Al Jazeera has aired new video of the beheading of three Iraqi guardsmen today.

It said it had a video of a militant group calling itself the "Brigades of Iraq's Honorable People" which showed the men being killed.

Three headless bodies were found in the capital Baghdad on Wednesday, Reuters quoted an Iraqi police source saying.

Separately, another group, the Ansar al-Sunnna, said it had beheaded a senior Iraqi army officer.

The group posted a video on its website apparently showing the officer being killed.

It said it had abducted Hussein Shunun in Mosul. It accused him of helping US forces in operations there.

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Depending on which figures you listen to, the final data is 269-242 Bush or 254-252 Bush. The popular vote gives Bush a 51-48% victory. In any event, the margin of victory for the Bush campaign comes down to where Ohio ends up.

Fox, Fox News Channel, NBC and MSNBC all called Ohio for Bush after midnight last night. CBS, CNN & ABC didn't and still have not.

Kerry's campaign has not conceeded Ohio, and is insisting that the number of provisional and absentee ballots would be able to overcome the 130,000+ margin that Bush enjoys in Ohio.

According to pundits on both sides, it is statistically impossible for the Kerry camp to overcome that margin, saying that every single absentee and provisional ballot would have to fall for Kerry in order for it to go the Senator's way.

John Edwards, speaking to the Kerry faithful in Boston early this morning, promised that the Democrats would "count every vote." I'm expecting the army of lawyers to be heading to the Buckeye State later today.

In other election news, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) lost his reelection bid to Republican candidate and former Congressman John Thune. Cynthia McKinney (formerly D-GA), who lost her Congressional seat to Denise Majette (D-GA-4th) two years ago, has won reelection to her old seat. Majette, who chose not to run for that seat in order to go after the Senate seat being vacated by Zell Miller (D-GA) lost to Georgia Congressman Johnny Isakson (R-GA-6th), giving the Peach State two Republican Senators for the first time in history. Democrat Barack Obama sailed to victory over carpetbagging Republican Alan Keyes in the race for the open Illinois Senatorial seat.

The networks were very conservative in their calls, mostly afraid of being wrong once again this year. This was punctuated by the exit polling data, which early on was exposed as being unreliable nearly across the board. The Washington Post's Tom Shales excoriated the networks this morning for their tenative and almost fearful performance.

The audience may have felt like the refugees in the movie "Casablanca," who, an opening narration famously says, come to the desert city "and wait, and wait, and wait."

A few minutes past 10 o'clock, with three hours of coverage behind them, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, reporting to anchor Dan Rather, did a brave thing. He admitted progress was almost nil in telling or even indicating who might win the election. "The only thing that has been called here tonight are the slam-dunks," (Bob) Schieffer grumped.

Tom Brokaw, reporting his last election for NBC News, at least as principal anchor, was getting a little peeved himself at the absence of information. "You want reality television? This is reality television," he told viewers, promising them that "someone will be voted off the island," but that there was really no way of telling when.

"The states we can't call are stacked up like cordwood," said Chris Wallace over on cable's Fox News Channel. Rather, with his gift for imagery, compared the situation to "a kind of sauna" in which all anybody could do "is wait and sweat." Of course Rather remained the soul of indomitability, even as others threatened to wilt. Just before announcing a few new numbers he said, "Let's drop these biscuits in a little bit more gravy" and later, marveling at one set of numbers, shouted, "But looka here, whoo, boy!"

Attempting to inject some life into the proceedings, he also reported, "George Bush is sweeping through the South like a big wheel through a cotton field."

Somebody at CNN decided to drop anchor Paula Zahn inexplicably into the cast of "Crossfire." It was a misfire. Series regular James Carville looked so irritated that during some of the segments, he barely spoke.

Zahn, bright and chirpy as a yellow thrush, was absurdly out of place.

CNN's pompous Aaron Brown, meanwhile, had told anchor Wolf Blitzer, "I enjoy how much I have heard 'we don't know' [tonight]." Surely he was the only one. Or maybe the laws of journalism are changing so much that some day soon a network newscast might begin, "In the news tonight -- we don't know." It really wasn't "we don't know," though. It was more, "We're afraid to tell you."

The process continues...

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I'm going to be all over the map tonight.

I'm in a chat room with several other bloggers (Patriot Paradox & King of Fools for now), plus on the Free Republic live thread.

7P ET: The networks have called KY, GA & IN for Bush, VT for Kerry. VA & SC too close to call. Current talley, Bush 34, Kerry 3.

7:30P ET: Ohio is too close to call - no surprise there. WV goes in the Bush column. The surprise is that NC is presently too close to call.

Current total, Bush 39, Kerry 3. Next milestone is 8P ET. More than a dozen states close at the top of the hour.

7:40P ET: Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Amendment to ban gay marriages passes" - the state constitutional amendment in Georgia passes. Most pundits are saying that this points toward similar measures passing in a number of other states.

Also in Georgia, Republican Johnny Isakson is projected to win the US Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Zell Miller over Democratic candidate Denise Majette.

Yet another "Rather-ism": "Don't cross the alligator till you cross the creek..." I'm sure Kenneth will have plenty before the night is over.

ChristWeb has joined us in the live-chat room.

8P ET: 16 states closing - OK, AL, TN to Bush; IL, MA, CT, NJ, DE, MD, DC, ME to Kerry. MS, MO, FL, PA too close to call. Updated totals, Bush 66, Kerry 77.

Maine's votes will be split, as it looks now, with 3 votes to Kerry, the final one up in the air, but most likely to Bush.

CNN is projecting Barack Obama to win the US Senate race in IL over Alan Keyes.

8:15P: More states are being called, CBS now has a total of 108-77 Bush; CBC Newsworld says 95-78 Bush. The new states (at least as CBS has 'em): NC, SC, MS & VA all for Bush.

WXIA-TV Atlanta is reporting that Cynthia McKinney is LOSING 53-47% with 11% of precincts reporting. I don't know if that'll hold, but if it does, then I'll be more than happy.

9:15P: Kerry takes NY & RI, Bush takes TX, ND, SD, WY, KS, NE. Current tally: Bush 156, Kerry 112.

9:45P170-112, Bush

10P: UT & NE going for Bush. CBC/Newsworld projection, Bush leading 182-112.

11P ET: CA goes to Kerry, ID to Bush, for a 197-188 margin for Bush. Everything else is "too close to call."

Cynthia McKinney wins her old seat back by a margin of 64-36%.

11:45P ET: Florida is called for Bush. Totals: 246-199 Bush leads.

James "Gollum" Carville on CNN: "I think it's time to acknowledge that the President has a superior hand..." He goes on to say that Kerry needs to pull an "inside straight in order to pull this thing out..."

12:45A: Fox News Channel projects Ohio for Bush. Totals: 266-211 Bush.

If Bush gets only Alaska from here out, that guarantees a tie. Any of the other outstanding states gets Bush the win.

12:57A: Drudge: "BUSH WINS"

1A ET: Bush wins Alaska for the tie; current total: 269-211 Bush.

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As we noted Saturday, Japanese hostage Shosei Koda was beheaded by the Al Qaeda-associated terrorist group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The monsters have now released stills and video of the beheading.

Al Qaeda Organization of Holy War in Iraq said Tokyo had offered a ransom of "millions of dollars" for 24-year-old Koda. It warned Japan to withdraw its forces from Iraq or "drown in the hell of the mujahideen" along with "crusader forces."

Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima denied the ransom claim. "It's just groundless. We have not done that," he said, denouncing the video posting as "disgusting." ...

The video showed the hostage, who was wearing a white T-shirt, kneeling with a U.S. flag laid out behind him. Koda's hands were tied behind his back and three masked men dressed all in black stood beneath the group's banner.

After reading a statement, the men grabbed Koda and put him on the flag before sawing off his head with a large knife and holding it aloft and placing it on top of the corpse.

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Some great quotes flying around today, and there promises to be more before it's all over.

Quint at AintItCool.com talks about Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles, and has a great characterization of the lead, Craig T. Nelson.

When he gets super-pissed in the film, he changes his voice... does something that makes him sound as cold-blooded as Ann Coulter naked in a freezer.

The Incredibles opens in theaters Friday.

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Residents of the hamlets of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, NH voted at midnight. Their results are traditionally the first in the nation, and if their results are indicative of what daylight will bring, it's gonna be a long day on Tuesday.

The results are, in Hart's Location, Bush - 15, Kerry - 15, Nader - 1. And in Dixville Notch, Bush - 19, Kerry - 7.

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All the polls are done, all the campaigning is about over, all the mudslinging is finished, the yelling is all but completed.

Tomorrow, we begin a process that denizens of other nations either do not understand, despise, or envy. We get to particpate directly in the election of those who will lead us as a nation and as a community. Those who admire our process look at it with a measure of hope. Those who hate the process and what it represents would insist that it is the death of us all.

This year's election promises to be among the closest in history. And if the outcome tomorrow is as close as the polls suggest, we may not have an answer to who has won right away.

There are literally thousands of lawyers prepared to file suit as soon as Wednesday morning to challenge whatever the outcome is.

And of course, I'll be here with my two cents as the process continues, whatever the outcome.

I've made no secret of who I'll be supporting tomorrow and why.

It doesn't matter who you support tomorrow; no matter who you do not support. What does matter is that you exercise your right; your responsibility to go out and vote.

It all comes down to you, standing by yourself, in the booth with your decisions. Consider and decide well. And then make your voice -- and your vote -- heard.

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Georgia Democratic Senatorial candidate Denise Majette has pulled out one last card in her attempt to win tomorrow -- the race card.

Majette has put out a flyer in black communities across Georgia that allege that a company previously owned by the Republican candiate, Johnny Isakson, had been guilty of discrimination in the 1960s and 1970s.

As both candidates crisscrossed the state, the Majette campaign distributed information that accused IsaksonÂ’s company, Northside Realty, of discriminating against Black homebuyers in the early 1970s.

The company, which was founded by IsaksonÂ’s father and also run by him at the time of the charges, was found in violation of the Fair Housing Act by the federal government in 1970.

“The public needs to know what his record is and I’m not doing anything other than informing the public about the full story,” Majette said.

Isakson, who enjoys a double-digit lead in polls, responded angrily in Savannah.

“It's a pretty low person that would attack someone's father when he's been passed away for 11 years, and in the '70s my father was involved in a case that worked out just fine,” Isakson said. “My father was a wonderful man, I miss him to this day. I’m sorry she'd choose to take something like that and try and make it into something in a political race.”

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Dan "What's the frequency, Kenneth" Rather insists -- contrary to some of his distinguished competition -- that the media will not have a major effect on the outcome of tomorrow's election.

So we're down now to the last few hours of a presidential election campaign that seems to have gone on forever, almost since the last on ended. Ended so bitterly with bad calls by the television networks -- including CBS -- disputed vote-counting, a drawn-out court battle, and, finally, a controversial supreme court ruling that decided the election. To this day, three out of four Democrats [including me] believe the election was not legitimate. The hard feelings were put aside, at least temporarily, as Americans united in the wake of 9/11. But then came the war in Iraq and America was divided again. Nearly three out of four voters describe this election as very important, and many are showing it by actively supporting a candidate or joining the hundreds of thousands registering for the first time and then, yes, voting.

The turnout in states that allow early voting has been heavy and encouraging. We hope you will vote, too.

It is not only your right, but your responsibility. It will be our responsibility to report the results accurately as we can, to estimate whom we believe has won only when we are fully confident we have the information to do it. Our attitude is we'd rather be last than wrong. And remember, neither CBS News nor any other news organization will not decide who won or lost. You will with your vote.

His coverage on CBS (as well as network coverage from NBC, ABC, Fox, Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, CBC/NewsWorld, CNBC, CNN International, BBC World, C-Span and half the rest of the civilized world) gets underway tomorrow evening at 7P ET.

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I've had a busy weekend (as would be expected this close to the election).

A reporter from New York Newsday called Friday, looking for some commentary regarding the IRS questions regarding the NAACP's "non-partisan" stance.

I let her have it with both barrels.

As a black Southern conservative, Michael King says he has felt "antagonized" by the NAACP. So when he learned Friday that the IRS was investigating whether the nonprofit civil rights organization violated restrictions on political activity, he said his first thought was: It's been a long time coming.

"If you don't march in step with their views, they have no use for you," said King, 41, about the NAACP. "On the contrary, they will do everything that they can to tear you down."

Like many nonprofit groups, the NAACP trades its right to endorse a political candidate or participate in campaigns for tax exemption. But at its annual convention this summer in Philadelphia, the group's chairman criticized a wide range of President George W. Bush's policies, from education to the war in Iraq, a move that some said led to the IRS threatening to invalidate the group's tax-exempt status.

"This is still America and freedom of speech is what America is all about," said Hazel Dukes, president of the New York State Conference of NAACP Branches. ". . . The attitude of this administration has always been that if you are not with me, you are against me and I'll be against you and any act of intimidation will occur."

NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said the investigation is an attempt by the Bush administration to distract the group from mobilizing black voters in the days before the election.

Frederick Brewington, a civil rights attorney and former vice president of the Lakeview chapter of the NAACP, echoed Bond's allegations. "This is a blatant attempt by Bush and the IRS to chill the First Amendment rights of African-Americans across the country," he said.

In a statement Thursday, IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson denied any partisan motive and said, "Any suggestion that the IRS has tilted its audit activities for political purposes is repugnant and groundless."

Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry sent a letter Friday to Assistant Attorney General Alexander Acosta, calling on him to investigate how the IRS initiated the examination.

"If the timing of this process leads some to believe politics is at play, it could have a chilling impact on African-Americans' participation in the American political process," Kerry wrote.

The NAACP has never been shy about its troubled relationship with the Bush administration. Bush declined to speak at the very convention that has brought the group's political participation into question.

King, who lives in Atlanta and is a member of the black conservative group Project 21, said the NAACP has universally supported Democratic candidates, excluding right-leaning blacks, like himself, from seeking membership. He applauded an investigation into what he called the NAACP's illegal behavior.

But Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal group People for the American Way, said the NAACP has always taken pride in its nonpartisan status and ability to criticize public officials from all political parties.

Ed Williams, president of the Far Rockaway NAACP in Queens, agreed. "The Republicans are reaching at straws," Williams said.

Staff writers Monte R. Young and Merle English contributed to this story.

Then again, I'm not challenging that -- but if he violates rules that prohibit 501c3-based tax exempt organizations from endorsing a candidate, then he needs to be subject to the same rules that everyone else is. Period.

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1 Way to go Michael!

Posted by: Fausta at November 01, 2004 09:11 AM (amKa9)

2 Excellent! You should have hyped your blog, too. Something like, "And I've got more to say about it. Visit me at mhking.mu.nu!"

Posted by: LB at November 01, 2004 09:22 AM (Qa+f/)

3 The law for thee but not for me? Good coverage of your viewpoint, though. Congrats.

Posted by: Sissy Willis at November 01, 2004 10:54 AM (53FkQ)

4 Good comments. But since Michael Steele is an NAACP member, how are people from "the right" disallowed to join?

Posted by: DarkStar at November 01, 2004 03:56 PM (cnw1A)

5 That was the one spot where I was misquoted (I pointed out Shannon Reeves' role as chair of the Oakland, CA NAACP -- Reeves is secretary of the California state GOP).

Posted by: Michael at November 01, 2004 05:41 PM (bJ0qq)

6 Ok, I knew you knew better.

Posted by: DarkStar at November 02, 2004 03:35 AM (cnw1A)

7 Excellent Michael!! well spoken sir. and may I add, kudos to newsday for seeking a true voice of black conservatives to counter the blatherings of the NAACP's 'teflon don', rev. Jackson.

Posted by: Pudge at November 03, 2004 06:40 PM (K7ijQ)

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"If he was any kind of patriot he would have told us his plan now."

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The beheaded body of an Asian man was found wrapped in an American flag outside Baghdad today.

Officials initially thought it was the body of decapitated hostage Shosei Koda, murdered yesterday by terrorists. But later examination found that it was not Koda's body.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Saturday, "It was nearly certain that the body is not the one of Mr. Koda."

UPDATE 12M ET Sunday: The body has now been positively identified as that of murdered 24 year-old Japanese hostage Shosei Koda.

Japanese Embassy officials in Baghdad sent fingerprints of the body to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, and police experts there positively identified the body as Koda's, (Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka) Machimura said.

"It is to our great sorrow that after putting all our efforts into securing his release he has become a victim of terrorism," Machimura said.

"We cannot allow this kind of action. Japan, in cooperation with the international community Â…, must continue the battle against terrorism."

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An instructor at Durango, CO's Ft. Lewis College says she's sorry for kicking a student. She admits she kicked him for wearing a College Republicans shirt.

Fort Lewis College student Mark O'Donnell said he was showing people his College Republicans sweat shirt, which said "Work for us now Â… or work for us later," when Maria Spero kicked him in the leg at an off-campus restaurant.

Spero then said "she should have kicked me harder and higher," said O'Donnell. "To physically take that out on someone because you disagree with them, that is completely wrong."

Spero, a visiting instructor of modern languages, apologized to O'Donnell in a letter dated Oct. 29.

"I acted entirely inappropriately by kicking you, giving vent to a thoughtless knee-jerk political reaction that should never have happened," she wrote. "Before the incident, I did not know you and that you are a Fort Lewis student."

O'Donnell says that Spero's apology letter isn't enough, and is planning on filing a formal complaint with the College.

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I can't help comparing Osama Bin Laden to Batman arch-villain Ra's Al Ghul.

Al Ghul (which translates from Arabic as "The Demon's Head) was exceptionally long-lived, thanks to something called a "Lazarus Pit," which contained a chemical brew that once immersed in it, would heal him of his maladies, leaving him rested and ready to face the Dark Knight once again.

A side effect of the Lazarus Pit was total madness, which also compares with Bin Laden.

BIN LADEN TRANSCRIPT
FRI OCT 29 2004 17:45:46 ET

Newsreader: A new message from Bin Laden to the American people about the reasons and resulats of the 9/11 attacks.

Newsreader 2: The head of AL Qaeda says the continuation of us policy will lead to the repetition of what happened.

Male presenter: The head of AL Qaeda organization directed a message to the American people and this video and audio apearence in this tape which Jezeera required for the first time for two years. In the beginning of his message, he spoke about the reasons why they chose the US to execute 9/11.

OBL: You American people, my speech to you is the best way to avoid another conflict about the war and its reasons and results. I am telling you security is an important pillar of human life. And free people don't let go of their security contrary to Bush's claims that we hate freedom. He should tell us why we didn't hit Sweden for instance. Its known that those who hate freedom don't have dignified souls.like
the 19 who were blessed. But we fought you because we are free people,
we don't sleep on our oppression. We want to regain the freedom of our
Muslim nation as you spill our security, we spill your security.

Female presenter: Bin Laden spoke for the first time about the main reasons he thought of executing Sept 11 attacks, confirming that the Israeli operation in Lebanon was the first incident where he thought of it.

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John Kerry was on his way through Ohio recently, particularly headed toward Xenia, OH (an area where I spent my summers growing up, and where my mother grew up).

At nearby Wilberforce and Central State Universities (they are about five or six miles east of Xenia; my grandparents' house was actually in the village of Wilberforce), supporters were led to believe that Kerry would stop if they could get 100 people to see him.

Eventually 150 students and supporters — including congressional candidate Kara Anastasio — gathered for four hours on a cold (rainy and snowy) Ohio day.

And the Kerry caravan drove right on by. All the long-suffering got from the candidate was a clenched "victory" fist out the window.

According to Shavon Ray, president of Wilberforce's NAACP, the students were devastated — with comments such as "This is why I don't vote."

Ray told the local NAACP chapter the affair was a "slap in the face."

After the incident — and Ray's criticism — made the local paper, the Democratic Party sent one Ken Miller to Wilberforce to meet with Ray. He offered 50 tickets — and 8 VIP tickets — to a Kerry event in Dayton.

Ray declined what she saw as "hush tickets." Taking seriously the idea that the NAACP is supposed to be non-partisan, Ray turned the tickets over to Wilberforce's student government.

Next, Miller offered to have Rev. Al Sharpton stop by as a speaker. That annoyed Ray even more: "We don't want a black face to speak to black students."

The final straw was when Miller said Sharpton would be sent to speak to Central State University — along with X-rated rapper Foxy Brown.

When Ray reminded Miller that they didn't want anything to do with Sharpton, Miller allegedly responded, "What do you want — Kerry to lose the f---ing race? We got you Al Sharpton. What more do you want?"

For Shavon Ray, it was simple: "The [campaign] could have just offered an apology and shared their sympathy to our school."

Perhaps Kerry shouldn't be held responsible for mistakes and intemperate behavior of the local Democratic organization. But Ray, fairly enough, says, "If you can't handle this situation — which is minor — how are you going to handle the type of situations a president faces?"

She adds: "This is not acceptable. You can't bypass us like we don't even matter, like you have our vote pocketed and you don't."

And they figure they can treat blacks like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel.

The sad part is that there are many blacks who take that kind of treatment from Democrats, when they wouldn't take it from anyone else. Why? Because they are afraid to leave the "liberal plantation."

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BREAKING: A new video tape of Osama Bin Laden, codemning President George W. Bush, has surfaced on Al Jazeera.

Senior intelligence sources have indicated that Bin Laden is speaking directly to the American people.

Sounds like he's giving his endorsement of John Kerry.

More details as they come.

UPDATE 4:30P ET Says the US resembles "corrupt Arab governments."

Osama also says the 9/11 attacks would have been less severe if we (as a nation) had been more alert.

He also accused the Bush Administration of "misleading" the American people in the years since 9/11.

I was joking before, but this REALLY DOES sound like Osama is campaigning for Kerry!

UPDATE 5P ET: According to Al Jazeera, Bin Laden's statements were critical of President Bush, but warned the American public that John Kerry would not be able to safeguard things either.

He accused Bush of reacting slowly to the September 11 attacks, saying: "I never thought that the supreme leader would leave 50,000 of his people in the two towers to face the terrifying events alone at the time they were in need for him."

Refering to next week's elections, he told Americans: "Your security is not in the hands of (Democratic candidate John) Kerry or (President George W.) Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands ...."

Claiming responsibility for the attacks, bin Ladin said, "we decided to destroy towers in America," because "we want to regain the freedom of our nation."

He added that "the reasons to repeat what happened" on 11 September 2001 remain.

UPDATE 5:50P ET: Kerry's statement:

As Americans, we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama Bin Laden....I will stop at nothing to capture or kill these terrorists...

Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country. I'm sure Senator Kerry agrees with me on this. We're at war with these terrorists, and I'm confident that we will prevail.

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Sky News and Reuters are both reporting at this hour that Japanese AQ hostage 24-year-old Shosei Koda, has been decapitated by the terrorists who held him in Iraq.

It follows a threat on Wednesday to behead 24-year-old Shosei Koda.

The threat was made by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's militant group in an internet video.

They said they would kill Mr Koda within 48 hours unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq.

But Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi insisted his non-combat troops would ill remain in the country.

And according to senior intelligence officials, this is a new tape that HAS been authenticated. More info (and a separate blog entry) due within the next half-hour .

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According to an early afternoon Pentagon briefing, soldiers from the 3-I-D destroyed more than 200 tons of conventional weapons at the Al Qaqaa complex in April 2003.

Major Austin Pearson from the 3-I-D was present at the briefing to talk about the ammunition stored at the depot.

Pearson says he brought the ordinance to a holding area, and then was in charge of destroying the Iraqi ordinance at the holding area.

This contradicts John Kerry's charges that the ordinance was in the hands of the terroists, thanks to the "ineptness" of the Bush Administration (and though he didn't say it, he laid blame on the soldiers as well).

The press appears to be spinning this as a CYA political move by the Pentagon.

More details are sure to follow as the hours progress.

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John Armor, veteran political pundit from North Carolina, has pieced together a late television ad critical of John Kerry.

Armor admits that it could be illegal under the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform act, but points out that Americans want to talk about their candidates right up until the election itself.

[Shot at home. 80-mile view of Blue Ridge Mountains in background.]

I'm John Armor -- and this ad may be illegal. Small gifts paid for it.

IÂ’ve known John Kerry 41 years. When he joined the Yale Political Union, I was an officer and veteran debater. Here's what I saw:

Kerry was arrogant. He thought we must believe him, because HE was John Kerry.

[Show photo of Kerry in his shaggy-hair mode before Congress in 1971. Photo dissolves into Kerry pointing with his bony finger of doom, today. Give captions for both photos – John Kerry, Senate “war-crimes” testimony, 1971 – John Kerry, campaigning for President, 2004]

How has he changed? More money, more wrinkles, more arrogance. But still self-centered. Should such a man command the American military -- in time of war?

What makes this ad illegal? A divided Supreme Court approved the campaign finance “reform” act. [Use gestures for quote marks.]

It says we canÂ’t broadcast ads that name a federal candidate, 60 days before an election. But thatÂ’s EXACTLY when we want to talk about candidates. I'm doing that. If the feds don't like it, they can find me here:

[Displayed on screen to end of ad:

www.ArmorforCongress.com
Box 243, Highlands, NC 28741]

I'm John Armor. I not only approve this ad, I wrote every word of it.

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