Brian,

Although we didn't agree with the bad joke by Senator Kerry and we appreciate the fact that the President had to defend the intelligence levels of Army personnel, we thought you might find this short article found in one of the many national new
magazines interesting.

"ARMY HITS RECRUITING TARGET."
"The Army topped its hiring goal for the fiscal year ending September 30, signing up 80,635 recruits, including 70,000 first time soldiers.
That's a big improvement over last year, when the Army fell 6,700 short of its target, the biggest shortfall since 1979.
After the Army missed its targets last year it increased signing bonuses and lowered education and aptitude standards. About 17 percent of new recruits this year were admitted under waivers for various 'medical, moral or criminal problems,'
including misdemeanor arrest and drunken driving."

I am sure that this is a matter of public record and can be verified by contacting someone in the Army.

Best Regards,

David and Erma Wagner, Evergreen, CO

Editor's note: Nightly News has not reported this story, but you can read the report from Oct. 9 on MSNBC.com here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15197832/

As a steel worker I thought the democrat party was the party of the working class. But I now see that party leadership is nothing but a group of elitist. Although I have only 14 years of schooling with some other trade school certificates, I thought that raising a family and being with the same wife of 30 years would be considered as noble accomplishment. Now I see that unless you have a college degree you are unworthy of respect. Please inform the Democrat leaders that there are only so many widowed multi-millionaire women available to marry. The rest of us will have to make it on our own.
As for the apologist of John Kerry, There is an old saying that in the college graduating class someone had to be at the bottom of the class. Because George Bush had a higher GPA at Yale then Kerry I guess we know who the real dummy is.

Let's take away all the hype and remember what we are doing. Forget about the Democrats and Republicans, and try to think back about what we did to our own country. We all celebrate the holidays and forget why. We all celebrate holidays with no reason, but to forget. Without honor we drink the holiday ale, and never see the brutality of real war. All we see is the political circus in which our only decision is "yes" or "no". Should we continue to help, aid, or save another country? Or 'protect' another country from the same exact issues that we once struggled with?" Where is the Humanity in the United States? Do we really believe that Iraqis are all the same? Do we really believe as American people that all people are the same? Are Iraqis a part of all people? Do they deserve our help, or do they deserve our help the most? Who has been oppressed the most? Can we really sit back in our "Ivory Castle" any longer and be afraid of a political agenda? We have the strongest military in the world, we're about to bomb the crap out of both Iran and North Korea, and we haven't even spread ourselves thin yet. It's disturbing to know that most people don't understand how important these world issues are. By the way, John Kerry's joke was funny, it was only taken out of context. If he would write his own joke's instead of reading them off of a 3x5 index card, everything would have been fine.

What did Kerry say again? I haven't heard it often enough. What did the White House about it? Do you have more quotes from Bush, Limbaugh, Boenart, Cheney or Mehlman in response to what Kerry said? Are you done yet? Good. Check out this story. It ought to make your toes curl...

Florida ballot terminals favor Republicans even when voters don't

By Thomas C Greene
Tuesday 31st October 2006

Florida voters using electronic ballot machines are having persistent problems choosing Democrats in early elections, the Miami Herald reports.

The touch-screen gizmos seem strangely attracted to Republican candidates. One voter needed assistance from an election official, and even then, needed three tries to convince the machine that he wanted to vote for Democrat Jim Davis in the gubernatorial race, not his Republican opponent Charlie Crist.

Another voter who went Democrat across the board kept finding Republicans listed in the summary screen. He made repeated attempts until, finally, the machine registered his votes correctly, and he cast his ballot.

Yet another frustrated voter who complained of difficulties selecting a Democrat was told that the machine she was using had been troublesome. Poll workers fiddled with it for a bit, and then it seemed to work properly.

Apparently, this happens all the time. According to the Herald, "Broward County Supervisor of Elections spokeswoman Mary Cooney said it's not uncommon for screens on heavily used machines to slip out of sync, making votes register incorrectly. Poll workers are trained to recalibrate them on the spot - essentially, to realign the video screen with the electronics inside. The 15-step process is outlined in the poll-worker's manual."

MORE http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/31/florida_terminals_dont_cooperate/

I personally think that there is no good in the senate and should John Kerry have to apologize. Well I think he should but I dont think that George bush should have any opposition on if he apologizes or not. I think its time for america to vote but it is so hard to vote on either party this term. The republicans think that they have to live on the moral side of life but not only do they do that but they tend to leave a tighly woven thread for the democrats to do anything but on the other hand the dems think that they have to live by the american way at least they think they do, but they don't have any good ideas nor do they get anything done in due time. Its 8 months past the first proclamation that they set for the border wars and nothing has happend. They upturn the right to work for illegal immigrants which I agree with but then they tend to turn the tables and say that we need more border security but still nothing has happend. They are for the 700 mile fence along the border but then the rep's shut that down. It was once said by a man with some integraty. "Can't we all just get along." In this day and age it dosent seem like it. Let alone with society the way it tends to get with the crime and the sloth and invalue of any values. We have a government that should get along and be bi-partisan but in the forefront the dems and the reps will never be side by side until A Leader can Stand up and not fall and say enough is enough. Lead not lose and understand that we all make mistakes but lets for once learn from them and then we can truely be a free nation and stand together in unity and clarity.

I'm afraid that Kerry is showing his elitist colors. The implication is that only the uneducated are in the military or maybe that the uneducated are not worhty of making decisions for the country. Maybe he feels that in order to be eligable to vote you need a degree. In any case our military personnel are the best educated they have ever been.

Perhaps when Bush starts drafting young men and women to ship to Iraq the American people will FINALLY get off their butts and vote. Let's make a change next week. Let's DO SOMETHING to stop Bush from doing anything he pleases. And in 2008, let's elect a man or woman that will listen to the American people, that will try and understand what it is like to lose a child, husband, wife, mother or father in a useless war. And better yet, let's really ELECT someone and not have them appointed by the courts or have our votes thrown out and not counted. What about the minimum wage, who can live off $5.15 an hour? Could any of you ? Health care, God help those people that don't have coverage because our current congress and President sure won't help! If you want to change things in our country and make this a nation, of, for and by the people VOTE, VOTE, VOTE. Because if you don't things will remain just the way they are now.

I second (or should I say, third, or fourth, or...)everybody who has said drop the Kerry story. It's obvious what's going on here: Bush is "wagging the dog" and diverting attention from real news that really needs to be covered such as continuing post-Katrina troubles. Bush's incompetence regarding response to the disaster and inattention to rebuilding this area should be a major campaign issue right up there with Iraq. Instead, the mainstream media has essentially been in cahoots with the Bush Administration by averting Americans' eyes from what has been going on there in order to help the GOP stay in control of Congress.

this Kerry story is as important as many of those promoted by the democrats over the past few months (years). It should be center stage for quite a few evenings. Unfortunately it points out a flaw the democrats don't want visable. Personally i think we should all tune out, and then tune in to other media avenues that focus on reporting what is truly important. Do they exist?

Brian,

Why don't you cover something relevant like the fact our military is removing checkpoints in Iraq at the behest of militia leaders? Or the fact that electronic voting machines stand poised to steal another election for the republicans? Lord knows the GOP doesn't want to talk about anything related their mindboggling ineptitude on just about everything since 2004. Rush mocks someone with Parkinson's disease, and it's buried in the middle of your newscast. JK bungles a joke and it's your lead story two nights in a row? You've got to be kidding me.

Of all the things that are important right now, from both sides of the political continuum, can you honestly tell yourself "as a journalist, this is the most important thing I have to say to the nation tonight"?

Please, for America's sake, do your job and report on something that MEANS something.

tried to take an objective read on the Kerry statement and when I take the speech in context I believe it was a speaking blunder as he says. It doesn’t make sense otherwise in the delivery of the speech. I also found that even most Republican strategists when pressed on the point also thought it was a speaking blunder as well. That being said, however, I do believe that Kerry needs to make an apology to the men and women in the armed services for making the erroneous statement. It looks like he is an ego head that is still bitter about the Swiftboating at the hands of the Republican propaganda machine last election. Neverless, I believe most of us would like to hear the words “I’m sorry” come out of his mouth to the troops.

On the opposite side I also feel that the Republican party in latching onto this if it is perceived shortly as a speaking blunder, will again be painted as a group that uses information selectively for their own agenda such as the information used in the run up to war in Iraq, the hooking of the Iraqis with 9/11, the hooking of Iraq with Al-Quaeda. The last two have been thoroughly debunked by the bipartisan investigations. Even the notion of painting a picture of how we are progressing in the war in Iraq appears at least to have been reported through the Administration with rose colored glasses. It is only in the past month that we see a more realistic assessment of what is actually happening in Iraq. The Baker report likely will shed further credibility to the fact that things really are out of control and we need a drastic change. I personally believe that most of the report probably already is in the hands of most Congressmen in some form and thus why we are seeing more Republicans taking the stances that they have been in the last month of so, knowing what the report will bring out and what choices we will likele be faced with.

Lead with the Mark Foley story or Safavian, or Abramoff, or Ney, or Libby, or DeLay, or Hastert, or Iraq WMDs, or 3000 American dead, or 655000 Iraqi dead or Katrina and FEMA incompetence, or tax breaks for the extremely rich, or ignoring our border problem for 5 years after 9/11, or [you can add you own BushCo failure here]

So, John Kerry is the lightening rod for democratic contempt by the right. I do not believe that Kerry will be the contender for the democratic ticket for '08 as some think. And I do not believe Hillary Clinton will be the GO GUY for '08 as well. But the right thinks that these two people, Kerry and Clinton, will be the next contender which is their mistake. Expect a much older and much wizened senator to be the contender for '08 than the younger set, including Clinton and Kerry, because people expecting the lousy republicans abysmal performance will want someone capable of addressing the right's offbooks accounting and to get the country moderate again. Obama, Kerry, and Clinton do not fit this expectation but Levin does!

George Bush is just using this to take the heat off of six years of a failed policy. Now if John Kerry can say he made a mistake for the comments that he made, Then the President of The United States should come clean for the lies he told to the American People regarding sending troops to Iraq.

Here is the problem. The John Kerry situation has been nothing new. This has been going on since 2004. The GOP wants to relive this. Here's why: since the 2004 election, there has been nothing but screw-ups and blatant-- AND I MEAN BLATANT--arrogance from this administration and the Republican Congress. Let me go down this list: The Terri Schivao situation which the GOP congress intervened. To me, this was a violation of privacy. The failed push by Bush to make Social Security private, the continued mess going on in Iraq, the increased tension in the Middle East. On top of that, you got the Mark Foley, which he is getting out to from his 30-day rehab consultation. The reason why the Foley scandal was so big is that the used private IM's to lure 16-year-old and young pages. The GOP covered that stuff for over a decade (talk about hypocrisy), and the disasterous federal response to Hurricane Katrina, particulary in New Orleans, confirmed my belief that Bush was imcompentent. This is all in addition to Iraq. And the GOP wants to focus on John Kerry. Drop it already. There was nothing offensive on Kerry's part. Bush really needs to apologize to the American people for all the lies they put in order to go to war.

President Bush has made a multitude of errors, misquotes, and blunders in his speechs and what Kerry said is true (I knew he meant the President but it still did not need to be said in that way). I think the point should be that our children need to have a better educational system and War is the last thing we want them to take part in. I would have voted for someone else (not Bush) if anyone else was running besides Kerry. He is not helping the Democrats at this point. I hope by 2008 there are better candidates in both parties.

so,according to letter writers the "issues" are that Bush hasn't apologized yet. Thanks for boiling off the energy issue, the employment issue, the health issue, etc. and concluding that the "Issue" is that an apology is due. No wonder Kerry's gaffe is center stage!

Brian,

yeah, sure, this will be a lead story again if you make it a lead story! Is this really THE news worth reporting about? It is disgusting how you guys jump on something so irrelevant,instead of reporting real news and issues that are important these days. How about your lead story is what Bush just said moments ago about keeping Rumsfeld all the way through 2008? I think voters should know this.

I'm surprised no one is taking the bait on the Bob Faw piece. I would say--Diners. But not to worry Bob, they are alive and well in these parts. There are 3 within a 5 minute drive of my house and I can think of at least another 4 within 20-30 minutes. I used to frequent 2 of the 3 closest back in the Jurassic Period when I was in college (so they have been around quite a while), drinking endless cups of coffee, discussing current events, politics (an obsession here in Hudson County), and most of all--philosophy! I wonder if college students still do that, or is the world moving too fast for such esoteric discussions?!!

Why not just drop the whole damned non-issue?

People often forget that Kerry actually served in the military and fought in a war. His joke might have been missing the punchline, but the remark as a whole has some truth to it. The bulk of the military is not made up of college graduates. People join the military for many reasons: patriotism, training, structure, decent pay, education and other benefits. A sizeable portion join with the hopes of getting their college education while serving. Some join because they aren't sure what they want to do after high school. Regardless of their reason for joining, they are doing a tough job under difficult circumstances. I wish those that strongly support the current administration would take a look at the treatment of the military during the Bush years: Soldiers in Iraq make far less then contractors performing similar functions. Deployment durations have increased substantially over the past few years. Time bewteen deployments has dwindled down to 12 months in some cases. The Air Force is about to cut 40,000 people over the next couple of years because it was given the choice of keeping the troops or getting new airframes. The Army has budget shortages throughout. I could go on. For those of you that believe Bush and the current group in charge are stringent supporters of our troops, please take a more critical look at the situation. Imagine how it might feel to have your tour extended for four months after already having been gone for over a year. The Democrats couldn't possibly do any worse for the troops.

Per the Bob Faw story hint: I'm gonna say the movie reference is most likely Hairspray. But since I was still watching Care Bears when it came out, someone else is going to have to guess what the reference means.

Brian,

I see that you are thinking of leading with the John Kerry story again. How is that possible when Bush just said in an interview that Rumsfeld must stay until the end of his term (news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061101/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_13) and the NYT publishes a Pentagon chart shown to the President two weeks ago that says the Iraq is moving quickly to chaos while the President is saying the general told him the opposite: (www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/world/middleeast/01military.html). Honestly, I don't get it. Kerry is ridiculous, but you've totally lost touch if you think the voters care more about that than Bush's lack of candor and mismangement.

Any political comment made these days is fodder for the opposite side and the media as well. Reminds me of a documentary on how animals devour carrion in the wild. The pecking order from the smallest to the largest - no juicy tidbit is left untouched!