Wednesday, July 07, 2004
‘The Republican Party needs some wilderness time’: Three interesting points from Reader No. 1 on why it might be a good idea for Republicans to lose this fall:
“1. Recent Presidential Second Terms. Clinton got impeached. Nixon nearly got impeached. Only Reagan made significant achievements (concluding the Cold War, if you are a New York Times correspondent) and that term was marked by Iran-Contra.
“2. The Republican Party needs some wilderness time. Thankfully for Clinton’s spectacular and still unreported political ineptitude, his 1992 mandate for change was squandered on the health care debacle. The economy was spared; we got welfare reform. But the Contract With America was 10 years ago. During the 1970s wilderness years, Reaganism was honed and sharpened. During the 1980s wilderness years, the Democratic Leadership Council played a vital role in developing ideas for the party....
“3. No Hilary 2008 Campaign.
“In fairness, 3 reasons to vote for Bush:
“1. Kerry’s behavior when confronted by the Boston Police Patrolmen’s picket line.
“2. Kerry’s Vietnam framework. (I’m surprised we haven’t heard the Zarqawi ‘Killing Fields’ analogy yet).
“3. Kerry's core competency: unnecessarily offering up contradictions that confuse and enrage people. He can get away with that in Massachusetts and with the core -- he might piss off Eileen McNamara on abortion, but is she going to vote for Bush?”
“1. Recent Presidential Second Terms. Clinton got impeached. Nixon nearly got impeached. Only Reagan made significant achievements (concluding the Cold War, if you are a New York Times correspondent) and that term was marked by Iran-Contra.
“2. The Republican Party needs some wilderness time. Thankfully for Clinton’s spectacular and still unreported political ineptitude, his 1992 mandate for change was squandered on the health care debacle. The economy was spared; we got welfare reform. But the Contract With America was 10 years ago. During the 1970s wilderness years, Reaganism was honed and sharpened. During the 1980s wilderness years, the Democratic Leadership Council played a vital role in developing ideas for the party....
“3. No Hilary 2008 Campaign.
“In fairness, 3 reasons to vote for Bush:
“1. Kerry’s behavior when confronted by the Boston Police Patrolmen’s picket line.
“2. Kerry’s Vietnam framework. (I’m surprised we haven’t heard the Zarqawi ‘Killing Fields’ analogy yet).
“3. Kerry's core competency: unnecessarily offering up contradictions that confuse and enrage people. He can get away with that in Massachusetts and with the core -- he might piss off Eileen McNamara on abortion, but is she going to vote for Bush?”
