Things that make you go "hmmmmm"

[sinanju]

I was driving home from the mall today after getting a haircut (and I look damn good, if I say so myself). While stopped at a traffic light, I noticed a coffee shop across the street. There was a big sign under the name of the place. It read:

BUSH SUNDAY

Join us and have 10% of your bill donated to the Democratic Presidential candidate

At first, seeing only the first two words, I thought the shop owner was a Bush supporter. Only after reading the smaller type below did I realize that he intended to contribute to the Democratic candidate. No mention of Kerry. Just Bush's name in big bold letters. And that's when it hit me.

All they have is Bush-hatred. It isn't about supporting Kerry. Kerry is fungible. He's a commodity, a generic politician whose sole redeeming feature (and the only one that appears to matter) is that He's Not Bush (tm). It's all about the demon Bush. I've said before that the visceral and blinding hatred for Bush I see on the left is a mirror image of the tinfoil hat-wearing Clinton-haters of years past, and it's truer than ever.

And it's only April. It's going to be a long, long campaign season.

P.S. Even as I composed this post, I saw my first Kerry tv campaign ad*. It included a shot of Kerry saying, "I'm John Kerry and I approved this message." Which looks and sounds suspiciously like a rip-off homage to Bush's recent ad blitz. Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe that's just the latest Madison Avenue fad, an alternative to having the candidate mutter "Paid for by Bush/Kerry/Whoever for President Committee" at the end of the spot. Even so, it looks and feels like Kerry leaning toward the next desk to look at George's answers on the pop quiz. Derivative. Imitative. And imitation, as they say, is the sincerest form of flattery.

*Oops. Maybe not. I remember seeing other ads blasting Bush, but this is the first one I remember which featured Kerry himself, and definitely the first one with the "I approved this message" tagline.

Comments

[bruceb.livejournal.com]

The "I approve this message" is the McCain-Feingold Act equivalent of the Miranda rights reading. Expect to hear it a lot until and unless the Supreme Court has an attack of clue about the whole thing.

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

Okay. So "paid for by X for President committee" isn't sufficient anymore? I guess not, now that I think about it, since the First Amendment doesn't apply to third-party endorsements anymore.

Attack of clue.....

[shrewreader.livejournal.com]

I -do- like the term. Rather than 'here's a quarter,' it says, 'here, have a -roll- of quarters, in a sock, being spun at your head at high speed.' -very- suave.

In re 'anyone but Bush' syndrome, there was recently an LJ quiz thing putting Bush against a PB&J sandwich (Jelly, I assume, was the VP candidate, with Wonder Bread for Sec'y State,) and the sandwich was winning. By about 98% to 2 or so. I disapprove in general of such phenomena. They smack of domestic political jingoism.

However.

I am rapidly drawing the conclusion that I am in favor of domestic political jingoism that happens to have the side effect of being a better move for the country. That is to say, I can imagine rather a lot worse people for president than Bush. But I can also imagine a lot of people better for the job. I think Kerry is one of them. If a lot of anti-Bush jingoism has the effect of putting a candidate into the office that will be a more competent steward, than, for once, I am happy to go with the crowd.

Which reminds me, I -must- remember to make sure my voter registration got changed to my new address. If jury duty notices caught up, than by heaven I -will- vote.

--Shrewkate