State of Denial, by Bob Woodward: on Principles & Values
Dick Cheney:
OpEd: Used fear of terrorism successfully as a campaign tool
Bush had tapped into a new group of lower- and middle-class voters concerned about security. After 9/11, he believed, many more people were primarily worried about terrorism, afraid of the next attack.In the campaign, the Bush reelection team had
dramatically framed the issues to make the voters' fear of terrorism as palpable as possible. The starkest, most direct suggestion that reelecting Bush would save America but electing Kerry would lead to the country's utter demise had come from
Source: State of Denial, by Bob Woodward, p.353-4
Oct 1, 2006
George W. Bush:
I'm not a textbook player; I'm a gut player
At a meeting during Bush's early candidacy, the Vulcans [Condi Rice's policy team] were discussing arms control. Bush had lots of questions and he was getting lots of answers. [One advisor] told Bush, "They're very good on this stuff.
You don't need all the technical stuff. You've got great instincts. If I could urge you to do one thing, it would be 'Trust your instincts.'"Bush had no problem trusting his instincts. It was almost his second religion.
In an interview with me several years later, on August 20, 2002, he referred a dozen times to his "instincts" or his "instinctive" reactions as the guide for his decisions.
At one point he said, "I'm not a textbook player, I'm a gut player."
Source: State of Denial, by Bob Woodward, p. 11
Oct 1, 2006
George W. Bush:
Catalyst for presidency was father's loss to Bill Clinton
"I think Bush came into office with a mission," Saudi Prince Bandar said. "Many people are confusing it with his faith--religious faith. I think he had a mission that is agnostic. That he was convinced that the mission had to be achieved and that he
is the only one who is going to achieve it. And it started with: Injustice has been done to a good man, George Herbert Walker Bush, a man who was a hero, who served his country, who did everything right."
Then as president, his father went to war in 1991 to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. "And he wins," Bandar continued, "and a charlatan--in his mind--draft dodger, etc., beats him. There is no justice."
Clinton's victory in 1992 was the catalyst. "So from 1992, this young man who was a wild young man in his youth, matured, but with a focus on one mission. There's injustice. There's something not right. I am going to correct it."
Source: State of Denial, by Bob Woodward, p. 13-4
Oct 1, 2006
John Kerry:
Rejected challenging Ohio irregularities as too “personal”
[The day after the 2004 election] Kerry was up at 7AM. He had decisions to make- First, he could mount a challenge in Ohio based on the provisional ballots.
- Second, he could challenge Ohio based on allegations of voting irregularities.
- Third,
and most dramatic, he had a dossier that showed how people in Democratic precincts in Ohio waited up to seven hours to vote. In Republican precincts there were no lines. Eight voting machines in some Republican precincts, and only one or two in some
Democratic precincts.
Kerry could fly to Ohio with a press entourage and stand with a whole bunch of people who had been disenfranchised, and cal for a re-vote. But the biggest impact on Kerry was the number of provision votes. There just weren’t
enough. Kerry decided to accept the result. “To do otherwise,” he said later, “would have personal. It would have been venal. As strongly as I feel that it is flawed, deeply flawed, it would have been the wrong thing to do, to prolong the agony.”
Source: State of Denial, by Bob Woodward, p.350
Oct 1, 2006
John Kerry:
Challenging Ohio voting irregularities was too "personal"
[The day after the 2004 election] Kerry had decisions to make:- He could mount a challenge in Ohio based on the provisional ballots. But the number of provisionals was roughly equivalent to Bush's lead, so Kerry would have to take virtually all of
them.
- He could challenge Ohio based on allegations of voting irregularities.
- His campaign had a dossier that showed how people in Democratic precincts in Ohio waited 3 to 7 hours to vote. In Republican precincts there were no lines, and voters went
through in 5 minutes, [based on] 8 voting machines in some Republican precincts, and only 1 or 3 in Democratic precincts. There was a real disparity.
It could be unbelievably powerful, Kerry thought. Kerry realized that fighting would mean leaving
the country in disarray for the 2nd presidential election in a row. He decided to accept the result. "To do otherwise," he said later, "would have been personal. It would have been just the wrong thing to do when you're running for president of the US."
Source: State of Denial, by Bob Woodward, p.350-1
Oct 1, 2006
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