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A Rough Week For President Bush
CBS News Web site ^ | October 29, 2004 | By David Paul Kuhn,

Posted on 10/29/2004 6:44:11 PM PDT by RecallMoran

The airing of a tape of Osama bin Laden capped a week of bad news for President Bush that threatened to derail his candidacy in the final days of the presidential election.

For Mr. Bush, it was one piece of bad news after another – reporting of hundreds of tons of explosives looted in Iraq, tens of billions more for the war. And late this afternoon, a tape of bin Laden airing nationwide, where America’s chief adversary appears in good health and secure.

Even before the latest bin Laden tape, Sen. John Kerry had put President Bush on the defensive in the final week of the presidential election.

Outside of there being an “October Surprise,” the frenzied week did underline Kerry’s indictment of Mr. Bush: that the president mismanaged the war in Iraq and took the eye off the “real threat ” -- al Qaeda. Meanwhile, it seemingly undermined Mr. Bush’s message that the war effort was proceeding as planned and that the invasion of Iraq did not siphon resources from the Afghan war on al Qaeda and its leader bin Laden.

“I can’t believe the president or his campaign would have wanted to spend the last week of the election playing defense, answering questions for his mismanagement of the war in Iraq, having to deal with the serious facts on the ground of what happened there,” said Kerry's chief strategist Tad Devine, in a conference call with reporters Friday.

Speaking prior to the release of the bin Laden tape, Devine said the week’s events have hurt the Bush-Cheney campaign because it supported the Democratic nominee’s criticism that Mr. Bush did “rush recklessly into war with no plan to win the peace.”

On Monday, The New York Times and CBS News reported that 377 tons of highly explosive material was looted from a munitions complex apparently left unguarded by U.S. troops.

After days of back-and-forth between the two campaigns, Mr. Bush fired back Wednesday, saying that Kerry was “denigrating the action of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts.” Vice President Dick Cheney insisted the explosives were gone by the time U.S. troops reached the weapons site. The Pentagon attempted to substantiate the claim.

But after a Minneapolis ABC affiliate broadcasted a time-stamped video Wednesday night showing U.S. troops at the facility nine days after the fall of Baghdad, the Bush-Cheney campaign defense seemingly unraveled.

“[The candidates] were like opposite ends of a pole, and as each attacked the other they would be more dug in, in what for each are ridiculous positions,” said former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright, president of a nuclear disarmament think tank in Washington, the Institute for Science and International Security.

“[The Bush-Cheney argument] that the high explosives weren’t there when the troops got there – and remember the Pentagon floats that picture yesterday implying that but the satellite photo says nothing – it’s absurd,” Albright said.

Yet the former arms inspector is critical of Kerry as well. While Albright said “the looting is symptomatic of inadequate troop protection and lack of concern about monitored items by the U.N.,” he added “Kerry clung to that too much.

“It’s one thing in the heat of the moment to say 'Well, this could have killed our troops.' But then you want to step back and say let’s find out,” Albright said. “But the political conflict made it very hard for anybody to step back.”

Still, there is no concrete indication that the bad news this week had tangibly damaged President Bush’s chances at reelection. Bush-Cheney Campaign Chief Strategist Matt Dowd, in fact, said the campaign's own tracking polls show this week’s events have helped Mr. Bush.

“If the question is the war on terror, if the question is Iraq, the public has already responded. They support the president by double-digit margins on these issues,” Dowd insisted. “We are comfortable with the discussion this week.”

It is far too early to tell how the airing of the bin Laden tape affects this presidential race. As with the week’s events in Iraq, the news could remind undecided voters that the United States is at war and many Americans could be inclined to stick with the commander in chief who has polled consistently better on national security than Kerry.

Alternatively, the bin Laden tape, combined with news of hundreds of tons of missing munitions, may also bring to bare questions regarding whether Mr. Bush “rushed to war” in Iraq without sufficiently planning, as his Democratic opponent claims. Consistently, about half of Americans have disapproved of the war.

Bin Laden's message, broadly translated, was in part that "Sept. 11 would have been less severe if Bush had been alert." It is unclear when the al Qaeda leader recorded the message. Apparently speaking directly to the American people, bin Laden added that "Bush still practices deception and is misleading you."

In a rare showing of unity among the competing candidates, Mr. Bush and Sen. Kerry both denounced the tape.

“As Americans we are absolutely united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists,” the Democratic nominee said. “They are barbarians.”

President Bush told reporters that “Americans will not be intimidated or influenced by an enemy of our country.” Mr. Bush added that “we are at war with these terrorists” and that he was “confident that we will prevail.”

The final week, in all, was a striking reminder of how this longest of presidential elections was dominated by one issue: national security.

With Democrats admitting that Kerry failed to captivate voters, they point out that polling suggests the Democratic nominee did successfully present himself as a viable alternative.

It leaves a presidential election where the winner could be decided by the very issue political observers throughout the year predicted it would be: Americans view of how Mr. Bush’s handled of the war in Iraq, as well as the larger war on terrorism. And if voters disapprove, the questions remains, should the commander in chief be fired?

Speaking to CBS, Dowd remains confident. “We think we have a slight wind at our back,” he said. Though, the chief strategist for Mr. Bush bases his optimism on polling. He would not speculate on how Americans would react to the bin Laden tape so close to the Nov. 2 election.

But for political observers, the week certainly seemed to work to Mr. Kerry’s advantage. The inclination was that for the final week to be saturated with questions belying Mr. Bush’s effectiveness as commander in chief – specifically when he had stacked his reelection on such – it would likely damage President Bush’s hopes for reelection.

“This will help [Kerry] with some voters; the question is how many voters,” said Leo Ribbuffo, a presidential historian at George Washington University.

“But for those who are worried about Bush’s competence as a war manager, they will sway,” he added. “This does underscore Kerry’s message that whatever your view on Bush’s justification for the war, he has bungled it.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: abcnews; ammogate; bias; binladen; cbs; cbsnews; ccrm; gwb2004; msm; obltape; octobersurprise; osama; pilingon; rather; rathergate
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To: TurtleStink

God I hope Hillary has the brass to run. She's going to be humiliated! There is so much twisted dirt on her its not even funny. Not to mention the country will never elect a liberal woman. If the Democrats are ignorant enough to nominate her, they deserve yet nother loss.


121 posted on 10/29/2004 7:24:53 PM PDT by xuberalles
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To: xuberalles
They are detached...no better word. they hang around like minded people and think the word is just like their little cadre. We don't eat tofu...we dont protest the military..and we dont elect transgendered people to office.

They find each other on college campuses and newsrooms and build their own little universe. And they get their information from the New York Times and NPR and the movies and believe they have a comprehensive view of the world.

122 posted on 10/29/2004 7:25:00 PM PDT by speedy
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To: RecallMoran

More wishful thinking from the scum at CBS.


123 posted on 10/29/2004 7:25:35 PM PDT by Busywhiskers (Non entia multiplicandia sunt prater necessetatum. William Occam)
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To: RecallMoran
The airing of a tape of Osama bin Laden capped a week of bad news for President Bush that threatened to derail his candidacy in the final days of the presidential election. For Mr. Bush, it was one piece of bad news after another – reporting of hundreds of tons of explosives looted in Iraq,

HaHaHa. The DNcBS\NY Twit hit job blew up in their face and derailed any possible glimmer of hope that Dufus might have had. Then, OBL emerges on video tape from some rat hole to finish Kerry off.
124 posted on 10/29/2004 7:25:37 PM PDT by etradervic (GLOBAL TEST? Kerry can't even pass the SMELL TEST.)
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To: RecallMoran

Don't forget this stuff! After the election the battle continues with these people.


125 posted on 10/29/2004 7:26:49 PM PDT by claudiustg (Go Sharon! Go Bush!)
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To: handy
That's why the pool numbers are trending up

pool. poll. oops

126 posted on 10/29/2004 7:26:57 PM PDT by handy (Forgive me this day, my daily typos...The Truth is not a Smear!)
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To: za_claws

Let us know if you hear back from them (but we won't hold our breath.) Kudos for taking the time to write to those ignoramuses.


127 posted on 10/29/2004 7:28:14 PM PDT by speedy
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To: RecallMoran

128 posted on 10/29/2004 7:28:37 PM PDT by happydogdesign
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To: RecallMoran

129 posted on 10/29/2004 7:29:52 PM PDT by sweetliberty (Proud member of the Pajama Posse!)
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To: xuberalles
"It's coming, count on it! I don't think Kerry will concede, unless its a blowout. Even if Bush wins by 50 electoral votes, look for him to launch lawsuits."

I don't think the country would stand by silent if they start trying to fight the outcome of more than one state in order to turn the election. One maybe, but not two. I am worried that we may have real legitimate arguments in more than one state but won't be listened to.
130 posted on 10/29/2004 7:30:16 PM PDT by SolomoninSouthDakota (John Kerry purposefully went after the wrong goose in the wrong place at the wrong time.)
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My dad, rest his soul, a LONG time dem used to call CBS the "Commmie Broadcasting Company" as far back as I can rememeber. (And I ain't no "spring chicken" as they say.) Even he could see through their BS. The last time he voted was for Gore only to hear him regret it after all the hangin' chad lawsuits started here in FL. He actually said he was embarassed by what the democratic party had become and how the media had all sunk to the level of what CBS had been for years.


131 posted on 10/29/2004 7:31:34 PM PDT by SiVisPacemParaBellum (Peace through superior firepower!)
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To: RecallMoran
This is garbage. Pure Democrat propaganda parading as objective news commentary.

I pray a Bush win on Tues will put these people in their place.

If not they will realize very quickly what a lying two-faced fraud they have helped elect...and God help this country.

132 posted on 10/29/2004 7:33:44 PM PDT by Jorge
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To: Ravi
I absolutley agree - FR kicks major *ss. Thank you for bringing down Dan Blather!
133 posted on 10/29/2004 7:42:19 PM PDT by Raffus (Thanks to all Veterans for their service to our Country.)
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To: speedy
I am actually quite shocked.

It is difficult to figure out when I became a reformed liberal. I left The Movement in 1972 over disagreements about bombing power substations. Carter proved to me that demand-side economics do not work and are frightening beyond belief. Reagan taught me a lot about economics, foreign policy, and strength. Clinton showed me what happened to the folks from 1972 who had no problem with domestic terrorism. By 2000, I knew I was no longer a liberal, and W's compassionate conservatism made sense.

I have been thinking that I need a new handle.

The people we know who are so convinced they are winning are not uneducated. They are not welfare bums and crack heads. They are self-made small business successes and attorneys and physicians. Some are salt of the earth types: musicians who are welders by day and whose wives are home health providers, for example. Our interaction with them is professional and while they know our politics, they are very smug. We have to be professional, of course. They have no idea the depth of our loathing for their politics and for Kerry.

They only watch MSM, I guess and they believe it.

My husband said tonight that he has a lot of Republican clients and if all the leftists leave, after the election, for whatever reason, he thinks things will even out in a short time.
134 posted on 10/29/2004 7:42:56 PM PDT by reformedliberal (Springsteen Concert: Kerry's Farewell Tour)
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To: xuberalles

Nothing from CBS should surprise us anymore. How I positively hate those people.

I fired off yet another polite email to CBS..........

Dan Rather continues to man a sinking ship.


135 posted on 10/29/2004 7:49:00 PM PDT by Shortstop7
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To: RecallMoran

Kuhn....bitch boy.


136 posted on 10/29/2004 7:49:44 PM PDT by wardaddy (The only thing we share with collectivists and ragheads is death.)
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To: TexasLady41
I sure wish the President could say that also. But I don't think he can, cause there is always the very real possibility of another attack. I love the fact that the American people seem to be bonding with President Bush. Sometimes, I wish I lived in a swing state sometimes so I could go to a rally!
137 posted on 10/29/2004 7:53:24 PM PDT by Shortstop7
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To: xuberalles

Do you really think there will be riots after Bush wins?


138 posted on 10/29/2004 7:55:25 PM PDT by Shortstop7
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To: RecallMoran

Editorials and "news" stories - who can tell the difference nowadays?


139 posted on 10/29/2004 8:01:28 PM PDT by fhlime
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To: jackal7163

You know, I hadn't really thought that far ahead....but I'll bet you are right. Sure hope so. Did I dream this, or did President Bush not give Helen Thomas (the evil hag) a question after a State of the Union address a couple of years ago? ? I remember the MSM making a fuss about it. Thought I recalled something about that..I think it was her anyway?


140 posted on 10/29/2004 8:04:59 PM PDT by Shortstop7
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