(Not) The Last Straw

Let’s be clear: Disappointed (but hardly shocked) as I am by President Bush’s speech today, I’ll still be voting for him come November. Unless, that is, by some miracle the Democrats nominate someone I could trust with sharp things.

Of course, the list of remaining Democratic contenders with that requisite has dwindled to zero. And the starting number was one. Buh-bye, Joe Lieberman.

I voted for Bush in 2000 for the simple — and sole — reason that he wasn’t Al Gore. All that changed a few days after 9/11, when he stood on that pile of wreckage, loudspeaker in hand, arm around a rescue worker, and said, “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”

In that one moment, I became proud of my vote for George W. Bush, and I looked forward to voting with pride for his reelection.

Now, when I pull the lever for him next fall, I’ll do it the way proper Victorian women were supposed to approach sex — “Close your eyes and think of England.”