An enlightening Vanity Fair Dubya piece, circa October 2000

I subscribe to Vanity Fair, so I don't normally go to its Website, but I did tonight, poking around for something else, when I came across this snapshot from nearly seven years ago - it's a piece by Gail Sheehy entitled, The Accidental Candidate, an inside look at George W. Bush, presidential candidate. It's a pretty enlightening article - if you have about 20 minutes or so, take a read. I give you the first part here - the link to the whole article is at the end of this post. Enjoy, wince, and think about what might have been had the Supreme Court not subverted the electoral process by effectively declaring Bush the winner by stopping the vote counting in Florida.

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The Miami Air charter belches ominously before takeoff from La Guardia to Detroit in late June. The pilot mumbles something about a compressor stall, "nothing to be alarmed about." After a 20-minute delay, it is Governor George Bush himself who saunters down the aisle toward the press section. He rolls back on his heels and throws his hands up in the air. "Haaay, don't worry about it." Big grin. "This is the optimistic campaign."

He leans against a reporter's seat with one hand poised on his hip, confident, handsome,infectiously informal, full of energy and benign mischief. His face is a constant play of expressions, most of them clownish or mocking. "Anybody got any questions?"

"I do," I call out, raising my hand.

"Nooo real questions." He thrusts out his hands in halt mode. "Just chatting." And he launches into a marathon of small talk for over an hour. Bush knows full well the value of cultivating the press. He has a little tease for each reporter: "Hey, are you gonna give me glass half full or half empty?" Or "What about you—will you be stalkin' me, too?" It's a more jolly campaign than most. Bush sets the tone: "We're like a little old travelin' family—the whole experience."

A day later, flying from Cleveland to Austin, I ask Bush if he has any reaction to the new "civil union" law upheld by the Vermont Supreme Court allowing gays the rights and responsibilities of married couples.

"I missed that," he says. "Is that like gay marriage?" He wrinkles his nose.

Told it is a new alternative, he says, "I haven't heard anything about it. I'd only be interested if it were an issue in Texas."

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Yep, that's our president. I got to this point in the story, and all I could say to myself was, "WTF was American thinking?"

Read the rest of the story Here.

Illustration by Risko, Vanity Fair