this will make you grin ear-to-ear --" * has lost control of the agenda"

[grasswire]

An editorial commentary written by a freeper. Long read, happy news in every sentence. Bottom line: Bush has lost control of the agenda.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1097621/posts

Six months ago, it seemed that this campaign would be a pleasant little divertissement. A sitting President seemed unchallengeable with virtually unlimited financial resources, managing a recovering economy and the immeasurable personal goodwill reservoir that comes from a successful wartime defense of the nation. A challenge by Howard Dean an unknown governor from a micro leftist New England state promised to be good fun. Sit back, wave some popcorn and enjoy. Or so it seemed.

What a difference six months makes. Now, as the faint aroma of flop sweat begins to waft through the Bush reelection “juggernaut”, might I suggest that the Bush team, and its ardent supporters (of which I count myself one) are increasingly in denial? It is now painfully and increasingly obvious that the President’s campaign team has totally lost control of the election agenda and is on the verge of being both “Quayled” and “Doled”. For those that have forgotten, Dan Quayle was tagged a dummy via the potato-e route, and once fragged, tagged, and bagged by the media, became the story. And the story had legs. In the final phase, urban legend about totally untrue remarks (Latin spoken in Latin America-remember that one?) was reported as fact to feed the Quayleing. The media and his advisers convinced Bob Dole, Mr. Lifelong Acerbic, that if he “went negative” he would be massacred in the press. Unwisely, he sought a total makeover as a nice guy, and by the time the convention rolled around he was DOA due mainly to aggressive and early Democratic positioning of him. He responded weakly, and too late. Sound familiar?

The President is entering the same danger zone trod by Dan and Bob: his opponents are increasingly in charge of his image. Its not Kerry vs. Bush, but Bush vs. Bush, with the forces of darkness getting to play the Bush hand. Not surprisingly, Bush is losing. Media focus is now almost exclusively on the Presidents “failures”, “problems”, his “falling approval”. Radio, TV, Newspapers, the pattern to watch is every key story starts with a quick reference to the event being reported, then rapid move to a discussion of how it negatively impacts Bush. How pervasive is this? Seeking refuge from the Bush bashing spin on the front page, I opened the movie reviews this weekend. Surprise- even the reviews are Bush bashing: “The Day After”- gonna hurt Bush because he is pro global warming; “Spartan”, a movie about some government plot had this astonishing one liner in the review: “…ripped holes in the country’s cultural myths. They reinforced any paranoid’s worst fears about abuses of political power. As today’s headlines raise more and more questions about US intelligence and the post September 11 policies of the Bush administration…” I’d say when even the movie reviews are spinning, you have lost control of the agenda.

That’s just the small stuff that has permeated every media outlet in an unrelenting wash of negative. The big stuff is an even more serious problem since it shows there is little positive the President can do to turn things around. I first became concerned with the President’s campaign political strategists when the President okayed the protectionist steel tariff move. Something in complete opposition to what I felt were this President’s innate beliefs, but calculated to achieve a political result: union and other support. OK, I can go along with a certain amount of pragmatism and deal making if it achieves the greater good. But it was a colossal flop!! Backfired with conservatives who support free trade-and more problematic- didn’t garner the political benefit anticipated. Followed by its reversal. A complete misstep, which I am afraid to say, set the pattern for the future.

[boobooday]

1. Oh it's so true

Even they can't deny it anymore. The threadbare lies, the excuses. A commercial that lists a series of woes, and then says, "but hey! It wasn't our fault!"

They are going DOWN!



http://www.wgoeshome.com

[grasswire]

2. one more snip

What is to be done?

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Hope is not a plan. If the situation stays as is- the President loses in November. Wake up!! The President has lost control of the election agenda- he has been positioned, early, by the Democrats as the issue. By maintaining the high reasoned ground he is heading down the Dole path. Right now its Bush vs. Bush, and Bush is losing. Continuing the weak responses on an intellectual level is a losing hand. Surely that must be obvious at this point. Currently, nothing Kerry says or does matters since he isn’t running in the Bush vs. Bush election. Only two things can change this. One- some major external factor, like a development in the War on Terror, positive or negative. The second factor is John Kerry becoming the issue. Since the external factor is beyond control, the Administration must come to its senses and realize the imperative of making John Kerry the issue. That means total attack. I don’t mean the pathetic ads that began running the week of March 8. “John Kerry- wrong on taxes, wrong on defense”. Pitiful. I mean a relentless, hourly attack by all elements of the Republican Party and associates. A daily Kerry issue talking point. Coordinated ads, speeches and appearances. Either Karl Rove has the right stuff and will show it in the next six weeks, or the President is doomed. I know its ugly, but it must be recognized that the ground has shifted, the rules have changed, and that more of the same will result in Kerry as President next January. Time to take Kerry up on his challenge and really “bring it on” !!!

[OKNancy]

4. They have a problem then don't they?

Because Kerry isn't going to sit back and take the attacks. He says the cliche..."bring it on". Sometimes cliches are there because they speak the truth.

Not only Kerry himself, but Democrats in general. Thank god for MoveOn, DU, blogs and all the resources we have now. Ain't technology great?

[DrBB]

21. Um, of COURSE *he* is the issue

This guy is an idiot. Of COURSE Bush is the issue--a sitting president is always the issue in a second term election. It's ALWAYS going to be a referendum on his presidency. If people think he's led in the right direction, the challenger is screwed; if they think he has blown it, the challenger has a shot. It's just the natural dynamic of the situation--it isn't something he's been "positioned" into.

Whatta nitwit.

[Catch22Dem]

3. Good find

I always thought that Dan Quayle Latin thing was true. Apparently I've been wrong. I owe Dan an apology on that one. ONLY that one.

[spinbaby]

22. I always thought he said it, too

Did he really say, "What a waste it is to lose one's mind?" I'd be disappointed if that one were also not true.

I always felt a bit sorry for Quayle--he was so obviously out of his depth.

[Malva Zebrina]

5. well that is all well and good

but they deny the fact that Bush NEVER knew what he was doing,was not elected legally, is a stupid man and is always controlled from somewere else behind the scenes.

He is so obviously and laughably stupid that even freepublics can sense that what they are supporitng is a less than intelligent Potemkin man,and his vapid Potemkin fat assed wife, whose credentials are less than honorable and even fudged, who has been sold to them as a "visionary" LOL LOL LOL

Poor freepers--they have been "took"

[Vickers]

6. Are we sure that's a Freeper writing that?

Good grief, it's, it's....LUCID. How out of character!

Maybe a DUer undercover, raining on their parade?

Or maybe, just maybe, hardcore RW folks are starting to see that the emperor is indeed nekkid?

[lolly]

7. One slight problem, freeper-boy

If we're going to go negative here, just exactly who has the most ammunition?

The AWOL DUI who plunged the country from surplus to deficit and sent 550 soldiers to their death based on a lie?

or

The silver-star, Vietnam war hero?

All their attempts at "going negative" have proven to be lies almost immediately.

So, apparently, the strategy recommended here is "Make s**t up and hope people believe it."

OTOH, I guess it worked with Gore . . . :(sigh)

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

8. Interesting comments

like this one:

"Is this going to be another "IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID" election? I certainly hope not!
It is unless there is another terrorist attack in this country and close to the election."

and this one:

"9/11 is still fresh in our minds and there are still many terrorist states just BEGGIN for a regime change. Also, I feel that it would help if Bush would give addresses after these major terrorist attacks abroad.
Also, it will certainly not be an "economy stupid" election if we catch Bin Laden before November!"

That's right, keep that terror FRESH in our minds so we stay a-skeered. And be sure to pull OBL out of a hat in October!!!

And I particularly like this one:

"Turn the "Mainstream" media off. Go to Fox News, Talk Radio and the Internet for news."

YES!!!! Keep those blinders on!!! Keep hearing nothing but GOOD GOOD GOOD stuff about your side! That's right! That's the way to stoke that apathy.

They give themselves good advice. Well, good advice for US anyway!

This one seems to have a shred of sense:

"It is unless there is another terrorist attack in this country and close to the election.
Even that could (and heaven forbid if it happens)backfire. I'm sure most citizens gave the President a free pass on 9/11. I don't think they will if it happens again. There's been too much we are safer now talk. The first strike caught us off guard. A second could be seen as a weakness in our leadership."

Um, I saw the first strike that way and a lot of us DIDN'T give him a free pass, and even among those that did, some are starting to rethink that free pass. Can you believe how they talk about stuff? Unbelieveable!

[Terran]

9. Deluding themselves

A sitting President seemed unchallengeable with virtually unlimited financial resources, managing a recovering economy and the immeasurable personal goodwill reservoir that comes from a successful wartime defense of the nation.

I know that's how they wanted to see it, in their dreams, but Bush hasn't occupied a position like that since September 12, 2001. He's been in trouble for a loooong time, and they just wouldn't admit it.

I would also add that it's delusional to believe that election results come purely from campaigns. Bush's real problem is that he's miserable failure at everything, and a lot of people are actually beginning to understand that.

[darkstar]

10. I love the smell of "flop-sweat" in the morning.

It smells like...well, you know the rest

[sydneycarton]

12. I don't think he's in the trouble we think he is in

The polls are a statistical tie, and our guys have been lambasting Bush for a year now. What happens when he continues to roll out the ads, and Kerry doesn't have the money to respond? I think we are getting a little happy a little early.

Mike

[darkstar]

16. Oh I agree, nothing is for certain.

I just like the smell of "flop sweat" on the other team. It smells *like* victory, evokes memories of previous victories, makes me hopeful re: future victories, etc.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Safi]

11. Shorter Brownshirt Fuck

"Bush is losing! WAAAAH!"

[Piperay]

13. You're right, that one really made me grin

I'm feeling pretty positive. :-)

[Jane Austin]

14. You know . . .

That Freeper post sure makes you wonder if Karl Rove is all that much of a genius.

I guess it would take a pretty smart operator to make a loser like W into a believable Presidential candidate, but I agree with whoever said it was their audacity that did that.

I'm not sure it's genius.

[BabsSong]

15. Oh my, I think the Freepers have been "had"

That post was entirely way above the vocabulary of the Neanderthals on that website--the Limbaugh Lickers (micro leftist??--they would assume that means something you put in the microwave). I think someone is having "their way" with the sponges and interjecting the message within the "it pains me" rant. In other words, I love it.

[K8-EEE]

17. Creepy The Wistful Comments About How Another Attack Here

would be "good" for Shrub. God these people are sick!!

But they go both ways with that issue. They'll screech, "there hasn't ben an attack since 9/11!" like that is a "win." Then if there IS one they say THAT will be good. WTF??

There was nothing ever on the scale of 9/11 without GWB so let's go back to THAT!!

[Zero Gravitas]

19. Its not the MEDIA, stupid

The freepers still think that media will do their naked emperor in, when it is actually the lack of JOBs, the needless invasion of IRAQ, the non-existent WMDs and the general uncaring incompetence of the regime.

[kentuck]

20. It does seem as though some of his advisers thought he was going to...

cruise and have taken vacation. However, as they went on their leaves of absence, Dubya was going under water. Now he's about ready to go under for the third time unless someone grabs him by the nap of the neck and pulls him out of the deep waters. Perhaps they will be able to resuscitate him to make a credible run for the office he stole the last time around...

[rocktivity]

23. "(M)ight I suggest that the Bush team...are increasingly in denial?"

(M)ight I suggest that the Bush team, and its ardent supporters (of which I count myself one) are increasingly in denial?
Your denial runs deeper than you think, honey.

Dan Quayle was tagged a dummy...by the media...totally untrue remarks...was reported as fact to feed the Quayleing...(Bush)...is entering the same danger zone..
Quayle-ing...hmmm, that sounds an awful lot like being Clinton-ed.
:nopity:

Media focus is now almost exclusively on the Presidents “failures”, “problems”...
Bush's failures and problems ARE failures and problems. They are tangible and real, NOT a figment of the media's imagination.

No Child Left Behind: Counter spun by the Democrats and the Teacher Unions, totally muddied message coming from the White House on why it was a good thing...
"Counter-spinning" is like "reverse discrimination"--an admission of guilt that you were spinning or discriminating in forward. If NCLB had political and fiscal merit, it wouldn't have REQUIRED spinning. And who did those teachers and Democrats think they were by criticizing the program, anyway? Bush came up with it--end of story. Where do they think they are, in a democracy?

...it all started with Howard (Dean). The true outsider, the man with nothing to lose...cranked up the rhetoric and Bush bashing...Democrats held their collective breath...Would the Media flay him, would the polls bury him? NO!!...You could trash Bush and live to tell the tale!!!
Not exactly. The Bush Regime went gunning for Dean because there WAS no way they could attack him--Kerry was their most desired target. The "Dean Scream" did the job, but it put the media on the spot with public accusations of deliberately undermining Dean. The Bush Regime then moved ahead with their attacks on Kerry, but he outsmarted them by referring to them as liars and crooks, forcing the media to put up their credibility or shut up.

Democrats would say, insinuate, and spin in a thousand ways, and daily, that Bush’s moral failings were the real cause of the unnecessary war in Iraq.
Bush’s moral failings WERE the real cause of the unnecessary war in Iraq. At least you're being honest about THAT. The public has finally gotten honest with themselves about it, that's all.

Given up for dead just two months earlier, Kerry...kept the relentless Bush bashing that Dean pioneered, and which he at first awkwardly, but finally enthusiastically, embraced after understudying Dean in the primary debates.
And less than a week later, the Bush campaign commitee FORMALLY ANNOUNCED that they were gong to defeat Kerry by bashing HIM.

Right now its Bush vs. Bush, and Bush is losing...Only two things can change this. One- some major external factor, like a development in the War on Terror, positive or negative...
If Bush catches Osama now, the war on terror will be "over" and he'll have to bring home the soliders, go crawling to the UN for forgiveness and peackeeping troops, and leave the oil behind. The closer to November Osama is caught, the more likely Bush will be accused of keeping him "on ice." Is another violent attack on US soil the only alternative, then? Let's go Al Queda! Blow us up, blow us up, rah, rah, rah!

The...(Bush campaign) must come to its senses and realize the imperative of making John Kerry the issue...That means...a relentless, hourly attack by all elements of the Republican Party and associates...Time to take Kerry up on his challenge and really “bring it on” !!!
The bigger an issue Bush makes Kerry, the bigger an issue Kerry can make Bush. Kerry flip-flops? Bush makes promises and doesn't keep them. Kerry voted for the Iraq invasion? Bush FABRICATED the Iraq invasion. Kerry is soft on defense? Bush has lost over 500 U.S. soldiers on what he knew was a lie and didn't complete his military service. Kerry has ties to "Hanoi Jane" Fonda? Bush has ties to "Baghdad Don" Rumsfeld.

It's not an increase in denial that's Bush's problem--it's an increase in reality, and a mainstream media that can't cover for him anymore. Bring it on, indeed!

:headbang:
rocknation

[patricia92243]

24. Press is bashing him a little bit now so it won't look so obvious that..

they are building him up closer to the election - when it really counts.

[cliss]

25. Once again, I find it hard to believe

They actually believe the stuff they write. Notice the first paragraph: "unlimited financial resources", "a recovering economy", "immeasureable personal goodwill". Where was this guy for the past 3 years? On an island in Micronesia?

Bush did NOT have unlimited financial resources. He just drained every dollar from the treasury, and bankrupted our country for years to come.

The economy was NOT recovering. The only reason the stock market did well in 2003 was because the dollar tanked in relation to other currencies. It improved our balance of trade.

Since when did BeelzeBub have immeasureable personal goodwill? In which country? Certainly not here, as many thousands fumed over his decision to go to war.