Yes, that certainly seems to be a fair assesment. It must be hard to be positive when your guiding philosophy is “anybody but Bush”.

There might be a ray of hope in this though: first perhaps the American people will finally get fed up enough with the liberal slant in the media to TURN IT OFF.

Next, Kerry’s constant barrage of negativity may mark a turning point in campaigning— the begining of a swing away from negative campaigns.

Hey, hope springs eternal.

Posted by: skip at June 4, 2004 10:57 AM

And while we’re talking anout negativity, don’t look now glum and glummer, but “the worst economy since Herbert Hoover” gained another 248,000 jobs in May.

Bummer.

Funny, haven’t heard any leftys lately shrieking about “a jobless recovery.” That’s the latest in failed rhetoric graveyard, along with “quagmire”, “Bush lied” and the above.

Posted by: johnnymozart at June 4, 2004 11:30 AM

Damn Johnny, I was just going to post exactly the same thing you did.

248,000 new jobs, many in manufacturing. Will this make headlines? I doubt it. How about page one above the fold? Nope. How about page one below the fold, nope. How about point five column inches on the business pages right next to an ad for some hair restoring tonic.

Here in Cleveland steel is making a big comeback. The mills is not only going like gangbusters but it’s expanding and adding shifts. Steel trucks are zipping around everywhere. The ISG folks are now the largest steel producers in America.

And who’s buying the steel? CHINA. Global prosperity helps everybody. Prosperous growing economies have money to spend and they’ll be buying stuff we’re making.

So Glum and Glummer, look how wrong you can be

Posted by: skip at June 4, 2004 02:52 PM

Oh and another thing: I’m already hearing the liberal mantra: yeah, but these jobs aren’t the high quality jobs americans have the right to expect.

Here we go, bring it on

Posted by: skip at June 4, 2004 02:54 PM

Amazing, I posted on 2:54 and on ABC radio’s three oclock news break they had a quote for Sweeney of the AFL CIO (former membah of de intahnational bruddah hood of woikahs of dah woild) complaining about how this is just not good enough.

When will the press realize we’re smarter than that?

Posted by: skip at June 4, 2004 03:09 PM

Could someone explain why the Democrats hammered Bush so hard on the economy so early in the campaign. It was obvious to anyone that the recovery was in its early stages and jobs would soon pick up. They MUST have known that.

My theory is that they were trying to weaken Bush anyway they could to limit his ability to do what he wants in Iraq, which is to have a successful occupation. A successful occupation of Iraq is the worst nightmare for Kerry.

Posted by: joel at June 4, 2004 10:52 PM

I think you’re onto something, Joel. The political left (or the “progressives” in the PC-speak of the day) is nothing if not opportunistic in their attacks on the president. Itellectualy, they are nothing more than bullies and rabbelrousers in the purest sense and oldest tradition. Their attacks are clearly not based upon any deep-seated political conviction, beyond that of driving this president from office. Period. They seek any advantage in the news of the day, and with their fellow true believers in the MSM, they spin any potentially negative news against the president in the strongest possible terms. At the same time, truely good and positive developments in the world are largely crowded from the headlines if not entirely ignored, which is most likely is they can in any way be seen to reflect positively on this president.

The problems in such an approach are, of course, many-fold. In their least dangerous manifestation, we see Kerry’s personal inability to even find a position on any issue that he hasn’t taken the opposite side on some time in the recent past. His own hubris and arrogance, however, will not even allow himto see the contradiction in such statements as, “I actually voted for the 87 billion before I voted against it!” To his mind, of course, he did. And because he is so much smarter than this president and the average American citizen, it must have been the right thing to do, in each instance and in its particular context, and everyone present when he said it should recognized the compelling brilliance of his “nuanced” intellect.

Instead, most people just saw the empty rhetoic for what it was.

The timing of their attacks on the president is surprising, only if one assumes or requires that they be logically related to some lager recognizable strategic plan for this election cycle. They do not appear to be. They appear nothing more than full-scale assaults on any target of opportunity (can you spell Abu Graihb (?)), with nothing more in mind than to weaken the president in the polls and in the eyes of the world. They appear to believe nothing so strongly as that Bush is a complete idiot who will give the ample additional opportunities in the near to immediate future, such that they truly need not hold anything back at any time.

They seem somehwat chastened at this point with the mild public backlash against the over-the-top coverage of the Iraqi prison abuse incidents. But they are truly only waiting for their next target of opportunity, while they drop back and continue by indirection, dropping in a prison abuse reference in every story possible, regardless of its degree of relatedness.

The ultimate shortcoming of their approach, however, and perhaps the source of Bush’s continuing political success, is that events in the real world continue to outpace even their continuous abilities to attack.

The economy is in a true and substantial growth phase, fueled in part by the substantial tax relief embodied in the Bush tax cuts, both business and personal. Progress is being made in the war in Iraq, in much the same terms as the president has articulated for more than a year. Most surprisingly, I am sure, to most of his harshest critics, we now have an interim government in place that actually supports this bumbling fool, and which has publicly thanked the American and coalition troops for freeing their country.

At the same time he has achieved significant success on domestic issues, including the environment, education and medicare. All without so much as the slightest recognition in the MSM.

Let not your heart be troubled. The truth — events as they occur in the real world — will out. And the election is still a long ways away. There will be other issues and other attacks, but as events in the real world continue to unfold, they will serve as the most effective rebuttal to the empty attacks from those who only agenda is to take down a sitting president.

Posted by: PSMlton at June 5, 2004 06:55 AM

Nice post PSMilton. Talk about rhetoric, I was reminded of what I saw on CNBC yesterday. After the good jobs news came out, they gave Robert ‘the third Reich’ an opportunity to give his view. That shrimp couched his words carefully, but re-iterated the bad news scanario that we are still short of prior employment, and, of course, these were NOT good jobs….ha ha ha It is fun to see these guys getting marginalized enough that soon we will not have to watch them wishing their ill will upon America, so they can look politically advantaged. I’d like to see Maria B. kick him in the balls sometime!! ha ha ha

Posted by: dickD at June 5, 2004 10:39 AM

I suspect “good jobs” in a Lefty’s mind are the smoke-and-mirrors high tech jobs of the overheated bubble economy of the late 90s. Which disappear at the first sign of trouble; i.e. are anything but robust, lasting, and real. There is a strong longing for a return to that bubble, particularly on the part of the Clintonistas, whence hailed their greatest glory (in their minds). I don’t think anyone with sense and a grip on reality wants those days back again, as they’ve proven to have been as false and ephemeral as they were briefly high-paying. They led us to a very false sense of what constitutes a good economy, led us to unrealistic expectations, and led us to nostalgia for something unreal and dangerous. It’s part of the yearning for the 9/10 world and it personifies the Democrat Party today. They need to join the real world, and they refuse to.

Posted by: Peg C. at June 5, 2004 11:26 AM

Once more the righties demonstrate how pathetic and full of B.S. they are… We had eight years of solid job growth under Clinton. Now after 3 1/3 years in office, we’ve had what is it 3 or 4 months of Clinton level job creation under Bush? And those jobs that have been created have been (on average) paying over 20% less then the ones we’ve lost..and oh thats right, the buble ended in 2000, so these arent internet bubble jobs were talking about loosing now…and now Peg, you think replacing shifting more employment to mcdonalds and walmart is somehow Bush’s success story? And of course please tell us more about how the lefties dont really believe in issues like job creation. As someone who, along with his 4 closest friends is un/under- employed I particularly like to hear you all on the right spouting bullshit.

Meanwhile Peg, its you and President AWOl who should join the real world. The real world where the middle class has been loosing ground thanks to the efforts of Bush to further enrich the wealthy. (i.e.: lowered employment, higher numbers running around without medical insurance, and and lowered income)

Posted by: Loofa at June 7, 2004 04:15 AM

I just love how the reality of our improving situation keeps yanking planks off of the democrats campaign platform:

“Quagmire!”- Yeah, Iraq still isn’t safer than LA, but were on the downhill as of June 30th.

“Jobs!”- I just came off unemployment into a great job as a webdesigner, and Im considering going to be a Border Patrolman as there are lots of openings due in part to the creation and expansion of the Dept. of Homeland Security. I have the OPTION of several different careers. That dosent strike me as a bad situation.

“Economy!”- Last I checked we had an overall growth of 4%. Thats excellent, as I would take a slow, cautious recovery over the rapidly expanding bubble market we had in the nineties any day.

“Bush lied!”- I know of two EOD troops in Iraq who were treated for sarin exposure who would probobly disagree with you. And there is rapidly growing evidence that the WMD’s are in Syria, that has been confirmed by Israel.

Im not claiming Bush is perfect, and I actually disagree with a lot of the moralistic and religious stuff coming from his camp. But I am willing to endure 4 years of federal aid to spiritual programs if it will prevent the third Jihad.

Posted by: HullBreach at June 7, 2004 09:46 AM

///As someone who, along with his 4 closest friends is un/under- employed I particularly like to hear you all on the right ///

Waah.

Poor you.

You’re right, Loofa, how silly of us not to notice. This is actually bad news.

You guys crucified Bush for the poor economy, so who gets credit now that its turning around? Do you have the courage to admit its the same policies you criticized? I doubt it.

Oh, but wait, I forgot, in your minds, the economy is still bad, despite 4% growth, increasing jobs, (1,000,000+ in the last few months) unemployment at the same rate that gor Clinton reelected, low interest rates, and some of the highest economic indicators in 20 years.

But, yeah, other than that, the economy sucks.

Whatever.

Posted by: johnnymozart at June 7, 2004 10:07 AM

What I hear, of course from my leftists friend, is that most of these are seasonal and temp. But you gotta think that as the economy improves most of the jobs will come back, but the $50,000 IT jobs aren’t coming back. People have to adjust.

Posted by: billhedrick at June 7, 2004 11:44 AM

I’m fed up with the phony politics of optimism. America should be challenged by the high calling of truth.

The way things are going we’ll leave our kids a hollowed out checkbook democracy; a shallow, violent, non-voting culture; tax avoiding multi-national corporations fleeing off-shore with billions of our tax dollars in their pocket; an unbridgeable social and economic gap between the rich and the poor; an ungovernable amount of debt; an irretrievably energy-depleted and polluted environment; and more enemies than friends around the world.

“If a path to the better be, it begins with a hard look at the worst.” —Thomas Hardy

Posted by: Scott Beckman at June 7, 2004 12:27 PM

The perception of truth can be in eye of the beholder, huh, Scott? I would encourage you to read any newspaper from 1978 0r 1979 and I suspect you’ll read “truths” similar to the ones you just wrote.

“If all the economists in the world were laid end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion.”

-George Bernard Shaw

Posted by: johnnymozart at June 7, 2004 12:59 PM

“President George W Bush will be re-elected in November 2004, and none of the liberals will see it coming”

- DJ Drummond

I like my quote better.

Posted by: DJDrummond at June 7, 2004 04:09 PM

Me too, DJ.

Posted by: johnnymozart at June 7, 2004 04:12 PM

Loofa,

Why whine about joblessness? Liberal whiners should get off of their ass and start a business! That would put you in control of your time.

Oh wait! I forgot. Liberals can’t do that. They would then have to change their thinking and curse the Democratic bloodsucking leeches.

Posted by: leaddog2 at June 8, 2004 12:52 AM

By Merle Borg
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (United States)

(YellowTimes.org) — All groups have their extremists. They are responsible for much of the humor and tragedy of life. Vegetarians have their vegans. Believers have their martyrs. On our political scene, democrats have their “anti-business” environmentalists and their “share the riches” reformers; liberal egg-heads that see corporate America and all disparity in wealth as evil. Republicans have their flag waving, gun worshipping, bible thumping extremists; suspicious red-necked fundamentalists that cannot exist without an enemy. Political extremists are intolerant and are able to simplify complex issues and arouse base or lofty passions. Though their numbers are small, they are extremely dangerous as current events in America will sadly verify.

Mainstream democrats comprise the conscience of America. Unhampered by fundamentalist doctrine, they are responsible for notable advances in civil and women’s rights, environmental protection, and fairness in labor and housing. Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” flirted frighteningly close to the left, however. It set up “project” housing and “permanent” welfare entitlements, costly failures that will take generations to dismantle. The excesses have been recognized and limits on welfare, free trade agreements, and balanced budgets are the result of more recent democratic administrations. This moderate thinking holds throughout much of the industrial world where various forms of free enterprise are eagerly competing with each other. The myth of a powerful liberal left exists primarily on talk radio as a bogey man in the minds of the extreme right.

Mainstream republicans have historically kept America’s industrial engine humming. Fierce defenders of unfettered trade and practical hard-headed enterprise, they revel in freedom and individualism and jealously guard the other half of our greatness. Recently, however, their paranoid fringe has been resurrected. The last major outburst reached its peak fifty years ago when Joseph McCarthy led our nation in a fervent hunt for “godless communists.” When communism was quietly discarded in Russia and China, the “right” lost its arch opponent and its reason for being. Paranoia, however, finds an enemy and it fastened on some vague internal threat. A small but grisly American episode culminated in the fiery and self-fulfilling “Waco” disaster, followed by the even more tragic Oklahoma City bombing. America’s current paranoia unfortunately is larger and more sinister in scope.

In September of 2001, to protest American troops in their holy lands and to protest our one-sided support for Israel, a tiny group of Saudi religious extremists took down the World Trade Center. We were attacked on our soil and for a brief time we all became extreme patriots. The emotion has not gone un-harvested. The radical right happened to be in power at the time and our entire nation now finds itself in holy crusade.

The Twin Tower tragedy was used to fan our fears, to nullify our civil rights, and as cover for sending our sons and daughters to Iraq, a country that was not involved. Fearful that we would not remain the only world super-power with China and India (two thirds of the world’s population) waiting in the wings, it was decided that we could best maintain our position by controlling Mid East oil. The plan was simple. We would remove a brutal dictator, install a puppet government, and establish the military bases necessary to assert our dominance. Ignoring history and world opinion and to simplify the ownership of those new bases, we rushed to war essentially alone.

The “party line” was also simple. With our bloodied backs against the wall we would fight terrorism and free the noble and oppressed peoples of Iraq. Unfortunately, freedom’s lonely foot soldiers are finding the deserts of Iraq to be no more hospitable than the jungles of Vietnam. Our kill ratio of ten or twenty to one and the sadistic treatment of the noble and oppressed Iraqis have made our presence there unwelcome. The occupation is poorly planned, unable to maintain security, and beset with every conceivable scandal. The lawless and devastated nation could easily disintegrate into repressive fundamentalism, civil war, or dismemberment. America, freedom’s brightest star, is once again hated, feared, and laughed at around the world.

Of more immediate concern, the situation is increasingly hard to hide. Some of our leaders are wondering what will happen should their party lose power. Well they should. They had control of Congress and the White House long enough to have accomplished any number of wonderful Republican things, and didn’t. They could have strengthened our alliances and worked to eliminate oppression and the breeding grounds of terrorism. They could have made our country more competitive in the world market by simplifying the tax code, balancing the budget, reforming political fund raising and eliminating pork-barrel spending.

Instead, the dark side of the Republican Party got bogged down in personal and religious issues; prayer in schools, gays in the military, same sex marriages, abortion; and ultimately, in a move bizarrely similar to that of the Branch Davidians at Waco, they coerced the greatest nation on earth into a costly, murderous, and unnecessary war. On their watch and in a dangerous world, America blundered deeper into debt, created a terrorist incubator, made new enemies, and lost old friends. The “party of business” didn’t take care of business. None of this however has thus far changed the “party line.”

A national IQ test is scheduled for November. The world nervously waits to discover just how gullible the moderate American majority really is.

Posted by: Nefarious at June 8, 2004 03:24 AM

I wonder when this article was written. I live in Ohio and every Kerry ad I’ve seen has been positive. Every Bush ad except two quickies in March have been negative. To put it another way, John Kerry’s campaign ads are about John Kerry; George W Bush’s campaign ads are about John Kerry. Bush must be too ashamed to talk about his own record.

In addition to that, Bush can’t even stick to the truth in his ads. Kerry does not plan to increase taxes by $900 billion per year. He did not vote to increase taxes 350 times. He did not try to delay defending America before the UN approved. He never wrote, introduced, sponsored, co-sponsored, voted for, or gave a speech in favor of a 50 cent increase in the gasoline tax. He has not taken both sides of every issue.

Kerry’s years in the Senate obviously have not produced enough true material for a single negative ad. Bush’s years as president obviously have not produced enough true material for a positive ad beyond a flag-draped stretcher and testimony from Laura Bush

Posted by: Brian at June 8, 2004 03:36 AM