Bush Gambles, Loses Campaigning

Iraq, Katrina, CIA leak, Harriet Miers. Things couldn't possibly get any worse for President Bush. Wait, they just did. Bush put his wispy political prestige on the line in the Virginia governor's race and lost Tuesday when the candidate he embraced in a last-minute campaign stop was soundly defeated. While there are many reasons for Jerry Kilgore's defeat, chief among them his poor campaign, giddy Democrats said the Virginia race as well as a Democratic victory in New Jersey prove that Bush is a political toxin for Republicans.

The arrogance of saying, `I'm the Great George Bush. I'm coming to Virginia in the 12th hour and pulling Kilgore's bacon out of the fire.' I think he rallied Democrats with that move," said Steve Jarding, a Democratic political consultant who helped elect Virginia's current governor, Mark Warner. "Democratic voters said, 'I'll send you a message, George Bush, if that's what you want.'"

It's not clear that's the message voters intended to send in Virginia or New Jersey, but Republicans couldn't deny that Tuesday's results heightened their anxieties about the 2006 midterm elections, when much more will be at stake, and raised questions about Bush's political standing. Some blamed Bush for a low GOP turnout.

"Republicans are not so angry at the president that they want to vote for the other guy. They just stayed home," said GOP consultant Rich Galen. Others noted that Bush battled conservative allies over Miers' failed Supreme Court nomination and has drawn criticism from within the GOP ranks for government spending. Warranted or not, the jitters could cause Republicans to slap Bush with a lame duck's label and move on. "The one bright spot for my party," sighed Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, "is that the tab for the victory party at the Republican headquarters will be much smaller than if we had won."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-election-analysis,0,4483460.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

The one bright spot for my party," sighed Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, "is that the tab for the victory party at the Republican headquarters will be much smaller than if we had won."

It's all about $$$$$$$, isn't it?

it's an admission that he got his ass kicked.

"George Bush, you have been a failure all your life. By some miracle, your PR people were able to make it seem like you actually accomplished something these past 5 years.

You didn't. You did nothing. In fact, when Karl Rove was in the hospital with kidney stones, we got to see the REAL you. A nothing. A big, fat zero who cut John McCain's birthday cake while elderly people were drowning in New Orleans."

Better get used to it, buddy. You've got 3 more years to go.

(teehee)

Please!!! You've done it before. Come on. One more time. :evilgrin:

I do love the thought that perhaps Repubs who want to get elected will have to avoid him. It's also interesting that no one saw that the shift had happened, at least in the * camp. I think most of us here on DU suspected and hoped, but I don't think they had a clue!