Baselines and the upcoming election: Will the failure to find WMD hurt Bush?

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | Tod Lindberg

[JohnHuang2]

I was in the English countryside over the weekend at a gathering of Europeans and Americans trying to talk through the question of how to set rules for international order. But that was the official program. In the hallways, the dining room and the bars, the questions posed to the Americans (a politically diverse group) were all about handicapping the presidential election.

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Quote of the Day by jigsaw

[jennyp]

Mr. Bush has seen some erosion in his ratings for trustworthiness, clearly a no-WMD depression. This is serious. If Mr. Bush does lose in November, I think that underlying it will be a sense of unease about a leader who has taken the country to war on the basis of a mistaken or misstated casus belli.

Why doesn't the Bush campaign bring up David Kay's description of Saddam's Iraq as basically a hall of mirrors (my term)? True, there were no stockpiles of WMDs, but Kay says generals in Saddam's own Special Republican Guard also thought there were stockpiles of WMDs! there definitely were WMD programs that were ready to crank out chem & bio weapons on just a few weeks notice - and actual, physical missiles being produced to carry them.

Stockpiles of actual chem/bio warheads would be very photogenic, but what was found was just as dangerous. But not a peep about these facts from the campaign!

[Bonaparte]

There are 8 months to go, jenny. That's an eternity.

[Coop]

But not a peep about these facts from the campaign!

That's not accurate. They mention these facts, and the media ignores it.

[FReethesheeples]

Nasty John the Waffling French Undertaker, who is behind the atatacks on GWB's 9/11 ad, per the American Spectator.

Kerry, who is personally endorsed by Haiti's Aristide, Iran's Mullahs, Kim Jong Il, (& Kim Il Jong), Mugabe, Marxit thug Chavez of Venezuela, Castro of Cuba, & France's Jacques Chirac, is a weapon of mass economic destruction.

He'll destroy the troops in Iraq, the War on Terrorism,

& the U.S. stock market with all his negative talk and whiny-leftist-liberal sour-puss troop-bashing, Bush-bashing, America-bashing talk & self-aggrandizing, ultra-negative sourpuss whiny elitist personality.

[prognostigaator]

Some parts of the issue mix have been moving in the Democrats' direction. Specifically, they have re-emerged as the favored party on education, and President Bush's effort to win credit on health care matters with his Medicare prescription-drug entitlement seems to have amounted to little so far.
The budget deficit is an embarrassment to Mr. Bush's base supporters. Most important, perhaps, is the question of where the national mood is in relation to Mr. Bush's self-description as a "war president."

The [democrat ]party base is united and ready for the main event.

The rabidness of the democrat fans of Kerry, the Clintons , the disillusioned Deaniacs, never ceases to amaze...

[raloxk]

Answer is Yes: His poll numbers fell 10 points after Kay's testimony.

Will It Hurt His Place In History: No, if he loses and Kerry screws up Iraq, Kerry not Bush will get the blame.
If Iraq turns out well and all other countries in the region become democracies, Bush will get the historical credit, not Kerry

[cricket]

Stockpiles of actual chem/bio warheads would be very photogenic, but what was found was just as dangerous. But not a peep about these facts from the campaign!"

I no longer can even as 'why not'. It is too frustrating. How often, I would think, Wow!. . .great material for campaign message.

We have seen some good campaign spots; but too often, the truth is diluted; lest it be construed as 'negative'. We see his Sept 11 spot embroiled in controversy; but the truth of that, (Heinz/Tides/Peaceful Tomorrows), so far a casualty as it appears to be off limits for Bush Camp to tackle.

Many of those stockpiled weapons, you mention are typical of those used against our Military and our Coalition Forces. Would it have been better to have this enemy use WMD's upon our arrival; or just dig them up, as needed?

A question for those who meticulously quote the body count and the daily numbers of casualties to justify and bolster their criticism of this war. . .and to those who talley the loss of innocent Iraquis; but begin their count, with the Liberation of Iraq:

If the WMD's were there as you insist they should have been; what kind of numbers might you have re the loss of life in Iraq?

We should have waited these body-counting critics insist; but for what; total destruction? anihilation?

We might remember this thought as well; where two or more terrorists gather and create a mission; we have a weapon of mass destruction.

Yes, jennyp; so much truth; but hopefully, they will pull more of the truth out soon. And not more from the current closet; but from their arsenal!

[jennyp]

There are 8 months to go, jenny. That's an eternity.

I know, but brushfires only need time and wind to become wildfires. The Democrats & the media are happy to provide as much hot air as necessary - as soon as the anti-Bush brushfires start to grow. So it's up to our side to quench the fires now, while they can still be quenched easily. 8 months from now it'll be anyone's guess whether they can be put out, regardless of the objective truth of our case for the war.

[jennyp]

But not a peep about these facts from the campaign!

That's not accurate. They mention these facts, and the media ignores it.

Well, I hope so. But if they are, they're not doing it loudly & long enough. They really need to harp on this to rise above the noise. IMO.

[Big Horn]

IMHO Shakspeare could not have written it better than you.

[Bonaparte]

I understand and I agree. We should do our part to "campaign" for the President in our everyday lives. But just remember: This man has never lost an election, not even when the democrats tried their best to steal it from him (with the Florida SC as a willing accomplice!). He also took back congressional majorities at midterm, got his way on substantial tax cuts and two wars, despite the democrats and their european allies screaming bloody murder. He bent the UN over a barrel and split the europeans on the war issue. He's no dummy and neither are his campaign people. Kerry also has lots of weaknesses for Bush to exploit, including the homo "marriage" issue and his phobia about being tagged for what he is, an extreme liberal and a totally negative campaigner with no clear vision for America.