Bush says debates highlight Kerry's 'liberal' credo

[Rose Siding]

COLORADO SPRINGS, United States (AFP) - President George W. Bush (news - web sites) said that the election debates with John Kerry (news - web sites) had thrown the spotlight on his Democratic opponent's liberal credentials.


"These debates have highlighted the clear differences between the senator and me on issues ranging from jobs, to taxes to health care to the war on terror," Bush told a rally here ahead of Wednesday's final presidential election debate.


"As much as he tried to obscure it, on issue after issue, my opponent showed why he earned his ranking as most liberal member of the United States senate," the Republican president added.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1521&ncid=696&e=5&u=/afp/20041012/pl_afp/us_vote_bush

Lazy, lazy, lazy media. Jon Stewart is the only one I've seen debunk this "most liberal Senator" ranking. The word doesn't offend me, but in the context that Bush uses it, it's inaccurate!

[benito]

1. buck fush

"I'm a miserable failure as pUSA and everyone knows it, but I'll just call this guy names and everyone will vote for me"

[CO Liberal]

2. I Heard Pretzelboy Speak on Local Radio

He sounded just like Hitler speaking to the masses.

Of course, it was one of the GOP's famous "Invitation Only" crowds...

[Melodybe]

Cheney voting against an MLK holiday and freeing Nelson Mandela

Don't forget he voted against head start and meals on wheels,too. That is record to be proud of.

Give me a fucking break.

[Parche]

3. bush

This just shows that he is getting more desperate

I would rather be Liberal than a complete moron

[readmylips]

4. Kerry must attack bush's Liberal line immediately....

then bush will have nothing to talk about. Shut that idiot's piehole immediately.

I want Kerry to attack like Ali. Sting like a bee...flat on the floor.

Call bush the big whopper.

[Unstuck In Time]

5. They're down to this card now, worn and tired as it is.

It's a good sign, actually.

Maybe they've flung all the mud they ever had, and must resort to running around squeaking "He's a liberal! He's a liberal!"

As if the type of dittohead freepiot who would respond to that old rant was going to vote JK anyway.

Go ahead, motivate your base, Flight-Suit Boy. The numbers just ain't there.

:7

[Q]

6. Notice that Bush* never explains WHY being liberal is bad?

Prejudice

- Bush* uses the word liberal in the same way racists used certain words against Blacks...the same way Nazis used words against Jews.

- It's time we call the Bushies on their derogatory use of liberal. Have them explain exactly WHY being a liberal is bad.

[ismnotwasm]

7. Yeah!

Say it loud, liberal and proud! Why it became a dirty word it beyond me. Well, maybe not given our complacent media.

[amber dog democrat]

46. Liberal is good

and we need to reclaim it.

[AspenRose]

8. And the problem with that is.....(?)

We need to take the word "liberal" back.

There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with being liberal!

On edit: Where's that John Kennedy quote about being a liberal?

[nickn777]

9. But i thought he's a flip-flopper

Wait, * is now saying he is consistently liberal on issue after issue?....but I thought he was on both sides of every issue?

[Sputnik]

14. Gingrich told the Bush campaign to stop

using "flip flopper", that the term had outlived its usefulness. He told them to instead hammer away at Kerry with the "L" word. I heard this from someone somewhere on the news last night, but can't remember who reported it.....

If anyone else remembers hearing the same thing, let us know.

[nickn777]

17. oh ok....

So in tomorrow night's debate, Bush will drop the flip flopper charge? Or will he just go for it all and call Kerry a "flip-flopping liberal?" :)

[Sputnik]

22. Think about it

In Friday's debate, do you recall Bush using "flip flopper"? I don't, but I did notice that he used "liberal" MANY times.

The Republicans do love their labels, don't they? lol

[louis-t]

26. I heard it. Keith Older-what's his-name had someone on

I think that's where I heard it.

[Sputnik]

36. Yeah, that's probably it

since I watched Olberman last night. I just can't remember who he was interviewing at the time.

[Lugnut]

39. I heard that too

That's Gingrich's favorite word to use against us Democrats. I think being liberal is a good thing.

[Kierkegaard]

30. That didn't work out too well after the last debate, so

Smuggins had to change 'strategeries' so he would have something to hurl from his vile orifice. Otherwise, he's left with 'put food on your family' or 'where wings take
dream.'

[LeinesRed]

32. isn't that truth?

Kerry has to shoot all of this down...

[shockingelk]

10. They have stopped tryting to sway voters

This "liberal" junk doesn't have a goal other than turning out the right-wing base.

They know their only hope is to turn out their base. And it's a slim slim hope they're hanging their campaign on. Just think of how pissed will be all the people who wasted hundreds of millions of dollars trying to get Jr elected ...

[underpants]

13. 47%

That is and always has been W's max number. He is just trying to hold that 47% tight as you said.

[underpants]

11. Bush is right! The debates DID "highlight the clear differences"

Kerry lives in this world and has at least some kind of clue about every issue.....and W doesn't, either one.

[Cats Against Frist]

12. They are totally pathetic

All they've been able to do is smear, this whole campaign, and now they're down to just the word "liberal?" It would be funny if it weren't so stupid.

[bif]

15. So now they're trotting out the "L" word eh?

They must be desperate!

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. debates highlight chimps low mentality

So, as Kerry would say, "Which is worse?"

[cthrumatrix]

20. plenty of TV reports have said that the chimps is "less intelligent"...

well .... I guess you can observe that quite easily.

[rocktivity]

18. Rocknation says debates highlight Bush's "miserable failures"

including Bush's failure to respond to them effectively!

:headbang:
rocknation

[BillZBubb]

19. That must mean the Liberal credo is "kick ass"!

Because the Chimperor got his ass kicked twice. Now, he's getting ready for the third time.

[Ishoutandscream]

21. Would someone please remind Chimp that HE'S THE INCUMBENT

This is pure desperation. Why in the hell doesn't the "liberal media" call him on this?

BUSH HAS NO RECORD TO RUN ON!

[Norquist Nemesis]

23. I'm PROUD to be a LIBERAL!!!

You got a problem with that George? *puts up dukes!*

[noonwitch]

25. So am I. They say liberal like it's a bad thing.

It means we're enlightened and progressive. Conservative means they're stuck in the past.

[actappan]

29. We need to take back liberal!

I am the stereotypical liberal. I am reasonably well off, and reasonably well educated. I attended a liberal university with a strong pacifist and activist tradition. I ride a bicycle to work. When I drive, it's a highly fuel efficient European model powered by renewable bio-diesel. I recycle. I buy locally grown organic vegetables. I give money to liberal causes, and generally vote Democrat.

We, as liberals, need to reclaim the word. I would love to see a candidate like Kerry step up and say "Hell Yeah I'm a liberal! Let me tell you what that means . . ." and go from there. I'm sick and tired of hearing that liberal means tax and spend, and that we would ban the bible and other outright lies spread by the right.

The fact remains that in the past few years, the Democratic Party has been responding to right-wing attacks on it’s liberalism by leaning right, rather than by defending its core beliefs.

In the race for the minds and trust of the American public the Democratic party is faltering, and needs to regain it’s footing. The party needs to embrace it’s liberal roots. They need to reclaim the very word “Liberal” and prevent the right from using it as a criticism. They need to exercise the same sort of discipline that the Republican Party has – keeping their public ducks in line, and part of this is re-embracing, and thus moderating the liberal fringe. They need to harness the power of the progressive movement that thrust Howard Dean into the national spotlight.

They need to stand up and say “This is who we are and what we stand for, and we’re proud of that. We’re proud of our liberal tradition.”

And those of us in that liberal tradition need to act responsibly, and be willing to compromise. We need to regain the sense of fairness, and a sense of non-partisan cooperation. We need to step back from the fringe and weave our points of view back into a coherent fabric, a plan for unity. We need to reclaim that revolutionary spirit that the right has stolen from us, and reclaim our place on the public face of American politics.

[Algomas]

33. Me too. Being a liberal means to advocate for liberty.

Why do they hate us for our love of freedom??

[amber dog democrat]

47. I am Sparticus !!!! !!! !!!

and a liberal !!!!
and what is the Chimp going to do about it ?

[Redleg]

24. Debates also highlight Bush's incompetence and incoherence.

What a fuckstick.

[Nicholas_J]

27. If you check Kerry's voting record

he has a record of voting for bille the president wanted passed 91 percent of the time,compared
with some of the other democratic candidates who had a record of voting along with what the president wanted in the mid eighty percentages.

as usual, with statistics, it is possible to lie by mis-stating the data.

In the late 1980's, early 1990's the weapons systems that Kerry voted against were systems that George H.W. Bush wanted cut because of the end of the cold war.

Claims that Kerrry voted against tax cuts 98 percent of the time are only true when you look at the amendments and versions of bills he voted aginst and finallyvoted for.

When bills contained large cuts for the wealthy, or allowed large special deals for big business (for example, under Reagan , Kerry voted against the tax law changes that eventually led to the accounting fraud that culminated in Enron, you could say that Kerry voted against tax cuts.

However, Kerry voted for large tax cuts for the middle class 6 times as often as he voted againy tax cuts that primarily favored the rich and corporate interests. Whenver bills were amended to exclude the large tax cuts to the rich in favor of what democrats used to call "targetted tax cuts" Kerry always voted in favor of them.

In Kerry's usual prescient manner, had the legislation he favored passed, and the bill he did not favor were not allowecd to pass, the massive failure of the savings and loans would not have occured, and the corporate frauds that happened at the beginning of Bush's administration never woulod have occurred.

Under Reagan. the tax code was changed in such a way as to allow corporate executives to take the large perquisites, stock options, bonuses, and to usecorporate moneys in more and more frivolous ways. Reagan insisted that executives deserved as large an amount as the boards of directors wanted to give them, because of all of the money they earned for the companies.

After Enron, it amazed me that no one brought up all of Reagans well publicized arguments allowing corporations to take tax cuts for golf courses built for CEO's and considiering thme to be just as valid as using the money to create jobs. As a result, 97 percent of the tax cuts under Reagan went to giving corporate executives raises or given out in dividentd to share holders, while only 3 percent went to job creation and plant upgrades. This is also what is happeninig to the tax cuts given by Bush. The primary reasons that job creation has been slow under Dubya is that the lionsshare of the money isgoing to stock dividends (another reason BUsh wanted to eliminate the dividend tax is that he knew exactly how the bulk of the tax cuts to the top two percent would be spent)

In fact, Kerry is a fra greater supporter of free markets than Bush, as he beleives that moey should go to the middle class who will spent it in the market, and thus it will go back to the most efficient and desired businesses, and not be used to shore up businesses that do not operate well.

[MallRat]

28. In the 2nd debate, didn't * say that Sen. KENNEDY was the most liberal?

Doesn't anyone remember this? This is a DIRECT QUOTE from the second debate:

KERRY (finishing answer): Ninety-eight percent of America, I'm giving you a tax cut and I'm giving you health care.

GIBSON: Mr. President, a minute and a half.

BUSH: Let me see where to start here.

First, the National Journal named Senator KENNEDY the most liberal senator of all. And that's saying something in that bunch. You might say that took a lot of hard work.

The reason I bring that up is because he's proposed $2.2 trillion in new spending, and he says he going to tax the rich to close the tax gap.

He can't. He's going to tax everybody here to fund his programs. That's just reality.

FLIP. FLOP.

[Tracer]

34. Yes. The schmuck was trying so hard ...

... to get in his "self-deprecating humor" about it being "hard work" that his teeny, tiny brain got Kennedy and Kerry confused.

[Lizzie Borden]

49. I don't think so.

When he says Kennedy instead of Kerry, I think it is quite deliberate on Bush's part. I think he's trying to link the Kennedy name with Kerry. Kennedy, not Kerry, is the most liberal senator. When he did it one time, I thought it was strange, but when he'd done it a couple of times, I concluded it was on purpose.

[Chovexani]

31. This tired shit is all they've got?

Seriously? So pathetic.

[Rex_Goodheart]

35. I hate to be pessimistic about the 3rd debate, but...

I just don't see how anything good can come of it for John Kerry unless Bush reverts to looking like a total imbecile.

Why? Because Kerry has already won the debate on domestic policy, and all this last one will do is give Bush a chance to rescue himself.

For example, Kerry can cite all night long how Bush is the first president in 72 years to lose jobs, but Kerry's problem is that such information is already widely known, and is already accounted for in the polls. The debate only gives Bush an opportunity to defend that element of his record. What's more, that statistic is unfortunately pretty meaningless to anybody who has a job; it's some other poor schmuck's problem, and that guy with the problem has ALREADY cast his lot with Kerry.

The phenomenom is amplified by the fact that Kerry is expected to win the debate. If he does, nothing is gained.

I knew going into the first debate that Kerry would pick up points in the polls, because he would finally be allowed to present his case outside of small news clips, and that he would not come across as the weak person portrayed in Republican caricatures. Unfortunately, the phenomenon will work in reverse this final time around with any half-plausible defense by Bush of his domestic record.

My advice to Kerry would be to attack, attack, attack with new revelations, charges, and statistics. His attack has to seem fresh, or it will flounder. I hope he comes through.

[shanti]

37. ooh ooh, liberals!

those scawy people!

[Javaman]

38. And they also highlight that bush is a dumbass.

[truthisfreedom]

40. bush is still "parenting" the US. get over it, bushie and rovie... we're

not buying the crap. you ain't our two daddies.

[amber dog democrat]

48. Not parenting , more like patronizing

I never cared for whiney sanctimonious liars. Let him get even more shrill and frantic as his numbers dwindle.
Screw him.

[TrogL]

41. Flip-flop

I thought Kennedy was the most liberal. At least that's what he said during the debates.

[flordehinojos]

42. LIBERAL IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Liberal is Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! (someone ought to make such a bumper sticker) I would love to have such a one.
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Free2BMe]

43. Actually, 11th most liberal...

[Free2BMe]

44. Hilary said...Kerry may change his mind on some issues when

made aware of the facts...but Bush changes the facts to fit his message...how true that is...go Hilary

[Bluebear]

45. Like he knows what credo means.

[jackieforthedems]

50. With 2 Down & 1 To Go

I don't think Kerry is too darn worried! Kerry will pull through just fine, and win debate #3, too, regardless of what the topic is!!! :)

[kslib]

51. I'm really tired

of Chimpy McSmirksalot throwing around "liberal" like it's a dirty word. Moron. :mad:

[DFWJock]

52. Note to Kerry:

Please "spotlight" Bush's idiot credentials.
Bring em on!!