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Crucial advice for John Kerry

Listen, big guy, you’ve got to stop listening to advice!*

And all you self-appointed Kerry advisors . . . go read Digby today and get your game face on.

I know it’s frustrating.  Some of us desperately wish that our fair country was also a sane country (or a simulacrum of one!  I’m working on it!), like one of those many industrialized nations in which support for Kerry over Bush runs about 85-15 . . . and in which the spectacle of the Republican convention would’ve dropped Bush’s support from 15 percent to 6.  Or we desperately wish that we could have Jon Stewart step in to debate Bush, just once (partly to see W. react to Jon’s summary of his campaign:  “he drove us into a wall-- but hey, he didn’t blink!").  Or we wish that the other party wasn’t controlled by a consortium of mullahs, kleptocrats, and sociopaths who lie with every utterance and sometimes even with random grunts, gestures, and snores. Well, it would be nice.  Maybe next time!  But right now we have to pull the good old U. S. of A. back from the precipice, even if almost half our fellow citizens will despise us for it.  So don’t waste time in kvetching-- organize.

* Except for unsolicited advice from other hockey players, of course.

Posted by on 09/15 at 01:59 AM

  1. Mike, it’s not coming back from the precipice, regardless of who wins. The best Kerry will be able to do is slow it down a little. Bad times ahead. No way to prevent that.

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  07:01 AM

  2. Things look bad and I’m growing pessimistic. On dark days I wonder of Kerry is throwing the election. Hope resides not in the Kerry campaign but in events in the world. Some of these events are too horrible to contemplate. But economic trends (oil, confidence, jobs) do not augur well for Bush. This could be enough. In my wildest dreams I imagine an election where Bush wins the popular vote and loses in the electoral college. There would be some divine retribution in this. Nightmares include Bush winning in November giving him the opportunity to nominate three or four new justices to the Scalia Court (excuse me while I vomit), invade Syria and Iran, and experiment with the tactical nuclear weapon systems he’s promoted. Give me a stringbean, I’m a hungary man.

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  07:38 AM

  3. Timing--what good politicians and comedians share, and Michael and Digby too. Damn, I was sliding right off the wagon, dreading the next NPR comment or editorial to rehash what tactics had put the kibosh on the Dukakis campaign and compare now to Rove’s masterminding. The wished-for sanity hasn’t rained from the sky, but then, the sky’s not falling either. Bring up history once to learn from it, but let’s get on with the present. Bush’s record, be it his pre-9/11 vacation record or the mega-deficit or the environmental free-for-all or your own favorite stunner, is no good, and now’s the time to mobilize on those facts. Between Stephanopoulos’s quip re “the responsibility to win” and Digby’s lament of Dems’ premature eulogizing is, well, the nitty gritty of the real race. Swimmers out there know that the third 50 of a 200 is where those who stay focused and crank the high gear win. Thanks, Michael, for reminding us there’s a time to cry, and laugh, and . . . get out the vote!

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  09:55 AM

  4. Chuck’s comment reminds me of Josh Marshall’s recent remarks about how Bush has turned his miserable failure to his advantage—since Kerry is a sane man, he realizes that we’re in a pretty terrible situation with no ten-word solutions, but when pressed to offer a concrete alternative to what Bush is doing, he can’t just say, “I don’t fucking know!  You’ve fucked everything up so badly that fixing it may well be impossible!”

    Posted by Adam Kotsko  on  09/15  at  10:17 AM

  5. Chuck’s right. It ain’t over even if Kerry wins. But...sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

    Maybe if we could turn off our forebrains and join the Good Fight in pure reptilian mode, like our dear friends on the other side…

    As Michael pointed out, most of the rest of the world is rooting for you guys. Hoka hey!

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  11:54 AM

  6. I am the Lizard King!  I can do anything!

    Posted by Karl R.  on  09/15  at  12:11 PM

  7. During the past about 48 hours, I’ve run into an amazing number of people (given my quiet rural life) who are renewing their passports and thinking seriously of decamping.  Even more surprising their response when asked where they hope to go:  most say France.  Okay, I’ve lived most of my adult life in Europe and I’d go to France in a heartbeat.  But so many “ordinary” Americans?  One to the UK.  One to Tasmania.  Another to Italy. 

    Meanwhile, I’d like to see if anyone else is thinking “impeach”?  or “prosecute”?

    Posted by Bean  on  09/15  at  12:34 PM

  8. Wow.  What defeatism!  You would never pass muster with the Gov. of Cali.

    Thank goodness those Boston radicals in the 1770’s didn’t all sail for France is disgust (and we know they did enjoy it there!). 

    Of course, electing Kerry isn’t the end of the war.  It’s just a critical battle.  Now git yer asses in gear and quitcherbitchin.

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  02:09 PM

  9. I work in an employment agency in Auckland New Zealand, the growth of applications from America has been stunning in the last few months.

    Posted by  on  09/15  at  05:51 PM

  10. Oh, all right, then.  Kerry/Edwards 2004:  for a kinder, gentler precipice!

    Works for me.  I just hope all you folks who are running away manage to cast your absentee ballots from France, Italy, the UK, Tasmania, and Auckland before November 2.

    Posted by Michael  on  09/15  at  05:58 PM

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