a scratch pad for half-formed thoughts by a liberal political junkie who's nobody special. ''Hard Heads, Soft Hearts'' is the title of a book by Princeton economist Alan Blinder, and tends to be a favorite motto of neoliberals, especially liberal economists.
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Gore was conspicous by his absence from your list of
presidential candidates. Why so? I actually assumed
Gore was running in four years, and looked forward to
volunteering for him.

These are analysises & predictions I posted on a
Salon thread:

"1. McCain really wanted Gore to win, not only
strategically but substantively. Right now he's in his
own private hell.

2. HRC will definitely not run for Prez in 2004, Gore
definitely will, the Dem field will be crowded, and
Gore has a better than even shot at winning the
nomination.

3. The main question vis a vis Gore is what platform
he will run on. Will he run on his core convictions of
what is to be done on the most important issues facing
the nation, or will he run on a focus-grouped platform
with all the naughty, controversial bits censored out
to avoid offending people? I don't know, and I suspect
Gore doesn't know either.

4. There will be a serious centrist third party
ticket, either McCain-Kerrey or Ventura-Somebody. They
will be competitive in the Democratic states and in
the lukewarm Pug states.

If I had to bet, I would say the third party wins, and
in particular I do not see how Gore wins in this
three-way contest :(

But hey, if Bill Clinton is his Shadow Campaign
Manager, anything may be possible. . "

Besides vengeance, I honestly think Gore would be a
better president than anyone on your list.

so I was disappointed, with your "inches close"
sources, to see you dismissing Gore in four. On a
lighter note. . .this is a snippet from the SF
Chronicle:

"Bush's mood was markedly changed yesterday from his
upbeat manner at earlier Cabinet announcements. A pool
report by a Washington Times reporter described the
scene this way:

"Mr. Bush appeared weary, looking ashen and stumbling
over his words often. He began by accidentally wishing
the assembled press 'Good afternoon' and hastily
corrected himself. He spoke slowly and without his
usual joshing with the press.

"Mr. Bush left without taking any questions, leaving
his four new Cabinet picks to fend for themselves
before an annoyed press corps. As Mr. Bush left the
room, a Fox News reporter shouted out, 'Why in such a
rush to leave?' This prompted Mr. Bush to turn around,
hesitate a step and cast a look of such utter disgust
that even seasoned Bush watchers were taken aback. Mr.
Bush stalked out of the room with a very sour
expression."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/30/MN15623.DTL

Should this report should be titled:

"Gettin' snippy with it"

or

"This job is *hard*!" ?
posted by Anonymous at 9:28 PM