Presented Without Comment

Elizabeth Dole DID run for president. But she quit the 2000 race in 1999 for inadequate funding. But at the time she was polling higher than McCain was.

 

I don't pay much attention to this stuff usually, so I have only seen her speak a few times and her shtick has always rubbed me wrong. I honestly could never tell if she was of mediocre intelligence or if she is pretty smart and playing masterfully to a massive audience swayed by her brand of populism.

But now I think she is smarter than I perhaps thought and her act is calculated.

First, she absolutely ate Chris Wallace's lunch yesterday, and he generally can be glib and talk his way through anything with an interview subject. She handled his question as well as anyone could have:

And from what I a reading about the team she has put together, how she handled appearances in Iowa today, and how she is being handled so she doesn't put her foot in her mouth talking off the cuff, I get the feeling she realizes she needs to listen and follow their advice. And with the way she has been raising money, if she can stick to a script, she might have a chance for the nomination.

I still can't stand her or what she stands for, but I was really impressed by how she didn't blink when Chris Wallace screwed up by asking the "flake" question that way.