Deja Vu and Dress Up

WARNING: This blog contains the same disclaimer as yesterday's.

So, if John Edwards tells a bunch of Democrats that we will "seek out and destroy" Al Qaeda, it is reason to cheer like mad and elect a new president. If George W. tells America the same thing, soon after 3,500 Americans were brutally murdered on their own free soil , he is ignorant and a "war monger" and only wants to use violence to further his own politics. Has America become so dumbed down that if the message is the same and the messenger is different, it isn't deja vu? That is what the Dems are hoping for.

I thought it sweet that Edwards used to sweep the floor of a mill and that he worked his way through college. No one can argue with his work ethic, family commitment, and successful law career. However, many Americans have swept floors and worked through college, and they still aren't millionaires. I love how Kerry and Edwards are really trying hard to emphasize their "commonness," but let's face it, they are about as common as a meteorite hitting my ass.

The emphasis on John Kerry's "heroic" service in Vietnam (fab book coming out next week debunking his war stint...will think of name when it comes to my 5 hour of sleep brain) astounds me. If the Democrats are relying on the rationale that because Kerry served in Vietnam he is equipped to be our commander-in-chief, I would like to remind them that this thinking backfired for Republicans TWICE. Bushie Sr. in '92 lost to Clinton, thus his time in the service as a pilot in WWII made no difference to voters (or at least not enough to negate his "read my lips" debaucle). Again in '96, the Republican nominee, Bob Dole, practically lost his entire frickin' arm to the war, and again, voters decided Clinton needed to stay. The fact that Kerry has military service (reports vary, but I have read it was 4-6 months that he was over there, and his third injury was deemed "self-inflicted" by his military doctor) is great, and indeed, he served his country, but putting on fatigues and chasing down a guy in 'Nam to blow his brains out might qualify one better for therapy than for the presidency.

I know, I know, it is a stint to appeal to swing voters and to disenchanted Republicans so they might feel that Kerry is pro-military, a strong "leader," etc....but it is so interesting to me that the Democrats go wild for his stories of Vietnam when it was primarily the Dems who spit on the soldiers, protested the war, and politicized its needlessness for years.

Last night, I had to keep checking the bottom of my TV screen to make sure I was watching the "DEMOCRATIC convention". With all this talk of war, fighting Al Qaeda, and raising the military budget, I wondered if I wasn't watching the wrong convention. Sure, there were little snippets of the true party regarding the economy and taxes, but no mention of gay marriage, gay rights, abortion, and various other hot topics usually affecting the platform. If the Democrats can act like Republicans, talk like Republicans, look like Republicans (I read today that Kerry's stage aesthetic tonight was patterned after the old Republican Gentleman Clubs--marble, dark wood, etc...), does that make them Republicans? No, it just makes them the party who likes to play "dress up". Disguising themselves as Republicans may be the perfect strategy, but when the Republicans don't make equal asses of themselves (pun intended), I sure hope voters will see that a donkey dressed up like an elephant looks even more ridiculous than a big ol' fat elephant laying around naked. Or, as W. would probably say, "nekked."

I would rather ride a naked elephant around this election circus ring than a donkey dressed in drag.