"George and Laura Bush also own two cats, Willie, who is coal black, and six-toed Ernie, an orange-and-white feline. Ernie is named for Ernest Hemingway, who also owned a six-toed cat."
-- Austin American Statesman, September 2, 2000
E arlier this month, the Bush campaign revealed its latest slogan: "Real Plans for Real People." Some found the new theme puzzling, wondering, "What exactly is a E arlier this month, the Bush campaign revealed its latest slogan: "Real Plans for Real People." Some found the new theme puzzling, wondering, "What exactly is a real person?" Others pondered: "What would a fake person be like?"
Though the new Bush slogan raises deep questions, Rightwatch believes it has uncovered the answers. They lie in the Bush family litterbox.
One of the Bushes' cats, Ernie, is named after the famous American novelist, Ernest Hemingway. Could it be that Bush was also thinking of Hemingway's unique brand of terse, evocative literary realism when he came up with his strikingly plain new slogan, "Real Plans for Real People"? By "real people," could Bush have meant Hemingway's tough, gun-toting, solitary male characters, and his frequently characterless, and sometimes downright shallow women? (National Review writer Kate O'Beirne seems to think that's the only kind.) And could it be that the great American novelist has inspired the strategy that is saving Bush from his drop in the polls?
There are strong similarities between Bush and Hemingway. William F. Buckley has argued that Bush epitomizes the "manly" virtues; "manly" is also an adjective the Nobel Prize committee used in honoring Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea in 1954. (Fittingly, a recent Los Angeles Times poll has found that Bush holds a 22-point lead among likely male voters.)
Hemingway has been described as having "[rewritten] the American sentence"; Bush has comprehensively respoken the English language. Indeed, Bush talks like a Hemingway character. He leaves out (or at least bungles) most of what he really means; to understand him, you have to read between the lines.
Both of them like guns. Both once had a fondness for drink.
Furthermore, since adopting the slogan "Real Plans for Real People," the Bush campaign has veered in a truly Hemingway-esque direction. Consider....
The Old Man and the Sea. The neophyte presidential nominee's elder statesman running mate, Dick Cheney, has shown marked similarities with the "old man" of Hemingway's most famous novel. For one thing, Cheney seems to enjoy fishing more than anything else in the world -- especially more than campaigning. For another, like the old man, Cheney too seems to relish solitude (and he's been getting it, especially on the campaign trail). And on the rare occasions when Cheney does get fired up when speaking, it's usually about the theme of another Hemingway classic:
A Farewell to Arms. The Bush campaign has blasted the Clinton administration for making love, not war. Clinton has been more concerned with chasing skirts than readying troops, they scold, and as a result, the military fell into a dangerous decline. Similarly, Hemingway's character Frederic Henry in A Farewell To Arms falls in love with a military nurse, and so abandons the Italian Army to abscond with her.
Other Bush themes might also ring a bell:
For Whom the Bell Tolls. Of late, Bush has been hearing schoolbells ring. He has foregrounded his education agenda, stressing his plans to reverse what he calls the Clinton/Gore administration's "education recession." He wants parents to be able to take their children out of schools receiving federal funding if the schools do not improve. And to achieve his education objectives, Bush appears to be willing to make the earth move, if that's what it takes.
And then there's:
To Have and Have Not. The Bush campaign has been busy touting a new study that indicates Texas incomes have risen and poverty rates have fallen more than the nation's. But many have charged that the Bush tax plan would only help the rich: Bush's plan to cut taxes $1.3 trillion over the course of 10 years would return the majority of the money to the richest people in the country. If the poor complain? Let them drink rum.
The Son Also Rises. Since Bush has adopted these Hemingway-esque themes, he has climbed steadily in the polls, and now is running about even with Al Gore. Indeed, the latest Los Angeles Times poll puts Bush ahead 48 to 42; similarly, the latest Gallup/CNN/USA poll reports Bush leading 46 to 44. (Of course, when it comes to "rising," previous GOP nominee Bob Dole advertised his own pharmaceutical remedy.)
But before other candidates run out to load up on Hemingway, Rightwatch must add a disclaimer:
It's certainly possible that Laura Bush, not George, named the cat Ernie. After all, she's the librarian. And he says he doesn't like to read.
