Role play: You are John Kerry...

[Guynemer]

...and it is Saturday, 20 August, 2005.

The man who beat you in a Presidential election over nine months ago, George W. Bush, is struggling. His closest advisor is the focus of an investigation involving the outing of a CIA operative; Iraq continues to implode, as now the arbitrary Constitutional deadline seems to be spurring a move towards Islamic law and fewer rights for women; more members of his own party are questioning his leadership and plan of war; his poll numbers appear to be dropping towards the 30s.

And this is the same man who beat the piss out of you in November.

Do you:

A) Cry yourself to sleep every night like a little girl.
B) Slit your wrists
C) Hunt down the people who ran your campaign and execute them, gangland-style
D) All of the above
E) Other

[Thorn]

Threatening a Senator is a serious crime, you'll have homeland security descend upon you if you aren't careful.

[DanS]

I don't think Bush is struggling. Most of his policies are running smoothly.

Besides, Bush is a good politician who is underestimated all the time by everybody except his allies. I thought Kerry ran at least a half-way competent campaign. Bush would have rolled over everybody else in the Democratic field. If Kerry is hugely disappointed in his effort, it's mainly because of his hubris and the overwhelming hubris of the Democratic Party.

[Datajack Franit]

I think Kerry itself is the only person to blame for losing the elections, you cannot become president by coming up with something stupid every single day of your campaign

[monolith94]

I'd raise taxes, obviously. Because I'm a democrat, and that's just what we do.

[Sandman]

Well, he's probably thankful that he doesn't have to deal with Iraq himself. He never had any particularly strong ideas on that front.

[boann]

c of course...
well with some edit ... should hunt them down and expose them for the morons they were. let the press do the hanging...
though in his situation.. its too little too late..
might as well do A.

[Tuberski]

First, I'd get my neck bolts greased.

ACK!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Guynemer
And this is the same man who beat the piss out of you in November.

51-48 is hardly "beating the piss," and is much closer than it seemed it would be 2 weeks before the election.

I don't think Bush is struggling.

Kerry ran at least a half-way competent campaign.

Bush would have rolled over everybody else in the Democratic field.

I don't think it would have been any different, as people weren't really voting on the men in 2004. Although I think Clark would have been more of threat than Kerry was.

Besides, if the GOP couldn't Swiftboat the Dem candidate, things would likely have been tougher for Bush.

If Kerry is hugely disappointed in his effort, it's mainly because of his hubris and the overwhelming hubris of the Democratic Party.

Well, at least their hubris didn't lead to a boondoggle of a war that is getting American men and women killed nearly daily. Oopsie.

[Sava]

Originally posted by DanS
I don't think Bush is struggling.

that's why you take the short bus to school, eh?

Most of his policies are running smoothly.

[DanS]

I think all democrats should be ashamed that they can't stop Bush from doing what he wants to do, how he wants to do it. Kerry at least put up a spirited and competent fight.

Since when have any democrats been able to even push back on one of his policies? He wants to confirm his guy to the SC? No problem. He wants to pass an energy bill? No problem. He wants to pass a highways bill? No problem. He wants his budget passed? No problem. Etc. Etc.

Before the year's through, I half expect to see Social Security reform passed, and Bush's second term agenda put through on a clean sweep, as no other second-term president that I can recall has done. He's already made Reagan look like a piker. Remember "dead on arrival"?

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the Democrats still underestimating Bush after getting their clocks cleaned by him for years. Hey, maybe Bush will even increase his seats in the congress next election, like excedingly few second-termers before him.

[Sava]

what a strange world some people live in

[GhengisFarb™]

Just wait, DanS. They're gonna get Hillary in the White House next time around and then we're gonna pay!

[alva]

Originally posted by monolith94
I'd raise taxes, obviously. Because I'm a democrat, and that's just what we do.

Version1:

[alva]

Version2:

[DanS]

No Child Left Behind. Tax cuts. Intelligence Reform. Faith-based initiatives. Prescription drugs for Medicare. Partial-birth abortion. CAFTA. Energy. Class action lawsuit reform.

The man gets what he wants.

[GePap]

What are you smoking DanS?

his social security plan is dead already.

Lay of the ganga man, obviously it does funny things to your mind.

[DanS]

Hey, his energy bill was dead too. What happened?

It was signed into law over feeble democratic opposition, when his approval ratings were in the mid-40s. Good job Democrats!

[GhengisFarb™]

Don't taunt them too much, their doing what we want currently.

[Ben Kenobi]

A sounds best to me.

[Sava]

I love how DanS mentions No Child Left Behind as a "success"

[GePap]

Originally posted by DanS
Hey, his energy bill was dead too. What happened?

It was signed into law over feeble democratic opposition, when his approval ratings were in the mid-40s. Good job Democrats!

Hmm, an energy bill that did not include drilling in ANWAR? And that was panned as little more than corporate pork, which congress never relly battles anyways?

Yeah, a great success.

/me calls the cops to take our little junkie home.

[Admiral]

Compare Bush's second term success to that of a second term president with a same-party Congress in the past fifty years, and then we'll have a ballgame.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Thorn
Threatening a Senator is a serious crime,

No it isn't.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by DanS
I think all democrats should be ashamed that they can't stop Bush from doing what he wants to do, how he wants to do it. Kerry at least put up a spirited and competent fight.

Man, it must be fun in your world.

The GOP should be ashamed that the Democrats have successfully stymied Bush as much as they have, considering the majorities they enjoy in both houses of congress. That the Dems were even able to force a compromise on the fillibuster is astonishing. And Bush's SS plan is dead, even Republicans aren't going near it.

And the budget? Gee, Clinton got his passed with a hostile opposition-controlled congress that ended up humiliated and politically damaged at the end. Let's see Bush top that.

[Imran Siddiqui]

The GOP should be ashamed that the Democrats have successfully stymied Bush as much as they have, considering the majorities they enjoy in both houses of congress.

That was the point I was going to bring up. Kind of sad that Bush isn't getting everything he wants when his party controls both houses. Reid really has done a pretty good job. The Dems have avoided charges of being 'obstructionists' sticking while having Bush's approval ratings going down and down and down.

DanS is drinking the kool-aid. It's sad really.

[chequita guevara]

What's really scary is that conservatives are now booing people like Orin Hatch as not conservative enough. The right wing of the GOP is really going off the deep end.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm sure the right wing of the GOP is having a fit over Chuck Hegel! The guy is a conservative, but he simply can't take Bush's lies anymore and he's not sitting back and shutting his mouth.

[Drake Tungsten]

I'd prefer Hegel to our current showboating Senator...

[MarkG]

bush doesnt have to do much know. he got what wanted, a place in history as one of the few 2-terms presidents....