Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (515297)	12/24/2003 12:44:55 AM
From: CYBERKEN	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

80% of us will TAKE the Bush Boom over the Clinton/Rubin economic disaster, thank you. Go find a country where you can still fool people...

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (515297)	12/24/2003 1:02:17 AM
From: Johannes Pilch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

I don't think that- I think THEY think that, and Bush is standing up saying black is white, and that the US economy is going gangbusters, when it isn't. Okay. I think I better see your point. But I can't see how it is Bush's fault that they think something that is obviously false. Bush is justified in claiming that the economy is on the rebound. The yups may not agree with this, but lets face it-- these goofs think they have an innate claim on the salaries of yesterday. So they are bound to be disappointed, living in such a dense non-reality. If your point is that Bush had better find a way to deal with the situation politically, then I am with you. I could not agree more with this. But I just don't see how he is at fault for their not having the same sort of pay they had under Clinton. Liz, under Clinton there were oodles of companies with skyrocketing share prices and that had not a single dollar of earnings. That ought to tell SOMEBODY something. Getting the yuppies to accept this "new reality" might be easier had Bush not doled out the entire federal treasury to his corporate buddies. In an era of handouts, everybody wants some, you know? "Entire federal treasury." Oh now let us dispense with the mindless hyperbole. What really were the Bush handouts? His tax cuts were not handouts. So they do not count. His farm bill was indeed a handout, which I do not support. His prescription drug benefit was a handout, which I do not support. But I can't rail against Bush too much because he is really playing the leftist game here. Bush is spreading around the dough. What else is there? The Iraq contracts do not count because the companies hired there are providing a reasonable service for the cost. If your objections are to the war, then that is an entirely different issue. Unless this economy CREATES JOBS, good paying professional jobs, then the GDP might as well be .01% Don't you see that the economy really doesn't create jobs. People create the jobs, which in part helps create the character of the economy. People, the yups you mention, are going to have to step up to the plate and demonstrate why they ought to be hired. Businesspeople are going to have to better demonstrate why someone ought to buy their goods, etc. If they can't do this, then they must either find other occupations or perish. [Bush] doesn't seem to "get" who he works for. It is NOT the 200 or so CEOs of the largest multinational smokestack industries in the world. He works for the entire citizenry and they aren't overly enamoured with him. Well, what would you have the guy do- give out more money to the yups who haven't figured out how they are gonna compete against the Indians. That is certainly no solution. Or would you have him embrace protectionism, forcing companies to hire Americans - just because (of what?). That would be utterly disastrous. I think Bush is on his way to remaining in the White House. I also think this President is sharper than you know. He is sharper than even I know and I know a heck of a lot I tell you. (grin)

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (515297)	12/24/2003 10:16:31 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Clark's technology team announced Monday the launch of Clark TechCorps, an initiative to build a suite of free, open-source applications for campaigns and elections. wired.com

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (515297)	12/26/2003 10:09:18 AM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

He [Bush] works for the entire citizenry and they aren't overly enamoured with him. You keep saying how unpopular Bush is. But it appears that, once again, you are mistaken, or just making it up: story.news.yahoo.com History of approval ratings on Bush's side for re-election Fri Dec 26, 6:07 AM ET Add Top Stories - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo! By Richard Benedetto, USA TODAY President Bush (news - web sites) is ending his third year in office with 63% job approval, the highest rating of any president since Lyndon Johnson, who finished 1963 with a 74% rating a month after John F. Kennedy's assassination. Johnson went on to win the 1964 election 10 months later in a landslide over Republican Barry Goldwater. With the exception of Jimmy Carter, every president since Franklin Roosevelt who ended his third year in office with job approval above 50% won the re-election he sought. Presidential job-approval polling began with Roosevelt. Richard Nixon, who was at 50% at the end of his third year, also won. Carter was at 54% when the year ended. Polling analysts and presidential scholars agree that it is too early to consider Bush a sure winner next year, despite his showing now. Things can change: • Bush's father was at 50% approval at the end of 1991, and he lost to Bill Clinton (news - web sites). A sour economy and a perception that he was at a loss to fix it helped do him in. • Jimmy Carter ended 1979 with 54% approval and was defeated by Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) in 1980. Carter's response to the Iranian hostage crisis, which was seen as weak, and a Democratic primary challenge by Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) eroded confidence in his leadership. Bush is benefiting from recent positive signs on the economy and rising confidence in his management of the Iraq (news - web sites) war since the capture of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). "He's had pretty good news for about a month now in the two major areas the election will be contested over, the economy and Iraq," says Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. The turn of events has also highlighted the split among the nine Democratic presidential candidates as they adjust their messages for the new conditions. The candidates have broadened their criticisms of Bush from his handling of the economy and Iraq to include his leadership on the environment, health care, homeland security and civil liberties. Polls are useful, but it's too early to predict a winner, says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. Bush's approval in March or April will be a more reliable clue to his staying power, Newport says. He points out that every incumbent president since Roosevelt who was at 50% approval or higher in April of his election year went on to win. "If Bush is still above 50% in April, a defeat in November would be unprecedented," Newport says. The last two presidents who lost their bids for re-election, Carter and the elder Bush, were both at 39% approval in April of the election year. In March 1968, Johnson's job approval was 36%, due largely to growing objections to the Vietnam War. He quit the race. In March 1952, Harry Truman's approval had been dragged to 25% by the Korean War. Truman won a full term after serving a partial one following Roosevelt's death, but ended his 1952 re-election campaign after losing the New Hampshire primary. Although history appears to be on Bush's side, his political advisers profess a reluctance to seem overconfident. Campaign aides and Republican Party officials say they are mapping plans to run as if the president is behind. Campaign strategist Matthew Dowd, a pollster, expects Bush's approval to ebb and flow but stay within the 50%-55% range until Democrats pick a nominee. Gallup's Newport notes that Bush's approval had been falling since a 2003 high of 71% in mid-April, when it appeared the Iraq war was ending easily. He hit a low of 50% in November. But Bush's recent turn upward can only be read as positive, Newport says. "You want to be tracking upward, the higher the better," he says. "The only concern he might have is peaking too early."