Bush shol does a lot of politickin'

[Timexwatch]

I was at the NRCC Presidential Dinner tonight, and it's amazing how much each and every speaker, from the President, to Frist and Hastert down to the NRCC and NRSC (?) people stay on message. Bush, when he's on his game like he was tonight, can definitely motivate the party base and average people. He's excellent at being "on high" while avoiding the nitty gritty of partisan politics (i.e. he didn't dump on Dean).

On the other hand, Hastert, Frist and the Congressional leadership hammered Dean on several occasions. Mark my words, they are doing all they can to make Howard Dean the angry face of the party. Expect all the congressional leadership to harp on this.


(and for full disclosure, I work for Republican-leaning lobbying and fundraising operatives)

[Dinner]

Republicans have a planning group which decides the weeky message then the e-nail gets sent out and everyone is expected to repeat the same message over and over again even if it has nothing to do with the truth. From Congressional staffers up to the President everyone uses the exact same phrases ("fair up or down vote" type rubbish). The only difference is Bush tries to keep his hands clean so he can look presidential while sending out hoards of attack dogs to do his dirty work for him. Thank Karl Rove.

[Bosh]

I can't believe that anyone thinks that Bush's folksy act is anything but an act (to at least some extent). I'm sorry but if your parents are New England patricians and you went to Andover and Yale than you don't speak like that, no matter how long you've lived in Texas unless you're consciously trying to.