Today's NY Times web site has Nicholas Kristof's latest attempt at imparting knowledge we can all use. Perhaps, all will remember Kristof's column from a couple of weeks ago in which he took Democrats to task for (gasp! I shudder to even type these words) having the audacity to fight back against Republicans. Today, he is scolding Dems for the possibility that Howard Dean might win the nomination. He throws in the obligatory comparison to McGovern, even adding a personal touch to it.
He continues to express his horror at Dems disgust and loathing of Bush:
"Yet my guess is that the Democratic faithful are being not so much high-minded as muddle-headed. Many Democrats so despise President Bush that they don't appreciate what a strong candidate he will be in November, and they don't grasp how poorly Mr. Dean is likely to fare in battleground states."
Against the Bush juggernaut, Mr. Dean faces three disadvantages.
Kristof proceeds to give us an analyst right from Rove's own hand:
"First, geography. The only Democrats who have won the popular presidential vote since John Kennedy took office (when the Southern boom started) have all been Southerners: Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Swing states are mostly in the South and Midwest, so the key for both parties is to find a candidate who can seduce "Reagan Democrats," like Ohio steelworkers and Tennessee tobacco farmers. Not another Michael Dukakis."
I suppose from the preceeding paragraph Kristof is telling Dems not to bother with a candidate from a state other than below the MasonDixon Line. Forget the primary process, arrange Southern Democrats in a circle and spin the bottle. Recent events would tell us that might be a problem finding enough Dems to form a circle, but what the hell, truth souldn't get in the way of Georgetown cocktail circuit knowledge. The Democratic Convention should just draft Zell Miller. "It doesn't matter if you are born rich, poor or in between, if you're born out of the South, forgetaboutit!"
I'm going to forgo specific comments on the rest of the article. I think one of the biggest problems facing this country is the quality of the beltway press corps. Nicholas Kristof is a blithering idiot, but he is no different than Al Hunt, Margaret Carlson or Mark Shields. He is not the exception, he is the rule.
link to Times article:
http://nytimes.com/2003/12/06/opinion/06KRIS.html