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Saturday, November 18, 2006

Reverse Midas Touch

Via Froomkin, Chuck Todd has the low-down on Bush's homestretch momentum killing on the campaign trail.

There's plenty of evidence to suggest that President Bush may have been the deciding factor that killed the GOP's momentum in some key Senate races over the last week. One Republican consultant is convinced that Bush's last-minute visit to Missouri on behalf of ousted GOP Sen. Jim Talent did the incumbent in. According to the network exit polls, Democrat Claire McCaskill crushed Talent among those late-breaking voters who decided in the final three days (a full 11 percent of the electorate). Bush also made a last-minute trip to Montana, where anecdotal evidence indicates the president's rally for Republican Conrad Burns stopped the incumbent's momentum in Billings.


Despite the hoax that the hard-headed establishment kewl kidz want to continue to peddle, the "really like ta have a beer with Cooter" vote is pretty much gone. They've either washed down the beer with the kool-aid, or they've come to their senses and realized that either that's a stupid way to choose a leader, or that Bush is not really as likable and trustworthy as they previously thought.

So yeah, he shows up in Missouri and Montana, acting like it's still 2004, still reciting the same homilies, still singing the same tired song. It didn't work this time, and it's becoming less effective by the week. Fewer and fewer people are hearing the dog whistle anymore, it's that simple.

At some point the media do have to wake up and accept the fact that seven out of ten Americans just don't like the fuckin' guy, don't believe him, don't trust him, don't think he's reliable or competent. There's no mystery to any of this, except to an industry that pretty much collectively decided to stick to a narrative that outlived its usefulness long ago.

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