WP: Series of Misjudgments Cost President His Lead

[kskiska]

Sunday, August 29, 2004; Page A01

No gloating, President Bush warned his White House staff in November 2002. It was an order he strained to follow himself.

Flush with his success at leading Republicans to victory in congressional midterm elections, Bush claimed the results as a mandate for his policies on terrorism, Iraq and tax cuts, and for his brand of trust-my-gut conservatism. "I think the way to look at this election is to say that people want something done," he told reporters. To skeptics at home and abroad, he declared: "I don't spend a lot of time taking polls . . . to tell me what I think is the right way to act; I just got to know how I feel."

As Bush heads to the Republican National Convention in New York this week, the man who stood astride the political world at that news conference in 2002 is a distinctly more life-size figure. With the election just 65 days away, there is a puzzle: How did a leader who was so formidable become so vulnerable?

In small ways, the answer is an accumulation of miscalculations and missed opportunities that have marred the president's political operation this year, in the view of some Republicans inside that operation and others beyond it. In a large way, however, Bush's predicament is less a reversal of his 2002 success than a natural progression of it -- the consequence of two confrontations he sought that autumn.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42626-2004Aug28.html

[leesa]

1. It's also known as incompetence.

He never was formidable, WP just told us he was.

[Born Free]

9. they used the 3000 Americans that died

Much like a tissue paper they used each and every one of them for political advantage, morphing all the sadness and despair Americans felt because of 9/11, and everything else into their goals of invading and occupying Iraq, their goal of destroying social security as we know it and their long time goal of bankrupting the American government to make it "small enough it can be drowned in a bathtub" Now they hide , pretending to be different, they will say or do anything to remain in control, and they rely on "Political Ignorance", of the many people that buy into one myth after another rather than read. For thegood of the world in general and of America in particular, the bush team of liars must be legally removed from office.

[Toucano]

18. Ding Ding Ding!

We have a winner!

[kikiek]

2. Going with your gut when you're delusional isn't the best choice to make.

[demgrrrll]

3. I am heartened by Digby's latest post with Donkey Rising's poll

analysis too. <http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/>.

[kikiek]

4. Yes that is good news. Thanks for sharing.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Great read...thanks for posting it

[Jade Fox]

19. LOL!

[w4rma]

6. All these articles that analyze GOP failures seem to apologize for them.

making excuses for anything they've done wrong. Mear "miscalculations". "Missed opportunities". Not so much "a reversal" of "his 2000 success".

It's like these guys are using their articles to try to figure out the best PR plan for Republicans so they can use it.

[radfringe]

12. inconsistencies

bush* declared that he made the right decision about Iraq, then he admits to miscalculations about Iraq but still maintains it was the right decision

does this mean he invaded Iraq by a fortunate mistake?

[Arugula Latte]

20. Exactly.

It couldn't be that this gang of thugs stole power and wielded it in a murderous, heavy-handed way, giving every possible advantage to the corporate polluting rich elite and ruthlessly screwing over everybody else. Noooooo. It was just a series of small miscalculations. Ooopsy!

[DeepModem Mom]

7. kick

[UpInArms]

8. miscalculations??

lying our country into war is now a "miscalculation"?

What planet do these jerks live on?

[demoman123]

10. They treat it like a game.

Endless hours are spent on TV discussing who is going to win the game (as if we wouldn't all find out if we wait a couple months). Seen from this point of view, there is no morality, no justice, no truth, only gamesmanship.

[Piperay]

11. Oh yeah, don't use your brain

go with your gut instead, yeah, that's going to work. *sarcasm* x(

[Disturbed]

13. How he feels?

If he feels like attacking Iran I guess he will order it done.
If he feels like abolishing the IRS, I guess he will do so.
If he feels like doing away with Social Security, guess he will do that.

He will do whatever he feels like doing because there is no one that can stop him from doing so.

[Keirsey]

14. I get it now

Dubya is our touchy feely non-elected president. Touchy as in he can't handle criticism.

[quaker bill]

15. If this were a game of chess

and yes the pols do look at it that way, then Bush has over-developed his pieces. What they are counting on is an opponent that does not understand how to counter. We played that role very well in 2002. Howard Dean illuminated another path. John Kerry needs to use it.

Many people can see that Bush is full of bold but hollow rhetoric. We just need to shoot it full of holes and provide a more rational alternative. Easier said than done, but still quite do-able.

[dumpster_baby]

16. CorpMedia loves to focus on horse-race politics; never focuses on isssues

Fuck them. I will NEVER buy another newspaper unless I am desparate. And I deliberately have cut down my tv viewing greatly. Instead I download video and movies off the net.

[Cha]

17. Fucking DUh!