My letter to the editor will probably never see the light of day in these parts, so I'm posting it below, as promised:

I'm in town for only a few days to visit family, but I couldn't let Mr. Ken Jenkins' letter ("Dems will need to re-package") of 7/29 go uncorrected. He used a number of "talking points" that come straight from the RNC (try this at home: "google" some of the his facts, verbatim, and see how many "hits" you get), many of which have gone completely unexamined and unchallenged by the "partisan press." So yes, let's look at some facts, because if we drill down a little, we'll see that Mr. Jenkins' facts are far less persuasive.

"In 2003, Kerry voted with extreme left-wing Kennedy 93 percent of the time." Without some context, this is, I'm sure, bone-chilling to the average conservative voter. But I looked at Project Votesmart, where you can examine congressional voting records. On a number of those votes, Kerry did indeed vote with Kennedy, and also with Republican colleagues! For just a couple of examples: he joined Kennedy, and Republicans John McCain and Olympia Snowe, in voting against the fiscally irresponsible tax cuts of 2003. And he joined Kennedy, along with numerous other Republicans and Democrats, to pass the Supplemental Fiscal Support Package for Afghanistan and Iraq, and for the Defense Authorization bill.

"Kerry Voted At Least 350 Times for Higher Taxes." Mr. Jenkins wrote that in capitals, so it must be a doozy in his book. The "fact" is cleverly written to sound like Kerry voted to increase taxes 350 times, when in fact, fully 283 of those votes were for keeping taxes the same, instead of voting for an irresponsible tax reduction that could not be paid for.

"Kerry voted for the biggest tax increase in American history under President Clinton." Well, that's just plain wrong. The biggest tax increase in American history was Roosevelt's in 1942. Even Ronald Reagan's Tax Equity Act of 1982 created a larger tax increase.

"Kerry has voted against balanced budget amendments..." Well, I have to hand you that one: if we had a balanced budget amendment in place, then President Bush would not have been able to hand us the record-setting 450 billion dollar deficit budget he created this year. That record-setting deficit budget, by the way, does not include most costs for the ongoing war in Iraq (but it's probably difficult for the budget office to project how much Halliburton will overcharge the Pentagon in a fiscal year).

Mr. Jenkins also gives us one example of a Kerry "flip-flop." Let's look at a few of Bush's:

* He opposed creation of a Department of Homeland Security until the day FBI whisteblower Colleen Rowley was scheduled to give her damning testimony of FBI failures to Congress, when he suddenly announced - to great fanfare - that he was creating said department.

* In Sept 2000 he told us he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive;" in March 2002, trying to justify his war on Iraq, he announced about bin Laden: "I don't know where he is...I am truly not concerned about him." (How many devastating bombings has bin Laden orchestrated since then, by the way?)

* In 2000 Bush supported mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions. In 2003, facing an irritated base, in opposed them.

* In May 2002 Bush opposed creation of the 9/11 Commission. In Sept 2002, facing increased public criticism, he announced that he was in favor of it.

* In Jan 2004 Bush refused an outside investigation into WMD intelligence failures. In Feb, facing increased public criticism, he created one by executive order.

Now, to me, those are the worse kinds of flip-flops: the kind born of political expediency. But how about a few more facts? Fact: Bush took a budget surplus and turned it into a 450 billion dollar deficit and still insists on permanent tax cuts. Fact: Bush is on track to be the first president since Hoover to have a net job loss in his term. Fact: one spring job report showed that the fastest growing job segment was (ready for this, small government advocates?) THE GOVERMENT. Fact: George Bush sent our service men and women to war in Iraq, and then asked Congress to cut their wages, reduce the budgets of army base schools, and cut benefits to veterans. Fact: Terrorism INCREASED this year.

Yes, let's do consider the facts.