Posted on 08/14/2004 6:16:31 AM PDT by veronica
AMERICA was reintroduced this week to one of its most charming, gifted, relaxed, wily, plainspoken and ruthless politicians: George W Bush, the candidate.
If the US president loses his re-election bid on November 2 - a fate that is a real possibility - it will not be because he lacks the skills needed on the stump. Love him or loathe him, the past ten days have reminded voters and political journalists just what an effective campaigner Mr Bush is.
As he and John Kerry, his Democratic opponent, have engaged in the first intensive round of election-year combat, sparring with each other as they criss-crossed the country's battleground states, even Senator John Kerry's friends admit that Mr Bush has run rings around him.
At the same time, Mr Bush has donned a persona with crowds that has proved disarmingly effective all his political life: funny, down to earth, slightly humble, with an artfully simple message delivered in skilfully crafted short sentences. It is an image that deliberately hides a man with formidable political gifts and instinct.
Just 11 weeks before polling day, Mr Bush does not have the strongest of electoral hands. His job-approval rating remains stuck below 50pc, a perilous position for an incumbent president.
More than half the country is now unhappy with events in Iraq. Last week delivered disappointing employment figures, with only 32,000 jobs created in July.
Yet Mr Kerry's messages on the economy and Iraq were drowned out by a president who, helped by Vice President Dick Cheney and his attack-dog-in-chief, outsmarted and out-joked him.
Mr Kerry's problems began when Mr Bush challenged him for a yes-or-no answer on a critical campaign issue: if he knew last year before the invasion that no weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq, would he still have voted for the war?
Mr Bush, whose own answer is an unequivocal yes, knew that Mr Kerry's position on Iraq is by necessity more complicated, not least because he voted against Mr Bush's later request for $87bn (€70bn) in post-war reconstruction funds, at a time when he needed to appease the anti-war tide dominating the Democratic primary race.
In a sign that Mr Kerry is still struggling to crystalise a clear message on Iraq that convinces a majority of voters, he had to debate with his aides on how to respond to Mr Bush.
On Monday, he declared that he still would have voted for the war, but handled the lead-up to war and the post-combat phase differently. Then Mr Kerry surprised aides by declaring that he could begin to reduce US troops in Iraq significantly within the first six months of his presidency.
On Tuesday, at a rally in Florida, Mr Bush pounced: "My opponent has found a new nuance. He now agrees it was the right decision to go into Iraq. But just remember, there are 83 days left in the campaign, time enough to change his mind again."
Over troop reduction, he accused Mr Kerry of sending "mixed signals" on Iraq and giving succour to Iraqi militants. The senator's aides were forced to issue "clarifications".
Jo Biden, the veteran Democrat senator, conceded that the first round went to Mr Bush, despite the renewed insurgency in Iraq and poor job figures, which abruptly forced Mr Bush to drop the claim that the US was "turning the corner" on the economy.
On Thursday, Mr Cheney ridiculed Mr Kerry for saying that he would fight a "more sensitive" War on Terror, ignoring the fact that Mr Bush used similar language last year.
Yesterday, as he ended his 15-day, 22-state cross-country tour in Oregon, Mr Kerry began what his aides said would be a two-week offensive on the economy. But that message was overshadowed largely by Mr Bush's success in focusing on Mr Kerry's position on Iraq and terrorism.
Mr Bush is in the fight of his political life. He is running neck-and-neck with Mr Kerry, himself a veteran campaigner.The President is largely at the mercy of events in Iraq, and on the economy.
Watching the news now. I see it, and the governor of NC is on giving his warning.
So, the NC senator didn't bother to help his state's government out by helping with getting the word about the urgency of the danger... And he had plenty of warning.
Or no dog at all.
Clinton had two nice dogs that, if I recall correctly, ran loose into the traffic. The Gores had a little white dog that was woefully neglected.
And us older folks remember good ole dog-lover LBJ who made the front pages of the paper holding his Beagle up by the ears!!
g
Yes He can! He healed me of cancer 5 months ago.
Well...let's not go there.... (smiling from ear to ear)
well if you look at the latest radar you will see that hurricane charley will be hitting north carolina at about 3:00p.m. saturday afternoon so hmm again!! go Bush!!
i have reconsidered this phraseology and decided i left out a word...it should read:
contemptuous pompadoured strutting popinjay booming stentorian, depressing and ludicrous decrees
seriously, have you compared his voice inflections from the senate hearings right after he got out of vietnam with today? then he was very OBVIOUSLY mimicking kennedy..now he is such a blowhard..full of sound and fury, signifying nothing but vacuity
you wish!!! thats what they thought during 2000 and 2002
I know that this was a part of a quote, and I certainly don't intend to be mean or coldhearted...
...but I'm sure that there are some people in New York, Washington D.C., Kosovo, Bosnia, Pennsylvania, the USS Cole, Afghanistan and Iraq that might have an alternate opinion...were they alive to present it.
If one of the main criticisms of John Kerry is about what he did when he returned home, and how it strengthened the enemy, then it's safe to say that the errors from the Clinton terms have a collateral and lingering effect that exists even to this day.
Of course, most will give Clinton a pass, and will blame the President.
I could guess that it took President Reagan a while to clear up the messes of the Carter years. Let's pray that this Republican President will have more time to not only clear up Clinton's messes, but to create more favorable conditions for our next President to continue.
BIG TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, now...let's be nice to the CryptKeeper-American...
Yeah, right. This isn't a time for "sensitivity". Release the Viking Kitties!
I love this in a President.
I would take this experience in a candidate over someone who has spent his or her life on the public dole (so to speak), never having held a private sector job, alwalys. And ESPECIALLY I would prefer a candidate who is NOT a lawyer-ANY DAY OF THE WEEK! LOL
Lady P-I pray for our President. Your post is so right-on. I believe this man is led by our Father-it is a sense that is difficult to describe, but there it is.
Our plain-spoken cowboy understands that good character is important, he lives it, it shines all over him and lifts all of us up.
Those who consider themselve elite, or liberal, forever call those who speak directly to the truth, 'stupid'. For these elitist word jocks and socialistic minded, self-labeled intelligensia, a person speaking without flowery words, without flourishs of dramatic 'GRAVITAS' denoted by sentences you have to split apart word by word (and even then cannot really understand what has been said) cannot bring themselves to the understanding that less is best. They are children who equate fancy words with intelligence. And perhaps most of all, they assume that the masses, fly over country folks, are stupid. Big mistake.
They live in symbolisms-and expect it in others. Always STYLE over SUBSTANCE.
It is the SUBSTANCE of President Bush that drives them crazy. hehe (Cause his substance SHINES above his style (which they dispise) and assures and draws people to him.)
However could an elite, prolific, esoteric, erudite, astute liberal EVER lower him or herself to praise the simplicity of plain spoken words that cut to the chase?
NOTE TO JOHN KERRY!
Go get another botox shot Kerry, get your nails polished, find the right sports venue to appear more robust and grab a gourmet sandwich somewhere as you try to figure out how to bond with the masses. Spend a few more hours deciding how to make yourself more popular! President Bush has others things to attend to!
Actually, I think his wife's other poodles are the only dogs in his life.
Please see my post above!
Just heard Pres Bush will be going to Florida tomorrow -
What I'd like to ask all the libs who firmly state that Bush is a moron, is if Dubya's an idiot, what does that make Kerry who claims that he was fooled by the "moron"? Hey libs, got an answer for that?
He doesn't "don a personna", Tim. That's who he is - oh, and in case you didn't know - Kerry is not Irish. I believe his origins are Russian Jewish - east European anyway, and a grandfather changed the family name to Kerry.
Ruthless politicians???? LOL! My jewish friend Phil keep referring to him as the most corrupt President in history. It's mind-boggling.
"... we will not see Edwards in NC, where he has seldom been during his senatorial "career."
Sorry,
"... we will not see Edwards in NC, where he has seldom been during his senatorial "career."
Right, he's so popular there he knew better than to run for re-election.
LOL! Nice to see a foreign paper say Bush is running rings around Kerry...you won't see that in any of our papers! And no - I will not cut any slack to Colmes! So there! :-)
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