Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

The election as comedy

I had dinner with some friends in Zanesville last night, watched the President’s speech at the convention, then taped a panel discussion this morning on the convention for ONN for Sunday’s broadcast. Just got back to the office. Lot of driving, lot of thinking (with the help of my trusty satellite radio). The Democratic consultant (Why am I not a consultant, these guys all dress better?) who was my opponent on the show revealed a couple of things about how this campaign is going. Wouldn’t one normally say that the campaign is starting now, after the second convention? Rather, I think I’m going to argue that it is the start of the end of the campaign. Let me explain. This Demo consultant was in a tither. He was perspiring and nervous and ill at ease in this political world. I tried to engage him in pleasant small talk to get him to relax, and he wouldn’t have it. He was utterly incapable of saying anything interesting or analytical about what is going on with Bush and Kerry. He could only talk about the personal relationship between bin Laden and the Bush family and that’s why Bush didn’t mention bin Laden by name last night. Oil, money, Halliburton, deep, deep conspiracies. I was amazed because he did this both in public and in private. We are talking about black helicopters here folks! I noted this more quickly than I may have otherwise because I had heard pieces of Kerry’s midnight speech

in Springfield, Ohio (just down the road) on the radio, and also saw a bit of it on TV this morning. This is the talk in which Kerry--not even having heard Bush’s talk at the convention, I venture to suggest--says that Bush is not fit to command, and in which Kerry says something like, "All hat and no cattle." I have learned that recognizing extreme folly is often very difficult because it is (somehow) inexplicable; entirely unreasonable. Both Kerry and the Democratic consultant fall into this mode. Madness is surprising and you are inclined to say it ain’t so when you think you glimpse it. I kept saying it ain’t so when I heard Kerry, and said the same as I was sitting next to the Demo in Columbus. What is going on here? Maybe it is as simple as Mark Steyn’s understanding in the current paper National Review when he says that Kerry is a parody of himself: "Groucho Marx once observed that an audience will laugh at an actress playing an old lady pretending to fall downstairs, but for a professional comic to laugh, it has to be a real old lady." That is the Kerry campaign. Steyn says that watching Mondale or Dukakis fall down is not completely satisfying. These guys are average. But not John Kerry. He was made for the role: "a vain thin-skinned droning blueblood with an indestructible sense of his own status but none at all of his own ridiculousness." Bingo. The campaign is over, the outcome is a given. I kind of regret this because I was looking forward to it. By the way, I thought Bush’s speech was perfect. And one more thing, note this Time magazine poll. Time says that there is now a "clear leader" in the campaign. It shows that Bush has opened a double digit lead, Bush has 52% to Kerry’s 41%. I’m going home.

Discussions - 4 Comments

I just visited John Kerry’s website where I read a small portion of what he has planned for America. I have several questions based on the opening paragraph of this site. But first how his whiny retort Kerry is so bad, he cannot even accurately state the AL East standings properly (contrary to what he said the Yanks are up by 3 ½). Even more than that did not he say he was not going to talk about his war record? Furthermore, did Kerry also say that he would have voted for use of force even without WMD’s? His retort clearly begins with the exact opposite of what he says. First, he brought up Vietnam. Then, he said Bush lied to get into war with Iraq. Can he ever get his previous statements (lie?) correct?

Here are the questions I have for him. First, has Bush not made America stronger at home, and if so how? Specifically, what does it mean to be respected abroad, and how would you achieve this? Additionally, when has the US gone to war unilaterally under the Bush Administration? Who defines a good paying job, and what can you possibly do to get more people these types of jobs? Who in America does not get health care? Finally, how do you propose to make the US independent of Middle East oil? Can you answer these questions, or are they off limits like your military service and senate record?

WOW. Finally a college professor who preaches conservative views. This is something that usually does not happen. I have heard great things from you and now I see why. I might be considered a little bit young for politics, but I am probably smarter than 95% of kids my age at the subject. So I think I should have my say. I first heard about you through an unnamed source at the NORC. YOu sounded interesting and I liked some of your view points. Now I receieved a link to your webpage thingy and I am like I said greatly pleased. I totally agree with what you say. Kerry is a wishy washy sissy out to get votes. Bush is a great man who gave an impeccable speech. Powerful, meaningful, thoughtful, and useful. It wasnt "ful" of crap like the loser Kerry gave. I honestly think if a greater majority of people were republican, Kerry would become one. I am interersted to know your opionion on abortion, tax cuts, iraq war, and kerry in general. YOu can e-mail me or just reply. I will read your page more often now

From the mouth of Willie Brown: "John Kerry may not be fit for the terrible battles and wars of the world of politics. He may be absolutley perfect as a president".

Read transcript of 8-19-04 Hardball-msnbc.msn.com/id/5765243/ (Brown was a guest along with Michelle Malkin.)

Your Groucho Marx quote drew me back to Kerry on the ski slopes in March. It is, I think an apt picture of the election. When Kerry wiped out on the slopes he explained the mishap, thusly: "I don’t fall down. That son of a [gun] knocked me down." The only thing that remains is who Kerry will blame for being knocked down...

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