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WP: For Bush, New Role and Different Script

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kskiska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-13-04 10:53 PM
Original message
WP: For Bush, New Role and Different Script
Sunday, March 14, 2004; Page A01

The opening stages of President Bush's reelection campaign represent a dramatic departure in tone and style from Bush's campaigns for governor and president. The man who calls himself a wartime president has become a warrior as a candidate.

Bush's earlier campaigns were notable for their positive tone, the candidate's buoyant optimism and an agenda focused on a few specific policy proposals. But the combination of a presidency transformed by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the partisan polarization that exists nationally, have produced a new script in 2004.

(snip)

It is not clear that the two Bushes -- the firm and sometimes-grim leader of the war on terrorism and the cheerful, wisecracking candidate the public saw in 2000 -- can coexist successfully in this campaign. By leading the attack on Kerry and doing so eight months before the Nov. 2 election, Bush has stepped from the Oval Office into the trenches, potentially denying himself what has been seen as one of the most potent weapons of any incumbent seeking reelection: retaining the power and aura of the office itself as long as possible.

(snip)

Others attribute the changes in the Bush campaign to the fact that he is in deeper trouble than he expected against an opponent he did not anticipate. After preparing for a race against former Vermont governor Howard Dean, a contest many Republicans around Bush relished, they have had to readjust on the fly to combat Kerry, who has emerged from the Democratic primaries virtually unscathed.

"Those things have thrown them a bit off their feet and put them in a 'We'd better go after this guy before we fall too far behind ,' "said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. "They're off their feet, and that's led them to a diagnosis that calls for a campaign that departs from their pattern."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56551-2004Mar13.html
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David Dunham Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-13-04 10:55 PM
Response to Original message
1. Bush isn't good at learning new roles.
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Nlighten1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-13-04 10:57 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. He is a one trick pony...
War War War
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MO_Dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-13-04 11:07 PM
Response to Original message
3. Aw, sh_t! I say
He's been campaigning since the day he moved into the WH. How do they expect us to believe this myth?
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pfitz59 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-13-04 11:14 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. He certainly hasn't done any work for us!
Why draw a piddling POTUS salary when he can make $2 million A DAY on the campaign trail! Self-serving little weasel shoulda been impeached in Oct 2001 for dereliction of duty!
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punpirate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-13-04 11:20 PM
Response to Original message
5. Though a tiny bit negative, this story...
... is all fluff. Most of the quotes are from Bush's people. No mention that Kerry is kicking the crap out of Bush in recent polls, or that there's a growing acknowledgement in the voters that Bush is sleazy, untruthful and obnoxiously ideological.

The next few months will be fun--just to see how hard the WP fights for Bush's honor, when he has none.
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Wapsie B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Mar-14-04 01:13 AM
Response to Original message
6. Many here have said it
and so have I. It's just interesting as to who actually benefitted from 9/11, isn't it?
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