2004 Presidential Election: Bush vs. Kerry
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 Credit: Sharon Farmer |
WE HAVE A WINNER
George
W. Bush has pulled it off and defeated John
Kerry. Republicans are thrilled, and Democrats are
despondent. Karl Rove proved again that he's a shrewd and
ruthless political strategist. Kerry rebounded from a dismal
summer to revive his campaign in the fall with an assault on
Bush's Iraq policies and solid performances in the debates. It
just wasn't enough. Bush and Rove hammered Kerry on issues
like gay marriage and abortion, and played the fear card by
constantly invoking 9/11. (Updated 11/3/04 by G. Orlando)
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Post-Election
Commentary:
In
an excellent piece in The New Republic, Peter
Beinart asks what went wrong in the election, and argues
that Democrats cannot over-react to the results. They
shouldn't pander to the cultural conservatives in order to win
their votes, yet they also cannot mock them or treat them with
contempt. The best Democrats can hope for is to fight for a
draw on those issues, while focusing on a real agenda for
economic and foreign policy.
This analysis
from The New Republic sums up the election pretty well,
and explains how all is not lost for the Democrats going
forward.
William Saletan
explains how Bush was able to win relying on simplicity,
as opposed to Kerry's nuanced message.
Uriah Kriegel supported Bush, and now argues that Bush
needs to take this opportunity to move
to the center. That's probably wishful thinking.
Bill Bennett sees the election as a mandate for a revival
of morality in this country. This isn't surprising coming
from one of the leaders of the culture wars.
Fred Barnes lays out his keys for a successful second term
for Bush.
Jane Smiley offers one of the more hysterical
reactions from the left, calling all Bush voters "ignorant."
Naturally, she has no idea how silly she sounds.
John Derbyshire gloats,
but also points out the flaws conservatives see in George W.
Bush.
Pre-Election
Commentary:
Endorsements
Check out what editorial boards said about the race.
Debates
Check out our resource page covering the debates.
E.J.
Dionne explains how Bush
blew an opportunity to get a landslide by politicizing
terrorism and using his popularity after 9/11 to pursue a
divisive campaign.
Andrew Sullivan explains how Bush gave a great
political speech while noting that it was full of deception.
He points out that Bush has really abandoned conservatism with
his massive spending promises, and concludes that he cannot
support Bush in November.
Howard Fineman
explains
in Newsweek that Bush
may self-destruct by the time of the November election.
Every politician will have their share of flip-flops. Bush has
been attacking Kerry, but here's a list of Bush's
own flip-flops on the issues.
Bob Novak's
new column discusses a "Republican
malaise," stemming primarily with dissatisfaction by
congressional Republicans with the Bush administration.
David Broder
of the Washington Post reflects on the serious
choices facing voters in November.
Ryan Lizza
of The New Republic gives his take on the
political impact of Bush's proposed gay marriage amendment.
Peggy Noonan
offers an interesting
comparison of Bush and Kerry - why one is better at
speeches and the other is better at interviews.
Eleanor Clift
of Newsweek examines how much the Massachusetts gay
marriage ruling can hurt John Kerry in the fall.
The race for the presidency suddenly seems competitive with
Bush's recent troubles and a reinvigorated Democratic Party. An
analysis in the Washington Post reviews how this
happened.
Andrew Sullivan
explores whether
the Democrats can really win this fall.
Long-time Kerry critic Howie Carr gives a very
unflattering portrayal of John Kerry in the New York Post
titled "The
Real Kerry."
Horse Race
and Tactics:
Susan Estrich
is pretty
mad. She explains how the current lies and smears coming from
the Republicans are similar to the dirty tactics used in 1988
by Bush's father, and how Lee Atwater admitted to her on his
deathbed that he was behind them. According to Estrich, independent
Democratic groups are about to respond with a scorched-earth
policy against Bush and Cheney, focusing on private
behavior like drunken-driving arrests.
Joe Klein argues that Kerry's only hope is to go
negative in response to the Bush assault.
Smear
and Pivot
- Andrew Sullivan explains George W.
Bush's campaign strategy.
The Washington Post details
how Zell Miller and the Republicans are distorting Kerry's
voting record on weapons systems. Fred Kaplan is a little
less diplomatic in Slate, calling the Republican charges
"lies
and damned lies". FactCheck.org weighs in as
well with their own analysis of the distortions
of Kerry's record.
In Slate, William
Saletan rips
Dick Cheney and Zell Miller for suggesting that any
criticism of Bush's war policies are unpatriotic.
Andrew Sullivan criticizes the tone and content of Zell
Miller's angry denouncement of John Kerry.
William Saletan argues
that Schwarzenegger
Republicans should not support George Bush.
Smear
and Pivot - Andrew Sullivan explains George W.
Bush's campaign strategy.
Dick Morris
argues in The Hill that John
Kerry might be blowing the election by not effectively
responding to the negative Bush attacks.
Martin Kettle
explains how
the Democrats
have gotten serious about winning in November.
John Zogby
argues that Bush
is still the underdog in the November election despite
Kerry's small convention bounce.
Despite the small bounce for
Kerry, William Saletan explains that the
poll numbers look grim for Bush.
Mort Kondracke
argues that it's the Democrats who lead in the '04
smear campaign.
E. J. Dionne Jr.
points out that the Bush
campaign is using the tactics it used in 2000 against John
McCain.
Jonathan Alter
of Newsweek explains how Kerry will use his war record
and "muscular
liberalism" to fend off Republican attacks on
national security.
Kerry
campaign to target swing voters, selling Kerry as a moderate
centrist (Washington
Post)
WAR IN IRAQ:
After months of
distraction involving Kerry's service in Vietnam and Bush's
national Guard service, the focus if finally back where it
should be - on Bush's handling of the Iraq
War. After the Republican Convention, Kerry shook up his
staff and finally started challenging Bush on the mess in
Iraq. How one feels about this war will, and probably should,
determine one's vote in November. At least they're finally
talking about the real issues.
Richard Wolffe explains how
Kerry has raised his game in September after a dismal
August.
Fareed Zakaria explains
how to pick a war president.
Andrew Sullivan argues that John Kerry's
reality check on Iraq may salvage his campaign.
Joe Klein explains the difficulty facing John Kerry in
attacking Bush's
powerful fantasy about the situation in Iraq.
David Broder reports on
quiet calls for change in our Iraq policy coming from
more members of the military and their families.
Newsweek details how
things are getting worse in Iraq.
Joe Klein explains how Kerry needs to step up and
challenge Bush on his inept conduct of the war in Iraq.
Andrew Sullivan gives his take on
Dick Cheney's claims that a vote for Kerry would lead to
more terrorists attacks.
In
Wrong-Way Bush, William Saletan argues that in
the war on terror the worst defense is a bad offense.
Christopher Dickey explains how Bush is
losing the war on terror, and asks why Kerry isn't
pressing him on it.
George Will explains that the
current political situation in Iraq is untenable, and
how this might lead to the end of the Bush presidency.
Fred Kaplan asks whether there is any hope of avoiding
catastrophe in Iraq.
CANDIDATE PROFILES:
George
W. Bush
John Kerry
Ralph Nader
Comments, questions and suggestions can be sent to Gerardo
Orlando at editor@orlandoreport.com.
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