Remember James Carville's words, all you doubters:

[geek tragedy]

“Whenever I hear a campaign talk about a need to
energize the base, that's a campaign that's going
down the toilet. It's a pretty good indication that
they're not eating up any territory, they can't get
anybody in the center to support them, they're
getting shelled back into their own bunker.”

The Smearvets is all about energizing the base. As is everything else Bush and Rove are doing. They're playing defense, not offense.

They're in that damn bunker.

[LynneSin]

1. I prefer his other quote:

IT'S THE ECONONY, STUPID!

[geek tragedy]

2. The lying about the war that has killed 1000 Americans

is a big deal too.

[The Magistrate]

3. Mr. Carville Is Quite Right, Sir

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[geek tragedy]

4. The "bunker" reference is now particularly apt,

given Dick "Undisclosed Location" Cheney and George W. "Loyalty Oath" Bush's behavior and comments.

[flpoljunkie]

5. Absolutely, and base, as represented by Sampley:he'd better not repute ad!

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/23/kerry_camp_ties_bush_to_smear_by_veterans?pg=3

But despite the hammering from Democrats, Bush would speak out against the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth at his own political peril, according to Ted Sampley, one of the veterans who opposed McCain in 2000 and now opposes Kerry.

"There is no way President Bush or anyone else can stop what we're doing right now," Sampley said yesterday. "The Republicans should be very careful about that, because it can backfire. These veterans aren't going to stop."

______________________

And, of course, Bush campaign, obviously has no intention of condemning the "Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth" Smear campaign. Bush is "gutless" not to do so, according to Paul Begala, citing just now on CNN how "dishonest and dishonorable" these Swift Boat ads are.

[CaTeacher]

6. I agree--look at Kerry--

he is going after the center!

He knows his base has nowhere else to go--who else would we vote for? So why should he bother to go after us? He has us. Let him focus on the middle.

He has a good strategy.

[BillZBubb]

7. Some people in what should be Kerry's base are Naderheads.

People do have somewhere else to go. But, we hope they won't make that mistake again.

[BillZBubb]

8. Gotta disagree.

The smearvet scum is also going after the undecideds. They want to suggest, that maybe you know Bush* is a bad president, but that Kerry would be worse.

Negative ads usually target the center. It's the FUD strategy.

[geek tragedy]

9. Bush's campaign is all about getting the base out.

Gay marriage, stem cell research, war mongering, etc.

The only people believing the Smearvets are right-wing nutjobs.

[Larkspur]

10. Then I guess Carville must see the Dem Party going down the tubes

If Dean hadn't energized the Dem base, Bush would either be leading in double digits despite the mess in Iraq or 3/4 of the population would be refusing to vote.