Rove will run the same campaign against Kerry that he would

[adamrsilva]

have Dean. He will paint him as the quintessential northeastern, elitist liberal. Dean might have shot himself in the foot with his "gaffes" and questions about his record, but if we questioned his electibility over being (or appearing) too liberal, we must do the same for Kerry. For anyone who thinks Kerry's war hero status makes any difference, just look at Max Cleland.

[adamrsilva]

1. Anyone agree?

EOM

[KC21304]

2. Max Cleland and a lot of other vets will make sure

what happened to him does not happen to Kerry. Have you heard Cleland talk about this ? He admits he did not fight back the way he could have. I think there are many Democrats who will be more than ready for Rove and Co if he tries this again.

[denverbill]

3. Yep. Only he couldn't hit Dean on gun control.

And with over $500 million in assets compared to Dean's $5 million, the elitist tag is hard to dodge.

[adamrsilva]

6. Kerry actually attacked Dean for his stance in a debate

and used his closing speech to defend the Democratic position on gun control. That's a surefire loser in the swing states. Just ask Al Gore.

[denverbill]

9. I'm pro gun control, but Dean's stance makes sense.

Vermont isn't the same as California, Montana isn't the same as Illinois or New York.

Most pro gun control folks don't have this as a hot button make or break issue. OTOH, many pro gun types do.

[pscot]

4. Kerry will hit back, hard

Max Cleland didn't do that. Also Kerry has a lot of veterans behind him who are ready and willing to come to his defense. I do not believe that the active military or VietNam era vets are going to be supporting George Bush. His idiot combativeness has done more to damage the military than any president this country has ever had.

[POed_Ex_Repub]

5. I don't see how bush can call anyone an elitist...

Went to Yale, Daddy was president, went AWOL but got away scott free because of his "connections" anyone?

[adamrsilva]

7. Bush talks like an idiot

so the American people think he's one of them and not someone like Kerry.

[denverbill]

11. Bush won't. Rush will. Savage will. Hannity will.

Hell, they were calling Howard Dean an elitist even though he has fewer assets than Bush.

Wait til they gear up for 'Ketchup Boy', as they already call him.

Bush won't dirty his hands. He won't have to. And how will Kerry fight back?

[Padraig18]

8. I agree.

:)

[quaker bill]

10. Of course he will.

Did you see the SOTU? There is the battle plan in a nutshell. It doesn't matter who we nominate, Bush* will run the same damn campaign.

His crap stuck to Cleland. It will stick to anyone.

The only way to win is to deny the paradigm and reframe the debate away from Bush's 'perceived' strengths. Dean is right about this, we need to redefine the measure of patriotism away from military experience and toward the strength of our character and how that is made evident through our care for others. Notice how Bush surrounded himself with uniforms at the SOTU (one woman, one black and one white male).

He even brought up the 'mission accomplished' bit. This is his game, if we play it on his rules, we lose. However, if we redefine the rules and call him out on the compassion bit, he comes up empty and we have a chance.

[sandnsea]

12. Kerry's record isn't all liberal

First he has his prosecutor's record and a first in the nation rape victim center. He has a long line of crime legislation as well. He is not soft on crime.

He has legislation on writing terrorism laws.

He has his small business committee legislation and many programs that have helped there.

He has fought corporate subsidies, etc. We already saw that in Iowa. He has a record of wanting to make government more effective.

He's actually the one that can't be categorized. Some of his positions are liberal. Most are just plain old common sense.