I Love Jimmy Breslin

Jimmy Breslin: 'A leader showed up; his name was Kerry'

George Bush reiterated time and again last night that it was hard work to run this government. It was hard work to lead a country out of tyranny and into democracy. It was hard work to read casualty reports. The war was hard work. And he made it plain that talking with somebody about his record as president was the grueling, hardest work you could want.

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And don't tell me he's not dumb. Yes, he was matched against an absolutely first-rate mind last night. But he could have done a little bit better at covering his helplessness than flusters of college boy anger.

He whined and brayed about consistency. He used that word so he could underline his famous "flip-flop" attacks on John Kerry. He said that by opposing the way the war in Iraq is going, Kerry was sending "mixed messages" and they are harmful to our troops. I, Bush, never change.

There were problems to this. One, Kerry cheated on him and turned a fine line: "Don't confuse the war with the warriors." Then in the middle of Bush's reiteration of dusty phrase after dusty phrase, we should remain as we are, was Ralph Waldo Emerson's, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen ..."

It was better than anything you are going to read from anybody from now to the end of the election, and you will see that Emerson quote come alive whenever Bush opens his mouth and starts the same old lines. George Bush writes in crayon.

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[T]hey opened the night with John Kerry talking. He was strong, passionate, sending a fine intellect out into the night. And when he got tough, he looked like a guy who could kill somebody if he had to for the country. Again. And that wimp next to him looked like he would, again, flee to the dentist.