TailOverTeaKettle.com

In yesterday’s Democratric Primary in South Carolina, John Edwards must have decided it was time to try to get a little play on the morning talk shows by throwing out

The president actually has to be able to do two things at once. This president thinks that his presidency is only about the war in terrorism, only about national security. Those things are critical for a commander in chief, but
there’s a lot that the president is not doing about jobs lost and about a health-care crisis in this country. The president has to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Mr. Edwards, your little jab did get your mug on the TV today. And you might even do well enough in South Carolina to earn yourself a spot as Vice-President on the ticket, not that I could possibly understand what you bring in terms of Southern appeal except for the fact of your birthplace. But did you really need to go to this length? Not that you are alone in implying that Bush is stupid. Can you imagine the outrage that would have been caused if a Republican, let alone Bush, had made the same comment about one of these candidates. I guess we should get used to hearing this by now. It’s eagerly reported and repeated.

• Hollywood movers and shakers think he’s stupid, including Cher and Aaron Sorkin. And what we might speculate from Sean Penn, etc. etc.! (Foul-Mouthed Cher Attacks ‘Stupid, Lazy’ Bush, Bush dumb, Gore bright?)

• Castro mearly finds him foolish, as in "Don’t be foolish, Mr. W. Respect the intelligence of people capable of thinking." (Castro: ‘Don’t be foolish, Mr. W’)
• One in three Brits think he’s stupid. (Many Britons think Bush is stupid)
• He’s stupid to suggest exploring Mars with the Earth so ’sick’. (It’s the Earth, Stupid)
• Heck, even Iraq Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan called Bush stupid back in 2002 for making the ‘axis of evil’ speech (Iraqi V.P. calls Bush comments ’stupid’)
• Not to be outdone, Dr. ‘Adel Sadeq, chairman of the Arab Psychiatrists Association offered "Although you invest a lot of effort in proving yourself, you are not successful in doing so because you are stupid and understand nothing about what is happening in the world. ‘Stupidity’ and ‘idiocy’ are synonyms, and if you don’t like the word ’stupid,’ you are an evil person with an ugly soul." among other lovely thoughts. (Top Arab psychiatrist: ‘Bush is stupid’)
• Bush supporters are stupid. (The S factor explains Bush’s popularity)
• If you need more amunition, you can even visit www.toostupidtobepresident.com or dubyaspeak.com or dumbpresident.com … sorry, I keep forgetting this is just "satire"

An interesting study of the 2000 campaign by journalism.org echoed what we already could see about the frequency with which Bush’s intelligence was questioned.

In Slander, Ann Coulter detailed how Republicans from Reagan to Bush are constantly derided for being stupid. A few of the best quotes:

If liberals were prevented from ever again calling Republicans dumb, they would be robbed of half their arguments. To be sure, they would still have "racist," "fascist," "homophobe," "ugly," and a few other highly nuanced arguments in the quiver. But the loss of "dumb" would nearly cripple them.

This is how six-year-olds argue: They call everything "stupid." The left’s primary argument is the angry reaction of a helpless child deprived of the ability to mount logical counterarguments. Someday we will turn to the New York Times editorial page and find the Newspaper of Record denouncing President Bush for being a ‘penis-head.’

Most preposterously, the New York Times reported — as if it were news — "With his grades and college boards, Mr. Bush might not have been admitted [to Yale] if he had applied just a few years later." "Might not have been admitted"? What on earth does that mean? Bush also "might not have been admitted" if he had dropped out of high school and become a Gangsta Rapper. It so galls Northeastern liberals that Republican George Bush went to an Ivy League school, they can’t resist publicly fantasizing about an alternative universe in which Yale rejects him.

But the most accurate statement from Ann Coulter was this: "’Stupid’ means one thing: ‘threatening to the interests of the Democratic Party.’ The more Conservative the Republican, the more vicious and hysterical the attacks on his intelligence will be.".

I guess John Edwards just couldn’t help himself.

              

So New Hampshire has spoken. John Kerry is 2 for 2 and rolling along on his way to the nomination. (Again I will remind you of the names Paul Tsongas, Gary Hart, Edmund Muskie, Tom Harkin, and Richard Gephardt… but so much for the New Hampshire and Iowa handicapping.) But Kerry is now officially the ‘front-runner’. He better get ready for the assult. Once the honeymoon is over (and it usually doesn’t take long), he will become the lightning rod.

Interestingly, Kerry apparently is not that interested in campaigning in the South, apparently feeling that it should be either given over to the Republicans or perhaps that it’s not worthy of his attention (Forget the South? Frontrunner Kerry Downplays Importance of Region Many Democrats See as Crucial). Believe me, I am a just a transplanted Yankee here, but I think this is a big mistake. Not necessarily for his quest for nomination, but as a long-term election strategy. According to the story:

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is discounting notions that any Democratic
candidate would have to appeal to Southern voters in order to win the presidency, calling such thinking a "mistake" during a speech at Dartmouth College.

Kerry’s remarks Saturday were so starkly antithetical to how many southern Democrats feel their party should