Why the race is looking so good for Bush

MSNBC ^ | 4/22/04 | Howard Fineman

[pookie18]

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry's spin doctors claim that they haven't lost ground to George Bush in recent weeks, and they are staging what they insist is the "launch" of his general election campaign this week with new TV ads airing and a trip next week to the Midwest. But the fact is that Kerry has lost ground — ground he has to make up if he hopes to win in November. The more interesting question is why? My reasons:

• Richard Ben-Veniste & Co. The media loved the 9/11 commission hearings. By instinct, we thrilled to watch a prosecutor such as B-V on the hunt, creeping in on a witness like a big cat. But the commission, which served as a platform for the theatrical Richard Clarke and the cross-examinations of Democratic members, eventually came off as too political and partisan to damage the president. Just the opposite, I think. Too many of the commissioners ended up looking like they were pressing to prove that Bush could have and should have prevented the 9/11 catastrophe — a theory the public doesn’t buy. In fact, most Americans tend to blame the rise of terrorism here on the eight-year Clinton administration. Bush, without having to say much, was able to play the political victim.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Paragraphs, my friend....PARAGRAPHS!

< P >

[hobbes1]

Hey, pookie, Formatting is our friend... ; )

[rellimpank]

----GO, RALPH, GO----!!!

[Phantom Lord]

John Kerry just needs to introduce himself to the American people.

Or so his campaign keeps saying every time he "introduces himself" every other week.

Algore reinvented himself every 2nd Wednesday. John Kerry has to keep introducing himself. The problem for Kerry is that America has met him and they don't like him.

[BlessedAmerican]

Lighten up, we are not all computer gurus....but the article is great...just heard Rush comment on it...

[LiteKeeper]

read later!

[Huck]

Hard to believe it coming from that homo Fineman. I like the way he tries to cover up the obvious media bias here:

The media loved the 9/11 commission hearings. By instinct, we thrilled to watch a prosecutor such as B-V on the hunt, creeping in on a witness like a big cat.

See that? They just like feline prosecutors. It has nothing to do with it being a poltical witchunt going after REPUBLICANS. Nah, the media hardly noticed that angle, right Howie?

[VadeRetro]

Politics is a game of context. And for now, this early in the campaign, the context isn’t Bush versus Kerry — it’s Bush versus the murderers and thugs.

Yeah! Are you sure Howie wrote this?

[TheBigB]

Oh, thank you!!

[fooman]

Hillary....

Watch out Kerry

[samtheman]

I read this with my mouse-pointer. Not so bad, that way.

So far the "BC04" (as the writer calls it) is doing well. I think undecideds are being held back by fear of some kind of blow up in Iraq. Once it sinks in that no matter what the situation in Iraq, Kerry will be a hindrance rather than a help, the undecideds will trickle over to the BC04 side of things.

Assuming the economy continues progressing (which it should) and that Iraq is somehow contained (which I expect), the Bush lead should be substantial by the end of summer.

[Maceman]

I dunno. At DU they are predicting a landslide for Kerry.

Personally, I am very much looking forward to spending election night at DU enjoying the mass suicide watch over there.

[The South Texan]

Is Finemen trying to get back in the loop at the White House.

[blackie]

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[BonnieJ]

Chris Matthews isn't happy with Howie today!
That's quite an honest and objective article and esp. considering the source...I'm amazed!

[mlbford2]

Uhhhh, DU was predicting a landslide in the 2002 elections...........DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dead]

Kerry told financial supporters in New York the other week that his objective, for now, was to “preserve my acceptability.” That’s a pretty low standard — but one he won’t meet if that is his only goal. So far, his strategy has amounted mostly to: Vote for me, I’m not Bush. That’s not enough, especially if Kerry is seen by most voters the way the BC04 ad portrays him: as a flip-flopping manipulative insider.

Good article.

[WOSG]

Right.

Howie called Ben Veniste a 'prosecutor'.... hmmmm???
What criminals has he locked up lately?

He mis-spelled "LIBERAL DEMOCRAT SHILL AND MAFIA LAWYER"