BUSH FEELS 'DISGUST' AT ABUSE OF IRAQIS
Any chance this will lead the news on Arab TV?

BUYER'S REMORSE
I'm not ready to write off the Kerry Campaign (my God, it's APRIL!), but by any reasonable measure, his campaign is doing poorly. Not only has he been unable to capitalize on a lot of negative press for President Bush, but his numbers seemed to drop right when we returned from vacation and got on TV again. I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder. Anyway, here's a lengthier treatment of the Buyer's Remorse concern, discussing frustration and hand-wringing from Richard Cohen and the Village Voice.

And here's a spot-on comment from a DU regular:

He can't connect with the public, he's unappealing on TV, but we'll nominate him anyway! Did we mention he's a war hero? They always win!

It's Bob Dole II. I am thoroughly discouraged so far.

JORDANIAN GAMBIT: SYRIA AND CHEMICAL WEAPONS
I wonder if King Abdullah's cancellation of his US visit was about more than the reported snub. If he knew his country was about to make a major announcement that al Qaeda elements were bringing chemical weapons from Syria, I suspect that he didn't want to be answering questions about it at the White House.

So, if these truly are chemical weapons (that's "WMD" to the experts), then where did they come from? And if they aren't, why would Jordan say they are, or why would Jordan make a big deal out of its capture of what the press would have you believe are heroes to the "Arab street"? Is Jordan looking for leverage against Syria? Trying to strenthen it's ties to the U.S.? As a "moderating" force in the Arab world, with Syria and its terror sponsors on its northern border keeping Iraq unstable on its southeastern border, I'm sure Jordan would be happy to see both nations as stable and responsible members of the world community, with the Jordanian King as their moral leader. And to achieve that Jordan needs to become a full partner in the war on terror while not appearing to be a puppet of the United States (despite al Jazeera ratting them out for giving aid to US forces).

That's what's unfolding in the Hashemite Kindgom.

NEW COMPOSITE POLL
In the new poll this week, there is little change from last week. I didn't use the Marist poll because (a) it came out later in the day, and (b) it wouldn't have really changed the result. I am now using Rasmussen's poll numbers and doing a weighted average of the state-by-state polling, giving greater weight to more recent polls. I'm also including a lot more data on the composite page. Click here for the full analysis.

The numbers for both Kerry and Bush are up this week, though the margin is about the same. There still aren't a lot of polls coming out weekly, so things should settle down when more polls are released weekly as we get closer to the election. Although the EV prediction is similar to last week, with Kerry picking up Iowa, many states are tighter than last week and there are more battlegrounds.

in future weeks I'm going to rejigger the way I allocate the undecided vote, based on how they broke in past elections with incumbents running. Dick Morris suggests that they break 85/15 for the challenger, but my analysis thus far does not verify his conclusions.

MICHAEL MOORE IS AN IDIOT WHO DESERVES TO BE HEARD
Obviously, we don't want Michael Moore dead. In fact, I believe his continued outspoken presence in the cultural landscape is a good thing for all of us, because it shows the natural evolution of the lunacy of leftist political positions. And, he serves as a warning to those reasonable Democrats and liberals -- here's what you can become. Perhaps he's a check on the political process, restraining the political left from the final slip into madness. If a candidate fails to distance himself from the ignorant rhetoric (see Clark, General Wesley), then he's outta here.

I trust that Hank's post was an attempt to illustrate the stupidy of Michael Moore by adopting his juvenile rhetorical style. Don't hurt him with your hands or with implements, but with reason and argument. It won't be hard.

Michael Moore: Iraqi terrorists are "minutemen",
American troops must shed blood

At his website, this despicable son of a bitch all but cheers on the Iraqi terrorists, compares them to our founding fathers and practically says our troops deserve to die:

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win....I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle...the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end.

Moore is extremely lucky that Bush and Cheney are not the ruthless dictators squashing dissent that the left claims them to be. Otherwise they would have taken this sick mother out in the street and shot him in the head by now.

TIE A YELLOW MEDAL ROUND . . .
There's really not much to say about the issue of whether Kerry chucked his medals or ribbons or whatever over the fence back in 1971. Either way it was a meaningless gesture made all the more devoid of substance by the fact that Kerry kept the medals at home and just tossed the ribbons (like he can't replace the ribbons?). Just as with the President's National Guard service issue, Americans are more concerned about where we are heading than what's in the rear-view mirror. Politically, as David Broder noted, people care about John Kerry today and whether he's perceived as someone who changes stories and positions to suit the audience of the day. Is he merely a political opportunist with no real position on anything?

But this AP story is just further evidence of press bias. It won't look like bias to the left, because it reflects how they see the issue, but you'd think the AP would have the good sense to not adopt Kerry's argument as fact, inserting it into the stories' title and leading with it. This morning, Charlie Gibson of ABC quizzed John Kerry about a seeming contradiction in what Kerry says now and what he told Peter Jennings a few months ago. Apparently, Charlie recently joined the White House staff or the RNC, here's the objective reporting:

Kerry Rejects GOP Questions About Medals

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Monday rejected questions over his claim to have thrown away his Navy medals in protest of the Vietnam War, contending they came from President Bush and the GOP even though they "can't even answer whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard."

GOP questions from ABC's Charlie Gibson. When did we put him on the payroll?