Democratic Dilemma

Bloomberg for President

No matter how you feel about Dubya & Co., you just have to hand it to them: they know how to keep their messages simple, to stay on message, to rebrand old terms to their advantage (pro-choice = abortion rights, suicide bomber = homicide bomber)and never to waver. They have taken the lessons of great marketers like P & G to heart. They have created a brand, an image, and it resonates.

Look at Dubya. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, a WASP Connecticut Yankee, yet his image is "down home." I remember years ago when Babs Bush first became first lady and Oprah said, "I love Barbara, she looks so country, so down home!" That was, of course, in direct physical comparison to Nancy Reagan. But it was all backwards. Nancy Reagan was a striver with a foul-mouthed, bawdy mother who took a wealthy doctor as a husband who became Nancy's stepfather. Barbara Bush was nearly blue blood. Nancy would have killed to have Barbara's background.

Everything Dubya does is smoke and mirrors. I am still reeling from the election of 2004. Remember that first debate when Dubya faltered and it looked good for about 2 minutes? Then Roberts had to go and mention Cheney's dyke daughter and the manufactured outrage began. The Dems will never beat them at their own game. They just need to be sincere and strong and find a message and stick with it.

It was so ironic. There was Bush, who more or less paid to stay out of Vietnam, and he was perceived to be the patriot because of the dumb war he is waging. And there was Kerry: a real war hero who was perceived to be a peacenik because of some secretly Karl Rove funded "Swiftboat Veterans for Justice" ads.

They are so good at spin. All we heard about before the election was the potential for the terrorist threat on US soil. And people were afraid. I love it, though: All these dopey people who you would see on the news in the middle of the country who say they are afraid of a terrorist attack and are voting for Dubya. Uh, sister, nobody's going to bomb Buttfuck, Nebraska? K?

Republicans always come off as rationale & calm while the Dems look hysterical. Howard Dean blew it because he looked like a mad dog. Juan Williams looks like a hysteric every week next to patrician Brit Hume.

Dems need to find a candidate who can win by being himself. Kerry's persona was so scripted and tested and it came across that way. People can sense that. Kerry was intellectual and Americans are suspicious of intellectuals. When people make fun of George Bush because he has poor grammar, his poll numbers go up. And that's because most Americans have poor grammar and think people who expect their leaders to have good grammar are elitist snobs. Kerry's wife was also a liability. Too rich and too foreign. We like our first ladies like Laura and Barbara. Quiet, iron butterflys, steel magnolias.

Clinton will never win. The worst thing dems can do is get caught up in the romance of Hillary. Don't be dreamers. Americans don't like woman like that. Too abrasive. She came of age in an era when woman had to act like men to get ahead and it's painful to watch.

I'll tell you, there's an article in the NY Observer this week about him, but weeks ago I decided New York's mayor Mike Bloomberg would make a great president. He has been fantastic for the economy of this city. He is a self-made, philanthropic billionaire. He is efficient.

I could get behind his shit so fast, I would even do volunteer work for him and stuff which I have not done for a pol since 1984.

He is just so no-nonsense. He would so poo-poo any bs the neo-cons say about him and I bet it would roll right off.

Mike's my man.