Is that all there is?

George Bush "blasts" the competition:

"The other party's nomination battle is still playing out. The candidates are an interesting group, with diverse opinions. For tax cuts, and against them. For NAFTA, and against NAFTA. For the Patriot Act, and against the Patriot Act. In favor of liberating Iraq, and opposed to it. And that's just one senator from Massachusetts."

If that's all there is, my friends, then, as the lady sang, let's start dancing, all the way to the White House.

Not that any of that is true, exactly, but even if it was, it's a pretty weak basis to stake a re-election campaign on. Let's take a look...

"For tax cuts, and against them..." OK, for tax cuts for Americans who make less than $200,000 a year, against tax cuts for those who make more. I'll tell you what. I'll concede the vote of everyone in the higher income category (otherwise known as 'the Republican base') and take all the rest.

And win. Everytime. Everywhere.

"For NAFTA, and against NAFTA..." Well, in fairness, there's only one candidate who is actually 'against' NAFTA, and he's a Congressman from Ohio, not a Senator from Massachusetts. But revisit NAFTA? Keep what works, and renegotiate what doesn't? I don't think blind adherence to the original agreement is a winning position, and frankly, I'm a little amazed that Bushco hasn't tried to tie the failures of NAFTA to the Clinton administration with a 'mend it, don't end it' position of their own.

Sometimes I think Bush is just a liar, sometimes I think he's just stupid, but on this one I just think he's a stupid liar.

"For the Patriot Act, and against the Patriot Act..." Or, in another formulation, for the Patriot Act as an emergency implementation with appropriate sunset provisions, appalled at the reckless implementation of the Patriot Act by Bushco, and grateful that those sunset provisions provide an opportunity to adjust the more onerous provisions that have allowed Ashcroft to get all medieval on our civil liberties.

Yeah, I'll buy that.

"In favor of liberating Iraq, and opposed to it..." I've got to admit, my first impulse is to ask the Prez to get back to me on that one after Iraq's been liberated. Yes, a tyrant has been deposed, and I count that a good thing. But 'occupation' and 'liberation' aren't synonyms, and because of the foolhardy policies of Bushco, I don't see a practical end in sight for the occupation that could guarantee genuine liberation.

I'm disappointed that so many Democrats voted in favor of a resolution that allowed (although it certainly didn't mandate) those policies, but I'm glad that John Kerry recognizes the fundamental failure of those policies and has developed a constructive set of alternatives that can, in fact, produce an Iraqi liberation to replace the Bush occupation.

Bush has tipped his hand, and it's a bust. That's all there is, and there's nothing there.

Strike up the Inagural Ball band, because we're coming, they're going....