Day: December 16, 2004

I’m trying out compression on many of the main pages around TTLB. Allegedly this will provide a nice performance boost (faster page loads) as well as significantly reducing bandwidth usage. Seems to be working thus far: please let me know if you notice any changes (either for better or worse).

By special request of TTLB’s “house liberal” commenter, my old friend Lisa…
August 8: I’m going to go on record and predict that the Swift Boat Veterans kerfuffle won’t just be a major negative for Kerry: it will be a campaign-killer…
Unless Kerry’s campaign manages to completely discredit the Swifties — which seems increasingly unlikely — the campaign is over; Kerry is done. And after Election Day has passed, I expect that anyone looking backwards will wonder why in the world the Democrats ever thought making Kerry’s Vietnam service a centerpiece was a good idea in the first place.

Mary Beth Cahill, December 15: The campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry (news – web sites)’s failed presidential bid said Wednesday she regrets underestimating the impact of an attack advertisement that questioned Kerry’s Vietnam War record.
Mary Beth Cahill, who spoke at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government with Ken Mehlman, President Bush (news – web sites)’s campaign manager, said the Massachusetts senator’s campaign initially thought there would be “no reach” to the ad from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth…
“In hindsight, maybe we should have put Senator Kerry out earlier, perhaps we could have cut it off earlier.”
Mehlman said that it was natural that the ad had the reach and impact it did, because Kerry decided to make his Vietnam record a central part of his campaign.
“Because Senator Kerry was so focused on that part of his biography, it came out as an issue,” he said.
Ms. Cahill, Mr. Kerry, and yes, even Ms. Clinton are welcome to call upon my services when next they find themselves in need of political advice…

Well, I haven’t seen an ‘official’ announcement, but I believe the of America Friends of Iraq challenge is now complete.
As of this morning, the TTLB EcoTeam raised $1,687 for SoA, which put us in the #4 slot out of 23 teams competing — not bad for a bunch of insignificant microbes!
We have to extend congratulations to the three teams that surpassed us: Team Pajamahdeen was lagging for a long while and then blew our doors off in the last few days to end with $5,035; Castle Argghhh’s Fighting Fusileers for Freedom finished with $6,560; and those blasted Northern Alliance chaps blew the curve for everybody by bringing in a whopping $12,095. Fine work by all!
And as for the TTLB EcoTeam, let me extend my thanks and gratitude one more time to all the bloggers who joined the team and promoted the effort, and to everyone who donated. As time passes and I get to know Spirit of America’s work more and more, I only find myself growing even more enthusiastic for their cause. We’ve done good, folks!
And so for one more moment of glory, I present the TTLB EcoTeam:
Stand In the Trenches
It Is What It Is
Adrian Warnock
Cao’s Blog
Mark A. Kilmer
Rebel Rouser
Broken Masterpieces
Feste…a foolsblog
One Year Bible Blog
Pillage Idiot
The Liberal Coalition
kj4ever
Belief Seeking Understanding
Intermittent Stream
Pull on Superman’s Cape
Bloggledygook
Yankee from Mississippi
The Spoons Experience
Slublog
Vince Aut Morire
ccs178