Political Ads?

[jeskibuff]

we (the American electorate) have always been victrolic at election time.

Does that mean that we break out the old Victrola and cue up some vintage vinyl?? Should we all gather around it and break into a chorus of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"??

I think the word you were looking for was "vitriolic", but on an audio website I'd consider it to be a perfectly valid substitution!

Kerry has bashed Bush repeatedly over the war on terror. Bush is responding.

With the Democratic primararies mainly behind us now, suddenly it's not the lopsided "punch Bush and not get punched back" routine anymore, is it? Now they're starting to whine and wail when the Bush camp responds. Something tells me we're going to be hearing A LOT of whining and wailing over the next 8 months!

Party A: Better!
Party B: Worse!
Wanker!
Slacker!
Yo mamma!
No, yo mamma!
Ptttthiibbbt!
Ack!

VERY funny, Pete! I especially love the "Bill The Cat" cartoon! What a sad time it was that Breathed, Larson and Watterson decided to no longer bless us with their comic genius!

The above illustrations have all happened and have had a dramatic affect on the politics and policies of this country. Any student of history has to recognize this.

BINGO! Hit it square on the head, you did!
I look at it like a car restoration. During most of his 8 years, Clinton rode a nice shiny car that was given to him. At times, it looked REAL shiny as the dot-com bubble kept a glossy sheen on it! He was real proud of it, but he really didn't contribute a lot to its upkeep. He didn't change the oil, the tires, the plugs or the belts, but he DID keep it shiny! It served him well, but in the last year of his ownership, it showed signs of deterioration. The tires were bald, the engine was billowing blue smoke and there was rust eating out the floor pans. But for the most part, everyone saw Clinton riding around in this nice shiny car.
Then Bush got handed the keys. The car was rapidly decaying at this point and the rust was starting to eat through the visible sheet metal. Then some vandals took a sledgehammer to it and torched it. It took a long time and a lot of effort, but Bush got the car looking and running good again. He got it to a certain point and was ridiculed: "It doesn't look NEARLY as good as it did when Clinton owned it". This was true. The car still had a long way to go:

So, how does Bush defend himself against this truthful accusation? The economy still isn't as robust and the unemployment figures are still too high.

ANYONE can look like they're doing a good job when there is no adversity to deal with and all the cards just fall into place. The mark of a REAL leader is one who is challenged with adversity and responds to it accordingly. Bush has had major adversities to deal with: the Clinton recession, 9/11 and the resulting airline crisis, Enron & Arthur Anderson, the dot-com bubble burst, H1-B visas exporting American jobs, etc. But despite all that, THINGS ARE IMPROVING. The Democrats don't want to admit that they are. When Bush was wildly popular right after 9/11, they focused the attention on the economy and tax cuts, boldly saying that it would NEVER improve under Bush's "risky scheme". As soon as the economy began an undeniable upwards swing, they had to switch their attacks to the loss of jobs. But jobs are the last thing to recover from in a recession, and that will eventually change too. With the changes in an economy that are becoming ever more global, things will never be exactly the way they were before, but THEY'RE GETTING BETTER.
Bush is doing the right thing and has a vision for the future:

The Democrats will complain that it's not like it was before, and Bush admits that yes, there is still more to be accomplished. Using 9/11 in political ads is just saying: "Look what we had to deal with!", and that's a FAIR defense!