Well, the Democratic ticket is set, a dynamic double-shot of John that at least 20% of America was waiting to see. Look, when John Kerry is at the top of the ticket there is only so much than can be done. Considering both John McCain and Hilary Clinton have decided to wait until 2008, Edwards was the only guy left who, in Charles Cook’s phrase, “moves the needle”. How much that is the case is questionable, especially in the South. Still, as I’ve mentioned before, the Dems bench is pretty thin. People like Gephardt, Vilsack and Biden wouldn’t have helped at all.
Unfortunately, I do not like either of these two. Kerry is just a cretin, an arrogant, pandering, politically vapid empty suit with a nice resume. And for all of Edwards’ supposed charm, every time I see him he’s the same; a slightly slimy Eddie Haskell-ish character spouting shopworn I feel your pain-isms and good old fashioned American Protectionism. It’s really disturbing to see the party abandon free trade so soon after Clinton. The finest moment of Clinton’s presidency was the passing of NAFTA, and Al Gore’s shining political moment was in 1994 when he and Ross Perot debated on Larry King. Gore demolished him, solidifying support for NAFTA, and exposing Perot as the clueless charlatan he is. Now you half expect Edwards to start stumping for Hawley-Smoot.
What really ticks me off? I wanted to vote against George Bush. Yep, I am among the 8% or so of our party who doesn’t like GW. I did four years ago. I didn’t like him as much as I did John McCain, but I knew John couldn’t ever win in the primaries. He still can’t. I did not see Reagan Redux in Bush like some GOPers, but I saw enough of a glimmer to believe. I voted for Bush because he would inject some Republican sanity to what had become an insane White House. I voted for him because Gore decided not to run as Clinton without the sex scandals, but instead as some counterfeit Huey Long railing against the Power and for the People. I voted for Bush because he seemed a decent enough guy, maybe not brilliant, but smart enough to surround himself with grownups like Colin Powell, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. After 9/11, I was happy to have him. He had the same reaction to terrorist horrors as I did: Who did this, and how do we kill them?
After Afghanistan though, my feelings started to change. The unmitigated arrogance and gall shown by the administration, and the vindictiveness felt when dealing with those who disagree got to me. I began to realize this administration has a lot more Nixon than Reagan in it. Top that off with the self-described “compassionate conservative” backing the FMA, and I couldn’t take it. I looked at the Democratic field. Most were easy to dismiss. Howard Dean? Perfectly acceptable centrist governor turned lunatic on the campaign trail. Kucinich? No way in hell. Sharpton? A very bad joke. Carol Moseley Braun? In what universe does scandal-ridden 1-term Senator and ambassador to New Zealand equal President? Dick Gephardt? Is anyone, in or out of the Democratic Party really for Dick Gephardt? Joe Lieberman? Let me see: pro-war, pro-Israel, anti-Hollywood, Joe might well be a Republican if he weren’t so worried about our more Pro-Jesus members forcibly converting him. Wesley Clark? Now, I liked him at first, really liked him. Both the Mrs. Frinklin and I saw him as moderate alternative, going as far as ordering what we termed “Clark Junk”, including my Republican for Clark button. Our stuff was supposed to arrive in 5-7 days. It took 3 ½ weeks. In that time, General Clark had inconveniently lost his mind. In his attempt to prove his Democratic bona fides, he ended up out-Deaning Dean, cumulating with an endorsement from a ranting, incoherent Michael Moore.
So, we’re left with John 1 and John 2, now running together. Neither of them has come up with anything beyond the not-Bush issue. In case you were wondering, this is going to be an exceptionally nasty campaign. Witness the popularity of Fahrenheit 9/11, MoveOn.org calling for the President to be censured if not impeached. Check out the Bush/Cheney’s Ohio ad, which links Kerry to the MoveOn.org goofball who compared Bush and Hitler. My personal favorite? I’ve seen “Kerry’s supposed Vietnam service” mentioned on rightist blogs and “news” sites. This one is the worst, and the most patently dishonest. Look fellas, their guy was off being shot in the jungle, while ours was off getting drunk in the swamps. No matter how self-serving he gets with it, Kerry speaks the truth in this matter. Not many others, but that is not the point.
So whom do I choose? The cretin I know or the cretin I don’t?
Posted by Frinklin at July 6, 2004 06:10 PMLike you said, Bush is just smart enough to surround himself with the right people. I'm not a huge Bush fan myself (his overt faith irks me a bit), but I look at is as a vote for the entire Executive Branch, not as a vote for one man. I like Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove, and Wolfowitz. They are the people I trust to get us through the war on terror. If you don’t want to vote for Bush, vote for them.
Posted by: Richard at July 6, 2004 10:31 PM