"We're stuck with the incumbent strategy . . . Unless he steps down"

I found the subject phrases, which I find extremely interesting, attributed to an unidentified Republican adviser in the NYT article linked and excerpted below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/13/politics/campaign/13POLI.html

But other Republicans close to the White House expressed concern, noting polls that revealed growing questions among Americans about where the nation is heading, a measure that pollsters historically regard as a barometer of trouble for an incumbent. Of particular note, one Republican close to the White House said, were indications that a spate of Bush television advertisements intended to undercut Mr. Kerry had been partly blunted by the distractions of Iraq and the hearings by the independent commission on Sept. 11.

"It's a significant matter of concern to people who are involved in the campaign and people who are concerned about the political future of the president," a senior Republican close to the Bush campaign said. "It's less of a concern for the policy people. The difficulty is that political people do not like events outside the campaign that are beyond their control."

"We're stuck with the incumbent strategy," this adviser added. "Unless he steps down, it's going to be hard to run as anything but as an incumbent."

by a Republican adviser, a senior official "close to the campaign" struck me as very interesting. I had not seen that in print before.

It's humorously saying, "he has to run as the incumbent because he is the incumbent."

The only way it would have been speculated in earnest is suggesting that Bush may step down so he can run for president as a challenger.

I wouldn't be surprised if he declines the nomination however ... who knows, maybe this is why the Rep convention is so late - so they can stick someone else in if at that time Bush looks unelectable.

Let chimpy take most of his warchest to the Caymans after he loses. Kerry gets in and is effectively neutralized by the neocons. All the while Jethro gets groomed to take over in '08.

The focus on Bush is a killer to our movement. McCain, Giuliani in the wings. All that can be said for it is the ultra-"Christians" will lose out to secular fascism with centrist appeal. Kerry will rush (pathetically) to outflank them on Homeland mania and drop the left.

The Rethugs have got too much on the line right now. If the Dem's win the WH and both houses of Congress in November many of them will go to jail. And they know it too.

Don

I have no doubt the power brokers would be willing to see him dead rather than lose control of DC. If he becomes much more of a liability they may well put him down like they would a rabid dog, and we are gonna be under Unca Dick's thumb.

I loath bush and his policies--but I can think of only one man who'd be WORSE as the President right now--Dick Cheney.

THAT vision should scare everyone enough to pray for the chimp's safety.


Laura

as bush*/condi playmates are soon to find out...reTHUGlicans are ruthless, and their little game is over...

obviously, just like nixon, the reTHUGlicans are considering another puppet to replace the chimp....the only issue to them is how to get those changes to happen....

for nixon, first they replaced the VP (spiro agnew resigned under conviction for stealing money from poor people's housing - HUD)

then, APPOINTED gerald ford, the puppet...

then, nixon resigned...

then, gerald ford assumed the Presidency....

then, ford APPOINTED nelson rockefeller to be VP (a guy who wasn't even serving in public office at the time, whose major qualification was that he was filthy rich and wanted to run the government for a while.....nelson DIED while having sex with his secretary in his own hotel...his wife was infuriated...the mistress has never spoken)


so, under the nixon shuffle...America ends up with BOTH the President and VP APPOINTED totally outside of any election process...

the only reason the reTHUGlicans lost power, was that ford was a dud and could not get elected, even while running from the White House podium....

the reTHUGlicans are obviously thinking about replacing chimp....they are really considering a process that they could get away with, just like nixon....maybe that's why chimp always wears a kevlar vest now....no wonder he's nervous....

I wouldn't put it past Rove to try to convince the public that even with the republicans controlling the whole government, that Bush is the candidate for change. The media probably would go along with it.

Oh but wait then we will have Cheney's gang and that's...kind of exactly what we have now anyhow, NEVER MIND...