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How Dubyah got his groove back
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Feb. 10, 2000 | GAFFNEY, S.C. -- Only thing is, he seems to be trying to change into McCain. On Monday, Bush revealed a new slogan, one designed to wrest away McCain's maverick mantle -- "A Reformer With Results" the white-on-blue banners proclaim.
"I was defined as the insider [in New Hampshire], and those days are over," Bush said Tuesday night in Columbia. "I'm going to make it very clear to the voters of this state who Mr. Outsider is and who Mr. Insider is." Bush's previously super-staged public appearances have taken on the tenor and stylistics of McCain's more freewheeling town-hall meetings -- no lectern, fewer canned answers, lots of audience questions. And while Bush isn't exactly inviting reporters to shoot the shit for hours like McCain's famous never-ending press conference, he has increased his press availabilities and even went jogging on Wednesday with Time magazine's Jay Carney. "If you're tired of what's going on in Washington, D.C., if you're tired of polls and focus groups, come and join this campaign," said Bush -- who of course has done plenty of polling and made use of focus groups -- at Newberry College on Wednesday morning. "I look forward to explaining to people that I've got a record," Bush said, "I'm a reformer with results ... If you want somebody from outside of the system, if you want somebody who can't lay claim to being a chairman of an important Senate committee ... come and join this campaign." Bush is now selling himself as a maverick governor who took on the special interests in the education and judicial systems -- and won. "When I first ran for governor, I said, 'Give me a chance to reform the education system in the state of Texas,'" Bush said. "'Give me a chance to take on the established interests.' I took on that established interest." Additionally, Bush says, "I ran on a platform of fighting for tort reform ... I was worried that a civil justice system that was unfair and unbalanced would drive capital out of my state. They said, 'No you better not do that. The plaintiffs' bar is too strong! They're too rich! They'll come after you!' And I said, 'Well, you misunderstand George W. Bush!' ... I want to take that reforming attitude and fight for tort reform at the federal level as well." One reporter asked Bush what had happened to Bush's old campaign slogan of "compassionate conservatism." "A 'reformer with results' is a conservative who's had compassionate results in the state of Texas," Bush explained in his own inimitable style.
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