The contrast in public response to the candidates is startling, especially when you consider that Bush doesn't need to bus in (and possibly pay) supporters the way Kerry has. Having attended a Bush rally and freeped a Kerry rally in the same city, a few weeks apart, I can testify that the crowd response was different. The Bushies were sincerely enthusiastic and wild about their man, both while waiting in line to enter the arena and during the megaloud rally itself, while the Kerryites looked uninspired. The applause at their rally was lackluster, the bused-in guys in union T-shirts looked angry, and many in attendance admitted that the only reason they came was Ben Affleck's presence. Without him or some other celebrity on the stage to prop up Kerry/Edwards, they're drawing hundreds.
Hey, Lurch: Maybe it wasn't a joke, lol...Kerry: Americans Don't Want Jokes From Their President
"Campaigning in Ohio, President Bush said of Kerry, "'He voted for the use of force, but against funding the troops. He said that we're not spending enough money to reconstruct Iraq, yet now says we're spending too much. He said it was the right decision to go into Iraq, yet now he calls it the wrong war.
"I think he can spend 90 minutes debating himself," the president said to laughter.
Responding to the jibe, Kerry said, "When U.S. soldiers are in harm's way, the American people don't want jokes and fantasy spin from their president, they want to hear the truth."