Bush rolls tape of McBride missteps [Jeb's move upsets FL's two US senators, Graham and Nelson]

St. Petersburg Times ^ | Sept. 7, 2002 | STEVE BOUSQUET

[Diddle E. Squat]

Counterproductive? If McBride has momentum, then it is only prudent to prepare for a race against him now. Almost everyone has a good idea of the real story of Reno, so she's not going to fool to many voters, and won't be too much trouble for Bush to defeat. But Dems usually win swing voters by fooling them into thinking that they are more conservative than they actually are. Thus exposing McBride as a pandering phoney should be done now. Waiting until after the primary may not leave enough time for the message to be recognized, understood, and accepted. Soften him up now, so future blows will be more likely to deliver the knockout.

Further, in the general, much of these charges will be ignored or obfuscated by the media. But when it involves issues that separate the Dem primary candidates, it is much harder for the media to ignore these issues. So some charges that the media wouldn't follow up on in the general are more likely to be examined now. Smart move on Jeb's part.

What I really suspect is that if Jeb didn't go after McBride right now, all the anti-Jebs would later come back and whine how Jeb blew an opportunity to go after him. I read it all the time about W or candidate X, all kinds of moaning about how those "RINO's" are too passive and don't have the killer instinct. Methinks some argue out of both sides of their mouths.

[Sungirl]

I third that....GO JANET....gas up that little red truck and hit the roads....

[caltrop]

Have it your way but McBride's real movement in the polls coincided with Bush's ads attacking him and demonstrating McBride's point that Bush didn't want to run against him. From what I can see, if Bush had left well enough alone Reno would probably still be running comfortably ahead.

[j271]

McBride said Friday he misspoke.... "If I misspoke, it was trying to put two thoughts together," McBride said Friday.

So how can Florida voters trust any promise McBride makes? How can they be sure that a few months down the road, he won't suddenly realize that he "misspoke" when he committed to doing something for the people of Florida?

[Political Junkie Too]

That effort drew a rebuke from Florida's two U.S. senators, Democrats Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, who wrote a letter to Bush asking him to stop interfering with the Democratic primary.

They always whine when the tactic is used against them, but gloat when they successfully use it.

In their letter to Bush, U.S. Sens. Graham and Nelson wrote that voters should be allowed to decide for themselves, and that "Such attack ads, focusing on one of the three Democratic candidates, is unprecedented in Florida, and is an entirely inappropriate attempt by your party to hand pick a November election opponent."

Where was Democrat outrage when Gray Davis ran attack ads against Riordan in California in order to hand-pick Simon as his opponent?

-PJ

[FreeLibertarian]

Of course Graham and Nelson had no problem at all with their party's manipulation of the Republican presidential primaries to try to make McCain the nominee, did they? What a bunch of hypocrites!

You may be correct but IMHO the situations seem very different. McCain would have easily won over Gore but Jeb seems to be concerned about a Bush vs McBride matchup.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Have it your way

Burger King is based in Miami!

[Diddle E. Squat]

McCain would have easily won over Gore

Oh, I think that assumption is quite a stretch.

Can anyone post a copy of the letter Nelson and Graham sent to Gray Davis demanding that he not interfere in the CA GOP primary?

[Real Cynic No More]

"That effort drew a rebuke from Florida's two U.S. senators, Democrats Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, who wrote a letter to Bush asking him to stop interfering with the Democratic primary."

But it was ok for the three democratic candidates to spend their time during the recent "debate" to bash Bush. The dems are running scared!

[not-alone]

I like to see those two out campaigning with Janet.

[caltrop]

I think you and I finally agree on something. IMHO, Gore would have clobbered McCain.

With respect to Nelson and Graham complaining about Davis attacking Riordan. Obviously, they never did any such thing. In this case, however, they're thrilled to make a fuss because the press coverage of their outrage reinforces the idea that Bush is trying to defeat McBride, thus demonstrating the argument McBride's been making that he has the best chance to beat Bush. IMHO, the recognition of this fact is the reason McBride's become the favorite in Tuesday's primary.

[PhilDragoo]

"He seems to have a habit of tailoring his remarks, depending on whether he's in a conservative part of the state or in front of a liberal audience," said Bush campaign spokesman Todd Harris.

Oh, I see,

McBRIDE IS TWO-FACED--TALKS OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF HIS MOUTH

Cue Seinfeld: Not that there's anything wrong with that. . . .

[Truth Addict]

IMHO the situations seem very different

The only correlation I was making was one party influencing the other's primary, not so much as to who was more likely to win.

I'm not so sure that McCain would have beaten Gore; I think it would have been close, just like with Dubya.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Yeah, it sounds like they have no clue what Davis did in CA.

Oh, they know what Davis did. They just don't care. Don't you know about the double standard rule? The media will attack the Republicans for tactics that they give the dims a pass on. After all, it's not about the NEWS, it's about THE AGENDA. The leftist agenda uber alles. That's all.

[mysonsfuture]

It will be incredibly interesting to watch. The winner will be determined based on whether more union/teachers vote(McBride) or whether more gays vote (Reno). Also, blacks will probably split 50 % Reno and 50% for the black guy running.

[summer]

I also think it's still possible for Reno to win

You and I are seem to be the only ones. LOL...Thanks for all your thoughtful comments on this thread. I may end up agreeing with you about Gov Bush's ads against McLawyer giving McLawyer too much name recognition, but, right now I think it's still early to draw such a conclusion.

No matter who wins the Dem Primary this Tuesday, what happens after that may be even more interesting, in terms of seeing if the Dems can get it together to support the winning candidate. I see NO WAY for the grassroots Reno supporters to suddenly back McLawyer, and NO WAY for the McLawyer machine to suddenly back Reno.

If Reno doesn't win on Tuesday, I think a lot of Dem FL voters may sit it out in Nov.

[summer]

You and I are seem = You and I seem...

[thucydides]

Media wing of democrat party desperate to dump Reno, a sure loser in Fall. Friends in Florida tell me many Republicans are registering democrat for the primaries to vote for Reno. Probably no need to do so. Among 'rat brain-dead voters, Reno has name recognition, and they actually like her corrupt record of protection of Clinton.

[floriduh voter]

Oh, Nelson and Graham are "upset"? Jeb sticks to the record. Attack the record instead of waging personal attacks. The dem don't seem to catch the distinction even though they let Tom Daschle wage personal attacks against the POTUS all the time.

McBride's missteps indeed. And those are only the ones that the newspaper dared to print. I would say there have been at least one hundred missteps so far.

[AmishDude]

I think it's only fair for Jeb to respond. McBride has been talking quite a lot about Jeb lately.