Canadian Cynic

Why George Bush is going to win the election

Because, quite simply, John Kerry and his campaign are breathtakingly inept. Consider some excerpts from this article discussing the sudden increase in Medicare premiums -- an outrage that should be an absolute slam dunk for the Kerry campaign:

"With new polls showing Bush opening up a double-digit lead over his Democratic opponent, Kerry has come under pressure from allies to conduct a more aggressive campaign. Kerry aides said they thought the race would again tighten, and that they were confident Bush is especially vulnerable on the domestic front."

Read that last little bit again: " ... they were confident Bush is especially vulnerable on the domestic front." Reality to Kerry: there are less than two months until the election, and only now are you figuring out where Bush might be vulnerable? And this weird attitude of "we've got lots of time to come up with a strategy" continues:

As he took turns shooting clay pigeons with former Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) in Edinburgh, Ohio, Kerry said he was unconcerned about the polls. "We're doing good," he said. "They're going to get a bounce out of the convention, but we'll be coming back."

"We'll be coming back." Terrific. When? After you finish shooting those pigeons? Time well spent, I guess. And if the Swift Boat Liars for Bush smear campaign hadn't done enough damage to Kerry's reputation, we now have the absolutely mind-numbing "Pentagon to check Kerry war record". That's right:

"In a fresh blow to John Kerry's flagging presidential campaign, the Pentagon has ordered an official investigation into the awards of the Democratic senator's five Vietnam War decorations.

News of the inquiry came as President George W Bush opened an 11-point lead over his rival - the widest margin since serious campaigning began - according to the first poll released since last week's Republican convention."

Think about it -- the Bush administration has just sicced the Pentagon on a decorated Vietnam war veteran, the recipient of not just three Purple Hearts, but the Bronze Star and Silver Star, questioning whether he even deserved these awards. If Kerry thinks he's going to spend the next two months going after George Dubya's "vulnerabilities", he is utterly deluded. He is, instead, going to be desperately defending himself against a Pentagon-driven smear campaign, and his message is not going anywhere.

Simply, Kerry had his shot, and he totally and completely squandered it. He is going to crash and burn on November 2, without ever having had the courage and the spine to stand up and just say, "These people are liars."

You can almost hear Karl Rove chuckling in the background as he whispers in George's ear, "It's over."