June 24, 2004 - Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc.

Today's Commentary: June 24th, 2004


I love to go fishing. Apparently so do John Kerry and his lackeys. And why not? Fishing is great! You get outside. You enjoy fresh air. You engage in a potentially life and death battle with your adversary. And whether or not things go your way, you can always tell a fish story. Most often, these fish stories are concocted to make the narrator look good, or at least important. But the best fishing expeditions, from which these fables come, require a seasoned first mate to be on board. Someone who doesn't mind getting all stinky and bloody. Someone who has been through this malodorous routine so many times that your 'catch of a lifetime' is just another day at the office for him. And the best mates of all corroborate your fish stories once you get back to the dock.

Enter your salty-dog mate for the day, Dan "that's a big one" Rather and the CBS Evening News. Dan and his outfitters have gut-hooked a hard fighting migratory species known as the September 11th Commission (a.k.a. Medius-circus Blameus-Bushus). And like the self-conscious fisherman trying to impress their friends, they have backed off on the drag to show how much oomph this baby has. The 9-11 Commission Staff Statement No. 15 (Overview of the Enemy) states on page 5: "We have no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States."

Even though this revelation does not require a bigger boat, the hard charging mates at CBS are tripping over the bait bucket to milk it for all it is worth. On the Wednesday, June 16th CBS Evening News, John Roberts reported: "It is one of President Bush's last surviving justifications for war in Iraq and today took a devastating hit when the 9/11 Commission declared there was no collaborative relationship between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden."

The unbiased report continued with a statement from Joseph Cirincione at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (obviously a nonpartisan source with no visible agenda): "I think this is the clearest case of the administration deliberately misleading the American public in order to rally support for war and that misleading worked." (As a side note, the interview with CBS occurred just prior to a joint press release with Mr. Cirincione from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, along with Elmo, the Cookie Monster and Big Bird elaborating the details of the Bush administrations deceptions. The text of that press release was not available at the time of this writing, but I am told that it is brought to you by the letters "f" and "i" - as in "fool" and "idiot".)

John Roberts concludes his objectivity, "The report is yet another blow to the President's credibility as he struggles to find the exit door in Iraq, and opens him up to new criticism on the wisdom to taking on Saddam with Iraq's leadership still at large."

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20040617.asp

This fish story is now being told on the gold-plated docks at the Heinz-Kerry Nantucket Estate. Observe the June 16th Newswire press release from the Kerry campaign:

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=170-06162004

It lists quotes from CBS, ABC and NBC all of which are lining up to go out on the next fishing trip with Kerry. And why not? He must be a great tipper! Notice the last line of the press release which follows the obeisant excerpts from the big three of network news:



"Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc."



Ironic, huh?

However, those of us who are not part of the 'Bush lied-babies died' crowd did not need to look over the side of the boat to see that this fish is no keeper. The US did not invade Iraq because of a Bat-Phone connection between Saddam and Osama. Nor did we invade Iraq over WMD - although this was clearly the strongest issue raised by the Bush administration. The US, along with other nations that have (or had) the onions for it, invaded Iraq because of it's consistent refusal to abide by UN resolutions 660, 661, 678, 686, 687, 688, 707, 715, 986, 1284 - thus resulting in UN resolution 1441 which states:

13. RECALLS, in that context, that the council has repeatedly warned
Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued
violations of its obligations;



Iraq lost the 1991 Gulf War. In order to keep himself in power, Saddam agreed to UN restrictions (that seem to have come with a wink and a nod from the French and Germans). When he stopped agreeing to these restrictions, someone had to do more than issue more UN resolutions. Remind the next person who says "The US had no business being in Iraq" of this annoying fact.

Bush made his intentions clear when he addressed a joint session of congress after September 11th, "And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

And if you are part of the 'Bush lied' pacifist crowd, then you MUST believe the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, who said "I can confirm that after the events of September 11, 2001, and up to the military operation in Iraq, Russian special services and Russian intelligence several times received ... information that official organs of Saddam's regime were preparing terrorist acts on the territory of the United States and beyond its borders, at U.S. military and civilian locations."

Friday, June 18, 2004 - http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/18/russia.warning/

But if you would rather go fishing with John Francois Kerry, I understand. After all, he is a man of the people - and it must be one hell of a yacht that he married.