Powerful Forces Want to Influence Your Vote

While in Washington on Thursday, I was able to talk to some very well- informed people as well as read the latest dispatch from Stratford.com, perhaps the best information Web site in the country.

This may surprise you, but the Iraq situation, the Foley scandal and the Woodward book all have one thing in common: November's election.

The war in Iraq has dramatically changed over the past year. No longer is the primary enemy there Al Qaeda and the Baathists. We are now fighting Iran.

Last summer, the Bush administration was close to a deal that would have brought some stability to Iraq. Shia and Sunni Muslims were close to accepting a new government. But Iran, which now arms and controls some Shia terrorist militias, decided that shouldn't happen. And Iran's killer mercenaries began murdering Sunnis in greater numbers. The deal then fell apart.

Now Iran wants to keep the USA pinned down in Iraq so America cannot rally the opposition against Tehran for their nuclear ambitions and other things. It also wants to weaken President Bush in the upcoming election. You remember Iran destroyed Jimmy Carter's re-election chances in 1980 with the hostage fiasco.

So now Iran has ordered its killers to up the violence in Iraq for the next month, believing that Americans will hold President Bush responsible and vote in the Democrats, who the Iranians believe are not as aggressive in foreign policy.

On the Foley front, it's now clear the scandal was timed to put the GOP on the defensive, and it has. The unintended consequence of a congressman violating every ethical standard is that Foley not only destroyed himself but has also damaged his party.

Finally, the Bob Woodward book was released before the elections to give it maximum impact. Mr. Woodward, to his credit, acknowledges that. Talking Points believes voters should have as much information as possible before going to the polls, so I have no problem with the book. You can decide its validity.

To help you do that, we have posted my interview with Bob Woodward on BillOReilly.com. You might want to check it out this weekend.

Now by far, the most distressing part of this analysis is the Iranian connection. These brutal people are now driving the death and destruction inside Iraq and are trying to directly influence our elections here. That is outrageous.

And that is The Memo.

Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Used to be that you'd go to the rodeo and you'd see cowboys riding bulls and horses. Not anymore.

Now there's a monkey dressed up like a cowboy who goes around the country riding dogs in rodeos. No one can quite figure this out. There doesn't seem to be any historical precedent for monkeys riding dogs. There were no monkeys in the old west. Yes, there were dogs, but they would not allow themselves to be ridden by monkeys. They found it off-putting.

Anyway before you pay good money to see a rodeo, you might want to ask if monkeys are riding dogs in the presentation. If you don't, you mind find it ridiculous.

And on another ridiculous note, The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran a review of my book "Culture Warrior" today. One problem: the review was written by a member of Media Matters, the far-left hate Web site which hates me. Guess what? The guy didn't like the book.

Now, we brought this to the attention of the Plain Dealer leadership and they — we asked them why did you do that? And why Media Matters wasn't identified in the paper as a far-left concern.

We received this note back this afternoon: "We messed up. Very clearly, the political point of view of the reviewer's organization should have been spelled out. We did our readers a true disservice."

Well, we appreciate the Cleveland Plain Dealer saying that. Apparently, there's going to be an editor's note published in the paper tomorrow. We appreciate that, as well.

But, you should know that, because "Culture Warrior" is now the No. 1 non-fiction book in the country, far left is going nuts, and they are on the attack. We, of course, are more than ready for these scoundrels.

Ridiculous? Off the chart.