Politics

Jackie Calmes writes: "Over the past four years, Mr. Bush has swung from free-market candidate to sometime-protectionist president and back again." But lately, on the campaign trail, "he has re-emerged as a full-throated free trader," even in "the most hotly contested states... with the biggest job losses." Why?

PR Week's Douglas Quenqua asks: "Of the three men honored by a women's-empowerment group in Los Angeles last week for their 'support and advocacy of the issues that are important to women,' how many... have publicly mused over his great fortune at getting to stick a woman's face in the toilet?" If you guessed just one - named Arnold Schwarzenegger - you're correct.

In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, a new survey by the University of Maryland shows that 57 percent of the American people continue to believe Saddam Hussein gave "substantial support" to al-Qaeda before the war with Iraq. "Why would so many Americans cling to patently false beliefs?" asks history professor Juan Cole. "One can only speculate of course. But I would suggest that the two-party system in the US has produced a two-party epistemology. Epistemology is the study of how we know what we know.

Can John Kerry beat George Bush by selling himself to disgruntled Republican voters as the kinder, gentler, more compassionate and centrist candidate? After appealing to a left/liberal base during his primary victories juggernaut, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate is moving quickly to the right. "Declaring that he is 'not
a redistribution Democrat,' Senator John Kerry told a group
of wealthy and well-connected supporters on Thursday that
he would soon start an aggressive campaign to define
himself as a centrist, in hopes of peeling moderate