"The political genius of George W. Bush" - CNN

[Rochambeau]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican or an independent, it is hard not to look at President Bush's re-election victory last week and conclude that he is probably one of the three or four most talented politicians of the last half of a century.

snip

Instead of just crediting his family name or Rove, Bush's extraordinary political success is probably owed to at least five key things: (1) great political fundamentals, including an ability and willingness to raise large sums of money; (2) an ability to propose a clear, coherent and easily understandable policy agenda (e.g., "compassionate conservatism"); (3) an ability to attract, manage and retain a strong team of advisers (e.g., Rove, Ken Mehlman, Ed Gillespie, Karen Hughes, Matthew Dowd and others); (4) a willingness to go for the jugular -- repeatedly and without remorse (e.g., the "flip-flopper" label, gay marriage issue, South Carolina primary in 2000); and perhaps most important (5) a willingness to take a risk repeatedly (e.g., targeting Democratic Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle for defeat, offering a Social Security overhaul plan proposal, relying and counting on an evangelical turnout plan).
...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/08/watson.policy/index.html

Ted Turner where are you ??!!??

Sorry if it's a dupe.

[Borgnine]

1. That caused my eyes to bleed.

Seriously... what in the name of ever-loving fucking?

[WindRavenX]

2. "genius" and "George W. Bush"

Should never ever ever be in the same sentence, unless it's " George W Bush is a chimp genius"

[high density]

3. Carlos Watson is a fool

The only thing we Democrats have to "weigh" is how to get rid of these rigged elections.

[jpak]

4. Remind me again why I cancelled my cable service

fuck bush and fuck cable news

[Democat]

5. They should have called it, "The Political Wimpiness Of Democrats"

We wimp out, we get our asses kicked every time.

How long did Kerry waste on that "positive" bullshit while Bush was out there every day destroying and undermining Kerry?

[BeyondGeography]

10. Enjoy your retirement, Bob Shrum

We actually held a convention where all negative references to Bush were scrubbed from speeches. Now we're talking about reaching out to conservative values voters, whatever that means.

It's pathetic.

[Rochambeau]

11. Yes you are right Democat, but is that genius ??!!? n/t

[MichiganVote]

6. Oh yeah, he's a genius alright, compared to CNN

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. this is a nice fluff propaganda piece, that is nice

[Frumious B]

8. The word "genius" is horribly abused these days.

I suppose Bush could be a political genius if you consider Britney Spears or Ashley Simpson a musical genius.

[drscm]

20. As is "compassionate," "moral," "justice," "freedom," "evil doers," etc.

The repugs have co-opted the English language and managed to re-define every one of these terms and more (e.g. "clear skies"). Their actions are distinctly the opposite of what the word normally meant.

[Rochambeau]

9. Considering the "quality" of Carlos Watson's comments on the three debate

nights and the election night I'm not really surprised in a sense. He would be a Fox joke of a journalist it would be normal but to read thta load of BS on CNN really kills me and do burst my bubble for good. CNN on ignore list.

[onenote]

12. by watson's standards, Hitler was a genius too

Playing to the lowest common denominator,fueled by hate and divisiveness, false victimhood....Yeah, if you do those things you can build a "popular" movement. But it used to be that the media saw through and condemned demagoging rather than praised it as "genius."

onenote

[smbolisnch]

13. It's official.

The world has gone insane.
Who the fuck in their right mind would even go there???? I mean seriously?? :wtf:

[Snellius]

14. "one of three or four most talented politicians"?

Next to Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini?

[fishnfla]

15. Bush: "thank you voters, for not paying attention"

American idol reruns are on tonight!

[Neverarepublican]

16. They forgot

the ability to fuc* the entire continent of America up the a*s while the entire world watches

[newyawker99]

23. Hi Neverarepublican!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[flordehinojos]

17. all of this @ss kissing speaks more about how little self the @ss kissers

have than it does about how brilliant NOT is GWB.

I wonder how much the guy is getting paid... some people just play the game... others do not.

[Blue_Tires]

18. shitty analysis

he was probably fed this directly from the RNC

[saracat]

19. Why is this posted?????

I come here to get away from this. If I wanted to watch CNN i'd watch CNN! JMHO

[Ilsa]

21. How about a sixth reason:

6) probable election fraud by having your best buds tabulate the votes.

[Gyre]

22. Criminal "genius" at destroying democracy

Holy shit! The chimp labelled a "genius". We're waaaay past 1984 now Toto.

Gyre

[donhakman]

24. Genius is as genius does

CNN and their think tank guests are now calling the Bush campaign genius.
The genius of using religious faith, be it devout or fanatical as a political tool was not invented by George W Bush or Karl Rove.Neither is vote tampering a genius invention.
I invite historians to chime in with examples of regiemes that have successfully accomplished a state religious fundamentalist following or other vote tampering victories.

If genius is as genius does, I would like to learn what the administration has done that is truly genius.

The religious right political movement is now claiming an 81% victory using numbers in ther own lego style of statisical innovation.
81% victory may still be conservative compared to other measuring sticks.

If we use the number of CNN employed talking heads, including liberals like Begalah, we arrive at a 100% agreement that the election was won fair and square.

I have to concur that corporate america has pandered to fundamentalists by portraying the election was basicly between Saddam Hussein/Kerry lovers and Jesus/Bush.

It is all rather biblical you know...The more Muslim fundamentalist sponsored terror the heartland is taught to fear,
the more Christian fundamentalists will support a crusade.. any crusade led by the disciple of Jesus.

Who among us did not see it coming?

"Choose your enemies well for thou shall become like them"
JC

[noel711]

25. GAG!

[Skittles]

26. good LORD

what f***ing tripe

[bklyncowgirl]

27. Trivialize him at your peril

I hate the idea of calling Bush a genius, however, I think that to trivialize the man as an idiot as so many of us, myself included like to do is to miss the point.

Bush is a master of the game of slash and burn win at any cost politics. We constantly underestimate his ability to do and say anything to be elected. Sure Karl Rove is a big part of his success but let's face it, a politician who had some morals and scruples would rein in a guy like Rove. We Democrats like our candidates to be good men first then good politicians. We also keep getting our asses kicked. Perhaps one of the reasons for the success of Bill Clinton is his very real dark side.

Carlos Watson calls Bush a genius. If you go by the notion, and apparently he does, that the end justifies the means and that winning is everything then, yeah Bush qualifies. So did Hitler.