Bush may be an awful president, but the guy knows how to do two things really well: raise and spend a lot of money.
The Bush campaign raised $14 million in July, about as much as it has been taking in each month since it stopped holding fund-raising events in April and continued accepting donations through the mail and over the Internet.
Bush took in a record $242 million from the official start of his campaign in May 2003 through last month. He started August with $32.5 million left and about $458,000 in bills to pay.
Let’s do the math: Bush has raised $242 million and has $32.5 million left. This means the most prolific fundraising campaign in the history of the world has spent about $210 million before the final three months of the campaign. That’s simply stunning. I mean, really, pick an adjective — unbelievable, mind-boggling, unprecedented — they all apply here.
What’s downright hilarious, though, is that Bush’s ability to spend like a drunken sailor hasn’t worked. It’s kept Bush relatively close, but after spending $210 million — far more than any candidate in any race in any democracy ever — he intended to bury Kerry and open up a huge incumbent lead going into the final stretch. It was “shock and awe,” campaign-style. Instead, he’s losing.
Remember that movie Brewster’s Millions? Richard Pryor had to spend $30 million in order to win some huge inheritance. The trick was he couldn’t actually buy anything tangible, so he wouldn’t have anything to show for his lavish spending spree.
Sound familiar?