Bush got his flu vaccine facts badly wrong

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Thursday October 14, 2004 · 8:34 AM PDT

2004/10/14 · 08:34

The only time the debate touched on Britain was in a discussion of the shortage of flu vaccines in the US following a decision by British authorities to remove the licence from the subsidiary of a US company producing them in Liverpool. While Senator Kerry took the episode as an indicator of the poor state of healthcare under the Bush administration, the president tried to claim credit for the move, saying: "We relied on a company out of England to produce about half of the flu vaccines ... we took the right action and didn't allow contaminated medicine into our country ... My call to our fellow Americans is if you're healthy, if you're younger, don't get a flu shot this year."
Asked why the president had suggested that it was the fault of a foreign company and that the US government and not British health authorities had decided to revoke the company's licence, Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, said: "I can't answer that question."

Fleischer

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Monday October 11, 2004 · 3:19 PM PDT

2004/10/11 · 15:19

Cryptome.org (mirror) has some interesting information on the types of systems Bush is alleged to have used. Correspondent "J." explains how they work:

The frequencies for these units are very well known, and someone can sit outside many concerts with radio monitoring gear and listen to the assistants reading the words to the songs to the musicians, coaching them what to say, and quite often someone can sit outside a comedy club and listen to one-liners to cue the comedians and entertainers. Around political events these types of systems are very, very popular as the politician can have a half dozen members of his staff feeding him data, thus creating the illusion the suit has a clue of what he speaks.
When the president visited Boston back in March 2004 he stayed at the Park Plaza Hotel. The signal from the system he was using could clearly be heard 1500+ feet away, and one of his advisors could be heard doing voice checks and then feeding him data about the school he was about to visit.

Fleischer

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Sunday October 10, 2004 · 11:43 AM PDT

2004/10/10 · 11:43

Kerry has done a good job of getting Bush steamed in the previous two debates, and he ought to repeat the process in the third. The upcoming debate is about domestic policy, which may present a problem since in the previous encounters Bush has been at his angriest when defending his Iraq policy. I have an idea for how Kerry can once again make George furious while scoring points on an issue that is sure to come up. Read More

A modest collection of Dick Cheney's debate lies

Fleischer

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Wednesday October 06, 2004 · 12:41 PM PDT

2004/10/06 · 12:41

The lies

DICK SAYS: He never met Edwards.
THE TRUTH: They met at least thrice.

DICK SAYS: Edwards' hometown newspaper has "taken to calling [Edwards] Senator Gone."
THE TRUTH: The name appeared in one editorial in the Southern Pines Pilot, a small weekly magazine. The epithet did not appear in Edwards' hometown newspaper.

DICK SAYS: He's "up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session."
THE TRUTH: Over the last four years he has presided over the Senate twice.

Update [2004-10-7 5:21:57 by Fleischer]: The official defense is "But he dines with Republican senators on a weekly basis!" I guess Cheney felt that Edwards was a slacker for not gatecrashing those Republican dinners.

There's more. Lots more. Read More

Playing the expectations game the smart way

Fleischer

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Sunday October 03, 2004 · 9:06 AM PDT

2004/10/03 · 09:06

The expectations game for the next debate is on. I've seen suggestions that Kerry supporters should now express worry about how their guy will perform and praise Bush's fabled "common touch". In my opinion there's no need to talk down Kerry's expectations. If you now try to paint him as a poor debater, it may take away from Thursday's fine performance. There's a better way to set him up for another win in the expectations game.
Read More

Word Usage at the Florida Presidential Debate

Fleischer

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Friday October 01, 2004 · 5:04 AM PDT

2004/10/01 · 05:04

George W. Bush vs. John F. Kerry - in their own words.

I've compiled statistics based on all of their responses, rebuttals, comments, and, in the case of Bush, ill-tempered grunts. The statistics are based on a transcript of the debate helpfully provided by the New York Times. (Comments by the moderator, Jim Lehrer, are not included.)

I was surprised to find out that all in all Kerry used more words than Bush, 7132 compared to 6359. Watching the debate it seemed like Bush was taking more of the time - but perhaps that was because he talked more slowly. Kerry naturally also lead in unique words used by 1371 to 1287 words. The longest word used by Kerry was 17 letters long. Bush managed to use a 16 letters long word. ("Antiproliferation" and "counterterrorism", if you must know.) Read More

GOP Convention Word Usage: Thursday

Fleischer

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Friday September 03, 2004 · 2:07 AM PDT

2004/09/03 · 02:07

This is the fourth and final entry in my series of diary entries looking at the word usage of RNC speakers day by day. In addition to George W "Dubya" Bush, Thursday's big speakers were George "Blame the Clenis" Pataki, Mel "Trial Lawyer" Martinez, and Tommy "No Joke Here" Franks. There was a single entry for Monday and Tuesday and another for Wednesday. Read More

GOP Convention Word Usage: Wednesday

Fleischer

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Thursday September 02, 2004 · 2:14 AM PDT

2004/09/02 · 02:14

In this post I'll analyze the word usage in Wednesday's speeches at the Republican National Convention. Featured speakers: Dick "Dick" Cheney, Zell "Dino" Miller, Mitt "Mitt?" Romney, and Rick "Box Turtle" Santorum. You can similar analysis for Monday and Tuesday in a previous diary entry. Read More

Most Common Words in GOP Speeches

Fleischer

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Tuesday August 31, 2004 · 10:08 AM PDT

2004/08/31 · 10:08

In the interest of finding out what the Republicans hold near and dear, I ran the text of Monday's speeches by Giuliani, McCain, Bloomberg, and Racicot through a program that counts word usage. The results, while not surprising, hold some interest.

Update [2004-9-2 5:17:1 by Fleischer]: Wednesday's results can be found in this diary entry.
Update [2004-9-3 5:9:17 by Fleischer]: And here are Thursday's results. Read More

Thomas Lipscomb's silly attack on Kerry's naval records

Fleischer

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Friday August 27, 2004 · 9:55 PM PDT

2004/08/27 · 21:55

On August 27th, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article by Thomas Lipscomb titled "Plot thickens after checking records". I've come here today to make fun of it. Read More

"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" Misrepresent Kerry's Fitness Reports

Fleischer

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Monday August 23, 2004 · 11:49 AM PDT

2004/08/23 · 11:49

One of the many problems facing the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" is the praise bestowed upon John Kerry by his commanding officers. Some of those commanding officers, like George Elliott and Grant Hibbard, have now joined the "SBVT" in attacking Kerry's service in Vietnam during his second tour of duty. To explain away Elliott's change of mind and to support their current charges, they've produced a web page in which they analyze Kerry's fitness reports. Even I, no expert on Navy fitness reports, could tell that the page contains a few big errors and a slew of smaller ones. In this article I'll detail them. Read More

RSS

Bush got his flu vaccine facts badly wrong

Eavesdropping on Bush's frequency

How to make Furious George lose his temper in the last debate

A modest collection of Dick Cheney's debate lies

Playing the expectations game the smart way

Word Usage at the Florida Presidential Debate

GOP Convention Word Usage: Thursday

GOP Convention Word Usage: Wednesday

Most Common Words in GOP Speeches

Thomas Lipscomb's silly attack on Kerry's naval records

"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" Misrepresent Kerry's Fitness Reports