Burnt Orange Report

Bush in Dallas Today

By Byron LaMasters

Well, I'm sorry to say that George W. Bush will be in Dallas today, although I'm happy with the Dallas Morning News headline of "Bush visits Dallas as critics grow louder. Fighting off attacks on war, economy, he plans tour, fund-raiser today". Lovely. It almost makes me want to buy a $2000 hot dog so I can listen to him tell me how he'll continue his war against the economy, and explain why the hell we're in Iraq, and why Americans are killed everyday in an operation with no end, and no exit strategy. Oh, right, it was all about liberating the Iraqi people. What a load of crap. I could go protest, but I'd rather do something productive, like prepare for the Texas Young Democrats Executive Board meeting tomorrow. Anyway, for the rest of you, here's the news.

President Bush returns to Dallas on Friday in a relatively unusual political posture: playing defense.

As he visits the city to tour a YMCA and raise campaign money, Mr. Bush is getting hammered by Democrats over the rising death toll in Iraq, new questions over the reasons for that war, continuing worries about the economy and a record-setting budget deficit.

"There are a lot of things going on, none of which are good news for him," said Karlyn Bowman, who analyzes polls for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "It's a rough time for him."

Still, Mr. Bush's poll numbers remain strong, analysts said. And supporters said they are eager to tout Mr. Bush's accomplishments in his upcoming re-election bid, to be financed in part with events like the one Friday at the Wyndham Anatole.

"The president is very much focused on the future and doing what he can do in protecting the homeland, winning the war on terror and getting the economy moving again," said Ken Mehlman, Mr. Bush's campaign manager.

Before the gala, Mr. Bush will visit Lakewest YMCA in West Dallas to promote physical fitness.

Aides declined to estimate how much money they will raise at the $2,000-per-person fund-raiser in Dallas, and at another fund-raiser Saturday in Houston. Mr. Bush addressed seven fund-raisers last month that hauled in between $1.2 million and $4 million each.

Overall, Mr. Bush's re-election campaign raised $34.4 million in its first three months, more than its nine Democratic challengers combined. Analysts predict the Bush campaign could collect $150 million to $200 million for a primary season in which Mr. Bush faces no serious opposition.

Instead, Bush officials plan to prepare for the fall campaign with television commercials and grass-roots organizing. Bush supporters also said the money will help him respond to the attacks that Democrats make during the battle for their party's nomination.

Some of Mr. Bush's severest critics plan to greet him at the Anatole. A coalition of organizations is planning a group protest over what it calls "economic insecurity," "dismantling of the Bill of Rights," "destroying the environment" and "misrepresentations about the invasion and occupation of Iraq."

Mr. Bush will also spend time this weekend at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. On Sunday he will host Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the current president of the European Union.

This is Mr. Bush's first trip home since the White House acknowledged that Mr. Bush should not have used his State of the Union address to accuse Iraq of seeking uranium from Africa for a nuclear weapons program. That unsubstantiated allegation has created a firestorm over the justification for the war.

Democrats once reluctant to criticize Mr. Bush over Iraq have become more assertive. They said the uranium claim, combined with the failure to date to find caches of chemical and biological weapons, undermines Mr. Bush's case for invading Iraq.

"It's a disgrace that the case for war seems to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

There are signs that attacks on Mr. Bush's credibility are taking a political toll. His job approval ratings, once consistently above 60 percent, have dipped below that mark in some recent surveys.

Yet missing weapons and questionable claims may be less a danger to Mr. Bush's standing than the fact that guerrilla war rages in Iraq, political analysts said.

"There has been growing criticism of his Iraq policy for a different reason – because Americans are getting killed," said William Schneider, senior political analyst with CNN. "The situation there still seems out of control."

If Iraq continues to be seen as unstable, however, the prewar arguments may well intensify.

"People will say, 'How did we get into this mess?' " Mr. Schneider said.

Mr. Bush is also on the defensive over the economy. The jobless rate is the highest it has been in nine years, and his administration just projected a budget deficit of $455 billion, a record high (though not a record amount when measured against the economy as a whole).

Democrats said the deficits reflect poor stewardship of the economy, zeroing in on Bush-supported tax cuts that they say favor the wealthy and will lead to oceans of federal red ink in future years.

White House officials noted that the vast majority of the critics are Democrats, and there is more than a whiff of politics in the air. Nine of those are Democrats seeking to defeat Mr. Bush in next year's election.

Bush aides said they are making progress in Iraq, as the U.S. military tries to subdue violent remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime. They cited the recent creation of the Iraqi Governing Council and preparations for elections.

As for the economy, Mr. Bush and aides said the tax cuts are starting to stimulate activity, encouraging employers to hire people and create economic growth.

Aides said Mr. Bush is not yet in campaign mode. But the stump speech the president has made at previous fund-raisers – one he is expected to echo in Dallas – offers a preview of the case he plans to make in the fall of 2004.

Mr. Bush links the action against Mr. Hussein to the overall war on terrorism that began with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That includes the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan to remove the ruling Taliban, which had harbored Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist group, which plotted Sept. 11.
While Democrats point out that Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Hussein remain at large, Mr. Bush tells audiences, as he did in New York: "In Afghanistan and Iraq, we gave ultimatums to terror regimes. Those regimes chose defiance, and those regimes are no more."

Discussing the struggling economy, Mr. Bush cites a variety of factors: a recession and stock market slump at the start of his term, the Sept. 11 attacks, corporate corruption and prewar uncertainty regarding Iraq.

Though Democrats said the Bush-backed tax cuts are the biggest factor, Mr. Bush said in San Francisco: "When Americans have more take-home pay to spend, to save, or to invest, the whole economy grows and someone is more likely to find a job."

Throughout his fund-raising speeches, Mr. Bush has touted the passage of an education bill, conservative judges, creation of the Department of Homeland Security and an anti-AIDS program for Africa.

Mr. Bush's campaign will have plenty of money to press its case, though his chances of success may well come down to other factors.

Said Ms. Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute: "It all depends on whether things improve – both economically and with the situation in Iraq."

The Dallas Peace Center is leading a protest against Bush, so if your interested, Click here.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at July 18, 2003 12:00 PM | TrackBack