Oy.

Reading Andrew Sullivan on his first day back from vacation is becoming a yearly exercise in slapping one's forehead. How can any man not memorizing Moveon.org's press releases dismiss the Swifties as merely "jumping like bait on the end of Karl Rove's line"? Does the possibility that these guys might be telling the truth bear no weight at all? And after Bush endured the firestorm about his service, I don't see the injustice in Four-Month Kerry being made to answer a few questions, too. Especially since he's made those four months the lynchpin of his campaign. But no, it's all the work of Bush's "cronies." All that's missing here is a description of smoke-filled rooms.


But, when it comes to the role of the federal government in politics, I can't say I disagree with the guy. Sully says he wants to hear Bush talking about "reform of entitlements, a U-turn on public spending, staying the course on education reform, reforming the military, simplifying the tax code." Frankly, so do I (although how we're to "stay the course" on education while slashing public spending is beyond me, but probably not beyond the chaps at Cato Institute). And I have little doubt that Bush will mention exactly those things, or at least some of them.


But I don't think that's really what Sully wants. Nothing short of the complete repudiation of "Santorum, Dobson, and DeLay" will suit him, even if Santorum, Dobson, and Delay are all willing to vote for reforming the tax code, entitlements, the military, etc. Lacking that, we're all supposed to vote Kerry, who won't give Sully anything he wants (that includes gay marriage, Sully. Kerry won't touch that with a ten-foot cattle-prod).


I'm not thrilled with Bush, either. Declaring war on the 527's last week was but one of a slew of incidents that had me shaking my head. But I don't have a choice between Bush and Thomas Jefferson; I have to choose between a guy who wants, at varying degrees of priority, to fix all the things Sully and I think should be fixed, and will vigorously go after terrorism and terrorist states, and a guy who's demonstrated a talent for nothing beyond straddling issues like a rodeo clown. To vote Democratic this November is to vote for the same old, same old: special interests feeding off the federal teet, socialization of everything that isn't nailed down, and surrendering our foreign policy to the the whores that starved Iraq and are currently playing their fiddle while slaughter goes on in Sudan. To vote Republican is to vote for the possibility of change, even if that change should come from those who don't consider everybody that wonders if God's Word ought to be taken seriously a "theocon."


Time to choose, old boy. What is it you really want?




UPDATE: I'm not alone. For Vodkapundit, merely mentioning Sully's name brought forth a torrent of "Gah, I'm sick of him." Observe.


I do believe I'll put VP on the linksheet. But I'm-a keepin' Sully. Old time's sake and whatnot.




ONE MORE THING:: Sully also unfairly slams Zell Miller, for condeming LBJ's civil rights agenda in the 60's. Fair enough, but when he was governor of Georgia, Zell advised the state legistlature to drop the Confederate flag from the state banner, mentioning that Georgia was part of the CSA for but four of the 270 years of her existence. In 2001 they did so, and in 2003, they adopted the new flag. That sounds like repentance to me. So lay off, Sully.