Thought for the day

March 20, 1999

Today, a story by Reuters covered a campaign stop by Presidential candidate, Al Gore.   In the body of the story it mentioned that VP Gore leads his nearest Democratic challenger (former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey) by a 2 to 1 margin.   However, it says the Veep trails undeclared Republican contenders Elizabeth Dole and G.W. Bush, Jr.

Very interesting.   We have two candidates who haven't even formally announced that they would like to be President leading the more experienced and qualified candidate.   What's up?   Are these two better choices?

Not in my opinion.   The problem is one of positioning.   Neither Dole nor Bush has taken a stand on anything.   Elizabeth Dole won't commit to any position on anything but the media is so smitten by the possibility of a woman Republican that they aren't asking any tough questions.   Even noted right-winger, Arianne Huffington, reamed out Dole for refusing to take a stand for anything.

What about Bush Junior?   He must be great, he comes from Texas and is white, but lots of Hispanic voters like him? Beats me, what do we really know about him? Virtually nothing except that he's the son of former President Bush.   The younger Bush seems moderate, as his father, but we don't know what he stands for.   Hell, he can't even say for sure he wants to be president yet.   What about the duty he has as Governor of the great state of Texas? Didn't he make at least an implicit promise to do his best job governing THAT state? Is his best job really to quit only a few months after getting sworn-in? If so, then Texas is better off without him, and we can only hope that the country doesn't get stuck with him either!