Posted on 11/04/2004 2:33:35 AM PST by kattracks
I guess John Kerry went into the primary without a plan to win the election.
The Democrats threw everything they had at this election. They ran a phony Vietnam War hero and a phony Southerner. They had middle-aged women executives at MTV hawking "Rock the Vote" to entice the most uninformed young people to vote for Kerry. They had Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and New York Times darling Eminem. They had documentaries, books, the universities, Hollywood (and the French!) on their side.
They had liberal thugs ransacking Bush-Cheney headquarters, stealing Bush-Cheney signs and slashing the tires of Bush-Cheney get-out-the-vote vans on Election Day. In Colorado, they traded voter registrations for crack cocaine. In Ohio, they registered Mary Poppins and Dick Tracy. In South Carolina, Emily's List called Republican households and gave them incorrect information about the location of polling places.
The media campaigned heavily for Kerry with endless Abu Ghraib coverage, phony National Guard documents and, days before the election, false news reports that hundreds of tons of munitions had been looted in Iraq.
The Democrats' cheating never stopped. The big story of this election is the fraudulent exit polls on Election Day. Strange as it seems to me, it is well acknowledged that people are more likely to come out and vote for a winner. Early exit polls showing Kerry the clear winner could be expected to depress the vote for Bush.
Stunningly inaccurate exit polls released around noon on Election Day convinced news anchors, talking heads and even the campaigns that Kerry would win walking away. But at 9 p.m., when the first actual results began to come in, the election flipped to Bush. It was the first Kerry flip-flop that actually served the national interest.
The exit polls were absurd: They showed Kerry winning Pennsylvania by 20 points and Bush tied with Kerry in Mississippi. Only monkey business can explain the wildly pro-Kerry exit polls – admittedly hard to believe with a party that has behaved so honorably throughout this campaign. Michael Barone speculates that the sites of exit polling were leaked to the Democrats, and Democrats sent large numbers of voters to those polls to take exit polls and throw the results.
But for all their chicanery, vote-stealing, Hollywood starlets, fake polls and faux patriotism, the Democrats were wiped out on Election Day.
Bush won the largest popular vote in history with a 3.5 million margin. Indeed, simply by getting a majority of the country to vote for him – the left's most hated politician since Richard Nixon – Bush did something "rock star" Bill Clinton never did. Bush maintained or increased his vote in every state but Vermont. Republicans picked up seats in the House and Senate, and continue to dominate state governorships. Also making history of a sort, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle lost his election, marking the first time in half a century a Senate leader has been defeated.
To Michael Moore, George Soros, Terry McAuliffe, Dan Rather, Al Franken and the whole gang at Air America Radio – you were great, guys! Thanks for the help! We couldn't have done it without you!
Of course, we could have done it a lot earlier on election night but for "Boy Genius" Karl Rove. It's absurd that the election was as close as it was. The nation is at war, Bush is a magnificent wartime leader, and the night before the election we didn't know if a liberal tax-and-spend, Vietnam War-protesting senator from Massachusetts would beat him.
If Rove is "the architect" – as Bush called him in his acceptance speech – then he is the architect of high TV ratings, not a Republican victory. By keeping the race so tight, Rove ensured that a race that should have been a runaway Bush victory would not be over until the wee hours of the morning.
As we now know, the most important issue to voters was not terrorism, but moral values. Marriage amendments won by lopsided majorities in all 11 states where they were on the ballot. Even in Oregon, the state targeted by gay marriage advocates as their best shot of defeating a marriage amendment, the amendment passed by 57 percent – a figure noticeable for being larger than the percentage of votes cast for Bush in Oregon. In the great state of Mississippi, the marriage amendment passed with 88 percent of the vote.
Seventy percent to 80 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage and partial-birth abortion. Far from appealing exclusively to a narrow Republican base, opposition to gay marriage is strongest among the Democratic base: blacks, Hispanics, blue-collar workers and the elderly. There were marriage amendments on the ballot in Michigan and Ohio. Bush won Ohio narrowly and lost Michigan by only 2 points. How different might that have been if Bush hadn't run from the issue.
But Rove concluded Bush should stay mum on gay marriage and partial-birth abortion – contravening the politicians' rule of thumb: Talk about your positions that are wildly popular with voters. "Boy Genius" Rove decided Bush shouldn't even run radio ads on gay marriage, and at the last minute, Bush started claiming he was in favor of civil unions, just like John Kerry.
Amazingly, it was the Democrats – the ones who support gay marriage – who used the gay issue for political advantage, most famously when Kerry gay-baited Mary Cheney during the third debate.
The one toss-up Senate seat lost by the Republicans was Pete Coors in Colorado, where the Democrats did not hesitate to run commercials of a bacchanalian gay festival in Canada sponsored by Coors Brewing Co. The most narrow Republican win in a toss-up Senate race was in Alaska, where the Republican candidate was another "progressive" on the social issues.
When contemplating a former New York mayor as their next presidential candidate, Republicans should remember: This election should have been over sometime in August, not 1 a.m. election night.
Ann Coulter is a bestselling author and syndicated columnist. Her most recent book is How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).
Rice/Coulter 08?
Old ThunderThighs wouldn't have a prayer against THAT ticket.
First, let it be understood, that George W. Bush has occupied the conservative portion of the political spectrum, but has never embraced it fully. Considering the positions against which he has been arrayed, it may be stipulated that the Bush II Presidency is MORE conservative, but there is a wide space between the near middle-of-the-road stance and where true conservative principles lie.
George W. Bush has not used the veto power available to him, nor has he fully embraced the strongest issues he could have run on - support of the defense of marriage as an institution that should not be left in the hands of courts, and reducing abortion to a relatively rare occurrence, certainly never as an elective in the third trimester.
Ann might have a point here. But if Bush made a big deal out of the gay marriage issue he may have energized the left even more .......... nah!
I guess Bush should have spoken about it much more.
too close to an election
Kerry kept adopting Bush's positions on some issues like gay marraige. Chameleons can be difficult to deal with when the entire MSM ets behind them. Look how many in MSM stated or wrote about Bush lies which were not lies.
Why this in the after glow of a victory?
She can take potshots at Karl Rove all day, but it's all Monday-morining quarterbacking. How many winning political campaigns has Ann run? Pundit advice is usually worth excatly what it costs -- nothing.
...it's important to recognize that liberal thugs in this country have turned into Democrats...
Ann hits the nail on the head regarding the weakness in the Bush administration. One is left with the impression that the Marriage Amendment Act, was more for politics, raw meat to a base the administration is not at all at ease with.
When the confetti stops falling at the end of the day, Bush is a moderate who believes in Civil Unions. He leans towards globalism of the Western Hemisphere and makes no secret of it.
It is up to Conservatives to hold this congress and senates feet to the fire, especially regarding the ill conceived FTAA treaty that is due to be rushed through congress Jan. 2005.
While Bush is far preferable to Kerry, it will be up to Conservatives to remind the Congress and Senate of who brought them to the dance, and whose interest they need to serve, Americas best interest.
No eye protection. Not good Ann...not good!
Yowzah
"Terry McCauliff is a double agent. V's wife"
A hoot if true.
Also re your previous post #28, there are those who may, at this time, think that Ann Coulter should soften her stance, or even her words. Folks, I disagree - from what I have read here, the opposition party in the House is quiet and sullen for the moment, but looking for the next opportunity to commit mayhem on the House floor - or in the news. Don't turn on her at this point - her commentary is, and will continue to be, needed for a long time to come. Thank you,
Norski
I suggest we be mindful of the "Arm Chair Quarterbacking" and "Critic from 20/20 Hindsite" we so often see the Democrats doing. Even though there were a thousand issues that were important during this election, it's hard to fight lies and distortion (proving the negitive). Rove had a strategy and President Bush is appreciative of it. Lets not "eat our own" in a time when we should be honoring the work and vision of those that masterminded this. It may not have been exactly how 60 million differing opinions wanted it, but it worked. THANKS KARL ROVE....
Yes, this race shouldn't have been close.
They hit Kerry's record early then let it slide into oblivion.
On the other hand, it's hard to fault success.
Interesting. I didn't expect a Rove hit piece. It seems to me that post-convention, pre-debate, it was teed up to BE all over, then came an utter train wreck by GWB at the first debate. It was after that debacle that it became a race, and by then we were in the home stretch. GWB really didn't do a very credible job at the debates. He won in spite of them, but I truly believe it cost him a landslide. I suspect it cost him NJ.
You said it and I don't need to.
"She can take potshots at Karl Rove all day, but it's all Monday-morning quarterbacking. How many winning political campaigns has Ann run? Pundit advice is usually worth exactly what it costs -- nothing."
I like Ann but this time she's shooting at a successful campaign.
I would blame old Jim Baker for any screw-up in the agenda. He was the negotiator on the debates and W. could have sailed to a 54%+ victory had it not been for the debates, particularly the first one. They caused a shift that was almost irreversable. Jim Baker ran #41's second-term campaign and was a dismal failure. Getting him around this campaign was a near-fatal mistake.
This is the understatement of the year! If it were not for the MSM, candidate Kerry's name would have never made it to the ballot. Maybe now, since it doesn't matter much anymore, they will ask him to sign a 180 form so that we can see what we damn near elected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And it blew up in their faces, Ann.
Another great column from Ann, though I liked the first half better than the second. Then again, some constructive criticism should be expected, given Dubya's obvious superiority as a candidate.
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