Hey Dems, Time To Up “Stay The Course”

12:36 am EST October 24th, 2006 | Democrats, Republicans | 5 Comments

“Stay the course” is clearly now toxic rhetoric that the White House is running away from. You know its bad because the lapdog media couldn’t even refuse to call out Bush on his whopper that he never was “stay the course”.

NY Times:

The White House said Monday that President Bush was no longer using the phrase “stay the course” when speaking about the Iraq war, in a new effort to emphasize flexibility in the face of some of the bloodiest violence there since the 2003 invasion.

“He stopped using it,” said Tony Snow, the White House press secretary. “It left the wrong impression about what was going on and it allowed critics to say, ‘Well, here’s an administration that’s just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is,’ when, in fact, it is the opposite.”

Notice the CYA there by Snow? In his interview on ABC Bush claimed he never ever used “stay the course”. Now Snow says “he stopped using it”. One enterprising member of the media could ask Bush or Snow point blank why he lied on ABC. It won’t happen, but they could do it.

The Washington Post is a little more blunt than the Times:

President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as “stay the course.” A complete distortion, they say. “That is not a stay-the-course policy,” White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday.

Where would anyone have gotten that idea? Well, maybe from Bush.

“We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed,” he said in Salt Lake City in August.

“We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course,” he said in Milwaukee in July.

“I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed,” he said after returning from Baghdad in June.

But the White House is cutting and running from “stay the course.” A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week, Republican strategists say. Democrats have now turned “stay the course” into an attack line in campaign commercials, and the Bush team is busy explaining that “stay the course” does not actually mean stay the course.

Democrats are notoriously gun shy when it comes to hitting repetition like the GOP is – but this is what they call a “gimme” in sports. At every opportunity – whether it is in a press release, tv interview, or campaign ad, every Democrat in the country should characterize the Republican policy as “stay the course”.

Example: “Michael Steele is just another Republican who wants us to ‘stay the course’ with the Bush administration’s failed policy in Iraq”

It is rare that you are handed a rhetorical gift like this in an election year: USE. IT.

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5 Responses to “Hey Dems, Time To Up “Stay The Course””

  1. StarkyLuv says:
    October 24, 2006 at 10:19 am

    Actuall, there’s a reason the Dems are gun-shy. Because the MEDIA takes any Dem attack on Rethugs as a “partisan politicization of an issue” and a Rethug attack on Dems as a “Karl Rove masterstroke”.

    Realize, THE MEDIA IS NOT ON OUR SIDE. That’s why in my opinion that it’s more important for the MEDIA to slice the administration up on this issue.

    If a Dem leader comes out and rightfully slams the Rethugs, the media will somehow, some way twist it around to make it seem like a negative for the Dems.

    The only outlets where Dems can really hammer Rethugs without that twisting are the blogs and Keith Olbermann.

    That’s how I see it anyway. It’s the media that has to take these swipes in order for the sheep-like public to pay attention.

  2. Duros62 says:
    October 24, 2006 at 11:43 am

    Oh, Dugger!
    Documented lies, you say?
    3 in a row.

    “We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed,” he said in Salt Lake City in August.

    “We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course,” he said in Milwaukee in July.

    “I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed,” he said after returning from Baghdad in June.

    Starky, i agree 100%.

  3. Oliver Willis says:
    October 24, 2006 at 12:24 pm

    Starkyluv: This is a fundamental disagreement you and I apparently have. The media will not do our fighting for us. We must do it. So the media picks up GOP frames – so what? If we hammer away enough they will fold – that’s the strategy the RNC takes with them and it works.

  4. frameone says:
    October 24, 2006 at 12:38 pm

    What’s interesting here is that the Republicans thought they had asure winner with the “stay the course” slogan. It made them seem determined and resolved and it contrasted so nicely with “cut and run.”

    Unfortunately, a little thing called reality caught up with them.

    In the face of constant news reports about the ongoing and escalating violence in Iraq. “stay the course” is no longer associated with resolve and determination. It has now become indicative of obstinancy and delusion.

    The Dems helped make that happen by early on contrasting the administration’s rhetoric with the reality of what was happening in Iraq. But I also think the public started to realize that something was wrong on their own because the media was doing their jobs, to the best of their ability in a war zone, by reporting the truth about what was happening.

    The lesson: In the face of the truth, propaganda dies on the vine.

  5. StarkyLuv says:
    October 24, 2006 at 2:13 pm

    “Starkyluv: This is a fundamental disagreement you and I apparently have. The media will not do our fighting for us. We must do it. So the media picks up GOP frames – so what? If we hammer away enough they will fold – that’s the strategy the RNC takes with them and it works.”

    You’re misunderstanding what I’m saying.

    I’m not saying Dems shouldn’t fight. What I’m saying is that the media oh-so-purposefully twists our fighting words against us. Period. The message doesn’t get through because the media TELLS the sheep what to think about what the Dem just said.

    It will take the MEDIA ITSELF to turn on the administration for the message to get through. Well I shouldn’t say “turn on”, I should say DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS. If they had been since 2001, we wouldn’t even BE in Iraq.

    Or am I the only one that notices that some major media figures are nothing but Bush operatives? (Novak, Miller, Blitzer, Candi Crawley, Washington Times, Fox News).

    That’s what I’m saying. The media unfortunately, controls the message. And the media has STRICT orders to negate the Dems message as much as possible. This cannot be denied.