James Hirsen
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004

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  It’s not really his fault, though. He’s just doing what Dems do: terrifying the seniors, startling the soccer moms, alarming the unemployed, and on and on and on.

Now apparently he’s decided to try horrifying the youth.

Kerry’s latest angst-inducing tale is that a military draft is hovering right around the corner, if voters re-elect President Bush.

Similar comments made by Kerry surrogates suggest that it’s all part of a very scary Kerry strategy.

“America will reinstate the military draft [if Bush is re-elected],” yelled former one-term Sen. Max Cleland in a recent speech.

Howard Dean was heard muttering out loud, “I think that George Bush is certainly going to have a draft if he goes into a second term, and any young person who doesn't want to go to Iraq might think twice about voting for him.”

I appeared on CNBC’s “Dennis Miller” program recently as part of Miller’s Varsity Panel, along with Yeardley Smith of “The Simpsons” and Rock the Vote official Jehmu Greene. Kerry’s very scary draft conjecture made its way into the discussion.

Greene spent some of her airtime spreading the word that a military draft might be coming. This prompted me to remark that the only ones who seemed to be talking up the idea were the Dems.

Those in the know are aware that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as well as other Pentagon officials have consistently said they believe it is neither necessary nor desirable to impose a draft.

Facts don’t seem to be stopping the allegedly nonpartisan Rock the Vote folks from trying to jolt the 18-to 24 crowd.

“A New Military Draft?” their Web site reads. “It's on everyone's lips. And it directly affects YOU,” it warns. It then specifically invokes Bush in answering the question, “Why all of a sudden is there interest by politicians in the draft?”

Rock the Vote’s answer is, coincidently, also a veiled critique of Iraq. It says, “These recent statements stem from a growing belief that the U.S. government's original plan to scale back our military presence in Iraq by this summer will be stalled by the continuing difficulties there. Despite the President's promised June 30th deadline to give back control of Iraq's government to the Iraqis under the United Nations, it's not clear under the current state of affairs when our military role there will begin to wind down even if we hand over power on time.”

The Left Coast Report thinks it’s unlikely that the very scary tactics are going to work for a guy who changes his position with every Botox injection.

Rather Theatrical ‘Idiot’s Dream’

Sinking anchor Dan Rather has become the symbol of the tired Old Media and the poster boy for how not to handle a crisis. But he has evidently been an inspiration to the thespian community.

An off-Broadway play called “Kenneth — What Is the Frequency?” is set to open in October. It was already well received at its recent U.K. venue, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The title stems from a bizarre incident where Rather was beaten up in front of his home in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

On a fall evening in 1986, Rather was sucker-punched from behind and ended up on the ground. During the attack the assailant muttered a puzzling phrase: “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”

At the time, rumors about Rather having a secret life as a Republican, working for the Mossad and being a member of the X-Men were flying.

Rather himself couldn’t shed any light on the phrase or the attack. He said: “I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't, and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time, and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea.”

The story inspired the rock group R.E.M. to record the song “What's the Frequency, Kenneth?” in 1994. Among the lyrics:

“I was brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed/I thought I'd pegged you an idiot's dream/Tunnel vision from the outsider's screen”

Lead singer Michael Stipe called the attack on Rather “the premier unsolved American surrealist act of the 20th century. It's a misunderstanding that was scarily random, media hyped and just plain bizarre.”

Rather even appeared with R.E.M. on “The Late Show with David Letterman” as the band performed the tune.

In 1997 Rather’s attacker was identified as William Tager. A psychiatrist had solved the enigma and tipped off the authorities.

Apparently Tager, who was already in jail at that time for the death of an NBC stagehand, believed that the news media had been beaming him messages. He had been on a search for a special frequency that, in his mind, would have blocked the brain invasion.

The Left Coast Report wonders it Tager is really one of Rather’s unimpeachable sources.

Robert Redford’s Che Chatter

Robert Redford recently went after the Bush administration, implying that it was somehow for dirtier air and water.

He spoke at an event sponsored by Environmental Accountability Fund, a political action committee.

"Sadly, the erosion [in environmental policy] that's occurred is disastrous, frightening and dangerous," Redford blubbered.

The jet-setting, high-living actor howled that the administration was “intentionally blind” to the nation’s environmental needs.

Actually, Redford seems to be blind about some things himself.

The former celluloid horse whisperer is the producer of a new film called “The Motorcycle Diaries.” It’s a biopic about Che Guevara's early years.

The flick tells the story of the journeys of Argentine biker buddies Guevara and Alberto Granado in the 1950s as they travel across Latin America on a Norton motorbike. Sort of a commie version of “Easy Rider.”

Redford went to Cuba in January 2004 to give comrade Fidel Castro and Guevara's relatives a private screening.

“He came to me,” Redford told Reuters. “He seemed to be in good health, good humor, good spirit.”

Good grief. Apparently, Redford thinks a guy who puts dissenters in prison or worse yet, in coffins, is worthy of neighborly concern.

“I came to present the film that I produced on Che Guevara, and I am very happy to be in Cuba,” Redford cheerily said.

NewsMax columnist Humberto Fontova offers a different perspective. “Che's true legacy is simply one of terror and murder. That dreaded midnight knock. Wives and daughters screaming in rage and panic as Che's goons drag off their dads and husbands – that's the real Che legacy,” he writes.

Today in Cuba you can find children dressed in Fidel-style uniforms chanting in school each day, “We will be like Che,” as they pledge to be “pioneers for communism.”

And pictures of Guevara are everywhere. They hang in schools, medical clinics and food ration centers. His image also appears on a three-peso coin along with the words “Homeland or Death.”

Redford’s flick was shown at the actor’s own Sundance Film Festival, where left-leaning fare is the norm.

But here’s some good news. An answer to the Sundance event can be found at the Liberty Film Festival, which will be held at the SilverScreen Theatre at the Pacific Design Center, Oct. 1-3. Tickets are available online at www.libertyfilmfestival.com.

Radio talk show host Michael Medved, actress Morgan Brittany and yours truly will be participating in a panel discussion. Radio and TV personality Larry Elder will debut “Michael & Me,” Stephen Bannon will have the West Coast debut of his stunning “In the Face of Evil,” Mike Wilson will show “Michael Moore Hates America,” and Jason Apuzzo and Govindini Murty will unveil their innovative suspense thriller “Terminal Island.”

The Left Coast Report has learned that there’s no truth to the rumor that John Kerry will conduct a panel on decision-making.

MoveOn Connects the Weather Dots

Looks as if wealthy propagandist Michael Moore now views John Kerry as “a lousy candidate.” Looks as if he also sees the Democratic Party as “pathetic.”

Could it be that hearing their titular leader attack their beloved candidate is causing the MoveOn folks to become unhinged?

The organization has been pinning the fault for the devastating hurricanes that have hit Florida on, you guessed it - President Bush.

MoveOn.org claims that the president is to blame for "making extreme weather stronger."

Referencing the recent glut of hurricanes that have been hitting the Sunshine State, in an e-mail to supporters the group rhetorically asks "why such extreme weather" is taking place.

The e-mail says that Bush is giving out federal emergency aid in Florida while doing “nothing to reduce global warming.” Note that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has just reported one of the coolest summers in recorded history.

According to MoveOn, Bush is also assisting the oil companies and the big polluters while doing “nothing to stop global warming pollution, which is making extreme weather stronger.”

The e-mail ends with the phrase, “Best of luck coping with the weather."

The Left Coast Report says to MoveOn, “Best of luck coping with the election.”

Sinead O’Connor’s Message 2 U

It’s strange how celebrities seem to thrust themselves into the headlines, only to then complain about media mistreatment.

Sinead O'Connor, who is best known for her Moby haircut, insult to Pope John Paul II and short-lived ordination as a “priest,” recently took out a full-page ad in a major newspaper asking folks to stop making fun of her.

Taking a page from a famous Sean, O’Connor wrote a 2,000-word treatise and had it published in the Irish Examiner.

In it, she maintained that she had been “consistently ridiculed, lashed and called mad” for decades. “I don't think there can be any person male or female from this country who has been as consistently lashed as I have been and always am no matter what I set out to do," she wrote.

"If ye all think I am such a crazy person why do ye use me to sell your papers?" she asked. “Please, I just want to be a little old lady now, and not be all controversial and not be bashed and called crazy and laughed at when I open my mouth to sing or speak.”

In 1992 O’Connor tore up a picture of the pope on “Saturday Night Live” while screaming “fight the real enemy.” She also refused to allow the national anthem to be played at her concerts.

In 1999 she was ordained in a schismatic Catholic sect. But she subsequently stopped referring to herself as “Mother Bernadette Mary” apparently because celibacy got to be too hard.

The Left Coast Report notes that Sinead might have found her calling when, I kid ye not, she announced on a national Irish radio network that she’d be the spokesgal for a campaign to stamp out head lice.

The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax.

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