Don Bemont

Your original question drips with equal (but opposite) bias of several of my family members. The trouble is that there are multiple ways to define "fair." * All voters who arrive, registered, to vote and do their job properly having their votes correctly tallied? * Maintaining the proper local and state control over elections procedures? * Following precedent in how to count votes? * Being sure that both parties get an equal nu

I don't disagree with that, but you do feel that dwelling on the gory details serves a positive purpose? As one who believes that our treatment of prisoners is a grave error, I see the "dwelling on the gory details" to be the only way to bring about a thorough correction of the problem at the highest level. As

In view of your thoughtful comments, is anyone of us mere mortals sufficiently Christian to be President? I assume you are just being sarcastic, but just in case you really want an answer... I have not disqualified George Bush on the basis of his Christianity. My only point was to disagree with your s

Should we continue to drag our otherwise strong, faithful American military who are accomplishing amazing good as we speak, through the mud, when there are others all over the world so eager to do it for us? Actually, it isn't the military I would wish to drag through the mud -- it is the administration that fo

The terror threat will not simply melt away if George Bush loses the election. ??? Anyone who would claim such a thing needs to change what they are smoking -- but I think you are just putting up a straw man argument. Al Qaeda is a serious enemy, which is why I think it was so irresponsible for our ad

"The sort of tactic used in this film may not really prove that Bush himself would make the worse president, but I would never be able to bring myself to vote for the side that uses this stuff -- and actually believes in it." So, are you voting for Kerry then, Don? Yes

Yes, I have watched... And all I can assume is that the people behind this feel justified by Farenheit 911 -- that heck, if Moore can do that, we ought to be able to do ANYTHING. A quote from the film, clearly meant to show Kerry's war guilt: "Nearly every book or motion picture produced about Vietnam since 1971 echoes the litany of atrocities John Kerry laid at the feet of those who served there." Did you read that carefully? The

Kerry supporters, the most vocal ones, seem to think that they're somehow smarter, more informed, more enlightened than Bush supporters. Not to start a war here, but I believe that one of the weirdnesses of the current political situation is that both sides feel this way about the other side. The probl

driven by a profound moral & religious belief in God’s wisdom & grace And what makes you think this? George Bush's claims to deep religious conviction rest upon three things: 1) his kicking of an alcohol problem, b) his flattering of the religious by speak

is this before or after Dan Rather used forged documents in an attempt tp smear the President, and then would not appologize for the hoax after it was revealed An interesting example, you use. CBS was fed forged documents by someone. They were finally proven to be a hoax when the secretary of the supposed wri

The double standard in the media permits kerry to flip & flop at will. What the heck are you talking about? If one thing has come through in election coverage, it is that John Kerry changed his views. Honestly, is there anyone in America who has not heard that? This bit about the left wing media bei

We attacked Iraq which probably didnt have much or anything to do with 9/11, however it was a state that sponsored terrorism and that is reason enough to curb their policiy. My personal point, Moore's aside, is not that poor old Saddam Hussein didn't deserve what he got from us. That would be crazy. M

Look at it this way on any particular dollar that you make as income you pay tax on it. Spend it on say gas or tobacco products and you pay tax yet again on the same dollar. True, but not a problem in my book. I make my income. I pay income tax on it to sta

Mythical Mino,I think I have a very liberal rep around here, but I agree, in general, with you. A member of the clergy should be able to speak his piece on any political issue he/she wishes to, at any time. In my mind, separation of church and state is a matter or protecting religion. No one should ever have his or her religion attacked by the government, to which he pays taxes. No government should ever establish one religion as "the" rel

Is Michael Moore anti-American? Well, he is opposed to the current direction taken by the government of our country. By implication that means he is critical of the many millions of voters who support the direction taken by our government. When you disagree with other voters, you can assume that they know what they are doing but are evil, or you can assume that they know what they are doing but are misguided, or you can assume that they don'

This is my problem. People want to call it a comedy show so it's not a journalistic show held to journalistic standard, and then they want to treat it as journalism. I'm a liberal, but I am with you on this matter. One of the main problems with our country's political system is that the line between pol

What would change my vote? If a good candidate were running for either the Democrats or the Republicans. Given the choices, I will take the mediocre over the unmitigated disaster.

Although I would put none of this past either party, this particular item -- the election day manual -- has fake written all over it.

In general, I would prefer to see personal lives left out of politics. However, there is a relevant point that is important and best made with this particular example. National conservatives have this way of sending signals that they are social conservatives as well as foreign policy and economic conservatives. That is where the wedge issues are, the things that turn a large segment of the electorate towards the Republicans -- yet many of t

Is President Bush a strong leader? I guess that depends on what you mean by strong. He has gotten his way in this country, over the past four years, and that implies strength. Of course, war time presidents are normally followed, and his administration has certainly felt the need to return time and again to the existence of this war, in order to cement his power -- which implies weakness. Kind of hard to imagine any past wartime president r

"... What on earth Saudi officials were up to when they helped fund the San Diego sojourn of two of the future hijackers, and why the Bush administration has tried to conceal this episode. This fact, uncovered by the joint House-Seante intelligence committee's September 11 investigation, but later deemed classified by the administration, is at the heart of concerns about Saudi Arabia voiced by Bob Graham, the teiring Senate committee chair, in his ne

Very good sources prior to this point to the following: * Saudi Arabia contributed money to the terrorists. It is not clear what Saudi Arabia's intentions were, but a cautious person would attribute their actions to a failed effort to buy moles in a terrorist organization, rather than to support terrorism. * The two men stayed in the home of a San Diego man who was a paid informant of the FBI * The FBI flatly denied the Congressional inves

It is very tough to be honest when the messages to the millions are in sound bites, and the analysis is mostly of the "gotcha" variety, where any line will be taken out of context and tortured far beyond its original meaning. In this atmosphere, if you want to win, you need to look presidential in the sound bite setting, and you need an outstanding staff of image makers who create a persona out of whole cloth, and then try to sell that persona

Why do these shows interview so many spin doctors? I'm with you. I do not want to hear these people. But I think I can answer your question, and I hope that I am right, because I teach the answer to my media class. The media covers

Funny thing, but as a Kerry voter, I have been thinking parallel thoughts -- could Kerry be a Republican mole hired to throw the election to Bush? Actually, I think that these are arguably the worst two candidates for President ever, taken together as a team. Each man is getting worrisomely close to 50% of the voters who say, "Anybody but __________." I would describe myse