From the Washington Post blog The Fix:
LOSERS
President Bush: In the nine states for which The Post purchased exit polling data (Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee), the president's disapproval rating was above 40 percent in five. That includes a 52 percent disapproval score in New York, a 49 percent disapproval rating in New Jersey and a 42 percent disapproval in California. Did we mention these include Republican primary voters? The other bit of bad news for Bush is that among those who disapproved of the job he has done, McCain won overwhelmingly -- meaning that the likely 2008 nominee will, in the minds of many GOP-leaning voters, be a repudiation of the current president.
Okay, except that McCain is just like Bush 43, only more so -- more invade the world, more invite the world, more in hoc to the world. And they have very similar nasty frat boy personalities.
Yesterday, I suggested that John McCain, with his cocky shoot-from-the-hip lack of preparation and thoroughness, is the the kind of man George W. Bush always wanted for a father. (The convoluted psychodynamics of the Bush family, I've long argued, are a key to understanding why we are in Iraq.)
It now occurs to me that Mitt Romney is the kind of son George H.W. Bush would have always wanted to have follow him in the White House. But the public tends to like the McCain / W types more than the Romney - H.W. types.
Of course, Bush 41 has a competent son, Jeb. And the dynastic plan was for him to get elected governor of Florida in 1994, re-elected in 1998, and elected President in 2000 and 2004. Instead, Jeb narrowly lost in 1994 while George W. pulled off an upset election in Texas, screwing everything up royally. Is George W. Bush the only President who would have lost an election unanimously if the candidates had been restricted to his own siblings and the electorate to his own parents?
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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11 comments:
The poll is misleading since it also includes DEMOCRATS. Who are hardly likely to approve of the President.
More to the point, if you are a War Hawk you'd be deeply disappointed by Bush's public withdrawal since about 2003 or so. Other than his brief campaign for President, he's been AWOL in the public eye, has never defended his policies, and never punished politically his enemies.
Steve you fundamentally misread Bush's personality. He's LAZY.
That's the beef War Hawks have with him. Laziness.
McCain aka Lettuce McAmnesty may be many things, but Lazy he is not. That's probably why he's been able to roll to the lead. As downthread either svigor of sfg noted, he's not won more than 51% of the Republican vote anywhere, and has not won in overwhelmingly Republican areas like the South, save SC.
In SC it was likely his positioning himself as the hardest guy on the War that led to his victory.
As for Dynasty, you overlook the possibility that the political class is so weak that ANY semblance of a machine can get you ahead. How Dynastic is Obama?
And he's nearly tied with Clinton. The Dynast Supreme. If you were right Obama would be like Kucinich.
Obama has the Chicago Political Machine of Daly and Company. Hillary her own. McCain has assembled over the last 16 years or so his own machine. Romney has almost none, same with Huckabee, which is why they are trailing.
As for son he wished he had, GWB and McCain have very little in common in personality though they do in background, class etc. Bush is retiring, lazy, avoids confrontation, will not speak ill of opponents, is basically timid politically.
McCain LOVES fighting. You can see it. In the debates he could not wait to stick it to Romney or Paul. He enjoyed it. IMHO he came off like a puffed up toad. And Bush comes off like a fearful little boy who forgot his homework.
McCain's central experience was getting the crap beat out of him by the NVA, daily, and he seems to have used Anger to get him through life ever since. Bush seems afraid of screwing up again. Very different people.
And, getting back to the Bush-haters-for-McCain geniuses, Jeb probably won't even suffer for having his brother's political views. Not even among people who should ostensibly know--for example, Tony Blankley's column today: " If Jeb Bush's name were Jeb Smith, the former Florida governor easily could have kept the conservative two-thirds of the Republican vote united and won the nomination. But fate made him a Bush in the only election in the past 20 years when no Bush need apply."
That Jeb could have gotten that conservative two-thirds is curious, since he is, like McCain, very close to his brother on policy. But is Blankley wrong (even though he seems to be among those cluelessly missing Jeb's un-conservatism)? I certainly wouldn't bet on it.
...And they have very similar nasty frat boy personalities.
So I'm not the only one who finds that repellent. What is it people like about guys like that?
Personally, I find that I dislike McCain more than any other candidate besides Hillary. Having the two of them on the ballot is a disgusting prospect.
Except they don't Bill.
GWB: timid, fearful, afraid of public speaking, dyslexic (like his father), retreats from confrontation. LAZY.
McCain: LIVES for fighting, like Jim Webb and Andrew Jackson and Al Sharpton. Not always a good trait. Combative, always sure of himself, seeks fights where none need exist.
In personality the two could not be more different. Look at them speak and you'll see what I mean. McCain looks like he's back in the Tiger Cage (as SNL parodied in a mean but funny way). GWB looks like he wants to hide (as Letterman's writers always point out).
Neither are the good-time dumb frat boy. I've known a few. Boring but harmless. Frat boys don't generally seek fights ALL THE TIME JUST TO FIGHT nor do they always want to run away and hide. They are generally lazy though, I'll give you that.
And they have very similar nasty frat boy personalities.
Oh please. Bush and McCain have nothing in common, personality-wise. Bush's "frat-boy" personality is a media construct based purely off the grimace on his face when he's under fire. I fail to see any evidence Bush is "nasty". None. I've lost track of the number of times I wished Bush would retaliate against some sanctimonious, back-stabbing bastard like, for instance, John McCain. Or maybe Arlen Specter.
McCain, on the other hand... here's a guy who keeps an enemies list. Hell, his wife keeps an enemies list. He's well known in the Senate for being able to hold a grudge for decades. If he becomes president we're gonna see Nixon-level "nasty".
If you really like Romney, why didn't you endorse him before it was too late?
"Instead, Jeb narrowly lost in 1994 while George W. pulled off an upset election in Texas, screwing everything up royally."
I guess "royally" is the key term.
Look, it's obvious that our presidential selection process is producing diminishing results.
Chelsea Clinton is single (and probably available). Jeb Bush Jr. is single (and probably ambitious). Host a wedding bash at the White House, re-dubbed "the Palace on the Potomac," lock the two of them in the Lincoln bedroom, and don't let them out until a dynastic successor has been conceived.
Meanwhile, the rest of us can get on with our lives, instead of suffering through all these goddamn debates, not to mention Dick Morris, Sean Hannity, Brooks and Shields, Susan Estrich, Paul Begala . . .
John McCain's best celebrity look-alike is Bruce Dern's portrayal of Bill Paxton's bilious father on HBO's Big Love.
I am still waiting for just one actual thought to come out of John McCain's mouth. So far, all I hear is garbled, rambling pseudo-sentences. The guy makes GWB look positively lucid. Maybe folks here are right, and that is just rabid froth.
I read a great comment on McCain the other day at antiwar.com, that he looks like Darth Vader with his helmet off.
(ever notice how Vader was way more dangerous to Imperials than Rebels?)
"And they have very similar nasty frat boy personalities."
Hilary has sort of a Sorority girl personality as well.
What a coincidence, here's a YouTube video of Bush Sr. giving Mitt a warm and personal introduction last Dec 07.
Yes, it does seem that George Sr. has a strong affection for the man and his family:
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