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[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
What you said reminded me of something I read a few weeks ago:

• Bush seems to believe he can now present himself as the calm, centrist, steady point right in between the wild-eyed left and right. (Perhaps only Hitler puts enough weight on the other side to make Bush seem calm and centrist.) He must realize that he made a choice at some point in his presidency to put large forces into play. He didn't have to cast politcal arguments into grand battles between the forces of light and the forces of dark. He didn't have to stake everything on radical tax shifting and foreign policy insanity. The central argument of E. J. Dionne's superb new book, Stand Up, Fight Back, (although I have also heard it referred to as "E.J. Unleashed) is that Bush had two chances to govern in a way that would have unified the electorate and assured him support, if begrudging, across a broad swathe of the electorate -- after the Supreme Court made him president and after Sept. 11 -- and both he aggressively rejected. I think that's it in a nutshell, and probably how history will see this second one-term Bush presidency. But part of the problem is that Bush doesn't seem to have any idea that he has done this. He's just picking up where he left off in the 2000 campaign. But you have to recognize that when you stake your supporters to the cause of stopping gay marriage, when you stake the economy to a gamble on surviving massive deficits, when you stake your reputation as an international leader on a "you break it, you own it" invasion of a country, thoroughly unprepared for either the predicted or unpredictable consequences, you just have to hope that all those dice roll in your favor. If they do, you win "big time." If not, you lose. Bush has no option in his reelection message but to try to reinforce and justify the choice he's made to go the extremes.

The Decembrist

(The reference to Hitler is to the Bush campaign ad with a clip of Hitler in it.)

Ty, I try to read most of the articles you post, (if nothing else than to get a check on how looney the left really is). I tried to read this one as well, but when it says that the Supreme Court made Bush president, I must draw the line.