Fox News has now posted a retraction and apology for the piece with the fabricated Kerry quotes ...

Earlier Friday, FOXNews.com posted an item purporting to contain quotations from Kerry. The item was based on a reporter’s partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice.

The only retraction doesn't name the reporter in question, Carl Cameron, which was noted in the statement Fox News gave TPM this afternoon.

-- Josh Marshall .

Late this afternoon I spoke to Fox spokesman Paul Schur who told me the following ...

“Carl [Cameron] made a stupid mistake which he regrets. And he has been reprimanded for his lapse in judgment. It was a poor attempt at humor.”

So the Fox reporter covering the Kerry campaign puts together this Kerry-bashing parody right out of the RNC playbook with phony quotes intended to peg him as girlish fool and somehow it found its way on the Fox website as a news item.

Imagine that.

More to follow

Thanks Mr. Marshall

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Blue vs. Red: The Debate Wasn't Exactly a TieFriday, October 1, 2004; Page C01 John Kerry came off as more presidential than the president last night as the two candidates met for their first face-to-face debate, televised live on all the networks from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. President Bush did not appear to have a firm grasp on the major issues being discussed, opting instead for the repetition of sloganlike remarks and repeated attacks on his Democratic challenger.
Over and over -- and over -- Bush accused Sen. Kerry of having called Bush's invasion of Iraq "the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time." He also hammered away with one of the Republicans' favorite themes in their assault on Kerry: that he vacillates on issues depending on how political winds are blowing. The term "flip-flopping" may not itself have been used, or at least not often, but Kerry once referred to Bush changing his mind and said, "His campaign has a word for that." It could be that flip-flopping has played itself out, thanks in part to relentless lampooning of the phrase by topical TV comics.

Kerry acknowledged a bit of flip-floppery by conceding, "I made a mistake in how I talk about the war," but said that Bush's mistake, actually starting the war, was worse...read on

By PAUL KRUGMAN

s a result of the American military," President Bush declared last week, "the Taliban is no longer in existence."

It's unclear whether Mr. Bush misspoke, or whether he really is that clueless. But his claim was in keeping with his re-election strategy, demonstrated once again in last night's debate: a president who has done immense damage to America's position in the world hopes to brazen it out by claiming that failure is success.

Three years ago, the United States was both feared and respected: feared because of its military supremacy, respected because of its traditional commitment to democracy and the rule of law...read on

click here to listen: " Shut Up!"

Go to : http://topicalrock.com for more on the band and other songs.

Positioned right next to "We Report, You Decide." They have an ad promoting John Gibson's "Big Story" show about a movie that blasts Fahrenheit 9/11. Didn't every right wing pundit try to debunk the movie months ago.(Many of then didn't even see it.) Is that a really BIG story the day after the first Presidential debate? On Hannity and Colmes, the are having John O'Neal back in studio to try and discredit John Kerry once again. Now that's damage control!

If Holmes had any crediability on that show, he would have never allowed O'Neal to appear on that show again, especially after the first debate.

Excerpt By DEBORAH ORIN and VINCE MORRIS

Kerry seemed far better prepared than Bush, ready to counter the president's points while Bush often repeated himself and at times seemed at a loss for words or defensive. The president even audibly sighed at times.

By the time the debate was over, it seemed clear that Kerry had given himself a new lease on life and guaranteed that the campaign has a long way to run.

Kerry was rated the clear winner in a CNN/Gallup poll immediately after the debate. It found that 53 percent said Kerry won the debate, compared with 37 percent who gave the nod to Bush. read on..

The DNC has up 'Faces of Frustration' -- a compilation of presidential grimaces, moments of pique, agitation, impatience and anger. 'Hey, why do I have to be up? I'm the president! What'd you say about me? I'm the president!'
Thanks Josh Marshall

from the daily kos

Wes Clark on the Daily Show says conservative bloggers are disappointed. I found some quotes:

PoliPundit says:

"I think most people's first impression, is that Kerry was strong and forceful, while Bush was less effective, more hesitant."

"I've been watching the debate for five minutes now. Despite my partisan inclinations, I have to admit that Kerry has won this debate. And not just in the high-school debate-coach sense of the word. Kerry comes off as the prosecutor accusing Bush of incompetence. Bush comes off as his Meet-The-Press, press-conference version - dogged, arrogant and unlikable. Kerry will get a significant bounce in the head-to-head poll numbers from this debate."

Powerline Blog says:

"But, candidly, I don't think it went that well for the President. I think Kerry helped himself tonight. He came across as a credible candidate, and he was usually on the offensive...I think Kerry made headway, and there is plenty of material there for the mainstream media to proclaim the beginning of Kerry's comeback...On the whole, though, I think Kerry helped himself tonight."

Sullivan says:

No president who has presided over Abu Ghraib should ever say he wants to put anyone on a leash. That's all.

Credit where it's due. That's the best one-liner I've heard yet about Thursday's festivities.

Freepers say:

"While we were all hoping that Bush would defeat Kerry handidly tonight and put the election out of reach, we can't be that upset with tonight. Kerry may have even had a slight win..."

Oxblog:

"ONE LINE ON THE DEBATE: Kerry won. Hands down. By a lot. That's all for now."

Winds of Change:

"Kerry did well in terms of his persona; I went in expecting a pompous windbag and he wasn't one. Bush did less well in persona; fragmented, repetitive..."

New Republicans:

"Well, if I'm generous, then Bush stuck to his talking points. As a former debater, however, I am tempted to say that Bush missed many, many, many chances to really make key points against Kerry...I'm not certain that Kerry won more than a few swing votes in this, but I don't know if Bush can win those votes back. He simply didn't deliver as well as Kerry."

The Debate:

Jim Lehrer: It is amazing what they're doing with animatronic puppetry these days.

George Bush: Takes the initiative by crossing all the way over to Kerry's podium for the handshake. Standard alpha male dominance-establishing tactics that anthropologists refer to as "getting all up in his grill."

John Kerry: Lingers slightly in that handshake, hoping people will notice he's significantly taller than Bush.

The Cameras violate the rules: showing both candidates reacting...on the split screen, Kerry's podium is way low on the screen to keep their heads at the same height. Score that one for the Bush negotiating team...Bush looking as if he's sucking on a lemon. The split-screen isn't flattering to Bush, with the eye-rolling, angry looks, mouth-smacking...

George"Strong Alliances" Dubya:

(approximately): "He says we didn't have allies? What does he say to Tony Blair? What does he say to Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland?"

President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland: "They deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride."

GDUB: Libya has disarmed. The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice. [A.Q. Khan is not in jail. In what sense has his network been "brought to justice"? Bush is confused.

GDUB:That wasn't going to work. That's kind of a pre-September 10th mentality, the hope that somehow resolutions and failed inspections would make this world a more peaceful place. [Except that we now know that the inspections were remarkably successful.]

GDUB:America and the world are safer now [Pervez Musharraf and other Middle East leaders disagree, and say that the world is definitely not safer as a result of Bush's invasion of Iraq.]

GDUB: actually has the nerve to complain about a "tax gap"? Yes he does.

KERRY: really needs to stop nodding when Bush is saying stuff he disagrees with.

GDUB:There are 100,000 troops trained, police, guard, special units, border patrol. [Bush shouldn't be saying this. It isn't true.]

KERRY: "The president's plan is four words: 'More of the same.'" That's a good line.

Holy shit, he's winging it, and it's painful.

I don't doubt some people out there are loving the unprepared "C" student president.

But Kerry is winning on the substance, and in the preparation game.

Kerry was on an even keel the entire debate. He was confident and steady...he grabbed the initiative early and kept GDUB on the defensive by keeping the focus of the debate on the president's record.

Bush, on the other hand, was like a little chihuahua, talking over Lehrer to get his responses in. He came off as petulant and even more unlikeable than usual. His belligerent toughguy routine isn't coming off very well from behind a lecturn...let's see...unprepared, bellicose, and unlikeable. What's left?.....HARD WORKER!

GDUB: Did I mention that "it's hard work?"

Overall: Not a knockout, but I think Kerry clerly won on points, and he certainly more than held his own on what has been Bush's issue.

GDUB stumbled through his responses and seemed almost lost sometimes. More than a few times he appeared to struggle just to fill up his alloted time. He was too repetitive....

Saddam was a threat.
We must spread liberty.
My opponent keeps changing his position
You can't say "wrong war at the wrong time."
Central part of the war on terror.
Solemn duty to protect the American people.
You can't send mixed messages.

Staying on message is fine, but sounding like you've been hypnotized isn't. There was a startling change in the president's demeanor when he made his prepared final statement. He was much more relaxed and convincing than he was while giving his bumblin', stumblin' real-time responses. Apparently he's more comfortable in Karen Hughes' skin than he is in his own. He must've been using a teleprompter.

The president and his people have worked hard to convince the country that Kerry is weak and indecisive. That is certainly not what America saw Thursday night. Senator Kerry came off as forcefull and direct. I suspect that anyone who was genuinely undecided came away from the 90 minutes with that impression.

The spinmeisters on CBS: McCain spinning like mad for Bush on Iraq -- ignoring his own statement that Iraq is going badly -- but says Kerry came across as knowing what he was talking about.

Biden nails Bush on saying that China would pull out of the N. Korea talks if we taked bilaterally. (Too bad Kerry didn't hit that one.) Biden says that China has asked us to negotiate bilaterally with N. Korea. No mention of Bush's sour looks.

Watching ABC: Poll says people think Kerry won, but no one changed their minds about who they would vote for.

ABC News: "Bush was unusually angry". And regarding the post-debate spin, the Kerry spinners are "gleeful".

ABC poll: debate viewers judged Kerry the winner 45%-36% (with the rest judging it a tie).

CNN/USA Today/Gallup: has Kerry the winner 53%-37%.

46 % had a more favorable of Kerry afterwards,
16 % has a less favorable impression.

Only 21 % had a more favorable impression of Bush afterwards; 17 % had a less favorable impression.

CBS Poll: of uncommitted voters shows Kerry winning 43%-28%.

Who has a clear plan for Iraq:

Kerry 51%
Bush 38%

Kerry did better than Bush, especially among women. More than half were more willing to vote for him after the debate, only one in seven less willing.

Well, we'll see. The spinning is just beginning. But this looks to have been a very good night for Big John.

Bush's costly gaffe

IN THE MIDDLE of a disjointed, subpar performance on an evening when he could have locked away a second term, President Bush made an unusually silly attempt to link the terrorists who attacked the United States on 9/11 with the dictator who used to rule Iraq. Saddam Hussein's Iraq had to be invaded last year, said Bush in a feeble summing up, "because the enemy attacked.

Bush can usually get away with attempts to fuse Iraq with Al Qaeda before Republican campaign audiences or the White House press corps, but he was unable to fool the 9/11 commission, and he should not have tried to slip the flat-out misstatement past an alert, acerbic, and effective John Kerry last night.

In a rejoinder that neatly encapsulated Kerry's ability to speak clearly with the highest political stakes involved, Kerry clearly enjoyed drawing the long breath that preceded his response. The last time Kerry had checked, he said, Saddam Hussein had not attacked the United States, but that under Osama bin Laden's direction, Al Qaeda had.

Worse, Kerry said that the United States let him get away from a near-certain trap in Afghanistan and then diverted resources from finding him to assemble the force that is now stuck in Iraq.

Somewhere inside the president's head there was a realization that he had committed one of those gaffes, one of those flagrant goofs that, if not corrected, can create days of trouble.

When he got the floor back, Bush fixed the record with a quick admission that, of course, bin Laden was behind the attacks three years ago. And then he drew the evening's only laugh -- always a clue to a poor performance -- with a pseudo-confident, "I knew that."

He probably does, but Bush has been trying to mislead the country for three years about the relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda so he could make the two wars one in most Americans' minds. Of late, he has been having more difficulty as the situation in Iraq continues to degenerate.

The Bush campaign has invested more than $100 million to paint Kerry as a flip-flopping opportunist. That's not how he came off last night. It was the president who sought the chance to shine in his favorite subject area and then proceeded to blow the opportunity sky-high.

This race goes on.