, a new online news site that is sort of like an accurate (and left-leaning) version of The Drudge Report, was just published.
For anyone who (like me) has been talking about how the political left could use a Drudge Report equivalent, I suggest you check out The Times-Patriot and visit it regularly. It's a small publication run by a guy in California and could use your help, so please consider clicking on a couple of the Google ads while you're there — especially any that appear to support Chicken George, since that means pro-Bush people are stuck paying a liberal website a tiny bit of cash. Haw haw haw.
OK, the commercial is over. Here's the meat:
Cheney Hurts Bush's Bid for Second Term
Odd comments make him seem out of touch, unstable
By Jason Jackson
Times-Patriot Columnist
September 10, 2004 -- Vice President Dick Cheney is making the rounds on the campaign trail, but by now Republican strategists must be asking themselves if he's doing more harm than good.
Cheney, whom we're told the neo-conservative flock loves and adores, made controversial and confusing comments twice this week that made national headlines. While his words may have left The Wrong Right bursting with joy, they also may have chased legions of undecided voters scrambling to the polls eager to support the tall guy from Massachusetts who doesn't have "Cheney" listed next to his name on the ballot.
Earlier this week, Cheney told a gaggle of handpicked Iowa supporters that the nation would face an increased threat of terrorism should voters make "the wrong choice" and elect John Kerry as president. Cheney must have spent so much time in underground bunkers and undisclosed locations following the Sept. 11 attacks that he forgot who was actually in charge of the country at the time of that attack.
The remark did not go over well. From coast to coast, newspapers carried reports of what they called Cheney's "scare tactics." Both Kerry and running mate John Edwards accused the vice president of trying to frighten and divide the nation, and Near-President Al Gore called Cheney's remarks "sleazy."
Even worse, many observers noted that Cheney's comments could themselves represent an act of terrorism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines terrorism as "the threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons."
Threatened use of violence with the intention of coercing societies for political reasons? Ring the bell. We have a winner. As our tough-talking president -- the one wearing the flight suit with the stuffed crotch -- would say, you're either with us or against us unless, like Dick Cheney, you're both. Now watch this drive.
Just two days later, Cheney arrived in Cincinnati to speak to yet another handpicked sample of supporters. In perhaps the flimsiest defense of the Bush administration's economic policies on record, Cheney told the crowd that various indicators fail to measure the hundreds of thousands of people who make money selling on eBay. Reports indicate Cheney said this with a straight face.
Perhaps Gore invented the Internet just so Cheney could use eBay as a leading economic indicator. The Bush administration may not be any good at creating decent-paying jobs or boosting consumer confidence, but they apparently are saving our economy one collectible spoon at a time.
In response, Edwards suggested that Bush and Cheney consider other revenue measures as well. "If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking," Edwards said.
Cheney's out-of-touch comments and calculated fear mongering may draw cheers from the Republican faithful and thank-you cards from late-night hosts like Jon Stewart, but swing voters must be left wondering if Cheney is stable enough to be one pretzel away from the presidency.
At the Republican National Convention, a crazed Sen. Zell Miller did a dandy job of pulling the spotlight off Cheney by, among other things, lamenting that he could not challenge MSNBC's Chris Matthews to a dual here in the politically correct 21st century. But at these prefabricated campaign events, Cheney doesn't have Miller to distract the crowds like a dancing monkey. He's out there on his own, and he's failing and flailing.
At the convention, rumors swirled that Cheney would be dropped from the ticket in favor of a more palatable and less android-like running mate. Names like Rudy Giuliani, Colin Powell and John McCain were bandied about and cheered by the few moderates remaining in the party, but in the end Bush, loyal as a lap dog, appeased his neo-conservative base and stuck with Cheney.
Bush has established throughout his presidency that he isn't one to second-guess himself, but one can't help but think he'll have plenty of time to rethink his decision to keep Cheney on the ticket come November.