Dukakis: Why Bush Is Vulnerable (interview)|BusinessWeek

[ima_sinnic]

The man who lost to George W.'s dad in '88 now says "a foreign policy gone awry, plus a weak economy" could undo this President in '04

Michael S. Dukakis, who in 1988 battled a candidate named George Bush, has been out of elective politics since 1991, when he completed a record 12-year stint as governor of Massachusetts. Now 69, Dukakis is vice-chairman of the Amtrak board and a Distinguished Professor of political science at Northeastern University He is also a fervent supporter of Senator John F. Kerry, his lieutenant governor in the early 1980s.

On a warm summer afternoon, Dukakis sat down in his small, brick-lined office on Northeastern's Boston campus to talk with BusinessWeek's William C. Symonds about the 2004 Presidential contest. Edited excerpts follow. Note: This is an extended, online-only version of the interview that appears in the July 21, 2003 issue of BusinessWeek.

Q: Do the Democrats have a realistic chance of unseating President Bush next year?
A: There isn't any question that most Democrats, myself included, feel that this is the worst Administration we've ever lived under. There is a very powerful feeling that we've got to get this guy out of there. Bush has problems, and he's beatable. Any of us who have been in this business know that favorability is meaningless. It is the reelect question -- if the election were held tomorrow, would you vote for him? -- (that is key). . . .

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_29/b3842080.htm

[osaMABUSh]

1. That's nice but I don't think anyone is listening to Dukakis

it's like if Bob Dole said something - we wouldn't bother listening.

[Julien Sorel]

4. It doesn't matter if anyone listens; what matters is if

his analysis is correc.

[ed_vadem]

5. the Duke was a good man who tried hard

he was 18 points ahead when I left the Natl Convention in Atlanta in Aupust of 1988 as a Natl. Delegate

Until he got into that damm tank with a combat helmet no less and then answered the question about the penalty for a hypothetical "rapist" of his wife Kitty, we had a modest chance.

Atleast he gets to help host the Boston2004 Natl Convention.

[w4rma]

2. I wonder what BusinessWeek left out of the print version

Edited excerpts follow. Note: This is an extended, online-only version of the interview that appears in the July 21, 2003 issue of BusinessWeek.

[baby_bear]

3. Get this 'question' from the interviewer. Geez.

<snip>
But unlike his father, George Bush the son has moved far faster to address recession.
</snip>

Huh? That question (a non-question) totally discredits the interviewer.

s_m