Nobody knows who next year’s presidential candidates will be.
This column has no particular favorite and will make no predictions. Even so, it’s not necessary to be a prophet to know how Beltway pundits will handle the so-called character issue. The Republican nominee will be a virile, decisive straight-shooter who’s 100 percent “authentic” and “comfortable in his own skin.” The Democrat will be an indecisive phony, uncertain of his / her identity, but willing to strike any pose or pander to any constituency in a self-serving bid for power. That was the basic script for the media’s astonishing “War on Gore” in 2000, the campaign of falsehood and vilification that helped elevate George W. Bush, an ex-preppie cheerleader and bicycling enthusiast dressed up in rugged “Texas Rancher” costumes, to the presidency over then-Vice President Al Gore.
If truth-telling matters, Bush must rank among the least “authentic” presidents in U. S. history. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell recently rebutted one of the president’s pet fictions: that he’s a “commander guy” who heeds professional soldiers in Iraq, unlike wishywashy Democrats who expect them to “take fighting directions from politicians 6, 000 miles away in Washington, D. C.”
In reality, Powell said on “Meet the Press,” “ The president received advice from his military advisers last fall that said, ‘Do not send more troops.’ Gen.
Abizaid went before the Congress, the commander of Central Command, and said he had consulted with all his division commanders in Iraq and... none of them wanted to send additional troops. ”
Instead, Bush ordered a surge called for by the same neo-conservative thinktank strategists and op-ed warriors who predicted an Iraqi cakewalk.
But I digress, and pointlessly. By now only cultists impervious to facts expect anything but clueless, arrogant bluster from this president.
In short, there’s no evidence that the “Sabbath Gasbags,” in Calvin Trillin’s immortal phrase, have any more insight into the candidates’ character than a trailerpark palm reader and somewhat less than my basset hound Fred, who could at least sniff their hands and figure out whose ears they’d been scratching.
Washington TV political chat appears increasingly disconnected from reality. Here’s how the sages on “Hardball,” MSNBC’s answer to junior high school, sum up the GOP hopefuls:
“What’s appealing about Rudy Giuliani,” thinks Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, “is not the generous side. What’s appealing about him is the tough cop side.”
“Right,” adds excitable host Chris Matthews. “You just wait until Daddy gets home.”
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/192900/print/
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