100 Things About the Election, Part VI

The continuing series of things I noticed during and after Election Day that I considered important. In no particular order...

42. More on Michael Moore: According to Kerry Spot, the Daily Telegraph ripped him thusly...

Not since Moby Dick has a great white whale been so bloodily harpooned... In 2000, Mr Moore's support for Ralph Nader helped lose Florida for Al Gore. This time, he boosted President Bush by outraging Middle America. Take a bow, Mike: you've done it again.

I don't know if Geraghty is right that Moore cost Kerry the election. I will say that Moore didn't help him, even with the propaganda hit piece that the media spent months promoting. And for all who are interested, Team America is the far superior movie.

43. I'll link to my buddy Greg's blog for this one, partly because he was kind enough to link to mine, partly because he's worth reading (especially if you want a counter-point to the right wing diet you receive here) and partly because I loved this bit from Newsweek as well...

The "Outlandish" McCain Offer. Kerry's courtship of Senator John McCain to be his running mate was longer-standing and more intense than previously reported. As far back as August 2003, Kerry had taken McCain to breakfast to sound him out to run on a unity ticket. McCain batted away the idea as not serious, but Kerry, after he wrapped up the nomination in March, went back after McCain a half-dozen more times. "To show just how sincere he was, he made an outlandish offer," Newsweek's Thomas reports. "If McCain said yes he would expand the role of vice president to include secretary of Defense and the overall control of foreign policy. McCain exclaimed, 'You're out of your mind. I don't even know if it's constitutional, and it certainly wouldn't sell.'" Kerry was thwarted and furious. "Why the f--- didn't he take it? After what the Bush people did to him...'"

After reading that, the Minster of War and the Lord of Truth are probably getting ready to tear their hair out (see guys, one advantage of going bald is not worrying about things that make you want to tear your hair out). I still laugh every time someone raises the "Unity Ticket" concept, mostly because I think everyone unconditionally believes such a concept would work.

Perhaps, but I think people are a little too keyed in on the idea that this ticket made sense. At this point, I think you could pair McCain with Nancy Pelosi or Newt Gingrich and people would talk about how wonderful it was. McCain is exalted by the MSM and the moderates to the point that I think expectations are a little unrealistic. I think McCain could have provided a winning margin for a candidate by being on the ticket, although I'm not as certain as everyone else is. McCain easily would have been a better choice than John Edwards... of course, a live donkey might have been a better choice than John Edwards. However, I'm reasonably certain that the GOP would have replaced Cheney with Guiliani, at which point the Dems would have replaced Kerry with Lieberman and the GOP would have cloned Reagan... I love all the pipe dream scenarios, but keep in mind that McCain would never win the Democratic nomination for President, and he needed to salvage his chances of one day winning the GOP nomination.

I think McCain was right to reject this deal for any number of reasons -- his own Presidential ambitions, the fact that he would been stuck in a job with little power and no political base, the fact that he would have been forced to play good soldier on Kerry's domestic agenda, etc. Besides, can you imagine McCain putting up with Teresa's crap?

44. Speaking of Edwards... more from the Newsweek piece, as noted by Jay Nordlinger...

Finally, how about this? "Historian Douglas Brinkley, author of a wartime biography of Kerry, cautioned that Kerry's diary included mention of a meeting with some North Vietnamese terrorists in Paris. Edwards was flabbergasted. 'Let me get this straight,' the senator said. 'He met with terrorists? Oh, that's good.'"

Hey, John, thanks for joining the party.

45. Nordlinger, by the way, hits the nail on the head earlier in that column...

Years ago, at the Oscars, Sally Field said, "You like me, you really like me!" Well, I now say, "They hate us — they really hate us." I'm talking about the Left, and the media elite, of course, and the "us" is . . . Bush supporters.

They really let it all hang out, after Tuesday. A certain amount of politeness or restraint might have prevailed during the campaign, but no longer. They hate us, calling us dumb, dumb, dumb — a bunch of Bible-thumpin' boobs.

I think I've watched Jon Stewart's show twice, both times because a friend was on. I watched it the other night, and there was this comedian — a sidekick of Stewart's, apparently — saying, "We have heard the voice of the American people. I would imitate it, but I don't like to make fun of the retarded."

Hey, as I noted today, you really shouldn't make fun of us Bible-thumping boobs (I hereby accord myself status as the first Hindu Bible-thumping boob). We own most of the guns.

46. Sometimes, you just save stuff for no reason. Then there are times when you save it for a good reason. Here's the August 11, 2004 version of ABC's The Note, which declared the Presidential race "John Kerry's contest to lose." Guess he lived up to the challenge.

47. I need to ask my college-age brother -- how many votes were the Bush twins worth?

48. I think this video from Britain is pretty damn funny.

49. Speaking of Britain... two of the top three members of the coalition have re-elected their wartime leaders. First Australia with John Howard, now the U.S. with George W. Bush. I think every supporter of both these men should send their well-wishes along Tony Blair.

50. Man, by going independant, Jim Jeffords made the worst career move since Shelley Long bailed on Cheers.