February 09, 2004

But who is he cheating on us with?
Posted by Jon Henke

Ezra Klein asks an interesting question....

Anyone else notice that the conservatives seem to think that Bush's performance this morning was way worse than the liberals are rating it? In part, this is explained away by the lowered expectations Bush's dectractors have for him.
...
But lately, nobody seems to be on Bush's side. It's as if his own troops have begun to see him as less impressive, his performances slightly embarassing.
Easy one: Bush is dissappointing his supporters. Sure, many appreciate his stances on tax cuts and national defense, but beyond that, what has he done to endear himself to....anybody?

I'll put it another way, simplified for our purposes: When you learn that your worst enemy is cheating on his wife, do you really think less of him? Maybe a little....but not much. It simply reinforces your view of him, and the effect is just not that marked. It's just another layer of snow on that iceberg.

On the other hand, when a person learns their own spouse is cheating on them...there's a bit more hell to pay, isn't there?

Azra attributes the limited dissappointment on the part of Bush's detractors to "lowered expectations", but I think that's only half the story. Of course they're going to have low expectations. No Republican President will have the respect of the Democrats, or vice versa. After all, neither party exists to promote intellectual honesty....they exist to "get their party members elected". And so, regardless of the character of the person holding office, they WILL be excoriated.

No, in this case, the conservatives/libertarians are angry at Bush precisely because he's NOT a conservative/libertarian. It's unforgivable to Democrats that Bush is a Republican. It's almost as unforgivable to Republicans that Bush is not a conservative/libertarian.

He hasn't been kicked out of the house yet....but he's sleeping on the couch.

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Comments

Once again, I'll make the invitation to "conservatives" - feel free not to vote for Bush, and then please feel free to be silent while Pres. Kerry neuters the war on terror and redefines the SCOTUS over the next 4 years...

Posted by: shark at February 9, 2004 10:04 AM

Howard Dean said today that now he isn't planning to quit after all, even if he loses Wisconsin. Interesting, considering the rumors concerning his green party run. I'm sure mcauliffe would pee his pants if that happened.

I think the republicans are just waiting and letting the dems develop their message, which isn't much (wmd/vietnam) and once they tie themselves to the boat, the reps will sink it.
Kerry isn't unimpeachable on the vietnam issue.
Especially when the media catches up to the bloggers and picks up on the "hanoi jane" connections and his vacillating comments on the atrocities of the war. Veterans don't support him like he's making out.

Posted by: lj at February 9, 2004 11:53 PM