Rich Lowry points out that many people polled want the country to go in a “new direction.” He also points out the vapidity of the assumption of many in the press that such folk, like those who think the country is on the “wrong track” or disapprove of the president’s job, will be Kerry voters. I’ve also pointed this out before.

I disapprove of the president’s performance, on many levels, think the country needs a new direction, and is on the wrong track. Am I going to be voting for Kerry? Of course not, because I’m afraid he’ll derail the train completely.

I was amused yesterday, driving down the coast of Florida, as I listened to Sean Hannity’s “man (and woman) in the street interviews” in which none of the Kerry supporters could identify a single accomplishment in his career, or a single position that he took that they agreed with, that would cause them to vote for him. Many didn’t even know the name of his running mate. It was simply sufficient for him to not be George Bush. If I’d been doing the interviews, I’d have asked how they knew that they wouldn’t be making things worse by electing a guy they admittedly knew absolutely nothing about. But Sean is never quite that quick on the uptake. In any event, one suspects that many of the empty vessels he interviewed won’t bother to vote, despite their stated support for Kerry.

Anyway, this foolish tendency of the media to translate in their minds unhappiness with George Bush into automatic support for Kerry is one of the reasons that they continue to fool themselves about the latter’s prospects in November. I suspect they’re in for a shock.