9.18.2004
Flippant flip-floppacy
If the election were held today, John Kerry would lose by between 88 and 120 electoral votes. The reason is simple: The central vulnerability of this president -- the central issue of this campaign -- is the Iraq war. And Kerry has nothing left to say.
Why? Because, until now, he has said everything conceivable regarding Iraq. Having taken every possible position on the war, there is nothing he can say now that is even remotely credible.
Charles Krauthammer ("registration, please")nails Kerry down -- no more flip-flopping in the frying pan. Mr Krauthammer serves up all of the positions JFKerry has assumed on this issue. I am reminded of a revolving theatre-in-the-round.
But, as we are reminded by Deacon over at Powerline, it is not just Mr Kerry. He is but the current figurehead of a very large mindset. Remember one of the first examples of Bill Clinton's artful auto-polemicism that the national public heard -- "it happened to touch on the first Iraq War: in 1991, he would have voted for the resolution to go to war with Iraq if the vote was going to be close, but thought that the opposition had the better arguments."
So, so very, very Kerry! Liberal group-think.
Indeed, Deacon wrote an earlier article for Front Page Magazine a couple of years back which made several cogent points about the Democrats inability to take the war without too-heavy a dose of flippant cynicism.
In short, key Democratic leaders now regard issues and rules not as serious things in themselves, but as playthings to be manipulated almost without limit for political purposes. It is not so much that the Democrats try to hide the ball; most politicians do that. Rather, for the likes of Clinton and Gore, it is not clear that there is any ball to hide.
The segment of the population that votes the best-suited candidate to victory will not be the segment that finds too much fault or scienter with the motives behind the war on terror in general, or the Iraq War in particular. The winning side will be the side possessed of a common, unwavering sense of good and evil.
ADDENDUM: "Constructive criticism is good. Doomsaying and MoveOn-style surrendermongering isn't," writes and links Glenn Reynolds.
Why? Because, until now, he has said everything conceivable regarding Iraq. Having taken every possible position on the war, there is nothing he can say now that is even remotely credible.
Charles Krauthammer ("registration, please")nails Kerry down -- no more flip-flopping in the frying pan. Mr Krauthammer serves up all of the positions JFKerry has assumed on this issue. I am reminded of a revolving theatre-in-the-round.
But, as we are reminded by Deacon over at Powerline, it is not just Mr Kerry. He is but the current figurehead of a very large mindset. Remember one of the first examples of Bill Clinton's artful auto-polemicism that the national public heard -- "it happened to touch on the first Iraq War: in 1991, he would have voted for the resolution to go to war with Iraq if the vote was going to be close, but thought that the opposition had the better arguments."
So, so very, very Kerry! Liberal group-think.
Indeed, Deacon wrote an earlier article for Front Page Magazine a couple of years back which made several cogent points about the Democrats inability to take the war without too-heavy a dose of flippant cynicism.
In short, key Democratic leaders now regard issues and rules not as serious things in themselves, but as playthings to be manipulated almost without limit for political purposes. It is not so much that the Democrats try to hide the ball; most politicians do that. Rather, for the likes of Clinton and Gore, it is not clear that there is any ball to hide.
The segment of the population that votes the best-suited candidate to victory will not be the segment that finds too much fault or scienter with the motives behind the war on terror in general, or the Iraq War in particular. The winning side will be the side possessed of a common, unwavering sense of good and evil.
ADDENDUM: "Constructive criticism is good. Doomsaying and MoveOn-style surrendermongering isn't," writes and links Glenn Reynolds.
// posted by HunterByrd @ 5:49 AM 
