The Texecutioner's Song: Part I

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Saturday September 10, 2011 · 6:08 PM PDT

2011/09/10 · 18:08

I called the 2004 election for George W. Bush on October 8, the night of his second debate with John Kerry.

Political analysts and media critics said the town hall debate ranked as a tie (the previous and following meetings were solid Kerry victories), but by the end of the night it didn’t matter if they ever met on stage again.

The moment I knew Bush would coast into another four-year term occurred during an exchange about tax rates on small businesses. Kerry said Bush’s policy made “small businesses” out of everything and everyone. He cited a report about Bush’s tax filings showing the president had an $84-dollar income from a timber company, a meager amount that nonetheless qualified Bush as a small business owner.

Bush’s response sealed any lingering hope I had that he would lose.

“I own a timber company?” he asked the crowd. “That’s news to me.” And with a pause that should be studied by every politician wanting to master the art of public speaking, Bush added, “Need some wood?”

MuddyPolitics

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Wednesday September 07, 2011 · 7:11 PM PDT

2011/09/07 · 19:11

As much as the debate hosts tried to pit Republican against Republican (something Newt Gingrich pointed out again, just as in the last debate), the candidates held the course in turning every question into an attack on President Obama's leadership abilities – particularly his management of the recession.

Surely the debate won't have the audience of an NFL opener, but will the continuous criticisms of Obama – and the media coverage that follows – affect how the American public feels about the president?

Values over Victory

MuddyPolitics

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Wednesday September 07, 2011 · 1:52 PM PDT

2011/09/07 · 13:52

– from MuddyPolitics.com –

Republicans care more about morality than they do victory, according to a July public opinion poll, and both God and the Democratic Party have rejoiced in the news, although for different reasons.

A McClatchy-Marist poll found that 38 percent of prospective Republican voters want a GOP nominee who shares their values, compared to 15 percent who prefer a candidate who can win.

Winning isn’t everything, as they say, but in most cases people just say that as a justification for losing. The primary season is still months away, leaving pols in D.C. scratching their heads wondering whether this is early onset defeatism or the overzealous idealism of a truly principled, pious Christian demographic.

MuddyPolitics

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Tuesday September 06, 2011 · 5:52 PM PDT

2011/09/06 · 17:52

By Nicholas Wilbur

When standing with a full field of political goons and professional gaffers, and with the press corps salivating like rabid wolves on the sidelines, not looking like a dunce is akin to victory, and momentary sanity equates to electability.

MuddyPolitics

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Tuesday September 06, 2011 · 8:56 AM PDT

2011/09/06 · 08:56

by Nicholas Wilbur

There are a million ridiculous factors by which we judge a presidential candidate’s ability to run the country: charisma, attractiveness, faith, height, weight, hair color.

MuddyPolitics

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Monday September 05, 2011 · 7:43 PM PDT

2011/09/05 · 19:43

Approximately 8 million Americans have lost their jobs since 2008.

The United States poverty rate hit a 15-year high in 2009.

A million people lost their homes in 2010, and economists predict that the 5 million homeowners who are already months behind in their mortgage payments will make the 2011 foreclosure numbers even bleaker.

Here’s to hopin’ they don’t vote!

MuddyPolitics

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 05, 2011 · 7:39 PM PDT

2011/09/05 · 19:39

In 2008, the Republican Party chose as its presidential nominee a crotchety, 71-year-old Bush lackey, a stalwart Iraq War defender, and a has-been “maverick” who admitted, even as the economy began to sink, that he was ignorant about economic issues.

The guy they didn’t pick was Mitt Romney....

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The Texecutioner's Song: Part I

Will anti-Obama rhetoric during debate affect in his approval rating?

Values over Victory

Going Gaga for Bachmann: how media hype made an unelectable GOP candidate a top-tier contender

Mommy for President!

Romney’s millions are bankrupting his campaign

GOP 2012 strategy: an idiot and a prayer