Although I still can't grok the idea of a gay Republican, period, Andrew Sullivan's analysis of Bush's routing in Tempe is evenly handled for a conservative. And then he follows by printing this email from a reader:"I agree with your assessment of the humanity conveyed by Bush this evening. But for me this was a transition from loathing an arrogant man who isolates himself to seeing a man who finally has realized that he may lose and has to answer to the American people. I question whether he has ever truly felt that before. Tonight he almost seemed overcome by it. The recent article in TNR, “Legend in His Own Mind”, by Noam Scheiber, portrays Bush as man manipulated by those around him who play to his egotistical and ritualistic tendencies. I saw a different Bush tonight. A Bush, who perhaps for the first time since the beginning of his presidency, was truly questioning himself. He seemed unsure of himself and because of that open to new ideas. To me, that made him stronger. But he is four years too late. Kerry questions himself all the time. Call it flip-flopping if you like. I call it strength. And I am voting for Kerry."
Although I can't groove on the "humanity" part, the Bush I saw last night was, well, sort of sad. He certainly didn't get a rise out of me like usual (especially his off-the-handle rudeness in the second debate). He was silly too, cackling like Dana Carvey's impression of Poppa Bush, starting one response with "Wooo!", and saying "Freedom is on the march!!" like a 10-year-old would say "We're going to Baskin-Robbins!" I've seen more Bush than...let's not go there, okay...I've seen more Bush over these last three weeks than I have over the last four years I think. If you add up all the sound bites and clips, it probably wouldn't eclipse the 270 minutes spent in his company in October. And I'm tired. And I get the feeling Bush is tired too. Kerry is just warming up.
What I also thought last night was: If Bush loses, we won't see him again. Whereas Clinton loves the crowds and Carter keeps a busy public profile, rich folk like Bush disappear off the map when they leave office. They generally aren't interested in the people. Yet, knowing how badly his leadership has been, will they want him on any boards as anything more than a token name?
Who am I kidding?