Symbols
Mathew Yglesias and Kevin Drum are wondering why Bush, obviously not even close to the most qualified candidate available, was ever nominated to run for the Presidency.
That's easy. The fact is, George W. Bush is the best filled their need, and that need was for a symbol.
I don't know if you remember but he had barely warmed the chair in Austin before they started hyping him as a possible candidate. He was George H. W. Bush's son; voting for him was a symbolic slap at Clinton. His campaign echoed Reagan's, complete with Bob Jones University visit. He's a true, earnest believer. And his flaws are the type that his constituents like in a person.
You must remember…the goal was to take back the White House, Congress and Supreme Court. And it wasn't Dubya that created the plan. He was recruited into it.
He should have become Commissioner of Baseball.
Anyway, they needed a symbol. They already had Cheney to run things, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, certain Supreme Court justices that shall go unnamed and an entire right wing think tank industry to provide analysis. They were missing only one thing: a person more likeable than Clinton. Presidential ability wasn't deemed necessary,
