Todays Must Read

Russ Smith in the NY Press:

The AP report went on: "Black turnout is key to Kerry's plan for victory in Florida and elsewhere—less than 10 percent of black voters nationally supported George W. Bush in 2000. But Kerry's campaign says there have been efforts to turn religious blacks against him based on his support for abortion rights and civil unions for same-sex couples. Jackson told worshippers their political concerns are issues that touch their everyday lives [apparently the reverend/marriage counselor/philanderer doesn't include religion], not gay marriage. 'November 2, the power is in your hands, hands that once picked cotton.'"
Who knew that so many Miami residents were 175 years old and former slaves, but then I don't have the pipeline to the Almighty that Jackson apparently enjoys. Sharpton, needing an attention rush even more than Eliot Spitzer, helpfully added, "Everything we have fought for, marched for, gone to jail for—some died for—could be reversed if the wrong people are put on the Supreme Court." Copy that, Al. If Bush is reelected there's simply no doubt that Stonewall Jackson, John Calhoun, Jefferson Davis and Sen. Robert Byrd will be exhumed and placed on the high bench. Wait: instant correction. The former KKK member Byrd is still alive. As Kerry might say on his forays into black neighborhoods, "My bad."

The so-called "Black vote" that the donkeys have taken for granted may not be the 90-10% given it has been in recent elections. Couple that with the loss of a good amount of the Jewish vote and that may put Bush over the top. Mugger continues:

The New York Times is Kerry's foremost print cheerleader, but let's not forget the senator's hometown Boston Globe. Surpassing even the Times for biased columnists—which is an almost Herculean task—the Globe gives op-ed space to Dan Payne, a "media consultant" who has worked on Kerry's Senate campaigns, but isn't affiliated with his presidential effort. At least officially. Writing on Oct. 9, Payne, under the headline "Bush's incredible shrinking lead," offers the following Terry McAuliffe-sanctioned nugget. "Florida dreaming. Kerry has to overcome Bush brother Jeb, ballot mischief, cheating on overseas military ballots, major GOP absentee voting program, Ayatollah Rove's evangelical jihad, disenfranchisement of African-American voters. Desperate Bushes may steal Florida again. Only this time, results won't be close."
At least Payne didn't equate Bush with Hitler or Stalin.
Still, last week's groaner came once again courtesy of the Times, with its "The Town Hall Debate" editorial of Oct. 9. Strikingly partisan and condescending at the same time, one can only wonder what Bill Keller and Gail Collins will order up from its editorial grunts for the upcoming Kerry endorsement.
This excerpt is typical: "Town hall meetings are one vestige of early American democracy that modern presidential candidates know very well. No one who has survived a New Hampshire primary season needs to be told what it's like to answer questions tossed out by a group of average [emphasis mine] citizens. It's the democratic process in its most amiable state: earnest Americans asking serious questions about the issues… [T]he president was utterly incoherent when asked about whom he might name to the Supreme Court in a second term. His comment about how he didn't want to offend any judges… was a joke—but an unfortunate one, given the fact that the president owes his job to a Supreme Court vote."
Got it. The headline for the paper's Kerry pick is "Re-Defeat Bush." Not original, but George Soros will approve.

The MSM is balanced though, just ask them.