The new target- How would the White House attack John Forbes Kerry?

[bigtree]

Jan 29th 2004
From The Economist print edition


John Kerry not only looks the part of a president, with his lanky frame and Mount Rushmore profile. He acts like one as well—and has been preparing himself for the job since his teens, when he was much taken with the fact that he had the same initials as JFK. It is hard to imagine Mr Kerry saying that he isn't sure whether Osama bin Laden is guilty—or screaming like a banshee in front of a crowd of college kids.

So how will the Republican high command deal with this extraordinary shake-up? All the signs are that they will treat the new front-runner in exactly the same way as the old one. Doesn't Mr Kerry hail from liberal Massachusetts? Didn't he once serve as lieutenant-governor to the pathetically liberal Michael Dukakis? Doesn't he love taxes and hate the death penalty? Ed Gillespie, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has pointed out that Mr Kerry has a 93% approval rating from Americans for Democratic Action, the leading liberal rating organisation: even higher than Ted Kennedy, who gets a mere 88%. “Who would have guessed it?” crows Mr Gillespie. “Ted Kennedy is the conservative senator from Massachusetts!”

But is this a credible strategy, or is it out of date? In America's political lexicon the term “liberal” is a synonym for “wimp”; sooner or later, that famous picture of Mr Dukakis looking foolish in a tank is mentioned. But Mr Kerry is no wimp. A decorated Vietnam war veteran who risked his life to save his fellow soldiers, he is addicted to macho sports such as ice-hockey, wind-surfing and killing many forms of wildlife. He rides Harley Davidsons and has a passion for red meat.

Indeed, Mr Kerry stands a chance not just of deflecting the wimp charge but of hurling it back at his detractors. Both George Bush and Dick Cheney somehow managed to avoid serving in Vietnam. Paul Wolfowitz spent the war storming the groves of academia rather than the canals of the Mekong delta. Indeed, it is hard to think of any neo-conservative who has put on his country's uniform other than in his dreams. Mr Kerry can legitimately argue that, as someone who has been at the sharp end of battle, he would have thought more carefully than these “chicken hawks” before launching a pre-emptive war. He gets some of his loudest applause on the stump when he says that he knows “something about aircraft carriers for real”.


http://www.economist.com/printedition/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2388532&CFID=22523501&CFTOKEN=4f16ca7-2db61e58-14d6-48bc-b6d5-f133dfaa26b4

[Feanorcurufinwe]

1. The GOP anti-Kerry page

KERRY: DUKAKIS’S LT. GOV. WHO VOTES LOCKSTEP WITH TED KENNEDY

KERRY CLAIMS HE’S FOR FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY, BUT VOTES FOR HIGHER TAXES, AND AGAINST TAX CUTS

KERRY IS EXTREME ON ABORTION, SUPPORTING FEDERAL FUNDING AND PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTIONS

http://www.rnc.org/News/Read.aspx?Id=3412

[DustMolecule]

2. They could say he was/is a member of Skull & Bones

Oh no, I guess the WH wouldn't do that would they? :evilgrin:

[Beer Snob-50]

3. Let's remember who we are dealing with

these are the same folks who gave us the guy from Georgia who derided as unpatriotic his opponent and incumbent democrat who happened to have a few limbs blown off in Vietnam. The truth is unimportant! And many of the voters in this country also unfortunately believe this also

[isbister]

7. I say

let 'em whine, we Dems are taking it to them in this election, no more sitting back and taking it!

The truth is unimportant and we can use both... the truth of bush's record in office is horrible enough... and we'll sprinkle in a few... untruths ;-)

[benddem]

4. they are going to roll out all the Jane Fonda

photos and the anti war protests till we are sick to death of seeing them.
:puke:

[pacifictiger]

6. facts of history have

vindicated some of the things Jane was saying so I think if they tried that it might backfire.

[bigtree]

8. Here is a rebuttal in an article

Flak Attacks on Lt. Kerry

In an astounding display of 21st century inquisition, some self-appointed politically correct guardians of the Internet and opinion media suddenly have discovered presidential candidate John Kerry’s 1971 speech to Congress as a spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Apparently, they weren’t around at the time when it was widely broadcast on television and published in all sorts of newspapers, magazines, and a book.

Using selected quotes and innuendo involving actress Jane Fonda, the thrust of the inquisitors’ case against former Navy Lt. Kerry, who was wounded three times in combat with the Viet Cong, is that he was pro-communist and anti-GI. This is akin to claiming that Martin Luther King Jr. was in league with the Ku Klux Klan and anti-African American. Anyone around at the time with an open mind could see that King was dedicated to nonviolently ending the last vestiges of the American Civil War. In the same spirit, Kerry and VVAW were dedicated to ending the last vestiges of the war in Vietnam.

Perhaps these shocked readers of Kerry’s testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will next read The Pentagon Papers, subtitled in the 1971 Bantam paperback edition “The Secret History of the Vietnam War.” And then perhaps they will study Nuremberg and Vietnam by Telford Taylor, brigadier general (ret.), also published in 1971, on war crimes and the responsibility of the US government.

But to truly curl their hair, they should read POW/MIA’S: Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, United States Senate, issued January 13, 1993. (http://www.aiipowmia.com/ssc/ssctest.html ) Long after most Americans wanted to forget all about Vietnam, Kerry and Sen. John McCain, himself a POW in Vietnam, and other Vietnam veterans in Congress were still trying to heal a festering wound of the war.

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=625&POSTNUKESID=8b7a0ebae6b4c72401c29a66703606b6

[Feanorcurufinwe]

9. If the Repubs argue that Nixon was right about Vietnam and Kerry was wrong

We'll win in a landslide.

[sandnsea]

14. Vets are sick of it

All those vets who fought in Vietnam, protested Vietnam, suffered PTSD and Agent Orange, been treated like crap because of the "Jane Fonda bullshit"; they are FED UP. They are tired of being branded and labeled with this pinko crap and baby-killer crap. They are ready to stand up and demand respect for their service and/or their protesting. The Jane Fonda shit will not work.

[CabalBuster]

5. His many flip flops: the war, no child LB, Patriot Act, Botox use/denial

The man will be attacked left and right because of his standing on both sides of the issues, voting for and then opposing legislation (IWR, Patriot Act, No Child), denying and using Botox (repubs will dig this information and will expose his lies), receiving corporation's money and critizing those same special interests....etc, etc. The man is vulnerable because he has taken opportunistic and calculating positions over the years; so his record is mixed. He'll be characterized as a hypocrite, demagoge, two-faced, flip flopper, etc. That's why he won't beat Bush.

[rucky]

10. If they try to slap Kerry with the Scarlet "L"

I hope he accepts it graciously, instead of trying to fight it.

[ProfessorPlum]

11. as I've posted elsewhere

the attacks will be that he re-invents himself, doesn't know who he is, and has a problem with the truth.

He'll be Gored.

The beauty of this is that the lazy press won't have to make up any new stories, just change the names from the old ones.

[bigtree]

12. I'll bet that everyone here, if truthful, can cite instances where

your candidate is re-invented, conflicted with their public persona, and given to statements that don't resemble someone's interpertation of the truth. They're politicians for gosh sakes! We impose our own ambitions and beliefs on these folks and they do their best to live up to their mandate.

I don't think any of these candidates have managed to maintain their principles as well as Dennis Kucinich. His congressional career is marked by principled liberal stands followed by unflinchingly principled actions. But he is not immune from some discontented voter's angst over some vote or action they might disagree with.

I'm a realist. I won't abide factless rumors, and outright slander as I make my decision on any of these candidates. They all have a lifetime of service to their country. I have to respect and acknowledge that service as I deliberate.

I can only hope that others do the same.

[progressivebydesign]

13. What's this thing today with John "F." or John "Forbes" Kerry..

Is this a campaign decision to give him a JFK aura?? It's just weird to see that suddenly.

[sandnsea]

15. No, part of the smear

It's designed to make him look like he has delusions of grandeur that he's JFK or something. He's JK, and we all know it.

[bigtree]

16. Part of the title

I agree, it's neither necessary nor desirable.