Am I wrong, or did the Bush crew take a pretty sound beating today?

[WilliamPitt]

I'm just looking over the headlines of some of the stories I'm going to throw on the pile for tomorrow's truthout. Damn.

Family 'thanks' Bush for death of son
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=23207

For 1,000 Troops, There Is No Going Home
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/09/national/09deaths.html?hp

AP: Thousands of Iraqis Estimated Killed
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040908/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraqi_deaths

New Questions On Bush Guard Duty
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/60II/main641984.shtml

Now it's Bush's turn to squirm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1300365,00.html

Kerry Slams Cost of Iraq War
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6621-2004Sep8.html

...etc...

I didn't turn on CNN or any of the other Borgification stations today, so I have no idea how this played. Graham was on Hardball, I hear, and while many here thought his performance 'lame,' he apparently offered to testify publicly about Bush thwarting 9/11 investigations to help the Saudis. Graham is a good man, but no ball of fire...yet that was quite a brick to toss at the White House.

This has been, thus far, the stupidest Presidential campaign I can remember. Bush v. Dukakis was close - a mythically stupid race,to be sure - but this current crapgasm is pinning the needle on the Dumb-Shit-O-Meter. It is no small thing that the guys who ran Bush's race against the Duke in '88 are the same guys running Bush's race against Kerry.

This entire election, thus far, has been about television. All the issues widely discussed thus far stem from television advertisements. For the television news media, this is like free money falling from the sky. They cover to the hilt any story stemming from a television advertisement - which they can show, and then talk about, and then show, and then talk about, lather, rinse, repeat - and so both campaigns have to make this garbage the focus of their whole act.

The entire debate thus far, performed in 30 seconds:

The Swifties! Denounce the ad! I denounce all ads! But denounce that add! I denounce all ads! He didn't denounce the ad! I like eggs! 527s! Response ads! The ad said you lied in Vietnam! How dare that ad say such things! You must react more strongly to the ads! He's not responding strongly to the ads! Shakeup because of the response to the ads! Guard duty scandal revived to respond to the Vietnam angle in the ads! My God! We're fighting a 29-year-old war again via ads!

Not to make this too personal, but I blame the Boomers. The fact that the Baby Boomer generation is the most important demographic in the country right now - both economically and politically - is really the only way to explain this. Think about it. The first generation raised by television is slogging, along with the rest of us, through a campaign where the only issues discussed have to do with television advertisements.

I'm kidding. I think. ;)

So we've been screwed because we win on the issues - "We win when people think," saith Bill Clinton, God bless his McNugget-lovin' heart - and right now even the polls are merely reflections of how the public has percieved each candidate's handling of the ads. Seriously.

I like those headlines up there. Well, 'like' is the wrong word. Everything up there is a mere sliver of the horror we're dealing with right now. There's nothing to like about it...except that people need to know about it - about Iraq and 9/11 especially - and I think maybe the Kerry folks have turned the discussion in a more favorable direction. If not, it still seems to me that George and the boys took a whuppin today.

Yeesh, this turned into kind of a rant. Sorry. :)

[skooooo]

1. LOL..I'd say so..

...I hope it keeps up. I hope Kerry just pounds the hell out of those bastards.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

2. Yes he did

We'll see if it lasts

[w13rd0]

3. Dual Headlines here in Saint Louis, side by side...

Deaths in Iraq surpass 1,000 | Deficit will hit $422 billion

And then the subheadlines:
Military experts see toll as mark of dire situation |
Analysis doubts Bush can halve red ink by '09

Yes, that bastard took some hits, well deserved body blows.

[Cha]

20. Wow! One has to ask how these stories

get through the Filter?!

[DaveinMD]

22. the local media

is different and most people get their news from the local media. All the handwringing about the cable news doesn't mean too much.

[salinen]

4. Nice "ad" Will

er...I mean rant.

[miss_kitty]

5. you know it'd be nice if it made a difference

in Kerry's favour. i find it disheartening that this guy, these people do their fascist, bullshit, lying, criminal thing, and nuthin'sticks...it gives new meaning to the term 'Teflon'

[camby]

6. They took a whippin - and all I can say is:

HIT 'EM AGAIN, HIT'EM AGAIN, HARDER! HARDER!!

[edbermac]

7. Yep, it was KY jelly day for Resident Bush

Let's just keep it going for the next 2 months...

[Prodemsouth]

19. I think will be hearing much more about Bush and KY jelly in the near

future.

[Gregorian]

8. Sadly, I had the same flash of inspiration today.

How it comes down to the ads on the television. Wow, what would we become without the tube? Yes, I have been sorely let down by the boomer generation. I expected more. They dropped the ball. Took the easy way out. Earth day, my ass. Better living through chemistry, is more like it. Disgusting.
I say the August 6th PDB is a bigger issue than it seems. He's running as the strong on terrorism candidate. But his track record is horrible. He sat, as the planes hit. And, after he sat and did nothing as that PDB was given to him. It's too late to call himself strong. He's weak.
Yes, today another brick was removed from his wall.

[Must_B_Free]

9. we're beating the piss out of them at everything except politics

yes the facts are on our side, but the mic is on their side. They are controlling the perception and the perception is, effectively, reality.

I hate to contribute to the gloom, but my father said today "It doesn't look good for Kerry" and he is someone who is seldom, if ever, wrong.

That doesn't mean it can't turn around though.

My mom is trying to win votes of friends and relatives over in Ohio. I have never seen a time when people I knew are... well even some of my own relatives are brainwashed.

The image problem is that Bush is enjoying "can do no wrong" trust from his supporters. Even if Grahm forced him to admit that the Joint Chiefs committed 911 to get the nation to go to war, but we "really needed to" - I bet %35 of registered voters would stay on board.

I give Kerry credit though. If he gives us a good shot and doesn't stand for being Al Gored - evenif we lose - I'll feel good about having been represented, at least.

[Gregorian]

32. Very interesting. It's similar, in my family.

And unbelievable stubborness. They just can't change their little minds. I think that my aunt will finally refrain from voting, due to my dad's incessant pounding of the facts. She still has a republican mindset, which I believe she keeps, in order to make her husband right. Some keep it to make their parents right. But this little fratboy, and his gang of thugs, have Americans discussing politics like never before.
One thing I realized today- Even if Kerry loses (and it's pathetic that we should even have to entertain such a sad thought), WE can rest assured that we did everything we could do to have it the other way. We here, have tried as hard as we can.

[Indiana_Dem]

10. Hey don't forget about---

-The lieutenant who appeared on 60 Minutes re:Bush special treatment-CBS
-Rice who appeared on CNN and c-span
-Graham who appeared on Hardball
-Scarborough talking about Bush administration fiscal irresponsibility
-Log Cabin Republicans who won't endorse Bush this time
-The Veterans for Truth counter attack on CNN or MSNBC (can't remember which)
-some improved state polls
-foreign poll where 30 of 35 countries oppose Bush foreign policies
-Lou Dobbs continuing to talk about exporting America
-some woman was giving it to O'Reilly about something (I just read about it)
-MOB (mothers against Bush) ad running
-Kerry also has a great ad running, too

I think there are more things but I can't remember right now.

They are on the defensive again and I can feel it....

[camby]

16. Pat Buchanan came out with his new book about

the anti-conservative neocons. :shrug: At any rate, he did mention NOT backing Bush.

[redstateblues]

11. No Matter How the Heads Spin , It Was A Good Day For Kerry

No matter what the cable heads say, the tide has turned back in our favor. Plus, whenever Bush gets off the script, he always says something idiotic. And now he is dodging one of the debates- there is almost too much ammo- the question is, On What Do We Focus?

[Indiana_Dem]

23. We focus on getting Kerry's message of hope out! n/t

[DaveinMD]

12. we are winning this week so far

remember, most people don't get their news from CNN and Fox. They see a couple of stories on the nightly news and maybe read the local paper. They hear some headlines on the radio. The news is dripping in our favor this week.

[realFedUp]

13. Yeah, if only that Genesis had come down tomorrow...

I think they've run out of ammo frankly...
And plenty still to come their way....

Now on to more ads that have Bush speaking and
the facts superimposed over. Fiction v. truth.

[Scorpious_Maximus]

14. Yes -

They did.

People get all in a tizzy about what cable info-tainment is doing with the story, but fail to realize that CBS beat all three of the cable sorta news shows combined.

The headlines were all over the country, including USA Today, Yahoo News, and The Boston Globe.

That is a pretty good reach!


A LOT of Americans got these stories today!

[BurtWorm]

15. The Bush Guard story, however, is murderous if it sticks

because Bush's campaign is all about his alleged character. Ask any winger what they love about Bush. It's not that he has actually *done* anything in the last four years to earn him another four; it's that he's a man of his word--however stupid you or I know his word may be.

[A_Possum]

17. Ok, I'm hiding this in a serious thread cause I don't want to start

some thread with a stupid title and call attention. But a tin-foil thought just occurred to me. Is there any chance that the CBS documents are a Rove plant, meant to be exposed as fakes supposedly issuing from dems, to kill the AWOL story for good? Flame me, please, I'd like to hear that I'm nuts. :evilfrown:

[DaveinMD]

18. you are nuts

happy?

[Cha]

24. Time will tell, Possum.

It's okay to tell us your thoughts..I just think ol rovemeister miscalculated on this.

He must be thinking.."What's all this..don't I Own the media?"

[bossfish]

25. You may be giving them too much credit...

...I didn't see any news today, but that scheme seems unlikely.

[A_Possum]

27. OK whew

Seems the White House has now been forced (presumably because CBS aired them) to release the memos. So they aren't claiming they're faked.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=2&u=/ap/20040909/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_national_guard

*takes off her tin-foil and folds it neatly for next time*

[Cha]

I liked the "Now It's Bush's Turn To Squirm"

by none other than .. Sidney Blumenthal.

[Cha]

21. Dupe!

[Seabiscuit]

26. Feel free to rant away!

Love it!!

Bush is toast.

[knowbody0]

28. bush crew's beating today

i'm a boomer and i also cry for my generation's prozaked
condition. hippies to yuppies to ????? anyway  this could be
the come back kid's comeback preview.  cant wait to see baby
bush looking feral on the podium.  

[WilliamPitt]

30. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[TheDonkey]

29. He should have but the media is on whore-overdrive

They were bashing Kerry more than reporting the news, all of which was VERY bad for bush. Hopefully that was just how I saw it and this truth keeps coming out there.

Let's keep the pressure on the media and the thugs!!

[cheshire]

31. A BIG O BOOTIE WHOOPIN. tehe ta ra ra boom de ea.

[MichaelHarris]

33. they got

knocked da fuck out

[WilliamPitt]

34. .