From: gadfly@cbnewsi.cb.att.com (Gadfly)
Subject: Re: Short-Term notes (Was Re: YYYEEEEESSSSSSS!!!)
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: chi
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 16:34:10 GMT
Summary: Well said.
Keywords: lame birds, Election, deliverance, short-term notes

In article <BxzMEF.LtD@chinet.chi.il.us>, ignatz@chinet.chi.il.us
(Dave Ihnat) writes:
> And as to whether Bush is mean-spirited, I think we can look at the
> last few weeks of the campaign to see personality coming out under
> stress...

We can look to the direction of the entire campaign--both in 88 and
in 92.  First we had Lee Atwater, then Mary Matalin.  Both definitely
took the "low road", and were proud of it, and Bush was proud of them.
 
> Finally, in the litany you also missed on Carter.  Jimmy is a highly
> intelligent and motivated man--one of the best in the nuclear navy, if
> my reading serves correctly, and nuke officers *aren't* fools or idiots,
> no matter what some people may think about the military.  As I understand it,
> however, one of his biggest problems was just the opposite of Reagan;
> he couldn't delegate authority...

I never said he was stupid, merely incompetent.  And for exactly the
reason you noted--he tried to do everything himself.  Carter was, and
still is, a man of high intelligence and integrity.  But he was not
a politician--or he fooled himself into playing the perennial outsider.
It won him the election, but no respect from Congress.
 
> I'm not saying that I, or the original poster, are any better than
> any of these men.  What I do insist on is the fact that my elected
> representative--the person who is making the decisions that will
> affect my livlihood immediately, and my country for the next 30-50
> years (how?  By packing the Supreme Court)--must, simply MUST, live
> up to standards of intelligence and JUDGEMENT that are much higher
> than those I expect of an average Joe (or Jane) on the street.  It's
> not that they can't make mistakes--but their mistakes should be on
> the same scale as their successes, heroic in nature and understandable
> in light of the complexity of the job; not basic blunders that show
> social ineptitude, callous personal relations, or a blatant disregard
> of the spirit and expression of the Constitution of the United States.

But you did make the argument much better than the original poster (me).
Very well said!

> ...give me Teddy Roosevelt!  I want someone who  BELIEVES in things...

I heartily agree (and I too reject much of T. Roosevelt's political
philosophy).  The man was exuberant, something you don't see much of
these days.  Several times during his presidency he would take off
with some friends to go buffalo-hunting.  On one trip they were
camped near a stream and a flash flood during the night left them all
of a sudden in a foot of mud.  As his friends rushed to help Roosevelt
out of his blankets, he pushed them and the blankets aside and shouted,
"God, this is fun!"

               *** ***
Ken Perlow   ***** *****
21 Nov 92   ****** ******   1 Frimaire An CCI
            *****   *****   gadfly@ihspc.att.com <- New address.
             ** ** ** **             ^^^
...L'AUDACE!   *** ***   TOUJOURS DE L'AUDACE!  ENCORE DE L'AUDACE!
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