e-Claire

GREAT⁸-GRAND-SON OF: NYT --Non-biassed and brilliant

and pigs are flyin' so fast and hard there'll be bacon in the trees by mornin' The author's theory as to why we voters aren't jumping up and down in glee over Kerry's vision?

Americans are frightened -- an emotion that has benefited Bush, and one that he has done little to dissuade -- and many of them perceive a far more existential threat to their lives than the one Kerry describes. In this climate, Kerry's rather dry recitations about money-laundering laws and intelligence-sharing agreements can sound oddly discordant.

So, not only are we just a little stupid, we are frightened and therefore unable to grasp anything but the juiciest, blood 'n' guts 'n' gore 'n' veins in mah teeth kind of approach to solution. Sure, what we're lookin' fer is a "theory of the world that matches the scope of [our] insecurity." Ya dumb bastards. Oh, but wait! There's hope yet:

Theoretically, Kerry could still find a way to wrap his ideas into some bold and cohesive construct for the next half-century -- a Kerry Doctrine, perhaps, or a campaign against chaos, rather than a war on terror -- that people you dumb-fuck shit kickers will understand and relate to.

Isn't that delightful? Sooo refined -- a "campaign against chaos." We'll hold tea parties with terrorists and have make-over for the moo-lahs and, ooooo it's all so exciting! And they'll all wake up and stop hating women and wanting to use their children as bomb holders and we'll sing together in a meadow filled with daisies! oooo - I dunno...

But [Kerry] has always been a man who prides himself on appreciating the subtleties of public policy, and everything in his experience has conditioned him to avoid unsubtle constructs and grand designs. His aversion to Big Think has resulted in one of the campaign's oddities:

He is revealed to be a small thinker -- a detail man incapable of seeing a wider picture in an historical context. He missed it with Communism, meeting with Madam Binh and advocation the surrender of his own country; he missed it again with the Communists in Central America, advocating for the Sandanistas; he misses it every time it arises to smack him in the face. He thinks if he sells out his Values and gains the approval of the person in front of him, that particular problem is handled once and for all. He never twigs when he is used as a tool of forces greater than he can comprehend. He has no comprehension that he can be used by a sociopath who will pet him and preen him and have him killed for fun as he walks out the door. Oh, and the article? It ends by describing just why Kerry is smarter than you or I. Big surprise. . NB I'm gonna break this up into several pieces so as not to go on and on and fucking on to make it less egregious. The original piece is Kerry's Undeclared War from the NYT Magazine. [login: biasedashell PW: dncshill]

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