What personality characteristics do you attribute to each candidate?

  • Context: News 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Loren Booda
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the personality characteristics attributed to political candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. Participants explore various traits and behaviors, comparing the candidates in a somewhat informal and opinion-based manner.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants describe Bush as a "stubborn egotist" and "incompetent," while others note his "good sense of humor" and "charisma" despite "poor decision-making ability."
  • Kerry is characterized by some as "flexible" and "intellectual," but also "arrogant" and "overambitious," with a tendency to "pander."
  • One participant contrasts Bush as a "cowboy" and Kerry as "metrosexual," suggesting a difference in personal style.
  • Another participant critiques both candidates for their apparent lack of concern for environmental issues.
  • There are questions raised about the validity of statistics presented by Bush regarding Al-Qaeda operatives, with some participants expressing skepticism about the claims and the lack of challenge from Kerry.
  • One participant categorizes Bush as an "ideologue" and Kerry as a "pragmatist," suggesting a historical context for these labels.
  • A humorous analogy is made comparing Bush to a student cheating off an "A student" (Kerry) during an exam.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions about the candidates, with no clear consensus on their characteristics or effectiveness. Multiple competing views remain, particularly regarding the implications of their personalities and the validity of claims made during the campaign.

Contextual Notes

Some statements rely on subjective interpretations of the candidates' behaviors and public personas, which may not be universally accepted or verifiable. The discussion includes speculative reasoning about political strategies and public perceptions.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in political psychology, campaign strategies, or the 2004 presidential election may find the varied perspectives on candidate characteristics relevant.

Loren Booda
Messages
3,115
Reaction score
4
Cast your stone...

May the best grin win.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
They are both egotists. Bush is a stubborn egotist and Kerry is a flexible one (everybody commented on how fast Kerry learned to work the camera during the debates, whereas Bush seemed out to lunch except in the second debate which was a familiar format to him).
 
Jesus Forgives Them

Bush is a murderer and then theif.

Kerry want's to head the murder and theft for four years.
 
Bush : "incompetent", "mediocre"
Kerry : "erudite", "sometimes inexplicable", (but currently) "pandering"
Nader : "sometimes idealist" (but now, simply) "non-realist"
 
Bush: impatient, impulsive, awkward, arrogant
Kerry: intellectual, restrained, confident, arrogant
 
Bush = cowboy
Kerry = metrosexual
 
The_Professional said:
Bush = cowboy
Kerry = metrosexual
For those that are unaware, here's the http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_09_26.php#003555 .
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Bush = Good sense of humor. Poor English. Has charisma and poor decision making ability. Broken-record style repitition.

Kerry = Arrogant. Overambitious. Lacks creativity. Broken-record style repitition.

Both don't seem to give a phlaming phuck about the environment.
 
Last edited:
Why did Kerry never challenge the Bush statistic "75%" of Al-Queda in custody. How can we know that? Do these Al-Queda operatives wear name-tags? Do the sleeper cells in every country register with the census that they work for Al-Queda?
 
  • #10
False Prophet said:
Why did Kerry never challenge the Bush statistic "75%" of Al-Queda in custody. How can we know that? Do these Al-Queda operatives wear name-tags? Do the sleeper cells in every country register with the census that they work for Al-Queda?

Probably for the very reasons you just listed. We can be skeptical, but it's not like we can come up with a hard number of our own to refute Bush's stats. It's interesting though, because if you can quantify how many are in custody, it implies you also can identify the other 25% not in custody, so why are they still running free if you know who they are?
 
  • #11
I would say
Bush=ideologue
Kerry=pragmatist

Ideologues belong in the 19th century.
 
  • #12
False Prophet said:
Why did Kerry never challenge the Bush statistic "75%" of Al-Queda in custody. How can we know that? Do these Al-Queda operatives wear name-tags? Do the sleeper cells in every country register with the census that they work for Al-Queda?

This is from CNN :

Claim: Bush said that 75 percent of known al Qaeda members have been brought to justice.

CNN Fact Check: Bush incorrectly suggests that under his watch 75 percent of al Qaeda's membership has been brought to justice. CIA officials have estimated that 75 percent of the two-dozen or so al Qaeda leaders known as of September 11, 2001, have been killed or captured.

The non-partisan International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates that al Qaeda has 18,000 potential operatives, but there is no official data on the size of al Qaeda's total membership, in part because it is difficult to track the number of new recruits since the Iraq war began.
 
  • #13
Thinking in terms of college students taking an exam

Bush: Sneaking looks at answers given by the A student sitting next to him.
Kerry: The A student sitting next to him.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 31 ·
2
Replies
31
Views
6K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
4K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
3K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
1K
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
14K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
3K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
5K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
1K
  • · Replies 33 ·
2
Replies
33
Views
5K