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April 17, 2004 Mission Accomplished I never understood why it was such a big deal, but Rove is apparently regretting the "Mission Accomplished" sign.... President Bush's top political adviser said this week he regretted the use of a "Mission Accomplished" banner as a backdrop for the president's landing on an aircraft carrier last May to mark the end of major combat operations in Iraq.More broadly than that, I'd say the sign reflected the fact that we'd deposed the Saddam regime. In that sense, the mission was accomplished. Of course, Rove is right....it was ammunition for the critics. In that sense, it was a poor PR move. Still, the incident was just another example of the inability of the Bush campaign to defend even the most innocuous gesture against ridiculous criticisms. That has been a hallmark of this administration. And Karl Rove.....how has he positioned Bush for this election? So far, the left hates him - granted, that's almost unavoidable - the moderates are still on the fence, and the conservatives are holding their nose. All that neo-conservative "coalition-building" on the domestic front has really been a failure. Jesse Taylor doesn't see much political hay being made, either.... Since the beginning of the year, even from a nonpartisan standpoint, I don't think that George W. Bush has done anything good for himself politically. There is not a single thing that he's done since January 1, 2004, that has in any way significantly aided his approval ratings or his electoral fortune. Mars, marriage, Iraq, terrorism, the economy, ads, slurs, lies, holding back, lashing out - it's gotten them nothing.I'd disagree that Bush doesn't get political advantage with his larger policies on terrorism and Iraq, but his inability to make his case, and rally the country....that's killing him. Oh, and I don't think Kerry is suffering a strategic gap on the "ads, slurs, lies and lashing out" front, either. But, so be it. For the life of me, I just don't see how Karl Rove has acquired his reputation. |
I agree with you about Rove. That whole Medicare thing. WTF? Sell out your fiscal conservative credentials (well, what was left of them) and use the treasury to buy off the seniors.
Instead of thanks, the first thing seniors said was "it's not enough!' despite the fact that it was a budget buster as it was.
I'll vote for Bush, but I think he is the key reason that the moden Republican party has lost its focus (as opposed to Dems, who have been observing the world through coke bottles for years).
Posted by: John Rogers at April 18, 2004 03:13 PM
I've said it before and I'll say it again. *ONE* candidate has to win the Presidency. It's the law. That doesn't mean his campaign manager was smart. I might take Lee Atwater as an example of a truly smart one, but I'd have to think about it. Karl Rove? Unproven? James Carville? It is to laugh. The dipwaters whose names I can't remember who ran GHW Bush's and Reagan's 84 campaign? What did they do later to prove how doggone smart they were?
Look. Somebody usually has to _lose_ the election. There are probably more ways to screw it up than to be usefully brilliant. So . . . .
The guy who either screws up least or maybe last, in a close race gets annointed as a political genius. What utter crap.
If Rove was so smart, why didn't the drunk driving arrest get put out early so it wouldn't hurt so bad? Why did Bush go into his homerun trot on Saturday before the election? Why did he campaign in California at all? Does anybody realize how incredibly lucky Bush was in having Gore for an opponent?
Sheeeeesh.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie at April 18, 2004 10:09 PM