Lizza on the White House Press Corps’ Thirst for Vengeance
From The New Republic’s Ryan Lizza comes this really fun and insightful piece on the relationship between Bush and his media entourage, and the back story to Tuesday’s press conference: Stuck.
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that poll-obsessed me found this part especially interesting:
Before the press conference, some in the media believed that Bush’s performance could tip the president’s popularity one way or the other. But, instead of changing Bush’s political momentum, Tuesday’s performance just reinforced the public’s opinion about what his most dominant trait is. It’s not leadership or stupidity, the two characteristics most often ascribed to the president by his allies and foes. It’s that he refuses to change his mind.
The Annenberg Public Policy Center recently asked 1,800 people to rate Bush and John Kerry on a scale of one to ten for 17 different characteristics. On many issues, the scores revealed no advantage for either candidate. Voters rated them equally on whether they “care about people like me,” “share my values,” are “inspiring,” “trustworthy,” or have the “right kind of experience to be president.” But the most extreme score was recorded when voters were asked how well the word “stubborn” applies to Bush. And the more important voters are to deciding the general election, the higher the score rose. Respondents from the 18 swing states thought Bush was even more stubborn than the rest of the country did. And, within the swing states, the so-called “persuadable” voters, a narrow band of Americans (about 11 percent of the electorate) undecided about the contest, found Bush even more stubborn. Interestingly, the impression that Bush is obstinate is far more ingrained than the impression that Kerry is a flip-flopper. Voters say the phrase “changes his mind for political reasons” applies about equally to both men. The coveted persuadables actually say it is a slightly better description of Bush. So, while the president may have spent $40 million on advertising to convince swing voters that Kerry changes his mind too much, they apparently are more concerned that Bush changes his too little.
Gotta love those persuadables. Flexible willow wands themselves, trimming their sails to whatever political wind is currently blowing, they apparently are even more likely than lefties like me to take notice of Bush’s stubborn streak.
I also really liked this part:
It’s common for a president faced with a sudden decline in popularity to think that, if he could only get his message out more effectively, his problems would be solved. Bush has always leaned heavily on the crutch of the big speech or bold press conference to turn things around. But he doesn’t have a message problem; he has a reality problem. “The administration is like a person who talks more loudly and slowly to people who don’t understand English,” says a Senate Democratic aide.
April 16th, 2004 at 7:50 pm
Ryan Lizz, I like very much. First time I heard of her. Ok, I don’t get out much.
I wonder if Bush feels anything when we are losing so many young kids, who really believed that there was a higher purpose to this bad war. It was always about money, oil and Halliburton.
When I told anyone what I thought about this, everyone said Oh no, this can not be, our government would never do this. Grow up.
Bush and the people who speak for him (he can’t speak for himself) just must be taken out of power.