The Ugly Bush: He Smirks As He Wrongly Smears Kerry

Published on October 14, 2004 By blogic In Politics

A moment where we learned something troubling about Bush:

Sen. John F. Kerry caught President Bush off guard during their final debate Wednesday night, asserting that the president once said he was "not that concerned" about hunting down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

In one of the testiest moments of the evening, Bush protested, "I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. That's kind of one of those exaggerations."

But during a news conference at the White House on March 13, 2002, Bush said something close to what Kerry quoted. "I truly am not that concerned about him," the president said, according to the official White House transcript.

Last week, I talked about how the problem with Bush's claim that he wasn't an owner of a timber company isn't that he made a mistake, it's that Bush made a theatrical production of buffooning Kerry as Bush made that mistake. He pandered to the audience and the camera, climaxing in the bizarre moment where he said to the moderator: "need wood?"

If you watched last night, you know Bush made a show of the word "exaggeration," drawing out each syllable, while he grinned at the camera.

Too bad Kerry was right.

The problem here isn't that Bush makes mistakes, it's that he belittles his opponent with showy antics, even when he has no idea if his opponent has actually made a mistake. He's done this same behavior in two debates. Once might have been an unpleasant aberration, but we now know this is an ugly part of Bush's fundamental character.

Comments (Page 4)

drmiler

on Oct 15, 2004

Reply #44 By: Helix the II - 10/15/2004 5:40:44 PM
First of all, when it comes down to it.. Kerry gets nailed for something, then to keep things fair, I guess, Bush has to be nailed for something.. Even if it is a stretch, indeed it happens.

Well put Helix an insightful from me too.

Dysmas

on Oct 15, 2004

Sen. Kerry is a great man with an uncanny ability to chose men, his running mate, for thier honor and character.......unfortunatly thats not at all true. Kerry was, and is, a pathetic anit-war, anti-militay, belief -changing-to-suit-whichever-his-target-audience-happens-to-be-at-that-time, fool. And what a great choice in a potential VP. EDWARDS? Basicly new to the game and regardles of his, im a great guy smile, he is ugly inside. The greatest example is his recent, non-applicable, attack on Cheny's daughter.
What a fine bunch those two would make in office. A two faced president and a back stabbing VP.

Dysmas

on Oct 15, 2004

Oh man. My reply goes against my objective blog concerning those two......mabye IM two faced.....nahh, id venture multi personalities instead.

T B

on Oct 16, 2004

Geez... 50 posts of mostly drivel. All in response to whether or not a debate question/answer was in context or not? On who smiles or smirks? How about exerting more energy on becoming informed? Any reasonable person that has followed politics for some time KNOWS the spin machine on both sides of the aisle is chugging along as always. Even FactCheck spins at times. The Republicans are spinning Kerry's votes against tax-cuts (though they're still too many for me) and the Democrats are spinning job loss figures, ad infinitum. Try researching actuals so you can make an informed decision instead of regurgitating some partisan talking points.

COL Gene

on Oct 16, 2004

The real problem with George W. is his policies and what they have and will do to this country. My book, Four More For George W? documents the Bush policies. Look at what readers are saying about this book by going to www.amazon.com.

drmiler

on Oct 17, 2004

Sen. Kerry wasn't correct. He was using semantics and twisting things to meet his own purpose.

drmiler

on Oct 17, 2004

Reply By: blogicPosted: Friday, October 15, 2004Now, I see how you can argue that Bush didn't say he was "not worried" about Osama bin Laden, but Kerry didn't accuse him of that, and of course, Sandy2 is right that those are synonyms. Kerry said that Bush stated he was "not that concerned" about bin Laden. Bush had said that, but made a production of it as he told America that Kerry's claim was an example of a Kerry exaggeration. That's either a Bush lie or a Bush mistake.Sandy2 was right.

Sandy was not correct and neither was Sen Kerry. Kerry's own words were that President Bush was not worried about Osama. Which is incorrect. He said (Bush) that he wasn't that worried about him.

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