I Think Kerry's Survival Of The Swift Boat Attacks Will Be Pivotal

[DrFunkenstein]

I think that the Swift Boat shmucks have done Kerry an enormous favor, one that even Kerry's crewmates could not have accomplished alone. They fired a devastating shot - and not only did Kerry emerge still standing, it made him seem much, much more formidable.

There was tremendous publicity behind these attacks, and so it will be difficult for them to go down in flames quietly. Kerry's survival will put another narrative into the media's pea brain. The story is already in place that Kerry is a strong closer. The media are already expecting a knock down fight in the last weeks. But this story lays to rest that Kerry is anything but a campaign brawler, able to take a punch on the jaw and come back with a right cross.

There are some in the media, like Joe Klein, who already knew this, but I have a strong feeling that this will soon become conventional wisdom for a media that only thinks in conventional wisdoms.



Just ask William Weld what it is like to go toe to toe with Kerry.

Man, I can't wait for the debates. I love Gore, but it ain't going to look nothing like 2000.

[David Dunham]

1. This swift boat issue is serious. It has hurt Kerry. Fight back!!

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. I don't agree.

I agree that the potential was there for great harm to him, but between the well-timed initiative he has shown and the utter lack of ability of the Not-So-Swifties to follow up extemporaneously, Kerry is gonna come through this one stronger.

The media now knows and are reporting what they know, however grudgingly. Because it is, after all, news. Which is a break from recent press traditions, as we all know.

Add to that the fact that people know bullshit when it is stuck under their nose.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

9. Where's your evidence that it's hurt?

[DrFunkenstein]

14. Kerry's Getting Pounded In The Polls Worse Than McGovern

Kerry singing Twist and Shout at a parade.

[RetroLounge]

18. You keep saying this in every thread

"The Sky Is Falling!"

RL

[rumguy]

2. When Kerry finishes you

he finishes you for good.

He's letting the enemy commit to their position, then he'll move in for the kill, with long knives drawn.

[mctrotter5]

3. Chris Matthews, on Hardball, had a great time holding anti-Kerry

Repubs feet to the fire. Great to see!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. He sure timed it right with the WaPo and NYT stories.

I think the Repubs stepped into the briar patch. Highlighting Kerry's war record as a strategy? The contrast could hardly be less favorable for Bush.

[Gloria]

6. They have to stay on the OFFENSIVE...pound this into the dumb

fat heads of Americans, keep Cleland out there....Keep reminding the public about this sleaze....and go after anything else immediately.

Willie Brown on Hardball did a bad thing...he actually said that Kerry might not be the greatest campaigner, he's used to integrity and civlity....but those things that could make him a loser in the campaign would be great in the Presidency. (sic)

Jeez....who needs Brown saying something that can so easily be used out of context????

[DrFunkenstein]

7. Strength And Wisdom Are Not Mutually Exclusive

Kerry has fought a hard fight and a very smart fight. The fact that he has done so with the utmost class is a credit to his (always underestimated) political skill.

[LisaL]

8. No one

It was really stupid thing to say.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. That was truly moronic on Brown's part.

Just another example of someone who doesn't know Kerry underestimating him.

[DrFunkenstein]

12. Joe Klein and Underestimating Kerry

The 1996 Senate campaign between John Kerry and William Weld was the rarest of events in latter-day American politics: a civil, closely contested, intelligent, and wildly entertaining brawl. "Both candidates were incredibly popular," the Kerry consultant John Marttila said. "Both had sixty-per-cent favorable ratings, and negatives in the twenties. And they maintained their popularity throughout the race."

"John isn't really a cold person, but he does seem aloof," Weld said recently. "The truth is that he's courtly to the point of gentility. We were pummelling him through August, but his campaign turned on a dime when Bob Shrum was hired as his consultant. It went from flaccid to sharp in a week."

Kerry's aides insist that it was more than Shrum. They say that Kerry was distracted in Washington, that he didn't really focus on the campaign until the Senate recessed. "It wasn't a lack of focus," Kerry says. "It was a strategy. I figured people wouldn't really be paying attention until the fall debates."

The last four debates were fabulous political theatre-two very smart men having at each other. "John's at his best under pressure, when he's being seriously challenged," Paul Nace, an old Navy friend, says. "He gets really cool, very calm. He really is a warrior-he just loves it. I took one look at him as he was walking into Faneuil Hall for one of the last debates and I thought, Bill Weld has no idea what's about to hit him."

Weld-who calls the debates a "bloody draw"-says that Kerry successfully attached him to the national Republican Party. (Weld had said some embarrassingly positive things about Newt Gingrich two years earlier.) "The turning point came when he asked me if I'd vote to keep Jesse Helms as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That was a killer."

I asked Weld how he responded. "I ducked it, of course," he said, with a smile. "I mean, I hated Jesse Helms. But what could I do?"

Kerry won the election by eight percentage points. "John has always been underestimated politically," Marttila says. "But that race had the quality and intensity of a Presidential campaign, and he won. I don't see how they can underestimate him anymore, but they probably will."

[Leilani]

27. The problem is

Bill Weld is not in the same league with the Bush Crime Family.

Remember, they have years of experience at the national level.

And Bill Weld did not have Karl Rove running his campaign.

[Guaranteed]

22. At this point, I want this to STAY in the media.

The more we can talk about Cleland and Kerry and McCain and just veterans in general, and keep contrasting that with who Bush is, the better we'll do.

What I saw on Hardball was unbelievable. The Republicans were absolutely HUMILIATED. Let's keep going.

[NV1962]

11. It's a very friendly

gesture of them to remind everyone of the AWOL issue. What puzzles me more is why they insist on profiling themselves as Baby Killers and Rapists for Bush.

[DrFunkenstein]

13. Wait - Bush Didn't Serve In Vietnam?

[NV1962]

16. Much to Colin Powell's chagrin...

Source:

“I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed... managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units...Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country.” (Colin Powell’s autobiography, My American Journey, p. 148)

:shrug:

[DrFunkenstein]

24. Sounds Like A Creedence Song...

I guess some folks are born silver spoon in hand, and some folks inherit star spangled eyes - these are the guys that say "Bring it on."

[Kahuna]

15. Absolutely. Exposing the bushies dirty tricks is pivitol to the

campaign strategy. The campaign cannot wait for the media to do it. They have to do it themselves. Just like with the SBLs, the media wasn't going to fight Kerry's battles for him, and issuing statements via press secretaries won't get it either. Kerry has to personally defend himself to get media attention. A lot of this said that last week when we were "hand-wringing." And we were right.

[Joe Turner]

17. The Bush Goons Miscalculated This One

I agree. The more the public sees these constant smears on Kerry's Heroic service in Vietnam the more it is going to boomerang on the Coward that is Smirk. I mean we are talking about a guy, who when duty called went running to Daddy (like he always does, to this day) and pulled every string Daddy Bush had to avoid combat in Vietnam then later went AWOL in the TNG! This is to say nothing of his thoroughly disastrous record as president.

It's not going to be too hard for the Public to make the connection and conclude that the point of these lies are to shift the focus from Smirk’s record of desertion in the TNG (when Kerry was in harms way in Vietnam) and the derelict way he has conducted himself as president. These are truly the acts of desperation from a failing presidency.

Which is why for the life of me, I can't understand why the Bush Goon Squad even wants to go here. It blows my mind.

[Cha]

25. Because they think repeating the lie loud and often

enough will make it true and that will Wipe out Kerry's record and we're back to the 2000 military record of bush that the media covered up.

Welcome to du, Joe Turner!

[ApolloCreedLives]

19. This is all part of Kerry's political plan - WELD

And Bush is falling into the trap.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5506111/site/newsweek/

Kerry will continue to emphasize his Vietnam War record, and will reinforce that message by traveling constantly in the company of fellow veterans in the closing weeks of the campaign. Shrum will have Kerry surrogates try to bait Bush surrogates into attacking Senator Kerry's military record—how purple was that purple heart, etc.—and then pounce on the attack with rallies and 30-second spots of outraged men and women in uniform and their families. He will seek to have the Bush campaign be against. Kerry will be for.

[NightOwwl]

20. Great article Apollo.

However I do disagree with Weld on the issue of who will prevail. Thanks for the link and welcome to DU! :hi:

[DrFunkenstein]

23. Weld Clearly HAs Respect For The Man

Always a gracious winner.

[Cha]

26. Excellent, dude!

Guess they didn't listen to weld boy!

[Guaranteed]

21. Great post. I think you're right. nt

[hannah]

29. vietnam

Just got back from Washington DC. Husband had a hearing with the Board of Veterans Appeals. All I can say is, it is not normal for veterans to be attacking other veterans service. Do you know how hard it is to watch a grown man break down when telling about his buddy getting his head blown off. Opening up this wound is not helping Bush.

[Beetwasher]

28. Ain't It Da Truth!! Say It Brother!

Amen! :thumbsup: