NYT: President Feels Emboldened, Not Accidental, After Victory

[kskiska]

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 - One trademark of President Bush's first term was his aversion to news conferences, which his staff says he often treated like trips to the dentist. So on the morning after Mr. Bush's re-election, Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, was taken aback when the president told him he was ready to hold a news conference that Mr. Bartlett had suggested, win or lose, the week before.

"I didn't have to convince him or anything," Mr. Bartlett said. "Without me prompting him, he brought it up."

It was a small but telling change for a president whose re-election has already had a powerful effect on his psyche, his friends and advisers say.

They say Mr. Bush's governing style may change as well, although they acknowledge it is too early to tell if victory will lift what critics call the chip on his shoulder and make him more magnanimous - or whether it will simply create a more imperial president.

One thing is certain: Four years after the disputed election of 2000, Mr. Bush is reveling in winning the popular vote and feels that he can no longer be considered a one-term accident of history.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/11/08/politics/08bush.html?hp&ex=1099890000&en=5ec8fb9465f3b92c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[SharonAnn]

1. Oh swell. I was going to bed, now I'll be awake all night. Darn!

[daleo]

2. He will be rubbing it in, 24 hours a day

He is even going to visit Canada, to rub it in here.

[arikara]

9. NOOOOoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Say it isn't true, he's not coming here is he?

[daleo]

13. Yes, that is what my morning (Canwest) paper said

He will visit Ottawa fairly shortly.

[arikara]

15. No doubt he wants to browbeat P Martin

on missile defense. Time to start writing more letters.

http://www.ceasefire.ca/

[Lisa]

20. I say we plant south Vancouver Island with beets ...

Apparently he loathes beets, even more than his dad hated broccoli. Anything to prevent him from bringing his smirkfest to the West Coast!


p.s. even assuming he knew how to spell "magnanimous", I bet he thinks "that's for wimps!" -- we saw how long his newly-courteous attitude lasted during that press conference! He was preening himself as soon as he stepped up to the podium.

[daleo]

33. How about planting the entire border in beets

We could call it the "beet the chimp" initiative. Couldn't be any sillier than ballistic missile defense.

[Eurobabe]

24. no he's coming to annex you

shit, and I was looking at land there. <sigh>

[Beetwasher]

3. Magnaminous Or Imperial??? Let Me Guess...

:eyes:

[Sara Beverley]

4. No, they let him out of the muzzle and chains since there are no more

elections for him. Before, they had to keep him muzzled because he is such an embarrassment and they didn't want him saying stupid things to cost him votes like, "there won't be any casualities in Iraq."

[asjr]

5. I see him as an accident of birth.

[zonmoy]

45. He was born

I thought that he was a demon kicked out of hell for stupidity.

[Cha]

6. Crow on you fathead...your

FALL is COMING!

[MO_Dem]

8. Yes! Let him get cocky

and more arrogant. The cockier he gets, the bigger his mistakes will be. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!

[Metrix]

7. I think * now thinks he has surpassed his father

He's in uncharted territory now.

[54anickel]

10. It's all about ME, ain't it Shrub. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. Always has been, hasn't it?

Arrogant Ass!

[dolstein]

11. Why does Karl Rove get to write the headlines for stories about Bush?

Am I the only one sick and tired of these fawning headlines?

[Art_from_Ark]

12. No, you're not the only one

[deek]

14. his arrogance

will be the sword onto which he will fall

[LeighAnn]

16. And you all know, security Is mortal's chiefest enemy.

Macbeth III. v 26

[OneBlueSky]

17. hell, he thought he had a mandate after the 2000 election . . .

and governed accordingly . . . this he views as a message from God! . . .

[Borgnine]

18. God, I wish they'd just tell him how he REALLY "won" it already.

He was already overly egotistical when he knew he was a fraud. Now that he thinks he's beloved, he's going to be insufferable.

Hey Chimpwad, THEY HAD TO CHEAT THEIR ASSES OFF TO GET YOU BACK IN OFFICE, and if we have any say in it, you'll be exposed soon as the miserable failure that you really are.

[farmboxer]

19. Election Fraud

Election Fraud! Democrats need to use that as a mantra!

[flordehinojos]

21. repression and dictatorship in action ... underlie bush's emboldening

[saracat]

22. Why does anyone post this?

I stay away from TV to avoid this and now we post this garbage? Why?

[bklyncowgirl]

23. What happened to reaching out?

Oh right we're the ones who are supposed to reach out to him.

Sadly, given the leadership in the Democratic Party, that's what's what's going to happen.

Is that boot shiny enough Mr. President?

[dbt]

25. (Voice of C. Montgomery Burns) Exxxxxxxxxxxxxcellent!

I, for one, want bu$h strutting around like a banty rooster, preening and basking in the glow of his man-made "mandate." I WANT his stupid, smirking ass thinking he's Gawd's Gift To The World.

I want him believing every fawning word that the Librul Media heaps on him, until his sloped head is so big that it won't fit through his pickup truck door.

I want him reading his kiddie books and staying well away from the Greek Tragedies--especially the parts about HUBRIS.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[cubsfan forever]

28. Earthy and eloquent! Kudos! n/t

Professor 2

[Just Me]

29. Agreed. The backlash cometh.

He and his will be revealed. When the American people are hurtin' and KKKarl Rove is revealed as the man who divided his own people in order to control them,...and the neocons are proven profiteers via betrayal of the nation,....

EW,...will I celebrate! :bounce:

[dbt]

31. Thank you both very much!

[Dinger]

26. Good

Let him be "bold." Give him an inch, and he'll take a mile & hang himself. That'll be fun to watch.

[ktowntennesseedem]

30. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!!

Let him get the big-head! He's gonna to what he wants anyway, may as well let him get ALL the credit! No more blaming Clinton and the "libruls" for all their mess!

[quiet.american]

32. Are we the only ones who missed the Kool-Aid?

So, the NYT has drunk the Kool-Aid, too. Even AAR news is referring to the election as a "decisive" victory for Bush. I'm glad I stepped out of the room before the Kool-Aid was passed around. I will never love Big Brother; dirty tactics like lies, voter suppression, voter intimidation, and voting machines without paper trails do not add up to a "decisive" popular vote nor a "mandate."

[bunkerbuster1]

34. AAR news is CNN.

Let's not forget that. I wish they'd drop the CNN radio "News" feed and just have their own folks read wire stories.

OTOH, maybe it's just as well that AAR listeners get a dollop o' shit at the top of every hour from the SCLM.

[ClintonTyree]

35. Friggin Asshole................

"One thing is certain: Four years after the disputed election of 2000, Mr. Bush is reveling in winning the popular vote and feels that he can no longer be considered a one-term accident of history."

Bush is correct, he wasn't a one-term accident of history. He CAN be considered a two term thief of Democracy. The Chimp is too stupid to know that both elections were stolen and there will ALWAYS be an asterisk next to his name in History Books. Once the full facts of this year's theft are known he'll still be considered a mistake forever. Dream on Chimpy, your "mandate" is all in your twisted, extremely microscopic mind.

[Politicub]

36. What a goofy headline

What else is Bush going to say?

Someone wake me up when this nightmare is over.

[xxqqqzme]

37. it is not an 'accident'

when premeditated thief is accomplished.

[Ruffhowse]

38. This will just give him enough rope to hang himself with. He will

definitely over-reach with resulting disaster. Remember, this is Chimpy we are talking about.

[weezielove]

39. YIKES!!!

[newyawker99]

52. Hi weezielove!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lark]

42. You don't get it

The Repugs are counting on Dems being nice and tolerant - that's what the left has been about. They just roll over and the bullies win. This is not about a battle of ideas or ideals, it's about power to them so they do anything and everything to maintain that power. For us it's about ideas and ideals. Before the reich wing took control, it was fair. We won some, they won some. Now, even when the public agrees with the Dem positions, even when they don't approve of the Repug Pres - somehow he still wins. Somehow they always win the big things.

We are not in the America of our fathers anymore. This is a new land hijacked by the crony capitalist. I feel so hopeless. I don't know what it will take to change this. I do however know that niceness on our part will not produce change.

lark

[tk2kewl]

41. Nuts!

[NurseLefty]

49. I know it's just a sock and everything

BUT PLEASE! This picture makes me want to
:puke: :puke: :puke:

Or perhaps
:kick: AND HARD!

[Elruin]

43. I'm sorry

This post has NOTHING to do with the thread....

My name is Elruin and this is my first post. Can someone please verify for me the authenticity of this website, and its claims:

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KEE411A.html

The site discusses the potential for vote tampering using statistical analysis. It is completed by a Canadian Prof. Can someone also make this a new thread (kindly) if you feel that it is a site worth visiting? Thank you for your time.

It is truly an honour and a pleasure being welcomed into this board. (Notice the "u" in my honour...I too, am Canadian, we welcome all draft dodgers and refugees.)

-Elruin

[Lisa]

44. welcome to DU, Elruin

Plenty of Canadians here!

May I suggest that you post your interesting link in the Presidential Results section -- there are a number of stats threads going there, such as this one, which would give it a wider audience!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=26421&mesg_id=26421

[newyawker99]

53. Hi Elruin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hatrack]

48. Do not act shocked and saddened by what you're seeing here

1. As far as foul-mouthed ranting and raving, let me ask you this: would you expect to visit an NFL locker room after a last-minute playoff loss and hear the players saying things like, "Gosh, wasn't that just too bad?" and "My, we certainly didn't do a very good job today!"? I didn't think so . . .

If you believe that there is no place in life for certain short, expressive Anglo-Saxon words, then I'm sorry for you. As far as expressive writing, I'm as guilty of profane excess as anyone on this board. However, I'm not going to apologize for not behaving as if this were some sort of Victorian drawing-room drama when it comes to expressing just how I feel at the moment. There are thousands of DUers, I am certain, who agree with me.

2. As far as the venomous rage you're seeing, get over it. We've (as a party and as individuals) tried talking issues and ideas, and in return we've been beaten over the head with the Jesus Stick.

We've tried appealing to peoples' better natures, and in return we get Zell Miller and Rudy Giuliani standing on the bodies of 9/11 victims for political gain.

We've tried to be accomodating and to "work together" with our "colleagues" across the aisle, and in return we are accused of treason, cowardice, "un-American" behavior, sexual perversion, Communist affiliations and bad breath.

We've tried to work for what we feel are the common goals of all Americans, and we've been portrayed as morally tainted, ideologically leprous and of questionable sanity.

The Republicans have broken every standard of decent political behavior, have smeared every candidate on the most damning, personal and ultimately irrelevant level and this has happened in election cycle after election cycle. They now have the gall to "reach out" to "heal partisan wounds". Or, as Bush said last Wednesday, "I look forward to working with those who share our views." In other words, "If you already agree with me, we'll get along just fine. If you don't, then fuck you."

And they have the gall to say things like these in the wake of untraceable electronic voting systems overcounting votes in the thousands, tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands - all, of course, with no recourse or recount method.

The camel's back is broken for good and all, and there will be no compromise, no healing of partisan wounds, and no reaching across the aisle. These people have declared war on the very concept of dissent, difference, democracy and cooperation, and they can go and fuck themselves.

If you have trouble understanding these things, then you have my sympathy.

[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lloyd Christmas]

47. Wish he'd feel a fast moving bus in his path

[AlexHamilton]

50. Arrogance

Insane how arrogant this guy is considering he derives his power from the computer hackers out there...oops I mean the people.

Alex
Impeachment by the People