Your forgetting B. Franks, J. Kerry, N. Pelosi and

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if anyone were allowed to go beyond a second term, then they would still have to be elected. I think this could be a good thing. If you have a president who's doing a great job, why not let him keep going if the public is happy with him? If he isn't doing a good job, then the vote will take him/her out anyway -- thus killing the concept of a king {rolling eyes}. I also think it's a double standard for senators to be able to run consecutively like that (as well as lifers, i.e. supreme court--which I don't agree with at all), but not the president.

(CBS) If last year�s presidential election were being held today, the results might well be different than the results of a year ago. 41% of registered voters say that if the 2004 election were being held today, they would cast their ballot for Democratic candidate John Kerry, while 36% say they would vote for President George W. Bush. 13% say they would vote for someone else, and 6% wouldn�t vote at all.

IF 2004 ELECTION WERE HELD TODAY�
(Registered Voters)

John Kerry

41%
George W. Bush

36%
Someone else

13%
Not vote

6%

In this poll, 12% of registered voters said they didn�t vote in 2004. Among those who did vote, 45% said they voted for Kerry last year, and 46% said they voted for President Bush. 2% reported voting for Nader, and 7% won�t say for whom they voted.

If the election were held this year, both candidates would retain more than eight in ten of the voters who supported them last year, according to this poll. But President Bush would lose about 3% of those who said they voted for him last year to his Democratic opponent. And although none of those who supported Kerry last year would now vote for Bush, 13% say they would support another candidate. But among voters who either didn�t vote in 2004 or voted for another candidate, or refused to say for whom they voted, Kerry leads Bush by 34% to 11%.

IF 2004 ELECTION WERE HELD TODAY�
(Registered Voters)

In 2004, voted for: Kerry
John Kerry

81%
George W. Bush

-
Someone else

13%
Not vote

4%

In 2004, voted for: Bush
John Kerry

3%
George W. Bush

84%
Someone else

7%
Not vote

3%

In 2004, voted for: Other/didn't vote
John Kerry

34%
George W. Bush

11%
Someone else

23%
Not vote

16%

For detailed information on how CBS News conducts public opinion surveys, click here.

This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 936 adults, including 828 registered voters, interviewed by telephone October 30-November 1, 2005. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample and the sample of registered voters could be plus or minus three percentage points.

This is our moment of truth. You and I have to make it absolutely clear that we won't stand for Republican Swift Boat style attacks on Jack Murtha.

Yesterday, an extraordinary congressman, former Marine Drill Sergeant and decorated Vietnam veteran, spoke out on the war in Iraq. He didn't come to that moment lightly. He spoke his mind and spoke his heart out of love for his country and support for our troops. No sooner had the words left his lips than the vicious assault on his character and patriotism began.

Today, in a statement on the Senate floor, in interviews with the national media, and in this message to you, I am seeking out every opportunity to defend a brave American hero that the Republican attack machine has set their sights on.

I urge you to do the same. Whether you agree or disagree with Jack Murtha is irrelevant. These despicable attacks on Jack Murtha's patriotism and courage must be met with an enormous public outcry. Call your local talk radio show, write a letter to the editor, phone your members of Congress - join me in acting now to reject these Swift Boat style attacks on Jack Murtha.

It disgusts me that a bunch of guys who have never put on the uniform of their country have aimed their venom at a marine who served America heroically in Vietnam and has been serving heroically in Congress ever since. No matter what J.D. Hayworth says, there is no sterner stuff than the backbone and courage that defines Jack Murtha's character and conscience.
Dennis Hastert -- the Speaker of the House who never served -- accused Jack Murtha of being a coward. Well let me tell you, Jack Murtha wasn't a coward when he put himself in harm's way for his country in Vietnam and earned two purple hearts -- he was a patriot then, and he is a patriot today. Jack Murtha's courage in combat earned him a Bronze Star, and his voice should be heard, not silenced by those who still today cut and run from the truth.

Instead of letting his cronies run their mouths, the President for once should stop his allies from doing to Jack Murtha what he set them loose to do to John McCain in South Carolina and Max Cleland in Georgia.

The President should finally find the courage to debate the real issue instead of destroying anyone who speaks truth to power as they see it. It's time for Americans to stand up, fight back, and make it clear it's unacceptable to do this to any leader of any party anywhere in our country.

I urge you to join today in a massive public outcry that rejects the attempt to demonize and destroy anyone who dares to disagree with George W. Bush's aimless stay for as long as it takes policy on Iraq.

Please act now. Call and email your elected officials. Flood talk radio with calls rejecting these vicious smear tactics. Send a letter to the editor.

Express your outrage about the tired old Rovian Swift Boat style attacks on Jack Murtha.

Sincerely,
John Kerry

MY REPLY:

Dear Senator Kerry:

I absolutely agree with everything you wrote, and I have been posting my views on political message boards, as well as emailing Duncan Hunter, and I've written a four-page letter to Congressman Murtha himself.

Now I must address YOUR response to the attacks on Congressman Murtha.

I thank you for your defense of him; however, I felt it was very, VERY weak. (By the way, please pass this on to Senators Clinton and Reid so they might get a clue into what makes the majority of Americans tick).

For years now, Democrats, including yourself, have openly expressed their opposition to the Iraq war, but you haven't had one single idea to fix the problem, and when asked WHY you voted for it (before you voted against it), you all give some lame, limp, meaningless excuse.

NOW is the time to aggressively defend Congressman Murtha and his plan for leaving Iraq. Bush HAS NO PLAN. MURTHA DOES. It's really quite a simple concept.

Although I'm beginning to lose patience with you all, let's regroup and start over. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.

I realize that most of you fell down on the job and didn't really scrutinize the Bush intelligence (this term is found in the dictionary under oxymoron and/or just plain old moron).

You were probably busy and didn't have time to read thousands of pages of documents. That's understandable. What's even more understandable is that as President of the United States, there's a preconceived notion that this person is, in fact, ethical and honorable. We now know that is not the case. We now know that he possibly took America to war on the blood of thousands of 9/11 victims simply to insure a successful Presidency. NOW is the time to admit that you, as well as every intelligent, thinking American and the entire WORLD, were FOOLED by this man because he was so blatant and aggressive in his pursuit of this war, it simply never occurred to any of you that you were dealing with a man who planned on attacking Iraq before he was even (s)elected President. (See
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20...went_to_war.php,)

NOW is the time to expose the true character and motives of this prior alcoholic who never received professional help for his addiction. He comes across as a simple man because he IS a simple man, in every sense of the word. His simplicity extends to the largest deficit in American history, and his tactics remind me of a teenager who recklessly maxes out Daddy's credit card because he has no responsibility for the bill, given that Daddy will pay it.

NOW is the time to embrace Congressman Murtha's plan, since it DOES make sense, reflects an actual THOUGHT PROCESS taking place, and is the thing that most Americans want. This man is not some 5-deferment draft dodger or Air National Guard absentee. He's a decorated Purple Heart recipient, who has devoted his entire life to helping the military and veterans.

NOW is the time to reveal an administration who would place the lives of a CIA agent in jeopardy and with everyone who ever worked with her, simply because her husband exposed the TRUTH.

NOW is the time to reveal the administration's press secretary's Plamerizing of John Murtha. NOW is the time to acknowledge that you truly have connected the dots, and the picture of a lying, unethical administration has emerged. If you do this NOW, most forward-thinking Americans will probably forgive you for now just catching up with everything they've known for months.

NOW is the time to publicly condemn Friday's histrionics of the House of Representatives. I, as a taxpayer, resent having to pay for that crap.

Sadly, you've pretty much already proven that you don't have many original ideas. NOW is the time to attach yourselves to John Murtha's coattails and hang on for dear life.

In case you haven't figured this out yet, you're up against an administration who will stop at NOTHING to transform this country into a theoracy, who will brag about the impending freedom for all Iraqis, while simultaneously slowly removing the freedoms of Americans, as his narrow-minded base pursues control over every single American regarding when we're born, who we love, which God we're allowed to worship, and when and how we die.

NOW is the time to expose the evangelical recruitment taking place in the Air Force in Colorado and the accompanying ridicule and persecution of soldiers who have different religious beliefs.

NOW is the time (albeit it four years LATE) to prove you care about the safety of Americans and aggressively pursue the security of our borders so that al Qaeda members cannot come into America from Mexico and KILL US.

Above all else, NOW IS THE TIME to reveal this President as the one who is truly aiding and abetting the enemy by providing them free, complimentary OTJ training in Iraq where they can hone their craft while killing our American soldiers.

NOW is the time to STOP being quiet and milquetoasty and to aggressively pursue this Administration's lies (I know they're numerous, ongoing, and difficult to keep track of) and reveal them for what they truly are.

MOST OF ALL, NOW is the time to honestly express what Congressman Murtha REALLY said when he outlined his plan to leave

Iraq

. It was a very thoughtful, sensible plan, and the fact that administration henchmen are maliciously mischaracterizing it should be revealed and aggressively FOUGHT.

If you truly foresee a future for your party, NOW is the time to embrace and advertise something the Administration doesn't have: A PLAN for Iraq. Although you might be able to win some elections by simply being the least worst party, is that really the future you envision for the Democratic party?

The ball is in your court. Don't let this one get away.... again.

Americans are losing patience.

Scathing against McCain. Fabulous speech. He echoed some of my thoughts on McCain, about how much he has changed to pander to the base and get the nomination. Here is a snippet:

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain�s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you�re against it.

I'm a left-leaning independent who thought I may vote Republican this time around if McCain ran. Well, he did, and as time went on I could see how much he has changed his positions to pander to the far right and I have lost most of my respect for him. I'll give him credit for being a veteran and a POW (a point that while it was once a powerful emotional point for him is now abused by him as an excuse for just about everything is sadly becoming a joke of his own making), but candidate McCain is NOT the same as Senator John McCain. Anyway, great speech by Sen. Kerry.

This is from an article before the elections. This sure would be a good start in the right direction.

The act is a tough document, authored by Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco-area congresswomen who has been the Democratic House leader since 2002. She will likely be the House Speaker if the Democrats win next Tuesday.

No House member may accept any gift of any value from lobbyists, or any firm or association that hires lobbyists.

No free travel, which means an end to the corporate jet line every Friday at Reagan National Airport.

No free tickets to Redskins games; or no meals of any value, even at a McDonalds; no front-row seats at entertainment venues. No, no and no.

Temptations resisted

To reduce temptations to cheat, Pelosi's bill attacks the usefulness of members to richly endowed lobbyists.

House members will no longer be able to slip in special-interest projects on unrelated legislation. Such measures will no longer be allowed on a bill once negotiations between the Senate and House are complete.

Further, all bills will be made available to the public a full 24 hours before a final vote; presumably this gives watchdog groups a chance to flag any skullduggery.

Under the Pelosi rules, lobbyists will no longer be able to use the House gym (you'd be surprised how much gets negotiated in a sauna). Lobbyists will no longer be allowed onto the House floor or to use the cloakrooms just off the floor, preventing last-minute arm-twisting.

What's more, no member or staffer will be able to negotiate for employment in the public sector without disclosing such contacts to the House Ethics Committee, and within three days of such contact being made.

Finally, all of this will be audited and investigated by a new Office of Public Integrity, and that office reports, directly and only, to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

At this point, you'd be entitled to ask, heard this before, what makes you think it will be accepted by Congress?

Can it work?

No doubt there will be attempts to water down some of these new regulations. In fact, many of these proposals have been in other bills that have been defeated in the recent past.

But several key congressional experts tell CBC News that Pelosi means business and might just be able to push this through. They put it this way.

Pelosi and the congressional Democratic leadership are not likely to get much credit simply for gaining control of the House.

Conventional wisdom already sees such a victory, should it happen, first and foremost as a repudiation of the Bush administration and the Republicans.

This Honest Leadership and Open Government Act is a way of hitting the bricks running. Plus, it could be enormously popular with voters of all persuasions.

They point out Pelosi herself has little national profile and wants quickly to paint some bold strokes. She promises the act will be the first legislation tackled if she leads a new Congress.

Also, Pelosi can and will extract promises of support from those getting leadership positions and plush committee chairmanships and the like.

These new rules will apply in the House as soon as they are passed by simple majority.

The Senate has different rules, but for Republicans and Democrats there, the pressure to comply with the Pelosi standards will be huge.

Nancy Pelosi has NO charisma but she is both knowledgeabe and competent. Both parties agree. Even the diehard Republlicans in both houses are embarrassed by John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin and many are now calling for her to be replaced. I genuinely feel badly for her.........she was chosen only to prove he is a "maverick" and did not strictly follow party lines.She was not given much time to prepare before being thrust in the spotlight. This will probably destroy what could have been a bright future for her.

Seriously, did anyone see her interview with Katie Couric? She has to get "her head arount Putin's"??? I was genuinely embarrassed for her.

I also wondered can't she just look in his eyes like George Bushi did and see his soul?

I will NEVER post again to this board. Such vitriol from some of the posters and it is not worth it. I do not like the feeling of being attacked for a simple statement.

We all have our own personal beliefs and opinions.I am just wondering, though, how many people running for a powerful office are routinely filmed being blessed by their pastors for "protection against witches".

I also wonder how many "Christians" would slash their state's Special Olympic budget and then objectify their own special-needs child for political gain.

Your forgetting B. Franks, J. Kerry, N. Pelosi and

Temptations resisted

Can it work?

Pelosi Bungling Democratic Win With Hastings Appointment