Dem Leaders Need To Preemptively Condemn Bush "Assassination" Movie

[ruggerson]

"President Bush 'assassinated' in new TV docudrama"

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23365246-details/President+Bush+assassinated+in+new+TV+docudrama/article.do


This movie, Death Of A President, is made in England, by Brits, but the rightwingers here in the US will try to confuse Americans into thinking "Hollywood leftists" made this movie.

Just in time to manufacture sympathy for Mr. Bush as we head into the Congressional elections.

Howard Dean and others should not attract undue attention to this movie, but they should quietly condemn it in no uncertain terms, so as to pre empt the inevitable smear campaign the desperate rightwingers will launch when this hits the Toronto Film Festival in ten days.

[rubberducky]

1. Agree 100%

Sounds like this movie is way over the top. I`m way far from a * fan, but a snuff movie?? Not good.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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

[patricia92243]

3. Boy, do I ever agree. I think it's shocking that it has been made. I

wonder if the Republicans will use it to get sympathy for Bush - right in time for the elections of course.

When I finished reading the article, I sent them a message in the place they provided and said if they wanted to kill somebody, let it be in their own government - Blair, and let Bush be the one that is put on trial - not the other way around.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

4. Extremely Bad Taste!

[Buzz Clik]

5. good call

[William769]

6. As much as I hate the Bush cabal

This is to much.

[DianaForRussFeingold]

7. I want him to live a long life of years of Guilt,Regret and Remorse

in his old age. Of course I am hoping he develops a conscience. May he be tormented by his many political blunders and may he live his elderly years in total anguish,alone and isolated in a world of total despair! Hopefully this is after a True patriot and leader makes things right in Iraq and here at home.

[Lisa]

12. right on!

I would like him to have all his faculties intact (such as they are), so he can understand when we reverse all the changes he's made, and within his lifetime historians across the political spectrum call him "the man who tried to destroy America".

Ideally he would repent and spend the rest of his days, trying to help the families of the people who died due to his neglect and thoughtlessness. But I would settle for him just becoming a hermit, and hiding from the world because he's so embarrassed that schoolchildren point at him and laugh dismissively.

I do not want him dead or incapacitated in any way -- even if it's by another pretzel -- because he will be made out to be some visionary heroic martyr, and his "base" will try to use that to validate everything they want (whether or not he had any connection to it).

[FredScuttle]

8. Why play on their field?

Why in the hell would Dem leaders condemn something they had nothing to do with? Every Democrat in the nation should only be saying the same mantra, over and over again:

FAILURE IN IRAQ
FAILURE TO CAPTURE OSAMA
FAILURE TO MAKE USA MORE SECURE
FAILURE IN NEW ORLEANS/MISSISSIPPI
FAILURE IN OUR SCHOOLS
FAILURE IN GAS PRICES
FAILURE IN HEALTH CARE
FAILURE IN ENVIRONMENT
FAILURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
FAILURE AFTER FAILURE AFTER FAILURE.

No other words should pass a Democrat's lips this fall.

[ruggerson]

10. Because

the Republcans WILL try to blame this on American Democrats. That is how they play the game.

And we should kill it as an issue before they get their chance to play yet another mindfuck on the American public.

[FredScuttle]

14. Kill it by drawing attention to it?

WTF?

Should Harry Reid prepare an apology for the next South Park episode featuring Newt Gingrich sodomizing a goat?

[ruggerson]

17. Who said anything about an apology?

I said CONDMEN IT.

Main Entry: con·demn
Pronunciation: k&n-'dem
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French condempner, from Latin condemnare, from com- + damnare to condemn -- more at DAMN
1 : to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation <a policy widely condemned as racist>

[FredScuttle]

20. So, why stop there?

Will we have daily press conferences with the Democratic leadership condemning every piece of art that is even slightly critical of the President?

It's British, for Christ's sake. Let Blair condemn it.

I have more faith in voters that you seem to. The 60% who recognize the Iraq debacle for what it is and who have a negative appraisal of *'s performance won't be swayed by this nonsense.

[ruggerson]

22. I'm glad you have faith in voters

I lost mine when they successfully Swiftboated John Kerry and there were a whole slew of people advocating what you're advocating now: talk about the issues, ignore it, the American public will see right through it, yadda yadda yadda.

Fuck. That. Shit.

I want us to be aggressive and cutthroat and cut them off at every possible opportunity.

[FredScuttle]

28. Uh, the SwiftBoaters had little to no impact

exit polls indicated voters in key swing states went for Bush over Kerry on security. That is, "President Bush is a manly-man and his ads convinced me that if that weakling Kerry is elected, I'll be blown up by Al Queda on the highway next week"

Issues matter...look at the god-damn polls.

[ruggerson]

29. If you think the Swift Boat commercials had no impact on '04

I rest my case. Because you are spouting sheer fiction.

[FredScuttle]

31. Am I?

Or am I the only one in this dialogue who isn't talking out of his ass?

"When the economy slipped away as an issue in this final phase, Bush was in a strong position to consolidate these voters on their worries about terrorist and safety and their worries about John Kerry on the cultural issues and his values. That led to the late shift of white rural, blue collar, and senior voters to Bush. That gave Bush his narrow national majority."

http://www.alternet.org/election04/20530/

I'll concede that the Swift Boat ads had some impact on the 2004 election. I'm just not willing to ascribe the titanic effect that you've been cowed into believing.

[Freedomofspeech]

24. I absolutely agree...

with you. The Democrats had nothing to do with it, they owe no one an explanation.

[ruggerson]

25. How is condemning the movie

giving an "explanation?"

??

You're buying into his strawman.

[fuzzyball]

32. The reugs will just boomerang your points this way...

FAILURE IN IRAQ.........Just need patience, Iraq is getting better
FAILURE TO CAPTURE OSAMA....He is hiding in a cave and is irrelevant
FAILURE TO MAKE USA MORE SECURE.....no attacks since 911
FAILURE IN NEW ORLEANS/MISSISSIPPI.....will show Nagin kissing Bush'e ring
FAILURE IN OUR SCHOOLS.....scholastic standards are improving
FAILURE IN GAS PRICES.....gas will be $1.99 in November (october surprise?)
FAILURE IN HEALTH CARE.....Canadians and others come to America for treatment
FAILURE IN ENVIRONMENT.....will show some redundant stats showing improvments
FAILURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.....American troops will begin withdrawal in October
FAILURE AFTER FAILURE AFTER FAILURE.

The repugs are good at obfuscating the issues.

[FredScuttle]

33. But see? Now, they're playing on our turf

Engage them in discussions on each of these relevant failures of leadership and we've won the dialogue. Not being defensive about GOP strawmen that distract from what's really important.

[Sparkly]

9. I don't think they need to say a thing about it, unless asked.

It wasn't made by "Hollywood Leftists." (Btw, are Mel Gibson, Stephen Baldwin, Bo Derek, Ron Silver et al "Hollywood Leftists?")

And, Democratic Leaders are not "Hollywood Leftists."

Let's see whether the rightwing wants to draw attention to it, or not. It's THEIR call, not ours.

[ruggerson]

11. They get a free news cycle

drawing attention to it, and then our guys are forced to condemn it IN RESPONSE, engendering yet another news cycle.

If Dean issues a quiet statement on the DNC website pronouncing the flick offensive, THAT is what will be reported in the same news cycle as the first cries Republican faux indignation.

News anchors will be reporting, in the same breath, ".. and Democrats have already denounced the movie...."

By anticipating their move, we end the issue before it even starts.

[Sparkly]

13. Or, new anchors will report,

"...Drawing attention to the movie, Democrats are saying..."

Who knows?

As for me, I think "bad taste" or "ill-judgment" are one thing; free speech is another.

It's not for Democrats to get defensive about something they didn't even do!

[ruggerson]

15. I agree

but I don't think condemning it as "offensive" is being defensive, I think it's just the opposite. I think it's taking charge of the issue. We are defending the office of the Presidency, regardless of who may reside there. Strategically, it's a values move. A small one, but one which could defuse a potentially annoying distraction.

[FredScuttle]

18. This is a distraction, nothing else

Democrats win when they focus on how badly Republicans fuck up when they're in power.

[Sparkly]

34. There are "potentially annoying distractions" anywhere.

No need to create them from worry about what the GOP's going to do next. If that were the strategy, the DNC would be *awfully* busy just keeping up with all the things they "might claim we have something to do with."

[FredScuttle]

16. Like I said.....why play on their field

The time is ripe to take the fight to them, not react like mewling twerps.

"Oh gee....we're so sorry a bunch of artists with whom we have no connection or anything to do with decided to create something halfway controversial. We're sorry!" Next thing you know, Nancy Pelosi will call a press conference to declare the Democrats have nothing to do with "Guernica"

[ruggerson]

19. What the hell are you yammering about?

Forcefully condemning something has no relation to saying you're "sorry" about it.

[FredScuttle]

21. You want the Democrats to waste their time in frivolity

I want them focused (yes, like a "laser") on hammering the same message through to the 30% who still think * is effective in protecting this country. HE's A FAILURE.

[ruggerson]

23. It's one paragraph on the DNC website!

It's one news cycle, for pete's sake. It's hardly frivolity, it's called being smart and aggressive.

[FredScuttle]

26. So, the DNC should have a regular feature on the website?

"We Condemn The Following Works of Art Because They Displease Dear Leader":

Dear Mr. President
Twenty
Not Ready to Make Nice
The Keith Olbermann Show
The Daily Show
The Colbert Report
etc.

[ruggerson]

27. Go ahead and allow yourself to be swiftboated

and keep using strawmen arguments to avoid addressing what I called for in the OP.

I couldn't disagree with you more.

[FredScuttle]

30. Go ahead and continue to play the GOP's game

You'll always be one step behind because they've been playing this dirty pool a lot longer than you have. The only hope the GOP has this fall is that Democrats don't wake up and recognize a historically unpopular president and an even more unpopular majority in Congress are ample targets for our ammo....not fucking movies from the U.K.

[AZBlue]

35. It's about respecting the Office of President, no matter who it is.

If we let someone like Bush lower our opinion of the Office of the President to the level that it's ok to assassinate him in a movie, then he's won. Plus, we must leave NO room for the Rovian minions to spin this against us.

[western mass]

36. Ha ha ha ha ha...

Oh, sorry. The thing about respecting b* was just so ludicrous.

I've got a better idea. Instead of our democratic leaders quivering and quaking and letting the GOP define the agenda, they can spend their time calling the pukes the cowards and criminals that they are.

"Bill, young soldiers are dying everyday in Iraq, Americans are living paycheck to paycheck is desperate need of health care and job security, this president's foreign policy is making the world more dangerous for us everyday, and this is what the republicans are excited about? A British tv show? Let me tell you what Democrats think is worth talking about..."

[dbt]

37. And what would the Pugs do if the movie were about Clinton?

[mmonk]

38. I see no reason at all to try and get involved in that.

They should only respond when questioned about it and then say its basically appalling. No preemption needed. Anyone in the republican party that tries and use that against democrats will get pummelled anyway.