Guaging Bush's Prospects

Bush's decline in the polls at this stage portend nothing. Dukakis had a lead at this point in his campaign, if my memory is accurate. Kerry has significant drag to overcome. First, no candidate in memory has ever won over voters by promising to raise taxes, including Bill Clinton. Second, Kerry is still an unknown candidate. He hardly makes prime time. He is dull and pendantic and evasive on the issues. He might better succeed by campaigning with a bag over his head. Also, he is on the wrong side in the culture wars.
Bush, however, has the mendacity problem. Amercians's do not countenace snake-oil salesmen for long. His administration mislead us on WMD, the mind-set of the Iraqi people, and the conduct of the war (and the cost of Medicare). Further revelations likely will assert a cover-up up by military brass of their roles in the Iraqi prison scandal(Gitmo and other facilities are likely to have been the scene of similar abuses).
One telling poll number would be the public's perception of Bush's honesty. Another would assess damage to his moral authority. For example, how can one rally behind Bush in oppistion to say homosexual marriage when his Pentagon is forcing Iraqi prisoners to engage in homo-sexual acts?
The economy does not look like it will be a factor in this election. I agree with the pundits that it will be a Bush referendum, not a contest between equals. The rise in gay marriage will force many cultural warriors to take Bush's side despite his flaws. This one event may rescue Bush.
Security is intense today around the White House, with the Secret Serbice stopping trucks on nearby streets and examining their manefests. In the recent past, security has been more discrete. Italy's PM is in town.
Question of the week: Will Bush fire anyone for screw-ups in Iraq? He seems to fire only those whom he finds disagreeable in personality, like Lindsey and O'Neill. Is he a manager who prefers "yes men" to independent thinkers?

How not to succeed in publishing while really trying.

Delusion is the antidote to despair. If we had no delusions and we honestly viewed the world and our place in it, we would be seriously depressed, perhaps suicidal. Happy people have multiple delusions. I'm pretty happy. I wrote a book recently , Invasion of the Onion Heads; and I convinced myself that it would be a best seller. But as it happened, no literary agent would look at it and I was too stubborn to change the title. So I self published. I seriously thought that the world would beat a path to my door. To date, I have sold 14 copies and have received zero positive feedback. I still hold out hope that a Hollywood type will read Onion Heads and make it into a movie and then the world will want to read my book. That's the way it seems to go these days.
Here's a version the press release that I sent announcing my triumph. I have a delusion that you will read it and laugh and copy it to all of your buddies. God, I feel happy. Life is great.
Mea Culpa!Magazine Editor Commits a Literary Sin.
Washington Editor Jim McTague takes on the publishing establishment with his political satire/thriller "Invasion of the Onion Heads." Ten agents said that the concept would not sell. So McTague self-published for $299," which is what I spend a week on automobile repairs." McTague was hooked by the economics of self-publishing. "If I sell 100 copies at $15.50 each, then I break even. Can Random House do that? If I sell 200 copies, then I can write "How to Double Your Money in Publishing."
Ten literary agents said a sci-fi story set in Washington, D.C. with a president from Texas named Lucky and a television-savvy alien from another dimension named Bob wasn't commercial enough for today's readers. Jim McTague knew that he had written a fantastic story that was both frightening and funny. He refused to lock his beloved manuscript in a drawer. He self-published, which the agents warned would be a self-destructive move. "The conventional wisdom is self-publishing diminishes a writer in the eyes of the marketplace," says McTague. "I don't buy that. I'm an established magazine writer with a strong following. My plot is great, my satire is sharp, and my prose is wonderful. Who can resist?"

President Lucky's number-five spokesman Bill Toomey, who was demoted from the top spot for a verbal gaff, narrates Onion Heads. His celebrity wife is so upset with his downfall that she leaves him. Bob gives the hard-luck PR man a second chance as his spokesman and inadvertently provides Toomey with the opportunity to save his wife and the world.

"I loved writing the book, but marketing it has turned out to be lots of fun too. With a marketing budget of $000.00, it's an intellectual challenge to get the word out.
Check out McTague's fun and exciting novel and its unique cover art at either Authorhouse.com. or his personal web site, http://home.comcast.net/~mctaguej/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html
Yes, that's an Onion chasing a screaming woman up the steps of the US Capitol!

McTague can be reached at 301-990-8679 or at McTagueJ@comcast.net. The book can be ordered through Authorhouse, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
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