Rambling Rhodes

I know there's little consolation in the alternative, but the thought of listening to four years of a steady diet of Kerry's lugubrious oration, seasoned with Ter-raze-a's bitchiness is painful. (Hey Johnny, you'll get no vote of approval from me of W's speaking skills either, so put that smoke-wagon back in its holster.) 'Course, like I've said before, there's a certain roadkill attraction to W's oratory performances that I have developed over the years.

Ahh nuts, it seems to me that the sad state of politics has left us with candidates that are homogenous piles of lukewarm creamed carrots; not necessarily bad for you, but possesing a high spit-back potential. "C'mon now, eat it up…spittoooey."

I'm still sticking with my Kerry prediction. But it is tenuous. Kapt'n Komeback's numbers haven't budged since the primaries, admist alot of tough press for the pres. I like to turn this thing on its head. Half of the country, with all the controversy surrounding the CIA, homeland security, DOD, the military, etc., still sides with Bush.

I hear ya, seed. It's just weird watching people who I know are normally level-headed and tend to see both sides, jumping to Kerry's side without ever questioning anything. It's like the whole swift boat veteran thing. For people like my mother, there's no question in her mind that they're lying, whereas I tend to think the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of what the Kerry camp is saying and what the swift boaters are saying. I just can't understand why it's that hard to do some research and try to consider both sides.

Huh.

I'm confused. Your mom's an ardent Republican but she's voting for Kerry and your beef is... that she hasn't thought it through? So maybe not as ardent as all that?

Seed: points for the use of "smoke waggon".

No, Joshua, that is not my beef. I ran some dry runs past my mother, some easy softballs, you know? Like, I asked her if it was possible, just possible, that the swift boat veterans may actually hold the opinions of John Kerry that they put forth in that ad. Nope. There was no question in her mind that they were all just paid stooges. It was just surprising to me to hear my mother just recite standard-issue boilerplate commentary she heard on NPR and adhere to it as fact. Maybe I'm just far more plugged in now thanks to the Internet and am exposed to far more viewpoints. I don't know.

Hm.

Perhaps your mother is responding to the never ending smear campaign from the GOP? Your mother is probably intelligent enough to see that Bush isn't saying anything, he's assaulting Kerry's credentials but he's not saying anything and what he's done has been bad for the country.

What Kerry's doing is not spending all of his time tearing down Bush, he's talking about rebuilding a better country. That sort of mindset tends to be infectious.

The Fear Culture of Bush or the Hope of a Better America of Kerry? Yes, I know you fear how the war on terror will be undertaken with Kerry in charge. I think it will be undertaken more intelligently, shared information globally, a hunt and destroy with decisive proof. Am I projecting? Sure, so's everyone else. But I think Kerry has a better handle on how to safeguard our interests both at home and abroad.

The Swift Water ads are bullshit. Even if those vets do honestly believe what they said, of what relevance is it? Some thought he did a great job, some thought he sucked. Guess what, take a poll of ten people in your office about how good a job you do. But so what in any case? Yeah, some vets with a beef and some GOP bankroll make a stupid ad that ninety nine percent of people saw it for the lie it was.

Jebus, I might just ramble on all night. Anyway, Kerry represents something that sounds better than what we've got now. He sounds articulate, intelligent, capable and just plain better than Bush. I can't derive pleasure from watching our Commander-in-Chief sound like he cheated on his GED test to get a high school diploma. Yale? This wanker went to Yale and he still can't speak in real words? Or directly?

How in the hell did he get elected in the first place?