Strategists: Bush Comeback Will Be Tough

Strategists: Bush Comeback Will Be Tough
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Republican strategists say President Bush has time to snap out of a three-month run of bad luck and setbacks, including GOP losses Tuesday in gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.

Still, a comeback will be tough, and will get increasingly tougher the closer the 2006 midterm elections come, strategists in both parties agree.

Bush might want look back to successful predecessors for pointers. Other presidents have recovered from ratings slumps like the one Bush is in right now: Dwight Eisenhower came back after the Sherman Adams scandal; Ronald Reagan rebounded after Iran-Contra; Bill Clinton triumphed after Monica Lewinsky.

Bush could shake up his White House staff, as Eisenhower and Reagan did in their troubled second terms. Or he could follow Clinton's lead and engage in a flurry of domestic and foreign policy initiatives.

But the clock is running. And Bush may already have passed the point of no return, suggested Paul C. Light, a professor of public policy at New York University.

<SNIP>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051112/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_comeback_or_not

now the stupid media can stop with their inane plan to facilitate a "Bush Comeback" story.

instead of coming back. Wouldn't a vacation to Crawford take away some of the shame and humiliation of the conference in Latin America?

I am sure there is some brush to clear and a bike to ride.

answer, "bush".

Once the MSM decides that the story isn't the "comeback" but rather the "fall from grace", gwb will be done.

I just starting to see glimmers of it, I hope it continues. MKJ

from the article:



:popcorn:

The headline, "Strategists: Bush Comeback Will Be Tough" implies that bush will, in fact, "come back." It will juet be more of his legendary "hard work."

Imagine the howls of protest from McClellan and on the DC dinner-party circuit if the headline had been, "Strategists: Bush Comeback Unlikely."

And of course, Mr. Raum wouldn't want his name "noted in the building."

objectivity out the window when reporting on the is administration.

Their credibility is tattered and will be shredded if/when the whole house of cards collapses.

Such a sad state of affairs. MKJ

Somedays you just have to knock out 500-1000 words. Even if it is drivel.

I have no doubt that Bush can "play to his base"...that's what yesterday was all about. The smirk, the swagger, the "you're FOR us or AGIN' us" Connecticut Cowboy crap had the freepers swooning and wetting themselves.

And in doing this, he drove a bigger wedge between that "base" and everyone else. Play to the middle? He loses the "base," and the numbers don't indicate that the middle would trust or welcome any heavy petting from the Commander-In-Thief.

Regarding the author's comment that "he could follow Clinton's lead and engage in a flurry of domestic and foreign policy initiatives," take a look at what Bush's "Tax Advisory Panel" has proposed. It's another attempt to further shift the tax burden from his "base" to the middle class. I'd like to know how THAT kind of "flurry" is going to result in a "Bush Comeback."

:silly:

There will be no comeback because this is the real Booosh we are seeing, and the real Booosh is a loser. Too bad we all lose with him in the White House.

..because he is an angry, petulant child who views his low polls and failings on the public--which he despises.

He's not going to cater to us. In the first place--he never respected "We The People". He doesn't have any appreciation or understanding of average citizens. Now that we don't approve of him, and are causing his downfall--he's not going to launch a campaign to kiss our asses.

Look at what * has done in the past few weeks. Cheney openly asked for torture. They're doing nothing about Katrina and survivors are suffering. He just dug his heels in with the Iraq speech and positioned his detractors as unAmerican, irresponsible malcontents. He stood up for Libby and he still has Karl on board.

Are these the actions of a man who is worried about his image?

He'll become more of what he all ready is--a fascist thug. Only now, he'll be an angry, fascist thug with the desire to stick it to us--because we're a thorn in his side.

The next three years should be colorful.

I agree that there is no hope for the man. People talk about Bush's "Media Magicians" like they turned a mediocre loser into a pure statesman. Nothing could be further from the truth.

They never had a handle on it. Bush's thuggishness and criminality shone right through, no matter how carefully they placed the camera, and turned his profile so he would match the presidents' faces at Mt. Rushmore.

What a joke! You're right: Bush is incapable of being anything other than a thug. He's going to ratchet up the hostility, the aggression towards his "detractors" and the "history revisionists".

This ought to be good...

at shaking up his WH staff. :eyes:

And didn't he try the Clinton strategy of burying himself in his "work"? I know I read that somewhere. There's a difference though, Clinton could do this because there wasn't any question of intergrity or corruption in his staff. The issue was all Bill's, and Starr et al were gonna do what they were gonna do. Clinton needed to take the same stance and simply focus on doing the job he was elected to do.

Bush attempting this without cleaning house first just comes off as sweeping the problem under the rug, ignoring the issue, doing nothing to get to the bottom of it. He needed to start firing people long ago. He couldn't, because he can't even take a poop without his handlers.

Immediately after taking the Oath of Office, Bush's approval ratings plummeted as "buyer's remorse" set in. America realized that it had installed the wrong guy, the economy chilled rapidly, and Bush took vacation after vacation.

Until September eleventh.

If it wasn't for the attacks of that day, Bush would have been a lame duck by the end of 2001. He has family friend Osama Bin Laden to thank for the revival of his career -- Osama, and the fear-induced inertia of the American voting public. But now that there is nothing that Bush has to do other than to keep his cronies out of prison, he can let his hair, his ratings, and his country down.

There is nothing for Bush to "get back to"; his entire administration has been a series of jawbone-flapping reactions to tragedies and fantasies as his toadies waved the flag and cracked petty jokes.

But they'll be around for the next three years. And it only takes a few short minutes for a fanatic to commandeer a jet aircraft and crash it into a target of opportunity.

--p!

I believe that's why he's so interested in that subject and alone among possible "problems" the world could face (well, except for Social Security and terrorism), has been out in front with a plan -- of sorts -- for dealing with avian flu. :eyes:

it used to be just us, now it's the majority of our fellow Merikans that don't trust him. Think about trust issues in your own personal life, ever have a friend or family member betray you? Did you really ever trust them again?

The CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Now Is That CHIMPY LIED To Start The War

Poll after poll now shows that people believe Chimpy lied and manipulated intelligence. This pathetic, idiotic speech of his will do NOTHING to change that, and in fact, it may make things worse for him.

It's already conventional wisdom, whether or not the MSM treats it as such (and most of the MSM, in fact does NOT treat it as such) doesn't matter. The public's perception has had a drastic shift and there is NO going back from that. It's just not possible.

The rest of this post is a repost, but it seemed appropriate in light of this speech and the apparent implosion of the Repubs. This is Bush's astounding incompetence coming to light.

{REPOST}

W is A Defective Product and Rove is a Moron

Remember when you were a kid and some new toy would come along and the commercials for it were plastered all over the Saturday morning cartoons and before you knew it everyone you knew had one and of course, you had to get one too? It looked so great in the commercial, shiny and fun and promising endless enjoyment. I'm sure it happened numerous times during your childhood. Only, you get the toy and it's not nearly as fun as it looked and it breaks after using it a couple of times. The dissapointment and resentment would well up every time you saw the commercial after that. You knew the truth now and no amount of marketing would ever get you to buy another one of those toys. Maybe they'd sucker you in again for a NEW product, but that toy? History.

Bush is that toy. He was sold to the American people through a marketing and propoganda campaign of epic proportions. 9/11 didn't change Bush, it changed the way the country saw him. The country desperately needed a leader and they projected everything they thought a leader should be into Bush. Unfortunately for Bush and his bosses, they picked a defective product to foist on the American people.

The lustre has worn off and no amount of PR or marketing or propoganda can bring the people back to once again accept what they now know is a defective product. Bush's neocon bosses might have actually been able to pull off their complete seizure of the country if they had picked a different puppet. Someone who had at least a modicum of competence. Bush is not that puppet. He has neither the competence, the charisma or the intelligence. He's lazy, incurious, dull-witted, boorish, obnoxious and astoundingly arrogant. He's defective through and through right down to the very core of his essence and no amount of propoganda or PR will make people believe otherwise now.

And in addition, Rove, who one can say is the puppet master, is not all he's cracked up to be. I've never shared the opinion of many that Rove is brilliant. I've always thought he was a low-brow, ham fisted goon with a few obvious moves: Massive full frontal attack, or backstab and bait and switch. He's over rated.

Always remember, he didn't get the Chimp in by WINNING the election. If he could have done it that way, with smarts and finesse, I would say it was brilliant. To actually successfully sell a defective product takes brilliance. His tactics however, were ruthless thuggery and threats of violence and complete reliance on the Supreme Court. Nothing brilliant there. The Chimps approval ratings skyrocketed because of 9/11, not Rove's brilliance. A brilliant Political strategist would have been able to sustain those numbers. Rove is unable to do that and has NEVER been able to do that. He's a moron and he sucks at his job. He doesn't understand subtlety or nuance or the big picture. He's neither the intellect, the insight or the instincts of a brilliant person. What he does have is vicious ruthlessness in abundance and a propensity to take big risks. That's not brilliant, as a matter of fact, with no sense of moderation, it's quite stupid.

There's no marketing tactic, no amount of propoganda, no selling this defective product anymore. This ride is over.

either Secretary of State or have him head up the Department of Education.

"Yer either with us or or God will rapture your town/city"

too elitist to care for that matter :thumbsdown: