Okay, here's what I don't get.
Did President George W. Bush and his inner core of advisors learn absolutely nothing from the 1992 election? Or are they actively trying to lose?
On March 8th, Senator John Kerry made a comment at a fundraiser about how some un-named foreign leaders want him to win. The Republicans responded by challenging him name names, which Senator Kerry refused to do - citing a promise of confidentiality to those leaders.
In world run by intelligent people that would have been the end of it.
Instead, the White House has seemingly done everything in its power to keep this story alive.
Secretary of State Colin Powell was on the Sunday talk show circuit, again asking Senator Kerry to name names. Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at a fundraiser in Arizona, demanding that Kerry break his promise and name names. The President himself called on Senator Kerry to break his promise at a press conference with the prime minister from The Netherlands.
From a political standpoint, this is wonderful news to the Democrats. It reminds everyone that the Bush administration has made the United States very unpopular overseas (as if the umpteen demonstrations on our TV sets haven't already established it) and reinforces the notion that Senator Kerry can be counted on to keep his word (he promised confidentiality and he's keeping it - even when everyone is demanding that he not).
All of this reminds me of the Debate Chicken from 1992.
When President H.W. Bush didn't want to debate then Governor Bill Clinton, the Clinton campaign sent a guy in a chicken costume to some of the Bush-Quayle rallies. The Debate Chicken would have been a complete non-issue, a minor league diversion, if President Bush hadn't started talking to it.
Talking to the Debate Chicken gave the story a lot of life. It made people wonder why he'd debate a guy in a chicken suit when he wouldn't debate his Democratic rival.
In the end, the Bush campaign had to give in to growing public pressure and debate Bill Clinton on his terms.
The rest, as they say, is history. George H.W. Bush lost. Bill Clinton won.
And now the younger President Bush seems determined to repeat his father's mistakes on an even grander scale. No longer content with merely beating a dead horse at a campaign stop, he insists on doing in front of a network TV audience.
Unemployment is at a record high. Our coalition in Iraq is coming apart. American soldiers are coming home in body bags by the hundreds, often because the military won't put armor on their vehicles.
And the single thing that President Bush is concentrating on is lambasting Senator Kerry for not breaking a promise.
All of this makes me wonder - did the Republicans learn nothing from 1992? Or they actually trying to throw this election?
Did President George W. Bush and his inner core of advisors learn absolutely nothing from the 1992 election? Or are they actively trying to lose?
On March 8th, Senator John Kerry made a comment at a fundraiser about how some un-named foreign leaders want him to win. The Republicans responded by challenging him name names, which Senator Kerry refused to do - citing a promise of confidentiality to those leaders.
In world run by intelligent people that would have been the end of it.
Instead, the White House has seemingly done everything in its power to keep this story alive.
Secretary of State Colin Powell was on the Sunday talk show circuit, again asking Senator Kerry to name names. Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at a fundraiser in Arizona, demanding that Kerry break his promise and name names. The President himself called on Senator Kerry to break his promise at a press conference with the prime minister from The Netherlands.
From a political standpoint, this is wonderful news to the Democrats. It reminds everyone that the Bush administration has made the United States very unpopular overseas (as if the umpteen demonstrations on our TV sets haven't already established it) and reinforces the notion that Senator Kerry can be counted on to keep his word (he promised confidentiality and he's keeping it - even when everyone is demanding that he not).
All of this reminds me of the Debate Chicken from 1992.
When President H.W. Bush didn't want to debate then Governor Bill Clinton, the Clinton campaign sent a guy in a chicken costume to some of the Bush-Quayle rallies. The Debate Chicken would have been a complete non-issue, a minor league diversion, if President Bush hadn't started talking to it.
Talking to the Debate Chicken gave the story a lot of life. It made people wonder why he'd debate a guy in a chicken suit when he wouldn't debate his Democratic rival.
In the end, the Bush campaign had to give in to growing public pressure and debate Bill Clinton on his terms.
The rest, as they say, is history. George H.W. Bush lost. Bill Clinton won.
And now the younger President Bush seems determined to repeat his father's mistakes on an even grander scale. No longer content with merely beating a dead horse at a campaign stop, he insists on doing in front of a network TV audience.
Unemployment is at a record high. Our coalition in Iraq is coming apart. American soldiers are coming home in body bags by the hundreds, often because the military won't put armor on their vehicles.
And the single thing that President Bush is concentrating on is lambasting Senator Kerry for not breaking a promise.
All of this makes me wonder - did the Republicans learn nothing from 1992? Or they actually trying to throw this election?
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