Andrew Sullivan
BUSH-HATRED PEAKING? There was a moment during my time on Bill Maher's Real Time (I had a blast) that, in retrospect, struck me as revealing. At one point, when Maher was going through a list of what he believed were firable offenses at the CIA, in the White House, and so on, during the war on terror, he blurted something out. I paraphrase: "Why was it that the only person who got fired from his job during the war on terror was me?" It was a joke.
But it came back to me reading Al Gore's deranged rant in Tennessee (the state that voted for Bush in 2000). Gore felt humiliated not only by the election result, but also by the soaring popularity of Bush after 9/11. Just like Maher's anger at being out of it during those months, Gore's rage and resentment must have been bubbling underneath for a while. So the legitimate WMD issue has finally enabled them to vent more freely, to come out of the shell of restraint that patriotism and unpopularity once imposed upon them.
That may also be true for many of us who were alarmed by the fiscal situation during the war but kept mum for similar reasons (although I was on the case for much of last year). We're venting now. But what that might also mean is that the anger might soon dissipate. Rage at Bush might subside. And the real criticisms of his administration - on spending, debt, WMD intelligence - might be more soberly addressed. Gore is always a very good indicator of where the country isn't. Bush-hatred, in other words, may have peaked. Bush-skepticism may be rising. Dean didn't win. Kerry did. And the skepticism may be more deadly. |
