Bruce Buchanan Quotations

The only way she can establish a beach hold of credibility is to try and play into what's likely to be a kind of anti-incumbent, anti-politician campaign season.

She's starting slow. If she's not able to raise sizable chunks of money to come within one-half or one-third of what George W. Bush has raised, people might start raising questions about her viability.

She's starting slow, ... If she's not able to raise sizable chunks of money to come within one-half or one-third of what George W. Bush has raised, people might start raising questions about her viability.

She wanted no part of any of this from the get-go when they got married. She's gotten comfortable to the point that she seems engaged.

Since her husband is down in the polls, she's picking up the slack. There's no one remotely associated with the administration who is at the popularity level that she's at now.

My guess is they (the president and first lady) are discussing tradeoffs between SMU and Baylor but that they remain open, officially and personally, if there's something striking enough to catch their fancy.

Bush's standing with the public is a factor in his ongoing effort to influence legislation and to sustain support for his Iraq policy. The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in his credibility on Iraq.

Bush likes people who keep low profiles. He likes to be the star. He doesn't like competition from within.

Bush is in trouble. One would tend to think the dip is the Dubai ports issue, which has meant a spate of bad news. But there's been a collection of bad news.

He's got to re-establish his leadership capability, and one of the ways he is doing that is by trying to show that he's hands-on in the recovery. He needs to send the signal that he is a hands-on manager to restore flagging confidence.

What makes this different from past mistakes is that there are some very long-term consequences here: higher energy costs, and the dislocation of thousands of people for months to come, and the rebuilding of a city. None of that will come cheap, and can't be done without a robust federal presence.

What you have is someone with a fundamental distrust of government rolling the dice, cutting taxes and programs, and having it come back to bite him. It shines a spotlight on the fact that many of his budget decisions, in hindsight, look like mistakes.

He was never a leader on controversial social issues, ... He has always been more concerned with centrist business positions.

Texas comes out smelling like a rose so far.

It does supplant the memories (of Katrina), assuming he does well. But it might be a little hyperbolic to call it a second chance.

It does supplant the memories (of Katrina), assuming he does well.

Well, he is more careful, more cautious. He's protecting a lead. He's very sensitive to the fact that any misstep is going to be magnified a thousand fold,

The reason that trust is so important has to do with the long-standing belief that you could trust him, even if you don't always agree with him and don't understand what he's doing. The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in his credibility on Iraq.

Reading the tea leaves of what they have been saying, there are more changes coming.

That used to be his sanctuary, out in the middle of rural Texas where he could get his mind off his troubles. And now his troubles are right down the street.

A lot of people are going to conclude if this thing passes, Perry is going to be hard to stop.

It seems what McCain is doing is the classic move that Richard Nixon patented - run right during the primaries, then run center for the general. He's doing what he has to do. To a purist it doesn't smell right, but find me someone who hasn't done that who won.

It is quite revealing of things that had been suspected about which there had been little clear evidence, about his clout inside the White House.

It's not inevitable that he will stand in gloom forever.

It's Libby now, pretty soon it could be Rove, and eventually there will be a danger for the White House that people are going to start asking if it is conceivable that they were acting without the approval of their bosses.

The base in Congress is eroding as members worry about their own electorates, start to back away from him on immigration, start to back away on Iraq and start to consider the president as an optional ally rather than a vital one.

It's hard for me to see how he gets back up into a positive rating in the opinion polls. Congress has got no stomach for much of the agenda that he has.

Instead he remains in the same loop. It takes a certain kind of self-confidence to shake up your comfort level and bring in new people who might challenge you. Bush has his inner compass and doesn't want to disturb it. That's what denial can do to a man.

Honesty is a huge issue because even people who disagreed with his policies respected his integrity.

He's up against it. The immediate priority is to keep either house from turning to the other side.

He admonished reporters to refrain from long questions and -- amid concern that he is overreaching on his own powers -- joked that he had signed an executive order to ban them. I sensed kind of a latent indignation in him.

Their biggest problem is developing some bipartisan way to deal with Iraq. They're still alternating between bipartisan rhetoric and impugning the patriotism of those who disagree with Bush. The daily bad news from Iraq doesn't help.

The longer a party holds power, it's harder to make sure everyone marches to the same tune.