campaign prognosticating
One of the things that really excites me about the Democrats' chances of unseating der Furher is that the Republicans have completely shut themselves out of their usual attack routes. That's fantastic. Over the past three years -- and for that matter the past three decades or longer -- they have relied on cries of "unAmerican" and "tax and spend liberal"... Well, if Kerry does take the cake (and with two wins last night in the South it's truly his nomination to lose) there is absolutely no way to claim that the guy is not a patriot. The guy fought in Vietnam and after getting home had the balls to start an organization for veterens opposed o the war. That takes courage on both fronts as I'm sure he was alienated by a lot of people for both positions. Bush, on the other hand, didn't fight at all...instead getting hooked up with a stint in the Texas Air National Guard, barely passing tests that allowed him to fly and possibly not showing up for a year of that service (I don't think the announcement yesterday of pay records exactly dismisses those questions). There is no way that the Bush camp can come out saying that Kerry doesn't care about America and isn't willing to fight when the fight becomes necessary. Because he did, that's proven already. Bush, though, has proven that he's willing to fight too -- as long as it's other people dying -- there's something less patriotic in that in my opinion.
But the bigger issue that makes Kerry less vulnerable is the way that Bush has taken care of the budget. Each of the last three years have shown a higher increase in discretionary spending than any year of the Clinton administration. In fact, according to Fact Check, Bush has increased spending by more than 10% in each of his three budgets and overall an overall increase of 35.7% in discretionary spending since he took office. For comparison, Clinton never increeased spending by 10% in any of his budgets...staying under 4% in six of his eight budgets. To add insult ot injury, Bush, along with increasing spending, has decreased the amount of revenue that the government takes in through his irresponsible tax cuts. The effect being the largest deficits in American history and a complete turnaround for the official "fiscal responsibility" bragging rights for the Republican Party. Bush is more "spend" than any president in my lifetime and although he's not "tax" it's getting to a point where conservatives who are generally anti-"tax and spend" are just as frustrated with President Bush as they would be with the most liberal of liberals. It pretty much nullifies the entire attack...
For some reason though, I don't think that the Bush campaign is going to shy away from either of these approaches. I think the ideas behind both of these attacks are so ingrained in the Republican psyche that they won't be able to refuse the temptation. After all, as FOX news likes to point out, John Kerry is "practically Ted Kennedy". When they try it, however, I think the Democrats are pissed off enough to have finally grown some gonads and will strike back, pointing out the discreprencies in the things that Bush says and the things that he's done and the things that he continues to do. It's gonna be beautiful watching a debate where Bush has his pants pulled down in front of the country and can do nothing but stand there, blushing,with that damned smirk on his face. Oh man, I can't wait.
But the bigger issue that makes Kerry less vulnerable is the way that Bush has taken care of the budget. Each of the last three years have shown a higher increase in discretionary spending than any year of the Clinton administration. In fact, according to Fact Check, Bush has increased spending by more than 10% in each of his three budgets and overall an overall increase of 35.7% in discretionary spending since he took office. For comparison, Clinton never increeased spending by 10% in any of his budgets...staying under 4% in six of his eight budgets. To add insult ot injury, Bush, along with increasing spending, has decreased the amount of revenue that the government takes in through his irresponsible tax cuts. The effect being the largest deficits in American history and a complete turnaround for the official "fiscal responsibility" bragging rights for the Republican Party. Bush is more "spend" than any president in my lifetime and although he's not "tax" it's getting to a point where conservatives who are generally anti-"tax and spend" are just as frustrated with President Bush as they would be with the most liberal of liberals. It pretty much nullifies the entire attack...
For some reason though, I don't think that the Bush campaign is going to shy away from either of these approaches. I think the ideas behind both of these attacks are so ingrained in the Republican psyche that they won't be able to refuse the temptation. After all, as FOX news likes to point out, John Kerry is "practically Ted Kennedy". When they try it, however, I think the Democrats are pissed off enough to have finally grown some gonads and will strike back, pointing out the discreprencies in the things that Bush says and the things that he's done and the things that he continues to do. It's gonna be beautiful watching a debate where Bush has his pants pulled down in front of the country and can do nothing but stand there, blushing,with that damned smirk on his face. Oh man, I can't wait.
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