Scott's Soapbox

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Kerry on Imus

Following his op-ed proposal calling for fixed dealines for the Iraqi government to come together or face a U.S. troop withdrawal, John Kerry was on Don Imus' show Friday morning- transcript. As I was reading this, and I thought again how much better he seems in these informal situations, where he is just being a dude, not a senator. This guy- laughing, joking- could have, would have been president. They were discussing his proposal and Kerry said: "I thought in my plan I'd give -- give the Iraqis until May 15 to have a functioning government. Give [the] Bush White House until May 16 to have a functioning government." That's a good line! It reminded me a lot of Al Gore after the election. The Al Gore who appeared on Letterman and, most memorably, on Saturday Night Live would have won easily.

Why do the Democrats keep nominating candidates who seem uncomfortable in their own skin? Dukakis, Gore, Kerry...a string of Democrats who seemed artificial, stiff, and unrelaxed. Their nervousness translated into America's nervousness. I remember Kerry being asked once about the barbeque question, asking between him and Bush, who people would rather have at their barbeque (Bush won in a landslide). He stiffly thought that shouldn't matter in electing a president. But it does- we are going to have this person in our lives every day for the next four years. We cannot be comfortable with them if they are not comfortable with themselves.

One candidate making great strides in this seems to be Joe Biden. When he ran back in 1988, he had a little bit too much energy, too much youth. Right now, he seems to have bridged the gap of being an elder statesman (6th term Senator) and having a common touch. He was excellent on Real Time with Bill Maher last night- really a good performance on what turned out to be a very good episode- catch the rerun if you can. (Much better than last week- who cares what Seth green thinks about anything? Or most of Hollywood for that matter?)

As an aside, it always bugs me when Republicans beat on Hollywood people for saying stuff about political matters. I remember a few weeks ago Charlie Sheen said something about there being a 9/11 conspiracy and the right wing got all riled up. Does anyone really think a person is going to base their vote on what Charlie-freaking-Sheen has to say? Gee, I was a Bush supporter, but now that I hear what the rakish star of "Young Guns" and "Two and a Half Men" has to say...I wonder. Let it go. Sheen is about as credible as Michelle Malkin.

(Except without the racism. Probably with more cocaine though).

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