Month: October 2004

Tonight President Bush references the Lewin Report, a non-partisan analysis of the candidates’ health plans. They do suggest Senator Kerry’s health plan cost estimates are lowballed: Kerry says it’ll cost $860 billion over the life of the plan, while Thorpe says it’ll cost more like $1.2 trillion. Let’s not quibble on the details — let’s…

President Bush just quoted the Lewin Report. Lewin is a subsidiary of Quintiles International, whose CEO, Dennis Gillings, has contributed generously this cycle: 8/6/04 Kerry Victory 2004 $27,000 8/6/04 Kerry Victory 2004 $2,000 11/14/03 Bush/Cheney 2004 (Primary) $2,000 8/23/04 Republican National Committee $25,000

Tonight: “1 million more students have received Pell Grants.” Oops: “Financial aid is primarily based on family income, which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, has fallen in recent years. In other words, because people have struggled in the labor market they have become eligible for financial aid. At the same time, college tuition has…

Tonight: (Of Senator Kerry’s plan to give families access to the same health care that Congress gets.) “It’s an empty promise.” “It’s too expensive.” “It’s a bait and switch.” June 30, 2003: “A consumer-friendly system is one that says we trust the consumers to make the best choice. Senior citizens are consumers, and therefore, the…

Tonight: “I don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama Bin Laden.” March 13, 2002: “So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you.” Update: Matt has the video.

Go tell the campaign what’s on your mind…

Naomi Klein has a devastating article in next month’s The Nation about James Baker’s dual roles: on the one hand, as public emissary arguing around the world for forgiveness of Iraq’s debt. On the other hand, as a partner in the Carlyle Group, which just happened to cut a deal with Kuwait to help it…

If you guessed “Military Contractor in Iraq”, you win today’s prize! Jadoo announced+ a little over two weeks ago that: Jadoo Power Systems, Inc (Jadoo), a leading provider of portable power products, was awarded a contract to develop power systems for the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The program’s goal is to reduce the weight…

The Sinclair Broadcast Group owns TV stations that blanket 24% of the US population. Sinclair’s CEO is David Smith, a major Bush contributor. Why is that important? Check this out: “[Sinclair has ordered] its 62 local stations to broadcast an anti-Kerry film a few days before the November 2, 2004 general election. Those 62 stations…

MSNBC has a terrific election site that gives you an interactive electoral college predictor, streaming video from the various NBC news properties, and updated commentary from the on-air personalities. I think HardBlogger, and in particular Keith Olbermann, has been pretty good the past couple weeks. For the record, here’s my Electoral College prediction, pretty map…