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January 27, 2004
The Bunkomentum Meter
Now it's time for New Hampshire to fade back into another 46 months of well-deserved obscurity. And I'm sure millions are desperate for another amateur analysis of the primary season: who are its winners and losers? Can anyone take down Captain Empty Flight Suit? Who in the entire damn universe does Joe Lieberman think he's kidding? And more. Rankings, in order of Bunkomentum:
1. John Kerry. I'm still a bit mystified what people see in him. He seems to be the ultimate politician's politician, with a knack for saying exactly what he thinks people want to hear. And I still shudder at the idea of Kerry trying to debate Bush, while trying to explain why he voted with him so many times in the past few years. I'm not convinced.
2. Howard Dean. I'm disappointed. I froze my toes off for a few days up there, and he finished 2nd. Now there's the big question: he has all this energy behind him; where and when does he turn it? The thinking seems to be that he won't go after the Feb. 3rd primaries, since there are no clear-cut easy states (though I expect a run at AZ and NM). Rather, he'll concentrate on big showings later in February in Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington. Probably a good idea; there's also the fact that Dean still has a good number of those "super-delegates", so he's technically in the lead. It's not over yet.
3. George W. Bush. Got 86% of the vote in the Republican primary, in which he ran unopposed. But he's found the meme for his campaign...
4. John Edwards. It all comes down to SC and MO now, doesn't it? I think he did gain a lot of respect from people (well, from me anyway) who didn't think all that much of him. My gut feeling is that Edwards is high on everyone's VP list.
5. (tie) Dennis Kucinich/Al Sharpton. Didn't do one bit worse than we expected.
6. Wes Clark. Gave up on Iowa to concentrate on N.H. Got whacked in N.H. Clearly needs to win about five of the seven 2/3 states to stay alive.
7. James Carville's shirt. A purple, yellow and green large-stripe pattern with a white collar. Ye gads.
8. Lyndon Larouche. Narrowly beat Carol Moseley Braun. Lost to Gerry Dokka and Katherine Bateman. Somehow, though, I don't dare hope we've heard the last of him.
9. Joe Lieberman. I guess "Joe-mentum" means limping to a 5th-place finish and crowing about how you almost tied for 3rd. Sure, Joe. You fought the good fight; you have about an hour left in which you could still exit gracefully. He's starting to sound like a shellshocked Boston fan rationalizing how the Sox would've wiped the floor with the Marlins in the World Series (trust me, I know whereof I speak).
And now on to some places where volunteers won't have to run 15-minute shifts to avoid hypothermia. And North Dakota...
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Comments
Now, is that CNN poll with Howard in the lead a coaches poll or the other one? I guess it doesn't matter, as long as we don't get another LSU/USC snafu...though I did think Oklahoma belonged in the championship game.
Trust me, it sounded so much better in my head.
Andy
Posted by: Andy | January 28, 2004 12:28 AM
I don't understand what people see in Kerry either. He is someone who, as you point out, will say what he thinks people want to hear. His main qualifications seem to be that people think he's presidential which means, it seems, that he is tall and has good hair.
Posted by: Vin | January 28, 2004 12:07 PM
Let's see if we can come up with some qualifications for why people will vote for him. He's a Vietnam Vet, but not brass. He's a tenured politician (though that might be a drawback to some, such as in above say-what-they-want-to-hear situation). He's in the mid-life period where he doesn't seem overly young (Edwards), and doesn't seem like grandpa (Clark). He looks kind of like Andrew Jackson. He's perceived as emotionally checked (which might be an explanation to the whole 'Dean not presidential' argument). Uh, his wife could reenact that molasses flood with ketchup ten-fold. I don't know. He's not the one I'm backing now, but those might be some reasons.
Posted by: Andy | January 29, 2004 01:54 PM
The only thing that would make Carville's shirt OK is if he had matching toe socks, too.
Posted by: Sooz | January 30, 2004 09:26 AM
Regarding Kerry: I'd like someone to point out what exactly he's accomplished in Congress, either for his consituents in MA or for the country in general.
There was a column in the Boston Globe a few weeks ago pointing out how Mr. Haughty (er, uh, I'm sorry, I mean Mr. Kerry) never even returns calls from local MA politicians who have questions, issues, or requests. His colleague, Senator Kennedy, at least does so, so it's not a Senator thing not to respond to such calls, it's a lack of common courtesy thing.
Dr. Jeckyl (i.e. Senator Kerry) will be happy to talk to them or anyone now that he's running for office, but Mr Hyde (i.e. Kerry again) will do nothing but "hide" from them and the issues if/once elected.
Besides, if he has all of these great proposals for the economy, for example, to which he's alluded during the campaign, why is it that he has not put any of these proposals forth as potential legislation from his Senatorial position? Why doesn't he do so now? He's still a member of the U.S. Senate, isn't he? Why wait? You do not have to be Chief Executive to create, propose, or sponsor, a bill.
Posted by: vin | January 30, 2004 02:10 PM
