Do You Remember…?
Categories: Earnest Gates, Politics and Elections
Written By: Earnest
By Earnest Gates
Michael Jackson put out a song with a very hip beat a few years ago entitled “Remember the Time.” I have a question for you: Do you remember the the last time a Presidential candidate separated himself from the sitting President? How about 1992?
Bill Clinton was the sitting President and was very popular with the Democratic base even though he had just been impeached for lying under oath. Vice President Al Gore intentionally distanced himself from a popular President and it ended up costing him the Presidency. Fast forward to 2008.
Even though with the general public George W. Bush has very low approval ratings, he is extremely popular with the Republican base. Will distancing himself from President Bush cost Senator John McCain the election too? Time will tell.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
2000, not 92. On the other hand, Gore was a weak candidate. Republicans have been blessed with weak candidates since Clinton left office, and that is why we end up with nominees like McCain. Bush had low approval ratings in 2004 (although they were higher than now) but Kerry was still too weak to capitalize on them.
The last time I recall something similar happening on the Republican side was when Reagan challenged Ford in 76, and it cost the Republicans that election.
And I don’t think Bush is popular with the base. He’s not blamed for many of the things that the left of the aisle wants to pin on him, but he has his own failings in Republican eyes (especially on the budget). He’s unpopular enough to make it a winning strategy, especially when you add in hostility to Obama on the Republican side.
I expect him to say things like “our party has stumbled” and that the party has failed to capitalize on opportunities, and that it has lost its way and needs to return to the path tonight.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Thanks Phelps. How is it possible to run against your own party and expect people to vote for you. They will revert back to the scare tactics before we know it. It is the only trick this pony has!
September 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Funny, Obama keeps saying that the scare tactics are coming… any minute now… don’t worry… they are just around the corner… right around the corner… any minute now…
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/obama-says-mcca.html
And while he is waiting, Rasmussen is reporting that Palin has a higher approval rating than either presidential candidate and his campaign seems to be in full panic mode. I really love how he talks about them “just making stuff up” about him, when Palin is the one who’s been accused of faking a pregnancy and of removing books from the library in Wassala.
I’m sure that Obama will be back to the “distraction” line once he sees that they aren’t going to set him up to hide behind his race.
It is possible to run against your own party and get people to vote for you. If Obama’s people were competent, they would be taking notes so that they don’t make the same mistakes next time. Fortunately for America it looks like they aren’t competent.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
We will see after the election.
By the way, they are already using the scare tactics. Obviously, you have become so immune to them you don’t know them when you see them. Unless of course, you did not see the ad with the terrorists in it that was run about a week ago.
P.S. The ticket should be Palin/ McCain because that is who the conservative base is excited about! Maybe in 2012 they can.