The Corner Gets THE FEAR

And all the more important, therefore, to push, pull and nag GWB to be the best candidate he can be, and to squawk when he turns in a lackluster performance like yesterday's. For goodness' sake, none of Russert's questions was a surprise. W's had months to prep for them -- in some cases, years. He should be able to rattle off coherent answers, in sentences each of which has a subject, verb and object, while practicing his golf swing. If he can't, that is a species of incapacity, and WE CAN'T AFFORD INCAPACITY IN GWB.

You say that you grumbled about his performance skills in 2000, doubting he could best Al Gore, yet look!--he trounced Gore. Well, no he didn't. He squeaked a narrow victory on a technicality. And that was in the days before Bush-hating was a billion-dollar industry, with the weight of Hollywood, TV, etc. behind it.-John Derbyshire