Bush mentioned "hard work" *eleven times* and said "working hard" twice and "how hard it is" thrice in the first debate. (He also spoke of "the hardest decision a president makes" and "the hardest part of the job.") Pundits duly took note of Bush's self-defeating repetition which served to call the audience's attention to the strain of the occupation of Iraq, spinning it for Kerry's advantage.
<blockquote>Transcript of presidential debate By REGISTER WIRE SERVICES September 30, 2004
. . . BUSH: . . . In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's *hard work*. It's incredibly hard. . . .
BUSH: . . . There's a lot of good people *working hard*. . . .
BUSH: . . . There's a lot of really good people *working hard* to do so. It's *hard work*. . . .
BUSH: . . . And it's *hard work*. I understand *how hard it is*. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens *how hard it is*. . . . The plan says we'll train Iraqi soldiers so they can do the *hard work*, and we are. . . .
BUSH: . . . It is *hard work*. It is *hard work* to go from a tyranny to a democracy. It's *hard work* to go from a place where people get their hands cut off, or executed, to a place where people are free. . . .
BUSH: . . . You know, it's *hard work* to try to love her [Missy Johnson, of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose husband PJ got killed in Iraq] as best as I can, knowing full well that the decision I made caused her loved one to be in harm's way. . . .
BUSH: . . . It's *hard work*. Everybody knows it's *hard work*. . . .
BUSH: . . . I understand *how hard it is* to commit troops. . . .
BUSH: . . . We've done a lot of *hard work* together over the last three and a half years. . . .
<http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040930/NEWS09/40930003></blockquote> -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>
