The Boy Prognosticator Rides Again

You know what's fun and easy? Writing about the election two years before it will actually happen. You just pull some crap out of your place you pull crap from and mention McCain and Hillary Clinton and whammo - you got a column.

It's kind of a shame that so many conservatoid columnists are taking this route. I mean not all of them have Ben Shapiro's gift of prophecy, which he sprinkles all over his latest article. Apparently, using his prophetic vision, Ben Shapiro has noted that McCain, Guiliani, Gingrich are running for President. And they all have drawbacks - McCain and Guiliani with the base, and Gingrich in the general. He then sums up the Democratic race.

For the Democrats, the choice is clearer: It's Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York all the way. Although constant media attention has elevated rookie Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois in the polls, this is part of a broader Democratic strategy to boost Clinton. The Democratic Party believes deeply that the illusion of political momentum for a candidate emerging from the primaries is more important than actual political momentum. To that end, the Democrats dub a challenger every four years. Every four years, they talk about how popular the new kid is. Every four years, the old warhorse, the candidate obscured by the blinding brightness of the hot new star, emerges victorious. In 2000, the hot new thing was Bill Bradley; the old warhorse was Al Gore. In 2004, the hot new thing was Howard Dean; the old warhorse was John Kerry.

Of course in 2000 the hot new thing on the Republican side of the fence was McCain - and we know how that ended up. But I suppose it's only phoney when Democrats do it.

Actually now that I think about it, I'm not sure Shapiro has the gift of prophecy at all. I was so sure he did, once upon a time.