Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Iowha...?
Anyone who watched the acceptance and concession speeches tonight from the Iowa caucuses, and as a result doesn't love Edwards and loathe Dean, is, to me, a bit beyond hope, politically speaking. Anger can only take you so far. I mean, look at this guy. And he sounded worse. No class. No decency. Nothing but rage and sour grapes and arrogance and childish temper tantrums. What an ass.
In a way, I'm torn. With Dean finishing a distant third (after being all but assured a wide victory in the polls until he kept opening his mouth this past week), that's a pretty severe (though not insurmountable) blow to his campaign. Since I firmly, honestly believe he would be one of the worst presidents in our nation's history, part of me is breathing a sigh of relief that such a nightmare scenario is now less likely. But my selfish, Bush-supporting side is sad, because really, everyone knows Dean is unelectable, and wouldn't be able to secure a single southern state, and would therefore lose in an electoral landslide to Bush. I'm not a big Kerry fan, either, but I certainly acknowledge he's more of a threat to Bush than Dean was, so I bet the White House shares a bit of my unease here.
Now, as for Edwards, with a close second place finish, he's gone from being an also-ran to a major contender. I've always said Edwards was the biggest threat to Bush's reelection, because he's decent, honorable, interesting, intelligent, and, well, you all know what a relatively strong Bush supporter I am, and yet if it were a race between those two, I might have to go with Edwards. If generally right-leaning me could be persuaded, imagine how the moderates and indepedents will feel.
In the footnote section, Clinton-backed General Clark and Joe Lieberman both finished below "uncommitted" in the caucus, so I'm guessing unless one of them pulls off a miracle in New Hampshire, they're as cooked as Kucinich and Sharpton. Rounding out the field, fourth-place winning Adam-West-channeling-John-Wayne candidate Gephardt is announcing he's dropping out today, so I guess we'll at least be free of his bizarre arm sweeps and hand gestures for the upcoming Thursday debate.
The plot thickens.
Anyone who watched the acceptance and concession speeches tonight from the Iowa caucuses, and as a result doesn't love Edwards and loathe Dean, is, to me, a bit beyond hope, politically speaking. Anger can only take you so far. I mean, look at this guy. And he sounded worse. No class. No decency. Nothing but rage and sour grapes and arrogance and childish temper tantrums. What an ass.
In a way, I'm torn. With Dean finishing a distant third (after being all but assured a wide victory in the polls until he kept opening his mouth this past week), that's a pretty severe (though not insurmountable) blow to his campaign. Since I firmly, honestly believe he would be one of the worst presidents in our nation's history, part of me is breathing a sigh of relief that such a nightmare scenario is now less likely. But my selfish, Bush-supporting side is sad, because really, everyone knows Dean is unelectable, and wouldn't be able to secure a single southern state, and would therefore lose in an electoral landslide to Bush. I'm not a big Kerry fan, either, but I certainly acknowledge he's more of a threat to Bush than Dean was, so I bet the White House shares a bit of my unease here.
Now, as for Edwards, with a close second place finish, he's gone from being an also-ran to a major contender. I've always said Edwards was the biggest threat to Bush's reelection, because he's decent, honorable, interesting, intelligent, and, well, you all know what a relatively strong Bush supporter I am, and yet if it were a race between those two, I might have to go with Edwards. If generally right-leaning me could be persuaded, imagine how the moderates and indepedents will feel.
In the footnote section, Clinton-backed General Clark and Joe Lieberman both finished below "uncommitted" in the caucus, so I'm guessing unless one of them pulls off a miracle in New Hampshire, they're as cooked as Kucinich and Sharpton. Rounding out the field, fourth-place winning Adam-West-channeling-John-Wayne candidate Gephardt is announcing he's dropping out today, so I guess we'll at least be free of his bizarre arm sweeps and hand gestures for the upcoming Thursday debate.
The plot thickens.
