America will see a different Bush* in 2004

[ewagner]

There is a subtle difference in Dubya in the 2004 campaign as opposed to 2000.

In 2000 Bush ran as a "normal" guy. He was an "aw shucks" kind of personality who spoke in platitudes and glittering generalities and didn't burden his supporters with any kind of thoughtful analysis of issues or policy. His most valuable asset with the voters was that he was "likable" as opposed to Gore, whom the media painted as aloof, wooden, stiff etc., etc.

This year's Dubya is different. He's on the attack. He has to talk (even in generalities) about his policies. He's showing a mean, combative, aggressive style. He's turned away from his "aw shucks" roots in order to launch a full-scale assault on Kerry.

Will this damage the "likability" factor? Will he be less appealing as an attack dog as opposed to your beer-drinking buddy next door?

Has anybody noticed? What do you think?

[ThomWV]

1. Disgusting No Matter Which Mask

What do I think? I think he's a piece of mindless shit no matter which mask he has on.

[Zinfandel]

23. We know that, but now he's "Top Gun" tough on terrorism & tough on those..

"soft" on terrorism Democrats (Kerry)---that's all the fucker has to run on...Fear, Fear and more Fear...They really thought the stupid shallow unaware American people would be tossing out their flags and daughters to Bush and and easy stroll to another election...

Now though, Rove/Bush are going to have to work for it and they are going to be fucking incredibly mean and ugly...as I've been saying it's not going to be easy to get these fascist out of there...

They are going to lie, cheat, distort, smear and kill if they have to but they do not plan on leaving.

Each speech the idiot Bush gives each day, or if he talks to a reporter, is verbatim of the speech he just gave earlier in the day.

Bush is a robot and he’s told NOT to say anything but what a Rove approved scpript…they do not want or need, no fuck ups now…pound that carefully written message into the American people verbatim and we'll do the rest (sliming, smearing lying and bulling).

[Mari333]

2. He still walks like he has a load of shit in his pants

No matter what. I was in charm school when I was 13, and you dont walk like that to gain points. The faux long strides they make him do with those horrible cheap jeans on to make him look like he actually just rode a horse only make him look like he crapped his drawers.
In the meantime, his smirky mouth and shifty eyes are always there , and whatever new commercial look they come up with wont work. Add to that hes short and squat and looks like a used car salesman more and more.
Kerry looks wayyyyy better and is tall and stands up straight.
The debates will knock Bu$h off for good when the 2 stand next to each other, IF Roveturd LETS Bu$h debate.

[Malva Zebrina]

24. I agree--he walks like he has a lot of warm mushy poo poo in his diaper

his palms face backwards--elbows out slightly--and his ass stuck out and up in the back. It is as though he watched too many cowboy movies and is imitating the shoot em ups--getting ready to "draw" his six shooters from his holsters

He struts about like an ass. It is a trait that makes him look even more simian.

[Bridget Burke]

3. Sorry, I never noticed the "likeability" factor....

As a Texan, I was exposed to him before the rest of the country had the privilege. I've always thought he was a phony, smug, frat-rat trust fundie.

How many people really "liked" him? Or was this just another lie from the media?

[seabeyond]

5. any christian and any woman

that isnt pissed with him saying...........question from reporter

when you and father arent talking about politics what do you talk about

pussy........he says

now tell me, how does he sit at the dinner table and look in his wifes eyes and look into his two (what 8 year old) daughters eyes.

i want to go around amarillo and say, and you call him christian. how comfortable are you with him telling reporters he talks pussy. i wonder if my kids would be kicked out of the baptist school

[callous taoboy]

6. Every time I see

him or, if I didn't hit "mute" quickly enough, hear him I think to myself "This guy did way too much coke in his day."

[Skittles]

19. SAME HERE, BRIDGET

when they were first running that piece of shit for governor I actually laughed thinking why in the WORLD does this moronic, lazy SOB
want to be in politics. I still remember the CHILL that swept over me when I realized they were grooming this incompetent asshole to be president of the United States.

[Jane Austin]

21. Likeability

Boy, I'm with you.  I never, ever, ever, ever found him
likeable and thought of him in the same terms you do.

All this time I've thought I was just out of step.  Now I
wonder if you aren't  right about us just being told he was
likeable.

[kysrsoze]

26. If he's re-elected in 2004, just watch his likeability factor drop

They will pull out ALL the stops to what they want to do. They're trying to make him look all prettied for the election, but once that is over with, they will resume trashing the earth, attacking other countries, transferring money from poor/middle class to the wealthy, pushing Christian fundamentalism.

It is not going to be pretty.

[AgadorSparticus]

27. i remember when chimp went down to south texas and did his little

hispanic "tour". he'd get off the plane and right on cue, the mariachis would play 25 seconds and he would grunt out all 8 spanish words as if he truly cared for the hispanic issues.

gimme a break.....needless to say, no one else in the rio grande valley bought that load a shit, either.

[AgadorSparticus]

28. i think the heavy mudslinging it will backfire on jr.

but to give kerry his due, I think kerry can handle himself with jr. juuuust fine.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

4. i have noticed.

i think this will damage his likability, the Mayberry factor is essentially gone, though those who do live in Mayberry may still dig him because he shows up at Nascar events. Kerry will be able to exploit Bush's foreign policy ineptitude by characterizing Bush as a black and white thinker in a world of nuance. Now that's not going to impress those who will already vote for Bush, because they obviously get along just dandy with black and white thinking - but it will rile up those who sat the last elections out thinking their vote doesn't matter.

I think another advantage we have going in is that Florida 2000 made everyone realize their vote counts. All we have to do is make sure ordinary americans GOTV - if we can do that we win no matter what Kerry says or what uniform Bush puts on.

[ewagner]

13. I like the term

"Mayberry Factor". I think that describes what I was trying to portray.

I think it is a huge factor because almost every talking head has, at one time or another, talked about dubya as a "nice guy". During the 2000 campaign, I was on the road and had to suffer through Rush's show for about a half-hour everyday and often heard Rush describe him as "just soooo normal"..... :puke:

I think he runs the risk of losing that image.

[Bridget Burke]

15. Even in Maybery, Sheriff Andy was pretty shrewd

Aunt Bee will be wondering how she can pay for her medicine. Wasn't Andy's girlfriend a teacher? She's probably got problems with "no child left behind".

Shrub may still get Barney Fife's vote.

[Cocoa]

7. he looked especially reptilian recently

when he made that speech that ended with the punch line, "...and that's just one Senator from MA," while people were applauding, he stood there and his tongue was darting out of his mouth like a lizard.

[seabeyond]

9. i know with the tongue

bald heads ....... tongue.......... the bobbing ........the yukky laugh, lol lol list goes on and on. but yes with the tngue,. a huge eeew

do i just not like the guy. could this be the reason the tongue and rubbing the bald head isnt endearing to me. lmao

[montanacowboy]

11. Lizard - yes

I always thought him to be the anti-christ - who takes many forms..that tongue licking his lips all the time (washing away the lies), those squinty eyes, that hunched over pose at the podium, body language that is truly disgusting but which truly represents his nature - actually, it is an insult to lizards everywhere

[BabsSong]

8. Can I take it a step further (and too bad it won't be know until too late)

I maintain that if Bush gets re-elected (ahhh, elected for the first time), he will rip the cross off his neck and stuff it up the ass of the fundies. He's about as Christian as Hitler. This is a two-bit act to bring in the sheep. But once back in the Oval Office he won't have to put up with puke faces like Robertson and Falwell. His administration will be totally devoted to greed and raping every last dime out of middle class America. He will rip the gizzard out of all the sheep that put him there. He won't waste his time with their religious agendas because he will focus all his energies on the last great sack of America!!!!

[livetohike]

12. I couldn't stand watching him on TV before he took office.....

and I definitely can't stand it now. His arrogant smirk and limited wheel turning behind those beady eyes make me sick. From the moment he started naming his cabinet, it seems like an episode of Twilight Zone.

He has to do something different in this campaign because what he is used to doing isn't working its magic on the public anymore.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi livetohike!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[LeahMira]

10. Don't think so...

He's turned away from his "aw shucks" roots in order to launch a full-scale assault on Kerry.

Not quite. He's going for the "strong, steady leadership" from a guy you like and trust to do the right thing.
(As opposed to waffly indecision from a guy who thinks he's smarter than everyone else.)

It's the job of the Democratic candidate to bring out the nasty, knee jerk attack dog in Bush. I think it's pretty close to the surface though, so it shouldn't be too hard to make the little dictator show himself.

[ewagner]

14. I mildly disagree

I think his attacks on Kerry paint him in a different color.

I do heartily agree with this statement:

It's the job of the Democratic candidate to bring out the nasty, knee jerk attack dog in Bush.

Bush is never exposed so accurately as when he is in the knee jerk attack dog mode. Better yet, he isn't smart enough to contain himself.

[lapislzi]

25. Bring it on, I say

The snippier and nastier Bush becomes, the better I like it. It shows him for the spoiled brat he is. I think he is just plain mean, and Karl & Co. have done a fine job of covering that up.

Why do you think he so rarely appears unscripted? He is such a loose cannon; his handlers are terrified of what he'll say.

16. Meet the new Bush, same as the old bush

:evilgrin:

[paulk]

18. like his flip flop attack on Kerry - "and that's just one Senator, etc.",

the true Bush comes out. Like Mark Crispin Miller notes in his book - when Bush talks about hurting someone or tells a joke at someone's expense - that's when you see the real mean spirited jackal that hides behind the "aw shucks" bullshit.

I've really been noticing it lately (when I can bring myself to actually watch him).

[Jane Austin]

22. Yes . . .

He looked so nasty, so mean, and SO pleased with himself.

Who can't see that?

[rasputin1952]

20. There is just so much to dislike about bush,,,

that it could easily fill a book, in fact, it has, several of them.

What I find most despicable about bush, is his love for death. He actually relishes the thought of having the power to take life away.
Not just as governor of TX, because once he got in the nation's drivers seat, he brought death to Afghanistan and Iraq, with an unprecedented attack on people that had nothing to do with 9-11.

While I am all for getting the minds behind the attacks, I am certainly not for the willful destruction of innocent people. bush seems to 'glow' after people die. I remember Carla Faye Tucker and bush mimicking her begging for her life, (something she never did); he was almost drooling over the fact he had signed her Death Warrant. I am not in favor of Capital Punishment, but to actually enjoy it is beyond me.

bush is evil, plain and simple. Finally, the citizens of this nation are coming to the realization that bush is the worst hing that ever happened to this country, and he is history!

O8)

[annagull]

29. Hard to like a guy who uses coffins in his TV ads

to prove what a "strong leader" he supposedly is. I really hope the whole 9-11 fiasco smacks him right between his too close together eyes.