Steve Benen: A Misguided Appeal For A Moderate Mitt

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. I did too (initially)

I thought that his (P)residency would be a one-term blip and that we'd regroup and retake Congress and win the WH again in 2004 and I still tend to think that, absent 9/11, we just might have given his mediocrity and general laziness. Bush's first few months in office were pretty disastrous for him politically and, aside from getting his tax cut plan passed, most of his agenda was stymied by Congress and the Dems and the Dems had, in fact, been able to recapture the Senate briefly due to Jim Jeffords' defection. I don't think that, without 9/11, he would have ever been able to get the invasion/occupation of Iraq off the ground either. I also thought (or maybe hoped) that due to the divisiveness of the election caused by the recount and it being thrown into SCOTUS that he might govern in a more bipartisan fashion, which, of course, never happened, especially after 9/11 and especially after he and his party went on to smear Democrats running in the 2002 midterms. Once he was practically coronated as "the decider" or "commander-in-chief" following 9/11, I actually began wondering if our democratic form of government would even survive or if it would die "with thunderous applause".