Kerry can let Bush's bad news speak for itself

[JoFerret]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/orourke/cst-edt-rour06.html

The wheels haven't entirely fallen off the Bush administration, although there are signs indicating they might: CIA head George Tenet resigning, President Bush looking for a private lawyer. Luckily, Bush has had the solace of Memorial Day observances and D-Day ceremonies, which have let him appear serious and somber, rather than worried and harried.

One recent sideshow of administrative disarray was the bureaucratic one-upmanship between Homeland Security czar Tom Ridge and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ridge said people should be observant but fun-seeking this summer, and Ashcroft warned of dire threats, displaying wanted-poster photos of terrorist suspects -- five Middle Eastern men and one woman, a physician, in addition to an American youth -- to be on the lookout for. Ashcroft dragged along FBI head Robert Mueller: a mostly forgotten man since he came aboard the FBI shortly before 9/11 and hasn't been blamed for anything -- or been much in demand before congressional committees.

Ashcroft, whose background includes speaking in tongues, has broken records for the number of press conferences held in his first three years as attorney general. ....

If the terror alert level had been raised, Republican governors throughout the land would have been fighting mad (including Arnold Schwarzenegger!), seeing their state deficits grow even more to pay for what each terror-alert elevation costs -- costs that continue to be underfunded in the Bush budget-to-be.

....
Among Democrats, though, some sunshine has been spotted -- enough to say now that at least Bush might almost lose.

This presidential campaign will be largely spoken of in the negative, rather than the positive. And that will not be just the negative TV advertising that will enrich network and cable outlets throughout the nation: It is not whether Sen. John Kerry can win, but whether George W. Bush can lose.

Current newspaper articles about the Kerry campaign have a very decided ''by the way'' aspect these days: By the way, here's what Kerry did yesterday.

Kerry himself prefers to see this predicament as a glass half-full condition: that there is so much bad news for the president to deflect, there is no need for him to take center stage on practically any topic whatsoever.

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[Kolesar]

1. DU is just full of chuckles this morning

"Ashcroft, whose background includes speaking in tongues, has broken records for the number of press conferences held in his first three years as attorney general."

[olddem43]

2. Bush almost lose?

Well, he almost won last time.

[Moderator]

3. JoFerret

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