Ah fuck no. WHY! He's got no qualities! NO QUALITIES! Well, except for the bad ones. Oh crap crap crap. I really think the U.S. election is already blown. Seriously. I know it's just one poll, and part of the boost can be attributed to the proximity of the Republican convention, but still, I don't think I'm over-reacting to this. There is just no hope. It's a cert. Done for I tells ya. Kaput. My key indicator in support of this hysterical fatalism is that, not only has the Kerry medals thing stuck around badly, but now it's also building like a motherfucker in quite a scary and serious way, yet without raising much 'compare and contrast' action about Bush's service. For some reason, that's a "quit livin in the past" issue. I mean, Kerry actually put himself in danger and was then honest about not liking how dodgy and fucked up being there was. Respect. And yet all it takes to screw his image irredeemably is someone going "My my, that is a lot of medals, isn't it? Hmmm. Think about it, people." I mean, if Bush is the one winning this issue, there's just no hope. Also, it's masking a lot of bad news that should be kicking Bush, like the figures showing that over a million more people fell into poverty last year, and, just generally, how Bush is just a dick. And shit, Kerry's really an impressive guy, and I don't base that on the Vietnam thing at all. You just gotta watch him conduct a town hall meeting to see that the guy is a good sort. Yet somehow Bush, who has really fucked a whole lot of shit up, has got hand. I swear he's a shoe-in. And it makes no sense. Bah crapola.