Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie

I really hope that a year and a half from now, when we're embarking on what's sure to be one of the nastier Presidential elections on record, that Democrats don't get that deer-in-the-headlights look like they did in 2002 -- you know, the "Man, we voted for some of his stuff, why are Bush and the Republicans being so mean to us?" Because according to the NYT (registration required), the President's political strategists are already planning such wonderful touches as holding their national convention in New York City during the first week of September (when in the past they've always been held in July and August) so as to neatly dovetail with -- you guessed it -- the third anniversary of 9/11/01. And no, this isn't just a Democrat whining about timing; they actually admit what they're doing:

Mr. Bush's advisers said they chose the date so the event would flow into the commemorations of the third anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

The back-to-back events would complete the framework for a general election campaign that is being built around national security and Mr. Bush's role in combatting terrorism, Republicans said. Not incidentally, they said they hoped it would deprive the Democratic nominee of critical news coverage during the opening weeks of the general election campaign.

(Emphasis added.)

This is not shaping up to be a campaign of ideas, in which big ideas are debated. No, we're in store for ads that juxtapose images of Democrats with shots of Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. There's going to be bloody-shirt waving. There are going to be personal attacks and questions of Democratic patriotism. On the third page of the article we learn from a Bush adviser that Senator John Kerry -- a decorated Viet Nam veteran -- "looks French".

This is what's coming, folks. We'd better get ready for it, pronto. And this time, we'd damned well better fight the fight that's actually being fought, instead of the one we'd like to fight if only they'd stop playing dirty.

(And I probably shouldn't be reading political blogs at six in the morning when I can't sleep....)