Friday mid-day overview

WHERE IS THE NY TIMES/CBS NEWS "disappearing explosives" credibility?

"Blown up, sir!"

The Pentagon stepped forward today with first-hand reports from the officer on the ground at al Qaqaa who supervised the removal of over 200 tons of the explosives between April and June 2003. Some of the explosives that were supposed to be at the depot were taken before the war -- the Pentagon has some nifty satellite spy-cam shots of the trucks loading up. Bottom line: al Qaqaa was not ignored or botched. That doesn't mean that it hasn't been confusing because no one's exactly kept a rolodex of weapons caches on easy file for inquiring reporters, but no one's supposed to. Considering the fact that the facts-challenged (flimsily researched) NYT story came to light on Monday, having it thoroughly checked by Friday seems like pretty good time.

But think of the damage had the Times agreed to wait until this Sunday to jointly blast with 60 Minutes!

Where is the credibility of that would-be commander-in-chief? Same as usual. Blasting away at al Qaqaa as if the sat pix and the contravening info did not exist. Kerry blasting away at the reputation of George Bush and the soldiers in harm's way, giving America a pretty good idea of who it is in this election who is stubbornly blind to facts and refuses to acknowledge his mistakes. Unfit for command, indeed!

A SCHILLING WON'T GIVE HIS TWO CENTS after all on the campaign trail. Though he paraded in Disney World Thursday, the Red Sox pitcher cancelled out on appearing with the president today, and says he shouldn't have shot off his mouth to America about voting Bush.

What happened? Schilling isn't saying, but speculation abounds that the ownership of the Red Sox, heavy supporters of Mr. Kerry, may have applied a little employer/employee pressure. Wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened. Interesting, too, that the NY Times Co. has a partial ownership in the Boston franchise. Hmmm ...

Our solution: A vote for George W. Bush is a vote to free a suppressed Curt Schilling! Make your protest on November 2. Vote Bush/Schilling.

KERRY LIE DETECTION ALERT! On Thursday night's NBC Nightly News John Kerry admits to Tom Brokaw that his military records are sealed. That, actually, happens to be the truth (finally) but Kerry has been telling other people that all his military records are public.
The transcript from last night:

Brokaw: Someone has analyzed the President's military aptitude tests and yours, and concluded that he has a higher IQ than you do.
Kerry: That's great. More power. I don't know how they've done it, because my record is not public. So I don't know where you're getting that from.

Now check out the transcript of Kerry talking to Don Imus on September 15:

IMUS: A Freedom of Information Act request by "The Washington Post" regarding your military records produced six pages of information, while a spokesman for the Navy Personnel Command said there were at least 100 pages of information available, but he was not authorized to release them. Why can't we see this stuff?
KERRY: We've posted my military records that they sent to me, or were posted on my Web site. You can go to my Web site, and all my -- you know, the documents are there.
IMUS: So is -- everything's available?
KERRY: To the best of my knowledge. I think some of the medical stuff may still be out there. We're trying to get it. We're not quite finished.

Back in April Kerry appeared with Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Hardball. The Kerry campaign was taking
shots at the president's record in the Air National Guard (after Kerry said it would not do this), so Matthews had a few questions about it:

MATTHEWS: OK. You did that today, Senator. You went after, you put out a statement in your
campaign, asking tough questions, documented questions—you had all the material there—about
President Bush‘s — President Bush‘s participation.
KERRY: I have not—I don‘t—I haven‘t seen what went out.
MATTHEWS: What went out, it basically tracks what you did the other day on “Good Morning America.” And the question your staff put out, under your name, is, is Bush telling the truth,
President Bush, when he said he had no special privileges or favoritism in jumping 150 places to get in the Air Guard in Texas? What do you think about that? Is that something you care about? You want to know the truth?

KERRY: He ought to answer that question.
MATTHEWS: Why?
KERRY: Because I‘ve answered the questions. I released all my military records. Mr. Gillespie
thought it was important enough to go travel to another state, make a big speech, demand that I release my records. I did. Everything. All of it. Including my officer fitness reports.

The truth is that John Kerry has refused to sign Form 180 that would release the rest of his military records, including his officer fitness reports and his discharge records. With four days left before Election Day he has one of the least transparent document histories of any modern presidential candidate. What he is hiding we can only speculate. There is little doubt that he has no desire to let the American public see the records.

Kudos to Tom Brokaw for drawing him into finally admitting the truth.

(Thanks to Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters for the hat tip and the interview quotes.)