Monday, September 22, 2003

William Safire Confirmed idiot 6:35:36 PM

Clark, Kerry beating Bush When will they stop spinning for Bush? Only after the illegal squatter is booted from the White House? You have to wonder…   Anyway, here is a CNN poll that shows both Clark and Kerry ahead of Bush and most of the other Dems not far behind. (of course CNN says that Clark and Bush are “tied” hence my crack above).   Be sure to share this one with any GOP disinformation monkeys you may happen to know and watch them sputter:   Democrat Wesley Clark, in the presidential race for less than a week, is tied with [is actually ahead of] Bush in a head-to-head matchup, according to a poll that shows several Democratic candidates strongly challenging the Republican incumbent.   Clark, a retired Army general, garnered 49 percent support to Bush's 46 percent, which is essentially a tie [no, not essentially a tie, statistically a tie] given the poll's margin of error. The CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 19-21, beginning two days after Clark announced he would become the 10th Democratic candidate for the party's nomination.   Several other Democrats who have been in the race for months also were close to Bush in direct matchups. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut also were tied with the president, while Bush held a slight lead over former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri.   In the head-to-head confrontations, it was Kerry at 48 percent to Bush's 47 percent; and Bush's 48 percent to Lieberman's 47 percent. Bush held a slight lead over Dean, 49-45 percent, and had a similar advantage over Gephardt.   Separately, Clark led all Democratic candidates in the survey released Monday that showed Bush far more vulnerable.   The president's job approval was 50 percent, with 47 percent disapproving. The public gave Bush high marks for having the personality and leadership qualities of a chief executive. But just over half, 51 percent, said they disagreed with the president on issues that matter most to them, while 46 percent agree.   Among voters who are Democratic or lean Democratic, Clark led all Democratic candidates with 22 percent, Dean had 13 percent, Kerry and Gephardt 11 percent and Lieberman 10 percent. The remaining candidates were in the low single digits.   The poll of 1,003 adults, including 877 registered voters, had a margin of error of plus of minus 3 percentage points, 4 points for registered voters. 6:16:10 PM

A solution for Iraq “The United States is putting together a Constitution now for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It's served us well for 200 years, and we don't appear to be using it anymore, so what the hell?” --Jay Leno 6:02:25 PM

This is too funny But not 6-too funny.   Ok ok, no more puns… but seriously, this guy wants us to “trust him” with the fifth largest economy in the world  and he can’t even come clean about his true height?   Shortzenegger's Tall Tales   “Arnold Schwarzenegger's quest to become the governor of California," reported freelancer Karen Brandon in last Monday's Tribune, "represents a new level of the blurring of celebrity and politics." And of facts and image too.   We picture the Terminator as a great big guy. "Few stories can match the irresistible charm of Schwarzenegger's rags-to-riches tale," wrote Brandon. "A once-gangly teenage son of a police captain (and former Nazi) in a small, poor Austrian village, comes to America knowing little English, with $20 in his gym bag and muscles on top of muscles. Standing 6-feet, 2 inches in height, he finds unqualified success in a then-ridiculed sport and becomes the world's best-sculpted man, winning Mr. Olympia seven times, relying as much on psychological warfare as his behemoth physique."   My wife was at a dinner Schwarzenegger attended in Los Angeles earlier this year. How tall did you say he is? I ask.   "About five four or five six," she says.   They weren't introduced. So I call someone else who stood and talked with him that night. "I'm five six," she says. "He is definitely no taller than me. I think he's about five five."   Six two is apparently the height Schwarzenegger decreed for himself years ago. The "official" schwarzenegger.com Web site lists him at six two; so do bodybuildinguniverse.com, celebguru.com, allmovieportal.com, and musclememory.com. Brandon dug the height out of one of Schwarzenegger's books about himself, though she might have had reason to wonder.   My wife says he's no six two, I tell Brandon after tracking her down in California.   "I have that same feeling," she says, and explains that years ago she was working for a paper in Kansas City and Schwarzenegger came by. "I remember telling my friends at the time, 'Gee, he doesn't look anywhere as tall as he does in the movies.'"   "Don't quote me on this," says one of the candidate's political lieutenants in LA when I call, "but I think he's six two."   How about five six?   I'm promptly switched to a press aide.   "I'm taller than five six and he's taller than I am," says the aide. "He's not five six. He's six feet tall."   In 1999 Jay Mathews wrote the article "The Shrinking Field" for the Washington Post on the often exaggerated heights claimed by male candidates for political office. "Sociologist Ralph Keyes has shown that men often claim to be taller than they are," he reported. "That goes double for celebrities. Men's Health magazine compared claimed heights to actual heights and discovered that Arnold Schwarzenegger was 5-10, not 6-2, that Charles Bronson was 5-7, not 5-11, and Burt Reynolds 5-8, not 5-11."   Mathews commented, "Such embellishments, to be effective, require not only changes in the numbers, but daily use of special footwear. I see nothing wrong with this."   Neither do I. Think of the campaign slogan Schwarzenegger could be using: "He'll give California a lift!"   Six two? I e-mailed Roger Ebert.   "No way," he wrote back. "I'd guess 5-10 or 5-11." 6:00:54 PM