Bye, Bye Rudy

But Ragu, you also know he's very volatile, he's got a lot of skeletons and somewhere along the line he'll implode.

 

Too bad he doesn't know how to honor the part of the vow that goes "... forsaking all others ..." but hey, nobody's perfect.

 

I love Bill Richardson and would love nothing more than to see him rise up beat the front-runners.

Sadly, though, running for president now is being handled like a new product's rollout. It's very crafted and staged. We've gotten to the point now that we're not voting for a person, we're voting for a brand. Someone that's polished and sterile. That's what the electorate considers presidential. Perhaps it's another Kennedy curse.

I saw Richardson the other day on Hardball. He didn't look polished at all. He looked as if he had spent the day with advisors wrangling over important issues, instead of spending time in front of a makeup artist and wardrobe consultants, who bicker about which tie looks better. I listened to him was impressed with what I heard, but I wonder how many just looked at him thought he looked disheveled.

 

And, yet, that same electorate voted twice for a man who is so unpresidential that it inexplicably became a selling point for him.

Twice. :

Fuck the crafting, fuck the staging. Where can we find a fucking president?

 

Buckdub,

W's "Texas charm" is a brand. He sold himself off as an everyman in his campaigns, when of course we know that's not true -- unless everyman is a recovering drug addict who never had to work a day in his life because of his family's wealth.

In reality, W is way more Kennebunkport than Crawford, but the perception is the opposite.

 

You think Hillary's a guy?

 

New Rule - Until a candidate actually announces and then drops out, no "bye-bye" threads in 2007!

 

Don't know if I'd buy into that. W's way more conservative than blue-blood daddy ever was. H.W. Bush had a lot more of a calming Yankee sensibility to him, not this string-them-up-ASAP crap.

 

Ragu, I'm not sure how he'll do in the 24 hour news cycle world. I think that he's an excellent public speaker and he has positioned himself well as the "law and order" guy. But there is a real nastiness about him which may be hard for him to conceal. He's not going to be like W., who allows himself to be completely managed by his team and who only speaks to the press at certain times.

This may sound harsh, but I don't care if he gets along well with his kids or if he's been divorced. My issue with Rudy is that he will not be able to compromise, which is necessary and that he's a vindictive guy. But if I'm the GOP, Rudy vs. Obama is a dream matchup, highlighting Obama's inexperience.

 

Seriously, you want Rudy to be president? Sure the guy put on a good show after 9-11, but what did he do to protect the citizens beforehand?

Make sure that the major landmarks (like the Twin Towers) had a reasonable evacuation plan in the event of an attack? (Hey, a plane hit the other tower, but we are good to stay here. Get back to work).

Radios that communicated among the police and fire departments in the city. No?

So, yeah, he did a great job afterward. Bravo.