# Pitting Bush for stuff that doesn't seem to rate its own thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131 "2004-07-08T16:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/41 "2004-07-11T07:24:13Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > 99% of Farenheit 911 was odiferous, bullshit spackled hogwash Maybe, but it’s apparently [extensively-cited](http://www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/f911notes/index.php?id=16) odiferous, bullshit spackled hogwash. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/42 "2004-07-11T07:39:31Z")
I’m kinda annoyed that he [snubbed the NAACP](http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/08/bush.naacp.ap/) He could at least pretend to care. It is election year, after all. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/43 "2004-07-11T08:05:57Z")
> [@YWalker](#): > > When his 19 year old daughter had to have emergency surgery to remove her appendix shortly before Mr. Bush took office, instead of staying in Texas with her, he chose to go [ON VACATION](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2000/12/26/politics0926EST0472.DTL) in Florida. Maybe Jeb needed help clearing brush. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/44 "2004-07-11T10:14:20Z")
On the Carole Coleman issue, they might have complained to the Irish embassy because RTÉ is the state broadcasting agency. Not that it made any difference in any case. On the interview itself, she submitted the questions in advance and Bush’s writers came up with non-answers to them. When she tried to get him to clarify them, he got snippy. He also yelled at her for ‘interrupting’ even though he had paused long enough that any reasonable person would assume he was finished answering. The whole thing has done wonders for her reputation here, and made him look even more the pathetic puppet we already knew he was. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/45 "2004-07-12T00:17:21Z")
> [@ZebraShaSha](#): > > Alright, I have one. That god damn commercial! The one about Kerry being “pessimistic.” Please, by all means, badger the hell out of me if I am being ignorant but what in the world is that commercial even about? Bush puts a slant on some things so they make him look good, he then quotes Kerry as saying “That was the great depression”, and then says “We do not need pessimism for presidency” or whatever. That makes about as much sense as a lark in Goodwill! What in the world?! > > Please explain this to me. I really want to believe that it was something that I clearly did not understand rather than me thinking it was Bush being Bush. I believe I remember someone else explaining this in another thread (sorry, no link). Apparently this whole “Kerry is a pessimist” marketing started the week after Reagan’s death. Reagan was often described as an “optimist”, so during the week of the funeral and all the tributes Bush tried to capitalize on this, and portray himself as an “optimist.” Presumably he did this so that people who fondly remembered Reagan as an optimist might begin to like him (Bush) more. Obviously, if Bush is claiming to be an “optimist”, then he’ll try to say that Kerry is a “pessimist.” Never mind that the way they word the ads doesn’t make sense. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/46 "2004-07-12T14:19:45Z")
This isn’t Bush specifically, but it’s [on gop.com](http://www.gop.org/RNCResearch/Read.aspx?ID=4375), so close enough: > [@](#): > > Something to Yak About – Obscenity Laced Celebrity Hate Fest Reflects Kerry-Edwards Values The amusing thing is, this was posted there just a few days after Cheney patted himself on the back for having made himself feel better by telling Leahy to “Go fuck yourself.” Guess it’s bad when Whoopi uses bad words on stage, but perfectly fine when Cheney uses them on the Senate floor. IOKIYAR - it’s OK if you’re a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/47 "2004-07-12T20:54:21Z")
[link](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040712-5.html) > [@](#): > > America is leading a broad coalition of nations to disrupt proliferation. > > \ > > Three years ago, Pakistan was one of the few countries in the world that recognized the Taliban regime. Al Qaeda was active and recruiting in Pakistan, and was not seriously opposed. Pakistan served as a transit point for al Qaeda terrorists leaving Afghanistan on missions of murder. Yet the United States was not on good terms with Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders – the very people we would need to help shut down al Qaeda operations in that part of the world. > > Today, the governments of the United States and Pakistan are working closely in the fight against terror. President Musharraf is a friend of our country, who helped us capture Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the operational planner behind the September the 11th attacks. And Pakistani forces are rounding up terrorists along their nation’s western border. Today, because we’re working with the Pakistani leaders, Pakistan is an ally in the war on terror, and the American people are safer. (Applause.) > > \ > > Three years ago, a private weapons proliferation network was doing business around the world. This network, operated by the Pakistani nuclear scientist, A. Q. Khan, was selling nuclear plans and equipment to the highest bidder, and found willing buyers in places like Libya, Iran, and North Korea. Today, the A. Q. Khan network is out of business. We have ended one of the most dangerous sources of proliferation in the world, and the American people are safer. (Applause.) Yeah, and A.Q. Kahn got, what, a reprimand on his Permanent Record? By gosh, evildoers worldwide are trembling. And if anyone thinks Kahn - the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program - played Johnny Nukeseed without Pakistan’s intelligence people noticing what was up, they’ve gotta be nuts. For all we know, the game continues, just without Kahn’s involvement. The reason “the United States was not on good terms with Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders” was because they’re a generally nasty group of people, and their nuclear program gave the previous Administration the willies. So now they’ve (somewhat) helped us in our fight with al-Qaeda, but in return, they’ve spread nukes to two other really dangerous and untrustworthy regimes. “[T]he American people are safer,” huh? If a nuclear weapon ever goes off in the middle of one of our major cities, it will be worse than fifty September 11ths. And if that happens in the foreseeable future, the trail will probably lead back to Pakistan. Yet George W. Bush considers us ‘safer’. Well, Mr. Bush, this is some new definition of ‘safe’ that I hadn’t previously been familiar with. Maybe we could have prevented Pakistan’s spread-the-nukes program if we’d paid half as much attention to proliferation, over the past three and a half years, as we did to Iraq. But we’ll never know. A President can’t always control the outcomes. But he can control the government’s choices. And the choice to be obsessed with Iraq was wrong, from beginning to end. Both proliferation and terrorism were more substantial and more urgent concerns. Hell, even global warming and global hunger were more threatening, over the long haul, than Saddam Hussein. There is no excusing Iraq: it was a Bush Administration obsession that had nothing to do with anything - not the war on terror, not weapons of mass destruction, not anything. It was an enormous diversion of resources and attention during a time of genuine crisis. And not only have the crises of terrorism and proliferation become worse, but now Iraq itself is a crisis of its own, one we can’t escape responsibility for. We’ll kick his ass out of office on November 2, [if they don’t postpone the election](http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/11/election.day.delay/index.html), but cleaning up after the elephants is going to take some doing. And in some cases - nuclear proliferation being the most obvious - the damage may not be reparable. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/48 "2004-07-12T21:06:29Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Maybe, but it’s apparently [extensively-cited](http://www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/f911notes/index.php?id=16) odiferous, bullshit spackled hogwash. So is [stuff like this](http://www.webedelic.com/church/faith2move.htm). ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/49 "2004-07-12T21:23:49Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > So is [stuff like this](http://www.webedelic.com/church/faith2move.htm). OK, it’s not the medications. It’s just you. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/50 "2004-07-12T21:35:07Z")
> [@Psycho Pirate](#): > > Your freedom of speech isn’t being taken away. You have the right to say whatever you want (except “Fire” in a crowded theater), but you do not have the right to a captive audience. This is the same stupidity used by people who get angry at Wal-Mart for refusing to sell explicit CDs. These musicians have the right to be heard. But Wal-Mart has the right to sell (or not sell) whatever products they want. This is a bullshit comparison. Don’t like Walmart? Don’t fucking shop at Walmart. We didn’t elect (or uhh… not elect, as the case may be) Walmart to be our public officials, did we? DID WE?? No, we didn’t. It’s okay for Walmart to sell or not sell whatever they want. We can choose not to spend our money with them. We cannot, however, refuse to pay taxes because Dubya isn’t living up to his end of the paycheck. If they were jumping up and down and assaulting the audience, then we have a problem. Simply wearing a t-shirt that hurts Dubya’s feelings is NOT a sufficient reason to be removed. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/51 "2004-07-13T13:21:05Z")
**Again, from that [speech](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040712-5.html) by Bush:** > [@](#): > > Three years ago, Pakistan was one of the few countries in the world that recognized the Taliban regime. Al Qaeda was active and recruiting in Pakistan, and was not seriously opposed. Pakistan served as a transit point for al Qaeda terrorists leaving Afghanistan on missions of murder. Yet the United States was not on good terms with Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders – the very people we would need to help shut down al Qaeda operations in that part of the world. I don’t know who wrote this speech, but he’s blowing my mind. I’m seriously trying to follow the logic here. Let me see if I understand it: There was a Middle-Eastern country run by a dictatorship, that **definitely** served as a recruiting and staging area for Al Qaeda, and **definitely** had a nuclear weapons program and several nukes, which they had talked about using against the world’s largest democracy. Okay. And, if I understand what Bush is telling me, our brilliant solution to this problem was to get friendly with that country’s government, based on the idea that if they just get to know us, they’ll become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. That seems like an amazing level of optimism. Here’s my dilemma – contrasting this scenario with the hundreds of statements from the WH about Iraq over the last few years, I’m finding a bit of a contradiction. I really don’t know why we didn’t either A) invade Pakistan instead of Iraq, or B) send Colin Powell to Baghdad with hugs and kisses for Saddam, and try to make him our buddy. Just not clear on what our principles are here. **Okay, here’s another bit from the same speech:** > [@](#): > > Today, Afghanistan is a world away from the nightmare of the Taliban. That country has a good and just President. Boys and girls are being educated. Many refugees have returned home to rebuild their country, and a presidential election is scheduled for this fall. The terror camps are closed and the Afghan government is helping us to hunt the Taliban and terrorists in remote regions. Today, because we acted to liberate Afghanistan, a threat has been removed, and the American people are safer. (Applause.) Okay, is this the same Afghanistan where the Taliban just murdered a bunch of people for registering to vote, and where the president of the country isn’t safe outside his capital? Still sounds just a wee bit nightmarish to me. But I’m violating the request of the OP here, since this stuff is worth a separate thread. So, more in keeping with the idea of miscellaneous complaints: This is just my impression, and I may be misjudging the guy. But Bush really seems to me like the kind of guy who’ll be your best buddy – as long as you don’t oppose something he wants. There’s an air of self-centered, childish petulance about him. I guess you have to be arrogant to even think you should be president, but a good president should at least recognize that other people may have legitimate arguments. Bush has shown a strong tendancy toward black-and-white thinking, which in combination with his rather childish attitude is, to quote the movie _The Best Man_, “tragic in a man and disastrous in a president.” Also, when he was trying to shut down a satirical website for making fun of him (when he was a candidate), he said, “I think there ought to be limits to freedom.” So fuck 'im. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/52 "2004-07-13T13:31:06Z")
I should have made it clear that I think we did the right thing in invading Afghanistan – but we did it without a good overall plan. I’m just a layman civilian, but my impression is that, while we drove the Taliban out of the cities, they’re doing fine in the villages and mountains because A) we’re using the bulk of the Army to deal with Iraq, and B) we weren’t willing to sustain the kind of casualties we’d likely have had if we really committed to scouring the country and getting rid of the Taliban and terrorist elements. I’m afraid the country is going to break down into civil war again, and I don’t think we’ll be willing or able to deal with it, especially since we’ve already got a tiger by the tail with Iraq. Not to be snarky, but maybe if Bush had gone to Viet Nam, he would have learned that winning battles isn’t the same as winning the war. Okay, one more picayune complaint: It bugs me how Bush likes to pour God on everything, like ketchup. (Another steal from _The Best Man_, which I hope TCM will be showing before the election. Terrific movie, although obviously dated.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/53 "2004-08-17T16:46:41Z")
[WaPo](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63843-2004Aug13.html), Saturday: > [@](#): > > A cartoon in Friday’s Oregonian newspaper depicted Kerry speaking next to a sign that read “Kerry campaign rally open to the public.” The next frame had a stately-looking gate with a cursive W on the front and a sign above it that said “Bush Campaign Rally, A Gated Community.” [AP: "Bush Camp Controlling Admission to Events "](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=7&u=/ap/20040816/ap_on_el_pr/bush_preaching_to_the_choir) > [@](#): > > BEAVERTON, Ore. - President Bush (news - web sites)'s team exerts close control over admission to his campaign events. Dissenters and would-be hecklers are turned away, campaign officials say. On several occasions in recent weeks, Democrats who have gotten in have been ejected because they wore pro-Kerry T-shirts. > > The Bush campaign billed his visit to Beaverton as a chance for ordinary citizens to pose questions to the president. > > [But] > > This was no town hall appearance before a cross-section of citizens. Bush-Cheney re-election headquarters had instructed Oregon campaign officials to distribute tickets, so the school gymnasium was filled last Friday with 2,000 passionate Bush backers. > > \ > > Bush’s admission policy can leave the impression that the president has strong support wherever he goes. They can do whatever they want, of course. But it is starting to be an open secret. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/54 "2004-08-17T16:50:31Z")
[WaPo](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3650-2004Aug15_2.html): > [@](#): > > In one telling of his riff about the majesty of the Oval Office, he notes that it leaves any visitor speechless – except for “my mother, who walked in and continued to tell me what to do.” > > That line was in Las Vegas. In Florida, however, he made the same point but said that the Oval Office is so powerful “it’s the kind of place where my mother walks in and feels so overwhelmed, she won’t tell me what to do.” No biggie, just amused. But they tore Gore to shreds in 2000 over stuff not that different from this. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/55 "2004-08-18T16:27:56Z")
From the AP link two post up: > [@](#): > > Bush’s admission policy can leave the impression that the president has strong support wherever he goes. > > Labor unions traditionally align with Democrats and have not been particularly friendly to Bush. So when Bush spoke at a Las Vegas union hall Thursday, the campaign used its usual ticket distribution policy to pack the hall with backers. > > The crowd roared its approval throughout the speech. Some tickets were also given to union members. A few of them sat silently in the back rows. What did the headline at [Whitehouse.gov](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040812-9.html) say? > [@](#): > > **President Speaks to Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners** > United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America > International Training Facility > Las Vegas, Nevada Yes, this bunch will lie about everything, great and small. I’ve given up thinking there’s even a rhyme or reason to it. I think it’s simply reflexive with them. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/56 "2004-08-18T17:54:20Z")
Something that pissed me off this morning, as usual, in the NY fucking Post. [http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/27059.htm](http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/27059.htm) > [@](#): > > August 18, 2004 – RIDLEY PARK, Pa. — President Bush promoted his administration’s plans to build an anti-missile system yesterday, suggesting that the program’s opponents are jeopardizing the country’s safety. > [@](#): > > I think those who oppose this ballistic missile system don’t understand the threats of the 21st century," the president told applauding workers at defense contractor Boeing in Pennsylvania, a crucial state in Bush’s bid for re-election. > > "We say to those tyrants who believe they can blackmail America and the free world: ‘You fire, we’re going to shoot it down,’ " Bush said. What a fucking moron with this stupid plan. Someone mentioned awhile back that this is the singlemost expensive plan to the least likely attack used against us, and they couldn’t have nailed it better. What if 2 missles are launched? 3, etc etc. I swear we need to fight these assholes in _their_ arena. John Kerry ought to draft up some hokey plan, and say Bush doesn’t want to protect the country because he’s against it. :rolleyes: I love how the fact that people are against the shield because they want a _better_ plan, gets totally tossed out the window. ---
**Author:** ![Emilio\_Lizardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Emilio\_Lizardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emilio_Lizardo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/57 "2004-08-18T18:10:57Z")
Here’s another one. According to a short piece in todays [Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10047-2004Aug18.html) an Ohio math professor attended both a Bush rally while wearing a Kerry t-shirt, and a Kerry rally while wearing a Bush shirt. At the Bush rally, he was asked to turn the shirt inside out, then later asked to remove it, and finally ejected from the event. At the Kerry rally, he was ignored completely. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/58 "2004-08-18T19:33:09Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Something that pissed me off this morning, as usual, in the NY fucking Post. > > What a fucking moron with this stupid plan. Someone mentioned awhile back that this is the singlemost expensive plan to the least likely attack used against us, and they couldn’t have nailed it better. What if 2 missles are launched? 3, etc etc. You just don’t understand the threats of the 21st century. Terrorism is… oh, wait Wrong speech. Let’s just assume that Dubya accidentally grabbed an old speech from the bullshit pile and, as usual, refuses to admit to mistakes. Quite fun, spending billions because the guy in charge just can’t admit to a mistake, eh? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/59 "2004-08-18T19:48:58Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Quite fun, spending billions because the guy in charge just can’t admit to a mistake, eh? > > -Joe So much fun :rolleyes: (at Bush not you) ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/60 "2004-08-19T01:47:44Z")
> **[Attack, attack, attack](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2004/8/18/44879/-)** > > Which campaign is the sunny optimist campaign, and which one is running a relentlessly negative campaign? Inspired by this Atrios post, here is Exhibit A: > > That's the official Bush campaign site ... Please, try to deny it. The Bush camp is much much much more negative than the Kerry camp, to an overwhelming degree. Listen to any radio station in a swing state, watch any Tv station: it’s purely negative ads, approved by George W Bush, most of which don’t even talk about George Bush or why you should vote for him. In fact, Bush’s only real hope is voter suppression. Ads like the ones being targeted at African Americans by Republican interest groups aren’t even trying to appeal to African Americans: they are trying to encourage them not to vote at all. That’s what negative campaigning is all about as a chosen strategy: trying to get people to get frustrated with the political process and just tune out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131.md?page=4)