Victory!

The greatest battle of World War IV ends in total victory for the forces of good. Please say a prayer of thanks.

Bin Laden Endorses Kerry, Gets Talking Points Directly from Moveon.org and DNC

Did Bin Laden receive his talking points from Michael Moore or Joe Lockhart?

"So he transferred the oppression of freedom and tyranny to his son and they call it the Patriot Law to fight terrorism. He was bright in putting his sons as governors in states and he didn't forget to transfer his experience from the rulers of our region to Florida to falsify elections to benefit from it in critical times. "

"Before Bush and his administration would pay attention and we never thought that the high commander of the US armies would leave 50 thousand of his citizens in both towers to face the horrors by themselves when they most needed him because it seemed to distract his attention from listening to the girl telling him about her goat butting was more important than paying attention to airplanes butting the towers which gave us three times the time to execute the operation thank god. "

"Bin Laden pointed to the millions of pounds of explosives dropped on Iraqi children as bush his son had done, as he said to remove an old agent and install a new agent to help instealing the oil of iraq. "

Transcript on Drudge

"The Worst President in History" made this happen:

Between John Howard's resounding victory in Australia, the miraculous election in Afghanistan and the President's performance in St. Louis, this will go down as a pivotal weekend in the history of World War IV. Maybe even the tipping point.

The One Debate Question We'd Like to Ask John Kerry

"Senator Kerry, you've accused the President of lying to or, at the very least, misleading the American public and world leaders in an effort to gain their support for the invasion of Iraq. This is a very a serious accusation and you are a lawyer. When lawyers make such an accusation they are required to prove a motive. What, sir, was the President's motivation for doing such a thing?"

To gain re-election? The President has a pretty direct example in his family that a perceived successful war in Iraq does not ensure re-election.

To prop up his father's reputation? Well, lets see. He went about things pretty differently than his father did and the very fact that he felt the need to take Hussein out is a tacit acceptance of at least some failure on his father's fault... or at least the process his father followed. Hard to see how that reinforces his father. Continued enforcement of the terms of the cease fire would seem to be a better approach.

Oil? That doesn't seem to be happening either. Even so, wouldn't it have been simpler to invade Venezuela?
I would dearly love to see Senator Kerry answer this question. Not only because a sensible answer is impossible, but because the very process of answering it would inevitably group him with the Michael Moore's and Mary Mapes' of this world.

Oh and if I could ask one more question it would be: "Senator, why did you remove links to Joe Wilson's website from your own?"
I'd dearly love to hear the answer to that one. Could the answer be because the Senate Intelligence Report showed that the Iraqis really were seeking enriched uranium?

More media manipulation.

Once again the major media is trying to manipulate the presidential race.

Here's Newsweek's voter distribution for their 9/4/2004 poll:

374 Republicans (plus or minus 6)
303 Democrats (plus or minus 6)
300 Independents (plus or minus 6)

PR Newswire Summary of Newsweek 9/4/2004 Poll

Here's Newsweek's voter distribution for their 10/2/2004 poll:

345 Republicans (plus or minus 6)
364 Democrats (plus or minus 6)
278 Independents (plus or minus 7)

PR Newswire Summary of Newsweek 10/2/2004 Poll

There is a legitimate argument among pollsters on how to weight a poll. There is nothing legitimate about changing the distribution this dramatically from one poll to the next. Newsweek has manufactured a post debate 'bounce' for Kerry and, just as with the phony National Guard document story, it was reported everywhere.

Meanwhile the new Tarrance Group / GWU Poll shows no change in the President's lead but a slight change in his direction on a few of the internal questions:

Tarrance Group 10/3/04 Poll

Senator Kerry Becomes the Latest "Pumpkin Papers" Fan.

Apparently he likes us so much he's dyed his face orange! Thanks, Senator.

Are We Winning?

A French liberal believes we are. From David Ignatius in the Washington Post:

' "The principal goal of terrorism -- to seize power in Muslim countries through mobilization of populations galvanized by jihad's sheer audacity -- has not been realized," Kepel writes. In fact, bin Laden's followers are losing ground: The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has been toppled; the fence-sitting semi-Islamist regime in Saudi Arabia has taken sides more strongly with the West; Islamists in Sudan and Libya are in retreat; and the plight of the Palestinians has never been more dire. And Baghdad, the traditional seat of the Muslim caliphs, is under foreign occupation. Not what you would call a successful jihad.

Kepel argues that the insurgents' brutal tactics in Iraq -- the kidnappings and beheadings, and the car-bombing massacres of young Iraqi police recruits -- are increasingly alienating the Muslim masses. No sensible Muslim would want to live in Fallujah, which is now controlled by Taliban-style fanatics. Similarly, the Muslim masses can see that most of the dead from post-Sept. 11 al Qaeda bombings in Turkey and Morocco were fellow Muslims. '

Are the Terrorists Failing? by David Ignatius

Tony Blair Continues to Stand Tall

Tony Blair grows as a leader and continues to further cement his place in British history with each passing day. He also seems to have sworn off Clintonism and the 'third way' for good. Ignore the blaring headlines from the liberal media crowing about his 'apology' and read the speech he made today to the Labor Party conference:

"So the decisions I've been called on to make are stark.

When I hear people say: "I want the old Tony Blair back, the one who cares", I tell you something.

I don't think as a human being, as a family man, I've changed at all.

But I have changed as a leader.

I have come to realise that caring in politics isn't really about "caring".

It's about doing what you think is right and sticking to it.

So I do not minimise whatever differences some of you have with me over Iraq and the only healing can come from understanding that the decision, whether agreed with or not, was taken because I believe, genuinely, Britain's future security depends on it.

There has been no third way, this time.

Believe me, I've looked for it."

Say a prayer for Tony Blair. The world needs him.

Full text of Blair's speech

The Beheadings Go Beyond Simple Terror

In a fascinating article at National Review Online Michael Ledeen argues that the barbaric beheadings are additionally intended for recruitment. Ledeen also makes the case that enemies of the war are intentionally trying to mute the viciousness of the Islamic terrorists:

"The opponents of our campaign against the terror masters immediately recognized that it was crucial to cancel that message, to dilute it with nuance and deception, and the first step in their campaign was to stop broadcasting the images of 9/11. They justified it by saying they did not want to shock the American people, that the pictures were too horrible, that we needed to move on. In like manner, they now say that the beheadings should not be shown, because they too are too shocking, too upsetting to our sensitivities. Others say they should not be shown because in showing them we risk becoming indifferent to such acts, losing our sense of shock and our will to resist."

"Know Thine Enemy" by Michael Ledeen

Gallup and Washington Post / ABC polls out.

As expected the President's lead has diminished slightly but still looks to be solid. Thursday's debate appears to be Senator Kerry's last chance to gain traction.

Gallup
Washington Post/ABC

A Conflict of Faiths

In the early 1950's Whittaker Chambers recast what was thought to be a political conflict into a conflict of faith. At perhaps the darkest point in this battle Chambers joined the side which he believed would be the eventual losers - the side of the anti-Communists and the free world. Almost thirty years after his death as West and East Berliners danced upon the wall bisecting their city, somewhere Chambers enjoyed a relieved smile. Now it seems as if that fall was inevitable. But it was never inevitable. Brave men, doing what they knew to be right, unafraid of criticism by those with minds too small to comprehend the gravity of the times made it happen.

After a brief period in which our leaders pretended that the dangers of the world could be ignored and avoided we face a similar predicament today. Unfortunately few have the courage to step forward and state that our battle is not political but a battle of faiths that no political compromise will solve. At the Pumpkin Papers we suffer under no such delusion. The peoples of the world are involved in a global war between the forces of radical Islam and those who choose not to fall under its yoke. The battle is that simple. Yet the players their motives and their means, many of whom are left over from the previous war, are as deceptive, inscrutable and barbaric as those we previously faced.

The Pumpkin Papers will chronicle the minor skirmishes and the major battles of this war of faith and culture.