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| President Bush Tells Some Big Fish Stories in Springfield |
| 02.16.04 (7:51 pm) [edit] |
The Monday after President Bush was inexplicably thrown to Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" (presumably so he could seem “tough” by taking tough questions, whether or not he answered them well), they sent him to the friendly confines of Springfield, Missouri. The thinking had to be that, after taking a pretty firm bitchslap from Russert the day before, the good folks right here in Johnny Ashcroft, Kit Bond, Jim Talent, and Good Ol' Boy Roy Blunt's backyard would treatem' right. Well, most of the pundits agreed that Russert didn't pull out the A-List material (which would have probably limited his future access to the Oval Office), but the President managed to look bad anyway. He couldn't even answer the simplest questions; he had that confused look on his face; he waffled and stumbled on the Iraq War and his own service in Vietnam. So where better for the President to land on his feet, to get his confidence back, to replenish his spirit than with a warm, affirming reception at Springfield-Branson Regional Airport and a trip to Bass Pro Shops--Missouri's Number One Attraction, and a perfect place for the President to solidify his country-boy image for the good folks of this here swing state.
We got some snow that morning, which cancelled school, so I got to watch the President's "conversation"--as it was billed--with workers at SRC Automotive out in the industrial part of northwest Springfield. Air Force One, I can tell you, makes a damn lot of noise--it's like a whole stock car race flying over your house. A minute later, Springfield Republican Television, better known as KY3, cut live to the airport. The President shook hands with SRC employee Travis Morrison, who put in a lot of time in Pierce City, site of last year's devastating tornados--"a soldier in the army of compassion", as the President put it. Then he did his usual smirk-and-wave routine, while the motorcade was loaded up to head for the plant.
SRC Automotive was chosen for a number of reasons. First, owner Jack Stack is a local legend, one of those innovative businessmen who "does things differently." Stack is famous for involving his employees directly in the running of the business (which amounts to, as has been reported to me by former employees, letting them see the balance sheets), and he used to sponsor an annual Young Entrepreneurs contest held at Drury College (once won by a team captained by the esteemed JimmyO). SRC remanufactures heads, crankcases, rods, and cranks on racecar engines--a perfect thematic for launching the President's re-election campaign. Framing the stage were several automobile engines hung from the ceiling, like Camaro blocks from sturdy oak trees in a trailer park. Behind the President and his "panel" was a giant Missouri license plate reading "Jobs for the 21st Century." In fact, when the President sat down, two giant engines, one on each side of him, hung in front of some giant industrial machines in the background. The scene was, it now seems, a test-run of the President's new NASCAR-based strategy to get those poll numbers up.
Bush is trying to attach himself to images of the testosterone vote, those male voters who turn out for him in droves--commonly called "Nascar Dads." These guys are rural and Southern, yes, but they're also new suburbanites who still think they're tough guys--you know, the kind of guy who thinks it's bad-ass to have an SUV or giant truck with a hemi in it. These used to be Reagan Democrats, union guys who didn't like being associated with the effete liberal left. And that's what the President's Daytona trip and conversation at an racecar engine remanufacturing plant is all about: Convincing guys who are getting screwed in this economy that if they're really macho, they need to vote for a War President. Besides, he cares about jobs, and it's all Clinton and 9/11's fault anyway (from the Springfield "conversation"): [url=]http://www.whitehouse.gov/new...[/url]
"See, when a stock market sometimes indicates -- is a predictor of the future, and sure enough, in the first quarter of 2001, the country was in a recession. And when you're in a recession, it means somebody is not going to be able to work. Things are going backwards. The economy is in decline. People are starting to get laid off. There's a lot of uncertainty out there. People just aren't sure what their future looks like. It's tough times when the country is in a recession...
"The march to war affected the people's confidence. It's hard to make investment. See, if you're a small business owner or a large business owner and you're thinking about investing, you've got to be optimistic when you invest. Except when you're marching to war, it's not a very optimistic thought, is it? In other words, it's the opposite of optimistic when you're thinking you're going to war. War is not conducive to -- for investment."
As you can see, Bush's rhetorical strategy is to explain things on such a reductive level that the point seems self-explanatory--I mean, listening to that explanation, how could how blame anybody but bin Ladin and Clinton for the loss of jobs? There's something to that, sure, but Bush repeats the talking points over and over again, filling up time so that it sounds like he's saying a lot when he's merely passing the buck. Unfortunately, this is the sort of "Common Sense" rhetoric that can be effective out here in the Midwest. We're really skeptical of long-winded, lawyerly-sounding answers--but the President? He's a straight-shooter! Check out his hayseed explanation of trickle-down economics:
"A lot of it had to do with the fact that we cut your taxes, a lot of the reasons why this economy is growing. (Applause.) Make no mistake about it, the main reason the economy is growing is because the entrepreneurial spirit of America is strong and we've got the greatest workers in the world. (Applause.) But it helps when those workers have got more money in their pocket. And it helps when the small business owners have got more money in their coffers. And that's what tax relief does. See, when you cut the taxes for the people, you let them keep more of their own money. It means somebody is going to demand an additional good or a service, and when they demand an additional good or a service in our economy, somebody is going to produce that good or a service. And when somebody produces it, somebody is more likely to find work...
"That means that it was the tax relief passed by Congress encouraged him to invest. When he buys a piece of equipment, somebody has to make the equipment, which means somebody is more likely to find a job. So when Jack makes a decision to buy a piece of equipment, based upon the tax relief, he really says, I'm going to not only help my workers become more productive -- which means better pay over time -- but it means somebody is going to have to make the equipment. And that's how the economy works. It's an economy that responds to the decision-making process of a lot of people around the world like Jack."
And that's exactly how it works, right? It's just that simple, right? How can it be any more complicated than that? You must be a moron if you can't understand how this economy works! So that's what the President told us, and then he headed toward the motorcade and scooted off to do some shopping at the Bass Pro Superstore. But if you're like me, you want to know what the President thinks about Jack having to compete with China because we keep bestowing Most Favored Nation status on them (Not that Jack Stack does: Racing engines had better always be made in the USA, right?). You want to know about outsourcing of technical jobs. You want to know about the decreasing power of unions to negotiate living-wage jobs. You want to know how immigrant amnesty is going to affect the service economy. You want to know about all kinds of stuff--and, to be fair, a campaign stop at SRC Remanufacturing in Springfield, Missouri probably isn't the time and the place for a Stiglitzian discussion of national budget concerns. But still, this hayseed explanation of trickle-down economics worked in the last election because this straight-shooting, common sense-sounding rhetoric appeals to the Midwestern and Southern sensibility.
But as more people begin to see that this "Jobless Recovery" isn't going to trickle down to them, that the real issues in our working class lives aren't being addressed, the President's rhetoric is going to sound more and more like carpetbagger bullshit--which it is. At least, that's what the Democrats have got to communicate to the Midwest. The truth is on their side, but they've got to counter the President's common touch rhetoric.
This is why I think John Edwards has a better shot at beating Bush than John Kerry. If Kerry reverts back to his fall 2003 form, like he did in last night's Wisconsin Primary debate, he'll come off like a double-talking lawyer. That won't fly here, but Edwards has the right tone--a rhetorical flair that meshes with the message. And people will be smart enough to know that he's on the right side of the issues, and he's got the back-story for credibility. To counter, Bush will just have to amp up the testosterone and play the "War President" card as often as possible.
But even on the war issue, he may be losing touch with the nation. The day President Bush was in Springfield, forty miles away in the small town of Aurora, Missouri, Staff Sgt. James Douglas "Doug" Mowris was buried after being killed in an explosion in Afghanistan. [url=]http://springfield.news-leade... [/url] Not that the President should have necessarily attended the funeral (though that would have been an extraordinary gesture toward the family of that soldier of compassion), but Bush didn't even mention the man's name or otherwise acknowledge him during his visit here. This, especially after a day when his credibility on the war was stringently questioned, when his appreciation for the armed forces is under attack from experts who say he's overextended the military, especially when his own service to the United States military is under intense scrutiny.
To be clear, whether or not President George W. Bush intentionally misled us on the Weapons of Mass Destruction does not make the war any less just. Those of us who have read the numerous Saddam Hussein biographies published over the last decade know that the genocide in Iraq was far worse than Kosovo's, which itself justified a war. But we also knew that Hussein was primarily occupied with keeping his own power, and that his global aspirations were dashed after the first Gulf War. Al Gore, during a speech in Tennessee leading up to the state's primary, [url=]http://slate.msn.com/id/20951...[/url] may have overstated the case when he said, "President George W. Bush reminds me more of former President Richard Nixon than any of his other predecessors," but when Gore really went Dean on the crowd, he did say something that's quite right: "He betrayed this country! He played on our fears!" Gore screamed.
President Bush strained when he told Tim Russert that he was a "War President" on "Meet the Press," but the next day in Springfield, Missouri he could have acted like one by at least acknowledging a fallen soldier in the War Against Terror. But he didn't, and I think that's what's hurting this President in the eyes of so many, even those who supported this war. Iraq under Hussein was a human tragedy, and a President with more skill and grace could have sold that to the American people as a pretext for war. But he didn't--he played to our fears and bullied popular opinion by trumping up the evidence of WMD. And now, while he stumbles over questions about Iraq and refuses to attend funerals, or even to associate himself with any human casualties of this war, he seems aloof to such personal concerns of the American people.
Mr. President, it's not about the War, sir--just like, in a less-important way, it wasn't about sex with Bill Clinton. Instead of attending that funeral in Aurora, or at least meeting with the wife and family of Doug Mowris, President Bush was gone fishin' at Bass Pro Shops to look at rods and reels (which, incidentally, is owned by Bush family friend and huge donor John Morris). A local TV station captured the photo op that defines Bush's current problems: Outside the exit of the Bass Pro Shops is a giant arching sign the reads "Liars Club"--as in a Big Fish story, where you can get your picture taken next to a giant bass. While those in Aurora, Missouri mourned, President Bush walked out of the Bass Pro Shop and stood right under that sign, smirking and waving as the Secret Service opened his limo.
----shimes
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posted by: Jill of Mixed Reviews Fame (reply)
post date: 02.17.04 (12:45 pm)
Why is Springfield Republican TV named after a lubricant jelly?
posted by: Jill again (reply)
post date: 02.17.04 (12:49 pm)
I'd pay good money for a photo of Chimpy under that sign...
posted by: Dillon (reply)
post date: 02.17.04 (8:04 pm)
Ok, This may be the wrong spot, but if John Edwards doesn't get pissed off soon then he is truly running for VP. Tonight, botox head Kerry jumps on top of Edwards speech because he knows that Edwards is a much better speaker. I was really hoping this hussy in Africa could shake things for the Edwards campaign. Listen to Sean Hannety talk about Kerry's record. It is going to be a turkey shot soon on this record. Kerry voted for NAFTA, Patriot Act, NCLB, voted to decrease funding for CIA, voted to eliminate tons of weapons programs. This record is going to be tough. Jimmy Hoffa said that Kerry was pro drilling on Hardball. Edwards can beat Bush. Kerry is a rich asshole
posted by: JohnnyE4me (reply)
post date: 02.17.04 (8:26 pm)
'Objects in your mirror may be closer than they appear.'
We were getting ready to hear the greatest 2nd-place-finish speeches since Iowa, and here comes Kerry, who just happens to start his speech RIGHT AFTER Edwards. This couldn't have been an accident. This is a load of crap. kinda like the Bush administration.
posted by: filmsnobs (reply)
post date: 02.18.04 (6:54 am)
Dillon, we missed you this weekend!!!!
And you know, that very thing we were talking about--Edwards' campaign not knowing what the hell they're doing--is what happened last night. They didn't fill the room, tried to convince some guys playing bingo in the next room to come over, and then the confetti canon misfired. Don't they understand that John Edwards can be the next President? What the hell is going on with these people?
And Jill, I haven't been able to find the picture. I do have it on VHS at home, though I don't have the technology to make a movie file out of it.
posted by: Angry LLW (reply)
post date: 02.19.04 (9:59 am)
Thanks for recognizing a truly good man in this article, and I'm NOT referring to George W. James "Doug" Mowris was a great, childhood friend of mine who was the type of guy that's never forgotten. His loss is felt by thousands, and for the President to overlook the opportunity to pay his respects to his family and the hundreds of others lost due to his impetuous nature is unforgivable. But then again, by naming the individuals that have lost their lives and facing the families, George W. and the Administration might have to acknowledge that this is more than just the powerplay that it started out to be.
posted by: filmsnobs (reply)
post date: 02.23.04 (8:11 pm)
I know a few people who are from Aurora and knew Mr. Mowris. From all accounts, he was a good father, husband, soldier, and man of the community.
posted by: Katie (reply)
post date: 03.27.06 (4:01 am)
Gotcha real nice blog, great reading for your visitors.
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