Two things that have helped Bush the most?

[Dawgs]

IMO, Bush needed these two things more than anything.

1) 9/11

2) John Kerry

Rove needs someone or something to push or around. Ever since Kerry left the picture, they have had nothing but poor policy and grand juries. Lately, we have been hearing more attacks on the Clintons, but no one is buying it.

What will be next?

[annabanana]

1. almost

1) 9/11
2) An inattentive, uninformed electorate.

(and I maintain that they barely needed 9/11)

[gademocrat7]

4. I agree

sheep blindly following along with this administration.

[blm]

19. Bush would've been unmasked in 1999 if we had ONE thing - a NEWS MEDIA.

To try and pin it on Kerry is ABSURD. You may as well pin it on Gore and be even more absurd.

You can't even name ONE DEmocrat who would have received fair treatment in the media to counter their preferred treatment of Bush for 5 years.

They'd still be keeping him propped up if it weren't for the cameras catching the reality of Katrina.

[BikeWriter]

9. You are far too polite. My list? Stoopit voters.

[afdip]

22. stoopit voters is my choice

[BikeWriter]

25. LOL! We can both use it.

[mmonk]

2. Ignorance in the public

and a nonfunctional and biased broadcast media.

[peekaloo]

14. I'll second your choices.

[Zynx]

3. 1) 9/11(The Golden Ticket) and 2) A limp-wristed, spineless media.

[fredtaylor]

5. To get elected

1. money
2. dad

To get re-elected
1. 911
2. Kerry

[kurth]

13. My choices

To get elected:

1. Karl Rove
2. Last name

To get re-elected:

1. 9/11
2. Karl Rove

[mattclearing]

6. #2 is actually a compliant media.

The media ignored John Kerry and Edwards. When they couldn't, during the debates, Kerry's numbers skyrocketed. Otherwise, it was like he didn't exist.

You see now that the corporate media elites have stopped protecting him, the public has soured on him.

[second edition]

7. I don'tget the reference to Kerry- 2 things that helped Bush,

9-11 and the media.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. I can't believe you left out Jeb and the Supremes!

Without them, half this board would be empty.

[Dawgs]

18. I think I may need to explain the reason I picked Kerry...

I'm not blaming Kerry. I'm saying that Rove needed someone to distract from Bush's failures. It could have been anyone. In 04' it just happened to be Kerry.

My point is that without someone or something to distract from Bush's poor Presidency, they are not as nearly as effective.

Yes, the media has a part in this, but without anything to spin they have no choice but to report on other stuff. Without a distraction, Rove/Bush can not use or control the media.

[second edition]

20. Oh! I get it now! Thanks! n/t

[mtnsnake]

10. The war and fundies

Where would he be without them?

[earth mom]

11. Fear and Terra. eom

[FSogol]

12. 1. 9/11 & 2. A press that stopped doing their job. n/t

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

15. An abundance of enablers in our society and terra terra terra terra!

[Toucano]

16. The number one thing that helped Bush the most?

All the democrats who voted for every piece of shit proposal and legislation that the cabal dreams up from medicare presription drug plan to the bankruptcy plan to confirmation of Condi and Gonzales.

The helper monkeys I call them.

[VaYallaDawg]

17. IMO the two key factors were:

(1) Americans' quintessential need to be puritanical about sex and to be able to view someone as inferior - remember the BS about "we're going to restore 'character' to the White House".

(2) 9/11 - but not just the event itself - more importantly its usefulness in fearmongering.

[NoBushSpokenHere]

21. My opinion

The 2 things that helped him the most were:

1. Rigging the elections
2. Controlling the media so even the Democrats would think it was the Kerry campaign that lost the election.

[jbnow]

23. Two things?

How about 1,000 things in one?
1) 9/11
2 through 1,000) 9/11

Of course there are things like weak media, weak congress, blindly trusting people but NONE of it would have been so extreme without 9/11.

And I used it one thousand times because that was the "glory" of it. It was BIG, it was terrifying and we saw it over and over and over again. It had to be that big, visible and repeated over and over for it to be so effective...
For the faux cowboy hero perfect for people who needed someone to rely on, someone to protect them in such unsettled times...and a vengeful god who'll smite the wicked. People needed to ground, to root again and they bought the act. Fear paralyzed. Waving flags hypnotized.

Quickly the ground work was laid.
Hundred of pages of the perfectly chosen acronym PATRIOT act in just a couple weeks? Who could vote against that name?

And this:
Just two weeks after the September 11 attacks, a secret memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales’ office concluded that President Bush had the power to deploy military force “preemptively” against any terrorist groups or countries that supported them—regardless of whether they had any connection to the attacks on the World Trade Towers or the Pentagon
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6732484/site/newsweek /

And would the people approve by such a majority or Congress vote to authorize so easily or the press be so unquestioning about the war on Iraq if this fear factor frenzy was not still so alive?

What helped Bush?

9/11

9/11

9/11

[TallahasseeGrannie]

24. Forget Kerry it was 911

And I should know because I was one of the ones that was scammed.

I despised Bush when he was elected, couldn't even look at him. Then 911 and I did a 180. It was totally psychological for me. I had never lived during a time when Americans were attacked. I was all red, white and blue. His response was simple and I wanted that. Nuance was not in my vocabulary.

It took months for me to come out of that mindset, maybe even a year. I think 911 made him. He never would have been re-elected.

[garybeck]

26. The media and Diebold.

[Coastie for Truth]

27. The real things

Homophobia
Darwinophobia
Choicephobia

FEAR OF ETERNAL DAMNATION - FEAR OF HELL - FEAR OF THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE --- 666

AND THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE OF JAMES DOBSON, PAT ROBERTSON, JERRY FALWELL, LAURA SCHLESSINGER, JAY SEKULOW, JOE RATZINGER, RICK SANTORUM, TOM COBURN, SAM BROWNBACK...

as described in Thomas Frank "What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America"