**REPUBLICAN CHAIR SAYS DEMS HITTING NEW LOW**
SUN SEP 07 2003 11:53:36 ET

REPUBLICAN CHAIRMAN ED GILLESPIE ON SUNDAY ACCUSED DEMOCRATS OF HITTING NEW LOWS IN THE BUILDUP TO WHITE HOUSE RACE '04.

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GILLESPIE EXPLAINED ON NBC'S MEET THE PRESS: "IF YOU SAW THE DEBATE THE OTHER NIGHT WITH THE NINE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES, I THINK HISTORY WILL SHOW THIS FIELD HAS TAKEN PRESIDENTIAL DISCOURSE TO A NEW LOW. THE RHETORIC YOU HEAR, ON EITHER SIDE OF THE AISLE, RONALD REAGAN NEVER SAID JIMMY CARTER COULDN'T FIND COUNTRIES IN HIS OWN HEMISPHERE.

"MONDALE NEVER SAID REAGAN WAS A MISERABLE FAILURE. WHEN BILL CLINTON RAN AGAINST GEORGE BUSH, HE DIDN'T COMPARE HIM TO SADDAM HUSSEIN OR THE TALIBAN. WHEN BOB DOLE RAN AGAINST CLINTON, HE DIDN'T SAY HE WAS A PHONY OR LIAR. THE WORDS WE'RE HEARING FROM THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IS SO BEYOND POLITICAL DEBATE. THIS IS POLITICAL HATE SPEECH.

"I THINK THAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL REJECT THAT APPROACH. THEY APPRECIATE THE PRESIDENT'S STRONG AND PRINCIPLED LEADERSHIP, THAT HE HAS A POSITIVE AGENDA AND THEY HAVE NOTHING BUT NEGATIVITY AND PESSIMISM TO OFFER."

http://drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

Bob Dole and George Bush (the senior) both insulted Clinton, actually.

What insults, specifically? I recall that they behaved like gentlemen (unfortunately).

Why was it unfortunate that they behaved like gentlemen?

They lost to Clinton. Dole was particularly inept and never took off the gloves to respond to the negative campaigning by Clinton. The democrats run false negative ads (starving children, throw grandma out of the nursing home, drag a chain behind a pickup truck, cut social security benefits) and the gentlemen in the GOP try to change the tone instead of fighting fire with fire. The Democrats only beat the GOP when the GOP get over-confident and think they need not fight fire with fire.

what does GOP stand for?

The Origin Of "GOP"


A favorite of headline writers, GOP dates back to the 1870s and '80s. The abbreviation was cited in a New York Herald story on October 15, 1884; "' The G.O.P. Doomed,' shouted the Boston Post.... The Grand Old Party is in condition to inquire...."

But what GOP stands for has changed with the times. In 1875 there was a citation in the Congressional Record referring to "this gallant old party," and , according to Harper's Weekly, in the Cincinnati Commercial in 1876 to "Grand Old Party."

Perhaps the use of "the G.O.M." for Britain's Prime Minister William E. Gladstone in 1882 as " the Grand Old Man" stimulated the use of GOP in the United States soon after.

In early motorcar days, GOP took on the term "get out and push." During the 1964 presidential campaign, "Go-Party" was used briefly, and during the Nixon Administration, frequent references to the "generation of peace" had happy overtones. In line with moves in the '70s to modernize the party, Republican leaders took to referring to the "grand old party," harkening back to a 1971 speech by President Nixon at the dedication of the Eisenhower Republican Center in Washington, D.C.

Indeed, the "grand old party" is an ironic term, since the Democrat Party was organized some 22 years earlier in 1832.

http://www.rnc.org/gopinfo/origin

ahh...Well I woulda voted for the GOP for being gentlemen

Hmmm. Couldn't actually find anything by Dole. Maybe I imagined it. George Bush pretty famously called Clinton a bozo at one of his rallies, and claimed his dog would be a better president, however. I think that qualifies as a little insulting.

i dont think Dole had the balls to call clinton anything.. he pretty much was an inept old man, no wonder he resorted to viagra commercials.

Well, if the Republican chair says the Democrats are hitting new lows, then that's good enough for me.