The Wages of Hatred

For the most perceptive insight into George W. Bush and the Republicans' robust victory over Senator Jean-François Kerry and the Democrats, look to Tom Wolfe. As usual America's finest living writer sees America with limpid clarity. In a pre-election interview with the British newspaper The Guardian Wolfe observes that the eastern media elite "do not have a clue about the rest of the United States. You are considered twisted and retarded if you support Bush in this election." Well, a record 59 million voters did support Bush. "I have never come across a candidate who is so reviled," Wolfe continues, "Reagan was sniggered at, but this is personal, real hatred."