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I've been rereading old Doonesbury strips from 90-91. Reading his take on GHW Bush is intriguiging. He's described as a windsock at one point, standing for nothing unless puffed up by the prevailing wind of the moment. This sounds eerily like how W is defining Kerry. I'm wondering how much of this is W knows it worked to undermine a presidential campaign once, and how much of this is deeply Oedipal.
After all, GHWB may have been a windsock, but he stated why he didn't remove Hussein from power back then. He was worried that Iraq would turn into a quagmire that would breed terrorism and hatred. W evidently didn't read his dad's book. Or talk to his dad. Or take his calls. Maybe W felt a need to set himself apart from his father, be his own man, do something different on one of the issues both presidencies faced.
Jeb Bush has evidently been using the Florida state troopers to harass leaders of the black turn-out-the-vote effort (details, more details). Frankly, he's doing a very bad job of subverting the democratic process, and we've all seen that Jeb can do a good job here. People know what he's doing ahead of time. There will be UN inspectors this time, and W needs those votes. It feels (you know, from my intimate knowledge of Jeb...) kind of like he's fed up with his brother getting all of the attention, and is therefore helping very badly in a passive aggressive attempt to dethrone W.
I've heard that the religious right and the log cabin republicans were both unimpressed by the RNC. I know that the log cabin is withholding their endorsement. I can't imagine that any of them are going to vote for Kerry, but he doesn't need that. If a fair chunk of log cabin types vote Nader or Libertarian or something, and a fair chunk of Moral Majority types vote... umm, I'm not honestly sure who they'd vote for. If they vote for someone who isn't W, Kerry should win.
Then there's Neil Bush; no longer running a S&L as a personal piggy bank, he's now making educational software for "hunter/warrior" children (no issues there) in high school. It mentions three whole founding fathers in its rap about the constitutional convention. Neil could easily be an vote costing embarassment for his brother (details), but he seems content to lay low.
His (now ex) wife made a bit of a stink about his business trips to Asia where he evidently routinely found women in his hotel room waiting to have sex with him (details). Evidently she thought the $1K/month he was offering in their divorce was a bit low. She ended up with $30K/year, but I think that if she feels like it, she could still blow things up. The allegations that she was practicing voodoo on Neil can't have made her happy...
In all, I'm wondering how much of a role Kerry is actually going to play in this election. I've heard the conventional wisdom that the Republican party has the decency to wait until after the election to fall apart into petty bickering. I'm wondering if that's changing. My pet theory is that we elect the people who give us better stories to tell each other over the water cooler. If that's so, W is a shoo-in.
It's also uncomfortable realizing that family dynamics are shaping the course of this nation. It's all too Roman Empire for me. W was, at least at one point, known for the cowboy boots he wore. There's no mention of whether or not they were little boots.
After all, GHWB may have been a windsock, but he stated why he didn't remove Hussein from power back then. He was worried that Iraq would turn into a quagmire that would breed terrorism and hatred. W evidently didn't read his dad's book. Or talk to his dad. Or take his calls. Maybe W felt a need to set himself apart from his father, be his own man, do something different on one of the issues both presidencies faced.
Jeb Bush has evidently been using the Florida state troopers to harass leaders of the black turn-out-the-vote effort (details, more details). Frankly, he's doing a very bad job of subverting the democratic process, and we've all seen that Jeb can do a good job here. People know what he's doing ahead of time. There will be UN inspectors this time, and W needs those votes. It feels (you know, from my intimate knowledge of Jeb...) kind of like he's fed up with his brother getting all of the attention, and is therefore helping very badly in a passive aggressive attempt to dethrone W.
I've heard that the religious right and the log cabin republicans were both unimpressed by the RNC. I know that the log cabin is withholding their endorsement. I can't imagine that any of them are going to vote for Kerry, but he doesn't need that. If a fair chunk of log cabin types vote Nader or Libertarian or something, and a fair chunk of Moral Majority types vote... umm, I'm not honestly sure who they'd vote for. If they vote for someone who isn't W, Kerry should win.
Then there's Neil Bush; no longer running a S&L as a personal piggy bank, he's now making educational software for "hunter/warrior" children (no issues there) in high school. It mentions three whole founding fathers in its rap about the constitutional convention. Neil could easily be an vote costing embarassment for his brother (details), but he seems content to lay low.
His (now ex) wife made a bit of a stink about his business trips to Asia where he evidently routinely found women in his hotel room waiting to have sex with him (details). Evidently she thought the $1K/month he was offering in their divorce was a bit low. She ended up with $30K/year, but I think that if she feels like it, she could still blow things up. The allegations that she was practicing voodoo on Neil can't have made her happy...
In all, I'm wondering how much of a role Kerry is actually going to play in this election. I've heard the conventional wisdom that the Republican party has the decency to wait until after the election to fall apart into petty bickering. I'm wondering if that's changing. My pet theory is that we elect the people who give us better stories to tell each other over the water cooler. If that's so, W is a shoo-in.
It's also uncomfortable realizing that family dynamics are shaping the course of this nation. It's all too Roman Empire for me. W was, at least at one point, known for the cowboy boots he wore. There's no mention of whether or not they were little boots.
