(Josh) Bolten Plans To Lift Bush's Poll Numbers

[sabra]

http://www.nysun.com/article/31471

Bolten Plans To Lift Bush's Poll Numbers

The new chief of staff at the White House, Josh Bolten, has formed a five point "recovery plan" to restore public confidence in President Bush and improve his poll ratings, Time magazine reports in today's issue.

One important element of the scheme, according to the magazine, is to emphasize the president's views on immigration. While Mr. Bolten does not think his support for a guest worker program is popular, he intends to highlight instead the president's policy to get tough with illegal immigrants by pressing for more funds for Mexican border patrols and he intends to use the new recruits and new hardware as a backdrop for press photo opportunities.

"Think of the visuals," an anonymous Time source, who is reportedly a proponent of the plan, says. "He can go down to the border and meet with a bunch of guys and go ride around on an ATV." The magazine reports that Mr. Bolten is aware that the disadvantage to this element of the revamp of the president's image is that it will discourage Hispanic voters from supporting the Republicans.

Mr. Bolten acknowledges that Mr. Bush has lost support among Wall Street types, Time says, and he therefore intends to draw attention to two imminent changes to tax policy: extensions of the stock dividends and of the capital gains tax breaks. It is Mr. Bolten's expectation that investment managers and others in the financial community will then go on television and talk up the health of the economy and the government's contribution to the country's prosperity.

[asjr]

1. Viagra couldn't lift his poll numbers

at this point in time.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

16. Yeah, that's the important thing

I mean, who cares about America?

Ha.

Poll numbers.

I am reloading, and I've got time .................

[Kikosexy2]

43. Hell...

not even a "fluffer" can help a limp weenie like Chimpie...

[katty]

56. go ahead, just try to rapture chimpy's poll #'s

[C_U_L8R]

2. yeah that's the ticket

ride around in an ATV...bwahahahaha

[Melsky]

7. They better hire a stunt double if they do that

I don't think he's capable of driving one of those without crashing it.

[yourout]

3. Look out......terra attach coming.

Same song different verse.

[liberal N proud]

34. Terra, terra, terra, Osama, Iran, Iraq, 9/11 changed everything

[ixion]

4. first point: indict chimpy

and send him and the rest of the cabal to the Hague to stand before the ICC.

That's a good start.

[partylessinOhio]

5. How is Mr. Motorcycle going to paper over that * is insane?

[drm604]

6. "Lift Bush's Poll Numbers"

With what? A hydraulic jack?

[marmar]

8. Go for it, Captain Smith. Save the Titanic....

:nopity:

[Greeby]

9. Only one thing Shrub could say that would make me like him

"I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow" :evilgrin:

[alcibiades_mystery]

10. I thought Bush didn't care about polls?

:shrug:

Or rather,

:rofl:

[mattclearing]

11. Ha! That's hilarious.

Yeah, riding around on an ATV, threatening undocumented workers. That'll really lift his numbers.

[Lance_Boyle]

12. Finally, truth in reporting...

"One important element of the scheme, according to the magazine, is to emphasize the president's views" (emphasis mine).

[calimary]

45. Yep, play your strong card, Bolten. Emphasize bush's views.

By now the untrustworthiness quotient for this asshole is so high that the moment bush opens his mouth to share ANY of his "views," most listeners are already predisposed, automatically AND subconsciously, to think that he's lying, or that he might be lying. There's been so much untruth exposed by now that the dislikeability factor for junior is way up, and growing.

There's too much momentum pushing against this poor sap. He's got the roughest job on the planet - giving bush a political facelift here at home. karen hughes hasn't gotten very far overseas, trying the same shit outside our borders. Once you've lost 'em, you've lost 'em. ESPECIALLY if they think they might have been lied to (and - lied to about matters WAY more serious to the nation's business than a president getting a blowjob in a back room at the office).

Frankly, I don't envy this guy. I almost feel sorry for him. But then again, nobody held a gun to his head, forcing him to take this job. That we know of...

[Jack Rabbit]

13. "Think of the visuals"

The country needs leadership that isn't mired in a fantasyland world view and policy that is at least pragmatic. We don't need Madison Avenue PR to paper over failures.

The Eskimos already bought the refrigerator. They don't want another one.

[aquart]

14. Question about the immigration demonstrations:

Were the crowds all Hispanic? Were they Asian? By what approximate percentage?

[DemoTex]

15. Will Bolten also make wine from water?

It's gonna take a miracle to resurrect the Bu$hboy's DOA polls.


Crossing the Rubicon.

[ozymandius]

17. "Watch me pull a rabbit out of a hat. Presto!"

[C_U_L8R]

18. must have got the wrong hat

:-)

[Peter Frank]

21. "No doubt about it..."

He's got to get a new hat. (Live by the hat, die by the hat -- :tinfoilhat: )

[Peter Frank]

19. Too friggin' funny...

You got me man.

[Demeter]

20. Polling Numbers Are a Symptom, Not a Disease!

The numbers say that something is wrong. The disease is Bush/Cheney. We'll have to amputate: there is no other cure!

[Peter Frank]

23. Surgeons will tell you...

...when you remove a malignant tumor, you must also excise the surrounding tissue.

[Demeter]

38. Yes, a Clean Sweep is Indicated!

or should that be....indicted?

[calimary]

47. GOOD one!

:thumbsup:

[BigDDem]

22. What a waste of time

Bush doesnt care about polls, he said it, so it must be true!!

[area51]

24. "talk up the health of the economy"

Investment mgrs & others in the financial community will "...talk up the health of the economy." Oh, good. </sarcasm> It will only show all the more how out of touch these people are with decent Americans.

[calimary]

46. Oh yeah. Do that, too! It'll come back to bite you in the ass -

EVERY time Joe American fills up his gas tank. AND every time his neighbor has to go hock something to pay for gasoline. And every time there's another news report about the killing some big corporation made on Wall Street and/or some CEO's obscenely overinflated compensation package.

[catmandu57]

25. The man does know how to raise things

He raised the national debt by trillions.

[brooklynite]

26. Perhaps I'm missing something...

If W "rides around in an ATV" with gun-toting Border Patrol guards and Minutemen, he can kiss the hispanic voters goodbye. If he continues to target the guest worker and normalization porgrams, he'll continue to lose people in his base. How could Bolten think focusing on this issue has any upside?

[Cha]

55. I'm guessing cause

he's stupid like the rest of 'em.

[havocmom]

27. The crane big enough for that task does not exist

[TexasLawyer]

28. The tool Bolten needs-- a time machine

to go back and undo the series of disasterous decisions (war, appointments, tax policy, economic policy, environmental decisions, etc...) that Bush has made since day one of his reign.

[jarab]

29. I knew it. Rasmussen is the new WH spokesman. eom

...O...

[creeksneakers2]

30. Tricks to try to hold on to the base

There's nothing here that attempts to bring back the middle. This looks more like a plan to try to keep Bush's poll numbers from going even lower.

[TheCowsCameHome]

31. Josh, while you're at it, see if you can raise the Titanic

Neither is going to happen. Really.

[gkhouston]

32. now we know why that new bin Laden tape has surfaced

usually, * has gotten a bump in support after a bin Laden "appearance". Not this time, I'm guessing.

[Vinca]

33. I plan to lose 20 lbs. - doesn't mean it's going to happen. nt

[AX10]

35. That would explain the new Bin Laden tape that came out...

yesterday.

[Journeyman]

36. Commander Bunnypants on an ATV, doing "manly things with manly men". . .

I don't know about the rest of you, but that'll certainly improve my image of him. (/snarkiness)


"Think of the visuals," an anonymous Time source, who is reportedly a proponent of the plan, says. "He can go down to the border and meet with a bunch of guys and go ride around on an ATV."

[VegasWolf]

37. Yep, that's the plan and what he was hired for. Mass marketing Bush

is like mass marketing shit, and the higher gas prices go, the more Bush stinks.

[calimary]

49. It's ALL about marketing. It's ONLY about marketing.

They're trying to package him differently but it IS the same shit. Just a new lipstick color on the same pig.

Remember the guy this fellow replaced: Wasn't andy card the one who initially said, about the war in Iraq, that you don't market a new product in August? Marketing. That's all it is. That's all they have.

[yellowcanine]

39. Heh. I hope Bush tries the ATV part. Good opp for another * mishap.

With any luck he will run down a Minuteman.

"He can go down to the border and meet with a bunch of guys and go ride around on an ATV."

[AndyTiedye]

52. Make Sure They All Have Plenty to Drink

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

[callous taoboy]

40. ATV riding at border, strong stance on immigration won't cut it:

This issue cuts across the political spectrum. It'll bolster his approval rating with his lunatic base only.

[rodeodance]

41. HEAVE HO HEAVE

[xxqqqzme]

42. I thought raisin brain didn't care about poll numbers!..?

If he doesn't care, why the effort 2 raise the numbers? Maybe they'll send him out on yet another speaking tour - that's always good for a dive of a few points.

[warrens]

44. This issue is going nowhere for him

If he gets tough and starts deporting and arresting, he's fucked. If he gets all namby-pamby with a guest worker program, he's fucked. There's no right answer and no one is going to get anything out of this, politically speaking, except Latinos will never trust the GOP again after that House bill passed.

[truthisfreedom]

48. *yawn* if they want to raise his poll numbers, dump Cheney and fire Rummy

that will raise his poll numbers.

[Supersedeas]

50. * needs a hotline call to Mr. Diverto

[oxbow]

51. Yea, Tony Snow is really gonna help the guy!

"The final dimension of the five-point plan is to improve relations between the president and press by appointing a friendly and seemingly impartial White House press spokesman who would be able to restore the harmony which traditionally links White House correspondents with the main source of their stories. To this end, Time reports, an affable performer on Fox News, Tony Snow, has been tapped for the job."


Tony Snow doesn't even seem impartial. Who knows though, maybe old Tony can get back a few of his Faux News-watching base. As for the rest of us, fuggetaboutit!

[Rex]

53. They couldn't 'recover' the World Trade Center, NOLA, Iraq,

our economy...but you go on and try. Poor idiots, I really do pity them; no clue and getting colder. :(

[Carla in Ca]

54. From the article...

... One important element of the 'SCHEME'...

I couldn't have said it better myself!