It is waaaaay to early to predict that Bush will have a chance in 2004. He has way to many chances to screw up. Everyone is rallying behind him due to the tragedy, but the election is 3 years away.
Who’s going to run?
Gore is out. He’s done with political office. Hillary? Man, I’d pee my pants with joy if the Democrats put up Hillary. I can’t think of a more divisive figure this side of Al Sharpton.
My prediction: The Democratic candidate will be one of the Democratic governors. But there’s about 20 of them out there, so picking one is simply silly. We don’t even know who’s going to decide to run.
I would say that Hillary’s chances are a lot better now than they were two weeks ago. Both Clintons have gotten a lot of praise for their actions after the events of Sept. 11, and since she’s a senator for New York, she’s likely to be seen quite a bit as the events unfold.
Of course, the Dem candidate doesn’t have to be anybody who’s famous now. Some unknown could get a huge victory in the '02 elections and become the front-runner for the Democratic nomination.
Let’s see…Bush takes office under a cloud, with a good percentage of the population not convinced he should legitimately do so.
Within 8 months, a previously robust economy begins to collapse in on itself and our country is attacked in the worst day of death and destruction this country has ever faced.
And the man in the white house is therefore invincible?
Of course, it’s entirely possible for Bush to be shoved out of the way so Powell, Cheney and Rumsfeld can do their jobs. And I can see that happening.
On the other hand, it’s entirely possible that a Democrat can emerge into a position of some leadership, especially if we do go to war, and trump the Bush boys.
IMHO (and I don’t have anything to back it up, it’s just a gut feeling), Bush will be a one-trick pony. Any military action will be fast and decisive and almost forgotten by 2004.
Seriously, I think John Kerry may be a player in '04. Lieberman is making noise about running.
Who would have thought in 1982 that Reagan would get his huge landslide, or even in 1994 that Clinton would win again?
To quote PJ O Rourke on Bush I-“Bush went from being the most popular unassasinated president this century to potentially getting dumped from the Quayle ticket”
I suppose then that Bush is personally responsible for a) the faltering but still growing economy and b) a terror attack that had been planned for years.
You don’t know what you are talking about. The economy started slowing under Clinton and the milquetoast foreign policy of the Clinton Adminstration helped spawn this terrorist attack.
So Bush getting re-elected is completely plausible if he succeeds and the country heals from this trying time. The closeness of the last election is, to me, a characteristic of a bored nation with no real challenges. When things get tough, successful leaders emerge.
You’re not going to win a “war” against terrorism - sorry to burst everyone’s bubble on that count. As long as fanatics keep having babies and/or can round up someone who thinks like they do the possibility is going to be out there. Unless America is going to get in the genocide business we had all better learn to live with it.
Bush’s “war” is going to be a messy, unforgiving situation that sucks up all his time and energy and ends up leaving him wishing that Gore had kicked his ass in every state (including Texas) in the 2000 election. Drop some bombs, kill a few children by mistake, get American soilders killed and drug through the streets of some Middle Eastern hell-hole village and shown on American TV, have terrorists attackes continue, and Bush’ll be gone in 2004. That’s how this is going to be played out.
Who will the Dems run? I don’t know, but I don’t envy the sorry bastard even though I’ll probably vote for him.
You assessment might have meaning if you had understood what I was saying.
I did not lay the responsibility for anything at Bush’s feet. I simply stated what was true…ever since he’s been in office, we’ve been going to hell in a handbasket, for whatever reason. He certainly hasn’t DONE anything to prevent/cure/heal/change/rescue/fix etc. ANYTHING, so how does one then leap to the conclusion that he is guaranteed to be re-elected? Because everything’s just so fucked we won’t have the nerve to change? HUH?
gimme a gigantic break. As has been pointed out, his father was riding a huge approval wave, which was actually * based on something * before Clinton came along and knocked him out of the ring. To think that Dubya is invincible because we’ve had two weeks of patriotism where many people are refraining from being partisan is just nuts.
Damn, do you remember that crazy little billionaire who got 20 million votes, most of which would have gone to Bush? Clinton got lucky. Twice.
And I swear this was just started as a joke because of bush’s popularity AT THE PRESENT TIME. Of course anything can happen.
Hey, how about a Gary Condit/Warren Beatty ticket.
Gimme a break! Dubya is the Prez…until the next election. He can win again if the Dems put up someone with as little personality as Gore had. If someone comes up and runs that has charisma and fair qualifications, they’ll blow Bush II right out of the water.
Kerry?? If we want a dem from Massachusetts (aka “The land of the loony liberals”) why not get good ole Teddy to run? Most of his indiscretions have already been publicized, so no annoying smear campaign to worry about. Well, at least Kerry isn’t Hillary…does the intense dislike of my state of birth and the politicians therein make my butt look big?
You didn’t know Clinton would be win? Me, I figured that if people were going to vote for him once despite his sleaziness, they’d vote for him twice.
The republicans are about 99% likely to pick Bush again, but the dems have a golden opportunity. They don’t need to pick someone because they’re obligated to. They could have the “fun” ticket. Get a couple of liberal movie stars to run. They’d lose, but look good doing it. Or maybe they’d win, some people vote for stupid reasons, after all…
I think I heard somewhere that Teddy would never run because of what happened to his brothers. If your President brother was shot down, and your other brother was killed while running for the job, would you want to take the chance of eating a lead sandwich too?
He ran in 1980 against an incumbent Democrat, Jimmy Carter, and lost! So much for playing the “brothers” card. Teddy cannot be killed. He must have sold his soul for a long life because he should be dead by now. HE IS A KENNEDY! And the most irresponsible of the whole family.
But back to my OP, WHICH IS A JOKE, GODDAMNIT)
I should have said “IF bush is doing well and winning the war on terrorism and the economy is strong, who will the DEMS run against him, knowing they dont have a chance”
Ted Kennedy/Gary Condit would be VERY interesting.
I wonder which of those studs has had the most action. Gotta be TED “I dove and dove trying to save her and then decided to sober up errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…swim back to my hotel and report it in the morning” Kennedy.