Bush refuses to wallow in mud

Washington Times ^ | 12/12/03 | Bill Sammon

[kattracks]

President Bush will try to remain above the political fray for longer than usual leading up to next year's election because of what his handlers see as a significant "stature gap" between Mr. Bush and his challengers.

"If he gets down ... with the Lilliputians, he is going to look like another one of them," said a White House source close to the president.

[Brimack34]

The Demorats are getting to the point of absrd and boring. It is a good move to stay bove it. People are going to say: "There they go again" It did not work for Dole.

[Post Toasties]

A few high minded Shakespearian quality ripostes by George Bush in response to, say, rabid verbal assaults by Howie Dean, would be just what the doctor would order for the Bush campaign, so to speak.

[ladyinred]

I will be more than happy to do it for him! Just give me a platform and a bullhorn!

[Libertina]

The Democrats are getting to the point of absrd and boring
LOL WE'RE going to reach that conclusion about them long before they do, unfortunately ;)

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

The counterattacks are farmed out to Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, who has emerged as the president's political pit bull.

And the best one the GOP has had since Lee Atwater passed away.

[Imal]

"His willingness to say anything, including things he does not believe, in an appeal for votes is an insult to voters who instinctively know that anyone who's willing to demean the presidency in order to gain it is not worthy of having it entrusted to him."

So what was the deal with the voters' instincts in 1992 and 1996?

[Right_in_Virginia]

BTTT

[Coop]

This article follows up on a comment of yours I saw on another thread. Cheers

[Destructor]

"If he gets down ... with the Lilliputians, he is going to look like another one of them," said a White House source close to the president."

I seem to remember a Lilliputian from Arkansas that came out of nowhere slinging mud, and ended up beating the elder Bush. I hope Dubya won't make the same mistake.

[jagrmeister]

Thanks for the heads-up. I think Bush's team is making a mistake in copying Reagan's "Morning in America". Context matters. This time around, we have a candidate who's comfortable casting himself as a centrist and one in which the opposition can use negatives effectively (ie: 3M lost jobs, go to war on false pretenses, Iraq quagmire). In order to avoid the debillitating impact of those inevitable assaults (and to cement Dean's image as a extremist liberal), Bush needs to run ads on Dean very early in the campaign. If Bush's team thinks they can mimic the past without regard to the different circumstances we face today, I think they are mistaken.