I mentioned in private correspondence to someone that I probably won’t vote for Bush in the next election. That was probably an overstatement- a more accurate reflection of my opinion right now is that I would rather not vote for Bush in 2004. I am not alone.
It is also important to point out that I, like many of those people mentioned in the previously vited poll, would rather vote for Bush than any of the Democrats currently running. I am not going to sit here and list all the things that the Bush administration has done to piss me off (if I wanted this post to be widely linked by lefty websites I would use half sentences with small words and just make comments like “Bush sucks” or “Bush = Hitler”), but the Democrat field is amazing- it is as if they have decided to be wrong about all the issues I think Bush is wrong about, and then to create some of their own issues to piss me off.
I don’t want this enormous Bush deficit- but can anyone tell me with a straight face that the Democrats would spend less. Please. They are savaging domestic spending- which has risen enormously in the last 3 years- and they claim Bush has not spent enough times on Domestiv affairs- Snicker.
Do I really think I can trust the Democrats on national defense? Hell- half of the candidates voted against Iraq, half voted for and wished they hadn’t, and all of them act like we are losing and there ‘is no plan.’ It is enough to make you laugh at them. The only reason one candidate is running is because he was a general, and he is the only candidate who can’t make up his damned mind about Iraq (and he is also turning out to be a pathological liar– by any of Kevin Drum’s standards).
At any rate, there is simply no alternative- you get the ten dwarves, or you get Bush/Cheney. Is this the best our country can do? Oliver rightly chides the Green party for their firm grasp of the American voting public- they are tring to decide between Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. Yeehaw!
The Libertarian candidate will probably look like this guy:
All the Libertarians are drinking colloidal silver, hiding in bunkers in the Montana prairie, or up late at night sharing their alien abduction stories with George Noory and Art Bell.
I guess there is no real point to this post except that I find it amazing that the Democrats can’t do better than the 10 buffoons they have running. What about Zell Miller? What about Sam Nunn? Why nothing but Clinton hacks, union men, trial lawyers, and race baiters?
Kimmitt
I’m not going to convince you on Iraq. You think it was good policy; I think it was soul-destroyingly awful policy. That said:
Deficit: Howard Dean owns this category. Dean inherited a deficit in Vermont, paid off a third of the debt, established a rainy-day fund, and betqueathed a surplus to his successor. Yes, they are using the rainy-day fund now. What can I say? It’s raining.
Dean isn’t a Clinton hack, union man (not that that’s such a terrible thing), trial lawyer (also not so terrible, but to each his own) or race baiter. Even if you think that he was wrong on the invasion, you will probably be able to deal with his opinion on what the US must do moving forward.
I guess it’s up to you, but I think there’s a guy you could stand to vote for.
Oh, and don’t believe the crap on Clark. It’s pretty much all fabricated. Clark’s not my guy, but he certainly didn’t claim that the Bushies pressed him to push an Iraq/9-11 connection or attempt to start WWIII on his own.
Sean
the uber-dino zell miller for the dems?? are you serious? i mean, i know you might like to vote for a republican vs. a republican, but that conservative fantasy will happen when hell freezes over, or the GOP nominates jim jeffords…and I think the former would be more likely.
that being said, i wholeheartedly second Kimmitt
Sean
by the way, whatever happened to the semi-sane wing of the republican party? what about nelson rockefeller, or lowell weicker? what about dwight eisenhower, or thomas dewey? why nothing but trickle-down hacks, warmongers, corporate pets, and race baiters?
Dean Esmay
My own take: I’m rather astonished at conservatives who are now pissed at Bush for being a moderate centrist, when in fact, aside from a small handful of issues that he has kept his promises on, he ran as a moderate centrist based on his moderate centrist record.
Now people on the far left think he’s far right and people on the right think he’s not right enough. What-eva.
The Iraq occupation continues to go incredibly well. I suspect that people’s negativity about it is more a result of the ridiculous spate of excessively negative press, and all the Bushies have to do is get on top of that. Which, I suspect, they will. Indeed, I suspect the poll numbers are bottoming out on the whole thing right about now, and will start to climb again.
Because, of course, the claim that there was no plan is false, the claim that the situation is not under control is false, the claim that the Iraqis hate us is false–and the Bush team is (probably) too smart to let this negativity continue unanswered.
They have the lesson of Johnson and the Tet Offensive to remind them, and I have no doubt it’s foremost in their minds.
melvintoast
Meet the Press June 15th
CLARK: “Well, it came from the White House, it came from people around the White House. It came from all over. I got a call on 9/11. I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, ‘You’ve got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein.’ I said, ‘But–I’m willing to say it, but what’s your evidence?’ And I never got any evidence. And these were people who had–Middle East think tanks and people like this, and it was a lot of pressure to connect this and there were a lot of assumptions made. But I never personally saw the evidence and didn’t talk to anybody who had the evidence to make that connection.”
Kimmitt on September 22, 2003 08:08 PM
Oh, and don’t believe the crap on Clark. It’s pretty much all fabricated.
— Hmmm… maybe they dubbed the Meet the Press edition with someone who sounded like clark. Vast right wing conspiracy ya know.
Moe Lane
“My own take: I’m rather astonished at conservatives who are now pissed at Bush for being a moderate centrist, when in fact, aside from a small handful of issues that he has kept his promises on, he ran as a moderate centrist based on his moderate centrist record.”
Funny: that’s pretty much my take on it, admittedly from a slightly different angle (I’m voting for Bush, but I could bear a Lieberman Presidency with vast equanimity). Gonna be an interesting primary season next year… :)
Robin Roberts
Consider the scores of cities that have larger budgets than the state of Vermont and Dean’s supposed skills as a governor are placed in appropriate context.
For that matter, how many high school bands’ fundraising candy sales are larger than Vermont’s revenues?
Kimmitt
The Daily Howler on the “Clark is a liar” meme. There’s just no there there.
Mr. Roberts, the fact that Dean did such a good job in a rural state — when rural modes of production are failing across the country — only increases my estimation of his capacities.
Bush ain’t a centrist; he’s a corrupt rightist partisan. The Right doesn’t like him because he’s often corrupt, not because he has liberal leanings.
JKC
“Consider the scores of cities that have larger budgets than the state of Vermont and Dean’s supposed skills as a governor are placed in appropriate context.
For that matter, how many high school bands’ fundraising candy sales are larger than Vermont’s revenues?”
Oh, grow up, Robin, or at least do a little research. Vermont has high-tech manufacturing, a vibrant agricultural base, and while it may not have an economy the size of California’s, it is a real state. Dean’s acomplishment in maintaining fiscal discipline in Vermont is real.
I’m not a Deaniac, but this kind of rabid frothing-at-the mouth from conservatives makes me doubt if he’s really a 21st century version of George McGovern.
Robin Roberts
JKC, so did the county seat where I grew up … as well as having more than half the population of Vermont. I’ll go call the mayor of that town and tell him you’ll endorse him for President.
Or should I call the band director?
Kimmitt
Depends. Did your mayor inherit a deficit, bequeath a surplus, give 99% of the kids in your town access to health insurance, contain suburban sprawl, give your town one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, set aside thousands of acres as preserves, sign a civil-unions bill into law and win an election three months later, start as a part-time politician while simultaneously running a successful medical practice, and successfully articulate the ongoing failures of the Bush Administration?
Because, if so, I’m interested. Dean could use a VP candidate.
Robin Roberts
Actually, the mayor I’m thinking of did about half that. Which matches Dean’s accomplishments in reality versus your puffery.
Kimmitt
Which of the accomplishments I cited did not take place under Governor Dean?
Ooh, I forgot the 50% drop in child abuse cases (which included a 70% drop in child sexual abuse cases).