Bush's Fatal Political Mistake....

[kentuck]

George W Bush will lose the election on November 2nd. But, he really lost the day after he was inaugurated back in January of 2001. It was on that day that he made the decision to be a president for his right-wing supporters and to push the most right-wing agenda in the history of this country. This was so unwise because of the circumstances in which he took office.

Even with that blunder, he was offered a reprieve on September 11th of 2001. When the WTC and Pentagon were attacked, almost like an invisible stroke of luck, he inherited the good will of most of the nation and the world. All he had to do was play his cards right. But his right-wing philosophy and attitudes would not permit it. You were either with us or against us, he said. Before Osama bin Laden could slip into hiding, Bush was massing forces to invade Iraq and get rid of his and his father's nemesis, Saddam Hussein. Preemptively, without the support of our allies or the United Nations, we marched into Baghdad. Now, we find that everything Bush used as an excuse to invade was a lie.

So, what was his fatal mistake? He thought he didn't need anyone except his right-wing supporters. He was their president and he would push their agenda, to hell with everyone else. Rather than accepting the controversial Supreme Court decision with some humility and as an opportunity to unite this nation, he made the conscious decision to govern as if he had received one of history's largest mandates and, in the process, divided the nation and the world against us. This will be how history records the failed presidency of George W Bush.

[Melodybe]

1. I agree.

[ewagner]

2. Good point

I remember all the discussion between the "selection" and inauguration about how Bush would have to govern from the middle because of the deep divide in the country. If I'm not mistaken, it was Cheney who told Bush* and the media, that the closeness of the election didn't matter and he should/would govern like he was placed in the office by a landslide.

At that time the unbelievable arrogance of the administration revealed itself. Although it wasn't totally obvious at those early days, the extreme right wing agenda was foreshadowed in that decision.

I don't think we can say that he "lost the election" at that time only because we have not (as a party) forcefully articulated to the voting public that this is in deed an EXTREME RIGHT WING administration. If we can do that successfully, we will win.

[ProfessorPlum]

3. I agree, his inability to distance himself from his right wing base

will be his undoing.

But his calculations on that score may be a matter of pandering to them for a while to shore them up, and then trying to move toward the middle for the general election - only to find the wingers won't let him go. An excellent analysis of this written by Digby, entitled "Welcome to our nightmare, Mr. Rove", is at http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/000298.html

[htuttle]

7. Good article

I've thought precisely the same thing about Bush's attempt to use sexual orientation as a wedge issue. They are way too late for that one to work anymore.

[cthrumatrix]

4. I'll wait to see the e-voting effect...before I celebrate

[ClassWarrior]

5. Nonetheless, we need to keep fighting till November 2.

Bush* and his thugs won't hesitate to try and steal this one too. We need to make it impossible for them to do it.

[coloradodem2005]

6. We need to fight until January 20.

Even if he loses and everyone knows it, he will still be there for nearly 3 months. We need to keep our collective eyes on him during that time.

[jarab]

8. A good overview, bro.

With any political acumen he would have known that anyone doesn't have to cater to the extremes of his/her party.
The extreme left is so far removed from the right - and vice versa - that a fear of that group straying to the opposite pole is absurd. They may stay home or vote for an insignificant third/fourth/fifth party, but they aren't gonna vote for the other side. * did try to satisfy that fringe; where were they going?? They were locked in.
The middle and the near middles are all that's at stake.
...O....

[louis c]

9. very astute observation

[Q]

10. Well said...

...but considering that MILLIONS of Americans don't vote and the possibility of vote purging and election rigging...his RWing supporters MAY be all that he needs.

[sui generis]

11. I look forward to a day decades from now

when we are watching an "unbiased" documentary (on television?) about the rise and fall of George Bush. I hope that future generations will be as horrified as we were when we discovered that the strident and violent "protestors" who shut down the vote turned out to be nothing more than paid Republican political operatives manufacturing a riot with the intent of stealing the election, surely one of the darkest days of challenge to the democratic process and an outright attack on the one key thing that defines us as a democracy.

I hope that our children will have a sense of our outrage at watching the basic freedoms of our democracy evaporate under pettiness, mean mindedness and intentional fear mongering of this incompetent tit of a president and I hope that like other lessons of the past it serves as a warning to show how fascism under the guise of "conservative" thinking and overweening patriotism is still fascism.

I hope that the early parallels of comparing Jews to the downfall of civilization before taking away their rights to marriage, to hold property, and to have children are seen to parallel the discourse we hear about "same sex" marriage being the downfall of civilization as we plan to take away the rights of same sex couples to marry, raise families, and bequeath their property as they see fit.

We live under the yoke of a despotic regime, and the only saving grace is that it IS still a democracy and we can make it better by believing that there is something better to vote for than what is there now.

[wishlist]

12. Bush was the ultimate 'bait and switch' flip-flopper - faking moderation

and when his gang used strong-armed tactics to prevent a full recount in Florida, it was obvious all his campaign talk was a phony lie about having faith in the people and letting the people decide things.

Bushco is again pretending to be a compassionate conservative moderate by having speakers like Arnold, Giuliani and McCain as the keynote speakers. Surely moderate voters won't be fooled again after he cynically betrayed them.

I also heard him say in 2000 that he did not want to open up the Alaskan Wilderness to oil drilling.

I have volunteered to be a poll watcher at the elections this year.

[snippy]

13. Well put. I think his pandering to the Reich wing of the republican party

is a part of his odd fixation on avoiding what he sees as the mistakes Poppy made.