I’ll Vote for Kerry—Despite Revulsion For Bush-Haters

[kskiska]

by Michael M. Thomas

This voter is going to pull the lever for Kerry-Edwards.

I will do so with a certain hesitation, realizing that this puts me on the same side of the aisle with a bunch of people—in the media, mainly—for whom it is hard not to feel unmitigated intellectual contempt, if only because their unreasoning, shrill and narrow Bush-hatred has engendered a revulsion in a great many thoughtful middle-of-the road Americans that has made this election a good deal closer than it should have been, and permitted doubt and indecision to linger much longer than they should have. We don’t want to be seen in public with Ann Coulter, say, but we equally don’t want to be identified with the crowd at The Nation. We no longer care what the Scaife gang may have done or not done to Bill Clinton; most of us feel that Mr. Clinton put himself in a bad spot to begin with. We no longer care about the 2000 election. Al Gore isn’t running in this one—which is the only election we care about.

(snip)

Whatever he is, or isn’t, John Kerry is not mad, and I am no longer certain that the President isn’t. Last week I referred to Mr. Bush as "George of Arc," and I believe the comparison with the voices-driven warrior maid of Domremy holds. As my Cambridge Biographical Dictionary puts it: "Belief in her divine mission made her flout military advice—in the end disastrously." As the news from Iraq has steadily worsened, the President seems to be increasingly faith-driven, relying on inner voices to drown out dissent or any suggestion that Iraq is a mistake—actually, Iraq is what you get when you hire a management consulting firm, a Mc-Kinsey, say, or an Accenture, to design you a war—and to reassure him that he’s done and is doing the right thing.

In a word, I think the President may be unbalanced; he may be playing with considerably fewer than the 52 cards we expect to find when we fan out the Presidential deck. Through all three debates, I kept trying to put my finger on what it was about the President’s tics and twitches that bothered me. "Trying to put my finger on"—oh, cut the crap! I was simply rejecting what my eyes and ears were telling me: This guy is f——— nuts!

(snip)

At the end of the day, it is impossible not to feel grave reservations about both candidates. But there’s a big difference: Reservations with respect to Mr. Kerry are grounded in uncertainty. But the reservations I feel about Mr. Bush are grounded in certainty. With the former, I worry about the nation; with the latter, I fear for it. Those to me are grounds enough.

more…
http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/frontpage4.asp

[bettyellen]

1. so bush is crazy, but likable?!? WTF is that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Weird article

He talks of "unreasoning, shrill and narrow Bush-hatred", but then gives a long list of reasons to hate Bush, such as "the contemptible moral indifference and the criminal lack of grasp that is the essence of Mr. Bush’s and Mr. Cheney’s administration. Nor can any reasonable person continue to accept the administration’s claim that America is safer today"; "I think the President may be unbalanced"; "the globalized larceny that has been Mr. Cheney’s thief’s-dream since the 2001 inaugural".

Maybe he's just saying the Bush hatred should be broad? Does he think that other people's hatred for Bush isn't based on reason, when his is?

[JHB]

6. "Unreasoning, shrill and narrow Bush-hatred" translates as...

People who had Bush's number long before I did, but i don't like 'em anyway so the hell with giving them any credit. Don't bore me with the 2000 election, Scaife, or any other past Republican malfeasance because I'm having too much fun with my "hippie hate" to consider there may be something seriously wrong with "my" team.

[RaulGroom]

3. Oh, well

Good to see that people who think of the Nation, the country's oldest political periodical, and Ann Coulter, the country's, um, well, not that, are on the same level are still planning to vote for Kerry. Shows that no matter how far to the right the country has lurched, people are still willing to reject rank insanity that transcends the bounds of all reason.

Which I guess is encouraging... Though I have low standards.

[Larkspur]

4. I despise both Kerry and Bush

yet I'm pulling the lever for Kerry because Bush is a disaster. Anyone who doesn't see Bush as a disaster is a "Rip Van Winkle" American.

[puddycat]

5. Mark Crispin Miller thinks its likely he's a sociopathic personality

I doubt he's crazy or even stupid, like many people like to joke about. Miller's analysis sounds like it fits. He is full of himself.

[Stuckinthebush]

7. Useful idiot

As long as we have your vote.

[Jade Fox]

8. Thank god people are finally calling it--wether crazy of sociopathic...

there is something very wrong with George W. Bush.

It was obvious during the debates. He had a different personality for
each one, and all of them were disturbing!

As a guy writing in the Guardian said, either he's wired or he's mad.