Monday, May 24, 2004
If you remember back few months ago, there were many articles about Bush and "The 'S' Factor" about why he was leading in the polls. The 'S' in 'S' Factor stands for 'Stupid.' Meaning both that Bush is too stupid to see both sides of issues and how this comes across so well among stupid people. There has been so much written on both sides about President Bush being dumb and Senator Kerry being so nuanced that he doesn't understand right from wrong that it has become almost meaningless. I imagine it's overplayed on both sides.
I thought of that while reading C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity."
We humans call one thing good and another thing bad. But according to some people that is merely our human point of view. These people would say that the wiser you become the less you would want to call anything good or bad, and the more clearly you would see that everything is good in one way and bad in another, and that nothing could have been different. Consquently, these people think that long before you got anywhere near the divine point of view the distinction would have disappeared altogether.
-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
So if the "Bush is Dumb" and "Kerry is too Nuanced" lines are no longer enlightening, where do we go? We have a lot of politicking ahead of us yet in 2004, but perhaps the choice between Bush and Kerry can be brought to bright relief by Kerry's comments after President Bush, 16 miles into a 17 mile mountain bike ride, fell yesterday. You'll notice in the article that Sentator Kerry's spokesperson didn't deny John Kerry made fun of President Bush's "training wheels falling off," only that it was "off the record." And what is the bright relief? It isn't that Kerry would make fun of someone who fell and injured themselves (which is bad enough), but rather that Kerry fell off his own bike in Boston just a few weeks ago. Not only didn't Kerry finish his ride while Bush did, Kerry's accident was much more dangerous than Bush's since Kerry fell into the oncoming lane of traffic (apparently no one was coming) while Bush was riding in the wilderness. So, a couple of weeks after Kerry's experience of falling in Boston, Bush falls in Crawford. Kerry's first instinct is not to say, "Boy, I know how that feels, I hope he's alright." No, Kerry's first instinct is to belittle the president for something he, himself has done as well. Who thinks like that? I cannot imagine voting for a person who thinks like that.
I thought of that while reading C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity."
We humans call one thing good and another thing bad. But according to some people that is merely our human point of view. These people would say that the wiser you become the less you would want to call anything good or bad, and the more clearly you would see that everything is good in one way and bad in another, and that nothing could have been different. Consquently, these people think that long before you got anywhere near the divine point of view the distinction would have disappeared altogether.
-- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
So if the "Bush is Dumb" and "Kerry is too Nuanced" lines are no longer enlightening, where do we go? We have a lot of politicking ahead of us yet in 2004, but perhaps the choice between Bush and Kerry can be brought to bright relief by Kerry's comments after President Bush, 16 miles into a 17 mile mountain bike ride, fell yesterday. You'll notice in the article that Sentator Kerry's spokesperson didn't deny John Kerry made fun of President Bush's "training wheels falling off," only that it was "off the record." And what is the bright relief? It isn't that Kerry would make fun of someone who fell and injured themselves (which is bad enough), but rather that Kerry fell off his own bike in Boston just a few weeks ago. Not only didn't Kerry finish his ride while Bush did, Kerry's accident was much more dangerous than Bush's since Kerry fell into the oncoming lane of traffic (apparently no one was coming) while Bush was riding in the wilderness. So, a couple of weeks after Kerry's experience of falling in Boston, Bush falls in Crawford. Kerry's first instinct is not to say, "Boy, I know how that feels, I hope he's alright." No, Kerry's first instinct is to belittle the president for something he, himself has done as well. Who thinks like that? I cannot imagine voting for a person who thinks like that.
