Stories of Smirk's drug/booze abuse will not hurt him

[radiclib]

so let's please forget going there. Bush's evangelical base see him as a "born-again", so anything he did before The Awakening is forgiven. I doubt if anyone else really gives a rat's ass. Now, if we can start some rumors that he's fallen off the wagon, that's different.:evilgrin:

[Zen Democrat]

1. We're not going there. Kitty Kelley is. It can't HELP him.

And the allegations from SHARON BUSH have this happening while Poppy was president -- which is AFTER he was "born again."

George H.W. Bush took office in 1989 -- 14 years ago. Bush had his great awakening at the age of 40. Since he's 58 ... Houston, they have a problem.

[radiclib]

25. Kitty Kelly will be immediately labelled a gossipmonger

which will stick with most voters, who already regard her as such. Remember her Sinatra bio and it's claim that Ol' Blue Eyes had an affair with Nancy Reagan? That one really resonated, huh?

[freetobegay]

2. Thats why he's becomea born again Christian

So his past can't be held against him!

[liveoaktx]

3. Not true. He was hurt in the 2000 election when the evidence

about his drunken driving conviction in his 30's came out. At least part of that was the fact that he hid it instead of coming clean.

[liveoaktx]

22. Adding link about that

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/02/politics/main246482.shtml

The GOP nominee, who has made character a central plank of his campaign, spoke a day after he was forced to admit that at age 30 he had been arrested for drunk driving in Kennebunkport, Maine, pleaded guilty, paid a $150 fine and had his permission to drive suspended for 30 days.

The acknowledgement came after a local TV reporter, Erin Fehlau, obtained a copy of the court docket of Bush's arrest.

[latebloomer]

4. What about his "gasp" gay relationship?

Won't that get them all a-quiver?

[skooooo]

5. I agree..

..Americans have heard these stories so many times, I don't think anyone cares. Unless Bush brings up Kerry's past (which I'm not sure there even is one as far as drugs), I think it better to leave it alone.

Just more delving into the past like the whole Vietnam debate.

[oasis]

6. Trash the Chimp. It's all good.

:bounce:

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

7. Not true

I don't care what you think you know about "evangelicals"--I know tons of them and if the accusations are vile enough, numerous enough and questionable enough, it WILL leave a bad taste in their mouth. In fact, it's about the only that will turn them off to bush.

Besides, Kelly wrote it. Her business. It will hurt bush--the question is how much.

[Zen Democrat]

8. Again, anything that happened during Poppy's term is AFTER conversion.

[Chomskyite]

27. You got it

I guess those Bible study sessions with Don Evans just weren't giving him enough of a natural high, eh?

[Southsideirish]

9. As long as they have the media in their pocket - nothing will

ever land on him.

[seabeyond]

10. enough, if this man has done coke three decades

adn we are relying on his brain when it comes to peoples lives, soldiers lives, we and they deserve more

lets do some research on what long term coke us does to the brain. anyone know anyone who has a three decade cocaine use

what is it on and off, with his addiction problem, we know he has with alchol, how could it be recreational
and has he gone thru a treatment plan, do we know if he is even off now.

when coke i was thinking a couple years in youth, not a lifestyle

[leftofthedial]

11. he could kill and eat a baby on prime time national TV

and the loonie zealots would rationalize it somehow.

He has been annointed as holy. He'd get away with absolutely anything.

He has not only committed crimes, including treason, lied repeatedly, botched what should have been a cakewalk victory in Iraq, destroyed the international credibility of the US, encouraged the elimination of 4 million jobs (don't believe what the DOL tells you), and ruined the US economy for decades to come . . .

He has utterly shat upon the alleged "conservatives" own principles. He has borrowed trillions and increased the deficit to record levels. He has waged the most interventionist foreign policy in US history. He has increased the net tax burden of the middle class. He has dramatically increased the size and intrusiveness of the federal government.

If they forgive this, they'll forgive anything.

[MikeG]

12. That where this is going. He did coke after 1986.

After he "found" Jesus.

[jfalchion]

13. RW mirrorworld

Do you mean that in the RW mirrorworld it could help him? Those imbeciles are hopelessly lost. It will probably catch a few in the middle. One here, one there.

:kick:

[bambo53]

14. You're right,

Please no more threads about GW Bush being a coke snortin, war desertin, AWOL, drunk drivin, lyin, stealin, abortion gettin, pin head. It makes me angry and sad to hear some people say that Laura Bush killed an innocent 17 year old boy and never got charged for it.

So please people, stop saying Bush is a coke snortin, war desertin, drunk drivin, pin head. Please.

[DixieDem]

15. Okay... but I'd really like to know...

Does she address the abortion rumor? If so, this will be HUGE!

[no_hypocrisy]

16. I'm not convinced it will hurt him. This guy is a real "Elmer Gantry".

In the Sinclair Lewis novel, the protagonist is a real son-of-a-bitch who is a drunkard, womanizer, liar, thief, etc. and goes around passing himself off as a Christian minister. He betrays his best friend, Jim Leffers. He ruins the life of a woman in his church with whom he has a love affair (on her past at least).

At the very end of the story (WARNING: SPOILER!!), the congregation and the town have caught on to his pretense and want to hold him accountable.

Elmer's solution: he goes in front of the crowd, announces all the accusations are true (goes into details), he is unworthy, and . . . he realizes all his errors, he is sinful, and he doesn't deserve their forgiveness.

Yes, they forgive that rascal and Elmer goes off scott-free into the sunset.

Life imitates art as much as the other way 'round. I have no doubt * could steal a page from Elmer's playbook, and we won't have gained any ground.

[PurityOfEssence]

17. It'll hurt some, so it's worth a little effort

Life is complex; even those who spend every waking hour coming up with constructs that this isn't true are subject to the complexity of life.

Many supporters will be disgusted with this, especially because it was done in the sacred Presidential Compound. This having been done AFTER his conversion will tweak some of the fundies, even though it'll be hard to believe that their enthusiasm will be dampened any.

Bush has support from many quarters, and many of those people DO have a moral compass. For him to have been a HEAVY USER of a HARD DRUG that was a major criminal activity won't sit well.

What will hurt more than anything else is the hypocrisy issue. It's virtually impossible for any sentient being to not know that he's lied to serve his ends, and those people can couch it with justifications of the greater good, but the habitual lying about personal activity is not serving anyone but him personally.

His character is the greatest issue of this election; it's greater than the war, the creeping godstuff, the environmental ruination, the sputtering economy or anything else. He's a selfish, lying, sybaritic nobody, and that'll peel off some of the soft supporters.

The drug use shouldn't be a "big" issue, but it's worth a little effort to sow more seeds of doubt and disgust.

[Zen Democrat]

18. I happened upon a Baptist internet forum a few weeks ago by mistake &

was pretty heartened by what I read. There was an intense debate going on and quite a few of the faithful were definitely not supporting Bush because they felt like he is using Christians for his election and several were quoting scripture to show that what he is doing is not biblical.

I thought that was very interesting. Just goes to show you that some of the sheep aren't fooled.

[Dr Fate]

19. He needs to answer the questions about this, like Kerry & Edwards did:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x758130

It cant help him. I say we RIDE this pony.

[troublemaker]

20. With only 56 days to go that which doesn't help you hurts you.

Noriega can't vote, so this doesn't help Bush.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. Smirk has made "moral leadership" the major issue of his campaign

His campaign contrasts Kerry the so-called flip-flopper to Bush the no nonsense straight shooter. His campaign has accused Kerry of failing to define himself with Bush, the simple ordinary man of the people who, like your next door neighbor, is someone you would feel comfortable having a beer with. Even the terrorist war issue resides on the issue of "moral leadership", as Cheney accuses Kerry of nuance and being too sensitive with Bush being a simple and direct leader. The whole Republican campaign resides on the idea that, with Bush, you know where you stand because he's simple to understand.

If we find out that Mr. Bush is a marketing fabrication and that he's not John Wayne at the Alamo, that he's someone with no morality and certainly not moral leadership, that instead he's a political opportunist who has invented himself as a Born Again Christian after losing a Congressional election in Texas years ago where, after which, he vowed never again to get "out Jesused" in a political campaign...won't these findings be highly relevant to the major issue in this campaign?

[Scorpious_Maximus]

23. I think he has fallen off the wagon. n/t

[Jawja]

24. Exactly.

I agree. It doesn't matter what * might have or not have done in the past. He is a born again Evangelical "Christian" and his base will disregard it.

[Chomskyite]

26. The DUI story in 2000 definitely hurt hm though.

I don't think there's any doubt his poll numbers took a beating because of that story.

[vetwife]

28. Gay even from Bush is an abomination to God....in their Book and

to them that is one sin that would be hard to swallow..pardon the pun ! They cannot and would not accept even an x gay as a right wing candidate. Nope. I know these folks. Gays even in the past is not really forgiven. Especially if he was married when this all took place. They also believe once Gay always Gay.