Kerry's decision to stay out of the Clarke controversy is wise (since throwing his support, or, generally speaking the support of Democrats, to Clarke will only make the whole thing look like partisan politics as usual to many people), and the imbroglio has, for the moment, somewhat stopped the clock on Kerry's need to go on the attack, and to parry Bush's attacks with positive and upbeat news of his own -- such as the announcement of a running mate or the rolling out of a "shadow cabinet". These things can now wait a while, as the Bush administration continues to shoot itself in the foot repeatedly with their all-out (and internally contradictory) attack on Clarke's credibility while almost completely ignoring the substance of his claims.
Sooner or later, though, the damage that Clarke has inflicted (and the damage inflicted on itself by the administration) will peak and the public will turn away from the sideshows and look to other things. The Bushies will certainly remount their attack on Kerry, possible at an even higher pitch (if that's possible), and the essentials of what many in the liberal blogosphere have been saying will again be in effect. Kerry will have to attack, not just respond, he'll have to get himself in the position of being tougher on terrorism than Bush (which is easier to do, now that Clarke has shown how weak on terror Bush actually has been), he needs to build a cadre of high-profile surrogates to carry his message far and wide (the purpose of the Shadow Cabinet idea), and he really should usurp the spotlight at the right moment by announcing his running mate well before the convention. (He can first pre-announce the announcement -- reveal his intention to make the choice -- then publicize the search, then announce it, all of which should take up a good deal of media time over the course of a week to ten days, maybe more.)
He also needs to present his positive, uplifting, feel-good program for the country, and the need to do so while at the same time attacking and parrying Bush is one of the primary reasons that I've been adamant that Edwards should be his choice for running mate.
Some weeks ago, before Edwards dropped out, I think, I tried to write something to post but wasn't able to put it into satisfactory shape, Basically what I wanted to say that if Kerry's choices for v.p. were either Wesley Clark or John Edwards, the choice would indicate whether Kerry thought the economy or national security was going to be the dominant issue. With Clark, Kerry would present an extremely solid front on national security, given his own experiences, and with Edwards he would firm up his ability to present a positive vision for the country's economic well-being.
As it turns out, Clark was a poor enough campaigner (totally due to inexperience, I think) that I soon dropped the idea that he was a good choice for Kerry's running mate, and now that Bush's national security credentials have taken a substantial hit, perhaps there is no need for Kerry to even consider the necessity that his running mate be someone who is strong in that area. If this is so, that's even more reason why Edwards would be his best choice.
Obviously, there's little doubt where I stand on this, but I've also said before that Kerry's choice, whoever he picks, needs to be a bold one, not some party hack or person chosen to placate pressure groups or for "regional balance" or other narrow reasons. The running mate's appeal should be national, helping the team to do better everywhere, not simply in one state or one area. Edwards fills that bill, I think, but perhaps there's someone else who does as well. If Kerry doesn't pick Edwards, I hope to hell he surprised and delights me with his pick.
absolutist
aggresive
anti-Constitutional
anti-intellectual
arrogant
authoritarian
blame-placers
blameworthy
blinkered
buckpassers
calculating
class warriors
clueless
compassionless
con artists
conniving
conscienceless
conspiratorial
corrupt
craven
criminal
crooked
culpable
damaging
dangerous
deadly
debased
deceitful
delusional
despotic
destructive
devious
disconnected
dishonorable
dishonest
disingenuous
disrespectful
dogmatic
doomed
fanatical
fantasists
felonious
hateful
heinous
hostile to science
hypocritical
ideologues
ignorant
immoral
incompetent
indifferent
inflexible
insensitive
insincere
irrational
isolated
kleptocratic
lacking in empathy
lacking in public spirit
liars
mendacious
misleading
mistrustful
non-rational
not candid
not "reality-based"
not trustworthy
oblivious
oligarchic
opportunistic
out of control
pernicious
perverse
philistine
plutocratic
prevaricating
propagandists
rapacious
relentless
reprehensible
rigid
scandalous
schemers
selfish
secretive
shameless
sleazy
tricky
unAmerican
uncaring
uncivil
uncompromising
unconstitutional
undemocratic
unethical
unpopular
unprincipled
unrealistic
unreliable
unrepresentative
unscientific
unscrupulous
unsympathetic
venal
vile
virtueless
warmongers
wicked
without integrity
wrong-headed
Thanks to: Breeze, Chuck, Ivan Raikov, Kaiju, Kathy, Roger, Shirley, S.M. Dixon
recently seen
i've got a little list...
Elliott Abrams
Steven Abrams (Kansas BofE)
David Addington
Howard Fieldstead Ahmanson
Roger Ailes (FNC)
John Ashcroft
Bob Bennett
William Bennett
Joe Biden
John Bolton
Alan Bonsell (Dover BofE)
Pat Buchanan
Bill Buckingham (Dover BofE)
George W. Bush
Saxby Chambliss
Bruce Chapman (DI)
Dick Cheney
Lynne Cheney
Richard Cohen
The Coors Family
Ann Coulter
Michael Crichton
Lanny Davis
Tom DeLay
William A. Dembski
James Dobson
Leonard Downie (WaPo)
Dinesh D’Souza
Gregg Easterbrook
Jerry Falwell
Douglas Feith
Arthur Finkelstein
Bill Frist
George Gilder
Newt Gingrich
John Gibson (FNC)
Alberto Gonzalez
Rudolph Giuliani
Sean Hannity
Katherine Harris
Fred Hiatt (WaPo)
Christopher Hitchens
David Horowitz
Don Imus
James F. Inhofe
Jesse Jackson
Philip E. Johnson
Daryn Kagan
Joe Klein
Phil Kline
Ron Klink
William Kristol
Ken Lay
Joe Lieberman
Rush Limbaugh
Trent Lott
Frank Luntz
"American Fundamentalists"
by Joel Pelletier
(click on image for more info)
Chris Matthews
Mitch McConnell
Stephen C. Meyer (DI)
Judith Miller (ex-NYT)
Zell Miller
Tom Monaghan
Sun Myung Moon
Roy Moore
Dick Morris
Rupert Murdoch
Ralph Nader
John Negroponte
Grover Norquist
Robert Novak
Ted Olson
Elspeth Reeve (TNR)
Bill O'Reilly
Martin Peretz (TNR)
Richard Perle
Ramesh Ponnuru
Ralph Reed
Pat Robertson
Karl Rove
Tim Russert
Rick Santorum
Richard Mellon Scaife
Antonin Scalia
Joe Scarborough
Susan Schmidt (WaPo)
Bill Schneider
Al Sharpton
Ron Silver
John Solomon (WaPo)
Margaret Spellings
Kenneth Starr
Randall Terry
Clarence Thomas
Richard Thompson (TMLC)
Donald Trump
Richard Viguere
Donald Wildmon
Paul Wolfowitz
Bob Woodward (WaPo)
John Yoo
guest-blogging
All the fine sites I've
guest-blogged for:
Be sure to visit them all!!
recent listening
influences
John Adams
Laurie Anderson
Aphex Twin
Isaac Asimov
Fred Astaire
J.G. Ballard
The Beatles
Busby Berkeley
John Cage
"Catch-22"
Raymond Chandler
Arthur C. Clarke
Elvis Costello
Richard Dawkins
Daniel C. Dennett
Philip K. Dick
Kevin Drum
Brian Eno
Fela
Firesign Theatre
Eliot Gelwan
William Gibson
Philip Glass
David Gordon
Stephen Jay Gould
Dashiell Hammett
"The Harder They Come"
Robert Heinlein
Joseph Heller
Frank Herbert
Douglas Hofstadter
Bill James
Gene Kelly
Stanley Kubrick
Jefferson Airplane
Ursula K. LeGuin
The Marx Brothers
John McPhee
Harry Partch
Michael C. Penta
Monty Python
Orbital
Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
"The Prisoner"
"The Red Shoes"
Steve Reich
Terry Riley
Oliver Sacks
Erik Satie
"Singin' in the Rain"
Stephen Sondheim
The Specials
Morton Subotnick
Talking Heads/David Byrne
Tangerine Dream
Hunter S. Thompson
J.R.R. Tolkien
"2001: A Space Odyssey"
Kurt Vonnegut
Yes
Bullshit, trolling, unthinking knee-jerk dogmatism and the drivel of idiots will be ruthlessly deleted and the posters banned.
Entertaining, interesting, intelligent, informed and informative comments will always be welcome, even when I disagree with them.
I am the sole judge of which of these qualities pertains.
E-mail
All e-mail received is subject to being published on unfutz without identifying names or addresses.
Corrections
I correct typos and other simple errors of grammar, syntax, style and presentation in my posts after the fact without necessarily posting notification of the change.
Substantive textual changes, especially reversals or major corrections, will be noted in an "Update" or a footnote.
Also, illustrations may be added to entries after their initial publication.
the story so far
unfutz: toiling in almost complete obscurity for almost 1500 days
If you read unfutz at least once a week, without fail, your teeth will be whiter and your love life more satisfying.
If you read it daily, I will come to your house, kiss you on the forehead, bathe your feet, and cook pancakes for you, with yummy syrup and everything.
(You might want to keep a watch on me, though, just to avoid the syrup ending up on your feet and the pancakes on your forehead.)
Finally, on a more mundane level, since I don't believe that anyone actually reads this stuff, I make this offer: I'll give five bucks to the first person who contacts me and asks for it -- and, believe me, right now five bucks might as well be five hundred, so this is no trivial offer.
