http://www.msnbc.com/news/964417.asp?0cv=CB20If you think the “clash of civilizations” is fierce in Baghdad, wait until you see the confrontation coming to this country in the presidential campaign. Two worlds are colliding, each with a corrosive contempt for the other. The result, I think, will be the most profoundly vicious election in decades.
TO OVERSIMPLIFY — but only slightly — the Bush White House is going to argue that critics of its policies in the war on terrorism are treasonous weaklings. Democrats, as they are showing in their cable-TV debates, will call the president of the United States almost anything, including: an isolated, ignorant liar who launches bloody wars merely to strengthen his own political standing.
And that’s the nice stuff.
There is evidence everywhere that, at heart, George Bush’s re-election strategy will focus on touting his aggressive use of the American military abroad (and the government’s investigative powers at home) in the war on terror — while simultaneously (by presidential inference and surrogate attack) accusing Democratic opponents of being too wimpy by nature to handle the bad guys.
(If Dean is the guy)
Dean’s advisers think they can fend off the “pacifist” line of GOP attack with the personality of their candidate. Dean is a rather angry fellow by nature, and his handlers seem to glory in his gruff, combative personality (perfect, by the way, for attracting supporters on the Internet). In focus groups, one adviser told me, viewer/voters quickly come to the conclusion that Dean is someone to be reckoned with. “After 10 minutes of looking at the guy they say ‘this is one tough customer,’” the handler said. If Dean is the nominee, he — and the Democrats — have to hope the whole country sees him that way.
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