The genius of George W. Bush

Bush told reporters aboard Air Force One from Italy that he disagreed with former President Clinton's comment that the pope will have a "mixed legacy." John Paul will have a clear and excellent legacy of peace, compassion and "setting a clear moral tone," he said.

We all know what Clinton meant (was Bill reading DKos last weekend?).  But it's just bad politics.

While Bill was being realistic, and weighing a number of opposing viewpoints (flip-flopper!), he was also speaking critically of the dead, on the way to the funeral.  He also perhaps should have remembered that he wasn't in Madame de Rambouillet's salon, but was aboard Air Force One with the head culture warriors.  

While I agree with Clinton, constrast Bill's statement with George's.  Bush was clear, direct, wrong, and said exactly what 36% of the electorate wants to hear.  Limbaugh, Hannity and irresponsible tax cuts take care of the other 15%, and that gave him an electoral majority.

I don't think we lose election after election because our healthcare plans are insufficient.  We lose mainly because we ignore archetypes.

Democrat                         Republican

Even without the labels, you knew who was the philosopher and who was the cowboy, right?  Now, I don't mean the rootin'-tootin' cowboy.  I mean the church-goin' family man, protecting his land and children from the godless outlaws.

Personally, I knew that George Bush had won the Republican nomination in 2000 (and the election) during the debate in which he answered that his favorite philosopher was Jesus Christ ("Cause he changed my heart").  That's so freakin' brilliant on like seven different levels.  Most importantly, JC was not really a philosopher.  So, it thumbs the nose at those 'thinker' types.

What can we do, as Democrats?  Could we go after the fundie vote?  Yeah, right.  We will always be the party that supports abortion rights, freedom of thought, separation of church and state, sciece and reason, and social justice.  Should we go after the atheist vote?  "Nietzsche is my favorite philosopher because he said that God is dead".  Yeah, that would really lock in that 5% of Americans who don't believe in God.  Probably the best we can do is - KEEP OUR FREAKING PIEHOLES SHUT, BECAUSE WE BELIEVE FAITH IS A PRIVATE MATTER.

And about those archetypes, we can't ignore them when we pick a candidate in the primaries.  While a philosopher/cowboy may be hard to find (Will Rogers?), at least we should pick someone with a little charisma.  Or we could try to change the archetypes.  One or the other, but we have proven over and over again that doing NEITHER doesn't work so well.