Josh Marshall on Bush's campaign theme: "It's not my fault."

[lancdem]

If you look at the TV ads the president just unveiled today, you quickly see a main -- probably the main -- theme of his reelection campaign: it's not my fault.
There are all sort of bad things going on. The economy's been rough. The deficit is deepening. Job growth is barely registering. There's all sorts of chaos on the international stage. But it's not my fault. When I got here there was a recession already, which I didn't have anything to do with. That's was Clinton's fault. And the same with all the corporate scandals. And then Osama bin Laden got involved and that wasn't my fault either. And that Iraq thing didn't completely work out. But that's the CIA's fault. So if there's anything that's bad now it's not because of anything I did. It's because of 9/11. And if it's not because of 9/11 then it was already broken when I got here. So don't blame me.
Now, I think that does pretty much sum up what the president and the White House are telling the public. But it's important to draw back and recognize that up until this point that argument has largely worked. Now, however, I think people are beginning to question the argument.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com

[onehandle]

1. There's a Simpsons episode where Bart is on Krusty's show...

His catch phrase when caught being mischievous is "I didn't do it".

Pretty darn close.

[Must_B_Free]

13. Bush IS the "I didn't do it" boy

[seabeyond]

2. my father

explaining business 101 about running a business and ultimately it is the top dude who gets fired if things are screwed up. so i said then why are you letting bush blame the cia for misinformation, ultimately it is his responsibility so he should be fired. lots of stuttering on the other side of the phone.

no not necessarily. ya right

[girl gone mad]

5. Bush brought it on himself.

He wanted to be the CEO President.

If the CEO of any major corporation had made this many costly mistakes, he'd have been canned, and rightly so.

[Zero Gravitas]

3. There's a sign on Dumbass Dubya's desk

that says "The Buck Stops Over There".

IF you listen to these assholes Bush never made a mistake and made the best possible decision under the circumstances. Its not going to wash. he can't shirk responsibility for his own actions. Even if the decisions he made were done in good faith (I think not) they were still the WRONG ones.

[cmayer]

6. Slightly better...

"The buck passes here."

[Jade Fox]

14. Buck? What's a Buck?

They didn't tell me this job was going to involve Bucks!

WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! :cry:

[Sub Atomic]

4. I'd sure like to know

this a$$hole in office is going to bring back "honor & integrity" to the white house.

:shrug:

[Disturbed]

7. Slogans

"It's not his fault?"
"Blame everything on anyone but him."
"He only works there...sometimes."
"Nothing is his fault. He is a puppet."

[catzies]

9. Welcome to DU, Disturbed!

:hi:

Those are great!

[BillZBubb]

8. It's never Bush*'s fault.

I think for the most part the public has figured that one out now. The Reich wingers believe it, but everybody else knows the score.

Go Kerry!

[scottxyz]

10. That would make a great bumper sticker

B U S H
It's Not My Fault

[Junkdrawer]

11. No, they're one-upping that..

Now its: "Things were bad when I got here, but I'm turning it around." Remember, out-and-out lying is a Dubya trademarked tactic.

[struggle4progress]

12. You forgot neocon talking point #1:

"Clinton knocked down the twin towers with his big thingy."