Sibby Online

Yesterday’s quote of the day

A Sibby Online reader has nominated me for yesterday’s quote of the day. Here is his email:

You said on Sibby Online...

"Would a John Thune ad stating Tom Daschle was a “miserable failure” for not stopping the Democrat filibuster on the energy bill be considered a “legitimate debate” on the ethanol issue"

That is one FANTASTIC analogy! Consider that line stolen.

No need to steal. I am releasing all rights to the line. Repeat it as often as you like.

Democrats’ special interest…trial lawyers

Accuracy in Media has a report on the impact of frivolous lawsuits on our healthcare costs. Excerpt:

Doctors are getting sick and tired of being taken to the cleaners for malpractice insurance so that vulture-like litigators and their willing co-conspirators in the hallowed halls of government can get rich."

Charles Hurt of the Washington Times has examined this problem in connection with Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards. He notes that the AMA lists the health care situation in Edwards' home state of North Carolina as a "crisis" and blames it on medical-malpractice lawsuits such as the ones that made Edwards rich. Edwards specialized in blaming doctors and hospitals for cerebral palsy in children, using cases based on "junk science."

Dr. Craig VanDerVeer, a Charlotte, North Carolina, neurosurgeon, was quoted in Hurt's article as saying, "The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and neurosurgery in North Carolina. As a result, thousands of patients lost their health care." If the truth about Edwards was more widely known, Kerry might not be getting such high marks in public opinion polls for having a solution to the health care crisis.

DVT has a post disclosing what one of his readers says about Tom Daschle's role in this problem:

The top contributors to Daschle’s campaign are lawyers and law firms who have given over $1.6 million to the Senator. This is money well spent. Daschle has filibustered medical liability and tort reform, costing consumers billions in higher premiums and prices.

Daschle obstructs tax cut

Here is another report that won't see Argus Leader ink:

MACON,GA.- In a statement issued this week, 60 Plus Association President Jim Martin said, “It’s a distinct honor to bestow the Benjamin Franklin Award upon Senator Saxby Chambliss for his efforts to abolish one of the most confiscatory of all taxes.”

The 11-year-old senior citizen advocacy group which relies on 4.5 million seniors for support, presents the Franklin award to deserving members of the House and Senate, having begun the practice nearly seven years ago.

Martin said his group was looking for ways to recognize those members who wanted to ‘bury the death tax… kill it, not wound it.’

“We decided on Ben Franklin because it was Franklin who famously said there were ‘two certainties to occur in life, taxes and death.’ “But because of the estate tax, applied after death, for 88 years there has been a third certainty to occur.

“Thanks to efforts by Senator Chambliss and others, there is now a majority in Congress in favor of getting rid of this third certainty, 275 members of the House and 56 in the Senate have voted to abolish this job-robbing, negative-revenue producing tax.

“President Bush has promised to sign the bill. Unfortunately, because of Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) it takes 60 votes in that body to repeal.

“In 1999, the House also voted by a substantial margin to repeal but President Clinton vetoed the bill, calling it ‘a windfall for the wealthy, a tax cut for the rich’ – to which I replied that was a con job and Mr. Clinton knew it; the rich set up foundations to avoid the tax. A few come to mind: the Turner Foundation and the Gates Foundation among others…ever heard of the Heinz Foundation? Instead, it’s small businesses, farmers and senior citizens that are hurt because they don’t have the hundreds of thousands to pay accountants and lawyers.”

Martin has been credited with popularizing the term ‘death tax’ by Grover Norquist on the right and Bill Gates, Sr. on the left (in his new book, ‘Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes’).

“Some 75 to 80% of the American public favors abolishing this tax, citing the unfairness of a tax triggered only by death. That’s why our battle cry at 60 Plus has become ‘dying should not be a taxable event.’

“Besides the Franklin Award, Chambliss has already earned the 60 Plus Association’s top honor, the Guardian of Seniors’ Rights Award, for Chambliss’ efforts to protect Social Security and Medicare and his work to abolish the 1993 tax on seniors’ Social Security benefits.”

John Kerry hurting Tom Daschle

I wonder if this AP report will get Argus Leader ink. Excerpt:

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle hugged President Bush from one end of South Dakota to the other this summer. In his own campaign commercials.

The brief embrace might seem an odd claim on re-election for the man Republicans depict as obstructionist-in-chief for the president's congressional agenda. But Daschle is one of several candidates with a common political problem as Democrats nurse fragile hopes of gaining Senate control this fall.

From the South to South Dakota and Alaska, they are running in areas where Bush is popular - and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry not so much.

The Argus Liar busted?

I received this email from a Sibby Online reader in response to my post regarding today’s front-page Argus Leader report regarding John McCain:

Just wanted to point out that if you read the Argus story carefully, it's not actually clear that McCain was "making favorable comments about Daschle" as you say (although the Argus definitely wants to give you that impression), or even that he was talking about Daschle at all. The article doesn't tell us what was said before the host asked the leading question. I would bet it was a more general discussion of the various charges being made by Bush and others around the country (and maybe including Thune). Of course, the article is written in such a way as to give the impression that McCain had been asked to comment directly on Thune's comments, which is flat out misleading.

This is very interesting. Did the Argus Leader create a false impression that McCain was speaking in defense of Tom Daschle when he fact he was talking about Bush’s statement regarding John Kerry? I covered this yesterday.

SDP has posted reason to believe this maybe the case. He found a March 20, 2003 CNN report where McCain admits this about Daschle’s attack on the Commander in Chief on the eve of war, “I wouldn't have made those comments.” McCain didn't defend Daschle then.

But there was a time when Daschle and McCain did agree on something. They, along with John Kerry sent a letter to then President Clinton in 1998. Excerpts:

Last February, the Senate was working on a resolution supporting military action if diplomacy did not succeed in convincing Saddam Hussein to comply with the United Nations Security Council resolutions concerning the disclosure and destruction of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

…

Despite a brief interval of cooperation, however, Saddam Hussein has failed to live up to his commitments. On August 5, Iraq suspended all cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA, except some limited monitoring activity.

…

We are skeptical, however, that Saddam Hussein will take heed of this message even though it is from a unanimous Security Council. Moreover, we are deeply concerned that without the intrusive inspections and monitoring by UNSCOM and the IAEA, Iraq will be able, over time, to reconstitute
its weapons of mass destruction programs.

In light of these developments, we urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S.
Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraq sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.

Doesn’t seem like Daschle could have been sincere on March 17, 2003 when he accused Bush of being a miserable failure for his lack of diplomacy. (Lie 1?)

In today’s Argus Leader report helped Daschle out on another likely fib:

The inevitability of war was the nation's prevalent mood in March 2003, and Bush had said repeatedly that he intended to use force to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But Daschle said the precise moment of Bush committing troops to battle wasn't yet known.

"The truth is, I didn't know that when I said it, I would be getting a call that night from the president saying that we would be going to war," Daschle said. "Had I known then what I know now, I may have found a different time to say it."

The only people who would believe that statement would be those who believe Daschle when he says, I believe in the Second Amendment. (Lies 2 & 3?) (SDP has a lot more on this!!!)

Today I heard a Daschle campaign radio ad when a female Republican said she was voting for Tom Daschle, the man and not the party, because he is honest and was responsible for funding the distance learning program. The funding was a part of the 2003 Omnibus bill in which Daschle was among only 20 senators who voted against it. (Lie 4?)

In baseball, three strikes and your out. For Democrats, what would 4 lies mean? Remember, this is a party who would continue embracing a President who would say, I never had sex with that woman. Daschle was Clinton’s main supporter.

Now the chief supporter of Daschle's lies is his newsletter…the Argus Liar. (How many times did the Argus cover Daschle's Hampton fundraiser?)

Argus Leader: McCain verses Zell

DVT and SDP have posts on the Argus Leader’s obvious bias by reporting the favorable comments about Daschle from John McCain, a liberal Republican , but ignore the unfavorable comments about Daschle from Zell Miller, a conservative Democrat. These posts are MUST READS!!!

Here is an excerpt from today’s Argus Leader:

McCain was a guest Monday on a talk radio show hosted by Ed Schultz of station KFGO of Fargo.

"We have differences of opinions with the Democrats," McCain said. "We are not enemies. The real enemy is out there - al Qaida and others that are trying to destroy us."

"But is debating war policy 'emboldening' the enemy?" Schultz asked.

"I think that debating a war policy is a legitimate exercise in democracy," McCain answered. "We are entitled to and must respect each other's views even if we disagree with them. Wars throughout our history have been disagreed with by certain elements in our society. That's what we fight for."

Is calling the President a “miserable failure” an example of a legitimate debate on war policy? Let me ask the questions this way. Would a John Thune ad stating Tom Daschle was a “miserable failure” for not stopping the Democrat filibuster on the energy bill be considered a “legitimate debate” on the ethanol issue or would the Daschle Daily (Argus Leader) promote the idea that the ad was a negative attack on Tom Daschle?

If the Daschle supporters want to support the right to voice their dissent, then they should also support the right of thoses who voice their dissent by saying certain comments "embolden the enemy". As normal, the Democrats instead try to have it both ways. And their campaign newsletter, the Argus Leader, promotes the hypocrisy as if it was the gospel truth...and the heck with the truth, it gets into the way of a good Democrat story.

Gun rights in DC

John Fund is saying in the WSJ online that the House will voted to restore Washington DC rights to own firearms:

When I moved here as a student in the early 1980s, I was appalled to learn that the city had passed an almost complete ban on the ownership of firearms, leaving me with no real means to defend my home or property. On Wednesday, the House will vote on a bill to restore to the residents of the District of Columbia the right to defend themselves.

House race poll

The Argus Leader reports their poll results on the House race:

Herseth leads Diedrich 49 percent to 42 percent in the poll conducted for the Argus Leader and KELO-TV. Libertarian Terry Begay garnered 1 percent in the telephone survey of 800 respondents, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

In May the poll showed Herseth ahead by 9 points, but the actual vote results was less than a 2 percent margin. That makes the margin of error over 7 points…not 3.5

But that is not how the partisan Democrat reporter David Kranz reported it:

"To go from a 1.5 percent margin in June to a 7-point lead now, five weeks from the election, that is a very good place to be for an incumbent," Walter said.

The fact that the poll in May showed a distorted 9 point lead would get into the way of Kranz’s pro-Democrat story.

John Thune a leader

During the Meet the Press debate, Tom Daschle charged that John Thune was a follower and would do whatever President Bush says. Based on a Washington Post report (subscription required), looks like Bush is following Thune’s lead:

Appearing in the Rose Garden yesterday with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, Bush said Kerry's statements about Iraq "can embolden an enemy."

Here is the report’s mention of Thune:

On Sunday, GOP Senate candidate John Thune of South Dakota said of his opponent, Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle: "His words embolden the enemy."

I say Thune looks more Presidential than Daschle.

John Kerry’s gun smoke

A Sibby Online reader provided me with a Michelle Malkin post regarding my previous post on John Kerry’s assault weapon. Malkin is responding to a New York Times report (her comments are all caps in []):

No Assault Rifle for Kerry, After All By JODI WILGOREN Published: September 27, 2004 Senator John Kerry's campaign said yesterday that Mr. Kerry did not own a Chinese assault rifle, as he was quoted as saying in Outdoor Life magazine, but a single-bolt-action military rifle, blaming aides who filled out the magazine's questionnaire on his behalf for the error. [WHICH AIDES?! WHO ON KERRY'S STAFF WOULD HAVE WRITTEN SUCH A THING IN KERRY'S NAME WITHOUT KERRY'S PRIOR APPROVAL? COME ON, JODI. THIS IS NOT STENOGRAPHY CLASS.]

Michael Meehan, a spokesman for the campaign [POOR, POOR GUY], said Mr. Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, owns two guns, a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun and the rifle, which Mr. Meehan said Mr. Kerry "keeps as a relic" [IN WHICH HOME? IN WHICH STATE? IN COMPLIANCE WITH STATE REGULATIONS OR NOT?] and had never fired. Mr. Meehan said the gun had no make or model markings on it and that Mr. Kerry "got it from a friend years ago," [WHO? WHO?] adding that such rifles were first manufactured in Russia more than 100 years ago and were used by the North Koreans and the Vietcong.

So John Kerry had someone else answer the questionnaire for him, who just made things up about guns. Sounds like something Tony Dean would do.

UPDATE: WorldNetDaily also has a report on the NYT report.