What you are now seeing is what Nixon used to call the silent majority rising up to denounce one of the leading Pompous Assholes of that Anti-American Movement of the late 60's and early 70's.
Hanoi John's campaign reminds me of the classic Otto Premiger mover "Anatomy of a Murder" staring Jimmy Stewart. When the prosecution objects to his questions, Stewart tells the judge:
"Your Honor, they let the cat out of the bag, I just want to chase it around for a while!"
The chase is on, and the cat is getting tired!
Farewell John Kerry!
I had a whole agenda of things I wanted to look up on John Kerry today, and I couldnt get the words to come out. One week after starting my blog, and here I was with a ripping case of "blog-block".
Why? Because I didn't start the blog so I could dig up the obvious on John Kerry. Frankly, its just too easy.
Let's take a look at the score so far. Kerry , who decided for some reason beyond the comprehension of a simpleton like me, has decided that the most important thing to run his campaign on is 4 months of service in Vietnam 35 years ago.
35 years ago! For Gods sake man! Did it occur to you that 35 years was a hell of a long time ago? Do you remember anyone in 1960 running on his war record against the Kaiser in WWI? Did you really think that no one would look into your record? Did you not think or did anyone that works for you not think that you, like almost everyone else in the world, did in fact embellish your resume and tell tales that weren't based on fact, but on the emotions of the time?
Didn't it occur to you even a little bit, that standing up and saluting like a total fob and saying " Reporting for duty" after you sat in front of the Senate in 1971 with a fatigue shirt and long hair and told tales of "Americas war criminals" that somehow the "Band of Brothers" made for TV presentation schtick, might ring a bit hollow?
Here you are, with a 15% polling tailwind from the press reduced to Michael Moore street theatre with Max Cleland doing your dirty work in front of the cameras.
Do you know how non-presidential this looks? Can you do anything else to look more petty, small and dare I say "lawyer-ish".
If you can't take a punch from a guy like Bush, how are you going to deal with Chirac? or the Iranians? or for that matter, all the other Republicans in Congress, who want nothing more in life than to be the one who spills your guts out on the floor.
This is real hardball politics and your response is to go on "The Daily Show"? Really Mr. Kerry, THE DAILY SHOW? Do you hold me and the rest of the American public in such contempt that your first show after the convention is on a cable comedy satire show? It annoys me sir, but you've got to think that it just sizzles the rear ends of the political journalists, and you know what happens when they get mad at you? They will go looking for things to make you look bad. Mark my words sir, the easy stuff about you has come out, when the really ugly stuff comes out, you're going to need a better game than this to stay upright and watertight. How does it help you to alienate the press? You make the statement all the time about how we are supposed to work with our allies, and here you are, in a political campaign annoying your allies for no clear purpose.
Mark my words - The press made you, and the press will break you. Now that you've embarrased them, they will make it their life's work.
There is no President in modern memory who is so universally hated than George W. Bush, and yet, you've never polled outside of the margin of error. Now, the polls are going against you, and by my measurement, its going to get worse, not better from here. Bush is a marathon runner and you are a country club golf cart riding, two caddy golfer. As long as you continue to bring your B game to an A game park, you and your party are going to look fools. At some point, you will begin to see your allies in your party and the press begin to make you the pinata at this party. They will not take the heat for your loss, they will tie a can around your neck and toss you out into the exercise yard for the guards to shoot at. Everyone loves a winner, but no one can stand a loser.
You sir, are a loser. You will go down in history as the man who made Dukakis look good.
I don't really feel sorry for you, frankly you've proven to be everything I've learned to expect from the son of a foreign service officer who was raised in a swiss boarding school, whos personal fortune comes from marrying women from a higher income bracket than himself.
I do feel sorry for Howard Dean and his supporters. I hope you guys understand what you sold your votes out for. Deaniacs, you might not like George W. Bush, but take a look at John Kerry. Bush might be your enemy, but hes not the one who sunk your battleship. The USS Kerry did that for you, and you helped him do it.
Prediction: Mcgovern, Mondale, Dukakis and now Kerry will each get an entry in the hall of fame of losers. 40 states will go for Bush. It will not be a close election.
Here's the scenario:
[1] Bush Wins!
[2] Regardless of outcome, liberals protest the election.
[3] Several months of bitching and moaning from the liberals.
[4] Political tricks galore before the courts.
[5] Bush upheld as winner.
[6] Four more years of liberal whining and crying.
[7] Liberals start campaigning for 2008 in Fall of 2005.
[8] The USA is safe from liberals for another 4 years.
Sounds about right to me.
[1] Kerry Wins!
[2] Regardless of outcome, conservatives protest the election.
[3] Several months of bitching and moaning from the conservatives.
[4] Shrub pleads to the courts to steal the election for him in the same fashion they did in 2000.
[5] Dumbya upheld as LOSER.
[6] Four new years of Rush Limburger & Bill O'Reilly whining & crying.
[7] Conservatives start campaigning in Fall of 2005 to attempt to once again ruin the country beginning in 2009.
[8] The USA is safe from conservative misrule for 4 years.
[9] Unfortunately, conservatives are never safe from themselves.
Running on his service in Vietnam: since that terrible war, democrats have been stereotyped as pacifists and weak on defense. Now Kerry's running against a conservative who "so bravely ran away, away!" Kerry running on his war service was a good way to appeal to the middle in an area his opponent was vulnerable. Sound strategy.
What Kerry didn't count on was how low his opponents were willing to go to attack him. "Let a liberal say he's brave, never! We'll attack the whole military first!"
For your last point: in their delusional moments, and there are plenty of them these days, conservatives can't seem to decide if this is going to be a "come from behind" landslide, or just a matter of beating the dead. Your in the landslide mood now. I don't think you've grasped how badly Bush has damaged your cause, and that the active voters (and many of them have come out from the cold, judging by primaries) are not now as conservative as they were four years ago.
I didn't read anything in between knowing that you'd start with one mistake and end with another.
/Zin
-- Modified on 8/27/2004 8:31:10 AM
What you are now seeing is what Nixon used to call the silent majority rising up to denounce one of the leading Pompous Assholes of that Anti-American Movement of the late 60's and early 70's.
Hanoi John's campaign reminds me of the classic Otto Premiger mover "Anatomy of a Murder" staring Jimmy Stewart. When the prosecution objects to his questions, Stewart tells the judge:
"Your Honor, they let the cat out of the bag, I just want to chase it around for a while!"
The chase is on, and the cat is getting tired!
And they've said and done everything that they could think of and now they're going back to being the silent and dumb minority they've always been.
I don't believe conservatives can get more mobilized than they are now (mobility and conservatism being a contradiction in terms). Though they can get more violent, and probably will. I really believe that they've all come out of the woodwork. They can't squeeze more votes to their cause.
Whoever wins, the world after the election will be interesting. I could hardly wait to see Yellow Belly doing his best to try to govern for four more years.
But if Kerry wins, I wonder if Pompous Conservative Assholes will remain governable after it. I'm thinking militias, I'm thinking insurrection. I'm thinking they'll be acting less American and more Latin American, or even Liberian like Charles Taylor. The Republican Guard and veterans like them do not inspire me with their patriotism, unless its patriotism that requires worshipping the flag five times a day.
/Zin
To me, the scariest part of the entire process is that the Democrats could not find a better opponent than JK. The fact that the polls show it to be close is a testament to how miserable a job Dubya has done.
It seems to me that we need a better system than choosing between 2 or 3 really rich guys that had the silver spoon handed to them. I keep getting called for jury duty. Why can't the president's job be picked from all the CEOs out there? Some of them actually worked to BUY the silver spoon for their kids.
Just my .02
During political primaries, only the most involved members of a party even care to participate in the selection process. Typically, those people also hold the most extreme political views. I have seen very good candidates from both the Republican side and the Democrat side get washed out during the primaries simply becuase their constituency did not show up in large enough numbers to give them a chance at ultimately securing their party's nomination.
Occasionally, very good independent candidates have run in the general presidential election, only to get 15% or less of the vote. Imagine the message that would be sent, if, a good independent candidate come along and large numbers of Republicans and Democrats abandoned their party's candidate to help elect the Independent as president. The net result would be that the choices from each party after such an event would be candidates that everyone can examine and feel that the person is someone who they can easily vote for.