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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2004-06-22

Kerry In Town

I had hoped to get down to the rally today--not as a participant on either side, but more to satisfy a sort of journalistic curiosity. However, between the weather, the confusion about the starting time, and a general fatigue over the work of the last week, I decided to skip it.

Good thing, too. Even if my window of opportunity had allowed me to go down at 3 instead of at 1, I note that the guest of honor did not bother to show up until 4:30! Not that the supporters minded a bit, but that is part and parcel of the arrogance of John Kerry--his time is more important than anybody else's.

I did note on the coverage on the news that both Gary Hart and Frederico Pena were present, along with many other 'dignitaries.' And as 9News ran his opening comments, I couldn't help but repeat to myself "This guy is as dull as drywall." I even noticed that one of the people directly behind him on the podium was neither cheering nor smiling during the speech.

As to the substance of his speech, that got little coverage. But his theme this week seems to be that the Federal government is best equipped to do medical research, and it should devote more resources to it. Benhas a pretty good argument on his site about the efficacy of embryonic stem cell research, so I won't go in to that. But I do think it rather ironic that Kerry is making the case for government to do major research on the same day the the first private astronaut takes flight. To quote (or paraphrase) a former head of the National Institute Health, "If the federal government had been in charge of finding a cure for polio, we would have the best iron lung money could buy, but no cure."

Which brings me to today's optimism: as proven by the intrepid crew of SpaceShipOne, the American people, and the American people alone, are capable of extraordinary feats of both research and development. Government should do its best to get the heck out of the way of the people. Which is why I am beginning to come around to the idea that this November's election won't be as close as some are saying it will be: the people are a heck of a lot smarter that the punditry give them credit for. This country would never put John Kerry in charge of defending them, no matter how much they may disagree with small policy points of the President's.

Add to that Kerry's tree-like qualities on the stump, and I think thes election may not be all that close (recent polls notwithstanding).
Posted by: Michael / 6/22/2004 12:26:00 AM

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