Everything is so damn scripted that the debates essentially come down to sound bites and style.
Last time around, most people didn't know Bush at all. His down-home, folksy, "regular guy" thing was relatively easy to sell. (Hey, I bought it!)
Not so this time.
The whole "regular guy" thing falls real flat coming from someone who twice pushed for tax cuts that benefitted only the most wealthy of Americans.
And the "America ought not be in the business of nation building" thing won't fly either. Can you guess why not?
He can no longer deceive people by telling them he is a "moderate". Anyone who spends as much time in bed with Christian extremists as Bush does (blocking embryonic stem cell research, proposing an amendment to the US constitution to deny gay Americans their civil rights, nominating people for positions in the US court system who hold strong personal beliefs against current law)...... well, most Americans won't be buying the "moderate" thing.
Last time around, he threw out the "No Child Left Behind" thing, it had such a nice catchy ring to it. Anyone in education, anyone with a child in public schools, will not be buying that catchy phrase anymore.
And, perhaps most importantly, I'll bet he'll have a tough time trying to sell us the "I'm a uniter, not a divider" thing that really went over so well last time. No way this time. America has not been this divided in decades, along every issue. The divisions are deep and painful, and Bush own them. (These divisions, the pain they bring to decent Americans, this will surely be Bush's legacy.)
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The difference this time around is that Bush has to run on his record, and debate on his record.
Only now, we know the man, we know what he has done to this country, we know what's really in his heart because of the people with whom he has surrounded himself, we know what a dismal failure his domestic policy has been, we know how his arrogant, unjustified, unilateral invasion of Iraq had made is less safe from the real threat of terrorism, we know about all the lies ....we know .... we know this is no "regular guy".
"someone who twice pushed for tax cuts that benefitted only the most wealthy of Americans."
Well, if you don't pay taxes, like most poor people, how is a tax cut supposed to help you? I am middle class and I paid less in federal taxes last year. I was helped.
McGentrix wrote:"someone who twice pushed for tax cuts that benefitted only the most wealthy of Americans."
Well, if you don't pay taxes, like most poor people, how is a tax cut supposed to help you? I am middle class and I paid less in federal taxes last year. I was helped.
That's why there is H & R Block. How did you come to the conclusion that 'most' poor people do not pay taxes?
By looking at the tax code. If you make under a certain amount (I am not sure of the amount and I do not feel like looking it up) you receive a full refund of ALL federal taxes. With deductions, the income bracket rises.
It has been discussed before.
How can Bush's domestic policy be a failure, angie, when the current numbers are better than Clinton's when he was "so great".
"someone who twice pushed for tax cuts that benefitted only the most wealthy of Americans."
Well, if you don't pay taxes, like most poor people, how is a tax cut supposed to help you? I am middle class and I paid less in federal taxes last year. I was helped. <--- McG
How about we don't cut taxes, yaknow, at all, during times of record federal spending?
I know that you were helped by your lower taxes. But it's the younger generation (re: me) who is going to be paying to clean up this mess of a defecit. >
Cycloptichorn
Yeah, just like we are paying for the huge deficits that happened during the Carter and Reagan administrations.
