McCain to Sinclair: 'Gross Disservice'

And now some fresh pickings from the political grapevine:

General Fair and Decent?

In a new RasmussenReports.com poll, 64 percent say American society is generally fair and decent. But, when broken into presidential preferences, only 46 percent of Kerry voters say that, compared with 83 percent of Bush voters.

Similarly, 62 percent "overall" say the world would be a better place if other countries were more like the United States. But only 48 percent of Kerry voters say that, compared to 81 percent of Bush voters.

Ordered Off the Air

Last night we told you how Sinclair Broadcast Group has ordered its eight ABC affiliates to preempt tonight's broadcast of "Nightline" -- which will be devoted entirely to reading the names and showing the faces of soldiers killed in Iraq. Well, Arizona Republican Senator John McCain has now written a letter to Sinclair, calling its decision "deeply offensive."

McCain says "[I] remain a strong supporter of the decision [to go to war in Iraq but] ... your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public."

Sinclair defends the decision, saying -- "responsible journalism requires that a discussion of these costs ... be accompanied by a description of the benefits of military action." Meanwhile, some newspapers today preceded ABC's broadcast with their own photo displays.

The Washington Post had a three-page spread called "Faces of the Fallen," and USA Today placed its photos on the front page.

Wolfowitz On War Casualties

When asked at a Congressional hearing yesterday for the total number of Americans killed in Iraq, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz answered, "It's approximately 500, of which -- I can get the exact numbers -- approximately 350 are combat deaths."

Those numbers were right... more than three months ago. But as of yesterday morning, 724 U.S. soldiers had died in Iraq, 522 of which were combat deaths. A spokesman for Wolfowitz says -- "He misspoke. That's all."

What Political Party Do I Agree With?

After students at a High School in Hollywood, Florida, asked their government teacher how to determine which political party they should join, the teacher put together a survey for them, titled "What Political Party Do I agree with?"

It presents students with 12 statements, including "We pay too much in taxes," "I am against abortions," and "We should be harder on criminals." The more statements students agreed with, the more the survey said -- they're Republicans...

But, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Broward County Democratic Party is condemning the survey as "slanted," and some parents insist it was "designed to convince 18-year-olds ... [to] register Republican." So the teacher has been ordered to stop using the survey.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report