Mary Matalin on the * Campaign: "We're Not Even Suited Up"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

From Lou Dobbs:

In reference to the Democratic candidates:

"They're all over the field and we're not even suited up"

(It was not clear if she was referring to "the flight suit")

:-)

On why the Bush-Cheney re-election team is not concerned over *'s dip in the polls:

"He has a spectacular record to run on"

(she said this twice)

and her thoughts on the strategy of his campaign:

"We have a VISION for the future! They have one and only one strategy to run on and that is to beat up on the president!"

:beer:

[Qutzupalotl]

1. sock keeps falling out. n/t

[DrBB]

2. GOP 'Vision for the future!" = war without end amen

...and penury for working Americans with no safety net.

Sorry, Mary, you've got a "vision for the future!" all right, but it isn't one that most Americans want to live through.

[ComerPerro]

3. Haha, just like in Vietnam

Everybody else is out there, and he is not even suited up yet. He is still drinking and doing lines of cocaine.

The real reason Bush isn't campaigning yet: Well, actually he is. He has been fundraising since January 2001. He was fundraising (and vacationing) when he should have been protecting the country. And then when the attacks did happen, he used their memory to fundraise for re-selection.

Why else hasn't Bush gotten into the mix? Well, for one, he can't debate all the candidates at once. Hell, he can't even properly debate one candidate at once. He got his ass kicked all over the place by Gore, and was exposed as the clueless puppet he really is. I don't think Bush wants to start getting trounced and embarassed just yet. Besides, he can just sit back and let the "liberal media" tear apart the Democratic candidates.

Finally, why isn't Bush concerned with falling numbers? Simple. 9/11. Fear. Terror. His short history has shown that whenever his numbers take a hit, something happens to turn it around (9/11, Terror alerts, Iraq war, capture of Hussein...). He knows that his controllers will do whatever needs to be done to lull the people back into a terrified, mindless stupor.

And, yes, he is confident that they have a VISION for the future. That vision is totalitarianism through terror, an empire built on fear.

[Malva Zebrina]

Bravo--clap,clap clap

[Cooley Hurd]

20. And, with the timing of Mussolini's trains...

...ricin shows up in Frist's office (a Dem's office would've been way too obvious).

You wrote:
Finally, why isn't Bush concerned with falling numbers? Simple. 9/11. Fear. Terror. His short history has shown that whenever his numbers take a hit, something happens to turn it around...

[BeyondGeography]

4. Oh yeah, the vision thing

That's what took Dad out, too.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

5. I remember him sharing that with Tabitha Soren on the "Bush Train"

...that famous clip where she was trying to get a straight answer from him, he snapped at her, put her in her place, and said with 0% commitment in his voice "we have a plan for the young people"...

Thank God, we never got to know what that plan was.

[BeyondGeography]

9. LOL!

Then there was that Dana Carvey/SNL skit at the New Hampshire diner:

"How ya doing? Persian Gulf. Good morning. Persian Gulf. Persian Gulf. Those pancakes look great. Persian Gulf. A thousand points of light. Persian Gulf..."

[bushwakker]

6. Anyone remember if Matalin worked in the 2000 campaign?

[Lars39]

7. Does she mean THIS suit ???

[Gato Moteado]

8. in other words: the emperor has no clothes.

she says it like it's a good thing.

[BeFree]

11. LMAO...emperor has no clothes!!

That was funny....

Yep, they's all naked as a jay-bird.

The suit he's gonna need to keep his ass from getting burned come November has never been made. Except for a space suit.

Wouldn't it be great to see 'Astronaut B****.' Hell, he was a 'Vietnam Pilot', right? And he landed on that carrier; what's next? If we're lucky they'll try and send him to the moon.

[Gman]

10. What Mary also means is that

we're scoring touchdowns and running up the score while they're not even suited up. The longer they take the better.

[maxsolomon]

12. she IS right

they haven't got out their fear & loathing yet.

and they will. they have millions to spend, and their special interest money cannot be matched. this campaign will make all the others look clean. the disinformation, the biased media, the logical fallacies, the ducking of substance, the jingoism, the nationalism, the 9-11 club.

plus, there will not be debates unless they're 100% scripted.

put on the hip waders NOW.

[yellowcanine]

13. Mary Matalin also insisted to the bitter end that

Poppy Bush would win reelection. So we know what her opinion is worth, prediction wise.

[UTUSN]

14. Yeah-right, Mary, Like We Believe You Really ARE the Underdog

Check out the LBN thread from Party_Line detailing how far ahead they are in organizing, not to mention "free speech" (cash):

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=341579

Strategists' grass-roots plans to reelect Bush are well ahead of schedule. The emphasis is not on swing voters, but loyal Republicans.
snip>
"On a grass-roots and regional basis, this campaign is already underway," said Ken Mehlman, the campaign manager, as he ticked off the organizational groundwork that has already been done: local committees named; voter registration drives launched; millions of supporters signed up; websites and e-mail systems humming.

"We are literally nine months ahead of where we were four years ago," said Robert T. Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party and a veteran of 40 years of GOP work. "This campaign is probably the best organized I've ever seen."

The result, GOP planners hope, will be a juggernaut that not only guarantees Bush's reelection but lays the foundation for a lasting Republican majority in Congress.

In their preparations, Republican strategists enjoy the luxury of an incumbent president and a record-breaking war chest that may top $200 million. They plan to use those advantages to deliver a one-two punch leading up to November: massive television advertising in swing states, and a huge ground war to register Republican voters and get them to the polls.

Although both parties have stressed the importance of turnout, the conventional wisdom of presidential politics holds that victory depends on winning over independent-minded voters in the middle of the political spectrum.

GOP strategists believe new technologies have created a new opportunity: Although not spurning middle-ground voters, they think the margin of victory in pivotal states now lies in maximizing turnout among the party faithful.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-bushcamp1feb01,1,26920...

********UNQUOTE*******

[hatrack]

19. In other words . . .

"We're FUCKED with swing voters and independents. We'll just talk about gays and guns and JAY-ZUS (oh, yeah, and 9/11) all day long for six solid months and hope the fundies turn out in numbers large enough to make it not too embarassing."

And then: "GOP strategists believe new technologies have created a new opportunity . . . "

[Spirochete]

15. Fuck Bush*

We're taking him out.

[Bandit]

16. God but they are Cocky

Think there is a surprize in store for these folks.

[BigDaddyLove]

22. Especially if she (they) actually believe that he has a.....

spectacular record to run on.

[skippysmom]

17. suit up, baby...

and bring it on!!!!

[burythehatchet]

18. My words exactly

take your time honey...make sure all the pads are on...then brace yourself for the fury that you and your team have earned.

[LeahMira]

21. If the SOTU was any indication...

"We have a VISION for the future! They have one and only one strategy to run on and that is to beat up on the president!"

If the SOTU was any indication the Republicans' vision didn't catch fire with anyone. Far as I could see, it was a "neener, neener" sort of attempt to put it to Democrats. And it fell flat.

"He has a spectacular record to run on"

Indicative of the idea that he will run on restoring freedom and democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I hear that the Afghans are not so democratic and free as we are led to think here in the U.S., and if troops need to be sent there to finish the clean-up and get the Talibans and Osama, Bush may find that isn't so easy as he imagined it would be. Bush might learn from the Israelis' experiences. The Palestinians still haven't given up after 50+ years.

The world may try to carve up the Middle East into convenient nations and draw boundaries on paper without considering ethnic, cultural and traditional affiliations, but those people who live there know who they are.