Can we clear up this myth once and for all?

[spooky3]

"We shouldn't nominate Candidate X, because the RW machine will REALLY go after him/her."

This makes no sense to me. The Republicans want to win, and have shown they will say and do anything to keep the White House. They will go after ANY candidate the Democrats nominate. Who the Republican leadership fears/hates/??? the most is not relevant. They didn't particularly hate Kerry but they found ways to smear and undermine him, with the complicity of many others.

Just my opinion.

[cali]

1. You're right, but trying to clear up favorite myths

on DU is a fruitless endeavor.

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. True, but something we should worry about is a candidate whom

the RW machine can successfully destroy. Some candidates are more vulnerable than others.

[Jim__]

3. John Kerry is a much-decorated military hero.

George W Bush is a fucking deserter. The RW machine went after John Kerry on his military record. Which candidate is more vulnerable? It doesn't make any difference to the RW machine.

[FormerDittoHead]

6. I'd say Hillary Clinton is more vulnerable. You asked. n/t

[Rageneau]

10. I think Hillary is the LEAST vulnerable to the wingnuts.

Wingnuts win by sliming people with late-breaking 'startling revelations' such as Gore claiming he invented the Internet and Kerry faking his citations for heroism. When enough time has passed, these GOP lies are exposed for the tripe they are, but by then, the damage is done.

There are still many GOP lies yet to be told about Edwards, Obama, Biden, etc., etc., -- and many voters will believe those lies.

But NO such lies can be told about Hillary, because there is nothing about her that is unknown. The public already knows her and, for better or worse, have made up their minds. Nobody who currently has a favorable opinion of her will change their mind. But many people who currently have a negative opinion of her (as we have seen in her rise in the polls from last year) will eventually realize that she's not the bugaboo the entire right-wing USED to claim she is.

That means she is less vulnerable to smears than the others.

[FormerDittoHead]

11. Fine, it's just my opinion, but I think you're wrong, way wrong. n/t

[avrdream]

12. I agree that Hillary is less vulnerable.

I just yawn everytime I hear any of the age-old smears about her. The smears just don't hold water anymore. They don't stick.

[LanternWaste]

8. To think that one candidate is less vulnerable than another...

"Some candidates are more vulnerable than others."

I don't think so. My belief is that the GOP will pull out everything they possible can get away with to destroy whomever the eventual Dem nominee is. Every candidate has records, votes, positions, statements and platforms that will be manipulated and exploited by the GOP machine once the primaries are over.

To believe that one candidate is less vulnerable than another to those inevitable attacks is to underestimate the true breadth and scope of the rat-fucking the RNC will engage in-- regardless of the dem candidate.

[Mythsaje]

4. They like to attack the candidates on their strengths.

This time our candidate should make certain not to allow any attacks to go unanswered.

We need to learn to engage in some electoral judo.

[CTyankee]

5. I agree with you to a certain extent. However, what is important is what is in the minds of the

voters already, if it is negative. We should ask: could that be changed? If voters' impressions have hardened into concrete itwill be more difficult to overcome than some new, sensational stuff that is hyped by the RW.

Re Kerry: you should remember that Kerry had made plenty of enemies on the right with his antiwar activities, which "cancelled out" his war record, in some voters' minds. Plenty of voters out there remember those days well, including me. In my mind, it enhanced Kerry's image, but I talked to voters who were vociferously opposed to what John Kerry did after he came home from the war.

[mtnsnake]

7. Not to worry. DU's posters have made the work of the rightwingers all that much easier

If at anytime in the future, rightwing neocons need any ammunition on the Clintons, all they have to do is come to DU and gather up all the ammo they need from all the losers here who post lies and innuendo about the Clintons 24/7.

[SoxFan]

9. Classic

This is coming from one of the people who regularly plays the "I'm not saying Obama is a crack-dealing Muslim who votes present, but the Republicans will" game.

[Kat45]

13. Yeah they did particularly hate Kerry, ever since

he became an antiwar protester upon returning from Vietnam. But you're right, the republicans will go after anyone.