July 22, 2004

Jumping the Gun

WHEN YOU ARE INVOLVED IN A DUEL and you know your opponent is going to miss, it might be a good idea to hold your fire until after he's had his shot, and his gun clicks on empty.

This is hard to do when all your supporters are gathered around you chanting, "Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him...," but an experienced man can manage. A champion dualist turns to the side, watches carefully, gets his enemy to miss, and holds his fire until he knows that he can put one between the eyes.

It seems to me that, with all the hoopla over the last few months, the President's supporters in the midst of the political melee are getting a wee bit over-anxious to have him open fire. A primary example of this appears today in the National Review as an editorial:

Where, meanwhile, is the positive, substantive side of the campaign? People are noticing that the president has not presented an agenda for his second term should he be re-elected. -- Where's the Beef
To which I would say, "Please get your knickers untwisted and your game face on."

I realize that it has to be tough to sit in the NR's offices day after day and watch the Left and the Democrats sling one plague ridden corpse after another over the wall, but you just have to hunker down and take it until the right moment, which is not.... quite.... yet.

Yes, we've had the Wilson Corpse, the Clarke Corpse, the Clinton Corpse, the Moore Corpse, the 9/11 Report Corpse -- all of these disgusting hunks have been lobbed in and now are scattered about the political landscape in various stages of decomposition. It's got to be getting rank in the Republican Fortifications, and there have to be a lot of people wanting to whip out the flamethrowers and start sanitizing the joint.

But patience, patience, patience please. Always remember that "A Drug and Democrat Free America comes first. "

You see, it really doesn't matter what happens in the next couple of weeks. All that matters is what happens in October.

Yes, there's going to be a Democratic Convention next week. Nothing can be

done about that, it is our way. And yes, we're going to be getting even greater levels of putrid pablum spewed about by the media as the preening pundits of puce prevarication strut and fret their hours behind the teleprompter. It will be a sickening time as we watch, night after night, the chosen of the party hard at work defining deviancy as Democratic. But that is not a bad thing. It helps people to make a choice.

In time the convention will, like some mistakenly swallowed razor blade, pass. Then the annointed demented will ooze out on the streets to take their platform of taxation, complaint and appeasement to the American people in the form of what is possibly the most boring Democratic candidate since Mortimer Snerd.

Do you really want the President to say anything substantive that would allow these quislings and poltroons to be able to grind it through their lie machine? I think not. Why hand your enemy ammunition when you can watch him use up his own puncturing his clown shoes?

Perhaps a graying and somewhat melted version of John Kennedy catting about the country side with Robin the Boy Wonder as the Stepmoney sips charddonay to the Left of the podium will appeal to America, but I prefer to put my faith in the common sense wisdom of common Americans, rather than the latest chunk of cheese coughed up by Katie Couric. For most of August, the face of the Democratic Party will be Kerry, Edwards and Heinz. I think America will take a long hard look at them.

The next time we see the real face of the Democratic Party en masse will be on the streets of New York during the Republican Convention. That's going to be a fool's festival not seen since the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. Just imagine what they will bring to the news of the day.

We'll have intense and random acts of bizarre behavior, city wide exhibits of advanced tattoos and body piercing, chants bubbling with hate, obscene signage, unattractive displays of nudity, and random violence throughout Manhattan for days, all with the Democratic Party Seal of Approval. I'm sure it will play a major role in swinging a lot of voters into the Republican Camp. Depend upon it.

And then, and only then, will we have the President's acceptance speech.

If Bush and his advisers are savvy politicians, and we have a lot of reasons to believe they are, they will wait until this moment to bring out "the positive, substantive side of the campaign" that the editors of the National Review are so eager to get on the record. Any sooner and you're just playing into the enemy's hands.

The dualist that wins is not the one that gets the first shot, but the one that gets the killing shot.

Polls and poltroons aside, let's just keep our power dry and wait until we see the red of their little bong smudged eyes before letting fly.

There's really no rush, especially now. Just think of the method used by Michael (De Niro) Vronsky in The Deerhunter:

Michael : A deer has to be taken with one shot. I try to tell people that but they don't listen.
Nick : What? One shot?
Michael : Two is pussy.

==

To read a much more detailed and tightly reasoned take on this issue, I would direct you to Den Beste's A masterstroke? Game. Set. Match.

Posted by Vanderleun at July 22, 2004 3:20 PM
Bookmark and Share

Comments:

HOME

"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Bullets in their clown feet! Great stuff. Really enjoyed and agree. Hope the kill shot is accurate.

Cheers

Posted by: Kamakazi at July 22, 2004 6:12 PM

A Democrat free America you might be able to manage.

But a drug free America? The alcohol and tobacco lobbies will never allow it. And if they are not strong enough for it ordinary Americans are. After all, what was done once is often easier done twice.
Americans may not love Democrats but they do love their drugs. Medical marijuana is more popular than Democrats. It is more poular than Republicans. In fact it is one of the most popular with the electorate.

Americans are not going to give up their drugs no matter what the government says. Keeping alive the spirit of rebelion. And a good thing too.

Posted by: M. Simon at July 22, 2004 6:18 PM

That was out of the park, Gerard. Keep this up and you will become our Sage of Laguna Beach (maybe you are already,,,)-

Posted by: Doug at July 22, 2004 6:21 PM

Bush has quite a poker face.

Posted by: Bostonian at July 22, 2004 6:24 PM

BTW I do believe you are correct. The Dems almost always put on a better show than the Republicans. It would be really helpful if the Republicans learned how to dance. A little lewd behavior from time to time would be humanizing.

Think South Park Republicans or that rarer bird the former Libertarian. Or the more common current libertarian. I mean really. If we want to be scolded for our lax morality there are churches and dominatrixes to do the job. But surprisingly it is not to every one's taste.

So think big tent, not triumphantalist alpha male. You make more friends that way.

Posted by: M. Simon at July 22, 2004 6:31 PM

let's hope you're right,buddy.I feel like I'm
going to blow a fifty watt fuse if somebody on
the right doesn't start verbally bitch-slapping
these cretinous pinheads on the left soon.

Old School

Posted by: bill cox at July 22, 2004 6:50 PM

WOW! Hat tip to Glenn for directing me here. I'll have to admit that I've been a little over-anxious myself lately, but your insight has truly put me at ease. Here's to another four years of Bush! Hip Hip Hooray!

Posted by: KitKat at July 22, 2004 7:57 PM

Dear Bill,
I agree comlpetely with you (as well as all those above), but fuses are measured in Amps.

Mark

Posted by: A Mark Gambee, MD at July 22, 2004 7:57 PM

WOW! Hat tip to Glenn for directing me here. I'll have to admit that I've been a little over-anxious myself lately, but your insight has truly put me at ease. Here's to another four years of Bush! Hip Hip Hooray!

Posted by: KitKat at July 22, 2004 7:57 PM

I think that this is what I call tempo.
This may be a corrupted chess term or one
I just made up, but the idea is that there
is a time, and often an order to accomplish
a paticular thing to achieve the real goal:

You deal with Afghanistan first, but after
getting Musharaff and Pakistan on board.
You do not confront North Korea until China
is ready. China has incrediable leverage
on Kim, they supply his oil.
Iraq must be delt with, before removing troops
from Saudi Arabia and putting pressure on them
to reform.
Iran's time will come.
Arafat must be gotten rid of before anything
can be done to achieve real peace in Palestine.

Success will come in Iraq, after the Iraqis
are convinced that: We are not out to steal
their oil birthright. Despite what Al Jazerra
and the Democrats say, and that what they have
now is their best chance to escape the horrible
world that Sadam represented. It takes time
for this to soak in, but there are signs that
it is.
Much has been accomplished, I hope that the
election campaign goes as well.

Rob

Posted by: Rob at July 22, 2004 9:20 PM

Your column makes sense, I wrote to NRO today and
said the president was not going to say anything until the dems convention was over and even after
that.
He has said he will bring his goals etc to the
people when it is time. Definitely not before or
during the dems convention.

As you said, it is the last shot that counts,
and President Bush, for over all his presidency
has waited for the prime moment to come through,
and each time the NRO and others get their knickers in a knot just before he comes through.
Patience, he will speak soon and do it well and
it will not be a over-reaction to the dems drivel.

Posted by: Carole at July 22, 2004 9:36 PM

One thing: Bush will not wait until October. He will begin next week to make enough noise to keep Kerry's numbers from climbing above the five to seven point level. This will continue all the way through August, to keep Kerry from dominating the news.

The serious campaign begins in October, of course.

Posted by: section9 at July 22, 2004 11:17 PM

A dualist? You mean, like a Zoroastrian or something?

Posted by: Zev Sero at July 22, 2004 11:44 PM

Excellent post. Some of those on the nervous Right (including at times myself) have a fear that the Donks' first shot might be a successful kill-shot---i.e., might be both the first and the last shot. But this case is unlikely given current polling data, and indeed it is beneficial that the Repub's convention comes second, much the way that the Defense argument is the last one heard before the jury retires.

Posted by: leishman at July 23, 2004 4:49 AM

A deer should be taken with one shot. Two is inhumane. Depending on bullet power rather than shot placement to achieve this is as he said.

Posted by: triticale at July 23, 2004 5:32 AM

Well said. I especially liked the " Depend upon it" line. For a second I thought I was reading Dr. Johnson.

You can't be too concerned about what National Review says. Lot's of people have begun wondering if they are indeed true conservatives, as they claim, or merely Democrats lite. ( This is the organization that spinlessly distanced itself from Ann Coulter, called for the removal of Trent Lott, called for the removal of the "stars and bars" from the South Carolina state house, and essentially ducked the homosexual marriage question.)I'm surprised they haven't also called for Dick Cheney's resignation, as the Democrats would love to see.

People must have patience. 90% of the people have already made up their minds, and the other 10% won't do so till the day before the election. The second last month is the time to let everything go.

Posted by: David at July 23, 2004 7:12 AM

And remember that right after the Dem convention comes the Oplympics. So whatever comes out of the convention will immediately drop into a dead zone that can only help Bush. It will be either a replay of Munich '72 with terrorist on the world stage and us killing them or two weeks of USA USA!!!. Either way Bush will look good and the Kerry-Moore ticket will have to fester in silence. After that it's, as said above, the Democrat street theater of the absurd in New York and the 3rd anniversary of 9-11. And then it's October and time for the kill.

Posted by: chuckr at July 23, 2004 7:33 AM

Beware of underestimating them. Don't forget dirty trick day, the thursday before the election when they always drop a stink bomb that drives all coverage over the last days of the campaign.

Posted by: stealthy at July 23, 2004 8:35 AM

http://cayankee.blogs.com/cayankee/2004/07/president_bush__1.html

Pat Henry

Posted by: Pat Henry at July 23, 2004 11:23 AM

Well, I hope you are right and we are not just whistling past the graveyard.

Let us not forget the story of ol' Casey at Bat

Michael

Posted by: Michael at July 23, 2004 12:58 PM

Somewhere in the back of my mind has been this niggling thought that Sen. Kerry reminded me of a previous Presidential candidate, and I couldn't think who. Your essay caused it to pop out for some reason.

Sen. Kerry has the excitement and appeal of the perennial candidate Pat Paulson!

Posted by: J.R. at July 23, 2004 2:09 PM

Good analysis. Bush, according the AmericanThinker.com, spent time at Harvard Business School playing poker. Den Beste and you articulate why GWB will win in a landslide. Right now, GWB has the cards, and he's holding them to let his opponent make his move.

Posted by: Helen at July 24, 2004 4:52 PM

Brilliant just brilliant article.

Rope a dope strategery ... After making your enemy commit to a course of action, develop the strategy to counter it.

Kerry has now committed to go for the middle. The 'flip-flop' and the 'liberal' tags will be COMBINED to show the American Electorate that KERRY IS A LIBERAL WHO IS SAYING NON-LIBERAL THINGS INSINCERELY TO GET ELECTED.

On 3 key issues:
- national security: voted against intelligence funding and defense funding, and the 11-minute 'Flipper' movie about Kerry's Iraq positions
- economics: Gets an F from national taxpayers union, running away from his Liberal record
- cultural issues: "life begins at conception" he says, then he votes against partial birth abortion ban.

I predicted 8% Bush win in February. Polls dont look that good now, but history and facts (like strong economy, the fact that Iraq is a key victory in the War on Terror) favor Bush.

Kerry's only hope is for the media to drag his corpse across the finish line. Without them giving him cover, he's toast.

Posted by: Patrick at July 29, 2004 6:36 PM