MSNBC - Hating Bush Is Not A Winning Ticket

MSNBC - Hating Bush Is Not A Winning Ticket: "Aug. 2 issue - Linda Ronstadt had a little problem at the Aladdin casino in Las Vegas last week. After she dedicated her song 'Desperado' to Michael Moore and described him as 'an American hero,' patrons began booing and heading for the exits, with some throwing their drinks against her posters on the way out. Of course, most others in the hall that night and in the country as a whole can't understand why the committed partisans on both sides are so rabid, and they hardly find it entertaining. Don't be surprised to read this fall about barroom brawls over the finer points of Iraq policy, which may be better than fighting about football or 'What you lookin' at?' but hardly represents the civil debate we had reason to expect in the first presidential election since September 11.

There is so much material to work with that Democrats don't have to become hyperventilating Moorecrats. Calling Bush an evil liar tied up in conspiracies involving the Carlyle Group, Afghan pipelines and the like is both preposterous and counterproductive. Better to calmly explain how Bush & Co. may look like grown-ups but have made one incompetent decision after another, even as they dodge accountability, kowtow to extremists in their party and (especially relevant for undecided business people) harm Brand U.S.A. throughout the world. Just don't try making that case in a casino."


By Jonathan Alter
Newsweek