David Brooks: If Bush Is That Bad Again On Friday He Loses Election

[Stephanie]

Did they forget to deliver Brooks' Kool Aide this evening? I couldn't believe he said it. Did you hear that?

[KittyWampus]

1. Brooks Is Sub-Parr. He Looks Like Baby Huey. Can't Stand Listening To

his sorry ass.

[pinkpops]

2. brothers and sisters, let us pray...

[Bozita]

3. program, please

wanna see that!

[Stephanie]

6. Jim Lehrer Newshour

on PBS - the nightly news.

[napi21]

4. NO. What show was he on? n/t

[pinkpops]

5. news hour

[Julien Sorel]

7. Lowering the bar.

It's impossible for Bush to be that bad again. All he has to do is stand up relatively straight for most of the debate, and it would be an improvement.

[incapsulated]

9. I have to agree...

This is a setup. There is no way he could do a repeat of that performance, so they are lowering the bar to that. Anything better will then be declared a great comeback.

[Stephanie]

10. But it will probably be WORSE. Bush is such a WUSS.

He is totally going to crack under the pressure. I want him to have a nervous breakdown live on the air.

[KansDem]

33. I disagree...

The "lowering the bar" nonsense that permeated the 2000 debates simply won't work this time. The debate last week proved that. Bush is now the incumbent AND a "war President." He has ruled over US foreign and domestic policy and the economy. He cannot do the "Aw, shucks, I'm just a simple ol' country boy DC outsider" that Rove and Hughes used 4 years ago; the voters are demanding and expecting MORE and they're not getting it.

[cidliz2004]

12. I said about the same thing that you said last night

Only the "low" bar that I referred to had to be 4 ft or so off of the ground, or at a height comfortable enough for Bush to drink at. I also said that all Bush had to do was NOT make faces and NOT pause too long between words and THAT would be enough.

The truth is that he really doesn't have to do anymore than that to be declared the "comeback kid" by the talking heads and polls.

[hatrack]

35. Exactly - if Bush doesn't soil himself Friday, he "wins"

Or such will be the spin . . .

[krkaufman]

8. Very possibly.

I thought just that this evening. Bush *could* lose the election with a performance similar to last Thursday's.

I think Kerry already has the advantage (taking inaccuracy of polling into account), and he could get a comfortable margin -- that they couldn't STEAL -- with another Bush choke.

Fingers and toes will be crossed.

[sofa king]

11. Kick it out of stealing range, Senator Kerry!

[ReadTomPaine]

13. Barring dirty tricks, Brooks is right. Doesn't take an expert to divine...

... that Bush is on the ropes right now, however. But when have the GOP ever played fair? How much money does David make to bestow these gems on us I wonder.

RTP

[louis-t]

14. Re: the face making

I say shrub will do one of two things Friday:
1. Continue to make faces and smirk (he can't help it) OR
2. Try so hard not to make faces that he will look like a zombie.

[Gloria]

15. Ed Rogers said on Hardball that the townhall format would allow the

"humanity" of the candidates...esp. Bush...go come through and he went on to gurgle that he was "excited" about Friday. When he uttered the word "humanity" in the same sentence, I nearly choked....

[Zero Gravitas]

20. Bush's "Folksy Charm"

is a myth created by the SCLM mindlessly repeating GOP talking points.

[Torgo Johnson]

16. Wait a minute here

Brooks just last week called the debate a draw, but here he says Bush will lose the election with a repeat performance. Are you flip-flopping David ? Just goes to show you, a media whore will say anything people want to hear (case in point, Tweety).

[Starlight]

17. I think he could actually do *worse* than last week.

He's going into the debate PO'd & with an attitude. If John can just push the right buttons little Georgie is bound to bust a gasket. :P

[LiberalFighter]

26. gw* has to be desperate

Didn't he want to give a speech on a national tv today?

[cliss]

18. "Bush will lose" ...I for one believe this to be true.

By losing here, Brooks means that Bush will have lost all credibility of even being a reasonably coherent man. Look, if you're just interviewing to be a dog catcher, you've got to show some sense of coherency. We're just asking the bare minimum here, and Bush can't even deliver that.

In my opinion, if Bush repeats his performance from last Thursday, he's finished. I believe that Karl Rove and his band of dirty tricksters are planning to steal the election again. They're going to skim off just enough votes so BeelzeBush can win by a slim margin. If it was a huge margin, there would be rioting in the streets which could erupt into civil war, and they know it.

So if Bush screws it up one more time, his ratings will fall so low that they can't pull it off.

Solution: Fix the debate on Friday. I'm not sure what they can do, but believe me they're trying to figure it out. Could they maybe pre-tape the debate and cut out everything where Bush makes a fool of himself. Or they might drop a bomb on the building where the debate is being held so it will be postponed indefinitely.

Have a stand-in? Get him drunk? I'm sure they're frantically reviewing their options.

[Cha]

23. Stack the town hall with undercover rw militia

..embarrassing questions for Kerry..softballs for bush.

[yellowcanine]

19. Has Brooks forgotten he declared it a tie? Was he lying then or is he

lying now?

[gardenista]

21. He got the extra secret talking points: Lower expectations! nt

[liberal_in_GA]

29. Should we email Broooks

and ask him what inspired his change of heart? Subtly let him know that WE know he's lowered expectations, but that the American public's are still high?

[Lisa]

22. I hope they don't just pick voters with puff questions!

Or Bush will simper and wriggle out of saying anything specific. He can actually perform nicely when all he has to do is repeat buzzwords, wink and pretend to be chummy.

[West Coast Democrat]

24. He'll lose the election anyway....

it would be pretty tough to do that poorly a second time.

[Bleacher Creature]

25. Careful here.

Someone mentioned this in an earlier post, but it's worth repeating.
Brooks can say this because there is NO WAY Bush could be worse than last week. But remember, even if he's half as bad -- he's still terrible.

We need to be really careful not to let the mantra "Bush wasn't as bad as last week" turn into "Bush won."

[Fed Up]

27. I think Bush irreparably harmed himself last week.

The shine is gone.

Bush would have to turn into Atticus Finch, and Kerry Gomer Pyle, for Bush to regain what he lost.

[Dem2theMax]

28. Didn't O'Lielly say the same thing on Letterman Tues. night?

But I think he said if * does that bad at both of the last two debates he's out. :evilgrin:

[Supersedeas]

30. What? He said that the first debate was a draw--guess we can ignore

his and Tweety's initial reactions to how the candidates did.

[Stephanie]

31. Here's the quote from the transcript:

JIM LEHRER: Friday night.

MARK SHIELDS: -- Friday night's debate is important and the following one -

JIM LEHRER: It's going to be important, right?

DAVID BROOKS: It will be hugely important if -- I really think if Bush has a night like he had the other night, it's over, that he will lose the election. If he trumps him, then we'll keep going on, but if Bush has two bad nights in a row -

MARK SHIELDS: Jim Fallows made a very good point in his piece with Terry. He said there had been four principles up there. Three have been really quite eloquent and whether you agree with 'em - and a command of facts and information. George Bush has to show on Friday night that he wants the job, that he is engaged.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/political_wrap/july-dec04/sb_10-06.html

[DemocracyInaction]

32. Everyone is forgetting one really important point here

Style is one thing (and maybe they worked on that with him--kinda like trying to train an earthworm) BUT Friday DOMESTIC ISSUES will become a good half of that debate and Bush has nothing to stand on and nothing to offer but excuses. The substance alone of this debate is going to score a lot of points against Bush.

[Stephanie]

34. "If you pay more taxes, you're going to get a bigger tax break!"

It just stands to reason!

[rndmprsn]

36. Yep...thats why the RW media will be pushing INCREDIBLY HARD to give a...

victory to shrub...beware.

[vogonity]

37. Could there be a terra alert on Fri?

Ridge-- "We have specific information that the debate facility has been targeted blah, blah, blah... we will make every effort to reschedule the debate blah, blah, blah..."

I for one would not be shocked.