Nice post.
We've been saying on FR since 1/21/01 that Bush is America's TV Columbo President. For most leftists, however, they won't catch on until he hits the reruns in syndication...
Posted on 12/23/2003 7:50:22 AM PST by NorCoGOP
CLAREMONT, Calif. -- I used to be a big time Bush-basher. I loved the Web sites that made George W. Bush look like a monkey, the books full of garbled speeches and interviews, and the jokes about the President's IQ. I would begin every article I wrote for this newspaper by describing how idiotic, greedy, fascist, and evil the President was and how once again he was going to screw up all of our lives. Lately, however, the pervasive Bush-bashing is beginning to bother me.
It is not that my opinion of the President has changed; it is as low as ever. Nor do I think the President deserves a higher level of respect; we should be able to treat our presidents with the same lack of respect we show everyone else. The problem with Bush bashing is that it is a sign of desperation, a sign that we feel so powerless to stop the country from heading in a direction that many of us feel is terrible that all we can do to make ourselves feel better is call the President stupid. This is a bad sign, because when you start calling people names, it means they have already won.
It seems that much of the country is reserving their most powerful emotions, either love or hate, for George W. Bush. Time magazine has made this their cover story this week and recent polls have shown that the difference between the President's approval rating among Republicans and Democrats is at its highest point ever. This is a problem because intense emotions often make it difficult to think clearly, and a major national election is when it is most important for people to think clearly about their elected leaders.
That is why I am concerned about the upcoming Democratic primaries. There is such a pervasive attitude surrounding the candidates that Democrats need to choose someone who can "beat Bush." In many ways this seems to be all that matters. This phenomenon can be seen most clearly regarding General Wesley Clark. Clark is one of the two candidates with a large following at Pomona (Howard Dean is the other), and yet the only real reason given for supporting him is because he is a General, so Bush will not have an advantage over him on national security. I have heard so many people say "wouldn't it be great to see Bush, the Vietnam War deserter, in a debate against GENERAL Wesley Clark." I do not think it would be great, because I am not convinced Clark would make a good President, and at that point I do not care if he makes Bush look bad. I do not want to pick on Clark, he may yet be a great candidate, but it is just the clearest example of how many Democrats are so focused on Bush's negative aspects that they cannot pay any attention to the positive aspects of the candidates they support.
If Democrats choose a candidate because he or she has the greatest potential to beat Bush, they will be making a mistake for two reasons. First, they will be choosing a candidate based on their fear and hatred, not on hopes for a great presidency. This will basically ensure that if this candidate wins, it will be a bad presidency. If Democrats focus so intensely on getting Bush out of the White House, and then succeed, a "now what?" moment will follow and suddenly our next President will have to scramble for the policies he or she did not develop during the campaign. We will have elected the anti-Bush, and while that may sound good now, it is not a solid foundation for a presidency.
Second, the "Beat Bush" strategy is going to end in defeat. The basic idea behind this strategy is to get votes by showing how Democrats are more qualified on Bush's traditional strong points. The classic example of this is Clark on national security. Yet Democrats tried this very strategy in 2002 and it ended in shameful ruin. Many Democratic candidates in that race decided not to challenge Bush and instead try to present themselves as tough terrorist fighters. This only ended up giving credibility to their Republican counterparts and cost many Democrats their seats in Congress.
By focusing on security and Iraq in this election, instead of domestic issues like job losses, health care, and the environment, all issues for which Bush has a terrible record, Democrats are basically playing into Karl Rove's hands. Bush already has 500 million dollars to spend on ads scaring Americans into thinking terrorists are going to take over the world if he is not re-elected, and there is little Democrats can do to stop that. If, instead, a candidate could convince disillusioned voters that he or she was genuinely dedicated to fixing the nation's decaying social institutions and promoting social justice, they could easily pick up the votes that went to Ralph Nader in 2000. Those votes would have won Al Gore the election. We live in a polarized nation, and for better or worse motivating the poles is the only way to win this election. This won't happen with a "beat Bush at all costs" campaign.
Most likely the main reason Bush bashing is so popular right now is because it is easy. It is sure to get a reaction and you do not have to think about why millions of Americans think Bush is doing a great job, how economic inequality has been growing in this country long before Bush took office, or how pervasive and powerful money has become in both parties. These questions need to be answered, however, before Democrats can offer a serious challenge to not only Bush but the powerful system of moneyed interests that he represents. If the Bush-bashing continues in the place of honest consideration of policies, then the Democrats will not only lose the election, but lose what is left of their integrity as well.
And therein lies your one major personality flaw, Peter.
Try treating everyone else with respect and you may find you'll begin having a better image of yourself and possibly...just possibly you'll stop lashing out to compensate for your own shortcomings.
If you get the DVD release of directors cut of "Godzilla", the street mingling denizens of the 60s Tokyo cool hepcats are pointing and ridiculing the Lizard King right up to their "Lord of the Dance" reptillian stepdance bodily pancaking too:
"Ha! Look look! It so Easy! Happy Go Lucky! Big Stupid Frog! No Fly With Turtle Rocket! Yatta Yatta Yatta ..." SQUISH!
So if I got this right, the President (who has screwed up all of our lives and threatens to do so again) will be elected because most of us (except for weepy collegiate bedwetters) are too stupid to understand?
GOOD!
Mr. Douglas, the 'Rat party has lost their integrity manifold when they refused to remove His Slickness from offices for his gross abuses.
I love Godzilla.
The smug Manhattan, Georgetown and Bel Air dandies cannot conjure a recognition of a political adversary who is absolutely beating them everywhere. They don't see a CIC committed to winning a perilous war against murderous terrorists and their mentor states. They don't see a CEO re-engineering our selfish domestic Federal LEO agencies and our sick Pentagon fiefdoms. They don't see a guy who is inch by inch, audaciously transforming our diseased Medicare, Social Security, Education and Civil Servant monstrosities and moving them into the private sector and 21st century management. They don't see that the dialogue is about cutting taxes! It's about restoring our Christian prolife heritage, reiterating our soverign independence, reducing our bureaucratic meddling in our businesses, property prerogatives and free markets. He's pissing off the French, transexual Bill Maher and fatassed DixieChick vocalist demographis, he must be stupid and some kind of a cowboy who doesn't even read Vanity Fair! He pronounces the word "nucular" as he intimidates Libya to drop their program, installs a "Star Wars" global anti-missile defense system and scoffs at the stupid ABM farce despite the European tantrums and drags the Russians along, neutralizes the danger of Pakistani madmen and India based Dell-outsourced system engineers lobbing nuclear duds at each others cattle. But ... he says "nucular"! He didn't know Musharraf's name in the Primary! Sure, he convinced Musharraf to confront his terrorist adversaries, purge his security mobsters and ally with the Great Satan in the fight against international terrorism!!! But that frat boy moron Bush sure didn't know his future friend, partner and confidante's name in the New Hampshire primary!! All Bush does is lead. All he does is create win-wins for our allies. All he does is secure the world from Islamist hell monsters who want to kill the World. And, he elicits the imperiled, politically and personally at risk leaders of the United Kingdom, Poland, Pakistan, Israel, the Phillippenes, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Spain and Australia to step up, early and often, as on the record partners in the quest for civilization. The Russians, Saudis, Egyptians, Indians and Emirates are working with us incognito, guarantee.
But he can't pronounce a Burmese name. The Burmese can't even figure out their names. Bush'll just give the visiting President a nickname ... "Banjamalou Pangkrptorou" ... "Hey Banjo!"
He's doing that all as we speak. The uber Lefties on DU think he's stupid and a tool of Karl Rove, Don Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. The uber Righties on FR think he's stupid and a tool of Karl Rove, Colin Powell and Paul Wolfowitz.
Everyone in this Administration reports to George W. Bush.* They execute HIS directives. They are empowered managers who can make mistakes and win great successes in their duty. Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, Tom Ridge, John Ashcroft and Don Rumsfeld work for George W. Bush. He is their boss. He sets the agenda. He has the final say.
Watching the smug Dandies of the left and paleo right prance about while being deconstructed by moron Bush is like watching a Columbo episode. Or watching the perky gals from the afternoon shift at Deja Vu play chess against Garry Kasparov.
Woody Allen had the great concept of rescripting an Asian language film. The guys at Mystery 2K caught on too. Watching Godzilla battle his radiation horrific monsters ... he'd always get hit and go ""F*** that hurts" like a human and then he'd start body punching the giant Fiddler Crab like Ali on Patterson. Too funny.
Nice post.
We've been saying on FR since 1/21/01 that Bush is America's TV Columbo President. For most leftists, however, they won't catch on until he hits the reruns in syndication...
I know a few, and refer to them as 'Shakespeare-quoting french fry chefs'.
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