WP: Bush Visits Worried Workers of the Rust Belt

[kskiska]

President Confronts Pain of Lost Jobs

DOVER, Ohio. July 31 -- President Bush invited 10 employees of a steel company that has threatened massive layoffs to join him aboard his luxury campaign bus Saturday as he plunged into the Rust Belt to try to improve his image among worried workers, even as he labored to portray John F. Kerry as aloof and shallow.

Bush has been appearing in front of almost uniformly supportive crowds, with his campaign or the White House carefully dispensing tickets as a tool for weeding out dissent. But there was no disguising or diverting the pain in Dover, once a flour- and steel-milling center, where Bush's eight-bus caravan passed by rain-soaked residents waving signs such as "We Need Jobs" and "Thanks for Stealing My Daddy's Pension."

(snip)

In Dover, Bush's bus, emblazoned "The Heart and Soul of America," was greeted by a barefoot, red-headed girl carrying a poster that said, "My grandpa lost his job! -- your Turn!" Her older sister, wearing flip-flops, brandished one that said, "My grandpa lost his job -- you should too!"

(snip)

At the same time, Bush's aides said the convention showed them that Kerry will never be the more personable candidate in the race. The aides said they plan to keep the president in many casual settings in the weeks ahead instead of emphasizing the trappings of office that they had favored when they thought his biggest strength was his role as commander in chief.

So Bush was out in rolled-up sleeves this weekend, saying things such as, "You can't talk sense to these folks," in reference to terrorists. He made a snide aside to "places like Washington, D.C." He visited a Dover candy store and spent about $1.50. He tossed around a football at the Cleveland Brown's training camp, and waved at thousands of supporters who waited for hours outside the Friendly's restaurant in Middleburg Heights, Ohio, the Motel 6 in Strongsville, Ohio, and hundreds of other down-home spots.


more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30872-2004Jul31.html

[2Design]

1. So how come he didn't show this interest for 3 1/2 years

why hasn't he done anything for the last 56 years of his life. Why did he run everything he touches into the ground? How come he went from record surplus to record defitcits (sp). Sorry I can't spell some times.

[The Zanti Regent]

2. And once again THE WHORESHINGTON POST spins for the Nazi Party

I can imagine Stenographer Sue getting sooooooooo excited that Bush spent that whole dollar and a half in a candy store.

No doubt Stenographer Sue would allege that JFK would buy Teresa candy on the internet...EXPENSIVE FRENCH CANDY no doubt...

[Kimber Scott]

12. This article doesn't favor Bush. It sounds pretty bad.

Pointing out he spent a whole buck and a half? Come on. Barefoot, little red-headed girls whose grandpa lost his job under this administration? This is not a pro-Bush article. The tides are changing.

[quaoar]

14. That article

Is in fact a royal up-the-ass to Bush. It makes him look worse than Marie Antoinette.

[celestia671]

3. It's pretty sad...

if the people in these towns can't see thru Bush's lame attempts at being 'just one of them'! If he cared a fig about the regular folks, he wouldn't have let their jobs get shipped overseas or eliminated altogether!

[jwin95]

4. I feel so sorry for those ppl in the rust belt

I am only glad I moved out of that p/o the country when I did! I don't think that there is much that can be doen to even bring back jobs! Too much snow and the cost of heating and living just doesn't compare to the south.

Juan

[daleo]

11. What about the cost of air conditioning?

I was under the impression that could get quite expensive in the south. Where I live (Canada), air conditioning is only useful for a month or two per year, so I am not really up on the costs.

[0007]

20. What part of Florida did you move too?

[wabeewoman]

5. I don't understand his plan

if he is only speaking to "uniformly supportive crowds" how is he reaching the undecided voters? Even his campaign tickets are tools to weed out dissent! And he tries to make Kerry appear aloof and shallow. HA HA he is such a joke!!

[physioex]

6. Shrub does not feel comfortable around audiences that do not support him..

I could tell by his gestures at the Urban League the day after he refused to attend the NAACP. That has been his modus operandi since the beginning, allow no dissent and shore up your base. Bascially I think his stragey is to win the election on the fudamentalists, corporate interests, and whites who have a mistrust of blacks (snub the NAACP shore up your base). I think it's a mistake because a President must try and appease all the groups and meet in the middle to win a re-election.

[Demoiselle]

7. "Almost uniformly supportive crowds...." BAH HUMBUG!

Isn't it true that these crowds are made up of invited guests..carefully screened in indoor venues? Of COURSE they're supportive! But what about all those folks with protest signs outside on the streets, hmmm?

[BrotherBuzz]

8. Big spender!

He visited a Dover candy store and spent about $1.50.

Two bits says mister 'I got mine' didn't share with anyone, either!

[WLKjr]

24. If I had his kind of money and was campainging like that

I would have bought whatever was in that store and order it to be passed around to the crowd and offer to buy the store owner lunch and dinner and ask him/her to visit the white house and have them put on the official guest list for anytime visits.......



but hey that won't happen for about another 35-40 years from now when I win in a landslide....lol;)

I can dream can't I. :)

[Cocoa]

9. I like that phrase "snide aside"

it suits Bush

[goforit]

10. Desparate people do desparate things...Clock is ticking....GOP!!!

[quaoar]

13. Why didn't Bush

Just tell all those whiny unemployed people to take some Prozac?

Geesh, you'd think they would be glad that under Bush they can all now work at Wal-Mart.

[Tight_rope]

15. $1.50?....Boy what big spenders the top 1% are!

I hope his teeth fall out...but of course he would be eating that candy. It will go straight to the labs for examination. Have to make sure they didn't pull roach poisoning in it!

[WinterStorm]

17. How about spit

I would have spit in it.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. "Yeah, I worry about work too; someday I may have to do some myself..."

Nah.

[schultzee]

18. Bush will make sure that any new jobs are outsourced, he could

care less for the peasants.

[colonel odis]

19. did you notice his eyes and his overall demeanor?

he was definitely medicated. very medicated.

[fofer]

21. "Places like Washington, D.C."?????

Washington, D.C., where he HAS LIVED FOR ALMOST FOUR YEARS? Is this article from 2000? What is Rove smoking that he thinks this is going to work? You can't run as a Washington outsider when you're the freakin' president! Unbelievable. Keep it up, Georgie.

[drscm]

22. I can understand why he does not claim any allegiance to DC;

he's hardly ever there.

[fofer]

23. Hee!

Very good point. :-)

[0007]

25. A worried worker would go listen to junior?

Maybe for a good laugh.