Posted on 11/04/2004 7:13:08 PM PST by RabbitMan
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. 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
we should have had our own 527s. and I think for 2008, we will.
she has a point. a war protester from taxland came too close.
Ann baby, I love you, but a win is a win no matter what the score.
>Batrachian wrote "Gay marriage and partial birth abortion are the same"
Helllloooooo!!!?? I hope I am misunderstanding you. Are you really saying that Bush is wrong to want to ban partial birth abortions?
I will admit my mistake - I underestimated the swift vets, although I thought ad #2 with Kerry's own testimony was devastating. that one ad alone, if we had to point at one thing, was the difference in this election.
Kerry was in full meltdown before the first debate. It retrieved his chances and made the race about even again. He could not sustain it, and Bush's strengths on the substantive issues, along with turnout efforts by the grassroots, still delivered the win.
But it would not have even been close, but for the performance in that first debate. Bush had the arguments and the oppportunity to put Kerry away, and he did not. The atmospherics were poor. He sounded exasperated, defensive - and he whined.
Leaders of the free world confident of victory do not whine at the tendentiousness of their opponents or of the press. They say "there he goes again" and chuckle at them.
The president's preparation for the debates was inadequate and unprofessional, and those involved should look to it and see that the like does not happen again. (Not just for W, but for other major Republican leaders, in the future).
As for why Ann is saying what she is saying, she is just trying to put more spine in the cultural conservatism the administration presents. She fears press placating and bipartisanship instincts might blunt our victory by soft peddling the hot buttons, which she thinks are highly popular with middle America. She is probably right about that, but it is not helpful to frame that argument as an attack on individuals she merely paints as having a different opinion.
Considering the 10-20 point advantage the MSM's hyper-bias gave Kerry, Rove did a great job.
I would like to get my hands on the guy who recommended that George Bush load ice in the hot Florida sun instead of taking a nap the day of the first debate. W's first debate performance stopped the post convention momentum cold and came razor close to scuttling the whole election.
But, all in all, Team Bush did a wonderful job.
Eyes within. That is in my opinion, always a good idea. Ann Coulter is not one of the bad guys. Far from it.
Page 309 of her latest book...." To be completely accurate, I don't call myself anything....... As far as I'm concerned, I'm a middle-of-the-road moderate and the rest of you are crazy.
NOT the correct title
your title is misleading.
Ann's a crank. She also has a really really long neck.
Reagan faced a tremendously hostile press, and he didn't have the internet or Fox news to help balance it out.
Karl Rove was fine in Texas, but he was way out of his league in DC. He darn near blew a 20 point lead in 2000, and he sat back while the Democrats used the President as a punching bag for 10 months in 2003-2004 before he finally dipped into the "war chest". I like that guy Mehlman, he's rock steady, but Karl can go back to Austin, as far as I'm concerned.
Ann has many good point. She didn't even mention Immigration. If GW would have come out and said "I just want the current laws enforced", It could have made a huge difference. Signing the campaign finance nonsense didn't do him any favors either. If GW appoints a pro-abortion Supreme or a pro abortion get the nomination in '08, the harm could be immense. Do not forget that the fight goes on and the rats will stop a nothing to oppose and obstruct every step of the way.
Ann missed the mark this time. I'm sorely disappointed in her.
Maybe she's trying to be a Conservative version of Howard Stern, only out there for the shock value? I hope not.
Rove IS a genius, politically speaking, as are most of the folks in the President Bush re-election campaign. Among others, Karen Hughes comes to mind.
Coulter's words are an affront to Bush/Cheney campaign workers, and I am among those.
She has such a talent with words..what a shame.
I'm hoping that it's just her sarcasm that didn't quite "take".
I also disagree. I think Rove did a great job in the face of a media onslaught that was simply unprecedented. I'm sure he would have liked to do some of the things Ann Coulter mentions, but he was like a man who's trying to nail fresh shingles on his roof while the hurricane's still blowing. Sometimes it's all you can do just to get the job done, and doing it "pretty" is just not possible.
If Ann thinks that this was used to the RATS political advantage, she is sorrily mistaken.
This is a very strange column. She sounds as vitriolic in her distain for Karl Rove as most libs.
Its too bad you snipped that part, it was the only weak part of an otherwise good editorial.
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