"I think people like the president. I like the president."

[Freddie Stubbs]

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/11dean.b.htm

[JohnKleeb]

1. maybe hes just trying to be nice but something tells me

He's wrong, Bush is the problem just as much as his handlers.

[blm]

2. I remember when he said Bush governed as a moderate in Texas.

No, Howie...he was just PLAYING y'all. No one who watched his dirty dealings thought he was a moderate.

[diplomats]

3. I have no problem with that

DUers can't stand Bush but swing voters likely will be more interested in a critique of his policies and what the Dem candidate can do that they see as an improvement.

[diplomats]

6. Bush's ratings are down to the mid-50s

when will the media stop calling his "popular"? He's not unpopular (yet) but his ratings are practically where they were before 9/11.

[dajabr]

4. "You do?"

"Yeah, I do. He's an engaging person, but I think for some reason he's been captured by the neoconservatives around him."

On Clinton:

You were once a supporter of Bill Clinton and stayed over in the Lincoln Bedroom in 1995 with your wife. What do you think of Clinton now?

"I still think that Bill Clinton has more talent in his little finger than anybody else in America, and really, I think, Bill Clinton is the most politically talented president of anybody since FDR."

Partial quotes only give part of the story...

[blm]

7. Sure...that's why he didn't listen to Clinton

when Clinton asked him to stop slamming the other candidates. Guess he thinks his political judgement is better.

[ProfessorPlum]

10. that's great

thanks for posting the rest of the comment. Dean's statement makes it seems he feels sorry for the Chimpster, having his life captured by those other idiots. Ha ha.

And I think Dean "likes" Bush because it is good to have an opponent who you can dance circles around come debate time . . .

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Don't count your chickens when it comes to debates

Didn't everyone think that Bush would be finished once people saw him and Bush debate?

[JohnKleeb]

14. I dont know Freddie but heres what I think

If people like the "president" so much why are you running Governor Dean? It's odd really Ive been hearing hes a fighter but saying that people like Shrub, well I like to eat my boogers NOT.

[killbotfactory]

15. Dean was just saying he liked him on a personal level.

Basically, he met Bush a couple times when they were both governers, and thought he was a nice guy, but thinks his policies are ruining the country. If you can read the interview and walk away thinking Dean has no problem with Bush, then you have a reading problem.

[JohnKleeb]

17. I know that but he didnt even blame him for what goes on it looks like

Whats to like on a personal level really? Besides reading that Dean is being call a Rockefeller republican by a business magazine means I think Kerry will be better if I wanna be realistic and yet support who I like.

[deutsey]

20. Personally, I wish Dean would have said he thought Bush is an idiot

Or a morally bankrupt, incompetent dictator.

But maybe Dean's trying to keep the focus of his attack on Bush's policies, as in this rather lengthy post:

http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7152&security=1&news_iv_ctrl=1281

It's obvious Dean has a lot of ire over Bush's duplicity.

The corporate media, after all, would jump all over statements about personality differences (which concerns me about a possible Gore run...I'd vote for him, but I can just imagine the press focusing on "Gore's gotta grudge to settle" or whatever stupidity they'd serve up, and ignoring the issues he'd raise). They prefer reporting on that kind of junk. Why give them fodder?

Also, you can tell by the interviewer's response to Dean that he/she was hoping for something more juicy than what Dean gave. This is a Tigerbeat-kind of interview, anyway, in that it doesn't really want Dean to elaborate on the answers given. Just something that someone can swallow and digest in less than five minutes.

[JohnKleeb]

21. yeah and Graham is trying to impeach the guy

Graham isnt my fave but you know he does have some admirable qualities about him.

[Mairead]

26. I think he's right about Clintons' pol skills

Anyone who can sell us down the river and have so many worship him even 3 years later...that's skillful!

[lkinsale]

5. Wow. I personally can't stand the president.

Maybe that's why I prefer Graham

Graham campaigns in Fort Dodge

Anyone coming to Bloomers on Central to hear presidential candidate Bob Graham walked away away knowing there was no love lost between him and President George W. Bush.

Graham singled Bush out personally several times as being the reason that he sought the presidency for the first time in his life. "I think he is the worst president we have ever had," said the U.S. senator and former governor from Florida. "I have never felt the passion to run until the first year of George W. Bush's presidency."

*******

Contribute to Graham For President (Enter "Laura Kinsale" as your BobCat if you want to give me credit toward my pledge to raise 1k for Bob.)

[blm]

8. Good for Graham...

I always had the feeling that he feels bad about the Bushes gaining so much control, and now he is running to help expose them.

[JohnKleeb]

9. good for him

Bobby you may not be number 1 for me but thank you so much, anyone with any passion or trueness would say that.

[killbotfactory]

11. He also calls Bush clueless...

Says he's puting the future of the economy in jeapordy with his foolhardy trickle-down nonsense, and says he has a horrible environmental record.

[deutsey]

12. Details, details.

:evilgrin:

BTW, are you going to a Dean Meetup this Wednesday? I've helped to organize one where I live. :hi:

[killbotfactory]

19. Can't make it.

I have a class I need to go to that's 6 hours long when the meetup is supposed to take place. :-(

[dusty64]

16. I despise and loathe

him and I am aware of no one around me who likes him anymore, and my friends are mainly apolitical.

[Larkspur]

18. On the serious side, bashing Bush personally is a losing strategy

that turns mainstream voterss off. It's seen as "sour grapes," but bashing Bush via his corrupt policies is completely appropriate and will go farther to erode Bush's popularity than attcking Bush at a personal level.

The strategy is working so far.

[ProfessorPlum]

23. Yeah, it's plenty

to talk about how his policies are ruining the country. That he is an idiot controlled by his evil neocon masters is a subtext which is icing on the cake.

[displacedvermoter]

43. But bashing Clinton personally didn't seem so bad, and it is still being

done, and I haven't heard that kind of wise counsel from any GOPers that it migh turn off "mainstream" voters to keep bashing a former president (or blaming him for problems two plus years after he left office).

Why is that, you suppose?

[ProfessorPlum]

45. Yeah, Hmmmm

we seem to be taking advice from the wrong people.

"Don't put up a fuss. Don't be negative. Stand quietly in the corner while our media hos smear you. Don't be loud. Don't protest anything. Sit down now. Good boy".

[ima_sinnic]

22. Dean is being diplomatic.

Today I heard Rush Limpball spittling about how Democrats HATE BUSH with PASSION that KNOWS NO END and NO BOUNDS. So how the hell is he going to fit those remarks into the equation?? And here people were calling him "angry," "tactless," "loose cannon." ha ha, it's just more of Dean's challenge to the right. I think he wants to debate somebody. He can "like" Bush and still expose his policies for what they are: pure unmitigated power-mad unadulterated war-mongering greed. He moves the discussion up a level, away from "personalities."

remember, you can draw more flies with honey than with sh*t.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

24. Does he mean that?

Does he mean that? He either likes really likes Bush or is being disingenuous. Neither alternative is very complimentary for Dr. Dean.

[lkinsale]

25. How can you like a phoney?

I don't get it.

[JohnKleeb]

27. Graham isnt number 1 for me but consider me liking him

I think Graham has guts honestly, he is trying to impeach Bush I think, and his motivaton for running is that Bush is the worst ever. I am really starting not to like Dean sorry Dean supporters but when he gets labled as a Rockefeller republican I shiver.

[ProfessorPlum]

32. Very sneaky, Feanor Curufinwe

maybe Dean meant he liked Bush as an opponent - easy to outsmart.

Or maybe he meant he liked his affable but dumb demeanor.

Or maybe he liked him because he made everyone else at the Governors conferences look smart.

I mean, come on. The interviewer is plainly laying a trap by baiting Dean with this question. Dean can pick and choose his forums for making his case against Bush.

(My guess is disingenuous, by the way).

[madfloridian]

28. I thought Dean handled that well.

He said yeh I like the president, but I fear he is being taken over by the neocons.

It was a good way to handle a question like that...a loaded one.

Hey, folks, you can't have it all just our way.

[JohnKleeb]

29. fine but why did he say people like Bush

I know he may be trying to be nice but you know, I'm always told that Dean is a fighter.

[ProfessorPlum]

30. some people do like Bush,

bless their tiny little hearts.

[JohnKleeb]

31. thats not most people though and if he wants to win

Like even RFK was critical of LBJ. ProfessorP you got a pm from me explaining my error, I meant Vermont populists were at odds with then Governor Dean. Please understand my mistake please.

[ProfessorPlum]

33. Oh, OK

In that case, I think you have to consider that Vermont is not really like many other states in the union. They are fairly liberal on many issues of personal liberty there. To say that Dean was a centrist governor in Vermont means a much different thing than that he was a centrist governor of Texas, for example, or Alabama.

And I think most of the issues he had with them were about state spending. Dean was tight with the purse strings, but it allowed him to both save for the rainy day we are in now, and also fund some very progressive programs. His fiscal responsibility is a testament to the good that can be done for all of society when our resources are carefully managed. Not just given away to the rich.

[JohnKleeb]

35. well dont we need to help people

isnt that part of the government's job.

[ProfessorPlum]

36. Yeah (but not if you ask conservatives)

and the government is able to help people when it has money. Good financial management is a (rare) gift in a politician.

[ProfessorPlum]

39. Wait a second

what happened to my initial reply? Did it get deleted? How did you make that happen?

[JohnKleeb]

42. I dont know and I didnt to nothing

I just want a democrat, the kind that you read about in the history books being our president, I dont hate dean but hes really becoming iffy to me.

[ProfessorPlum]

44. whoops, sorry

found it in the other thread. I thought I was going insane. :)

[CMT]

34. the rest of the quote

"but for some reason he has been captured by the neoconservatives around him."

despite that he has been the most agressive candidate on the stump at attacking Bush and his policies.

[Ripley]

37. Oh My Goodness, you mean to say

that someone posted only half a Dean quote for that uh, SHOCK AND AWE EFFECT?

How unusual.

;-)

[disgruntella]

38. yeah, they left out the part where dean said

"... for me to POOP ON!"

Triumph strikes again!

(BTW I am totally undecided Democrat-wise)

[ProfessorPlum]

40. LOL

good one :)

[w4rma]

41. Context

What accounts for President Bush's current popularity?
I think people like the president. I like the president.

You do?
Yeah, I do. He's an engaging person, but I think for some reason he's been captured by the neoconservatives around him.

[carpetbagger]

46. Men from Texas are like grouse on a lek.

They put on a big show, puff up their feathers and their air sacs, and make a big noise. In Texas, the conditioned response is to return the dance.

Why the rest of the country can't see through people like George Bush and Ross Perot is absolutely beyond my comprehension. But hey, they like him. If Dean wins the nomination, he'll have to sell the need for a change of administration to a populace that likes Bush. Good for Dean.

P.S. I live in Texas, but I'm from New York, so I don't do the dance.