The Black Republican

The New York Times Magazine feature on John Kerry last week could very well have torpedoed his presidential aspirations. Once the words and views of Kerry and his advisors were consumed and spat out by bloggers - words like "nuisance" and "metaphor" - Kerry was bruised and weakened by the time he showed up for the last debate in Tempe, Arizona. Remarkably, the magazine's article was supposed to be complimentary toward the Senator.

In that novella, Matt Bai tried to explain that John Kerry is the better candidate because he's more intelligent, more rational, more reasonable.

Now a companion piece comes out the following week, this one focused on the president. Amazingly (not), this one does not sound nearly as complimentary as the last. In fact, one might try to label it a "hit piece". John Kerry may be a man of Reason, but George Bush is a man of Faith. And that means he's never reasonable.

"Just in the past few months," (former Republican official Bruce) Bartlett said, "I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do." Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: "This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them...."

It goes on from there. "He dispenses with people who confront him with inconvenient facts," "He truly believes he's on a mission from God," he acts when he doesn't "know the facts," goes on "instinct," the Religious Right base of his party "believes that their leader is a messenger from God."

Spare me, puleeeease. Like last week, I could barely get through even a portion of the whole, rambling mess, so I'm sure from past experience it gets even worse. How utterly insane and paranoid can these people get? And do they really think this kind of utter nonsense will impress people in flyover country, where we dare to believe in God an astounding 89% of the time?

Don't stand behind the Kerry bus - it's about to backfire again.