I was dismayed at Bush’s performance in the debates last night. He seemed small (was it the camera angle? was he hunched over a little?), halting, unsure that he was choosing the right words. Repetitive.
It’s hard to separate the message from the messenger. I was surprised, when I heard excerpts from the debates on the radio later, how much more effective the voice, without the visuals, was.
I have only this to say to my fellow Mass residents: If you all vote for Kerry, think traffic jams. I have no doubt he’ll visit often, stay in his Beacon Hill home, and cause all sorts of tie-ups. Putting domestic and foreign policy aside, wouldn’t we be better off keeping Bush, with his Texas roots, in office for another four years?
Just a thought
Beth is worried! and a tad bit desperate!
Comments
Desperation?
I’m not desperate, Mahmood. I don’t even have a firm opinion any more about which of those two I’d like in office.
But I’m just stating a fact regarding the impact of Kerry getting the presidency. He WILL visit my hometown, and having already had the experience of spending hours trapped in a bus downtown, creeping past the posh hotel where he happened to be speaking while the Secret Service blocked off traffic for no apparent reason, I’m not looking forward to a repeat.
I’m sure you didn’t get a sense of what the Democratic Convention was like here, because it’s hard to describe if you’re not there. But an entire part of the city was cordoned off, subway lines shut down, businesses closed, people subjected to random searches… well, it was kind of amusing at the time. But again, I wouldn’t want four years of that.
Perhaps I’ll just move to Texas for the next four years.
[Modified by: Beth (bchaplin) on October 05, 2004 01:25 AM]
U.S. Presidents, Motorcades — And a Book Depository
Peace Taker,
What should we make of the final sentence of your post?
[For those who do not realize the signficance of using the words “president” and “book depository” in the same paragraph, I’ve copied a brief explanation from a University of Texas state history website:
“TEXAS SCHOOL BOOK DEPOSITORY. The Texas School Book Depository, the building identified by the Warren Commission’s report on the Kennedy assassination as the location from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president, is at 411 Elm Street in downtown Dallas and is now the Dallas County Administration Building. The building has seven floors and a basement and forms a 100 by 100 foot square with 80,000 square feet of space. The Sixth Floor, on the floor Oswald is said to have used, has been made into a memorial to President John F. Kennedy.”]
Re: Desperation?
I would be though Beth! Sorry if I projected.. we sometimes get these motorcades which you must cede the road to, but not too often thank goodness.
I understand that the security situation in the States wherever the two candidates go must be a pain to put up with, fortunately for you that only happens once every four years, so it will come to pass….
Desperation?
Fortunately, Kerry’s ability to win elections for student body president may be assured, but his ability to sit in the Big Seat isn’t so certain. In any case, I can’t abide the man: a vain prick who Served in Vietnam for about a week and a half and got a fistful of suspicious medals, which he promptly pretended to discard in front of TV cameras, and are now supposed to be proof of his love of country and fitness to be Commander in Chief.
I don’t love Bush either, but too many Democrats have taken up with the PC toxin of European postmodern social-lefties. In its current state, the party needs to be destroyed in the same fashion that Goldwater’s flop destroyed the old Tory-like Republican Party in the early 1960’s. The US _does_ need a strong post-Marxist party of the left, but its basis needs to be American patriotism from a leftist perspective, not national self-hatred and scorn.
As for Bush: it’s a pact with the devil you know versus the surrender monkey who speaks impeccable French that you definitely suspect will sell out your country to impress Guardian columnists and the Frogs. Possibly Kerry may discover unknown character and spine in The Big Seat to stand up to terrorists, corrupt and whiny “allies”, and “world opinion” but I’m doubting it…
Re: Desperation?
What the Hell is the difference between Bush and Kerry?
So little separtes the left and right in industrialized nations, as to make no real difference to those of us outside of the U.S. Frogs look nothing like chicken, but they all taste the same. U.S. Politcs, style over content. Not what you say but how you look. Piss and Wind for the most part.
Beth, sorry they shut down your road. Is there a book depository near by?
Re(1): Desperation?
I couldn’t think of a better way to put it, but I meant a leftist party that isn’t inspired by Marxism or its descendents (ie, “post”). The fact that this sort of thing doesn’t yet exist should concern lefties, who are still trapped in 150 year old ideologies. Even though I’m definitely not a leftist myself, I’m a fan of competition: a competitive, well-functioning Democratic party will keep the Republicans from too much of the corrupt complacancy that comes from being in power without competition.
Re(1): U.S. Presidents, Motorcades — And a Book Depository
Take it any way you want Steve, you would anyway regardless of what I meant.
I was being satirical, so you’ll miss that too because it’s essentially “irony” and Americans are famously devoid of any sense of irony. If you practice you may even be able to deliver a sentance or two “ironically.”(The Adverb)
No assassinations here Steve. Assassination is something that happens to those with “sane political options”.
Does anyone in the U.S. still really believe that Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK?
Re: U.S. Presidents, Motorcades — And a Book Depository
My take on Peace Taker is that he advocates political change through assassination, which is undoubtedly favored in the non-industrialized nations in which he enjoys such wider political vistas. It’s very true that our political left does not extend to a significant body of revolutionary Leninists nor does our political right extend to a reactionary monarchy. For that, I am thankful. We have limited ourselves to sane political options, much to the despair of Peace Taker.
However, allow me to offer my every encouragement to Peace Taker to assassinate the leaders of his own country and let us know how it works out.
Steve
Re: Desperation?
[quote]The US _does_ need a strong post-Marxist party of the left…[/quote]
We need Marxists like we need a plague of ticks. However, the remainder of your post shows remarkable sense.
Steve
Re(2): U.S. Presidents, Motorcades — And a Book Depository
Hmmm. Funny, it looks to me like you were making a partisan joke in poor taste and are now improbably trying to bluff your way through by claiming that it is actually humor too rarified for Americans to comprehend.
It reminds me of that European artist who canned his feces, displayed them as fine art in a tony European museum, and then sold the cans for a hundred Euros each to European art afficionadoes. I guess they just understand art better than we simple Americans do, something like you understand irony better.
There are still plenty of people in the US who don’t believe Oswald shot Kennedy but who do believe in Bigfoot and alien abductions. There are a few of us who find the facts compelling that Oswald was the lone assassin of Kennedy, people like me and Howard Brennan, the eyewitness who identifed Oswald as the shooter.
Steve
[Modified by: Steve The American (Steve) on October 06, 2004 06:08 PM]
Re(2): Desperation?
Socialism isn’t much competition for capitalism.
Steve