Where is Bush most vulnerable?

You can't pick all; that's the easy way out. (And don't say in Florida or Texas.)

Think in baseball terms. You're the pitcher and you're facing Bush. Barring any last-minute injunction filed against the umpire, pretend it's a full count and the next pitch is the most important one. Even though he might have trouble with curves, sliders, fast-balls, sinkers, etc., you can only pick one, obviously. (Don't think about his fouling it off, just focus on the one pitch. And no, you can't bean him.) Not sure if that's the best analogy ... but I'm watching the Red Sox game and that's the best I can do at the moment.

Where is he weakest?


The Economy

Unemployment is at 6.1%

Deficit projected to reach $500 billion


Foreign Policy

I know, "What foreign policy?"


Health Care

More people are uninsured today than when he took office. Still no credible prescription drug plan.


The Environment

I think the oil is cleaner.


National Security

Bin Laden is still lurking.


Other



Bushs GOOP


:donut:

:)

Well said- unfortunately many of Bush's supporters are pretty vulnerable there too.

I pick all!

Maybe it should have been.

:P

... and you can't spin someone who's unemployed.

I heard a repug say that his workplace is really suffering, but he still loves HIS president! Most repugs blame Clinton for the poor economy, or say it is out of the control of the president (just a business cycle). I think chimpy's weakness is his strength. That is, the only thing that keeps this guy going is seeming tough and militaristic. That is his only strength. So, I believe that is his weakness. If you can get people to see him as weak on defense, then he has no strengths at all. Keep pointing out the failures of his military policy: no Osama, no Saddam, more terrorism, no safety here or in Israel, or in Iraq, or in Afghanistan, etc. Keep complaining about the treason from his office and the fact that he said nothing about it until pressured. Does he stand up for government employees who work in service to this country? No, he intimidates them! Point out how poorly he treats the military. And so on. Make him look weak. He then will have nothing.

but this time not in a positive way for him.

Whether it's the situation in Iraq, or some really massive terrorist act, on a scale we can't even imagine, that will take 9/11 to a new level ... just gotta bad feeling.

though the angle to play then is that Bush has done a lousy job of protecting us.

The economy wasn't really that great in 1984, kind of like it is now really. Lots of talk about the stock market and GDP, but unemployment was still 7.5%. But Reagan really looked tough on the ME and the Cold War, and I think that offset the economy. If Bush fixes Iraq, he's in.

1.The Economy
2.Foreign Policy
3.National Security
4.The Environment
5.Health Care

Ashcroft is also a major, major weakness. He's simply insane, and CAN hurt Bush in '04 if the Dems use the issue right.
However, the main issue that should be discussed is the Economy- Bush has BOMBED HARD on that issue.
Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? How many can answer "yes" to that?

:D

(read it on CNN)

People aren't going to evaluate his poetry, just his prose and cons.

Seriously though, the economy will be his downfall. We have not seen the effects of all this deficit spending. Over 3 million people have lost their jobs since he took office. Many states are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Personal bankruptcies and bank foreclosures are skyrocketing. The $dollar is tumbling in currency markets. Amazingly, the interest rate is expected to rise.

Americans have only themselves to blame. They fiddled while Washington burned. It's pitiful that they won't react until they lose their jobs or someone close to them has to go that route before they react.

Answer: the economy/jobs. My humble prediction: he'll lose.

"It's the economy, stupid!" :P

I mean, it grates.

That plain-talkin' thang.

Unfortunately, many people still find him THE guy they'd like to go have a beer with.

I would say - if the treason thing takes off, and the criminal investigation keeps going, and there's nothing further from David Kay that's worth anything, national security will be a BIG problem for him.

For now, though, it appears his biggest weakness is still the economy. I think if the Dems keep asking that 64-thousand dollar question - "are you better off today than you were four years ago?" - they'll have themselves a winner. The national security issue, if it continues to sour on him as it has, and Iraq doesn't go away and Treason-gate doesn't go away, and his requests for additional money for Iraq don't go away, that'll be the icing on the cake.

Foreign policy may add to a general feeling of incompetence and untrustworthiness, but feelings are more easily countered by massive TV campaigns, which Bush can afford. Health care is a consequence of the economy. Americans as a whole still don't really care about the environment (sorry, I know many of you do individually, but as a whole you don't). Talking about National Security can get as many people to go for Bush as against him (you can't prove you'd do better; and there hasn't been a major attack directly on America since 9/11. If in doubt, security will play in favour of the incmubent, and/or the authoritarian right wing).

He has several weak points on the economy: unemployment (hits people personally, and not so easy to correct with campaign adds); massive deficit (more intellectual, but it does allow you to have Nobel prize winning economists saying 'Worst President Ever', and you can emotionalise the issue by pointing out it's your children who will have to pay, literally); tax cuts going to the rich, not the average person (which is both wrong, and hypocritical of him).

Particularly with the idea that ANY talk of the War on Terra plays into Shrub's hands. I know many people think that this or that candidate would be able to wipe the floor with Shrubbie on these issues, but I think on those issues, people will be more willing to stick with what they know.

But on the economy, it's a different story. Most Americans will admit that they don't understand the complexities of the national security issues, and will be happy to leave it in the hands of their oh-so trusted leader. (never mind that he has no clue either!) But the economy is entirely different.

The average American does understand the kitchen table issues- esp. if they are one of the 3 million or so. They understand how much their prescriptions cost, how their state property/sales/income taxes are going higher and higher, and how much less they have in disposable income. Methinks this is the Achilles heel of this misadministration.

the economy also for the people who mostly think "bottom line" like my father.

With war frenzy abating and the trickle of death from Baghdad on the daily news, it's as though people were waking up with a hot and passionate one night stand -- with a horse.

It's disillusionment and repellance.

Maybe they felt some of that after Clinton got some nookie (I didn't). But at least under Bill they could think of how good life was: under George, the feeling that they've been suckered is compounded by the knowledge that they are not doing well.

He's an awful man, and he has made things awful. It's the whole package: he's gone.

Maybe you just haven't found the right girl yet.

Whether it's true or not :)

Now we can all move on.

:P

For the investment crowd - it's the economy. The only thing that would cause my Rep. Dad would vote for a Dem. is if he lost another big chunk of money and that it was proven to him that Bush was personally responsible for it. A lot of people blame it on 9/11 and the faux "war on terror."

...they are irreversibly intertwined. The damage being done to the Bushies is cumulative in nature from all of the items you mentioned.

I would also add that the Wilson Affair is the most damaging of all because not only does it hit National Security and Foreign Policy, it's also a felony.

Faced with the prospect of going to prison for revealing the name of someone involved in the intelligence world, someone will cut a deal, and there is no way of knowing how far up the food chain this will go.

and the whole Honor and Integrity thing

Bush is extremely weak on those three issues which are really going to hurt him in the end. Especially in Health Care and Employment.

If the press did their job we would not be discussing poll numbers, we would be discussing prison terms!

The Bush supporters are the least informed people in the country. They rely on faith not facts.

Inform them and they will wake up, or at least some of them will.

Peace,
Jesse

He is vulnerable on everything.

No short cuts

I never thought Bush would be vulnerable on security, but things change.

This is his achilles' heel for one major reason: the right has put all their eggs in this basket, so to besmirch this is to destroy the essence of their appeal. They've been trotting out the talking points of bringing decency back to government again, and it can be easily dismissed now.

He campaigned as a "compassionate conservative" (the ultimate oxymoron) and then immediately turned hard right. The very first act as President was to recind funding for foreign family planning agencies that counseled abortion. His extremism on the subject of faith based charities, pornography, workers' rights, workplace regulations and a host of other things are undeniable. His environmental record is not only despicable, it is a pattern of breaking promises: arsenic water (yum) and the Kyoto Protocols were PROMISES he made while campaigning; he's deliberately deceptive. His lies covering for Enron (remember the AMT giveaway attempt that would have given them S254M? Powell's attempted $3.2B shakedown of the Indian Government? California?) while saying that he didn't try to save them are many. The many lies used to sucker/bully us into Iraqi conquest while USING IT TO THROW AN ELECTION are transparently ugly.

He lied. He constantly lies. He's a completely unscrupulous user.

That is his vulnerablilty.

It's also a necessity: if we don't hit him on this, anything that's gone wrong can be fobbed off as "bad advice" or "an unlucky break" or something like that. It has to be the core of him personally that is exposed for the greedy dangerous thug mentality that it is.

a series of very swift kicks would do the trick

No juevos grande hanging in the oval office. We have the pine nut pResident. The flight suit bulge was just the pathetic use of prosthetics to firm up the "Chris Matthews" type supporters...

... CHIMP-PANSY?

(aka Chimpkenhawk)

:P