August 29, 2004
GIVEN WHAT THEY'VE THROWN AT HIM, WHAT COULD BE UNFAIR?:
"Good Will Come Out Of This": The First Lady talks to TIME about gay-marriage, stem-cell research and dealing with the criticism of her husband (MATTHEW COOPER, Aug. 29, 2004, TIME)
She has been called the perfect wife for her devotion to George w. Bush and the Comforter in Chief for her calming demeanor after 9/11. But it would be a mistake to think of Laura Bush as a latter-day Mamie Eisenhower, who once said, "Ike runs the country; I turn the pork chops." The First Lady has views of her own, and just before jetting off to Florida with the President last week, she sat down in her East Wing office to speak with TIME's Matthew Cooper about a wide range of topics, including gay marriage, stem-cell research and how she deals with criticism of her husband. [...]TIME
Critics throw out so many charges against the President. Is there any one that you found the most unfair?
BUSH
I think they're all very unfair. [Laughter.] I really do.
TIME
Do you think these swift-boat ads are unfair to John Kerry?
BUSH
Do I think they're unfair? Not really. There have been millions of terrible ads against my husband.
The Democrats basically accused her husband of helping drag James Byrd to death last time and the charges since 9-11 have only gotten more scurrilous--why would she think questioning John Kerry is unfair? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 29, 2004 11:49 PM
The one that sticks in my craw is the open mike "gaffe" from last spring. "These guys are the worst bunch of crooks."
And now he runs around like wounded innocence.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at August 30, 2004 12:32 AMWhy doesn't Bush address this directly? I'd like to see him answer a question at a press conference by saying, in his folksy way: "They've called me every name in book, accused me of being a traitor and a deserter and a dictator, and now when some veterans who served with Kerry step forward and say he's inflating his accomplishments in Vietnam, suddenly I get accused of negative campaigning! That's not really fair, is it? I'm sure all these questions about Senator Kerry's record could be answered if he would release all his military and medical records, as I have done. I've also released my family's income tax returns, and I wonder why the Senator won't release those records, either."
Follow that with a "Release all your records, Senator" ad campaign.
Posted by: PapayaSF at August 30, 2004 1:42 AMPapayaSF;
No matter how accurate, charges of "it's not fair" are never a good idea. Rather than hitting that point, Bush should use your lead and follow with "so who's trying to talk about the issues and who is just flinging mud?".
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at August 30, 2004 10:48 AMIn my D&D experience, "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR!" was characteristic of two types of player:
1) Rules Lawyers playing beat-the-system who had just lost.
2) Trids (incompetent psychopath players) who had just been trapped and nailed by their own incompetence or nastiness.
You see, with both of these, "fair" has one and only one meaning: "I ALWAYS WIN! I ALWAYS WIN! I ALWAYS WIN! I ALWAYS WIN!"
Posted by: Ken at August 30, 2004 5:50 PM