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Desparate Bush looks for support in Findlay

President George Bush is a desperate man. Sen. John Kerry is nipping at his heels as the race for the White House steams to a conclusion. His ads have gone very negative. Republicans believe that name calling is a valid campaign tactic.

So what does one do to buck up a campaign in trouble? You hold a rally in a Republican strong hold like Findlay.

Bush landed Wednesday afternoon at the Findlay Municipal Airport in a smaller version of Air Force One and went to the rally held at the Hancock County Fairgrounds.

Surrounded by a partisan crowd of 15,000, shipped in for the photo op, Bush took off his jacket and spoke to the crowd.

It really doesn’t matter what he said because it was just a stump speech to those who plan to vote for him any way.

The site of the rally was at the South Grandstand, used during the county fair for truck pulls, the demolition derby, and musical groups like Phil Dirt and Dozers. There is also a track that use to be used for harness racing. The track was regraded, the light polls taken down (don’t really know why) and extra bleachers brought in on flatbed trailers. Those were the seats for the “crowd” seen behind Bush in the videos and photos.

Introducing the President was Democrat turn coat Sen. Zell Miller. That was an odd choice because the Democratic Party is a non-factor in Hancock County. George wasted Miller’s appearance.

According to the local paper The Courier:

There did not appear to be any John Kerry supporters in the crowd at the rally, and according to one report, they were refused admittance.

Because the rally was held on private property — at the Hancock County Fairgrounds — the Republican Party could legally deny admittance to anyone with Kerry signs or shirts.

That has been the common agenda of the Bush Campaign. Holding campaign rallies and only allowing loyal party members to attend. That way Bush can’t be challenged with signs or protests from those against him.

And except for the staging, the county taxpayers picked up the bill.

Originally posted on the blog “Hancock County Politics Unfiltered”

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Study shows that Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information

Kevin Anderson is keeping an US election blog for the BBC Online website.

One entry from Sunday might be of interest to those here who believe that Bush supporters are off their gourd. A study was done that shows that maybe true.

The Program on International Policy Attitudes complied a study titled: The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters and here are some clips.

The text is from Anderson’s report:

In light of reports over the past few months from the Senate Intelligence Committee and the heads of the Iraq Survey Group, David Kay and Charles Duelfer, the pollsters asked Bush and Kerry supporters what these reports said about weapons of mass destruction in pre-war Iraq.

Findings in the Duelfer report say that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction before the war, yet 56% of President Bush supporters still believe that most experts say that Iraq did indeed have WMD before the war.

But, amongst John Kerry supporters, 56% believe that most experts thought Iraq did not have WMD.

A majority of both Bush and Kerry supporters believe that if the US had known that Iraq had no WMD, then the US should not have gone to war. The figures being 58% of Bush supporters and 92% of Kerry supporters.

The president’s supporters also believe the he has widespread backing for going to war in Iraq.

I might argue that a lot of people outside of Washington don’t pay as much attention to these things as we do here, even though they are on issues as important as war and terrorism.

But the study’s authors say: “Apparently, to avoid this cognitive dissonance, Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information.”

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Report10_21_04.pdf
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3949543.stm
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As election moves to homestretch, Bush team gets desperate

If are a regular reader of this blog (right?) then you will notice I had no comments about the 3rd Presidential Debate held on October 13th. Well, I skipped it. I had to work that night and didn’t get home until it was half over so I just didn’t watch it at all. I did read some of the transcript and a summary or two from non-biased sources but I avoided any and all spin masters. I like to form my own view thank you very much. I was happy to read that Senator John Kerry again cleaned Bush’s clock and looked far more Presidential than Bush ever has.

Now that there are 13 days until the election, the Bush Campaign is getting desperate.

They are now using the “Liberal” label on Kerry in almost every official campaign ad. Kerry is lumped in with the monolithic unnamed group “Liberals” who want to “ruin the country” as if George and his goons haven’t done that already.

The number of votes Kerry made that hurt “Americans” has gone up too. Last month he was accused of voting 98 times to raise taxes, now ads are claiming 350 votes to raise taxes. They ignore that Kerry voted for a balanced budget in the past and for laws forcing a balanced budget. He also voted to leave some taxes unchanged as Factcheck.org states:

As we’ve reported multiple times before , the claim that Kerry voted 350 times “for higher taxes” is highly misleading. As we said on March 23:

FactCheck.org: But in fact, Kerry has not voted 350 times for tax increases, something Bush campaign officials have falsely accused Kerry of on several occasions. On close examination, the Bush campaign�s list of Kerry�s votes for �higher taxes� is padded. It includes votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged (when Republicans proposed cuts), and even votes in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts that Bush aides characterized as �watered down.�

More recently, we debunked the Bush campaign’s improved claim that Kerry voted 98 times “for tax increases.” That number is still padded, including 43 votes on budget measures that only set targets and don’t actually legislate tax increases, as well as multiple votes regarding an individual bill.

http://www.factcheck.org/article284.html

Meanwhile yesterday, VP Dick “The Hatchetman” Cheney once again used the “fear” argument against Kerry, claiming that if Kerry is elected the “terrorists” would attack us. He feels Kerry isn’t tough enough to stand up to them. If you have seen the latest reports from Iraq, it looks like the “terrorists” aren’t afraid of Bush either.

The latest tangent issue is that John Kerry spoke French at a recent campaign event. The clip got heavy rotation on CNN and GOP spinners had a field day pointing out how liberal and out of touch Kerry is. So, what? Bush has spoken Spanish before at events. The problem the Republicans want us to see is to paint Kerry as French since we all know real “Americans” hate the French after they declined to help us invade Iraq and opposed our move at that the UN.

It just shows how desperate the Republicans are in what seems like a close vote come November 2nd. I think if the electorate really supported Bush and his policies as the GOP thinks we do, you would see it in the polls now. You don’t. That means that most people are rejecting Bush’s view of things.

I will leave you with a link to one of the funniest political websites I’ve seen so far this election:

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Gloves come off in round two: Bush takes standing 8 count

President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry had a second debate at Washington University in St. Louis on Friday 10/8/04. Here some highlights of note to me.

Unlike the calm civil debate seen in round one, on Friday the gloves seemed to come off. Both Bush and Kerry came out swinging with energy in a the town meeting format. Members of the audience, who were identified as undecided, offered questions to each candidate.

Bush seemed more angry, really angry as he not only answered the questions directed to him but he really got feisty when responding to Kerry’s answers.

Kerry also seemed to get more animated in responding to Bush’s answers but overall he seemed more in control during his talking times. He jumped right at the President with the first question where he said the administration mislead us in going to war in Iraq. That set the stage for the tone of the debate.

For a question on why Bush banned importation of drugs from Canada, Bush claimed he hasn’t yet. He falsely told the questioner he wants to be sure they are safe. The fact is the drugs that would come from Canada are the exact same meds that are sold here in the states. Second, Bush signed the Medicare Reform Act that prohibited Medicare from negotiating for lower prices. Due to continued pressure from Senior groups, they are now reconsidering the ban on imports from Canada. They are dragging their feet but they are reconsidering the ban.

Kerry was asked why he picked John Edwards as VP when he was a trial lawyer making millions on liability cases. Kerry explained that Edwards was the author of the Patient’s Bill of Rights that the Congress wouldn’t pass. He also explained that large settlements only make up 1% of health care costs while those in Missouri saw there health care costs go up 64%.

Kerry was asked about embryonic stem cell research. It is a values issue because those opposed to it feel it is destroying a life. The Senator said while he respected the questioners view point but he feels if we can cure a host of disease with the research then we need to do that. Bush responded that he approved some limited research but won’t fund anymore. Kerry then responded that Bush was wishy washy with his response.

A audience member asked Bush who he would appoint to the Supreme Court and why. Bush said he would appoint a strict constructionist and one of the examples he gave of a judge he wouldn’t appoint is one that ruled in the Dred Scott decision. What? Kerry clarified that Bush has said his two favorite current justices are Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas “so you see where he is heading..”

Abortion came up with a question to Kerry. The questioner wanted to know what he would tell someone who told him that abortion was murder. Kerry made a good answer in saying even though he is Catholic and he would support other options, he could not deny the constitutional rights of those who don’t hold his religious beliefs on the issue.

Bush said he got a partial birth abortion law passed and supports parental notification. He told the audience that Kerry was against both in voting against them. Kerry then said that he voted against them because they didn’t contain qualifiers he felt they needed such as life of the mother and another option for 16 year old raped by her father. The bills didn’t have those qualifiers so he voted against them.

I thought Bush did better as the debate went on but Kerry was able to stay slightly ahead even with the cheap shots with Bush’s use of the Liberal label.

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