Reply #62: What, you mean like the Iraq War as a 'comma?"

[John Gauger]

The born-agains have a saying "Don't put a period where God puts a comma." The best we could figure is that that is what Bush meant when he called the war "just a comma." The theory is that he was using coded language to his fundie friends. (I have a different theory that's very complicated and nuanced, but basically boils down to: 'he's just a fucking moron.' It also has Barbara dropping him on his head somewhere along the line.) What's weird is that nobody could figure out why he would want to send that code to them, which is where my theory comes in again.

Anyway, is that what you're thinking, like where the great unwashed don't get the message? He doesn't seem like the type to pull that covert stuff. Does he have ties with any radical labor organizations? The feeling that I got is that he was just being candid about race. Racial divisions have played a great part in hindering the success of labor movements, and he wanted to point out that black people's concerns and white people's concerns should not get in the way of one another. The majority of people don't realize that, and they need to know it. I think that's a simpler explanation than any ideas of a coded message.

You may have a point about his being more liberal than he lets on. I would expect somebody with his history to be much more progressive. And I think that he is being cautious - a man capable of understanding and enumerating what he told us on Tuesday should not be indistinguishable from Clinton in terms of policy. I personally would like to see the man we saw on Tuesday in the White House rather than the guy we've seen for the last year and a half that talks about hope and unity but shows no real understanding of the deep issues that face this nation that nobody wants to talk about.