I presume that the GUEST directly above is the same GUEST who says he/she/it intends to vote for Nader. Okay, so be it. But if GUEST seriously thinks that Nader can win over Bush, and Kerry can't he, she, or it is living in a dream world.

I think I know where this person is coming from. My particular favorite prior to the general shaking out was Kucinich. I still think his "Ten Key Issues" offer the real alternative that this country needs. But I also know that he would have a pretty rough go getting much, or any, of this passed with the current Congress (not impossible, though, because there is a way).   And the unfortunate political reality is that Kucinich is not the most charismatic man in the world, and, sadly, that seems to count with much of the American electorate. In any case, I voted for him in the caucus. But I noticed that same "I've got my blinders on, I like my blinders, and if you don't agree with me, you can all go to hell!" attitude that GUEST displays from many of the more hard-charging Deaniacs at the caucus. And now, I get the idea that many of the more rabid ones have switched their allegiance to Nader. Same rhetoric.

I had a chance to watch 60 Minutes and I got it on tape; and I managed to watch part of the Kerry Meet the Press interview, but was interrupted several times. Fortunately I got that on tape also, so I'll be watching the whole thing shortly.

My thanks to Cruiser on the Bob Wordward on '60 Minutes' thread for posting the link to the transcript of the interview with Woodward. It becomes evident that George W. Bush, although he may be fun at a party and a good host at a barbeque, is totally inadequate as any kind of leader, much less as a president. I found this interchange in the Woodward interview particularly telling:

How deep a man is President George W. Bush? "He's not an intellectual. He is not what I guess would be called a deep thinker," says Woodward. "He chastised me at one point because I said people were concerned about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. And he said, 'Well you travel in elite circles.' I think he feels there is an intellectual world and he's indicated he's not a part of it … the fancy pants intellectual world. What he calls the elite."

A man who doesn't value the intellect is not presidential material. Send him back to Crawford, Texas, put an apron on him and a spatula in his hand, and let him preside over the ribs.

But the idea that Kerry, as GUEST says, "truly deserves to lose in November, because he doesn't offer a true alternative to the Bush Republican agenda" is nincompoopery made manifest. First, if Kerry "deserves to lose" and does, we'll have four more years of Bush. And second, if GUEST truly thinks "that there are not that many differences between them on the major policy issues of this election," then GUEST must be sticking his/her/its fingers in his/her/its ears whenever Kerry is in the news. And third, after seeing the Bush press conference and contrasting it to what I saw of the Tim Russert's interview with Kerry, I would LOVE to see a series of debates (or even just one) between Kerry and Bush. That would make the essential differences, both in policies and in fitness for the job patently obvious to everyone.

In the Russert interview, Kerry challenged Bush to a series of debates on the issues. Bush's response to that challenge--if any--is going to be very interesting. Bush hates press conferences because he is at least smart enough know that his actual knowledge of his own issues is pretty shaky at best, his usually colletion of "bumper-sticker" answers won't work, and that he simply can't think on his feet. Kerry has been a master of debate since he was quite young. I recently saw an old clip of him on the Dick Cavet show. He was 24 at the time, involved in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and debating a gung ho pro-war Marine. I have to agree with Bob (Deckman), that Kerry would "chew him up in little pieces and spit him out one corner of his mouth." And I think Bush does too. Watch for some very flashy tap-dancing on the part of Bush or his supporters to avoid a debate.

It's going to be an interesting few months.

Don Firth