CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Finish The Wall

Palestinian terrorists skirted Israel's partially constructed security barrier blowing up 2 municipal buses in Beersheba, killing at least 16 and wounding dozens. The Christian Science Monitor reports that this was the worst terrorist attack in an Israeli city in almost six months:

The twin explosions - the first ever to rock the largest city in southern Israel - left about 90 injured and shattered one of the longest periods of calm inside Israel since the start of the four-year cycle of violence.

The city's location near the southern edge of the West Bank - which hasn't yet been closed off by Israel's security barrier - raises questions about whether Palestinian militants have shifted their target focus to exploit the opening. The attack is likely to spur Israeli calls to speed up work on the fence, which the International Court of Justice in July declared a "breach of international law."

The wall, envisioned as a matrix of walls, barbed wire, and fences is intended to keep Palestinian terrorists away from Israel cities. The wall has been given credit for a decline in successful terrorist attacks.

"What we've learned in the last half year is that where there is a fence, there's no terror, and where there isn't a fence, there is terror,'' says Israeli Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi.

Only about one third of the wall has been completed. Progress has been slowed by Palestinian legal challenges over the location of the barrier:

Arguing that the snaking path of the fence inside the West Bank constitutes a de facto land grab and creates unnecessary hardship, the Palestinians won a nonbinding ruling from the United Nation's world court in July that raised the specter of international sanctions against Israel.

Both Israel's Supreme Court and the attorney general have reportedly said that the government will have to reexamine the fence construction in light of the UN court ruling.

So reexamine the wall's construction then get on with it. Israel has no real choice. Arafat has proven time and again that he is not to be trusted. Until the Palestinians choose a leader who can, and will, be a true partner for peace the wall, separating Israel from that portion of the West Bank that would become Palestine is the only way to prevent terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians. If some future Palestinian Government negotiates a real peace with Israel the wall could always be moved to conform to a negotiated border.

After the World Court Ruling, Israel's deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert said:

"It's certainly unpleasant to have the ruling, but it's more unpleasant to have suicide attacks from territories not defended by the fence," he said. "The fence is probably uncomfortable and inconvenient for the Palestinians who live alongside of it, but it doesn't kill. The fence is removable and reversible, and death is not."

Build the wall. Build it now and wait for the Palestinians to agree to a real peace.

Ed Koch Tells RNC Why A Democrat Supports President Bush

yesterday former Democratic New York City Mayor Ed Koch told delegates to the 2004 Republican National Convention why he supports President Bush. United Press International reports:

"I know what you're thinking," Koch said. "What's Ed Koch doing at the Republican convention? Me. A Democratic district leader in Greenwich Village, Democratic city councilman, Democratic congressman, Democratic mayor. Why am I here?

"I'm voting for the re-election of President George W. Bush," Koch said before launching once again into his signature, "How'm I doin" line, which for years proved to be a winner with New York City voters.

[. . .]

He has said previously that whatever differences he may have with the White House on domestic policy, the strong leadership shown by Bush in the war on terror is reason enough to support his re-election to a second term.

Koch introduced New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"A Nation of Courage"

I watched Senator McCain and Rudy Giuliani address the RNC. What a great first night.

It is important that McCain endorse President Bush, especially because McCain was Kerry's first choice for Kerry's running mate. McCain's speech was good. He reminded us the stakes in the war against terror:

The awful events of September 11, 2001, declared a war we were vaguely aware of, but hadn't really comprehended how near the threat was and how terrible were the plans of our enemies.

It's a big thing, this war.

It's a fight between a just regard for human dignity and a malevolent force that defiles an honorable religion by disputing God's love for every soul on earth. It's a fight between right and wrong, good and evil.

And my friends, should our enemies acquire for their arsenal the chemical, biological and nuclear weapons they seek, this war will become a much bigger thing.

A bigger thing indeed.

In a slap at Kerry's constant mantra that we have alienated allies McCain said:

But there is no avoiding this war. We tried that, and our reluctance cost us dearly.

And while this war has many components, we can't make victory on the battlefield harder to achieve so that our diplomacy is easier to conduct.

That's right on. We must not fail to act when the nation is threatened just because some historical allies don't agree with us.

McCain then offered this justification for the war in Iraq:

Whether or not Saddam possessed the terrible weapons he once had and used, freed from international pressure and the threat of military action, he would have acquired them again.

My friends, the central security concern of our time is to keep such devastating weapons beyond the reach of terrorists who can't be dissuaded from using them by the threat of mutual destruction.

We couldn't afford the risk posed by an unconstrained Saddam in these dangerous times. By destroying his regime, we gave hope to people long oppressed, that if they have the courage to fight for it, they may live in peace and freedom.

Most importantly -- most importantly, our efforts may encourage the people of a region, that has never known peace or freedom or lasting stability, that they may someday possess these rights.

He is absolutely right. Even if Saddam didn't have the stockpiles of WMDs last year, he would have acquired them again and used them again, or worse supplied them to our terrorist enemies.

Finally McCain reminded us that while we argue about our politics we are all on the same side

We are Americans first, Americans last, and Americans always.

Let us argue -- let us argue our differences, but remember we are not enemies, but comrades in a war against a real enemy, and take courage from the knowledge that our military superiority is matched only by the superiority of our ideals and our unconquerable love for them.

Our adversaries are weaker than us in arms and men, but weaker still in causes. They fight to express -- they fight to express a hatred for all that is good in humanity. We fight for love of freedom and justice, a love that is invincible.

Keep that faith. Keep your courage. Stick together. Stay strong. Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our president and fight.

We're Americans. We're Americans, and we'll never surrender. They will.

it was a good speech, not a great speech, but an important speech. Don't forget this endorsement of President Bush came from the man who was Kerry's first choice to be Kerry's running mate.

After McCain's speech, the mood was carefully set for Giuliani's speech. Three survivors of 9/11 victims told their stories of the loss of loved ones. It reminded me, and I'm sure everyone watching, of how we felt that day. I won't ever forget that feeling, but when it is invoked like that it is so powerful. Then Daniel Rodriguez sang Amazing Grace. There weren't many dry eyes in my house.

Giuliani started by invoking President Bush's words from the rubble of the World Trade Center:

Well, I can hear you. The whole world can hear you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon.

Giuliani told us that President Bush kept his word:

Well, they heard from us.

They heard from us in Afghanistan and we removed the Taliban.

They heard from us in Iraq, and we ended Saddam Hussein's reign of terror.

And we put him where he belongs, in jail.

They heard from us in Libya, and without firing a shot Gadhafi abandoned his weapons of mass destruction.

They are hearing from us in nations that are now more reluctant to sponsor terrorists or terrorism.

So long as George Bush is our president, is there any doubt they will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism?

There is no doubt in my mind. Giuliani offered this crowd pleaser:

You know, we're just not going to let the terrorists determine where we have political conventions, where we go, how we travel. We're Americans, the land of the free and the home of the brave

. Giuliani reminded us of the failures in the way terrorism was dealt with over the previous thirty years:

The horror, the shock and the devastation of those attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and over the skies of Pennsylvania lifted a cloud from our eyes.

We stood face to face with those people and forces who hijacked not just airplanes, but a great religion and turned it into a creed of terrorism dedicated to killing us and eradicating us and our way of life.

Giuliani recalled that the terrorists who survived their slaughter of the Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich were set free. How Leon Klinghoffer's murderers were likewise set free. And that Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "while he was supporting a plague of terrorism in the Middle East and undermining any chance of peace:"

Before September 11, we were living with an unrealistic view of our world, much like observing Europe appease Hitler or trying to accommodate the Soviet Union through the use of mutually assured destruction.

President Bush decided that we could no longer be just on defense against global terrorism, we must also be on offense.

On September 20, 2001, President Bush stood before a joint session of Congress, a still grieving and shocked nation and a confused world, and he changed the direction of our ship of state.

He dedicated America, under his leadership, to destroying global terrorism.

The president announced the Bush Doctrine, when he said, "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."

Giuliani then contrasted President Bush's determined relentless pursuit of the war against terror to Kerry's inconsistency on Iraq. Using Kerry's own words against him Giuliani highlighted just how irresolute Kerry has been on Iraq and what will be the two most played sound bite from this speech:

He even, at one point, declared himself as an antiwar candidate. And now he says he's pro-war candidate. At this rate, with 64 days left, he still has time to change his position four or five more times.

My point about John Kerry being inconsistent is best described in his own words, not mine. I quote John Kerry, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."

Maybe this explains John Edwards' need for two Americas.

One is where John Kerry can vote for something and another where he can vote against exactly the same thing.

Giuliani also nailed Kerry for Kerry's claims of foreign support:

Remember, just a few months ago, John Kerry kind of leaked out that claim that certain foreign leaders who opposed our removal of Saddam Hussein prefer him.

Well, to me, that raises the risk that he might well accommodate his position to their viewpoint.

It would not be the first time that John Kerry changed his mind about matters of war and peace.

Finally Giuliani endorsed President Bush's long-term strategy for winning the war against terrorism:

President Bush has also focused us on the correct long-term answer for the violence and hatred emerging from the Middle East. The hatred and anger in the Middle East arises from the lack of accountable governments.

Rather than trying to grant more freedom, or create more income, or improve education and basic health care, these governments deflect their own failures by pointing to America and to Israel and to other external scapegoats.

But blaming these scapegoats does not improve the life of a single person in the Arab world.

It does not relieve the plight of even one woman in .

It does not give a decent living to a single soul in Syria.

It doesn't stop the slaughter of African Christians in the Sudan.

The president understands that the changes necessary in the Middle East involve encouraging accountable, lawful, decent governments that can be role models and solve the problems of their own people

This has been a very important part of the Bush doctrine and the president's vision for the future.

Have faith in the power of freedom. People who live in freedom always prevail over people who live in oppression.

It was a very good speech. I'm sure the mainstream media will try to spin Guliani's speech as a negative attack on Kerry. It wasn't. Giuliani effectively highlighted Kerry's inconsistency, using Kerry's own nuances against him. It wasn't a negative attack, nor meanspirited. Sometimes the truth hurts.

"A Nation of Courage." What a great first night for the RNC. Three more nights, how are they going to top that? Governor Schwarzenegger and Mrs. Bush have a very tough act to follow.

UPDATE: James Joyner at Outside The BeltWay has a roundup of reaction to the McCain and Giuliani speeches.

At Blogs for Bush, Mark Noonan sums up McCain's and Giuliani speeches:

We have a war on and it must be won, lest the enemy eventually kill more of us (and, maybe someday, millions of us) and the only way to win the war is to follow President Bush's idealistic, sublime and heartfelt program to bring succor to the long-suffering masses and break the shackles which chain them to Islamo-fascist murderers.

Iraqi 'Sleeper Agent' Arrested In Chicago

An Iraqi-born man is accused of being an Iraqi "sleeper agent" for Saddam Hussein was arrested Monday for lying on his application to become a U.S. citizen. The Associated Press reports:

Sami Khoshaba Latchin, 57, pleaded innocent to making a false statement to immigration authorities. A federal judge ordered him held for a bail hearing Sept. 7.

[. . .]

Latchin has lived in the United States for about 11 years, according to federal officials. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Des Plaines, Fitzgerald said.

The indictment concerns Latchin's 1998 application for citizenship. Asked to list any organizations to which he belonged, he failed to put down Saddam's Baath Party, according to the indictment.

He also did not list that he had been a member of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the Iraqi government, and said three overseas trips he made were vacations when in fact he met with his intelligence handler, according to the indictment.

There must be more to this. Why do we still care that in 1998 he didn't tell us he was a Baathist?

More Trouble In Haiti

Reuters reports that a French minister was chased out of a Haitian slum under gunfire on Monday, while former soldiers who helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide took control of a southern town:

The French diplomatic source said the country's junior foreign minister, Renaud Muselier, had to be bustled out of the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince after his entourage was attacked by rock-throwing youths.

When Haitian police fired into the air, gang members pulled out shotguns, pistols and other weapons and shot at the visitors, who had been planning to visit a hospital in the slum that still seethes with anger over Aristide's departure.

According to Reuters the rebels have no fear of the UN peacekeepers:

Ex-soldiers from the army Aristide disbanded in 1995 attacked a police station in Petit-Goave, 40 miles south of the capital and proclaimed themselves in charge of security.

A contingent of Brazilian-led U.N. troops, backed by armored cars and helicopters, were sent on Sunday to regain control but withdrew without challenging the former soldiers, who witnesses said numbered around 150.

"We are not afraid of U.N. troops. We are the Haitian military, we are trained to fight wars. They'll probably kill us, but we'll fight," their leader, former army Col. Remissainthe Ravix, told Reuters by telephone.

Haiti hasn't seen any improvement since Aristide left. The New York Times reported earlier this month on the ensuing crime wave:

The police blame the crime wave on their rivals, the rebel forces who according to nearly all observers freed 186 prisoners from the penitentiary here when they attacked in February. "They were mostly professional criminals; now they are controlling gangs," said Taillefer Ismaille, the ranking police officer at the patched-up city jail on a recent afternoon. "So far we have only recaptured two or three." Commandant Mano denies the accusation, saying the prisoners "let themselves out" after his rebels attacked.

I know the U.S. military is stretched, but we have got to find enough troops to disarm the bad guys if we hope to give the Haitians a chance. If we fail to disarm the bad guys, a strong man will emerge and the Haitians will have another despot.

A Reluctant Hero

The Hartford Courant reports about how retired fire fighter Bob Beckwith came to be standing beside President Bush when the president Delivered his immortal:

Well, I can hear you. The whole world can hear you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon.

Beckwith's was awakened by a phone call at 7 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001 and learned that his oldest grandson had been hit by a car. Beckwith went to the accident scene and found his grandson bruised with a broken leg, but otherwise fine. According to the Courant, "the accident was the reason the former firefighter, then retired for seven years after having worked 23 years in Queens firehouses, was awake to hear news of the first plane crash into the World Trade Center:"

After the attacks, Beckwith wanted to go to ground zero, but his family persuaded him that the search there was a young man's job.

A day passed, and then another, and then he heard that one of his closest friend's sons was missing. On Sept. 14, he grabbed his old helmet from Firehouse 164, ignored his family and "used street smarts" to talk his way through the barricades.

All day he worked like a young man, shoveling rubble to dig out a firetruck. He was convinced there would be firefighters who had ducked underneath and might still be alive. There weren't.

In the afternoon, word spread that President Bush was about to visit the site. Beckwith couldn't see much, so he climbed on top of an excavated firetruck to get a better view. A balding guy in a suit joined him - Beckwith thought it was a Secret Service agent - and asked if the truck was sturdy. The stranger told him that a VIP wanted to stand there.

The stranger was Bush's senior political aide, Karl Rove, and the VIP was Bush. Moments later, Bush joined Beckwith, threw his arm around him and raised a bullhorn to deliver some of the most memorable words of his presidency: "Well, I can hear you. The whole world can hear you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon."

Beckwth now one of the symbols of America's determination to overcome the evil doers.

Beckwith is a reluctant hero.:

He doesn't like to talk about politics and says that, like religion, it's something he avoids, even around his family.

Beckwith grew up a Democrat and was a member of the firefighters' union, an organization closely aligned with Democrats. But about a decade ago, he switched parties and began voting Republican.

He said he voted for Bush in 2000 and plans to do so again this year.

He is still star-struck at the memory of his February 2002 White House visit, when he and his family received a 45-minute Oval Office tour from the president. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld shook his hand and the president wrote his two grandchildren notes to explain their absence from school.

"That's not the reason," he said of his intended vote this year. "The president is a man, you know," he said, emphasizing the word "man" with gusto. "I like the guy."

[. . .]

Beckwith said if invited to the convention, he'd like to attend. He said he'd even speak. He's not sure about what, but hopefully not something too political.

You just have to love guys like Beckwith. They are one of the reasons that America is such a great nation.

Why Democratic Senator Zell Miller Supports President Bush

Chris Wallace interviewed Georgia's Democratic Senator Zell Miller today on "FOX News Sunday."

On Wednesday, Miller will deliver his second keynote speech to a national convention, this time to the Republican National Convention. In 1992, Miller was the keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention, which was also held at Madison Square Garden.

Miller said this about why he will vote for President Bush:

Because of the time that we live in, is one reason. In this dangerous time, we need a strong commander in chief, and I think that George Bush is one of the strongest that you could possibly have. I have admired and respected the way that he has grabbed terrorism by the throat. And I think he's the commander in chief that we need these next four years.

[. . .]

We're at war. 9/11 changed everything, as far as I'm concerned. It changed the way that we have got to look at how we do things.

I am very, very disturbed at the lack of bipartisanship that I saw in Washington over the last four years that I've served in the Senate. And I think it's very dangerous for this country in a time of war. We can't afford it.

[. . .]

I'm voting for George Bush. I'm voting for a commander in chief who has the strength to lead this country in a time of war.

And I cannot support Senator Kerry, because I think he's weak on defense. And I think that his liberal voting record in the Senate is so far to the left that it's off the charts. He's not in the mainstream of this country. He's way to the left of this country.

Wallace ended the interview by asking Miller what his message will be on Wednesday:

WALLACE: And finally, sir, what's the message in your keynote speech, your second keynote speech, that you will be delivering to this convention and to the nation on Wednesday night?

MILLER: Why a Democrat is supporting George Bush. And the reason that I'll tell them that I'm supporting George Bush is because I know the man. We served as governors together. I know he's the right man at the right place at the right time.

Miller's reasons are good enough for me.

McCain Says Kerry's Anti-War Protests Fair Game

Senator John McCain said Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned from Vietnam are an appropriate subject for political debate. Bloomberg reports:

McCain, 68, of Arizona, said on the CBS News program "Face the Nation," that he disagreed with Kerry throwing his ribbons from his medals on the steps of the U.S. Capitol when he returned from the war.

"Every American is entitled to protest," McCain said. "Whether he did that appropriately" is a legitimate subject for debate, he said.

I don't think Kerry protesting the Vietnam war by throwing away his, or someone else's, medals is going to cause Kerry any trouble. Kerry’s testimony Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, is likely to be much more of a problem. If you missed the recent broadcast on C-SPAN you can watch it via the blogosphere. Jeff Quinton, at Backcountry Conservative has provided links to the video, audio and a transcript.

The beginning of Kerry's testimony is what upsets other Vietnam veterans so much:

I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.

It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit, the emotions in the room, the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam, but they did. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country.

[from the transcript provided by C-SPAN]

Many veterans resent Kerry testimony, which they took to have been an indictment of all Americans who fought in Vietnam, and according to the Christian Science Monitor, especially troubling to POWs:

"Kerry's remarks to Fulbright's committee were devastating to everybody who served in Vietnam," says former POW Paul Galanti, who was forced to listen to "Hanoi Hannah" broadcast North Vietnamese propaganda about antiwar vets back home. "They were as demoralizing to me as solitary [confinement]. I consider Kerry's remarks to be deliberate lies and a prime reason the war dragged on."

United Press International provides example:

Jim Warner, a prisoner of the North Vietnamese in the Hoa Lo prison complex -- known to U.S. servicemen as the Hanoi Hilton -- remembers Kerry. He became acquainted with him, he said, when a North Vietnamese guard and interrogator the prisoners nicknamed "Boris" took Warner to the quiz shack in the complex's punishment camp called "Skid Row" in May 1971.

During a four-hour propaganda and harassment session, Boris pulled papers from his pocket and gave them to Warner to think about, he said. Some were clippings from a leftist newspaper in the United States. The other was a typewritten transcript of Kerry's testimony before a U.S. Senate panel in which he repeated allegations of U.S. troops routinely committing atrocities, attacking the war and saying communism was not a threat in Vietnam.

[. . .]

Warner was in his Marine Corps F-4B aircraft when he was shot down over North Vietnam on Oct. 13, 1967, and was held for 1,979 days. He told UPI that in that confrontation with the North Vietnamese officer he was told "these statements (by Kerry) ... were proof I deserved to be punished. I was pretty sure they weren't going to do anything, but in the summer of '69 they had spent four months trying to get information out of me, and I still had the memory of my mistreatment -- sleep deprivation, leg irons, a cement box in the sun (and feet and ankles swollen from chains digging into the flesh).

"The memory of that was still pretty fresh in my mind, and I was extremely uneasy. Every time he mentioned (the papers), this officer said I committed crimes, that this war was illegal. I just had no idea. ... All along they told us they would execute us for our 'crimes.'"

At Outside The Beltway, James Joyner correctly observes that Kerry was repeating stories of others, Kerry was not saying that he say or did these things.

The Commons at Paulie World posts "there is going to be hell to pay."

Rusty Shackleford, at Mypetjawa suggests Kerry's testimony denigrate Kerry's status as a war hero.

Greyhawk at, The Mudville Gazette posts that you should burn Kerry's testimony on CDs and share it with friends.

More Violence In Afghanistan

The Associated Press reports that an explosion in the office of an American defense contractor in Kabul Sunday, killing as many as six people:

The blast hit the office of Dyncorp Inc., an American firm that provides security for Afghan President Hamid Karzai on behalf of the United States and works for the U.S. government in Iraq, said Nick Downie of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office.

[. . .]

Dyncorp Inc. is a division of Computer Science Services, Inc., based in El Segundo, Calif.

The BBC reports that "Taleban militants told Reuters news agency it was a suicide car bomb attack by one of their fighters."

An at a school in southeastern Afghanistan, another explosion killed nine children and one adult. The Associated Press reports that an Afghan official said the school explosion was caused by a bomb, though the military said it was still unclear:

"There was an explosion, that's all we know," American spokeswoman Master Sgt. Ann Bennett said.

Not all the news from Afghanistan is bad. The Associated Press reports that a renegade warlord was arrested just weeks after his troops clashed with militiamen loyal to a powerful regional governor.

Amanullah, a Pashtun warlord who goes by only one name, was brought to Kabul on Friday from the western city of Herat, said Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai. Ludin said Amanullah agreed to the transfer, but officials speaking on condition of anonymity said he had little choice and was essentially being kept under arrest.

[. . .]

Government officials indicated that the move against Amanullah was part of efforts to eliminate private armies that have faced off in several Afghan provinces in recent months, compromising security for Oct. 9 national elections.

Amanullah and Khan swear allegiance to Karzai's government, but both often act in their own interests. Neither has agreed to disarm their troops as part of a slow-going nationwide program to demobilize tens of thousands of private soldiers.

Dozens were killed in fighting that broke out earlier this month between militiamen loyal to Amanullah and those that answer to Herat Gov. Ismail Khan, an ethnic Tajik strongman who rules the city with an iron fist. In March fighting in Herat included tank battles.

The Associated Press also reports that in southern Zabul province, U.S. and Afghan soldiers conducting a sweep arrested 22 suspected Taliban after a firefight in a forbidding mountain area.

U.S. military spokesman Maj. Scott Nelson confirmed operations in Zabul and Ghazni and said 22 Taliban suspects had been arrested.

President Bush Gains In Connecticut

A recent poll shows Kerry's lead over President Bush has shrunk to only seven points. According to the Greenwich Time:

Connecticut, which voted overwhelmingly for Al Gore in 2000, had been considered a lock for Kerry. But, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, conducted Aug. 11-17 among 1,079 registered voters, Kerry leads Bush by seven points -- 45 percent to 38 percent -- with independent candidate Ralph Nader, a Connecticut native, taking six percent of the vote. Bush leads Kerry 43 percent to 36 percent in Fairfield County, according to the same poll.

Less than two months earlier, in a Quinnipiac poll conducted June 27-28 among 979 registered voters, Kerry held an 18-point lead over Bush in the state, 50 percent to 32 percent, with nine percent of voters favoring Nader.

This is simply amazing. President Bush has momentum going into the RNC.

Jim Himes, the chairman of the Democratic Town Committee in Greenwich, was quoted dismissing talk of Bush winning Connecticut:

"There's no way that President Bush wins Connecticut," he said. "It's wishful thinking on their part. Frankly, if Kerry can't win Connecticut, he's going to get crushed, and I don't think that will be the case."

The conventional wisdom around here still has Kerry winning Connecticut, but if Kerry's September is anything like his August we may see Mr Himes' crushing of Kerry.