In N.Y., Bush will reach toward the middle

[freetobegay]

WASHINGTON - President Bush hopes to reach beyond his conservative base and appeal to undecided voters with a nominating convention designed to make Americans feel better about the direction of their country and the politics of their president.

As they put final touches on the four-day convention script, Bush advisers said that the gathering in New York also will feature sharp criticism of Democratic rival John Kerry and the unveiling of the president’s second-term agenda.

The goal: to energize GOP voters while converting some in the middle. It could be a tough task for an incumbent facing a polarized electorate after leading the nation through the worst attacks on U.S. soil, followed by two foreign wars — one of which is increasingly unpopular.

The Democrats, wishing Bush no good luck, contend he has a long way to go.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5822323/

Correct me if I'm wrong, but why move to the middle now? Why not over the past several years? Oh yea I forgot it's election time! Or is that selection time?

[Scorpious_Maximus]

1. That IS their plan

On one hand it makes sense. If you notice over the last couple of weeks, they have desperately tried to make * seem more center.

They are anticipating people being stupid and buying it.

Which is why we need to be prepared to HIT HARD during and after their convention.

Remind people of just how fucked up Bush is.

[notbush]

3. And Kerry didn't run to the right???(reporting for duty )

Unfortunately, this is how the "game" of politics is played.

[freetobegay]

5. Please explain how Kerry ran to the right.

Reporting for Duty is an American tradition not a left or right tradition.

[notbush]

10. The Democrat convention this year was the most

militaristic (Democratic) convention in my lifetime. I'm 50.
I didn't feel good about shutting down (or rolling over) the once strong voice of DK.
90%-95% of the delegates disapprove of the war in Iraq, but you sure couldn't see that watchin' the stage.

[JI7]

12. kucinich was not shut down or rolled over

[JI7]

13. you sure do attack Kerry a lot to defend Bush

[JI7]

14. reporting for duty is something right winger like Bush never did

reporting for duty is something most right wingers never did because they are chickenhawks.

good thing kerry is brave and actually reported for duty, unlike the right wing coward bush.

[freetobegay]

16. You hit the nail right on the head with that comment.

[NightOwwl]

2. They have to project the "compassionate conservative" image again.

To prevent the sheeple from leaving the flock.

[Erika]

4. Bush Lies

I can remember his campaaign speech about placing each American child at a place at the table of plenty. Watch to see him do it again.

[Sugarbleus]

8. Bingo. His followers are so stupid.

A leopard cannot change it's spots. He is a bald faced liar. Pure and simple.

[Julien Sorel]

6. So now that Bush is moving to the center, does Kerry have

permission to do the same? Since Bush's manouverings seem to be viewed as the height of political wisdom by some of Kerry's left wing critics, I'm wondering if this move of Bush's will meet with loud demands that Kerry do the same? Or will they continue to demand that he move further to the left further to the left further to the left?

[oasis]

7. Time to track down Tom Delay. He can't dodge the media the whole time

they're in NYC.

[Erika]

9. Bush hijacked the Party re Falwell & Robertson

I don't know what the clown will do. He's in a heck of a bind. Forego the big bucks of Robertson and his African diamond mines where he ignored danger to his African workers who were slaughtered, or appeal to American senior workers who were just told not to expect anything from the SS taxes they've paid all their lives.

I can hardly wait until he launches his sharp criticism on Kerry as a Nam vet. Now where was Bush and his bros during Vietnam? No one knows. But they didn't do the discomfort of being in Nam. Bush starts unloading on Kerry about Nam and you will see riots. Americans have seen enough of the Bush family bs.

[zmdem]

11. Probably shouldn't say it, but...

Will he reach around ?

[ljm2002]

15. "...will feature sharp criticism of [...] John Kerry"

GAAK!

I'm sure y'all remember the run-up to the Democratic convention, where the media and the Republicans took an accusatory stance towards all Democrats, saying they were going to be indulging in "Bush bashing". Then when it didn't happen, they still tried to paint it that way.

But now the Republicans announce they'll be Kerry bashing, and it's all, Yawn...

GAAK!

[emulatorloo]

19. Bush Bashing Bad, Kerry Hating Good!

Attacking Bush Policies, Negative
Attacking John Kerry's Character, Fair Game

[annabanana]

17. Bush will reach for the middle.........

.......and he will GET the middle...finger.

[kentuck]

18. Yep....just like in 2000...the compassionate conservative...

with a "humble" foreign policy that loves people the way he wants to be loved....uh-huh...

[Democrat 4 Ever]

20. Bush & Cheney's Run to the middle for the convention

I would like to see a comparison ad of Bush/Cheney's campaign points from the 2000 election up beside what they actually did when it office. He ran as a "compassionate Conservative" (what ever the heck that is) but once sworn in - without a majority mandate - dove so fast and so hard for the extreme right on all issues that most voters still have whiplash.

Right now they are using the same tactics leading into the convention. Think is was just happenstance that Cheney decides this week to come out and "announce" he has a gay daughter, they he is against a constitutional amendment? His daughter has been gay for years, but now he feels the need to acknowledge her? Bush comes out yesterday that he "misunderestimated" the ease in which we would win the war and the hearts of Iraqis. They are trying to coat this administration with a moderate paint brush for prime time America. Haven't you seen all of the neocon talking heads coming out of the woodwork this week in their kinder, gentler mode? Praising Kerry's military service, changing position on amendments, more "forthright" about problems in Iraq - and there will be people who will buy it. His only problem is that they have four years they will need to explain away this election - and we need to hold their feet to the fire.

I say get back on the issues, compare what Bush said in 2000 and what he did since. Bushes promises and Bush actions will do him in. Bush/Cheney has to answer for what they have done - not what they said they would do and what they will do for the next four years. The GOP party is the ultimate flip floppers and the ultimate hypocrites.

[ljm2002]

24. What Bush said, vs. what he did...

...yes, we need to hammer on it.

The Republicans are using exactly this phrase re Kerry: "John Kerry: there's what he says, and then what he does."

We need to find our own phrase, but get across EXACTLY the same idea w.r.t. Bush. God knows he's given us enough to work with.

[Poiuyt]

21. This has already started.

Last week when Cheney came out and said that he opposed an amendment against gay marraiges. That was to make him look moderate. Did it work?

[hatrack]

22. Anyone else breathlessly awaiting the "soft bigotry of low expectations"?

"The healing power of faith-based organizations"

"An America of ownership"

"Lift every willing heart"

"America's armies of compassion"

"Loving your neighbor like you'd love to be loved yourself"?

"Love, love me do
You know I love you
I'll always be true
So pleeeease,
Love me do"

[Zen Democrat]

23. Bush is stupid for saying "We got the job done for seniors."

I know lots of seniors -- and they think Bush just
screwed everybody to give money to the drug companies
and the seniors get squat.

Heard one lady say at the pharmacy that the drug card
she bought for $30 won't pay for itself by the pittance
of savings on her prescriptions. Her doctor changed her
medication and the new medication wasn't covered by
the drug card she had purchased and she's locked in for
a year.

It's all just a scam with the taxpayers paying billions
to drug companies and the seniors paying for these cards
that don't do diddley.

This line about how he "got the job done" will just
INFURIATE seniors on medicare who struggles with paying
for their medications.

[jerryvov]

26. Got the job done....

<snip>This line about how he "got the job done" will just
INFURIATE seniors on medicare who struggles with paying
for their medications <snip>

Yeah, the latest iteration of "Mission Accomplished". I'd like to see Kerry's tacticians take that phrase and stuff it down the Repub's gullets all during the RNC convention. Frame the rhetoric against the reality:

the eight hundred more dead Americans in Iraq, the thousands of wounded, where's Osama?, unemployment at record highs, jobs outsourced and still hemmhorraging, education unfunded, vets benefits unfunded, social security in trouble for the next generation, seniors scared to death about rising medical costs...

Kerry's folks should pound away at the ludicrous, hollowness of That "Mission Accomplished" photo-op stunt the chimp-in-chief tried to pull...and the real pain his administration has visited on so many working people and middle class families...and harangue the shit out of the media until they begin to ask those questions too.

[Jack Rabbit]

25. The Compassionate Conservative emerges every four years

The fascist will be back right after the election.