The Spectator

Half a cheer for Bush

Half a cheer for Bush

issue 30 October 2004

Next Tuesday an unhappy choice confronts the American people. To suffer a gloating Mark Steyn. Or to endure the sight of a jubilant Michael Moore thumping the air in the belief that he has just personally saved the world from military and ecological disaster. Grim though these alternatives are, with heavy heart we are minded to favour the first, and urge Americans to vote for Bush.

It is a cliché that this year’s presidential candidates are the least inspiring for years. American presidential candidates are always the least inspiring for years. Grimacing from across the Atlantic at the choice before the American people — hawk or super-hawk, right-wing nutcase or even more right-wing nutcase — Britain’s leader writers tend to dust down their standard ‘lesser of two evils’ piece and adjust where appropriate.

This is what The Spectator said on the contest between Bush and Gore four years ago: ‘Even within the United States many people remain unstirred by the contest between George Bush and Al Gore.’

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