Posted by Middle Finger from dsc01-chc-il-6-206.rasserver.net (209.109.227.206) on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 3:05AM :
A little strategic advice for the Dems.
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Rich Procter: 'How to take down Bush'
Date: Saturday, May 17 @ 09:46:42 EDT
Topic: Commander-In-Thief
By Rich Procter
The biggest problem Democrats have is this -- they don't understand
their biggest problem. If you don't know what's wrong, how can you fix
it? One of today's headlines reads, "Dems Worry War Helping Bush's
Popularity." The article features hand-wringing Democrats who feel they
can't challenge a "popular" President. They obviously think their
problem is Bush's high approval ratings. "If only we could get people's
attention back on the economy..."
Sorry, folks. The biggest problem the Democrats have isn't Bush's
popularity. It's that voters fear voting for Democrats, because
Democrats look like spineless, fraidy-cat wimps. The Republicans are
the bully in the schoolyard, grabbing the candy of the other kids while
the Democrats stand around muttering, "I wish they wouldn't do that.
That just isn't right. Somebody should do something..."
The Democrats biggest problem is that (so far) they're not willing
to "take down" Bush. They're not willing to do what the Republicans
LOVE doing - run a nasty, brutal, take-no-prisoners "TAKE DOWN"
campaign to force Bush's approval numbers down to where they should be -
in the 30's.
The Republicans will do whatever it takes to keep George's numbers up.
Hijack an aircraft carrier, suit up Deserter Dubya in a "right stuff"
flight suit and stage a tail hook landing at taxpayer expense? Why not?
Who is going to complain? Not the press. Not the Democrats. Who?
The sordid history of modern "take down" politics begins in 1988, with
the Bush I-Dukakis campaign. Anyone remember that as late as August of
that year, Dukakis was leading Bush by 20 points? And one of the news
magazines had a cover story on Bush I trying to overcome the "Wimp
Factor' Then, famously, Lee "The Antichrist" Atwater ginned up his
infamous "Willy Horton" ad. I remember the ad well. "The difference
between Bush and Dukakis is that Dukakis lets vicious (scary-looking
black) criminals roam the streets, raping innocent citizens. Bush puts
them in jail." Never mind that Willy Horton was released because of a
furlough program approved by a Republican governor, based on a
California program created by Ronald Reagan.
So how did Dukakis respond to this vile smear? He did nothing. He
waited weeks before responding, while the poll numbers flipped, making
Bush the front-runner. Voters decided Dukakis wasn't tough enough to be
President. Emboldened, Bush I went berserk, accusing Dukakis of being
a "card-carrying member of the ACLU," and visiting a flag factory (!)
to pillory Dukakis's patriotism. In short, he and the Republicans got
hooked on "take-down" politics, because they worked. They learned that
Democrats were softies - they wouldn't fight back.
Roger Ailes, Reagan campaign adviser and current President of the Faux
News Network, said this - "The way to win is to avoid mistakes, and
give television as many of your own pictures as you can. And if you
need coverage, you attack, and you will get coverage." Sound familiar?
Dubya never seems to make the big, dumb mistake, because the world of
the Boy King is carefully crafted so he never has to field a rude
question from a reporter, never has to suffer a spontaneous moment in
public, and only appears in "photo ops" staged like scenes from Jerry
Bruckheimer movies. And what does he do when he appears for these photo
ops? He attacks. He never plays defense, only offense. No matter how
stupid or ineffective his program, no matter how corrupt his ideology,
no matter how blatant the lie, he only attacks. He never has to play
defense, because the press is in his back pocket, and the Democrats
don't have the guts.
If the Democrats want to win in '04, they are going to have to imitate
the Republicans. Attack, attack, attack. Play OFFENSE for once. How?
It's SO EASY, people - Bush is HANDING us the ammunition. Bush's war
stance is making him popular? How 'bout running an ad like this?
OPEN WITH BLACK AND WHITE, SLO-MOED IMAGE OF BUSH IN SILLY FLIGHT SUIT
ON AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Announcer - George Bush promised he was going to make our country a
safer place to live. So how's he doing?
SHOT OF OSAMA BIN LADEN
Announcer - Osama bin Laden, the man Bush promised to capture "dead or
alive," still at large...
SHOT OF SADDAM HUSSEIN
Announcer - Saddam Hussein, still at large.
NEWS FOOTAGE OF RIYADH BOMBING
Announcer - Al-Qaeda - still at large, and stronger than ever, because
Bush let them re-group while he lied us into a war, chasing after Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction that weren't there...
BACK ON BUSH
Announcer - In the meantime, Bush has cut moneys to protect our ports,
harbors and public facilities, making them more vulnerable to terrorist
attack than ever....
SHOT OF IRAQI SOLDIERS
Announcer - He and his Republican cronies even had the nerve to cut the
pension benefits of our soldiers as they were risking their lives in
Iraq.
SHOT OF GEORGE, NEXT SHOT OF VOTERS
Announcer - It all comes down to one question. After four years of
George Bush, do YOU feel any safer?
SHOT OF DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE
Announcer - He's had four years and hasn't done the job. We need a
Democrat to unite the world against evil. Vote for (NAME HERE).
BACK ON GEORGE
Announcer - Because fighting evil is more than empty threats and photo
ops.
The only hope the Democrats have is to mount an aggressive, truth-
based, full-frontal nuclear attack against Bush, Rove and Company. They
need to do this to prove to the American people they're not wimps, and
that they won't be pushed around by foreign bullies.
C'mon, Democrats. You can do it. Play the same "take down" game the
Republicans play. Can we honestly do any worse than we're doing now?
This article comes from The Smirking Chimp
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com
The URL for this story is:
http://www.SmirkingChimp.com/article.php?sid=11453
-- Middle Finger
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