Posted on 08/25/2004 2:39:01 AM PDT by kattracks
Everybody knows President Bush is a bass fisherman. But the President has spent most of August reeling in a more exotic specimen: the Giant New England Slack-Jaw.Years from now, when tales of the catch are told around GOP campfires, small boys will marvel at how the supposedly intelligent Kerryfish swallowed Bush's bait, hook, line and sinker.
Slack-jaw season started in January, when John Kerry won the Iowa caucuses with help from a band of Vietnam character witnesses. At the time, Bush realized three simple truths:
1) Kerry would be his Democratic opponent. 2) The theme of Kerry's campaign would be his heroic military service. 3) Kerry would fund his campaign largely with so-called 527 soft money put up by anti-Bush billionaires who until then had been flirting with Howard Dean.
On May 4, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth held a press conference in Washington, denouncing Kerry. It is possible Bush was taken by surprise by this. It is also possible the moon's made of blue cheese.
Still, it is highly doubtful that Bush put the Swifties up to their attack. He didn't need to. They obviously hate Kerry's guts. All the President had to do was sit quietly and watch. Patience is the fisherman's friend.
Some of the Swiftie charges against Kerry's war record are highly debatable. Others - that Kerry invented a "life-changing" experience in Cambodia or that he slandered U.S. troops when he came home from the war - are matters of public record.
Either way, one thing is indisputable: The allegations have done Kerry a great deal of harm.
It took him a surprisingly long time to realize that. When he did, he tried to get off the hook in awkward ways - dispatching lawyers to scare TV stations into censoring Swiftie ads, pressuring bookstores to ban the Swiftie bible, "Unfit to Command," even appealing to the toothless Federal Election Commission to make his erstwhile comrades-in-arms shut up. But to no avail.
Finally Kerry demanded that Bush himself step in and silence the Swifties. It was a moment Bush had been waiting for.
On Monday, down in Crawford, Tex., Dubya hitched up his jeans, sauntered out to a press conference and allowed as to how he'd be glad to help his worthy opponent. But, just to be fair, he said, let's shut down the negative campaigning by all 527 groups. Goodbye, Swifties. So long, MoveOn. Just say the word, Sen. Kerry, and we'll take all the nasty dollars out of politics.
But Kerry hasn't said that word. He probably can't. His entire campaign finance structure is predicated on 527 money. Of the top 10 soft donors, nine are Kerry supporters. Combined, they have already raised more than $100 million for the Democrats. The Swifties, by contrast, have raised much less than 1% of that. For Bush, soft money is just a dab of Texas perfume; for Kerry, it's oxygen.
So, the President comes off as the champion of upright McCain-Feingold reform, while Kerry is stuck with George Soros & Co. If the senator cuts off his billionaire backers, he suffocates. If he sticks with Soros, et al., he's stuck with the Swifties, too. That's a hook Kerry can wriggle on until Nov. 2. Then Bush will throw him back.
The 43rd President is often said by his critics to be a dunce. Maybe. But in politics, as in fishing, you don't have to be a genius. You just have to be smarter than the fish.
Originally published on August 25, 2004
BIG BUMP!
HeeHeeHee I like this one!
SEmper Fi, I see that USMC sticker there!!
You know what will drive a Hate-Bush type like your Sister-In-Law completely stark raving batty? Tell her that you strongly support the President, but if Kerry wins, you think the country will be OK. Tell her that you are supporting Bush because you think he is by far the best candidate, but that John F'n Kerry, while certainly not as good as George W. Bush, would not be a terrible President.
If she is the least little bit polite and reasonable, she will have to consider the proposition that the re-election of the President would not be the end of the World. This sets off a fatal cascade of paradoxical conditions in the rabid Hate-Bushie mind, and they become completely apoplectic.
The first time I did this trick, it was by accident. I was just trying to be nice to a member of the family. But the ensuing melt-down was so much fun to watch, I must admit to pulling it a couple of times since then just for fun!
You need another W04 sticker to balance out the upper left corner. Besides that, this vehicle is perfection on wheels...
Bookmarking
Tell her to leave now, and if Kerry wins you'll pay her way back. Otherwise just stay put!
Ow! That's going to leave a mark!
Is your tag-line what you really believe?
Bingo! Bush is not that dumb a fisherman. And John F*ckin's trying to wriggle off the hook he latched himself onto. Clever work for someone liberals dismiss as a dunce. Guess who'll have the last laugh in November? Have fun watching it play out, boys and girls.
"my sister-in-law said if Bush wins that she is leaving the country"
Tell her ole LLS says she is a liar! She and her "kind" bloviate, but never leave.
I present to her the "Bullwhip Baldwin Award" for ignorance!
LLS
Kerry sent a story to a humane society club saying he had a dog on the boats and it went MIA when a MINE blew up a boat..... so there was no MINE????
Just on Fox this morning.
For something else, not that anyone here has:
http://www.marklarose.com/AlwaysRemember.htm
Who else used the phrase "Peace In Our Time"?
LOL!
A little botox will take care of that jaw.
I have lots of empty boxes and a truck.
Freepmail me when she's ready to roll....:)
"Vets at VA hospitals often have limited reading materials, a wonderful gift is to donate your Unfit for Command to you local VA medical center and state run veterans homes so that our fellow brothers and heros will know more about John Kerry before the November election. "
That's very good. Thanks for the ping.
It might be fun to put her on the mailing lists of some travel agencies....for informational purposes,of course......not to 'stir the pot' so to speak. :-]
"Well. Bye."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.