Surprise! I'm up at 9:32 AM. ;-) Gotta keep people guessing.

Interesting summation of past presidential races, Mike. You're quite right that Kennedy won solely on charm (and good looks)...plus, I think some votes were laundered in that one for the Democrats by the Chicago machine and the Mafia. Nixon may really have won it, but been robbed.

Be that as it may, I'm glad that Kennedy won, although we'll never know if Nixon would have done better.

The one example of yours that I'm not sure I agree with is Clinton. I think he was a strong candidate in his own right, because like Kennedy, he had a lot of charisma. He would have beaten most opponents at the time. So when the Democrats picked Clinton, they piced a winner...but they are quite talented at not picking winners most of the time.

It's just downright incredible that the American public would have TWICE picked Dwight "dull" Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson. Unbelievable. It tells you a lot about what is electable in the USA.

It's the kiss of death in that country to be seen as an intellectual if you want to run for office. That's very sad. I blame it on 50 years of John Wayne movies and other such macho tripe... ;-)

*****

Back to Calvinism. I've been reading more about it. YECH! What a dreadful spiritual philosopy. The mere fact that Ron Davies thinks I am a closet Calvinist perturbs me. What could I possibly have said to lead him to think that? ;-) Well, I guess I am a Calvinist in one, and only one sense....I LOVE "Calvin & Hobbes"! Best comic strip in the last 25 years.