From a right-wing pundit who on occasion gets things just right:
For me, the big winner is Edwards. He’s always struck me as a Tony Blair figure – telegenic, personally appealing, centrist. His speech was the best of the bunch last night – and he exudes decency. That’s enormously important against Bush because the president’s most under-rated political virtue is his general likeability. If Edwards can pick off even a couple of Southern states, he has a critical advantage over his rivals. National security is obviously a huge problem. Maybe he can find a way to innoculate himself on the issue. How does a Kerry-Edwards or Edwards-Kerry ticket sound? In a word: Credible. The Dems don’t want to commit suicide after all. For the record, I’d back Edwards against any of the others currently running.
This doesn’t absolve Sullivan for leading the charge to smear Clark and Dean as incoherent, self-contradicting buffoons (and he’s still doing it). But if the Dems can actually get conservatives like him to endorse their presidential candidate, Bush would be in deep trouble indeed.
1
By Conrad
Did you happen to see Dean’s post-debacle speech yesterday. Honest to God, it looked like the man was channeling radio Uranus on his dental work.
Seriously unfit for the presidency.
January 21, 2004 @ 12:38 pm | Comment
2
By richard
I saw a snippet this morning, and as always, I feel totally uninspired and unimpressed. I think he is dead wrong for the job and am amazed he’s gotten this far.
January 21, 2004 @ 1:29 pm | Comment
3
By Conrad
I thought it was amazing, I watched it with my mouth agape, and then when he screamed “YeeeAAAH! at the end, I figured stick a fork in him, he’s done.
Dean is finished. Mark my words, Clark will self-destruct next. It will be a two man race between Kerry and Edwards, and Al Sharpton may end up ensuring that Kerry wins it.
January 21, 2004 @ 3:08 pm | Comment
4
By vaara
Meanwhile, Sullivan is disgusted — and rightly so — at Bush’s fatwa against same-sex marriage. It’ll be truly fascinating to watch him battle his inner demons as he tries to reconcile his slavish adoration of Li’l George’s manly missile-launching manhood, and his apparently sincere belief that we homos should not be Constitutionally relegated to second-class citizenship.
I predict that sometime around mid-March, Sully will spontaneously combust.
January 21, 2004 @ 4:56 pm | Comment
5
By richard
But you know Vaara, if you are following Sullivan closely, you’ll see he is disgusted with Bush on nearly all levels, to the point of actually saying the only reason to vote for Bush is national security. That is one hell of a metamorphosis from the storm trooper he was just a year ago.
January 21, 2004 @ 5:34 pm | Comment
6
By vaara
Well, maybe he’s just getting back in touch with his inner Bush-hater — you know, the one that inspired a couple of anti-Bush (and pro-McCain) op-ed pieces back in 2000.
Frankly, I can’t and won’t trust him, at least not until he admits he was wrong to refer to all liberals in their “decadent coastal havens” (e.g. Adams-Morgan and Provincetown) as terrorist-loving fifth columnists.
January 21, 2004 @ 6:28 pm | Comment
7
By David Mercer
Well, I happen to think that Clark and Dean are inconsistent buffoons too, and would be horrible as President.
But I’ve long thought that Edwards was the best of the bunch, and had wondered where the hell he’d disappeared to, as I heard nada about him for months as the media have been in Dean Frenzy mode.
I’d much prefer an Edwards-Kerry presidency from what I can tell than the reverse, and tend to not like ANYone’s domestic positions in this race (Bush or the Dems).
January 22, 2004 @ 6:48 am | Comment
8
By richard
David, are you reading Sullivan daily? It’s fascinating, watching his u-turn. He’s totally with you on the Edwards-Kerry ticket, and at the moment I’ll have to say I am too.
January 22, 2004 @ 8:49 pm | Comment
9
By David Mercer
No, I usually only read Sullivan when someone links to a good bit, although I do randomly check in and comb through back stuff sometimes.
I’m liking Kerry less and less the more I find out, and Edwards more and more.
It IS amusing to see Andrew spin like a top though, isn’t it? 🙂
January 27, 2004 @ 3:33 am | Comment