July 27, 2004
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Well, we’ll have to see how damaging this will end up being to the credibility of those of us who believe that the Bush administration is a bunch of warmongering weasels. I wonder how many more of these there will be.
Circular firing squad indeed.
Be careful with the “Bush is a liar” rhetoric. As far as I know, you’ll find very few provable lies. You will find statements that were overly confident, predictions that turn out to be wrong, and statements that lead people to make the leap to false conclusions, but few outright lies. Never forget “plausible deniability”: a politician who traps their self in a provable lie is a rare fool.
Speaking of which, even though I have indulged in it on occasion, be careful of the “Bush is an idiot” rhetoric as well. First of all, it isn’t really all that relevant. The policies of the Bush administration are what they are, and are based on the world view and philosophies of more than just one man.
Secondly, it smacks of elitism. Whether or not you’re comfortable with that, the “swing voters” tend not to be. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong when you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
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Quick rundown on the current candidates within my sphere of awareness:
George Bush. While I briefly toyed with the idea of voting for him in a fatalistic “let it burn” approach to the election, and I do think George Bush is the best chance of destroying America’s status as a hyperpower, I just can’t do it.
Kerry/Edwards. *sigh* Well, I may decide to go with the “Lizard Strategy”, just to let the international community know that not all of America supports the Neocon vision of the New World Order. The problem is, from what I can tell, I agree with Kerry on less than half the issues. Less than half. How can I, in good conscience, vote for that?
So, who out there is more palatable to me?
I haven’t looked much at him yet, but the Libertarian presidential candidate, Michael Badnarik may prove to be interesting. We’ll see.
Of course, there is always the Reform Party/independent presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, and vice presidential candidate Peter Camejo.
There is always the “I’m sort of going to run” Green Party candidates, David Cobb and Pat LaMarche. They seem like decent folks, and trying to grow the Green party is a worthy goal, but I can’t really get behind a campaign that intends to only try and win in “safe states”. Why not just skip the presidential campaign and focus on any other seats you’re trying to win.
Sadly, it looks like Dennis Kucinich is throwing in the towel. There goes the Democrats’ best chance of having me vote for them.
Well, I should probably get on looking into the candidates. Sadly, knowing that Kerry or Bush is going to win (probably Bush after some sort of September Surprise) makes it quite a bit harder for me to justify the time and energy for supporting any candidate.
