Press Action ::: Bush to Seek Reelection

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Bush to Seek Reelection

By Micah Holmquist

President George W. Bush, who many Democrats say defeated their candidate Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election and helped put himself in the White House, announced yesterday that he is running for reelection.

Bush said neither the Democrats nor independent candidate Ralph Nader was adequately articulating his concerns for corporate cronyism and war without end.

“Come November, the voters are going to have a very clear choice. It’s a choice between more war and tax cuts and a guy who says he wouldn’t fight so many wars and a guy who would do it with less vigor,” Bush said in a recent speech.

Remembering how Bush was the only candidate to get almost as many votes as Al Gore in the 2000 election, Democrats have assaulted Bush and accused him of being an egotistical and dangerous politician who seeks reelection.

“Bush wants to be president solely to please himself and his friends,” former Vice President Al Gore said. “If Bush hadn’t run four years ago, I, Al Gore, would be president. And now Bush’s campaign could keep my legitimate party out of the White House again.”

The Democratic National Committee issued a statement saying that Bush’s campaign was ill advised. “At this crucial juncture in history when voters have the option of voting for the Democratic nominee, Ralph Nader or some other non-Republican candidate, why would Bush want to soil his reputation? At some point, Bush needs to say, ‘enough is enough. I had a good run and did a lot of evil. Now is the time to go home.’”

Democratic frontrunner Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) seemed unfazed when asked about Bush’s run. “My campaign will appeal to everyone and I will show that I can wage war and spend more money than the government takes in just as effectively as President Bush. We’ll make the Bush alternative unnecessary.”

Officially, Nader’s campaign had no comment on Bush’s decision to seek another term, but, behind the scenes, the reaction was euphoric. “Bush will take away votes from Kerry amongst those who oppose gay marriage and favor the death penalty, the occupation of Iraq and the war on drugs,” one staffer said on the condition of anonymity. “We weren’t going to get those votes anyway.”

A spokesperson for the Bush campaign said they were simply giving voters a choice.

“We will pick up the Lieberman voters, the libertarians who favor building an empire and those who follow Christopher Hitchens,” spokesperson Kevin A. Madden said. “Those people shouldn’t be denied a choice in the election. We must not forget September the 11th.”

For weeks many Democrats have urged Bush not to run.

Democratic activist John Clinton said the website he created to discourage Bush from running, bushdontrun.net, has received thousands of hits over the last few days. “There is a groundswell of people in this country who say Bush has done enough damage and that if he doesn’t want to jeopardize the endless war on terror he has worked so hard for, he needs to stay out of the race,” Clinton said. “Bush’s campaign can do no good. I mean, we got rid of Howard Dean! What else does he want?”

The Nation voiced a similar message to Bush. In a recent editorial, the editors of that venerable liberal magazine implored Bush not to run “[f]or the good of the country.”

Bush and the Republican Party, on whose ticket he ran in 2000 and hopes to do so again in 2004, have consistently denied they are to blame for Bush’s election in 2000. “Al Gore could have beaten me if he had tried harder,” Bush said shortly after being inaugurated in January 2001.

Still the criticism has continued.

Earlier this week, Charles Gibson of ABC’s Good Morning America asked Bush, “[T]he simple fact is four years ago you did cost Al Gore the presidency, didn’t you?”

It remains to be seen how large of an impact Bush will have this year.

Veteran conservative political analyst Shill Bill said he doubts Bush will do as well in 2004 “because the economy hasn’t been doing very well this time around. Nonetheless, anger about what Kerry did in the 1960s and 1970s might push some to vote for Bush.”

Bush has said nothing would please him more than if the other candidates picked up his issues and that he would even consider dropping out of the race if they did so.

“Nothing would make me happier than to see Kerry and Nader both endorse a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and pledge full support for the war on terror and greater tax cuts,” Bush said at a recent fundraiser. “[Vice President] Dick [Cheney] and I would be happy to call our friends up and get a better paying job if that happened.”

Micah Holmquist, editor of Irregular Thoughts and Links, is a Cadillac, Mich.-based writer.

More from Micah Holmquist