Posted on 11/13/2005 11:00:00 AM PST by West Coast Conservative
It's all George W. Bush's fault.
Doug Forrester, in his first postelection interview, laid the blame for his loss in the governor's race last week directly at the feet of President Bush. He said the public's growing disaffection with Bush, especially after Hurricane Katrina, made it impossible for his campaign to overcome the built-in advantage Democrats have in a blue state like New Jersey.
"If Bush's numbers were where they were a year ago, or even six months ago, I think we would have won on Tuesday," Forrester said. "Katrina was the tipping point."
Forrester sat for the interview yesterday, on a crisp and sunny fall morning, at his house on the Manasquan River in Brielle.
He answered questions for two hours in a candid and free-ranging discussion over coffee and powdered-sugar doughnuts at a burled dining room table made of petrified wood and zebrawood.
Four days removed from the campaign, he wore denim jeans and boots, with a blue suede jacket over a crisp white shirt. He looked a bit bruised and battered, but clearly was unbowed.
"I don't think that there's any candidate that has ever received such a pounding," he said.
The low point in the race was supposed to be the high point.
"Election night was emotionally much more difficult because we came in quite confident we were going to win," Forrester said.
Early reports from towns and precincts the campaign targeted showed Forrester running stronger than expected. "I had a call at 7 o'clock from one of my campaign managers saying, 'Governor, we did it,'" he said.
Three hours later, Forrester was on the phone, congratulating Jon Corzine and preparing his concession speech. "The transition was so abrupt," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Funny, I thought it was the fact that Forrester ran a worse campaign than Al Gore and John Kerry that was the problem. The whining moron has no one but himself to blame.
We won it before we lost it.
Did GWB tell him to use the ex wife of his opponent in a smear commercial? Real classy!
What is the big deal? Everything bad that happens is the fault of Bush.
Given this kind of sniveling, it may just well be the people of New Jersey are better off?
If Forrester hadn't been running so far to the left, his numbers would have been up. In that, he was following Bush's example into the dumpster. Unfortunately, a NJ Gov candidate doesn't have any foreign policy to pull him out of the dumpster.
What a CROCK! I live in NJ...NO ONE was excited about his candidacy. The only reason he got any votes was because they didn't want Corzine. President Bush did not come into the picture at all! The main focus was property taxes and honesty in government...nothing National.
Rationalize all you want Doug..but you didn't have the charisma or the ideas to get you elected!
Doug Forrester sounds like the governor of Louisiana, can't remember here name right now, but refuses to take responsibility for his own inaction. It's probably no great loss. He would be another RINO. They seem to be more trouble than a Democrat. At least with most Dems, you know where they stand. You don't know when a RINO is gonna screw you.
Advice to Mr. Forrester:
Apologize immediately, dude. This is not a good idea. No man. You are scaring the heck out of the left in Jersey. Don't blow it.
Just say in following, "I shouldn't have let idle thoughts slip like that. That wasn't the impression I was trying to convey. I mean't to say that all the negative media hype about Katrina hurt my image, and in hindsight, I keep learning more and more from every campaign and should look inward, rather than outward, on how to win in the future."
My guy for the governorship was Bret Schundler who got where he did by running "nice" campaigns. That said, Doug Forrester appeared much "colder" on television than he did in live discussions.
~ Blue Jays ~
Kathleen Blanco. That's her name. And she defintely does not take responsiblity for her inactions, except when she forgets that a mike is still on.
I don't know much about NJ politics, but I am glad that Corzine's no longer in the Senate. Of course, his replacement may be just as bad.
Jersey is a very tough nut to crack for the GOP. They are well-entrenched there. I hope Forrester can smooth this over soon. FRegards....
The Conservatives made Forrester LOSE !
Wait 'til 06' and see what the Conservatives do to the Republicans !!
Jon Corzine is going to appoint someone whom he believes will be able to run for re-election on his own. Hopefully he won't name some scumbag like the Democrats did when that criminal Toricelli jumped out of the race a few years ago and resurrected that lefty fossil Lautenberg.
Corzine should appoint Codey if he has any brains in his head. Codey is a Democrat, but he doesn't appear to have any bad skeletons in his closet and strikes many as an honorable man.
~ Blue Jays ~
If Forrester had won, would he have attributed that success to President Bush? I didn't think so.
Uh, Dougy? Maybe you should have been more worried about your numbers.
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