Essential advice to Kerry from Joshua Micah Marshall

[rumguy]

"A thought: if your opponent has $100 million to portray you as an effete snob, don't go on vacation to a fancy ski resort in Idaho."

snip

"Everybody knew who Kerry is going up against. As Clift notes, this is what Kerry told them to bring on. And they're bringing it on. Democrats gave Kerry this chance to take on the president -- whose reelect number is hovering in the low to mid-forties -- because they believed he would fight and that he was electable.

Kerry is a fighter. I saw it first hand during his 1996 senate race against Bill Weld. But Kerry will never successfully parry these hits by getting tangled and stuck in the molasses of the president's lies and distortions. Getting sidetracked into a discussion of legislative maneuvering isn't the answer to the president's attacks; it's precisely what they're trying to elicit.

The answer is simply to say they're lies (while having surrogates and staffers explain why) and then to go on the attack."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

There is much useful advice given here...

[JI7]

1. whatever

he can vacation wherever he wants to vacation. he shouldn't have to try to hide and be something he isn't. he has a far better record of actually helping all people than the chimp does. only the fraud chimp needs to put on an act because it is ripping off the working people and benefiting people like ken lay and himself.

[Larkspur]

29. Bush's act is helping him retake the lead in the polls

and with $100 mill to go, he'll keep pounding the Brahman from Boston into the ground.

From TPM
Now read this email from a couple days ago from a very astute Democratic party insider in Washington ...

First, the ballgame will be won or lost in second quarter and early in second quarter. Right now Bush money is gaining him yardage, depicting Kerry as flip-flopper and weak on defense. That's the plan. Simple. Effective. Steamrolling. Fools like Maureen Dowd today echo and enable it in mainstream media, just as she did in 2000. Second, Kerry loses if he can't raise money to buy time to fight back in April. All pundits who say money doesn't matter are wrong, and enable Bush more. Money talks and early money screams. Third, Kerry needs Clinton fundraising and Gore fundraising base badly. Will Clinton really help? Seen any sign of it? Seen him rap Bush lately? Seen Hillary?

Dated Dean, forced to marry Kerry, found Kerry in bed with Bush. Where's a good divorce lawyer when you need one?

[gulliver]

2. I hope Kerry's people are listening.

TPM is right.

[KoKo]

36. I hope so, too. The timing and taking the press with him....not good.

He should have secluded himself and told the press to respect it.

Instead it allowed the press to slant and distort the trip and caused many of us to be angry with him....not good. Bush plays to his base, what was Kerry thinking his base was? That's what worries me.

[Leilani]

3. Some really good stuff in here

I hope the Dems & Kerry get their act together quickly.

I agree that this election will be decided early: who gets his message out about the other guy.

[lancdem]

5. That Dem insider's e-mail was interesting, too

Eleanor Clift said Kerry is better when he's behind. If he falls too far behind, though, he's in big trouble.

[rumguy]

15. yes, here's the email

for those who can't be bothered to click on the link...

"First, the ballgame will be won or lost in second quarter and early in second quarter. Right now Bush money is gaining him yardage, depicting Kerry as flip-flopper and weak on defense. That's the plan. Simple. Effective. Steamrolling. Fools like Maureen Dowd today echo and enable it in mainstream media, just as she did in 2000. Second, Kerry loses if he can't raise money to buy time to fight back in April. All pundits who say money doesn't matter are wrong, and enable Bush more. Money talks and early money screams. Third, Kerry needs Clinton fundraising and Gore fundraising base badly. Will Clinton really help? Seen any sign of it? Seen him rap Bush lately? Seen Hillary?"

[DeepModem Mom]

4. Some wise words from JMM --

[KittyWampus]

6. So Kerry Should Poll Test His Vacation Spot?

Sorry, Kerry went to a public place, unlike Junior who has to be kept away from the unwashed masses.

Kerry's campaign should issue a memo saying something like that.

[DemDogs]

33. He shouldn't have to poll test this. He should know. (n/t)

[lancdem]

7. Notice, too, how Rove being investigated

back during Watergate. He's a nasty piece of work.

[blm]

11. Rove pulled his dirt in the DEm primary, too.

No doubt he was behind the late night robo-calling that was meant only to irritate Dem voters AGAINST candidates.

[dkf]

27. Jeez. How stupid do you think we are?

Sad.

[emulatorloo]

31. Classic Repug Pot Stirring - to split Dean and Kerry Camps

Divide and Conquer - Reread Franken book re repug campaign dirty tricks. . .these were classic moves by repugs to divide Kerry and Dean Camps.

[Cheswick2.0]

28. so you are saying Rove actually did NOT want to run against Dean?

I agree with you there.... but nah, Kerry's campaign was behind those calls, just as he, Gep and Clark where behind the Osama adds.

Fortunately for John Kerry, Dean is a better man and will support him with time and money to get rid of bush.

[emulatorloo]

30. No No No -- REPUG Tricks to split Dean and Kerry Camps

It is classic GOP stuff, reread Franken's Lies and Lying Liars -- all the same scripts all the same tactics. Divide and Conquer, classic repug pot stirring.

BTW Kerry campaign denounced Osama ad:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=315016

[BootinUp]

8. This is great: "What is a leader without followers? Not a leader."

more:

"The president made the mess and he lacks the credibility, thus the strength, to clean it up.

Credibility is the thread that ties this whole election together."

I hope we can put this message together, all Democrats need to sing this tune and make it stick.

[rumguy]

16. Exactly: the issue is *'s credibility - Kerry must pound that home....nt

[Monte Carlo]

9. Frankly, would they stop with the label if he didn't go?

What does a little thing like actuality mean to the GOP machine? He'd be the rich, elitist, MA liberal whether or not he went to ski in Idaho. If you'd ask me, he'd be wasting his time running from the label because he just can't run that fast. He IS a rich MA liberal. It's the elitist part, the stigma that Kerry needs to capture.

[JI7]

10. RIGHT

just as john kerry being a combat vet doesn't stop them from attacking kerry as weak and trying to make the chickenhawks bush and cheney into some brave tough guys. the goal is to move the debate towards the issues.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. This from an admin whose family owns Kennebunkport?

Kerry needs to communicate that he is proud of his wife who has used her wealth for humanitarian efforts worldwide and demonstrate as have the Kennedy's that IN SPITE of their wealth, their policies have been MUCH more supportive of the working and underprivileged than Bush who only advocates for welfare for the wealthy...he can TAKE the mantra and TURN it against them without pretending to be a poor man (which he is not) to get elected.

Same thing with the tax cuts...when they attack him for wanting to reverse the tax cuts for the wealthy, he should point out it will affect his wife and if SHE is willing to forego some wealth to get the country back on track then why aren't they?

BTW: Am I the only one who sees the contradiction in having 100 million on hand to portray someone else as a snob?

[JI7]

17. yes

also he needs to say specifically that having priveledge and money as he AND BUSH have is no excuse for not caring about all of america. as i said before, the cost of kerry's hairstyle was not what caused the millions of jobs to be lost. that's the point he needs to get across. also, george washington was wealthy, fdr also. yet they cared for all of america. that point REALLY needs to be made. whatever wealth one has is not an excuse to look away when others are hurting. and john kerry serving in vietnam helps very much as it shows he not only tried to avoid serving, but he actually volunteered to serve all the while having questions about the war. a huge contrast to bush who avoided serving in a war that he supported.

[BootinUp]

18. Wish you were on CNN occasionally :)

The public isn't hearing this. I know its early, guess I get worried too easily.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. The public will forget all this shit by next week as long as Kerry

continues to chase after and put Bush on the defensive as he has been doing.

[balanced]

13. Kerry must play to Bush's weakness

Bush is seen as relatively weak as far as being able to work successfully with the international community regarding the war on terrorism. Kerry must get across the idea that in a prolonged war on terrorism, maximum cooperation with the international community is needed. Bush is definitely not the president to get maximum cooperation from the international community.

[JI7]

14. very good first post from you

welcome , and great idea. it's so simple yet i haven't really heard this suggestion before. the idea that bush's inability to work with others makes him weak on fighting terrorism is VERY good. i hope someone from the campaign will see this. the bush people will at first try to say kerry will only ask others for persmission to defend ourselves and other lies, but i think kerry will be able to get his point across and defend himself and the people will get tired of bush's lies.

[BootinUp]

19. Thats right, Clark has been saying it

We just need more voices out there! :grr:

[newyawker99]

35. Hi balanced!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Cocoa]

21. Kerry does not hide being rich

Despite GOP accusations that he's a rich guy that is pretending to be an ordinary guy, he's not, and that's good imo.

And he's not hiding the fact that he's smart either. He uses big words.

[zulchzulu]

22. Kerry needed to take a vacation from the grueling race

I believe this is the first time Kerry has taken decent amount of time off since he was officially running in August. That's about seven months of 20-hour days where you have to travel so much you don't even know what town you're in. You're meeting thousands of people a day and giving up to six speeches a day. The media is looking for any morsel to run with, take out of context or spin in any way they want. You have to be "on".

Let the guy take some time off. It's going to be another eight months before he gets another vacation. Then he will need some time to get his cabinet together and begin his journey as the next president.

As for him skiing, what would be the most "politically correct"? Should he just be sitting on his ass on a beach somewhere. Kerry will probably be windsurfing in the summer for a needed small amount of time off. Will that look "presidential"?

Let the guy catch up on his winks, ferchissakes.

[rumguy]

24. That's the only time he mentions the vacation - the rest is all strategy

I had a feeling I should not have posted that portion...some are getting up in arms about it...but read it all, some great analysis and advice...

[zulchzulu]

25. There are some good points...I'd imagine they are doing plenty of strategy

My squabble about the vacation thang is more directed at the press and the Chimpy parrots who are saying stupid stuff like how Kerry would rather be skiing than going to some 1 year anniversary of the war ceremony.

[OKNancy]

23. A bit off topic

but I've been thinking about this "effete snob" business for a while.
You know what? I don't want an ordinary person to be the President.

I want someone with a good education. I want someone who is smart and has a grasp of American history and the Constitution. I want someone who can get along with other cultures and countries. I want someone who appreciates the finer things....art, music, dance, etc.
I want someone who has many interests. In other words, I don't want someone like Bush, I want someone like Kerry ( and Teresa)

26. makes sense

only problem is ordinary people vote.
You know that Adlai Stevenson quote where the reporter said to him that all thinking people were going to vote for him & he responded, yes, but I'd like to win?
Bush has a good education, theoretically too.
I think Kerry should just turn the elitist thing right back at Bush & say that it's just another example of a Bush lie, since Bush is a member of the northeastern elite too, after all he's really from Connecticut.

[snippy]

32. Marshall is right. Fire the liar.

. . .

The winning campaign against the president is equally clear. He doesn't tell the truth. Almost nothing he has told the American people has turned out to be true (from budgets to jobs, from wmds to his personal past). In many cases, that's because he's lied to them. In others, it's because he's promised things he had no reason to believe were true. In some instances, he just failed to deliver.

. . .

Credibility is the thread that ties this whole election together.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ (emphasis added)


Bush is the most incessant and compulsive liar in the history of American politics.

Everyone except Bush himself knows where he was during his Alabama National Guard service which was after he volunteered to go to Viet Nam but before he was no longer required to take a flight physical even though he continued to fly and the Bush administration did not reveal the identity of a covert CIA operative which resulted in 2,000,000 million new jobs being created because democrats support terrorism and are not good Americans just as the Jews were not good Germans but the White House is cooperating with the 9/11 commission since Bush and Rice and Rumsfeld did not ignore either the Clinton administration's repeated warnings of the danger of al Qaeda or the August 6, 2001 intelligence briefing warning of the upcoming 9/11 attacks because the mission of the United States is to bring freedom to every single person on Earth which will cut the deficit in half if you do not count those parts of the deficits which will increase but the boxes from China were labeled "Made in USA" which resulted in 2,600,000 new jobs being created even though the $400 billion decorative medicare turkey was not labeled $550 billion which proves that government spending has gone down if you do not count the increased government spending and Bush's plane to Baghdad was spotted because before Saddam bought the uranium and became an urgent but not imminent threat Bush had no plans on his desk to invade Iraq since the aircraft carrier was too far offshore for the Navy to make a large enough banner to describe the WMD we have found in Iraq some of which could hit the US and some of which Saddam was giving to Osama for following Saddam's plans and using Iraqi hijackers on 9/11 but everyone who pays income taxes got a tax cut which created 3,000,000 new jobs and allowed Iraqi oil revenue to pay for the cost of the reconstruction of Iraq after the invasion by a small number of troops who would be greeted with floral program related activities except for the dead and wounded brought home secretly since Bush is the one who hugs the mothers and the widows and the wives and the kids and that is why Bush who is responsible for good economic numbers but not bad economic numbers wrote the poem that he did not write blaming Laura for dropping the dog.

There is no subject so serious, somber, or shallow that Bush will not lie about it. The only other option is not to lie and that is something which Bush can not do.

Ridiculing Bush about his incessant and compulsive lying needs to become common, especially among people who do not follow politics. Ridiculing Bush for his administration's incessant and compulsive criminal activity needs to become common among Grand Jurors.

FIRE THE LIAR

[KerryEdwards]

34. This is exactly what Kerry is doing - look...

"Every single day they launch these false attacks, it worsens their credibility problems with the American people," said Wade. "These guys have dug an enormous hole for themselves."

"Today, George Bush proved to the American people that he is incapable of solving our economic problems for the simple reason that he doesn't see them,"

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

37. What is Josh Marshall's deal? His site is excellent... Is he just a smart

blogger with a gift for writing and political insight? Is he "plugged in" to the Dem party in DC? What's his story? In other words, does his advice (seems very smart to me) even get read or make it to the inner circles of the Kerry campaign?

[rumguy]

38. I'd like to know too

Who is he? Has he worked for the Dem party in the past?