Much fun has been made of President Bush's persistent whining in the first presidential debate last week about how hard he has been working as president. But now it turns out that focus may be part of a calculated message the Bush campaign wants to put out in the next few weeks.
For, while Bush was working hard in Florida, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was also hard at work last week in Atlanta, talking to some Boys and Girls Club kids the day after the debate. Powell couldn't match the president's 22 mentions of "hard" work, but the secretary spoke for only about 20 minutes. Still, he mentioned working or studying hard 14 times.
_____In the Loop_____
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He recalled his parents saying they worked hard so he should study hard. And when one 12-year-old asked if he liked his job, Powell said: "Yeah. It's too hard. The work is too hard, though, but I like it."
He asked the youngster what time she gets up each day. She said she gets up at 6:20 a.m. and does homework at night.
"I get up at 5," he noted, and "I do two hours of homework every night" and "I get to 'school' at 6:30. So it's a hard job. I work very hard. I work from 6:30 in the morning till about 7 at night, then I go home and I have two hours of homework every night. So it's a very hard job, but it's important and very exciting.
" . . . So I like the job very much. Some days it's really hard, though. Some days it's really hard and, you know, you're sad because you didn't do everything you wanted to get done that day . . .
"The hardest part is the cameras are always watching you," he said. There is a lot of excitement, "but it's also hard work with long days . . . great deal of satisfaction and a lot of hard work."
Really, really hard. A lot harder than clearing brush.
This could be the first time Powell has been on-message in months.
Dems Counter Cheney -- From a Distance
Speaking of the debates, the Kerry folks are taking great umbrage at Vice President Cheney's statements that he never linked 9/11 to Saddam Hussein and that he had never met Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) before their Tuesday debate. The Democrats say those were lies.
Come on. Get a grip. The shots were perfectly timed, beautifully delivered and very effective. Edwards was left bewildered and knocked off stride.
Let's face it. The Kerry folks are just jealous. Now they're even disputing Cheney's set-up line accusing Edwards of being AWOL from the Senate. "Now, in my capacity as vice president," Cheney said, "I am the president of Senate, the presiding officer. I'm up in the Senate most Tuesdays when they're in session."
Some Democrats claim Cheney presided on only a handful of occasions in the 125 Tuesdays the Senate was in session since 2001, while Edwards attended more than 95 percent of all roll-call votes.
More to the point, Cheney cast six tie-breaking votes and Edwards was there for each one.
