling station is "cleansed" before the election by a taoist monk)

The TBM need a good horserace, or you'll be like me, watching whatever else is on, what you've stored on your Tivo or reading "blogs" on that danged computer fer-gods-sake. The TBM will make news even if there is none to report, there has never been a news broadcast in the history of mankind that ended early because there was a general lack of anything interesting going on. Why do I like blogs? - Reason #24: Because if a blogger doesn't have anything to say, they say so, they dont crank out a piece every M-W-F just to keep their editor and publisher happy.

The candidates have made their case and the election is actually over. We are just waiting for the Polls to open so we can get on with it. If the polls opened tommorow are there any of you who would say " I need a little more time to make up my mind"?

Hardly.

We've reached the point in the battle where the 'signal to noise' ratio is so high that weve all reached down into the dashboards in our mental cockpits to turn off our radios and missle warning systems. There's just too much chaff in the air, so it's time to get back to our "seat of the pants" instincts. Most of us made up our minds months ago. Some of us made up our mind on Sept 12, 2001.

The Republic will survive no matter who takes the office of President. If Kerry wins, He gets a Congress where half of it is solidly Republican and the other half is still a majority Republican. This means that a Democrat president will get bubkus done. If this was peacetime, the Conservative in me would be ok with that, but since were not, I'm not. Presidents always enter office all spry and "happening", but Kerry is gasping for air already and he's not through with the campaign ( or is he...?). I would be amazed if he simply survives the first 4 years, but he's not getting anything done during that time anyway, so enjor the ride. I can't wait for Kerry to face the actual need to send troops 'into-harms-way' during his tenure in office. As Spock said in Star Trek, "only Nixon can go to China", but its my guess that "only Kerry can restart the Draft".

If Bush wins, He's going to have to remove about half of his cabinet, as they clearly seem to have left the reservation. Rumsfield, as much as I love the guy, is getting a bit old. Powell looks to me like he is screaming face down into his sofa cushions during most evenings. So, While I still think Bush will win, It hardly means that everything is going to be "happy fun time". The left in this country and the world is not going to roll out the red carpet and support him no matter how many people he liberates and brings freedom. Bush will never get nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, while Arafat has one on his mantle. Bush will always be seen as the devil himself, despite the 25 million people who live in freedom today that didnt before he took office. How many people did Carter liberate? Arafat?. Compare and contrast, Reagan and Bush "The Great Liberators", Carter and Clinton, "The Great Prevaricators". Who is more loved and by whom? If I were a Pole, whos father spent 60 days in the Gdansk shipyard, against a tryannical murdering government my answer might be different than that of the spoiled babies in Moveon.org in this country. If being attacked and going to war can't get your oppostion party to back you up, theres not much thats ever going to do it.

For Bush, its another 4 years of sitting at the top of a cultural civil war. For just $225,000 a year, to be called "Worse than Nixon or Hitler", to have every single movement you make scruitinzied, to go to bed every single night knowing what most of us never will know about the ongoing of covert and overt actions around the world, it's no wonder Presidents always look like freshly hammered dog crap after they leave office.

We will survive, we will prevail. Let's not get our knickers in a twist. I dont care how you dress these guys up, they all sound like the Honorable Gov. William J. Lepetomaine so Let's not try to deify these guys too much.

Favorite quote: "Gentleman!, We've got to do something to save our Phony Baloney Jobs !"

So tonight, I see theres a new show called "Wing Nuts" on Discovery channel. I Guess I'll have to check that out. Why the rest of you are watching a "debate", I have no idea. Life is too short for that much bile production.

UPDATE: A lot of people have written to tell me "Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan hasn't made up his mind, so theres still alot of people who havent made up their mind about Bush." . Ok kids, I like Andrew Sullivan, He is a fine writer and his thoughtful on many things he says. He's changed my mind on more than a few things. but those of you who think that he hasn't made up his mind also think that Andy is still just waiting for the right girl to come along. Andy is a one issue voter, and he sees Bush and Cheney on the wrong side of that issue, no debate is going to change his mind on that.

History's Forgotten Forgers: Epstein

I was trying to think of when I had seen a worse case of forgery, and then it hit me:

Welcome Back, Kotter! Circa 1975.

The I noticed the actors name who played "Epstein" - Robert Hedyes

Could this be the same person referenced as "Hodges" in this Washington Post piece:

"Yesterday, another retired Air National Guard officer came forward to attack the network's credibility. Retired Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Hodges, who was cited by a senior CBS official on Thursday as the network's "trump card" in verifying the documents, said in an interview that he was "misled" by CBS and believes the documents to be forgeries. "
Hodges, Hedyes. It could be true. I want it to be true, therefore it must be true.

EPSTEIN FORGED THE NOTES!

Occams Razor

I'd like to turn 'occams razor' on the CBS documents for just a second and ask a simple questsion:

"What evidence is there that can clearly verify that they ARE what CBS says they are?"

From the top of the document to the bottom we have every indication that the documents are frauds and bad ones at that. I'd like someone, anyone, anywhere to give me one thing on these documents that will help me say "ok, I cant get around that one - they must be real".

I can take one or maybe two things that seem odd, but the preponderance of evidence presented shows that they can only be fruads. For me, the PO BOX of '34567' makes my 'baloney detector' peg all the way over into the red. I guess '1212 boogieboogie Ave.' was just too over the top, even for them.

This is like someone throwing a pie plate in the air, taking a picture, and then insisting that I believe its a real spaceship from Tau Ceti, 'proof at last' of life in outerspace!

It's not that I don't want to believe in life on Tau Ceti, and if presented with evidence that shows it, that I wouldn't believe it when presented with it. However, when you are reduced to tossing pie plates into the sky, it makes me think that you really don't have a case, and maybe you should go home to your apartment over your parents garage and read your comic books. To make matters worse, it makes me think that you think I'm stupid, which is a really good way to make sure I don't listen to you ever again, even if you do get real pictures of Tau Ceti Spaceships.

There's an old saying that applies here that says 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs". If you want me to believe your case, that Bush was a malingering patrician familiy advantage pusher, I'm willing to accept that, if given evidence that says it's so.

But when the evidence that has been put in front of me shows:

- A clearly faked PO BOX

- Is not on paper of the type used in military documents ( onion skin)

- Uses the wrong letterhead, and appears to be referencing the wrong group in relation to the Squadron.

- Has the wrong referenced regulation

- Uses nomenclature not used in military documents of the same era

- Cannot be sourced to the location where these little gems have resided for the past 35 years

- Does not contain distribution notes at the bottom for filing.

- Is not based on originals only on copies not in possesion by those performing authentication

- Facts purported are in direct opposition to all other known documentation of the subject.

I'm not going to even get into the fact that the presented documents are clearly not produced by a typewriter. If CBS is correct then any other document available from the same organization at the same vintage should look similar. Simple answer, They dont - or we would see side by side comparisons.

I wonder if CBS had the good sense to go to the secretarial pool of their vast enterprise and ask one of the grand old ladies who surely work there what they thought about the documents or if they could replicate such a thing.

Update: What I think we got here kids is a good old fashioned case of what we pilots call "get-there-itis". "Get-there-itis" affects otherwise smart and capable pilots who put an overriding priority on the need to "get there" and as a result, overlook the basic safety practices in flying. "Get-there-itis" is why year after year, pilots of great acclaim manage to stuff their aircraft into mountains, land downwind during thunderstorms and crash in flames, run out of gas, or simply get lost; Ameila Earhart serves as but one 'poster child' for this disease.

CBS is an organization with a great history of solid journalism. The producer of this piece on GWB's military history is also the producer who found the abu girab story, she is obviously good at her job. Dan Rather is most certainly a good journalist. So what happened? How did people so smart and professional allow themselves to 'fly into a mountain'?.

What I think happened here is that they needed "the story" to be true, so much so that they left themselves open to the suggestion that the information in the documents proffered were in point of fact true, when nearly all objective observers outside of "the bubble" see the information for the clear fraud that it surely is.

The 'fever swamp' that opposes President Bush also needs the story to be true. They need it so much that there are many websites that are offering real cash money for any and all documents the 'prove' that bush was a malingering drunk while in service.

Enter,stage left - the producer, eager to continue her trend of headline breaking ( hopefully president breaking ) "news". Enter stage right - thousands of people only too willing to provide documentation for something they all know is true anyway( so what could be the harm in just making it up?) and you have all the makings of a full sized self-hallucinatory 'endulgence'.

Hey-presto-chango-hey-diddle-diddle and out pops a fraud. No one did it on purpose, no one involved thinks thats what they are doing, but that is in fact, what has happened. There are times when a hoax just takes on a life of its own, and this is one of those times.

I have lots of friends who really REALLY believe in UFO's. I don't, because frankly I've seen too many of them. One trick I love to play on them is to take them out at night into an area of good darkness and get them to talk openly about UFOs and what they believe about UFO's. A couple of beers helps. All the while I keep an eye on my watch, because before we left for this little trip, I managed to look up when the next 'iridium flare' would occur in the area.

When the flare occurs, (always like clockwork), I act shocked and then I let the victim go on and on to exclaim how that "it must've been a UFO- Theres no other explanation! ". They go on to tell me that I must agree with them now, after all I've just seen one with my own eyes! They can't wait to take me back to civilization, one of the newly converted to the great cause.

When we return to the car, I pull out the printed copy ofthe 'iridium flare' prediction. At that point, they know they have been had.

Interestingly enough, there is still a large percentage of people who when presented with the facts, still insist that it mustve been something more exotic, it just HAD to be a UFO!

So, what do I think we have with the CBS documents? What we have is the need to tell a story overriding the basic 'safety factors' of good journalism. The result is that a whole series of good journalists convinced themselves that they could 'scud-run' around the low clouds of a dangerous story, because, well, they were long time professionals who had taken chances like this thousands of times before and could get away with it again.

This is very similar to what is often the last thing that otherwise good pilots say on the last flights of their lives.

The real shame of this story isnt that a promising producer will take the fall for a poorly executed story, but an entire organization, made up of many good people who are truly innocent in this affair will suffer because of one persons overriding desire to 'get home'.

UPDATE I: The boys at Wizbang are on the case of who the actual forger is.

UPDATE II: A good breakdown by a good ( e.g. not a bush supporter) source can be found here.

You know what I dont like?

· People who feel the only real threat to world peace are people who wish to be free.

· People who think the defense and expansion of human liberty are “cultural imperialism”, but slavery and genocide are simply "cultural misunderstandings".

· People who think ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ are just fallacies for small-minded religious nuts.

· People who insist on their ‘right to free speech’, yet make death threats at others for simply speaking in opposition.

· People who say “dissent is patriotic” yet condemn any overt display of patriotism.

· People who believe that peace comes into being by any other process, except capitulation.

· People who cannot accept the reality of the evil that men do.

· People who decry crass commercialism, and then condemn the desire to find meaning in ones life.

· People who think that there was no world before they were born and that the world will end when they die.

· People who forget the sacrifices of their ancestors.

· People who fail to understand what a miracle their life really is.

· How every man who defends freedom is considered 'another Hitler', while every Socialist dictator is considered a "true savior of mankind”.

· The way people say they “support the troops”, yet deride their service and sacrifice at every opportunity.

· The way most everyone fails to recognize the simple elegance of a sunrise.

· The way I learned to accept the act of stepping over homeless people on the way to work as something normal.

· The quiet shame I feel for never having served my country.

· The way I miss my father and he’s not even gone.

· The way this time of year I look over my shoulder and I talk in hushed tones every time I hear a siren, hoping that the nightmare hasn’t returned.

· The dread I feel when I turn on the TV or the radio first thing in the morning. The silent hope of wishing that the first thing I hear is a commercial, knowing if I do, that things are ‘normal’.

· The way I choke back tears every time I see the WTC in the backdrop of a movie.

· The grief I feel when I think of all that we’ve gone through since that black day.

· The sadness I feel when I think of how far we have to go.

I got yer bounce right here...

Theres only one sound that can go with this, from your friend and mine Gary Oldman

Overheard on IM:( The new water cooler)

Best quotes overheard last night at the cyber water-cooler of Instant Messenger:

While we all of us on our chat session loved the Presidents speech, the real show of the evening was watching Kerrys attempt to get back in the game afterwards

SNIP...
K**ry's now runnin' like a scalded dog

SNIP...
You know anyone with a car in their driveway from 1968?
Then why in the hell would anyone want to put a man in the whitehouse who still thinks its 1968?

SNIP...
Holy Christ!, he just said Vietnam again. If you took that word out of vocabulary, you'd get nothing out of his piehole but but the words "I and Me".

SNIP..
Who's bright idea was it to keep a 60 year old man up past midnight to give a speech?

SNIP...
Is there anyone on the planet that doesnt look at this as sad and pathetic?

SNIP...
Just like a politician from Massachusetts to schedule a rally at midnight on a weeknight completely ignoring that people have to get up in the morning get the kids to school and go to work.

(reply)

You say that like he ever got up for work and got the kids to school or knew anyone who did.

Ron Silver: A Man

Note to the Left:
You can keep Michael Moore. If the world was full of liberals like Ron Silver, the world would be a much safer place.

Note to the Right:
Is that not the most moving thing you ever did see?

Note to the kids:
Thats what a man looks like.

This is one place where the medium of the web cannot begin to capture the beauty of the moment.

Varifrank Channels the Ghost of Andy Rooney

Didja ever notice how before the summer of 2004, all Vietnam vets portrayed by the media were mentally scarred desheveled homeless men shooting at college students from rooftops, but now that one Vietnam vet is running for president, he and he alone is a hero for his acts in Vietnam, while those Vets that oppose him still remain portrayed as scarred desheveled homeless men shooting at college students from a rooftops? Whats worse, they're obviously republicans who can't be trusted, the enemies of mankind... whisper....whisper....whisper

Didja ever notice how the words "Texas Oilman" has become a substitute for "klansman" by many people who consider themselves enlightend by NPR beyond the shoddy banks of bigotry?

Didja ever notice how people who call themselves "Democrats" are the first to argue that "Democracy isnt for everyone" and are willing to tolerate the most undemocratic leaders ( stalin-mao-mihn-hussien-mugabe-chavez) the world has ever known, as long the "dear leader' uses the magic words " but it's for the people"?

Didja ever notice that it used to be Democrats who worked and believed in freedom and liberty for all mankind and Republicans worked only for big business and now its Republicans who want to make everyone free and the Democrats working for big business?

Didja ever wonder when it was that Democrats became the conservatives and Republicans became the liberals?

UPDATE I: A reader writes to advise me that Andy Rooney is not dead. My response -"Have you seen his act lately"? Unless I see a doctors note, I'm going to assume hes been replaced by a character from Disneys Animatronics display, from the "hall of forgotten gasbags"
UPDATE II:Captain Ed gives both testimony and evidence backing my parody.