Surely, Comrades, You Do Not Want Bush Back?

I’ve heard words to this effect from various Democratic liberals over the past year, but I was surprised to hear them from Michael Moore (via):

I’m almost at the point where I don’t care if the Democrats don’t have a backbone or a kneebone or a thought in their dizzy little heads. Just as long as their name ain’t “Bush” and the word “Republican” is not beside theirs on the ballot, then that’s good enough for me.

I, like the majority of Americans, have been pummeled senseless for 8 long years…

It’s true, the past eight years have taken their toll -- so much so that Moore, like so many liberals, has trouble remembering that the Democrats in Congress eagerly helped Bush pummel him senseless. Why should they be rewarded for collaborating with him?

But Mike, Bush’s name is not going to be on the ballot this year. If he could run, I have no doubt he’d be trying, but thanks to the Twenty-Second Amendment to the US Constitution, he can only serve for two terms. And because I’m hopelessly pessimistic (about the Democrats, mind you), I’d almost be curious to see what would happen if he could run again. Given his unpopularity even among many Republicans, could he get his party’s nomination? And if he did, could the Democrats defeat him? Frankly I doubt it, but fortunately we don’t have to find out. And they’ll still have Ralph Nader to blame if McCain beats whoever the Democrats take for their lawful nominee.

I’ve been surprised when liberal Democrats have started ranting in my presence that they want to see Bush defeated this year. I gently point out that he isn’t running. I know, they pant, but I want to see him defeated. (He isn’t running.) I know, but I want to see that bastard defeated, I want to see him go down… It’s like listening to a feral wino muttering about the International Space Jews who’ve put wires inside his head to control his thoughts. “Reality-based”? They flatter themselves. What seriously scares me is how out of touch with reality most Democrats are; they aren’t more or less so than Republicans in general, they just have their own separate fantasy universe, as the Republicans have theirs.

A friend asked me last weekend, a propos my post on Barack Obama’s “proselytizing” remark, what I expect from a pro-gay presidential candidate. Well, it would help for such a candidate not to use bigoted and nearly forgotten clichés about us (this was the first time I can recall having seen “proselytize” used with regard to gays in a decade or more). But as I told my friend, that remark is not why I don’t support or trust Obama. On gay issues he’s quite good, all told, for a mainstream politician. But I’m not a one-issue voter, and I have plenty of other reasons for not supporting him. If I did support him and plan to vote for him, words like “proselytize” would set off alarms in my head, and I would criticize him (I hope) in the same terms I’ve been using here.