Election Update

So the Democratic nominee is Not Bush, and the Republican nominee is We Love Reagan. Not sure who these Bush and Kerry fellas are -- maybe they're running for vice president.

Comments

[J]

Where are Kang and Kodos when you need them? Or Bill the Cat? Hell, I'd even settle for Pat Paulsen.

[thoreau]

According to recent articles in the Onion, 6% of the electorate still hasn't decided which candidate to vote against. Their only consolation is that either way they'll be voting against Nader.

http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4022&n=1&bypass=1

[JJ]

it is like an over the top joke... something right out of "The Simpsons"

[Ruthless]

j,

Didn't you read the last Sunday strip?
Bill the Cat's coming back!
Not a moment too soon.

[joe]

Kerry couldn't cancel his campaign events fast enough. It's very odd to see someone at that level of politics who's so comfortable with staying away from the microphones.

[J]

Ruthless,

I had no idea! I gave up on Outland and didn't know about Opus. Is he running for president again? Is Deathtongue reuniting? Either way, the future's looking brighter.

[JDM]

Kerry is just continuing his Not Bush strategy. The less anyone sees him the better. He's just taking a week off to try and avoid appearing even more Not Reagan than Not Bush.

I wonder how long Bush will continue his Not Not Reagan strategy. I wonder to what extent it will backfire, and we'll end up with Decision 2004 - Not Reagan vs. Not Bush.

[Ruthless]

J,
I wish I could tell you more about Bill the Cat.
All I know is the paper mache Garfield costume he was hiding in broke open.

Bill is out of the pinata!

[joe]

JDM, I don't think Kerry can do this indefinately. At a certain point, he's going to have to convince people that he's the right Not Bush. I wonder how many times the cascade of Bush scandals are going to delay that moment.

[joe]

J,

The Bloom County Neocon Club is drafting Bill as its presidential candidate. Stupid, pliable, and unscrupulous - just the way they like 'em.

[JDM]

I think his status as the Democratic nominee makes Kerry the only legitimate Not Bush in most people's minds. No one is going to vote for Nader this time, "a vote for nader is a vote for Bush" is going to kill him after 2000. If you vote for Not Bush, the only strategy that makes sense is to vote for the only other guy with a chance to win.

Not Not Reagan vs. Not Bush looks like the play here. The Democratic convention will be a Bush bashing free for all, and the Republican convention will be a Reagan wake.

"I wonder how many times the cascade of Bush scandals are going to delay that moment."

If he's waiting for Bush's negative press to die down, he's going to have to wait at least another couple of years. They didn't lay off of Reagan for years after he left office.

[joe]

"I think his status as the Democratic nominee makes Kerry the only legitimate Not Bush in most people's minds."

Well, yeah. I meant, are they going to decide that this Not Bush is no better than Bush?

Anyway, I don't know if the Reagan Death Glow is going to last until November. If it dies down and Bush keeps hammering at it, people are just going to roll their eyes.

[R C Dean]

Did I miss something? What Bush "scandals"? Policy differences don't count. Has someone in the Bush administration been indicted? Accused of something other than stupidity, religiosity, and acute Republicanitis?

Really, compared to recent administrations, the Bushies have been almost completely scandal-free. No travel-gate. No blow jobs. No strategic oil reserve sell-offs to cronies. No Iran-contra. No Rose law firm records. Despite the fevered wishing of the partisans, I have yet to see anything remotely resembling a quid pro quo with Enron, Halliburton, or anyone else. The closest thing to a scandal would be the incredibly lame l'affaire Plame.

[dhex]

"reagan death glow" is one of those shouldabeen punk band names from 1985. i'm totally stealing that.

[J]

"The Bloom County Neocon Club is drafting Bill as its presidential candidate. Stupid, pliable, and unscrupulous - just the way they like 'em."

They could put Sideshow Bob on the ticket too. His experience in the Springfield mayoral election could really pay off.

[JDM]

"Well, yeah. I meant, are they going to decide that this Not Bush is no better than Bush?"

If we drop the metaphor, of course he'll have to say something about himself at some point, I just don't think his silence this week is surprising, since his major strategy is likely to try not to offend anyone who wants to vote against Bush, which means keeping his head down, since, in the end, the 2 aren't really all that far apart on the real issues. "What? He wants to put more troops in Iraq? I'm voting for Nader."

"Anyway, I don't know if the Reagan Death Glow is going to last until November. If it dies down and Bush keeps hammering at it, people are just going to roll their eyes."

It won't. He will. And they will. Not that that is any different from every other Presidential election.

[joe]

RC,

Yes, I'm including the leaking of the CIA employee's identity (which is going to blow up big again soon, mark my words). I'm also including the Abu Ghraib scandal (morphing into the Illegally Endorsed Torture scandal), the WMD farce/conspiracy to start a war under false pretenses scandal, the Ahmed Chalabi scandal, the 9/11 Commission (asleep at the switch/took their eye off the ball) revalations, and the upcoming Haliburton contracts run through the OVP scandal. Man, I wish they'd just nailed an intern or sold a few stamps.

None of these are primarily about policy, but about the way the administration has conducted itself - just like most scandals.

JDM, his major strategy is to be the last man standing once Bush offs himself.

[kevrob]

I'm voting for Badnarik. He's the Not Nader!

Seriously, Jesse, it isn't even summer, by the calendar. Are you actually suggesting the presidential campaign couldn't stand a time-out? It usually doesn't really get going until after the coronat... uh... conventions. Labor Day was always the unofficial start of the campaign. B&K have been slinging at each other since before Memorial Day. The less I hear from these two bozos in the next 10 weeks, the better.

Kevin

[thoreau]

Well, there's a significant possibility of a Supreme Court retirement at the end of this month. That would certainly shift attention away from the campaign and provide a couple months of entertainment for political junkies like myself. Face it, our last SC retirement was 10 years ago, so the sequel is a long time coming!

"Retirement 2004: This time it's personal!"
"Retirement 2004: A Justice's Last Stand"
"Retirement 2004: The Passion of the Nominee"
and, of course:
"Retirement 2004: All abortion, all the time!"

Can't wait!

[Phil]

Kerry couldn't cancel his campaign events fast enough. It's very odd to see someone at that level of politics who's so comfortable with staying away from the microphones.

Yes, so comfortable that he flew all the way to California --on his own dime, I'm sure -- to visit Reagan's casket, being unable to wait a whole fucking day for the thing to arrive in Washington, where he might have to share the spotlight with Bush.

[Kevin Carson]

Patriotboy's open letter:

Dear Mr. Mehlman

Replacing the Bush/Cheney 2004 home page with a tribute to Ronald Reagan was a masterstroke. Surely there are other ways you can exploit his death for the campaign's advantage.

Have you considered taxidermy?

Heterosexually yours,

General JC Christian, patriot

[Mo]

Geee, kinda makes the Wellstone thing look (pardon the unintentional pun) bush league.

[kevrob]

As much as I would enjoy believing Kerry jetted out to Cali in a cynical display of trans-continental queue-jumping, he has a daughter who graduated from film school today. He was headed out west, anyway.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5174398/

Alexandra is the gal who had the "flashbulb misfunction" at Cannes.

Kevin

[xray]

mmmmm. flashbulb misfunction.

[MALAK]

Bill and Opus in 2004!
Milo Bloom, Campaign Manager
Steve Dallas, Lead Counsel & Scandal Monger
Sideshow Bob, Dirty Tricks . . . natch.

Details of Deathtongue tour dates to be announced in late November, after the inevitable post election debacle.

Best political line from Breathed was this, used to describe the 'Senator': Leaving a trail of slime wherever he went . . .

[Phil]

Well, hell, kevrob. Guess that makes me look pretty dumb.

Anyway, um . . . how about that Harry Potter? Huh?

[Rick Barton]

The selection of Reagan's speeches is telling. Reagan made lots of powerful and inspirational speeches about the cutting back government. More should have been included here.

Bush's record is one of drastically expanding government. And, he has advocated even bigger government than has passed, where as, in the areas of spending and regulation Reagan at least made some progress. Also, the Reagan tax rate cuts were much more aggressive than Bush's.

Two qualifiers: 1) I'm not saying that Reagan's record is anywhere close to being as good as his rhetoric. 2) My critique of Bush does not include the Republicans in congress vis a vis the Dems in congress. The Dems tend to vote for far more government:

http://www.ntu.org/main/components/ratescongress/

[Rick Barton]

I'm voting for Badnarik. He's the "law and order" candidate, well at least "law". That law, being our Constitution!

joe:
"If it dies down and Bush keeps hammering at it, people are just going to roll their eyes."

People should roll their eyes anyway. Bush has no call to bask in even the reflected light of Reagan's glory.

[HH]

"which is going to blow up big again soon, mark my words"

Wilson's book barely registered on the public scene... but your words are duly marked.

[joe]

Funny Phil, this news junkie hasn't seen a single still photo or clip of tape showing Kerry paying his repsects to Reagan. Not one.

It's also funny that, after the bout of necrophilia Bush has experienced over the past week, you decide that Kerry is acting unseemly in exploiting Reagan's death.

HH, indictments of well-known White House figures tend to focus the public's mind. It's going to be a fun summer.