4) We do not need another scumbag in the race.

Ralph Nader claims there is no clear distinction between BushCo and his opponents. He has slandered Vice President Al Gore.

We have devolved from electing principled-but-human presidents (Reagan, Bush I, Clinton) to electing a liar of unparalleled audacity (Bush II). If you have to think back a century to find counter-examples, it proves the point. Even Nixon had outstanding redeeming qualities.

President Bush assumed Nixonian executive privilege airs long before there was any serious suspicion of foul play. If Nixon is the tragic lover in our theater of democracy, Bush is the poison bearing dunce who claims an abandon crown, and Nader is gunning for the role of Iago.

America needs a president who will promote bygone standards of honest discourse (think Post-Depression, but Pre-Nixon). We may not deserve someone as seemingly honest as Gov. Dean, but the closer-the-better.

Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton are "principled-but-human"? How old are you, Sean? Ronald Reagan made George Bush Jr. look like a goddamn genius, and his surrender of the presidency to evil swine is documented fact. We wouldn't have a Bush Sr. or a Bush Jr. without Reagan.

George W. Bush wishes he could be as incompetent and submissive as Ronald Reagan. He doesn't deserve to hold Reagan's coat. I knew Ronald Reagan, I hated Ronald Reagan, and George, you are no Ronald Reagan.

Crap, man, this just makes me mad. George W. Bush is not Satan. He's a really bad and illegitimate president and a stupid man who's been used by various factions to execute stupendously destructive wars, undermine civil liberties, and destroy the environment.

But that's nothing new. That's business as usual in the American presidency. With the possible exception of Jimmy Carter, whose hands were occasionally soiled but who at least had a fucking brain and some glimmer of decency, no president in recent memory has been a human being worth shaking hands with.

George W. Bush is no watershed.