Posted on 04/23/2006 1:26:49 AM PDT by jmc1969
Friends and colleagues of Bolten told Time about an informal, five-point "recovery plan" for Bush.
1. Deploy Guns and Badges
This is an unabashed play to members of the conservative base who are worried about illegal immigration. The White House plans to seek more funding for an extremely visible enforcement crackdown at the Mexican border, including a beefed-up force of agents patrolling on all-terrain vehicles.
2. Make Wall Street Happy
In an effort to curry favor with dispirited Bush backers in the investment world, the Administration will focus on two tax measures already in the legislative pipeline—extensions of the rate cuts for stock dividends and capital gains.
3. Brag More
With gas prices a heavy drain on Bush's popularity, his aides want to trumpet the lofty stock market and stable inflation and interest rates. They also plan to highlight any glimmer of success in Iraq, especially the formation of a new government.
4. Reclaim Security Credibility.
This is the riskiest, and potentially most consequential, element of the plan, keyed to the vow by Iran to continue its nuclear program despite the opposition of several major world powers. Presidential advisers believe that by putting pressure on Iran, Bush may be able to rehabilitate himself on national security, a core strength that has been compromised by a discouraging outlook in Iraq. "In the face of the Iranian menace, the Democrats will lose," said a Republican frequently consulted by the White House. However, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, found that 54% of respondents did not trust Bush to "make the right decision about whether we should go to war with Iran."
5. Court The Press
His first move, working with counselor Dan Bartlett, was to offer the press secretary job to Tony Snow of Fox News radio and television.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Throw out #5, and you're there. The press will always hate Bush.
Stay the Course and ignore the MSM is the key to success, anything else is a recipe for disaster
What's needed is a strong male press secretary. People don't seem to notice that one thing the press worms love is a strong woman they can spit their bile at--it makes these "liberals" feel macho to trash a Republican woman, in a weird way: "See? I've got cojones, even if I am a feminist, I can still trash women, they don't scare me!" (In fact, liberal men I've encountered are really, really afraid of strong women, while we conservative men love 'em.) A Rumsfeld type male who has a history of accomplishment and/OR someone who isn't afraid to combat the press without looking like he's starting a fight but is defending a wronged President is just what's needed. In fact, the outgoing guy did precisely one right thing when he got David Gregory to reveal what a jackass he is when he threw a snit. We need to have these reporters revealed for what they are so they're afraid to get into it that way.
Gotta love the MSM. If they say the Administration needs "saving" enough times, maybe they can make everyone think it's in horrid disarray. They dream up the "problem" and then challenge President Bush and Company to "solve" it.
Shameless. All this because they think -- good God -- Al Gore would have made a better President?
Even my liberal friends don't buy that.
Fire any press spinners, and speak directly to the people, when finished, listen. Compare their lists of wants, with the constitution. Ask Clarence Thomas which things to do to get the country back under the rule of law.............. Do them.
"Stay the Course and ignore the MSM is the key to success, anything else is a recipe for disaster"
Agreed. Anyone who wants to do political good in the world should pick up the paper every day and make sure the MSM is saying bad things about him/her. If they are saying good things, you've obviously gotten off track.
The MSM is one of the last outposts of communism, pure and simple. The Teachers Unions also. The Universities, well, that's obvious. We must continue to stand on guard against Communism.
How about "Do the right think, and screw the polls"?
The right thing would, of course, include securing the borders, cutting taxes and taking out Iran nuke capabilities.
There's only one person on the planet that can rescue the Bush Presidency and that is George W. Bush.
Yes. If Bush stuck to business, secured the borders, brought down gas prices, and stood up to the MSM, the Republicans would become the majority party for a generation.
If that's OK vis-a-vis FR policy, then please disregard this obervation, otherwise, I would request that for accuracy sake, please replace the edited content with actual excerpting, or, place a note pointing out that the content is edited from the original.
I'm not trying to be a fussbudget (I've never left a comment like this in my several years here!), but I worry that in addition to people reading something they think is an actual excerpt from the article (and thus NOT clicking to read the actual article, and seeing very much different text), there might very well be some liability exposure via Time Magazine getting huffy over their article being "rewritten and published."
Note: I am not a lawyer, but I've paid enough thousands to 'em over the years that I've learned to be very wary of invoking risk.
Fussbudget.
Kidding!
How about "Do the right think, and screw the polls"?
What was the name of that movie from a few years ago, where (I think I'm remembering this right), a guy from a nuthouse ends up writing ad copy that blows the competition out of the water. They are all driving themselves nuts trying to figure out his secret, but they can't, even when he explains it to them!
His ad copy consists of stuff like, "Volvo -- boxy, but good" -- and it sells like hotcakes!
He tells the other guys that all he does is tell the truth, without embellishing anything. They don't believe it -- they can't believe it -- because the "moral core" of their being consists of trying to come up with the right BS to convince people that they're "sincere."
I'm sure I'm forgetting major bits of the movie (hell, I already forgot the name -- and, the actors names too! -- so I'm off to a great start in that department!) But the point is, sometimes it's best to just BE a straight-shooter, rather than hiring focus groups and pollsters and MR wonks and statisticians to have a mega-pow-wow to figure out the best way to LOOK like a "straight-shooter".
Anyway, your post reminded me of that film; seemed like you were making the same point.
PS: After I'd hit the Preview button, I think I remembered the name of the actor who played the honest adman. I think it was Dudley Moore. But, I might be wrong, and I still can't remember the name of the movie! Maybe someone else knows the title?
The real question is whether this story can rescue Time Magazine.
Well actually you bring up an interesting point. Both Time and the President need a Total Perception Makeover.
Bush's only problem is that people see him for who he is. Look, the democrats are idiots, but Bush has alienated a lot of people who should be his supporters. Most of his programs are simply unsupportable.
His spending is astronomic. His support of the Education Cabal is simply unacceptable. His view of our borders verges on... well I'll leave that to the reader. I simply cannot support the man any longer. What shred of credibility he had on the war has finally been eclipsed by his surrender of our sovereignty.
I've had my fill.
I think libs define "strong woman" differently than we do. To them, a strong woman is one who wears Birkenstocks but no bra, that regularly goes to protests, and who "isn't afraid to speak truth to power", which really just means criticizing conservatives in harsh terms.
To us, a strong woman means someone who is stable, capable of loving relationships, who understands the importance of women in society as mothers, spouses, and caregivers, and who doesn't give a damn what liberal "feminists" think.
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