Well, Duh...

I just got done watching Bill O'Reilly and Newt Gingrich debate why the Kerry campaign didn't get a bounce. Hmm. I'm not a nationally syndicated talking head or a former Speaker of the House, but let me hazard a guess.

Nobody watched it.

More precisely, nobody whose mind wasn't already made up paid a damn bit of attention to the convention or the Kerry campaign. The vast majority of Americans do not care passionately about party politics, like J does. The vast majority does not regard electoral politics as an extremely twisted soap opera financed for our entertainment with our tax dollars, like I do. The vast majority of Americans were out living their lives and not giving John Kerry any more thought than it took to change the channel. That's why he didn't get a bounce.

On a somewhat related note, John Kerry was out speechifying today and NPR played a great quote at me. "What the country needs is leadership, not followship." (I'm quoting from memory, so I might be off slightly.) Damn. If somebody that works for me handed me that on a document, I would hand it back to them and tell them to try again. The Senator needs better speechwriters or something. I would ask how you deliver a line that bad with a long face, but Kerry doesn't have a choice. Oops, did I say long? I meant straight.