The Bush half
The Jerusalem Post has a Mark Steyn column with insight on the American political landscape and much else: "America's primary objective." Steyn writes:
Another six weeks of Dick Clarke's book tour, of snotty network reporters condescending to the president at his press conference, of showboating hacks badgering Condi Rice at Congressional hearings, of Bob Woodward and his unreadable book filling up slabs of CNN's primetime every night with irrelevant arcana about what did Prince Bandar know and when did he tell Woodward he knew it, another six weeks of things that make Bush "vulnerable" and he'd be heading for a 49-state blowout over Kerry.In his conclusion, Steyn gets to Senator Kerry himself:Don't get me wrong – America's still a 50/50 nation. That's to say, 50 percent of the nation backs Bush, and the other 50 percent either loathe him, or are undecided, or aren't yet paying attention to Campaign '04.
I think the president's numbers should be higher. But the problem for John Kerry is that he and the networks and The New York Times are finding it all but impossible to make any dent in the Bush half. If it is a 50/50 nation, one side's 50 per cent is pretty solid and the other's a lot softer.
If I had to name the definitive Kerry campaign headline it would be this, from the Associated Press last week: "Kerry Says His Family Owns SUV, Not He." Below it was a long explanation from the candidate on how that gas-guzzling Chevy Suburban in the yard was nothing to do with him. Who you gonna believe? A respected environmental crusader, or your lying eyes?And there's more good stuff in between. As always with Steyn, you would be depriving yourself of needed edification if you didn't read the whole thing.His statement is true in the sense that his "family" (ie, his ketchup-heiress missus Teresa) also owns the house and the grounds, and indeed a big chunk of his presidential campaign. But it's hard to claim that your powers of diplomatic persuasion would have won over the French and Germans when you can't even win over your "family."
And do Americans want to hand over responsibility for Iraq to someone who won't even take responsibility for the car in his driveway?
