Crane's Corner: The Usual Suspects
October 2, 2012
　
If you remember reading the Pogo comic strip you may be aware of a funny line cartoonist walt kelly penned some years back. " We have met the enemy and he is us."
Kelly probably didn't have the Republican Party in mind, but the description fits perfectly. After Ronald Reagan termed out, George Herbert Walker Bush took the reins, presiding over a fairly good economy and perpetratring an easy victory in the Gulf War. But Ross Perot decided to get into the mix...and managed to siphon enough votes away from Bush to bring Bill Clinton and company to Washington. He did a good job with the economy, but arrogant the Clinton administration was beatable...except that the GOP...The POGO party didn't run the best candidate---choosing the guy whose turn it was. Bob Dole. I covered that campaign for CBS News and it was easier than covering a city council meeting in Roseville. Dole was old and he only campaigned from 9-5, mostly day trips out and back to Washington. He usually took weekends off at his home in Miami Beach, putting reporters on the Beach..for two or three days at a time . I remember running into his running mate Jack Kemp when the campaigns crossed at La Guardia airport in New York---you could see how angry he was by the lack of emotion ...and message...he knew weeks before the election they were doomed...and he probably knew...and thats how it turned out....that it was his last poilitical hurrah. George W. Bush gave us a respite from Clinton...but some still believe those dangling chads stole allowed the GOP to steal the election, at the expense of Al Gore.

Next came John Mc Cain...running against a black senator with limited political experience...with a more experienced running mate....maybe he's going for term two today...but Sarah Palin was no help--might have done harm in fact. HELP....Now it's Mitt Romney's turn and he's on the verge of following auit. Playing defense...acting aloof. Romney is actually a talented guy---using supurb business skills that turned a nice stake of family money into unfathomable wealth..he needs to show his smarts, his compassion, his generosity...he has to articulate that he will be a president for all americans...not just a bunch of rich white ones. Until he does---if he does....he's just bob dole...john mc cain and george hw bush...nice guys, who on the occassional november tuesday finish last.