The late George Wallace once decided to run as an independent candidate for president because he said “there ain’t a dime’s worth of difference” between Democrats and Republicans.
Suffice to say that the segregationist Alabama governor — who actually was a card-carrying Democrat — couldn’t make such a claim today.
The Democrats have concluded their nominating convention one week after the Republicans concluded theirs.
And, oh brother, is there a difference between the two major parties’ presidential nominees — Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald J. Trump.
I guess I’ll start — and finish for the purposes of this post — with temperament.
Trump’s temperament could be summed up in any number of hideous statements he has made for the past year. Let me single out just one, which he said today.
It had to do with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an avowed non-friend of Trump. He spoke at the Democratic convention and declared “I’m from New York and I know a con when I see one.”
The “con,” of course is Trump.
So, what was Trump’s response to Bloomberg’s criticism?
He called him “Little Mike,” poking fun at the ex-mayor’s shorter-than-Trump’s physical stature.
There you have it. He cannot argue substantively about anything, so he is left to make ridiculous, petulant statements about someone’s physical attributes.
This well might be the very thing we’ll hear from this individual for the next 100 days until Election Day.
And yet …
This guy continues to draw support from voters who, by golly, are infatuated with someone who “tells it like it is.”
The campaign likely will far surpass the negativity of campaigns conducted during any living American’s memory.
Pay attention, though, the quality of the retorts, rebuttals and rejoinders you’ll hear from Trump and Clinton.
Yep. There’s far more than a dime separating these two candidates.