You've never seen me sing the praises of George W. Bush the way that, say, Andrew Sullivan was doing at one point. I think he's okay, and he at least takes seriously the notion that we're at war, and he seems steady, and not flighty. But overall, really, I give him a B. Maybe a B-. Trouble for the Democrats is that they've nominated a guy who gets -- at the very most charitable -- a weak gentleman's C.
I'm not crazy about Gephardt, especially on trade, but he takes the war seriously and he seems steady and not flighty, too.
The Democrats' problem is that the base, which, like bases do, cares mostly about emotional returns, wanted Howard Dean. But the leadership, which, like leaderships do, cares about status and connections and thus about winning, knew that Dean couldn't win. They tried to split the difference with Kerry, whom they thought could fool the gullible folks in flover country into seeing him as a more-macho version of Bush, while winking to the base that he was really a tall Howard Dean with some medals. This was a dumb idea, and it hasn't worked.
Worse yet, if it does somehow get Kerry elected, he'll be a cripple as soon as he's sworn in. The anybody-but-Bush crowd won't have any particular reason to support him once he's given them what they want, and he doesn't have much in the way of another constituency. It's telling that he doesn't really even have the usual tight-knit "mafia" of longtime supporters the way that Bush, or Clinton, had. He's got a revolving-door assembly of party apparatchiks and paid consultants. That's a bad sign.
I'm no huge fan of Bush, as I have stated before. I'm never a big fan of "born again" politicians. I'm especially concerned about the fact that a republican conservative will most likely be the one choosing possibly four new Chief Justices. I am no fan of the "faith based solutions" that get talked about in the White House. All of these are legitimate concerns that trouble me. However, the War against Islamic terror trumps every one of my other concerns, and so far I think Bush has a record to be proud of in terms of confronting the source of Islamic terror and taking serious steps to transform the Arab nations that spew forth these radical murderers.
Kerry gives me no such confidence. And he gives some of his core supporters even less confidence. Via Tim Blair, here are some excerpts from Don Imus's interview with the cadidate, and the head bashing afterwards-
It’s day two of John Kerry’s New Toughness. Feel the wrath as this raging alpha rabbit vows bloody vengeance on his enemies during an interview with Don Imus:
In the radio interview, Kerry vowed to take on his rival in other ways. "We are punching back. I am absolutely taking the gloves off," Kerry said.
And he immediately scored a brutal hit -- on Imus, a Kerry supporter, who had this to say after the punchy, gloveless bunny angrily hopped away:
"I was just back in my office banging my head on the jukebox," Mr. Imus said. "This is my candidate, and ... I don't know what he's talking about."
Here’s the entire interview. The Imus-breaking moment might be in this exchange:
KERRY: I mean, what you ought to be doing and what everybody in America ought to be doing today is not asking me; they ought to be asking the president, What is your plan? What's your plan, Mr. President, to stop these kids from being killed? What's your plan, Mr. President, to get the other countries in there? What's your plan to have 90 percent of the casualties and 90 percent of the cost being carried by America?
IMUS: We're asking you because you want to be president.
Er, yes.
I don't imagine too many Democrats are all that confident of their candidate, and every day produces yet another "let them eat cake" moment from Theraayyyyzzzzaa. I think Karl Rove is actually paying Mrs Heinz, as it seems like every time she opens her mouth Republicans gain about a point in the polls.
Either way, it's almost a certainty that the electoral votes from Tenneessee will be going to Bush, so I can safely vote for the one guy I truly respect to run the free world- I mean uh- a pro football team right now. STEVE MCNAIR. He's got the arm, he can run, he makes things happen when the pocket breaks down, who else do you need to fight al-qaeda- I mean uh- the AFC?
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