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6 October, 2004
Have Bush's handlers given up all hope their candidate
can survive a direct side-by-side comparison to Kerry in the debates?
Is spin all they have left?
Following Uncle Cheney's failed attempt the night before to save Junior's presidency,
CNN, FOX and MSNBC surrendered the airwaves to the Bush campaign Wednesday
morning for a lengthy uninterrupted block of time,
after the administration announced a major
presidential address. It seemed like they were about to pull Osama out of a
bag and clinch the
election or at least announce a major decision
or a new policy.
But it was just Bush at a rally, attempting to draw attention away from his
whimpy, pathetic performance anxiety Thursday night.
He seemed much more at ease and
confident during the Wilkes-Barre, PA speech, punctuated as it was
by supporters applauding
and chanting support of his every syllable. Bush paused frequently
only to get instant cheers as he grinned ear to ear, his pleasure
bubbling over the adoring spin zone. He is the Master Cheerleader.
How did Bush transform himself so completely from the Thursday night debate?
Bush drew flawlessly on his college days as a cheerleader.
Hand picking and thoroughly warming up the crowd, he effortlessly orchestrated
his band of cheerleaders for the cameras and microphones.
The president clearly was pumped, maybe he had forgotten his medication Thursday night.
Bush burns with
convincing passion as he leads his trained cheerleaders in fenced-in spin
zones on the campaign trail, but why does his motor sputter
in front of the american people?
Think back now, to your high school days, and imagine what would happen if
you compelled one
of your school's cheerleaders to take the place of the quarterback during a
highly contested football game?
Assuming you could get her in the game, big if, assuming she doesn't screech
in fear of the opposing team, big if,
she would certainly choke!
In case you're not familiar with school yard jargon, "choke" means to fumble
or drop the ball on the easiest of plays
when the pressure is on.
Now you tell me, what did Bush do on debate night?
We need to replace the cheerleader with a first-string Quarterback.
A Quarterback who doesn't hide in
campaign rally spin zones. A Quarterback who when criticized for putting
our young men and women in front of enemy bullets
won't cower in front of his opponent's words or duck under skirts of campaign
rally groupies.
Lousy sit-coms need a laugh track and lousy leaders need a cheer track.
They say Bush is so amiable and works a crowd so well,
but although he can work a sworn republican crowd into a cheer track for his
TV spots and to distort news coverage,
balanced american crowds are not so easy to whip up into mindless adoration.
Have you noticed he often tends to take awhile
to warm up when doing real 'public' speaking where his people don't filter
and then control the crowd, where he must choose his own words.
Oh they (his handlers) hate it when he tries to put words together.
He rarely
leaves his self-created spin zones of advisors and
campaign cheerleaders and when he does emerge briefly into the real
world he needs some time to shift his mind-set,
apparently to get out of his little spin zone trance. Just like a teenager
who suffers DTs if their parents make them take off their headphones for
5 minutes to wash the dishes or something,
Bush just can't function well without a continuous, supportive stream of feedback.
He's like your crazy uncle or brother who can't get out of bed without a
reinforcing dose of Rush Limbaugh's bullsh*t.
If I wanted to help Mr. Bush, which I don't, I would advise
him to do a tough news conference or other public appearance where criticism
is at least possible, where the pressure is really on,
and do it just hours before the next debate to really test his mettle and get
his mind and wits warmed up. But I thank God he won't. He'll
warm up, as usual, before adoring fans filling himself with pride only to
find the hot air useless in a debate once again.
If he wants to save his presidency, perhaps he should follow JFK's lead
after the Bay-of-Pigs. After that debacle JFK surrounded
himself with advisors who would challenge him, disagree with him and be
sure he is well exposed to all points of view.
The exact opposite is Bush's 'no-spine' zone where none dare disagree.
He calls it 'no mixed messages'.
The President actually brags that he doesn't read newspapers!
He thinks he's bragging. He brags that he never does any
self-examination. A born again christian who never examines his conscience,
who's never wrong, see any contadiction there?
So much for all of us being sinners. George just isn't one of us.
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