Bush And Cheney Might Be On The Ropes.

On January 20, 2004, when no one was speaking about John Kerry to win the Democratic nomination (please see ARCHIVES: The Meaning Of Last Night’s Iowa Caucus), I wrote on Galganov Dot Com:

“My pick for the successful Democratic Candidate to face-off with Bush is Senator John Kerry. Don’t laugh. I picked an Arkansas governor a few years back before anyone even knew his name”.

I also wrote in the same article:

“Senator Edwards. Here comes a nobody with seemingly no chance in hell to keep up with the pack, least of all win, and all of a sudden everyone knows his name. He is a great looking guy, young, positive, full of energy, and he has a clear message for the Democratic party members and the voting public. He could really do it. I would vote for Edwards as well”.

It’s too bad I can’t pick winning racehorses and lottery numbers the way I can pick US Presidential candidates.

The fact that Kerry chose Edwards is not really a surprise, since Edwards is by far and away the people’s choice. Not to have picked Edwards would have been the surprise.

Driving in my car today, I was tuned to Right Wing radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham (on my satellite XM Radio) who belittled Kerry and Edwards for always looking great with coiffed hair.

She also lambasted Edwards for being a successful trial lawyer who made more than $50 million dollars suing mal-practice medical claims.

Her crowning critique however; was of Kerry’s very wealthy wife, Theresa Heinz, of the Heinz Catsup empire, for referring to Tennessee as the Tennessees, as in plural like the Carolinas.

All Laura Ingraham proved with this verbal nonsense, is that she herself is a jerk. If this is the best the American Right can come up with to take on Kerry and Edwards? They’ve got serious troubles.

Yesterday; also on XM Satellite Radio, I was tuned to the Michael Medved show. Medved’s no Duffus. But he too sounded like a jerk in his attacks on Edwards.

According to Medved, Edwards opened a legal dummy corporation in which he deposited an enormous amount of money, which he then took out as a dividend, saving himself $650,000 in health taxes.

Michael Medved repeatedly stated that what Edwards did was LEGAL. But, because Edwards is an advocate of more and better government subsidized healthcare for the masses, what he did was somehow immoral.

The Far Right ought to be very careful in how they choose to attack Kerry and Edwards.

If they want to poke fun at Kerry’s wife for calling Tennessee the Tennessees. They would do well to remember that the current President of the USA, George W Bush didn’t know the name of Canada’s Prime Minister. Nor did he know that Canada is America’s single largest trading partner.

And before pointing a finger at Edwards for taking advantage of an absolutely legal tax shelter, they should remember that the Bush clan was up to their necks in the S&L scandal of the eighties, and if it wasn’t for his father’s connections, George W would not be the rich man he is today.

I don’t have to do more than simply mention Cheney and Haliburton in the same sentence to get most Americans’ blood boiling.

There are an enormous number of serious social and global issues to debate, without the likes of Ingraham and Medved to focus on fluff.

As long as George W keeps his Right Wing tendencies to a Center Right perspective, he is on terra firma. But the moment he or his supporters move too far to the right, it will be good night Irene. And that’s all she wrote.

Not only are Kerry and Edwards very much on message. They are a hair’s breadth away from owing the Center and both sides of it.

They both want to increase the size and scope of the US military, keep the financing of public and private schools totally separate, continue enshrining a woman’s right to choose, support the rights of Gays and Lesbians, and make affordable healthcare available to all Americans.

These are all issues most sane Americans will support and want to vote for.

Before and just after George W got elected, I thought he was a Duffus.

After 9/11, I thought these incredible circumstances brought out the very best in him; much like WW II brought out the best in Churchill.

After telling the world where to get off in his decision to invade Saddam’s Iraq, I thought he showed great leadership and courage. And even after being shown to have misled the world in his war against Iraq, I still stuck with him.

But now that Kerry and Edwards are making their move, George W is going to have to get moving as well, because, if the best his unabashed supporters like the Right Wing Radio talk-show hosts can up with are attacks on the way Kerry and Edwards comb their respective hair, or a faux pas made by one of their wives, or for taking advantage of a legal tax shelter; Bush and Cheney might be wanting to update their resumes.

If Bush (Carl Rove) isn’t careful, this race for the White House could be over before the end of summer.