On “The O’Reilly Factor,” aired on 10/14/04 between 8:03 PM and 8:08 PM EDT, Dick Morris, ubiquitous FOX political analyst, and Clarence Page, considerably less ubiquitous Chicago Tribune columnist, discussed the debates and the upcoming election.
MORRIS: “Bush entered these debates 6 to 7 points ahead and now it’s more or less tied. So, you look at the three debates and ya’ hafta say, putting them together, that Bush lost ...”
Morris then went on to say that, when the debate topics and schedule were first decided upon, Vernon Jordan. Senator Kerry’s advocate, “finessed” James Baker III, Bush’s advocate, into making the third debate about domestic policy.
MORRIS: “Who in their right mind would think any Republican can beat any Democrat in a debate on the economy, health care, Medicare and social security. It’ll never happen in this world or the next ... Baker should have insisted on all debates on all topics and then terror would have dominated all debates.”
Later:
O’REILLY: “I think the minority vote’s very important for John Kerry and I’m not convinced minorities are gonna turn out in great numbers to support him. You think I’m wrong there?
PAGE: “The fact is the minority vote tends to turn out in the last weekend because they get really energized and motivated in the last weekend before an election day...”
O’REILLY: “In Ohio..it’s basically the machine ...”
MORRIS: “Right.”
O’REILLY (continuing): “...the Republican machine - very effective - versus the fear of the economy and I don’t know which is gonna prevail.”
MORRIS: “I think there’s gonna be a huge turnout. All the voter registration figures are up, the polling indicates.”
O’REILLY: “Who does that favor?”
MORRIS: “It probably favors Kerry. And I do believe he’ll get a very strong, very intense minority vote. There’s only one thing that can save George Bush. Think about how we felt in August. Think about how jeopardized and endangered we felt with photos of the stock exchange and IMF building circulating. The Al Qaeda militants, bombs possibly at the two conventions, the Olympics. We felt really in danger. Now we feel fat and happy. We’re felling pretty good. We turn on the TV set about Iraq. We watch it with half an eye, but nobody really thinks there’s gonna be anything happening here. If that’s the environment on November 2nd, Kerry’s gonna win. But, if - and I’m not suggesting Bush would fabricate it - but if, in fact, Al Qaeda chooses to begin actions, to threaten stuff, to do stuff here, which they did in Israel and they did in Madrid right before the election, then I think that could elect Bush...Osama bin Laden will determine if Bush wins or not.”
Follow-up:
Morris just finished an appearance on “Big Story with John Gibson” (10/15/04, 5:03 PM EDT) in which he said essentially the same things, only this time he was very careful NOT to use the words “and I’m not suggesting Bush would fabricate it.”
Comment
Now, let’s get this straight. Bush and Cheney and Matalin and Hughes and Holt and Barnett and FOX News all make a BIG, BIG deal about how safe we are because (trembling voice) “THIS President, THIS man of the people, THIS courageous leader, THIS enemy of terror” has kept us safe from the terrorists.
One of their favorite tag lines is Bush’s leadership in the War on Terror is the ONLY reason that we haven’t had an attack on American soil since 9/11. Granted we’ve been attacked in a lot of other places, the world hates our guts, Iraq is falling apart, oil is close to $55.00 a barrel, people (including my brother just two days ago) are losing their jobs, we’ve outsourced manufacturing jobs to cheaper markets, all the teachers I know are on anti-depressants or quitting.,
But, dear readers, they would have you believe you are really safer with Bush because Bush is stronger on terror and has protected us, good father that he. And remember our fearless leader is in constant contact with his “higher” father, who tells him what to do!
As far as I’m concerned, if Al Qaeda attacks the United States again, that’s the end of Bush. Americans will take the new guy - not the one who has so pridefully boasted that he alone has kept the terrorists away from our shores.
Yet, to listen to people like Morris and the Bush-Cheney team, such a terrorist attack would instantly put Bush back in the White House because Americans would see it as an attempt to influence our elections and mindlessly react with anger (the men) and fear (the women) and re-elect Bush.
Remember Morris’ words “... I’m not suggesting Bush would fabricate it.”
Perhaps it’s time for the Democrats to come up with a counter-strategy just in case we suddenly go to RED alert two days before the election.
