It's weird to get email from a character from the past and have it begin with, essentially, remember me, the big liar. The email reads:
I have one message burned into my memory for everyone who cares about the outcome of this year's presidential election:Meanwhile, over on Rush Limbaugh's show, the complaint is that the Republicans are afraid to attack Obama. After the first night of the convention, he quotes Fox News commentator Ed Rollins, who said: "Not hitting on Obama was a perfect way to go. We all know the Obama record and don't need to have it reinforced." That exasperates Rush:
Respond quickly and powerfully to attacks from the other side...
If you tune in to the convention, you'll see that Mitt Romney and his allies have no qualms about misleading voters if it means defeating President Obama.
But their attacks won't work if enough people step up to protect the President's record.
Clearly what we've known for years is true. The Republican hierarchy, from its consultants on down, truly believes that mentioning Obama by name and then criticizing will cause these swing voters that [focus groupster Frank] Luntz had that I told you about to run straight back to the Democrats. It is clear they believe it.Did you notice the name John Kerry in there?
Naturally, I profoundly disagree.
But I think also it's obvious that these people don't see this as a turning point election. They see it as just another one in the cycle. Here's Joe Trippi. Joe Trippi is a Democrat consultant. Trippi ran Howard Dean's ill-fated campaign in 2004 when John Kerry (who served in Vietnam, by the way) ended up being the nominee. He was also on the Fox show this morning. After Ed Rollins said, "Yep, yep! Not hitting Obama was the perfect way to go," Joe Trippi said...
TRIPPI: Christie last night, there's been some disappointment he didn't go after Obama enough. But what he did was talk to the undecideds out there. If he had pounded on Obama in that way, I think it woulda turned those people off.
RUSH: Folks, I'm literally going insane hearing this. I want to know why these independents don't get turned off when Obama calls Romney a murderer and a felon. Why is it that independents only get turned off? Why is it that our guys are agreeing with a Democrat consultant? Why is it that the independents only get turned off when we're critical? And we're not even being "critical" when we tell the truth!
Kerry's name came up in a different point in the show yesterday, when I caller said:
You know what, Rush, I am so sick of the Democrats painting Mitt Romney as some out of touch rich guy. I mean, can we say John Kerry, John Edwards, Algore, and you know I see Kerry is scheduled to speak at the DNC next week.... So they're actually featuring the most out of touch rich guy at their own convention. I mean, how can they get away with this, Rush?Rush said:
'Cause he's a Democrat, and Democrats care about poor people and Republicans don't, and that's it. I'm doing this my 25th year. I have every day, for 24-plus years, said what you just said. I've been pointing it out. I've written columns about it. I've said it on TV. I've said it on radio. I've made speeches about it. Kerry is five times wealthier than Romney, and... he inherited it all, and he's much more flagrant in his consumption of his wealth.... than Romney is.I think he means that Kerry married into money. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry inherited her money, which Kerry married into.
Romney gave away his inheritance. He gave it away. He donated it to charity. Look, I understand your frustration, 'cause you don't like being on defense. Why do we have to respond to these guys? They feel the need to do it because the truth still isn't out there, and it's wrapped up in something that isn't complicated at all. Kerry is a Democrat; they care about the poor. Republicans only care about the rich and Wall Street, and that's what doofuses, morons, in this country believe. The people who are not informed, who think they're lifelong Democrats, born and raised hearing that every day of their lives, particularly if they're members of unions, that's what they've heard.I must say I did not know that Mitt Romney gave away his inheritance. I hear it said over and over that he was born into money, and I don't remember ever hearing that Romney gave the money he inherited from his father away. But it's true. He gave the money to found a school at Brigham Young University.
Why don't we hear more about it? I assume it's the same thing Ann Romney was talking about the other night: "Mitt does not like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point." In my mind, this connects to what Jesus said about charity and good works:
Be careful! When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.And yet the task at the moment is winning the Presidency (not heaven). We're told people don't find Romney likeable enough, and the Democrats pound away on the message that he's a horrible man. He doesn't care about people.
When you give to the poor, don't be like the hypocrites. They blow trumpets in the synagogues and on the streets so that people will see them and honor them. I tell you the truth, those hypocrites already have their full reward. So when you give to the poor, don't let anyone know what you are doing. Your giving should be done in secret. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.
Jesus said:
People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed. Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.But then, reading on, we see:
"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its salty taste, it cannot be made salty again. It is good for nothing, except to be thrown out and walked on.That's saying let your good works show. I don't want to say Jesus contradicted himself. Commenters will explain this seeming discrepancy, which is undoubtedly the subject of numerous sermons that I have not sat through. But I have read that passage many times over the years.
"You are the light that gives light to the world. A city that is built on a hill cannot be hidden. And people don't hide a light under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand so the light shines for all the people in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven.
And... city on a hill. City on a hill! Talk about your Republican conventions.
Posts
57 comments:
What's next, John Edwards on The Bachelor?
Kerry is stupid. That's the single most important fact about him.
They are both right. Rush is right that many many people need to be hit over the head with the Obama record, and told that this recovery is abnormally poor, by any measure, and the foreign policy violates everything they voted for in him. A lot are still in denial, because they live in a bubble of NPR and MSM.
But for all those who know it, but are all squishy about being mean to the failed messiah, you gotta go all soft with a "He can't help it. He's just not good at this. He tried, but we should fall off the other side of the fence this time."
They like that idea that they are nonpartisan, directionless, unprincipled wind vanes.
The whole Republican strategy should be based on "Fast and Furious". The movie, not the ATF Operation.
The default characterization of repubs by the left is one of being uncaring, mean-spirited, racist...
So Romney, Ryan etc. begin from within a deep hole not of their own making.
Most never make it out.
That's the narrative in one lesson.
That Democrats perceive John Kerry as a senior statesman of his party should be all the evidence any intelligent American needs to confirm the utter hollowness of the Democrat Party.
Yet other Americans will somehow delude themselves into thinking their votes can force Democrats “to take responsibility terrorism and security issues instead of being able to get away with sniping from the sidelines” – as if the anti-War wing of the Democrat party won’t unleash itself within mere moments of Romney taking the oath of office.
What I'm supposed to believe Jean Fraud Munchausen? What the heck? When did that happen?
Okay, I'll get back on my turnip truck and believe that gigolo.
A man's good reputation is all that works for him when accusers go after him on veiled accusations of his being a religious weirdo and dangerous man.
Mormons certainly understand that. They try harder than anyone to do the right thing.
Mitt is a good man.
Now how do we get Mitt to open up and tell us what is in his heart just like we are his friends in the room with him?
IMO refusing to learn the skill of communicating openly is not humility. It is stubbornness.
That's saying let your good works show. I don't want to say Jesus contradicted himself. Commenters will explain this seeming discrepancy, which is undoubtedly the subject of numerous sermons that I have not sat through. But I have read that passage many times over the years.
Okay, I'll bite. Good works are to be done as a response to the good work that Jesus did for us. It all comes down to motive - if you do something in order to glorify yourself, it is empty. Everything we do should be aimed at glorifying God.
When a football player praises God after making a play, he is not implying that God cares who wins or loses. He is thanking God for giving him the skills required to play the game in the first place.
He is thanking Him for his very life.
The shining city on the hill is the kingdom of Heaven. The light is a beacon for others to follow, not to admire from afar.
"Let your light so shine that others might see your good works and glorify your God in Heaven."
I think I remember reading that John Kerry inherited about 200 million (about as much as Mitt Romney is supposed to be worth at this time) from his mother and married Teresa Heinz, who inherited about 1 billion from her late husband, John Heinz III.
I believe the Heinz family and their lawyers have some influence on just what the now Mrs. Kerry can spend the Heinz loot on.
Althouse - is it common to have dumb people in law school? Cause there are a lot of dumb people, like Kerry, who went to law school.
Be careful! When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them. If you do that, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
I've wondered about this as regards candidates being expected to reveal their tax returns.
I have the impression that Mitt Romney is a bit quirky about things like that and wants to keep his religion and private life separate from politics.
Anyway, it is his business.
You're forgetting, perhaps on purpose, that a great many people never thought of Kerry as lying on this score, but instead viewed the Swift Boater group as hacks and liars. That's why the term "Seift Boating" exists to this day.
As much as anything it looks like what you're doing is complaining that Kerry never surrendered to the Swift Boater attacks--he continues to act as though they were full of shit.
Harrogate, The seared memory was factually impossible. Didn't he remember Nixon giving orders a month before he was innaugurated?
You're forgetting, perhaps on purpose, that a great many people never thought of Kerry as lying on this score, but instead viewed the Swift Boater group as hacks and liars. That's why the term "Seift Boating" exists to this day.
As much as anything it looks like what you're doing is complaining that Kerry never surrendered to the Swift Boater attacks--he continues to act as though they were full of shit.
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They're thought of as hacks and liars by some people that are still butthurt over Kerry's loss, that's all.
It's kinda like the "Willie Horton" add that butthurt Democrats claimed was racist because it was so truthful and effective and totally sunk Dukakis' candidacy.
Mitt's speech is going to shoot for the positive in a big way. His model will be Reagan's "Morning in America" speech. I will be surprised if he even mentions Obama by name. Others, Ryan in particular, have done the yeoman's work of exposing Obama's record. Mitt needs to elucidate his program of solutions, and he will. He will show the confidence and the passion tonight that some have found him wanting.
Politics as a 24/7 thing is a bore. But this was interesting: "In my mind, this connects to what Jesus said about charity and good works ...."
That's a connection that Ann has been drawing quite a bit lately -- looking to Biblical comparisons and drawing attention to religious precedents. I'm guessing that there is more than just a cultural observation behind it. Is the good professor not just a dissenter from the PC-leftism on campus, but she's also become a dissenter from the aggressive secularism of the place too?
I'm not sure that this is an entirely new development, but I suspect that the influence of Meade may have something to do with it. After all, to borrow another phrase from Ryan last night, he's the most obvious new member of the team who might have sparked such a change.
The liberal message is heard by conservatives who are not news junkies. My own brother who I know is a conservative said to me early on in the Tea Party movement that he didn't think much of the Tea Party, parroting the liberal spin that he had apparently heard on TV or maybe he heard his wife repeat something she had heard watching the View, I don't know.
I grew up in rural south central KY which is part of the bible belt and its amazing to me how many born again Christian conservative women, and I don't doubt the sincerity of their religion, will proudly proclaim how they can't stand Sarah Palin.
Liberal message received, loud and clear.
You're forgetting, perhaps on purpose, that Kerry still hasn't released his military records to this day. That's just weird unless you did some Benedict Arnold shit.
How is the one image burned in Kerry's head not the movie of Edwards primping in front of a mirror?
Harrowgate said:
"As much as anything it looks like what you're doing is complaining that Kerry never surrendered to the Swift Boater attacks--he continues to act as though they were full of shit."
As I recall, there were only 3 claims made by the Swiftboaters:
1) That he was not and could not have been in Cambodia on Christmas 1968.
Kerry has since admitted that he was mistaken on that.
2) That he did not actually throw away his medals.
He has since told us that he actually threw away someone else's medals.
3) 300 (or so) of his comrades thought he would be a lousy president.
I don't think he ever disputed that these folks said this.
Kerry is basically a dishonest lying sack of shit.
John Henry
"He has since told us that he actually threw away someone else's medals."
A shining example of a modern liberal elite.
They always do this stuff with someone else's property.
WTF is wrong with these people???
I'm curious: has Kerry released his military medical records? Didn't he promise he would do that?
As for Rush: he's wrong. The American people know that Obama's a failure, that's why Obama's stuck in the mid 40s. What they need to know is why they should support Romney, why Romney would be better. That's what the Convention is giving them. It's the right thing to do.
Richard Dolan said...
Is the good professor not just a dissenter from the PC-leftism on campus, but she's also become a dissenter from the aggressive secularism of the place too?
Ah, could it be that the Bible/Torah form the basis of Western law?
You're forgetting, perhaps on purpose, that a great many people never thought of Kerry as lying on this score
Here's a clue for the clueless: when the two choices are:
A. A politician is lying.
B. The politican carried out a secret wartime mission that nobody, including other people who supposedly went on the mission, remembers happening.
Go with "B". Just a word of friendly advice. :)
Seriously, though, you can quibble all you want about the medal controversies, but the "Christmas in Cambodia" story is an obvious fabrication. Kerry changed the date of actual missions into Cambodia to make the story more exciting and shocking.
Kerry has a memory? I thought you needed a mind for that.
Hi Ann,
You're confusing two different things. You might want to start by considering the Parable of the Talents. The more you are given, the more that's expected of you. The same holds for your light. Are you mean and petty, or are you open, generous, and giving? How do you live your life? How do you deal with others? Are you fair and straight with them?
If you use your "charitable giving" to build yourself up, or to advance a political argument, then you're not giving for reasons that God values, so God will not reward you for it. But that's OK, because most of the rest of us are the same way. How would you react to someone who was constantly bragging about how "caring" they are? That is the person Jesus is condemning.
How do you react to someone who actually IS caring? That is the person who is not hiding his or her light under a bushel.
God, Kerry of all people reused that image?
could it be that the Bible/Torah form the basis of Western law?
First of all, there is no such thing as "western law".
Secondly, the foundations of American law -- the Constitution and English common law -- directly contradict Biblical law in many, if not most, regards.
People just like to say "ooh, the Bible forbids stealing and murder. WE forbid stealing and murder! We must have gotten that idea from the Bible!". Apparently forgetting that, for example, the Greeks and Romans forbade stealing and murder, too. :)
"What?! I can't believe Kerry would evoke his old "memory which is seared — seared — in me" line."
That's because you are living in a bubble where most people think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were right. John Kerry is speaking to people who mostly believe they were wrong.
"On November 17, 1968, Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam. In his role as an officer in charge of Swift boats, Kerry led five-man crews on a number of patrols into enemy-controlled areas."
"During this encounter, Kerry received a shrapnel wound in the left arm above the elbow. It was for this injury that Kerry received his first Purple Heart.[35]"
"As the Swift boats reached the Cua Lon River, Kerry's boat was hit by a RPG round, and a piece of shrapnel hit Kerry's left leg, wounding him. Thereafter, they had no more trouble, and reached the Gulf of Thailand safely. Kerry still has shrapnel in his left thigh because the doctors tending to him decided to remove the damaged tissue and close the wound with sutures rather than make a wide opening to remove the shrapnel.[36] Kerry received his second Purple Heart for this injury, but like several others wounded earlier that day, he did not lose any time off from duty.[37][38]"
"James Rassmann, a Green Beret advisor who was aboard PCF-94, was knocked overboard when, according to witnesses and the documentation of the event, a mine or rocket exploded close to the boat. According to the documentation for the event, Kerry's arm was injured when he was thrown against a bulkhead during the explosion. PCF 94 returned to the scene and Kerry rescued Rassmann from the water. Kerry received the Bronze Star for his actions during this incident; he also received his third Purple Heart.[44]"
"After Kerry's third qualifying wound, he was entitled per Navy regulations to re-assignment away from combat duties. Navy records show that Kerry's preferred choice for re-assignment was as an aide in Boston, New York or Washington, D.C.[47]"
"On March 26, 1969, after a final patrol the night before, Kerry was transferred to Cam Ranh Bay to await his orders. He was there for five or six days and left Vietnam in early April. On April 11, 1969"
It seems Kerry was in Vietnam for about four months and choose to leave Vietnam early which he was qualified to do and returned to the States. Provided from Wikipedia for more perspective. People are free to believe what they want to. I believe the Swift Boat ads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry
Let's face it. John Kerry is being trouted out in this campaign because he reminds people of Romney. When voters start seeing so much of Kerry, they're going to think, Romney reminds me of that guy -- rich, Massachusetts, boring -- and turn against Romney.
I thought the Greek attack on Troy was a genocidal campaign to destroy them, and take all their stuff. Those who escaped founded Rome, which went on to create slave conditions and put up gladiatorial spectacles in which the captured had to fight for their lives while the Romans laughed and cheered them on in between orgies. It seems to me that Christianity grew up in this moral vaccuum because it presented an alternative of do unto others, based in turn on the ten commandments. Not always honored in real life, but always there as an ideal.
Incidentally, the "2004 WaPo article" you link to is an op ed. Calling it an article suggests it is a news article when it was an opinion piece by a conservative operative in the middle of a campaign.
You're forgetting, perhaps on purpose, that a great many people never thought of Kerry as lying on this score, but instead viewed the Swift Boater group as hacks and liars.
Except they weren't. The only proven liar was Kerry, who had to change his biography of an event that was "seared into his memory".
I'm curious: has Kerry released his military medical records? Didn't he promise he would do that?
No, he has not. But, it's only been about 8 years since he promised to do so, so he might have just been busy.
That's because you are living in a bubble where most people think the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth were right.
Kerry had to change his story because the SBVT were, you know, right. He wasn't in Cambodia in Christmas 1968 listening to Nixon deny he was there.
Also, Rush is right. If BOTH the Republican and Democratic strategist agree on the strategy of a Republican candidate...then the Republican strategist is horribly, horribly wrong.
Romney's hair is a lot better than Kerry's. I couldn't vote for Kerry's hair. I also hated Kerry's loop-de-loop verbal constructions. Bush's were far more clear if simpler. Romney is vague but not affected. I'm incredibly sick of Obama's attempts to present himself as a moral force when he is just a jackass with the moral understanding of a Lyme infected deer tick. Romney has good hair, is present if stiff, and his verbal style is spartan and believable. I'll vote for him. I never once even imagined voting for Obama but thought he was probably a good guy in 2008. Now I see him as a very tricky abomination, who will scuttle America's entire promise and turn the whole country into an unemployable quagmire for business while continuing to demonize Wall St. and fat cat bankers even when they are all gone. It's like Hitler still blaming everything on the Jews after he had killed them all. The bankers and the entrepreneurs (the successful ones) are America's most important resource. We need to mollycoddle them and lionize the 1%. They are the ones who make life possible for the rest of us through their tax receipts.
Seriously, what doesn't exasperate Limbaugh ?!?
Seriously, what doesn't exasperate Limbaugh ?!?
That shiloh doesn't notice the irony is really, really amusing.
hmm, the irony that Rush ((( family values ))) Limbaugh is a (4) time married racist, profanity-laden drug addict!
Indeed!
Ah dear friend John. He is such a strange young fellow.
Reminds me so much of my old comrade Rudolph.
I expected him to steal a plane in the middle of the campaign and fly off to Cuba to tell them his secret plan.
He was the most prefect Democrat!
ok, ok, to forgive someone of multiple sins is a virtue ;) to evangelicals ... or some such nonsenes ie IOKIYAR. :-P
"Mitt does not like to talk about how he has helped others because he sees it as a privilege, not a political talking point."
No, he just has Reince Priebus repeatedly tell the media on the eve of the convention. And by 1995 he didn't need any more help or money from his father.
Anyway, Jesus also said: "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Kerry's recurring use of that phrase makes me wonder if he's had electroshock therapy.
Kerry sure was swift about parking his boat in Rhode Island to avoid a half-a-million-dollar tax on his new $7 million New Zealand yacht. Talk about tax avoidance!
Kerry is what was called in the Westerns a tinhorn, phony from wire to wire.
The Romster is a man that thinks good deeds are their own reward.
harrogate said...
You're forgetting, perhaps on purpose, that a great many people never thought of Kerry as lying on this score, but instead viewed the Swift Boater group as hacks and liars. That's why the term "Seift Boating" exists to this day.
Only for the Lefties.
Most people saw through Lurch in a heartbeat and had no problem believing his squadron mates.
Rush ((( family values ))) Limbaugh is a (4) time married racist, profanity-laden drug addict!
Aside from the marriages, substantiate the rest.
Or shut up.
"That's saying let your good works show."
Apparently, yes, but, no. "... let your light shine ... etc." means be courageous in your anonymous good deeds. Do in strength and happiness, out of public view and adulation, such charity as you of inner necessity feel called to do. The light in question is courage, that's what people see or not. Let your light shine. = Be courageous.
There is no contradiction, simply amplification of one fundamental counsel: get your ego, to include your desire for rewards, out of what you do, and whatever that is, do it well for the pure joy of doing it.
LoafingOaf: No, he just has Reince Priebus repeatedly tell the media -
Sidebets that LoafingOaf didn't know who Reince Priebus was until he got his Soros talking points this morning?
I just love that there are libtards still getting fed with shovel. "Kerry was slimed!" they cry. Bring on the popcorn.
You said, "I think he means that Kerry married into money. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry inherited her money, which Kerry married into."
Wrong.
In fact, John Forbes Kennedy inherited his wealth through the Forbes family. His net worth has been estimated to be over $200M. http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00000245&year=2009
Hers, of course, is many times that: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/10/billionaires08_Teresa-F-Heinz-Kerry_UZ1H.html
Unlike Romney, Kerry didn't give away his family money. Instead he made conveniently-timed profitable trades timed to coincide with the passage of legislation.
"Sidebets that LoafingOaf didn't know who Reince Priebus was until he got his Soros talking points this morning?"
I had never heard of him but the point nevertheless is true.
"I just love that there are libtards still getting fed with shovel. 'Kerry was slimed!' they cry. Bring on the popcorn."
Most liberals were disgusted with the weak-ass campaign Kerry ran and show him very little to no enthusiasm now. But they also know that the Swift Boaters were liars.
Kerry didn't finish his tour in Vietnam. He took the first out he could and left his unit.
The rest is just normal politician lying, which I don't care about.
What he actually did was bail on his unit at the first opportunity.
That's not heroic, and it's poor leadership.
Note to Dumb ass Fen: It says at Althouse's link that Priebus, right before the convention, repeatedly told the media that Romney gave his inheritance away.
That's saying let your good works show. I don't want to say Jesus contradicted himself. Commenters will explain this seeming discrepancy
One rule of scriptural interpretation is to read passages in context, in the context of the surrounding text and the Bible as a whole.
Well, the passage "When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them, etc." is from Matthew chapter 6, and it is part of the Sermon on the Mount. And it is just a few verses earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, in chapter 5, we hear Jesus say "you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven."
Thus, reading the chapter 6 passage in context, since Jesus just finished saying a few minutes earlier in the same sermon that we should let others see our good deeds, to set a good example to others, it would seem that the better interpretation of His words to not do certain things in public is that Jesus is talking about self-aggrandizement, of doing good not for the sake of doing good, but only so others will see you doing good so that they might think more highly of you, rather than thinking more highly of God.
Indeed, if we put the emphasis in the right places in the passages, we see that there is no contradiction. Jesus does not say simply, "When you do good things, don't do them in front of people, etc." Rather, He says "When you do good things, don't do them in front of people to be seen by them, etc." Conversely, He says "you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and will praise your Father in heaven."
"Sidebets that LoafingOaf didn't know who Reince Priebus was until he got his Soros talking points this morning?"
I had never heard of him but the point nevertheless is true.
Agreed. It is definitely true that LoafingOaf hadn't heard of Priebus until he got his talking points this morning.
I'm curious what "talking points" these are? I clicked on ALTHOUSE'S own link, and it undermined her point by saying that Priebus was repeatedly telling the news media about Romney's charity. And btw, some of us became familiar with Priebus when we saw him squirming like a pig as Chris Matthews quizzed him to his face on his racist tactics.
I found it pretty funny to see Althouse going on about how Romney wants to keep all his charity top secret and then I clicked on her link in support and it said that Romney's dude was repeatedly going on about that to the media on the eve of the convention.
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