If President Bush is as dumb as Teresa and Michael Moore and his ilk claim, how is it that he tricked Senator Kerry and the rest of the nation into supporting the war? Of course, President Bush is not stupid. But I have to wonder, are the rest of us the dumb ones, or is it the detractors who seem to be blinded by their own smug superiority while delivering such insightful commentary as equating Bush to Hitler, who are the dumb ones.

Oddly, while these people believe that Bush is dumb and so are the rest of us, they also calim that Bush is out of touch with the common man. Funny, I bet he doesn't have to tone down his message and keep his most ardent supporters under wraps at his convention for fear of losing the vote of the common man. Also funny how hypocritical this claim is coming from supporters of Kerry. I doubt Bush would make a campaign appearance at a Wendy's then sneak out to his bus to share a $200 lunch with Ben Affleck.

In an ironic twist, these people who deomonize President Bush then often have the chutzpah to claim that they are being silenced by a vast right wing conspiracy. One led by a stupid guy who is out of touch with the people. Apparently public derision constitutes some sort of infringement on the speech of these real persons of genius.

This rabid hatred would be comical, especially considering its ineffectiveness, in more normal times, such as when the Clinton haters were foaming at the mouth while he enjoyed tremendous popularity. Most peole realize however, that these are not normal times, and so it is particularly saddening that given the seriousness of the issues we face, the debate is cheapend to the level that it is. Kerry, to his credit, has stayed mostly above the fray of his more crass supporters.

To bad for all of us that these supporters won't take his lead. Maybe, also, too bad for him. For as Clinton clearly knew, the outcome of elections usually come down to one issue - the economy stupid. If the economy is particulary bad, you may get some cross over voting, but the base usually votes for their guy. The swing voters vote for who they think will do the best job on the economy. And they determine the outcome in a country that is pretty evenly divided between Republican and Democrat.

My beef is that with a war going on, while the economy is still a big issue in the election, there is another issue that matters to swing voters - obviously that is national security. This election will turn on swing voters voting on these two issues - they will not be voting for or against Bush based on claims that he is a dumb ass or a Nazi.

So what purpose is served by the hateful Bush bashing? Do these people have their heads in the sand and are still living in September 10th America? If so, they should take a cue from Bush hater Tom Junod. If, on the other hand, it is purely out of partisanship and hate, what does that say about their intelligence, grasp of the issues we face, intellectual honesty, and motives when they engage in character assasination instead of debate?

update: be sure to check out the comments left for these Bush bashers!