In response to news that Senate Dems are holding hearings on Bush administration abuse of the Social Security Administration, Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum sounded disgusted by what he sees as the Dems’ drive for a permanent campaign.
“All they do is keep pointing the finger at the president as if we are in election mode,” Santorum said. “The politics never ends. Here we are, January the year after the elections, and they are in full-scale political mode as if we are a month before the elections. I think people will tire of this, because I don’t think they are looking for talking points on how bad things are or how rotten the president is.”
If Santorum really believes the public has no interest in extending the campaign season and exposing this debate to a “full-scale political mode,” he might want to tell the president.
President Bush plans to reactivate his reelection campaign’s network of donors and activists to build pressure on lawmakers to allow workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market, according to Republican strategists.
White House allies are launching a market-research project to figure out how to sell the plan in the most comprehensible and appealing way, and Republican marketing and public-relations gurus are building teams of consultants to promote it, the strategists said.
The campaign will use Bush’s campaign-honed techniques of mass repetition, never deviating from the script and using the politics of fear to build support — contending that a Social Security financial crisis is imminent when even Republican figures show it is decades away.
Bush aides said that in addition to mobilizing the Republican faithful and tapping the power of business, they plan to target minority voters who have not been able to afford to save and might be open to the argument that the president’s plan would turn them into investors. The campaign will also court younger voters, including many Democrats, who would potentially benefit the most from the change.
So, Santorum thinks Dems should be criticized for being in “election mode”? Please.
If Santorum’s right, and people are tired of campaigning and talking points, then he must be under the assumption that Bush’s p.r. strategy is a disaster in the making, right?