NULL DRIVES THEM TO THE VOID:

Bush-haters, you're running out of esteem (REX MURPHY, Jan. 31, 2004, Globe & Mail)

On the account of his enemies, George Bush does not have the personal force, the sustenance of character, to generate the field of contempt and enmity with which he is surrounded.

By contrast, Bill Clinton, quicksilver Bill, the man of a thousand reflexes, intellectual, at home in think tanks or on a Hollywood stage -- Bill Clinton's personality was as large and volatile as some weather systems.

But it's Mr. Bush the nullity who charges millions with the most profound and negative emotions. The response is all out of proportion to its stimulus. It is irrational. The Bush paradox is the central fact in world politics today. It has one equally curious rider. The world's real villain, Osama bin Laden, very largely gets, by contrast, an emotional bye.

This is clearest in the Left's hysteria over Guantanamo and in comments like those by Mr. Dean about not pre-judging Osama. They hate George W. Bush so much they fetishize the true enemy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 5, 2004 7:48 AM