Election 2004

Dim Future?

This entry was posted in bush Economics Election 2004 kerry on by

Sadly, No! hammers David Frum and then Brad Delong piles on and regarding Frum’s discussion of Canadian economic growth asks:

Why does Frum think–as he appears to–that increases in the government have consumed 2/3 of economic growth–45 as a share of 67–rather than 1/8 of economic growth–60 as a share of 490? As a Harvard man, I cannot shrink from the necessary and inevitable conclusion: Yale must be in some way responsible.
That Yale processed both Frum and bush does not bode well for the next 4 years be it a bush or kerry administration.

Iraq Occupation Ended

This entry was posted in bush Election 2004 Iraq War on Terrorism on by

Reaffirming what Modulator reported a month ago the bush administration has already taken up the pre-election drumbeat that the occupation has ended. Paul Bremer tells us:

…the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist on June 28th, at which point the occupation will end and the Iraqi interim government will assume and exercise full sovereign authority on behalf of the Iraqi people.
Has anyone seen any sign of troops being pulled out? Nope. This is pure semantic BS on the part of the administration.

Electoral College Status

This entry was posted in Election 2004 on by

This electoral vote tracking site is nfty. You can start with a current map and track backward to see the day by day changes as new polls are released. I’d like to see the Votemaster add a “next” link so that I could pick, say, June 1, 2004 and go forward.
As Tegan notes:

Watching the votes bounce around as new polls are taken is fascinating and more than a little scary.
For instance, on 6/22 Bush leads 285 to 253 and on 6/24 Kerry leads 300 to 228. It is volatile out there!

bush-cheney hitler Video

This entry was posted in bush cheney Election 2004 on by

In a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black the latest bush-bheney ad hominem campaign video reaches a new low. This is pretty much killfile material.
For some thoughts on the usefulness of invoking this particular meme see here and here.
Update (6/25): PZ Myers is puzzled by the message the campaign is trying to send and suggests some possibilities.
Update (6/28): The bushies have revised the video with some explanatory comments on the front end. Via The Sideshow.

Campaign Finance

This entry was posted in bush Election 2004 kerry on by

James Joyner in commenting on this request that Kerry resign his senate seat says:

Candidates running for higher office while still holding their current one always face this problem, although Kerry does seem to be carrying the absentee bit further than most. His Senate salary, while modest in the context of the Heinz fortune, amounts to an undeclared taxpayer donation to his campaign since he has essentially been paid to run for president. My preference would be for all candidates seeking election to an office other than the one they currently hold to do so as private citizens.
This “undeclared taxpayer donation” is a true pittance compared to the much more egregious undeclared taxpayer donation to the bush campaign. I suspect that a single Air Force One campaign trip would pay kerry’s salary many time over.
Fairness suggests that both candidates should clearly account for time at work and at campaign and repay the taxpayer out of their campaign funds. This should be the practice for all office holders running for a higher office.
If the president is mixing state business (real or alleged) and campaig activities on the same trip he should not get to charge it all to the taxpayers.
Update (6/17): Sorry, I left off the link to James’ post.