May 19, 2004

Balancing Bushisms with Kerryisms.

Slate applies its Bushisms mentality to the other side. I start reading the new feature thinking Kerryisms are going to be just as dumb as Bushisms but much less snappy. And yes, it turns out the Kerryisms feature is all about pompous verbosity. If all you knew about the two candidates was this difference in the way they speak badly, and you had to bet on who would win, you'd be a fool not to bet on Bush. By the same token, I don't think Slate is going to sell many books full of Kerryisms. I used to think Slate's Bushisms feature was unfair and unbalanced, but seeing how boring Kerryisms are (and Gore-isms would have been), I now think the concentration of Bushisms is defensible in neutral editorial terms.

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