Political Weathervane
Oct. 25th, 2004 03:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillibetLast week, Ron Suskind had an excellent article in the New York Times about Bush's "faith-based presidency. It made a lot of interesting points and had some chilling quotes from members of the administration and others who've had to deal with it. If you haven't read it, you probably should, even if it's not particularly pleasant.
But the thing that's really sticking with me is the following passage:
"Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president...started by challenging me. "You think he's an idiot, don't you?" I said, no, I didn't. "No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!" In this instance, the final "you," of course, meant the entire reality-based community."
I find myself getting very angry when I read those words.
On a more positive note, I see that some people are starting to question Karl Rove's strategy of energizing the conservative base, suggesting that he may have produced more anti-Bush votes than Bush votes. Gotta say that if, in addition to a Bush loss, we could have the idea of playing to the conservatives discredited as a campaign strategy, that would be a major win.
Finally, here is a fun article proposing the perspective that Dick Cheney may not be the Evil Genius of the Bush Administration...more like an Evil Moron. And he's the genius of the crowd--no wonder this handbasket trip is getting bumpy!
But the thing that's really sticking with me is the following passage:
"Mark McKinnon, a longtime senior media adviser to Bush, who now runs his own consulting firm and helps the president...started by challenging me. "You think he's an idiot, don't you?" I said, no, I didn't. "No, you do, all of you do, up and down the West Coast, the East Coast, a few blocks in southern Manhattan called Wall Street. Let me clue you in. We don't care. You see, you're outnumbered 2 to 1 by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don't read The New York Times or Washington Post or The L.A. Times. And you know what they like? They like the way he walks and the way he points, the way he exudes confidence. They have faith in him. And when you attack him for his malaprops, his jumbled syntax, it's good for us. Because you know what those folks don't like? They don't like you!" In this instance, the final "you," of course, meant the entire reality-based community."
I find myself getting very angry when I read those words.
On a more positive note, I see that some people are starting to question Karl Rove's strategy of energizing the conservative base, suggesting that he may have produced more anti-Bush votes than Bush votes. Gotta say that if, in addition to a Bush loss, we could have the idea of playing to the conservatives discredited as a campaign strategy, that would be a major win.
Finally, here is a fun article proposing the perspective that Dick Cheney may not be the Evil Genius of the Bush Administration...more like an Evil Moron. And he's the genius of the crowd--no wonder this handbasket trip is getting bumpy!
