Rapid Fire! + John Kerry is Done

Previous Editions: House Keeping, 72 Rapid Fires, Rapid Fire Pt. III, Mini-Fire, Old Drafts

1. April 4 - Sen. John Kerry says we need to set a May 15 deadline in Iraq for the formation of their government so their politicians know we're serious about leaving. Mr. Kerry wants to withdraw U.S. troops immediately if they miss this deadline. If they make that marker, he still wants all U.S. combat troops by the end of 2006. Prime Minister Al-Maliki's cabinet wasn't signed in until May 20. He says we need deadlines, I say we need to assure the Iraqi people we'll stay until they can secure their own freedom.
2. June 13 - DNC Chair Howard Dean: "If Karl Rove had been indicted it would have been for perjury. That does not excuse his real sin which is leaking the name of an intelligence operative during the time of war (wrong, it wasn't him). He doesn't belong in the White House. If the President valued America more than he valued his connection to Karl Rove, then Karl Rove would have been fired a long time ago," on NBC's Today.
3. June - President Bush designates 140,000 sq. miles of ocean as the world's largest marine sanctuary. It is home to some 7,000 species with a fourth found nowhere else in the world. This move highlights Teddy Roosevelt's conservation legacy within the GOP, but could eventually devolve into another ANWR...
4. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says there will be “no new deficit spending” under a Democrat Congress. This smacks of “no new taxes,” we’ll see if it pans out the same.
5. According to Nielsen SoundScan, weekly musical album sales, including downloads, were 8.91 Million units in the week ending July 23. It marks the first time since February of 1996 when less than 9 million units were sold (they sold 8.94 Million that month). That poor, struggling music industry! (jape)
6. July 31 – Sen. Kerry proposes universal health coverage by 2012 while conceding his plan is virtually the same as one he proposed during his failed presidential campaign in 2004. And how will he pay for it? By taxing the rich of course! (those earning over $200,000.) According to the IRS, the top 5% of income earners (about 6.5 Million tax-payers or about 2% of the population) paid more than 57% of taxes collected in 2004, even with the President's tax-cuts. Scapegoating the wealthy: a Democrat tradition!
7. Israel says Hezbollah used Russian-made anti-tank missiles during their conflict. They were one of Hezbollah's most effective weapons.
8. Ayatollah Khamenei praises Hassan Nasrallah: "Your unprecedented holy war and steadfastness are beyond the limits of my description. It's a divine victory. It is a victory of Islam... With God's help you were able to prove that military superiority is not (measured) in the number (of soldiers), planes, warships and tanks. Rather, it depends on the power of faith and holy war."
9. August 18 - Raul Castro says he's ordered a mobilization to counter a US invasion threat.
10. August 19 - Israeli commandos conducted a raid deep inside Lebanon. Lebanon called the event a "flagrant violation" of a U.N.-brokered cease-fire brokered a week earlier. Israel said it was stopping arms shipments from Iran and Syria.
11. September 24 - Sudan's president, Lt-Gen Omar al-Bashir, announced American officials would be restricted from traveling more than 15 miles from the presidential palace in without a special permit. It's our watch...
12. Oil falls below $60 a barrel and some jackass at KGTV 10 pens this headline: "Keep On Pumping: Gas Prices Fall Across U.S." Remember the stir when oil first reached $60? Now it's a blessing? What a rube.
13. In 2004, 37 million Americans (or 1 in 8) lived below the poverty line, defined as having an annual income below around $10,000 for an individual or $20,000 for a family of four. Worse still, 13 Million were children. Almost 14 Million children resided in “food-insecure” households. Making sure America's children are fed; now that's a moral issue.
14. America is home to more than 48 Million smokers. Smokers; assemble! (think Anchorman)
15. It costs Venezuelans about $3 to fill an SUV's tank with high-octane gasoline. These type of story always rankles Americans, but let's put it into perspective. In Venezuela, it is more expense to buy two jugs of potable water than a tank of gasoline.
16. October 15 – Sen. Kerry thinks he deserves another change to run for president: "Americans give people a second chance. And if you learn something and prove you've learned something, maybe even more so… John McCain, their leading candidate — didn't he get kicked around South Carolina by the same president because he wasn't patriotic enough as a prisoner of war? He's now their leading candidate for president... Richard Nixon seemed to get kicked around pretty badly both running for president and governor, turned around and came back and got elected president."
17. October 26 - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on abortion: "Obviously my friends and people who spoke to me-we've had many long conversations and I think-and which I believe-that the way that I have spoken and I have advocated has certainly evolved and I am happy to be educated and to learn as much as I can." How absolutely equivocal.
18. October 27 - Donna Brazile on disillusionment among black voters: "This notion that elections are stolen and that elections are rigged is so common in the public sphere that we’re having to go out of our way to counter them this year." This statement exemplifies the 11th hour fears in Democrat Party. There was little talk of fraud afterwards...
19. Sen. Clinton in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations: "First, and most obviously, we must by word and deed renew internationalism for a new century."
20. Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, UAE and Saudi Arabia are starting nuclear programs; these moves are viewed as mainly security hedges against a nuclear Iran.
21. The New York Times endorsed Connecticut Democrat Ned Lamont for Senate while The Hartford Courant and New Haven Register supported Sen. Joe Lieberman's independent bid. "Ned Lamont has run a far less polished campaign than Mr. Lieberman, but the more we see of him, the more impressed we are by his intelligence and his growing sophistication about the issues facing the nation," the Times wrote. What bias? Mr. Lieberman won re-election by 10 points.
22. November 1 - Sen. Kerry has reminded America of his ineloquence with his ‘botched joke’ and sunk any chance at a second nomination.
23. November 14 - IAEA experts have found unexplained traces plutonium and highly enriched uranium in a nuclear waste facility in Iran.
24. November 17 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,305.82 after setting a new intraday high of 12,325.91, passing 12,300 for the first time. Oil prices plunged to their lowest level in a year, settling at $56.26 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is at a six-year high and the Nasdaq index is near one. Too little, too late.
25. November 19 - Rep. Charlie Rangle (D-NY) on his seriousness about reinstating the draft: "You bet your life. Underscore serious... If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft," he said on CBS' Face the Nation. Remember the Election 2004 whisper campaign that Mr. Bush would reinstitute the draft?
26. November 24 - Rwanda broke diplomatic ties with France: "For the last 12 years, France has waging both overt and covert war against the government of Rwanda hoping to overthrow it and re-instate to power allies and perpetrators of the genocide," a foreign ministry statement said. All this in response to one French judge...
27. Lebanon's government has approved the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, overriding the objections of Hezbollah and a pro-Syrian president.
28. Russia has begun delivery of 29 Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran despite US objections concerning weapons transfers while the Security Council haggles with Iran over its nuclear program.
29. November 27 – Sen. Kerry finished last in a poll on the likeability of the top 20 American political figures. The poll said 95% of participants responded they 'had heard enough about Mr. Kerry.' Even President Bush finished ahead of him.
30. Commentary: John Kerry was the 'anyone but Dean' candidate in 2004. John Edwards was too green and an average debater. Dennis Kucinich announced his presidential candidacy (12/11) so even if Howard Dean doesn't run, the anti-war rhetoric will be hot and the nutty left will have their poster-child. Hillary (do I need a last name?) has run to the right on many issues since joining the Senate and her name still elicits scorn from a considerable number (nearly 50%) in the general election. In my estimation, she can not win the presidency in 2008. As for Barack Obama, the media-christened rock-star, will he suffer the same fate as Edwards in 04'? Will he stumble during questioning as media scrutiny intensifies? Will Obama be able to articulate substantive policy during debate or will he only be smiles and sunshine? I don't know the answer but, personally, I think Obama v. McCain in 2008 would end up looking like 1996.

Twenty One Names For President