Thanks!

Wow! Talk about the perfect mating of man and mission: asking the President to appear stupid. Dude, when it comes to dumbass, he's the Man! Want someone to appear dumber than a sack of doorknobs! He can do it! Want someone a few bricks shy of a full load; a half a bubble outa plumb; not the sharpest knife in the drawer? He can do it! He can be the dumbest president in the history of thte Republic with one hand tied behind his back.

I don't know what genius came up with this plan, but it rocks! It's reminiscent of Nebraska Senator Norm Hruska, who in 1970 responded to criticism that a Supreme Court nominee had been a mediocre judge by saying:

"Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance?"

So think about it: 49.9% of the American people have less than average IQ's, and know they've got someone to represent them... in fact, they probably voted for him last election!

"The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is a classic of the children's genre, and not to be disparaged. (:

To win 'us" back? No, I think its to keep the crowd who believes that dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't get on the ark firmly in his camp.

So the strategists have come full circle in selling Bush to the American people. The problem is that now, after 6+ years, voters have different expectations of him. Now, voters are finally opening their eyes to the lies and corruption of power. I can't help but think this new old ploy is an act of desparation.

While this will no doubt be an amusing stategy to behold, I doubt that it will do much for the President's poll numbers. Many Americans did in did view Bush as a done to earth guy with a good heart, who made up what he lacked for in book knowledge and worldly graces with old fashioned common sense. Bush's reputation for common sense and a good heart have been completely lost thanks to his non-stopping lies and the sheer incomprehensble magnitude of his administrations incompetency. While it is true that many Americans were in love with the mythic uneducated but worldly and wise good soul that was the Bush brand, it is a the height of stupidity to think that viewpoint equates with the common folk wanting the village idiot in charge.

Sadly, the evening and late night news chose to highlight Bush's little joke about not wearing a speedo. An annoucement from Democrats about National Security did not get nearly the same coverage. It seems to me that the Republican Party might be able to just skip a step by issuing their PR strategies directly to mainline broadcasters who no doubt would simply implement their ideas for them, promptly and dutifully.

the presidency twice (ok, once) not in spite of his apparent stupidity and poor speaking, but because of it. Without knowing for certain, I suspect that figured highly in Rove's choosing him as the horse to ride all the way to the White House. Just read Hofstadter's "Anti- Intellectualism in American Life" to find out all you need to know on this subject.

In addition to Hofstadter, watch a few old western movies (or even not so old; The Horse Whisperer is a good example of the genre). One of the most common themes is the western US vs. the eastern US. The former is the place where the sky is wide, the opportunities there for the taking, good and evil are clear to see and the hero is not well educated, but plain-spoken, honest and tough. He's a loyal friend and an enemy to be feared. The eastern US on the other hand is a place of corruption, polyglot languages, strange people with strange customs and above all, pointy-headed intellectuals who see only shades of gray instead of moral black and white. When those men come west, they inevitably are exposed as "girly men" who can't cut it in the rough and tumble west where action, not thought is required.

I just watched "Hombre," the old Paul Newman movie the other night. Paul Newman and Richard Boone are steely-eyed western men, competent and not to be messed with. Frederick March is an easterner with a doctorate degree who won his wife by reading Browning to her. But he's corrupt and a coward to boot. He stole a large sum of money from an indian tribe when he was the government's indian agent. When his wife's life is threatened, he can only stand by impotently and watch.

These are myths of course, but myths are more powerful than facts and John Kerry, a Bostonian, fit the myth perfectly. That's why the Swift Boat tactics worked on him. In the myth, because he's an easterner, he's presumptively a weakling, likely to cave in to our implacable foes. So Bush was trusted on national security, not because of his record which was abysmal, but because he's John Wayne. The great irony is that Bush is about as far as it's possilbe to be from actually being a John Wayne character. He's had everything he ever got handed to him on a silver platter by daddy's friends and daddy's name.

Of course the myth may get votes, but years of comparing the myth of George Bush with the reality is beginning to pall on Americans. This new tactic won't work. People are tired of the image of honesty that's based on lies, of competence based on incompetence, of moral clarity based on cronyism, of toughness based on bullying.

What the Republicans discovered with Saint Ronnie is that a substantial plurality of the American electorate is as dumb as a box of rocks. What's the matter with Kansas is that a majority of the voters are stupid. Why worry about things like deficits if you can't read numbers nor newspapers?

The Democrats haven't had a leader at the national level who appealed to the Stupid Vote since "Jack," and that largely posthumously. Until they find another, we're stuck with what we deserve.