Letters to the Editor
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They just can't stop believing in fairies.
The beltway folks can't wrap their minds around the fact that most people hate George W. Bush. A lot of people I know--including old Republican ladies from Texas, triangulating goood old boys, libertarians--who turn purple when his name comes up. He isn't just disliked, he's despised. They know that Katrina and Iraq are going to be the real legacies of this president, and that they add up to a loss of American prestige.
But why should pundits see this? They live in the echo chamber of their own fairy stories. Bush was always a snarky frat boy, but it was a good contrast to Gore to say he was likable. He was never Churchill, but after 9/11 it was comforting to the traumatized rubes to say he was. The Iraq war couldn't be a disaster because they had spent so long cheerleading it as final proof that Republicans were better at keeping us safe than Democrats. These were the hooks that sold their newspapers and kept their ratings up. The idea that Democrats are weak on national security issues is another of their fireside tales, repeated nightly.