October, why hast thou forsaken me?

October, why hast thou forsaken me?: Wow. I want my October back. There was so much I was going to do...but, time's up.

(At the Job, we're in the midst of launching a big new version of our software, which is always a time- and energy-intensive task... BlueLine's recording an album, bit by bit... We've been relatively social this month... plus, there's the election consuming the rest of our attention. All of which = not much time spent on the website.)

One thing I'd hoped to do in October was produce a series of concise, reasonably entertaining essays explaining the convictions behind my opposition to the re-Presidenting of George Walker Bush (Yale '68, Harvard '75); how in so many areas, he had disqualified himself from retaining office.

The most vigorous and visceral arguments Republicans make against electing Kerry are based on a cartoonish misrepresentation of what the man actually stands for so that people will be fooled into being frightened of him winning. (That cartoon version of Kerry failed to show up for the debates; maybe Bush lost them because he had believed his own spin about his opponent and mis-prepared?) The braindead bumper sticker "Kerry's SCARY!!1!" is just the most straightforward version of this line of attack... how is that supposed to be persuasive, exactly? Where in there is an argument with any substance?

Anyway. No time left for writing those essays, but I will at least dig up some writings from principled Republicans and moderates making some of the same points I would have.

I'll be back tonight with some key excerpts, but here's a start:

• Annoyed independent John Scalzi's endorsement of John Kerry
  
  
• Doug Bandow, special assistant to Reagan and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute: Why conservatives must not vote for Bush
  
  
• American Conservative Magazine: Kerry's the one by Scott McConnell, a contributor to Pat Buchanan's magazine.
  
  
• Mushy middle-of-the-roader and Iraq war supporter Richard Cohen finally stops giving Bush the benefit of the doubt: Hold Bush Accountable