Posted on 01/20/2004 10:41:23 PM PST by JustPiper
The big loser in the Democratic presidential caucuses in Iowa wasn't Howard Dean. It wasn't Dick Gephardt. It wasn't even Al Sharpton who managed to attract about .5 percent of the vote.
The big loser was George W. Bush.
Only one thing can explain the bizarre positions taken by the White House before this week – an overconfidence that President Bush would be facing Howard Dean in his re-election bid this November. Karl Rove's polling must have made the president's political advisers so cocky about the race that they felt invulnerable.
What else could explain the president doing the following:
proposing a politically unpopular amnesty program for illegal aliens;
raising spending on domestic programs by bigger percentages than any of his predecessors, including Democrats;
proposing a vague manned mission to Mars without providing even the least compelling reasons, goals and objectives?
Bush has made many other mistakes in his term, but these whoppers are very recent gaffes made leading up to an election year.
Iowa should provide a wakeup call.
Instead of facing an angry Democrat out of touch with mainstream American values and temperament, Bush may well be facing a seasoned, smooth, mature political pro in John Kerry.
I wonder if he is up to that challenge.
How about a Kerry-Edwards ticket?
I believe if the election took place today, that ticket would have an excellent chance of beating Bush.
I say this as a dispassionate observer, a political analyst. I will not vote for either Bush or Kerry, or any other Democrat seeking the nomination.
But I think it's worth noting we are witnessing the self-destruction of a president – much like his own father self-destructed politically when he broke his "read my lips" pledge.
The latest polls show Bush in a tight race for re-election even before it's clear who his opponent might be.
As a result, Bush finds himself in a statistical dead heat with the opposition nine months before the election. When matched against an unknown Democratic presidential candidate, Bush squeaks out a 48 percent to 46 percent victory. On the question of who is most trusted to handle the nation's major problems, Bush is virtually even with Democrats, ahead 45 percent to 44 percent – down from an 18-point advantage Bush enjoyed nine months ago.
Americans think the Democrats would do a better job on domestic issues – the economy, prescription drugs for the elderly, health insurance, Medicare, the budget deficit, immigration, even taxes.
And why shouldn't they?
Here's the way this presidential race is shaping up: Bush will propose spending $18 billion fighting AIDS in other countries. The Democrat will up the ante to $25 billion.
Bush will propose spending 10 percent more on domestic giveaway programs. The Democrat will up the ante to 20 percent.
If it is conceded that more spending is good, a Republican will lose every single time.
And that's just what Bush has conceded with his phony, so-called "compassionate conservatism," that is really no more than old-fashioned tax-and-spend liberalism.
Bush gained no advantage with the public for his prescription-drug plan. He gained no ground with his bid to legalize millions of illegal aliens. He gained nothing from his attempt at inspiring Americans to join a new space program with a goal of a manned Mars landing. And his domestic spending increases, under attack by his own Republican base, have not served to win new independent or Democrat voters.
In fact, a CBS News poll showed similar drops for Bush support – notably over his plans on immigration.
If Bush were deliberately throwing this election, he couldn't do a more masterful job of losing votes, breaking bonds with his constituency and losing touch with his base.
If ever there was a time for a third party to emerge with some alternative ideas, 2004 is it.
Laugh till your teeth fall out.
"We" as in those among us able to still discern illegal from legal and patronizing from loyalty.
Choosing to ignore the migrant invasion by neglecting to seal the border with Mexico in a bid to gain the Mexican vote is not the higher moral ground, it is the abandonment of American sovereignty.
Yeah Joe hit the nail on the head with Y2K. You know all those things about chaos and turmoil and all that jazz.
You guys aren't the base. The latest poll has 93% of Republicans supporting him.
Yeah he really is choosing to ignore it. That is your opinion and your opinion is not a royal decree.
Bush has decided to address it and you don't like it, where people have to register.
It seems that you either want the status quo or mass deportation, which will not happen. Even Tancredo is for a guest worker program.
What is your solution?
Go, say goodbye, help the demos, but please stop the drama queen tactics. Sheesh I can get enough of that from watching a soap opera.
Huh?? Bush ain't going to lose Texas. You really need to get out more, IMO.
IMO, he has already started. In that case, it won't be too late for my vote, but it may well be for others. But I Am watching this closley.
Karl Rove made a huge mistake, and President Bush allowed it.
President Bush is a good man and has done some great things for us.. but there are issues here. Appeasing illegals ,and teenagers, and leftists is not the direction I want this country headed. It is one policy too many for me at this point.
It has to be done to a certain degree, but right now I feel steamrolled.
I am praying that the Honorable President Bush will listen to the people and not the strategists, and get that rabbit ready, SOON.
Joe Farah did. World Net Daily was Y2K disiater central. All hype and doom and gloom.
President Bush has not even began (officially) campaigning and he is "toast" according to you all.
When the American People go to the polls next November, it will not be the economy that will determine who they vote for, but who will defend them. The Democrats or the Republicans.
Have fun BashBushBots, the final laugh will be on you and your friends in the Democrat Party.
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