November 05, 2004

“In This Election, Hope Won”

Frank Luntz ran many focus groups with voters during the presidential campaign. A few of my favorite quotes from his Washington Times article:

Mr. Bush won on Tuesday because September 11 has truly changed America and because he accurately reflected America’s resolve that the war on terror has to be won. Not waged. Won. Voters concluded that while Mr. Kerry could adequately manage a terrorist attack, it was Mr. Bush who was more likely to prevent one.

...Some will claim that Mr. Bush won on Tuesday because he waged a campaign of fear. The exact opposite was the case. Americans turned to him precisely because they saw him as the antidote to that fear.

Polling over the past few months and the results on Election Day itself illustrated an essential principle of electoral success: It is no longer enough to say no. Voters need someone who will say yes. Mr. Kerry became a symbol for voters opposed to the president’s policies and procedures, but not much else. Conversely, Mr. Bush became the vehicle for those who wanted an affirmative, proactive, preventative approach to homeland security. Americans will tell you that it was Mr. Bush, not Mr. Kerry, who offered the hope that personal security could be restored. And in this election, hope won.

(via Lucianne.com).

From VDH:

Much of the world — in Europe, among the dictatorships and autocracies of the Middle East, and indeed among the terrorists themselves — realized that the presidential election was a referendum on America’s will in both Afghanistan and Iraq. So be it. Thus the president’s victory is a strong message to the Arab League that democracy is coming to the Middle East as it did earlier to Germany, Japan, South Korea, Panama, Serbia, and Afghanistan, and a message to the terrorists that their beheadings, their sick infomercials, and their deified mass murderers will only earn a rendezvous with defeat if not annihilation. The farmers of Utah, the plant workers of Ohio, and the immigrants of Florida are not the same folk as those of Spain. America saw the election-eve face of bin Laden, heard his pathetic rant — and shrugged that he, not it, was going down.

The Economy is Doing Well (And a Note on the Historic Achievements of GWB)

From Reuters:

U.S. Job Gains Strongest in Seven Months

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. jobs soared at the sharpest rate in seven months in October, the government reported on Friday, helped by a surge in construction activity as hurricane-battered areas in the Southeast were rebuilt.

A surprisingly strong 337,000 jobs were added to payrolls last month—twice the 169,000-job growth that Wall Street economists had forecast and the strongest since March when 353,000 jobs were created, the Labor Department said.

Still, the unemployment rate edged up to 5.5 percent from 5.4 percent in September, but that was because more people joined the search for employment, a potentially hopeful sign.

Not only was October a strong month but the number of jobs created in the two prior months was revised up—to 139,000 in September instead of 96,000 and to 198,000 in August instead of 128,000.

Bush’s tax cuts revitalized the economy; he’s prevented another terrorist attack from being executed on our soil during the years since 9-11; he’s installed a Democracy in Iraq; and removed from power the leaderships of two nations that supported terrorists (a Bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Hussein had a long history of supporting terrorism). No wonder the Dems have had to act so crazy during the campaign. You’d have to be crazy not to recognize the substantial, even historic achievements of GWB.