Lovely:

FALWELL: But you’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I’m for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Funny, I remember the good old days when pastors offered a world view based on
Biblical teachings:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

Of course 9/11 changed everything, didn’t it?

The Knoxville News-Sentinel comes out with a qualified endorsement of Bush:

With the endorsement comes a qualification: Bush should make every attempt to return the Republican Party to the core values that best reflect the majority feeling in this area and that have served the nation well. . . Those values include balanced budgets, fiscal responsibility and a foreign policy that, while not isolationist, depends on a strong military and is not adventurous or interventionist.

In other words, Bush needs another four-year term to undo what he did in his first one.
As if that wasn’t comical enough, the piece also emphasizes the need for the next president to “compromise” in order to bring a polarized nation together. Of course we’ve all seen what a great unifier Bush has turned out to be.
In short, vote for Bush: he can be a great president, provided his second term is the exact opposite of his first.
UPDATE: The Tennessean, which backed Gore in 2000, today has an editorial for Senator Kerry. I like how it mentions an issue which has largely been ignored this election cycle:

Of all the vast differences between the two candidates, the biggest chasm is on the environment. Kerry has a record of strong environmental protection. The Bush White House has allowed industry officials to rewrite regulations. It has rejected solid science. It has begun turning back environmental laws that have worked well for a generation.

Contrast that with the funny the News Sentinel tries to pull in casting Bush as an environmental advocate:

And, while there is much concern about the president’s environmental policies, it is Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency that is holding Knox and other counties’ feet to the fire on nonattainment. That EPA action requires local participation in helping stem the tide of air pollution in one of the haziest regions in the nation.

Whatever EPA “bureaucrats” (to use a Bush term) have been doing to address air pollution is in spite of this White House, not because of it. To imply that Bush wants to crack down on polluters is laughable.

I’m off to the mountains today on a fall foliage pilgrimage. Hopefully I get a few decent pictures.
UPDATE: Funny story and tip from an outdoors guru: If you’re planning an outing to see fall colors, the last place you want to be is on the top of a mountain on a cloudy day. A couple reasons:
(1) There’s not much color at high elevations to begin with–it’s basically all evergreens at the top. Right now the good colors are down in the 2,000 to 4,000 foot range; which
(2) You obviously can’t see–even from afar–if there’s clouds blocking the view.
Oh, well, it was neat to sit on the summit and watch the clouds pass over the ridge. At one point I was completely enveloped by clouds except for a break directly overhead where the sun beamed through. Kind of had the feeling my soul was headed off into the great blue yonder. Or maybe that was just my mind trying distancing itself from my weary legs. Not sure which.
I did take a few pictures on Friday; I’ll post them once I get them processed.

Compare and contrast:
Reuters article: “Reuters Poll: Bush Grabs One-Point Lead on Kerry”
Poll findings:

Bush 46
Kerry 45

AP article at Yahoo: “AP Poll: Bush, Kerry in Dead Heat”
Poll findings (buried in third paragraph):

Kerry 49
Bush 46

That liberal media.

Word is that President Clinton will rise up from the sick bed next week and campaign for Kerry. If I was planning his tour (and he could handle the travel), I’d direct him to the following cities:

Philadelphia/Pittsburgh, PA
Cleveland/Toledo/Columbus/Cincinnati, OH
Milwaukee/Madison, Wisconsin
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
De Moines, IA
Denver, CO
Albuquerque, NM
Memphis, TN
Little Rock/Fayetteville AR

Basically, as many of the big cities in the swing states as possible. It’s crucial for Kerry to get out the Democratic base to win. Rumor has been that the African-American community isn’t as exciting about his candidacy as they’ve been in the past few elections. Hopefully, having American’s first “black president” out there firing up the troops will change that.