Moonage Political Webdream

Man, this is getting ridiculous. Why do I keep repeating the same names here? I mean, there are other elections going on, but you’d think Dan Rather was running for something as often as his name appears here. Count the times I mention George Bush, count Dan Rather. Bush is just going to slide through this election and let Dan and Kerry kill each other off. To wit:

From Captain’s Blog:
As part of his 100 day plan to change America, John Kerry will propose a comprehensive service plan that includes requiring mandatory service for high school students and four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service.
The more expansive PDF of Kerry’s plan doesn’t detail how the mandatory high-school service is supposed to work, nor does it clearly explain how they plan to pay for four years of college tuition for the 500,000 students per year they expect to put through this program, other than closing a loophole that allows lenders on student loans to keep extra interest paid. If a “typical public university” charges $5,000 per year for tuition — a rather moderate amount these days — then just the cost for the first year alone will be $10 billion, not the $12 billion over 10 years that Kerry claims. ($20,000 times 500,000 students = $10 billion.)

Another pajama blogger posting radical right-wing conservative conspiracy theories? Nope, it comes from the John Kerry archives:

The “Service for College Initiative”:
As President, John Kerry will call on young people to help strengthen America’s security and address unmet community needs. In return, he believes we should offer young Americans and their families the opportunity for a college education. A Kerry Administration will offer Americans the chance to earn the equivalent of their state’s four-year public college tuition in exchange for two years of service. If service members decide not to go to college, their award can be used for job training or to help start a business. John Kerry will set a national goal of half a million young people serving their nation every year within ten years. President Bush promised to double AmeriCorps, but he broke that promise and let Congressional Republicans cut the program in half. John Kerry believes we need to think big and do better and get 500,000 young Americans serving the nation.

They cite several other instances of forced servitude. Which, wouldn’t be that big a deal, BUT, Dan Rather had to chime in his two cents’ worth:

The Issues: Reviving The Draft
It’s a story about, get this, two kids who are afraid of being drafted! I kid you not! There they are! Their mom is so worried she formed an action group call “People Against The Draft“. “She spends most of her time worrying about other people’s kids. But as Election Day approaches, it’s her own two grown sons who Beverly is most worried about.

“I go to bed every night and I pray and I actually get sick to my stomach,” she says. “I’m very worried; I’m scared. I’m absolutely scared; I’m petrified.” She’s so petrified, that as a Republican, she’d vote Democrat to protect kids against the draft.

On her web page, it features a kid with a sign stating “President Bush, bring my daddy home alive”. He wasn’t drafted, he volunteered. Anyways, switching to Democrat is mentioned, people are scared, Bush is mentioned. What is NOT mentioned is who is actually sponsoring a draft ammendment at this time:

SgtStryker tackles this issue quite succinctly:

Sponsors of House Resolution 163 is sponsored by Charles Rangel, it is co-signed by:
Jim McDermott WA D.
John Conyers Jr. MI D.
John R. Lewis GA D.
Fortney H. Pete Stark Jr. CA D.
Neil Abercrombie HI D.

It is sponsored in the Senate by Fritz Holling (D).

You don’t see a single Republican on that list, but the Democrats, with the assist from Rather, are yelling Bush and Cheney have a “secret plan” to draft. News flash folks, the Dems, of which Kerry is most certainly a member of, aren’t even being secretive about it. The problem with getting legislation passed is you can not under any circumstances do it secretly. There is legislation banning the draft, and it therefore takes legislation to un-ban the draft. The only ones who want to are Democrats. The only way this bill stands the chance of seeing the light of day is if it had a powerful Democrat who would sign it.

Someone tell “People Against The Draft” that as with the Killians, they’ve been duped, and made to look like idiots in front of the few people that still watch CBS.

Bloggers 2, Rather 0

Technorati Tags: 2004 Presidential Election, The Media

Tags: 2004 Presidential Election, The Media

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