"I voted for the one I'd rather have a beer with" must be among the dumbest justifications of voting behavior you hear—although, now that I've typed those words, I'm thinking that if I had heard all the justifications this one about a tavern partner might have to be moved far, far down the list. It's among the dumbest of the ones that is regularly spoken out loud. I believe I first heard of it in connection with George W. Bush's supposed high "likability" factor—anyone would rather have a beer with him than with stiff wonky Al Gore, it was said. Did anyone at the time point out that you could not have a beer with Bush, a dry drunk? It says something that the impossibility of it is just the beginning of the problems. Actually, I think I'd rather drink alone, since presidential candidates self-select for possessing unattractive quantities of ambition and self-regard. Fine. It's an unusual job, so maybe an unusual person: the exact opposite of what is indicated by "someone I'd like to have a beer with."
Such were my desultory thoughts after seeing recently on the news a clip of Ron DeSantis snarling at someone. For the people who'd want to have a beer with him, the attraction could only be the pass to get all mean and bigoty even before alcohol starts abetting the nastiness. Putting to one side the meaning of his words, I doubt most people could stand to listen to that high-pitched, nasally whine of complaint for the time it takes to slam one and head for the door, let alone for four years. Yet among Republicans he currently occupies an exalted slot between the angels and Trump. What is the high-minded reason for the cachet? I predict he flames out, like Scott Walker, the former boy wonder governor of Wisconsin who so far as I know does not these days even have a show on Fox. Whom the gods would destroy they first allow to win an election or two.
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