|
Posted on 13-10-2004
The Madness Of George
The Bush campaign was once happy to use 'angry' as a term of abuse - but
that was before the US public met Furious George, writes US political
blogger Markos Moulitsas
Tuesday October 12, 2004
The evolution of George Bush's persona over the past few weeks is
startling for even the most casual observers. Only a short while ago, Bush
was a strong, decisive leader and Kerry was a weak, flip-flopping
Massachusetts liberal. The Bush campaign expected those images to carry
them through the November elections: it had cost them more than $200m
(£112m) to build those caricatures and they had every reason to expect a
solid return on their investment.
But those images were built on a carefully crafted stage. Despite all the
flaws in the US electoral process we still force the candidates to exit
that bubble a handful of times during the election, and it is some credit
to the system that those three 90-minute debates can still determine the
fate of an election. This year, they have helped introduce the nation to
Furious George.
Bush's political operators have worked overtime to make "angry" a
pejorative term this political cycle. They wielded the "too angry" attack
against Howard Dean in the primaries, when it seemed Dean would be the
Democratic nominee, and it helped destroy Dean's candidacy. Republicans
again shouted "too angry" to discredit Al Gore's series of impassioned
anti-Bush speeches earlier this year.
The "too angry" claims successfully marginalised the content of those
speeches - blistering indictments of an incompetent administration. But
what happens when your best attack line is a double-edged sword?
Bush's operation has taken stage management to extremes. His handlers have
figured - correctly - that the press conference format suits their man
poorly and is to be avoided at all costs. His last primetime press
conference was in April 2004, and he has had only two with the White House
press corps since late August - both of them with the Iraqi prime
minister, Ayad Allawi, at his side. (The Bush campaign actually wrote
Allawi's speech in order to squeeze out precious political points.)
Bush's campaign appearances are not much better. While Kerry's events are
open to the public, Bush's affairs require the signing of a "loyalty
oath". Quietly wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt or badge is grounds for
expulsion.
Bush faces only adoring audiences vetted by the campaign's enforcers. At
his town hall events, questions are planted for maximum political effect.
At one, a veteran merely got up and requested permission to salute his
commander in chief. Compelling visuals? Perhaps. But it does little to
acquaint Bush with reality.
Campaign commercials do their best to paint an alternative reality in
which Bush is an effective leader and Kerry is anything but. Entire media
networks, such as Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, prop up Bush in a
way that would make their fellow propagandists in North Korea and Cuba
proud. Sinclair, in fact, will pre-empt local programming on its 62
stations to air an anti-Kerry movie days before the election.
Given the force of Republican efforts to deify Bush, his debate
performances came as a big shock to many Americans. They showed a Bush
quick to anger, indecisiveness, pettiness and petulance. The sheltered
Bush was clearly unprepared for the debate and unprepared to face
criticism. In fact, it seemed to take him by surprise. No one seemed to
have told him he had critics.
After his first debate performance, Bush was in a quandary. He had to stem
his erosion in the polls, but to do so would require attacking Kerry and
furthering the perception that he was too angry to be president.
So how did he respond? By getting even more angry. He not only viciously
attacked Kerry but also took out the moderator and several questioners in
the process. Someone, somewhere, labelled Bush Furious George - a clever
turn on HA Rey's Curious George children's books and an appellation that
took firm hold in the online and, increasingly, offline worlds.
Bush acted like the proverbial ugly American trying to be understood in a
foreign land, cranking up the volume and shrillness to make his points
while Kerry sat by serenely. The contrast was impossible to miss as Bush
became increasingly unhinged. Even on the road, Bush's desperation is
palpable as the rhetoric soars to angrier heights.
Bush is now hemmed in. With poll after poll showing small Kerry leads, he
needs to do something to regain the momentum. His campaign's attack ads
have kept him in the game but he is not pulling away. Furthermore, he is
well below the 50% mark in most key battleground state polls - a mark of
political vulnerability.
If he cannot convince people to vote for him, he will have to convince
people to vote against Kerry, and to do that he has to attack, attack,
attack. And since it takes more skill than Bush possesses to attack
without appearing angry, well, he's in a real bind.
Bush's political operation has conditioned the electorate to distrust
"anger". It has made the charge a cornerstone of its smear effort against
Democrats such as Dean and Gore. For a campaign that lives by the smear,
it is poetic justice to see the tables turned. Furious George is here to
stay.
· Markos Moulitsas runs the dailykos.com US political blog, and Our
Congress, a blog tracking the hottest congressional races
|
