like the poster boy for effective campaign strategies.

he got people to like him, vote for him, and believe that he felt strongly about what he was talking about.

He sucked at the actual governing part, but the campaigning part, it's no comparison.

He managed to be the worst president ever and still get re-elected. Millions of Americans thought his administration was horrible but they wanted to have a beer with him.

But "win" and "re-elected" should be within quote marks.

Both 2000 and 2004 were stolen.

BOTH those elections were ill-gotten gains. Florida was far more glaring. Four years later, they got the theft thing down a little more smoothly, and stealthily. And changed venues when all eyes were laser-focused on Florida again. They did not return to the scene of the crime in 2004. They came up with a new scene entirely.

lost the popular vote in 2000 and stole the election in 2004.

I mean, "great candidates" don't have to rely on swiftboating and Rovian cheating to win. They don't have to suppress the vote across the country and employ vote switching and election tampering. The 2004 election was a disaster and black mark on democracy in this country. The long lines, thuggery, poll closings, blackouts had more to do with Bush's securing a second term than his actual campaign.

terror alerts in the mix of the campaign.

the bush we got in national politics was all good old boy....but not the real bush. I watched the ann richards debates a few years ago and it freaked me out. Bush was on the attack, he was sharp, articulate and he went for the jugular.

By the time he ran for president he had perfected that good old boy act that made so many people drop their guard.

Don't believe me? find the video and watch it. Ann Richards was one of my all time favorite debators and he gobbled her up.

"Watch the Bush Ann Richards debates: BUSH WAS A SHARK, nasty, biting, chomped the shit out of her...Don't believe me? find the video and watch it. Ann Richards was one of my all time favorite debators and he gobbled her up."

...Kerry gobbled him up. Bush was pathetic in the debates. Maybe Ann Richards was caught off guard or she wasn't a good debater, but Bush did not shine in any way in 2004.

I know I do.

Why would one imagine that to be a good thing? To collect a fun cutesy new nickname or something?

He has no personality, zero charisma and hasn't told us what he wants to DO.

I heard a discussion yesterday - I think on Thom Hartman's show? They said that in order to beat an incumbent you need to do two things:
1. convince the voters that the incumbent is bad.
2. tell them what you are going to do that is better.

Romney has done the first but hasn't come close to the second. He is too secretive about his plans (and his tax returns). People won't vote for a candidate who hasn't convinced them he will be better than the other guy.

At least he can sometimes put together a coherent sentence. And he did serve a full term as Governor, unlike the Wasilla-billy.

He has been outraising and outspending Obama and has never led. His overseas trip was a disaster. He has become the personification of Etch-A-Sketch. He lies and repeats lies even after everyone has determined they're lies. He was upstaged at his convention by a chair. His likeability is the lowest of any candidate ever. For the "first time a convention has made people LESS likely to vote for presidential candidate" (http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021313000).

The only things keeping Mitt in this race are monied interest and racists.

isn't it? They'll vote for anyone. Democrats won't. Maybe that's why Republicans win more.

He's just so creepy, unlikeable and out of touch with reality that it's hard to believe he's this close to an actual presidency.

That is really the only good thing I can think of about Mittens. He hasn't mass murdered or gone on a serial killing spree. But, he is still one very very bad person. He lies even when he doesn't have to. He changes positions in the same day now, he is like hyper moving the chairs around on the deck as the Titanic sinks. He calls talking about foreign policy a shiny object of distraction. He believes we should be talking about more important things like giving him a tax break. He does like raising taxes on the middle class and poor people this is shown in Massachusetts where taxes became fees and cost the middle class thousands of dollars. He saddled the state with debt and decided to not run again, which is a good thing. He really should quit the race, but I am just saying that because his face is making me ill.