Bush Ads Hit the Mark

The New York Post ^ | 3/17/04 | Dick Morris

[Zechariah11]

March 17, 2004 -- AT last George W. Bush is doing what he needs to do to win this election - run ads that explain John Kerry's liberalism to moderate swing voters.

And the Bush ads are very good. He focuses on three lines of attack: Kerry's advocacy of a "$900 billion tax increase," his support for weakening the Patriot Act and his commitment to awaiting United Nations approval before "defending America."

[Integrityrocks]

oooooh... I LIKE this post!!!

[raloxk]

I like Dick Morris but last week it was Bush is done, this week it is Bush is on his way to winning 400EVs.

[BobS]

I am pleased Dick Morris likes what he sees. What he misses is there is more time to do this gig than he ever had.

[1rudeboy]

Good to see this . . . even for the third time.

[randog]

The conventional wisdom is that the election will be close, a replay of 2000.

Anyone that claims to be able to call a presidential election this far out is either a psychic or a liar....or both.

[WhiteyAppleseed]

Imagine the flack if it was revealed that certain Spainiards endorsed Mr. Kerry.

While Bush has never had a convincing majority in favor of his tax cuts, over 80 percent of Americans oppose a tax increase. Huh? But then, my home state voted to raise the sales tax a few years back.

But voters are inclined to believe that Kerry does want to raise taxes.

During our nation's early days, the people were ready to fight, without great debate (because they figured they were already great), when Parliament levied a 2-cent tax on newspaper advertising.

We, on the other hand, who have illusions about greatness, have tamely surrendered our wages to the convenience of a pay stub and willingly work without pay the equivalent of more than a decade without ever holding the money to know whether it might be hard or soft.

And too many of us--who aren't likely to read this anyway--have enough food on the table that we find fashionable ideology appealing and repeatedly call for more government control.

[Physicist]

Now Bush has turned the rescinding of a tax reduction into a tax increase.

What an incredible feat of thaumaturgy!

"What manner of man are you, who can summon fire without flint or tinder?"

[Common Tator]

Dick Morris is a a political player. He tries to say what he thinks his audience wants to hear. He hopes to make the reader think, I told Bush what to do last week and now he is doing it. One other point .... Morris's bull crap about defining a candiate early in the campaign is pure Barbara Streisand.

Was President Bush defined when he was beating Kerry by 20 points in December of last year. Was President Bush undefined when he was 5 points behind Kerry a few weeks ago? The only time it is worth a warm pitcher of spit to be ahead is on election day. There is nothing that the Democrats would love better than for Bush to shoot his best shots now. Then Kerry would have months to live the charges down. They would be old news in the last week of October?

Do you think the Gore people knew about Bush's DUI in the spring of 2000? Why didn't they define bush with the DUI charge in the spring. Why did they wait to shoot the DUI charge against Dubya a week before the election? The define em now thing is pure bull.

Bush being ahead now or behind is nothing ...Being ahead now is worse than being behind if all the ammo against Kerry is shot this spring to put bush ahead in the Spring.

Anyone with a measure of knowledge of the real world, knows that Bush will hold his best shots until after the Republican convention. That is when Bush will attempt to destroy the French looking guy. That is the only time there is a reaon to destroy the French looking guy.

Bush and Rove would have to be as stupid as Dick morris thinks his readers are, to take Kerry out now. But even if Bush did destory Kerry now, what would the Democrats do? The answer is in three words...REMEMBER THE TORCH...

If Bush were to totally destory Kerry now, the Democrats would not just sit by and let him lose..,. any more than they sat by and let the TORCH lose.

Bush needs to get ahead a bit ... but not so much as to remove Kerry as the Democratic candidate.

Oh here is another thing to think about. Kerry will be a lot easier to beat than Dean. Dean did not have 19 years of voting record. Dean had never sided with our enemies while at war. Dean had never taken extreme positions. And Dean did not curse secret service men.

Rove was constantly leaking that he was wishing for Dean. But if you want to know the truth ... Rove was hoping for Kerry. But if Bush wanted to run against Kerry he needed to tell everyone he wanted to run against Dean and feared Kerry.

It is along time until election day in November. Bush and Rove will not shoot their best ammo, until after the Republican convention.

If you liked Mondale for an opponent, you are going to love John Kerry.

[SpookBrat]

Did he change his voters registration card? I really don't hear him talking like a Democrat any more. What's up?

[FRgal4u]

The ad[s] Dick Morris is yakking are nothing compare to the two new ones..

I consider the two new ones far more effective..

#1) using Kerry's own words in explaining why he voted NO on the 87 billion dollar bill which would support the current military fundings in Iraq and Afghan. Kerry said - "I actually vote YES before I voted NO on that bill"..this is lethal, all these double talks, people already think Kerry would say whatever but not necessarily mean so (57%) vs he speaks with conviction..if this image sticks, he is finished...

#2) this one just came out today - Kerry's own response in "Face the Nation" - basically said it would be reckless and irresponsible for any senator to vote no on the 87 billion dollar bill (should his own amendment failed to pass, the amendment went down in flames and the cosponsor of that amendment - Joe Biden voted YEA in the 87 billion dollar bill, Kerry voted Nay)...so Kerry, just weeks before he voted Nay said it would be reckless and irresponsible to vote No on the 87 billion dollar bill -

I just don't see how Kerry can get away from these two ad[s] - "I voted yes before I voted No" and "It would be reckless and irresponsible"...

One thing about the Bush Ads is it has a story line to it - first, Kerry will raise your taxes, weak on defense, UN before America; second - Kerry is a double talker, never have a central belief and third, he is weak on defense, he is reckless and irresponsible.

A few more weeks of these attacks, throw in a good jobs report, we could see Bush back to 51-52 area with Kerry at 44-46. Will see.

[SpinyNorman]

To know Kerry is to loathe Kerry.

As a Massachusetts voter, I want everyone in the country to know Kerry like we do.

The disgust and loathing will follow.

[BobS]

Dick Morris made his $ on political campaigns. He is a Republican. Always was. Strategy is his good point. Clinton hired him. It didn't matter who hired him because he just exploited whoever hired him. And now that he's talking so much, he's out of the industry as far as Republicans are concerned.

I understand he was in the NY area when 9-11 happened. I also guess something out of his control threatened his life. Bush showed the courage to make him feel safe. He wants Bush to win.

What he never understood is that Karl Rove is not a reactionary or loves money as much as he does. The Bush people don't need external things to feel comfortable with themselves.

[texasflower]

I haven't seen this new commercial you are talking about, but if it's anything like the first one you are talking about, I completely agree with you.


When I saw that ad with the revised ending yesterday, I knew Kerry would have a very tough time getting out of that.

He is no match for the Bush team.

[jackbill]

Teh easiest thing in the world is for the Terps to beat Duke in the ACC tournament.

The second easiest thing in the world is to compose a Bush commercial. You need no research, just someone with a tape recorder on Kerry.

[SpookBrat]

Ohhhhhhhhhhh.......hmmmmm.....well, thank you for the info. This was very educational. I had no idea. Wow!

[BobS]

A long time ago I was trained to size people up. I would go farther if I used that training. All I needed to do was to pay attention to the information. It isn't hard. I prefer Richardson, TX to FL, BTW:)

[BobS]

Glad to help, BTW. FR has so much information that you must step away and think it over to make sense of it.

[ggekko]

Morris has been consistent despite his tendency toward rhetorical overkill. As veteran of Bob Dole's 1996 campaign I can attest to the fact that a Senator's voting record can be highly damaging during a Presendrntial run.

Dole was hurt badly by the fact that he voted against the original Medicare bill in 1964! Spin and rhetoric can be modified but a Senatorial voting cannot. That is why so few sitting Senators have ever been elected President.

As Morris observes the ads are good and Kerry's reaction to the ads are very encouraging ("I voted that way but now I changed my mind....).

Morris is a great poolitical strategist but he tends to make a fool of himself when he attempts to handicap political races. I tend to ignore hiom when he speaks on any subject other than political strategy.

[TomEwall]

You make good points, although your rhetoric is a bit overstated. However you contradict yourself somewhat. First you say it makes no difference what the polls state, and then you state Bush needs to get a little ahead. These are contradictory. The latter idea is correct.

It is important for Bush to get ahead for a couple of reasons. First of all, people like to support a winner. If Bush is perceived as the inevitable winner, this will help him gain undecideds. A sort of self-fulfilling prophesy. A second reason is that it will encourage Nader votes to vote for Nader (they'll be more likely to vote for Nader if they think Bush will win anyway, which will help Bush win by a larger margin). A third reason is if Bush can gain a solid lead, the press will have to report that Bush is ahead.

So you're right, it is important for Bush to be ahead. You're also right that they would be foolish to expend too much amunition early on.