Like everyone else, I kind of wish Nader weren’t running this year. I voted for him last time, but this year the only priority is to beat Bush, with no illusions as to the wonderfulness of whoever replaces him. At this point I am what used to be called a “yellow dog Democrat”: somebody who would even vote for a yellow dog over a Republican. I’d certainly prefer my own yellow dog as President to George W. Bush.
Considering only the major candidates, at this time I prefer Edwards to Kerry, only because Kerry is a walking corpse with zero charisma, and I think that Edwards has a better chance of winning. But it won’t happen; Kerry has the nomination locked up. As I’ve written here before, it’s a peculiar pathology of the Democratic Party that they try to make things as hard as possible for themselves, by going out of their way to nominate the least appealing (indeed, least competent) candidate they can find. Hence Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, and now Kerry. Bill Clinton is the sole exception.
Still, though I wish Nader would hang it up instead of making a fool of himself (since his totals are almost sure to be far lower than they were in 2000), I was sickened by Chris Matthews on Hardball last night, who basically told Nader that he was unqualified to run for President because 1)he is unmarried and has no children; 2)he doesn’t drive and doesn’t own a car; and 3)he rents an apartment, instead of owning a house or a condo. I guess parenting, driving, and home ownership constitute the minimum definition these days of what it means to be a “true American.”
And while I’m ranting: has anybody commented on how, at the same time that Bush is trying to stop people from getting married who desperately want to, he is also proposing spending $1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money in order to bully people into marrying who don’t want to?
Nader etc.
Like everyone else, I kind of wish Nader weren’t running this year. I voted for him last time, but this year the only priority is to beat Bush, with no illusions as to the wonderfulness of whoever replaces him. At this point I am what used to be called a “yellow dog Democrat”: somebody who would even vote for a yellow dog over a Republican. I’d certainly prefer my own yellow dog as President to George W. Bush.
Considering only the major candidates, at this time I prefer Edwards to Kerry, only because Kerry is a walking corpse with zero charisma, and I think that Edwards has a better chance of winning. But it won’t happen; Kerry has the nomination locked up. As I’ve written here before, it’s a peculiar pathology of the Democratic Party that they try to make things as hard as possible for themselves, by going out of their way to nominate the least appealing (indeed, least competent) candidate they can find. Hence Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, and now Kerry. Bill Clinton is the sole exception.
Still, though I wish Nader would hang it up instead of making a fool of himself (since his totals are almost sure to be far lower than they were in 2000), I was sickened by Chris Matthews on Hardball last night, who basically told Nader that he was unqualified to run for President because 1)he is unmarried and has no children; 2)he doesn’t drive and doesn’t own a car; and 3)he rents an apartment, instead of owning a house or a condo. I guess parenting, driving, and home ownership constitute the minimum definition these days of what it means to be a “true American.”
And while I’m ranting: has anybody commented on how, at the same time that Bush is trying to stop people from getting married who desperately want to, he is also proposing spending $1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money in order to bully people into marrying who don’t want to?