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MARCH 04, 2004 - "Three thousand
people were murdered on President Bush's watch... He has not
cooperated with the investigation to find out why that happened."
So said Kristen Breitweiser, who lost
her husband, Ronald, in the 9/11 attacks, as reported by ABC News.
(see:
ABC News article)
The Bush team has been salivating over
the idea of running a campaign that centers around 9/11. They feel
9/11 and the President’s response to it is the brightest spot of
President Bush’s record.
As we know, realistically his response
to 9/11 is all he has to run on, as his economic, environmental, and
other international foreign policy record is abysmal.
But the President and his team are
running head-on into their own grave. The problem is that 9/11
itself does not amount to a great achievement but a horrible failure
on the part of the President to prevent the murder of 3,000
Americans “on President Bush’s watch,” as the woman above said. Yet
the arrogance-blinded Bush/Limbaughians are planning to prop
themselves up – plainly and often – directly on the corpses of those
they let be killed.
This is evidenced by the first wave of
commercials President Bush has unleashed, which include directly
footage of the 9/11 WTC aftermath. Even more, the Bush team has
made the pompous and misguided choice of having their convention in
New York City, and even delayed it so it will coincided with the
anniversary of 9/11. In other words, the convention is all about
highlighting the taking out of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
And, yes, the President considers this
to be a good thing, the thing he most wants to highlight, the thing
he thinks will pave his path back to the White House.
Since 9/11, much information has come
out showing our intelligence agencies had enough information to
prevent 9/11. A report indicating that is due to be released in the
next couple of months, as the 9/11 commission finally completes its
work.
Now, there are many widows and friends
of victims who will hold President Bush accountable, and as was seen
today, their criticisms are far more powerful than anything John
Kerry could ever launch. And the words they speak, like, “David
Potorti, an independent from Cary, N.C., whose brother Jim died in
the north tower, call(ing) the campaign's use of the images
audacious,” saying directly, “It's an insult to use the place where
my brother died in an ad," will absolutely resonate with Americans
and leave Bush a disgraceful ambulance chaser. As they had attacked
John Edwards for being that type of lawyer, they will be seen to be
– and called out on – trying to profit off of the tragedy of others.
All of this centers around one massive
miscalculation on the part of the Bushies: they misunderstand New
Yorkers, and Northeasterners in general. This includes Bush’s
competitor, Senator John Kerry.
The Bush/Limbaughians have dubbed all
people from the Northeast as weak, whiny little liberals. They have
been pumping this nonsense out – unrebutted – for so long now that
they actually believe it to be true. Bush is supposed to be the
tough cowboy from Texas who will have no problem playing,
manipulating, and bullying those weak Northeast liberal types. And
for literally decades now, the Bush/Limbaugh brand of Republican has
propelled themselves into power simply by bullying their way in.
However, there is one reality in all of
this: the successful bullying has not been done against true
Northeasterners.
Al Gore was a wuss. He also was a
Southerner.
Jimmy Carter was a wuss. He also was a
Southerner.
Mondale, from Minnesota.
Clinton another Southerner.
The only actual Northeasterner the Bush/Limbaughians
have ever come up against was Dukakis, and he was from the wimpy,
whiny breed of New Englander, the overly intellectual, pacifist
type.
Never has this Bush/Limbaugh breed of
bully faced a true Northeasterner cut from the New York/Boston
mold. George Bush is expecting to come into New York and use a
couple of Limbaugh lines and stand at Ground Zero and have the
people of New York go along.
Clearly, he knows nothing about New
Yorkers.
New Yorkers have the quickest noses and
least tolerance for BS of anyone in the country, if not the world.
And, unlike people in the Midwest or South, they do not consider it
polite to bite one’s tongue. If there is BS, they will spot it and
point it out loudly, brazenly, and often.
As they have done in response to these
ads President Bush has run. President Bush expects that he can go
stand at Ground Zero, for purely political purposes, on the upcoming
anniversary that falls right after the Republican convention, and
New Yorkers will divide into two groups: one that rallies around
him, and the other that quietly, politely holds their tongues, or
that his people can control and keep out of sight.
But dissent in New York is not the same
as it is in Texas or elsewhere in the country. New Yorkers are
afraid of nothing, turn on their favorites at the first cause, and
ensure they are heard when they are upset. Just ask anyone who has
ever played for the Yankees. The favorite player one day will get
booed out of the park the next.
So instead of getting cheers or quiet,
inept dissent, he will get what he got blasted with today, comments
like: "It makes me sick," Colleen Kelly, who lost her brother Bill
Kelly Jr., in the attacks and leads a victims families group called
Peaceful Tomorrows, said Thursday. "Would you ever go to someone's
grave site and use that as an instrument of politics? That truly is
what Ground Zero represents to me," as reported by ABC.
George Bush’s miscalculation that he can
run a campaigning propping up the corpses of 3,000 people who died
on his watch, many of whom were from the New York area, is an
enormous blunder. Already the firefighters have endorsed Kerry, and
indeed, their President came out to speak today, assailing Bush for
trying to wrap himself in their heroism, saying, “We're not going to
stand for him to put his arm around one of our members on top of a
pile of rubble at Ground Zero during a tragedy and then stand by and
watch him cut money for first responders.” (from ABC article.)
And remember, this is just day one of
Bush running his first ads AND none of this had to come directly
from Senator Kerry. Bush got walloped today by a mix of generally
non-partisan Americans. Even more importantly, he got walloped by
the very people he is trying to claim he is the hero of, the victims
of 9/11 and the heroes of the NYFD. They’ve made clear, you may
wish to exploit us for political gain, but you can go f* yourself,
a*h*le, as a polite New Yorker would put it.
And all this is before you even get to
Senator Kerry. Bush’s campaign strategy is two-pronged: wrap
himself in the corpses of 9/11 and bully his opponent with personal
attacks.
Problem number two, however, is that
Kerry is not of the wimpy Dukakis-brand Northeast whiner, he is of
the New York/Boston tough guy mold, the type that not only isn’t
intimidated by bullies, but looks forward to kicking the crap out of
them every chance he gets.
Remember, Kerry wasn’t drafted into the
Navy to serve in Vietnam, he chose to enlist, knowing full well he
would get combat duty. And even after being injured, he stayed on
and went back for more, serving additional tours.
George Bush and his breed of
Bush/Limbaugh Republicans are not tough guys, they are bullies who
have been having their way with the Southerners and wimps they have
been up against.
But we all know what happens when
big-mouthed bullies meet actual tough guys – they end up socked in
the mouth they then wish they'’d never opened to begin with.
The big-mouthed cowards of the
Bush/Limbaugh administration are walking like naïve tourists into
the heart of New York City, thinking they can shoot off their mouths
and get away with it. They are planning on picking on a Bostonian,
thinking he will cower and not be able to fight back.
A friend of mine who grew up in Boston
told me a story once from his childhood. When he was a kid who had
to walk to school in that city, he hid knives every few blocks,
stashed them away to have if he needed them. No, this wasn’t
because he was a nut, it was because he had gotten jumped so many
times on the way to school he wasn’t going to be caught off guard
again.
John Kerry may have lived in better
neighborhoods, but he is cut of the same mold. He knows the Bushies
– the “Republican attack machine” he talks about – will come out
mouths blaring and expect that to have an effect. But you can bet
each person who opens a mouth will get a fist or a knife in
response. And poor little Biff Bush will be back in Texas waxing
McFly’s Bronco wishing he’d never opened his mouth to begin with.
They thought they could avoid dealing
with the specifics of their record by claiming Bush has provided
“steady leadership.”
The answer to that is obvious and easy,
and Kerry, being of the tough, sock-it-to-em Northeast mold did not
miss out on the chance to bury this pathetic line of attempted
evasion. Kerry’s campaign spokesman said today, “…unfortunately you
can’t provide ‘steady leadership’ without credibility. And George
Bush has lost credibility with the American people… George Bush’s ad
features a shot of the wreckage of that tragic September day almost
3 years ago, and the firefighters who so bravely worked to save
lives. What he doesn’t tell you is that only 10 percent of fire
departments across the nation have personnel and equipment to
respond to a building collapse, only enough radios to equip half the
firefighters on a shift, and breathing apparatus for only
one-third.”
Oops. That has to smart. And then the
clear mark that such stupid, wimpily evasive tactics – the type that
worked in previous elections – won’t work this time came as the
Kerry camp completely obliterated the entire theme the Bush team,
after years of planning, has decided to run on: “The only thing
steady about this President is his steadily leading our country in
the wrong direction.”
Having his convention in New York,
wrapping himself with the corpses of 3,000 who died on his watch,
thinking by saying he has been strong people won’t notice he’s been
wrong, again and again – this is the campaign strategy of the overly
arrogant, naïve-to-true-Northeast-ways Bush camp.
Wonder how long it will take the Bush
team to realize they are not in Kansas anymore?
If Kerry can raise the money he needs
and the Bush team sticks with the pathetic strategy they have rolled
out, the Bush team will be sitting on their back porches cussing
those stupid, wimpy Northeasterners – under their breath and from a
safe distance far, far out of the reach of that short-tempered
Northeastern right-hook.
(P.S. Betsy wanted me to add, "Remember
all those media claims about how Edwards' close second place finish
in Wisconsin meant he would seriously challenge John Kerry on Super
Tuesday? Like we told you, it was only Republicans who skewed those
results and, as expected, Kerry dominated NY and CA, and the rest.
Ah, the non-Moderate Independent media. We haven't had election
articles recently because the race was over, as we told you in the
last article. Now, things are back on, so stay tuned to M/I for
actually useful election coverage...) | 
