The worst name President Bush gets called is Hitler. The second worst is Liar. I started thinking last night about how the many people who hate Bush often hate him because they say he's a liar. He lied about WMDs. He lied about his military record. He lied about the plastic turkey. He lies.
I find this odd because some of the most vocal people on the Left shouldn't call that kettle black. It has been shown many times that Michael Moore's movies and books are full of lies and misleading information. The singer Moby has advocated lying in order to trick people into voting Democrat, and the good folks at Democratic Underground took it one step further (one example: falsely report Republicans in your area for tax fraud). And recently Howell Raines offered John Kerry some advice for winning the election: lie.
What does this mean in terms of campaign message? It means that he must appeal to the same emotions that attract voters to Republicans - ie greed and the desire to fix the crap-shoot in their favour. That means that instead of talking about "fixing" social security, you talk about building a retirement system that makes middle-class voters believe they will be semi-rich someday. As matters now stand, Kerry has assured the DLC, "I am not a redistributionist Democrat."
That's actually a good start. Using that promise as disinformation, he must now figure out a creative way to become a redistributionist Democrat. As a corporation-bashing populist, I'd like to think he could do that by promising to make every person's retirement as secure as Cheney's investment in Halliburton. But that won't sell with the sun-belt suburbanites. Not being a trained economist like, say, Arthur Laffer, I can't figure out the exact legerdemain that Kerry ought to endorse. But greed will make folks vote for Democrats if it's properly packaged, just as it now makes them vote Republican, and in terms of the kind of voters Kerry must win away from Bush, I think the pot-of-gold retirement strategy is a way to work. Forget a chicken in every pot. It's time for a Winnebago in every driveway.
I just find it amusing that the thing many claim to hate most about President Bush is the thing they advocate when it suits their agenda.
Posted by Sarah at June 3, 2004 02:35 PMDoesn't it seem a bit strange to judge the President by the standard of Michael Moore, Moby [!] and anonymous posters on an Internet Bulletin Board?
Posted by: Groucho at June 3, 2004 05:21 PMNot when what they are advising you to do is get rid of the President. If Moby were lying about his record sales, then it would be false to equate the two and say "both left and right lie". But these people are basically saying, "We need to lie to get rid of this liar." That's why I think this particular point is valid.
Posted by: Sarah at June 3, 2004 05:33 PMThey keep saying Bush lied because it's exactly what they would do if they were in Bush's shoes. So far as I know none of the "lies" Bush is accused of, have been proven. And many more lies have been told about Bush to cover up this little fact.
Oddly enough Bush is the first politician I've ever seen where I believe he means what he says. I don't always "like" what he says (the medicare bill still makes me cringe) but he says he's going to do something and he does it! The most amazing thing I've ever seen in a politician.
I'm pretty sure this scares the bejesus out of the lefties. They are so used to hearing people say things. Then it never comes to pass because the person who said it never had any intention of following through. That's why they are so comfortable with the European governments...
Teresa,
"They keep saying Bush lied because it's exactly what they would do if they were in Bush's shoes."
As I've been saying, Leftists are projectionists. They cannot imagine any other form of behavior but their own. They love dictators. So Bush must be a dictator too. But unlike Castro et al., he's on the Dark Side. Hence no free passes for him.
Posted by: Amritas at June 5, 2004 12:55 PM