Sunday NYT, Nagourney, Bumiller: Bush ENGAGED in campaign!

[DeepModem Mom]

Bush Takes On Direct Role in Shaping Election Tactics
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and ELISABETH BUMILLER

Published: August 29, 2004

....Several aides said Mr. Bush viewed this as the campaign of his life and has intervened on matters as large as the themes it should strike and as small as particular shots of him in his television advertisements. While making sure Mr. Kerry is challenged at every opening, they said, the single most consuming concern for Mr. Bush is that there is an elaborate get-out-the-vote operation in November in anticipation of a contest as tight as the one in 2000....

***

....aides say that while Karl Rove continues to dominate the campaign as the top White House political adviser, the president's involvement and interest is far deeper than is widely known. Mixed in with the updates on national security by Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, and Vice President Dick Cheney that Mr. Bush receives in his daily Oval Office morning briefings is a quick campaign overview from Mr. Rove.

Mr. Bush's role in his own campaign was described in extensive interviews with aides and party leaders as Republicans gathered in New York to nominate Mr. Bush for a second term. They arrived buoyed by three new polls suggesting Mr. Bush's standing has improved at least somewhat against Mr. Kerry....

***

Beyond the involvement of the president himself, aides say the strategy that has brought Mr. Bush to this point is quietly being directed not from the Oval Office, or even his campaign headquarters, but by what his inner circle privately calls the Breakfast Club - a small group of advisers who gather on weekends at Mr. Rove's home in northwest Washington, where, over eggs and bacon cooked by Mr. Rove, they measure the campaign's progress against a detailed plan devised 18 months ago....

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/politics/campaign/29elect.html?hp

[NMDemDist2]

1. kick

he's a snake, but he's a wily snake

don't underestimate him :puke:

[Old and In the Way]

2. "Mr. Bush viewed this as the campaign of his life "

He cannot afford to lose this race, his life depends on it. Watch for him to slip out of the country before Kerry takes office if he loses in November.

[Doctor_J]

3. * has ideas on ANYTHING

except what whiskey to drink? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Taylor Mason Powell]

4. This is good news!

Bush should be as engaged and hands-on as possible!! Given his track record of screwing up everything he's ever done, not to mention his limited IQ, this will be very helpful for us...

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Good point!

[glitch]

5. Where the hell are our propagandists? Maybe we don't need them nt

[Julien Sorel]

6. What a hard hitting piece.

Not. Nagourney can kiss my ass. It wouldn't be the first he's kissed, nor would it be the last.

[buycitgo]

22. Billy......check the stuff I linked below, if you're mad now

[DrFunkenstein]

7. I Guess The Campaign Is "Turning A Corner"

Just like the economy. And Iraq. And health care. And the environment. And...

[rocktivity]

8. He's making the decisions? That explains a lot

Mainly, why he's doing things with such inexplicable oblivion to the consequences.

While Bush can admit that Kerry's service was more "heroic" than his, calling the Smear-Boaters liars would short-circut his ego. Condeming the Smear-Boaters would 1) give plausible deniability to charges that they worked in collusion with his campaign; 2) give credibility to his statement that he believes Kerry is telling the truth about his military record; and 3) make it more difficult for Kerry to retalliate with an attack on Bush's military record. But despite those advantages, he won't do it because it equates to admitting that he'd screwed up yet again.

Living only "in the moment" is a classic symptom of a narcissistic personality disorder.

:headbang:
rocknation

[speedoo]

9. I believe dumbya is a dry drunk.

Meaning, he stopped drinking and drugging, but never took care of the underlying issues that led him into alcoholism.

Many believe this is the underlying cause of his destructive behavior.

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. I'm glad Bu$h is making the decisions

because he is screwing up royally.

You got it about Bu$h refusing to condemn the SBVs. That is the trap that Kerry is setting for him.

The more W denies having anything to do with the SBVs or refuses to condemn their actions, the deeper he is getting himself into serious trouble. And it's not like Kerry hasn't given him plenty of opportunities to get himself out of it. Way to go W.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

17. But, but, but he hasn't SEEN the ads

My TiVo inexplicably recorded Bush and Laura on Larry King last night. I listened for a few minutes till it made me sick and Bush said something to the effect of "well, I haven't seen these ads, but apparently they are saying bad things about Kerry, just like there are a lot of ads saying bad things about me". Laura sweetly said she hadn't seen the ads either. Right. With McCain asking Bush to denounce the ads, Bush is gonna keep insisting that he hasn't seen them. Is that the plan? "All right people, do NOT show me the ads, no matter what. I can't condemn something I haven't seen."

[DeepModem Mom]

11. WP big Rove-sourced story: leadership! Still trying to make a silk purse

out of the sow's ear that is George Bush.

[bigtree]

12. Lipstick on a pig

[DeepModem Mom]

13. That, too!

[Leilani]

15. IMO, you are all misunderestimating him.

Is he an intellectual? No!

Does he have a grip on world issues? No!

But he is a wily & crafty politician.

He & Lee Attwater were buddies...he helped run his father s campaign, & was a hatchet man for the administration.

He is tough, mean, disciplined, always on message, & street smart.

He has gotten as far as he has, because people always sell him short, & have low expectations.

Laugh at him at your peril..he is not funny anymore.

[DeepModem Mom]

16. You make a good, and sobering, point, too, Leilani --

[greekspeak]

18. What I assume is in the breaks in the story

"...then a light from heaven illuminated Mr. * and a dove flew down and landed on his shoulder. Immediately 10 people in wheel chairs in room with Mr. * were healed..."

"...Mr. Rove reported to the Times that Mr. * is incapable of doing anything but the saintly work of his Lord, and that any challenge to Mr. * is a challenge to the Almighty."

"...any who votes for any candidate other than Mr. * is a communist who should move to France and live with the Frogs, and will be sent to the 9th level of hell."

F-ing media whores.

[buycitgo]

19. where's the link to actual EXCERPTS of the interview, instead

of that sickening, fawning article?

I read that here last night

the one where he doesn't even know the difference between CO2 and CO?

did you read that part of the interview? he had NO CLUE what he was talking about, and skimming that puff piece just now, I saw not ONE mention of it

Did I miss it, cause I skipped through quickly, in order to keep my cruller down?

I am SO disgusted this morning

[buycitgo]

20. looking for the link, I entered deja vu-land with this bit:

referring to this articlehttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/politics/campaign/17CAMP.html?ex=1394859600&en=ba2414bde3d6dbce&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

Sleepy ... so, so sleepy ... Typing the long, long GOP press release about Bush's new ad offensive that is their A1 article today ("Bush's Campaign Emphasizes Role of Leader in War"), Richard W. Stevenson and Adam Nagourney seem to have gotten a little woozy. Or maybe they were having trouble with carbon monoxide fumes. Or possibly they were distracted by a shiny object, maybe a flag lapel pin. They manage to keep focused long enough to offer a punning compliment to Dear Leader in the article's lead—"A year after ordering the invasion of Iraq, President Bush is moving the war to the forefront of his re-election effort with a weeklong barrage" of speeches, interviews and ads—but after that their focus seems to wander ...
I mean, what other explanation is there for crap like this?

In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr. Bush showed a flash of how confrontational he planned to be on Mr. Kerry's foreign affairs record. With the Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, at his side, Mr. Bush demanded that Mr. Kerry provide evidence to support his suggestion last week that foreign leaders want to see Mr. Bush defeated.

"If you're going to make an accusation in the course of a presidential campaign, you've got to back it up with facts," Mr. Bush told reporters on Tuesday.

Kerry's suggestion last week that foreign leaders want him to beat Bush. Statement of fact. And it's not until, oh let's count shall we, fourteen grafs later, well after the jump, that Stevenson and Nagourney wake up just long enough to remember that, ummm, it's really more factesque what Kerry said than it is strictly speaking factual:

Mr. Kerry did not respond to Mr. Bush's call that he explain his suggestion about other leaders rooting for his victory. Although on Monday, it emerged that the suggestion was misquoted and that Mr. Kerry had said "more" leaders, not "foreign" leaders, the comments came in response to remarks about travel abroad and the White House continued to press the issue.

Bob Somerby has the lowdown on the Kerry pseudo-quote and its hardening into campaign lore, so like similar not-quotes not-uttered by Al Gore in 2000. Consider this one more exhibit. And note in particular how Stevenson and Nagourney only address the actual, untidy truth of the matter in a passive-voiced dependent clause ("Although it emerged ..."), raising it solely in order to defend Dear Leader's prerogative: see, there was talk about foreigners in the air, so we know what Kerry really meant, so it's really close enough to being an actual quote for us to make allowances for when Dubya, etc., and now the fumes have got me.

And remark, again, on the amber waves of type separating Bush's attack from even the grudging, partial admission of semi-error that Stevenson and Nagourney will allow us. Fourteen motherfucking grafs

http://blogs.salon.com/0003364/2004/03/17.html

[buycitgo]

21. this is the section I was talking about

thanks to some blogger


On Global Warming

(From the NY Times)

Ms. Bumiller: Mr. President, why did your administration change its position on what causes global warming?

THE PRESIDENT: I don't think we did.

Ms. Bumiller: According to —

THE PRESIDENT: I don't think so, Elisabeth.

Ms. Bumiller: You said that it's almost certainly carbon monoxide — which you hadn't said in the past, carbon dioxide.

THE PRESIDENT: I think that was my position during the campaign, if I'm not mistaken.

Ms. Bumiller: It changed —

MR. McCLELLAN: You're talking about the National Academy of Science report?

Ms. Bumiller: Yes, yes.

MR. McCLELLAN: We've always talked about how that would - we'd be guided by their science on the issue, and that's why the President has done a lot in terms of climate change, advancing the science of climate change, and also doing more research —

THE PRESIDENT: Let me get back with you on that, because I think you might — I don't know why you said what you just said.

Ms. Bumiller: Well, we had a story in the paper this morning saying that you issued a report saying —

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, okay, well, that's got to be true. - posted

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lHdnBGtrnQsJ:www.downwithbush.blogspot.com/+bush+carbon+monoxide+bumiller&hl=en

note that they just let that HANG there, with no attempt to figure out, comment upon what the HELL he was saying......I sure couldn't figure it out, and do you think ANYbody in the media will?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/politics/campaign/bush_excerpts.html

[DeepModem Mom]

23. Thanks for adding the link to the interview, buycitgo -- amazing!

[buycitgo]

24. really.....THAT's the story, not the puff piece they came up with

have you EVER seen a better example of polishing a turd than that swill they distilled?

[devinsgram]

25. Everyone should read this

for a good belly laugh.

[SammyWinstonJack]

26. It's all a matter of priorities for bush*

Hasn't he done nothing BUT campaign from day one?

[blondeatlast]

27. I would think that a massive GOTV we hurt him.

Oh, it was an "elaborate" GOTV campaign.

Bunnypants thesaurus: elaborate=crooked, cheating, thieving, Rove engineered

See also: 2000 election, Supreme Court