Don't think we can dismiss the polls so easily.

[usregimechange]

I am not saying Kerry can't come back and stomp some foliage. Simply that Kerry is currently loosing.

They attached a little label to Kerry (uncertain, flipflopper, all variations on one theme) and no one can see past it. Guys the GOP is good at what they do. We have to have one or two simple labels and all chant them over and over. What is the direction from the Kerry campaign? A scatter graph of talking points. The public wants a cartoon and Kerry is selling them a text book.

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. First of all it's "losing"

:P

Second of all, the polls are not taking into account a huge number of newly registered voters. :)

I'm not putting much stock in the polls.

[dennis4868]

2. I said this a week ago.....

and got attacked....but I still feel that Kerry allowed Bush to define him (all based on outright lies of course that the media ran with) and its hard to change peoples view of someone once they believe in the label that has been attributed to Kerry.....Kerry has an uphill battle...he has to fight not only Bush but the media as well and even if he defeats them he still has the supreme court to deal with (like Gore in 2000)

[Teaser]

3. It's not a matter of dismissing them.

It's a matter of patience. Trends take time to reverse. First they will reverse in national polls. A week or 2 later state polls follow suit.

It's the way politics works.

[David Dunham]

5. It's time to blast Bush, again and again and again.

[LittleClarkie]

11. He is, dagnabit

He IS!

Look at the news! Go to his site and see the latest speech. He is!

Have some faith people. He's a closer. He wins these things right at the end.

[usregimechange]

7. What the hell is Kerry's message?

Today is health care day. Tomorrow its economy day. Sunday is environment day. Monday Iraq day. He needs to hang a label on Bush. Dishonest. Ideological? I don't give a shit, I just want to know what it is!

venting...

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. It is policy, we have one, they don't

hence why we're telling you what our plans are.... they don't have any plans

That is the message.

[amber dog democrat]

4. I disagree.

IMHO it will come down to not so much as how many like Kerry but how many more can't see the idea of 4 more years of the chimp.

And I think this mess in Iraq is moving farther out of control at a faster rate than I imagined it could.

Chimp is in deep and he knows it.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[partygirl]

9. the first debate is on the economy

and it is in about 2 weeks. That is when Kerry will hit him hard and within a week we will be up by ten points. The economy, jobs, and health care is where Kerry is strong and Bush is weak. There will be no looking vack after that!

[demwing]

10. The polls should not consume us

They are not usually very reliable, often quite biased, and always show an incomplete picture.

Still...

I was extremely frustrated when the California recall went down, and SO many people were dismissive of those who doubted the anti-recall movement's effectiveness, and then pooh-poohed the idea that the Dems needed a better candidate than Cruz Bustamante. At the time, I thought Al Gore should have run. I bet he would have stomped Arnold...

But we were all worry warts and should just keep quiet, if I recall correctly.

I don't feel about the Kerry campaign the way I felt about the recall at this point. I still am firm in my belief that Kerry will win the election by a decent margin. But ignoring negative information is not a healthy habit.

Let's all stay positive (there's a LOT to be positive over) and equally realistic.

Fair enough?

[papau]

12. The "Excuse President" works for me!

:-)

[papau]

13. I also like "It's the credibility, stupid" or some variation of that!

:-)

[secular_warrior]

14. I think what you're saying is we need a theme

The best campaign messages are themes, because they give a nice framework to all of the candidate's talking points, speeches, issues, policy proposals, biography.. everything.

Go back and listen to the great campaigner himself Bill Clinton's speech to the DNC.. his theme was "John Kerry said 'send me'". Contrast that with "Fortunate Son" Dubya.

This campaign is a tale of two privileged men who made very different choices: one, John Kerry who used his privilege for good, chose to go to Vietnam, chose to stand up to the leaders who had no plan to win the peace, chose a life of service in the Senate -- and a man like George Bush, who used his privilege for evil, who had everything handed to him on a silver platter, who never worked for anything, who's always had someone else do the fighting for him. Bush was for Vietnam, but didn't feel that the privileged like himself should bear any sacrafice. Bush was for Iraq, but didn't feel that the privileged like himself should bear any sacrafice.

Leader vs Misleader.

[necso]

15. You want a "cartoon"?

The best that I can come up with is:

President Bush is no conservative. He hasn't been conserving anything. He is a(n) ? extraction-ist? corrosion-ist? -- something of the "to mine", "to use up", "to weaken", "to make sure no one else gets or has" variety. (Maybe "just acts like one on TV" -- "pretend conservative", "mirror image".)

It is accurate enough, and reactionary doesn't fit. Bush is not a reactionary taking us back to the past -- he is taking us where we have never gone before -- to ruin (but Space Pilot or the like is a little too crass). Extremist, which is also true, wouldn't work. Elitist might do -- but it has to be the "opposite" of conservative and to argue that elitism is contrary to certain schools of conservative thinking is way over peoples heads. Hypocrite -- probably too strong.

If people could get the idea that Bush is basically the opposite of what he says he is, then they could start to get the picture. I mean we are talking through the looking glass stuff here.

But it would have to be cute -- and I don't do cute.

Plus I just don't have a clue. It's not like I'm hiding anything here.

Kerry, interestingly enough, would probably be for conserving some things (like our values -- by actually practicing them -- as opposed to practicing the pretense of values) and making progress in others.

But I am not a cartoonist.

...Thankfully.

But I hear ya. I blame Kerry's advisors. Personally, I think that Kerry has pretty good instincts. Sure he is no "Big Dawg", with charm enough to knock birds out of the sky. -- But I think that Kerry would be a better President... And I like(d) Clinton!

Things could still work out. I make it 60:40.

But, hey, what do I know.

Maybe Chameleon Conservative.

[necso]

18. I know that you guys

probably think that I am way off base here.

But the one thing that Bush has consistently claimed is that he is a conservative.

Not only isn't that true, it may be the one thing that he must appear to be, to be elected. Pretty much everything else people will just slough off. -- And compassionate they just don't care about.

If people can just get the inkling of the idea to take what Bush says and look for the opposite to be true, it could be good. -- The lights can "come on", I have seen it happen many times.

And sure we can talk about left and right policies. But the point is that Bush is off of this scale and he is just casting an image on the conservative "point" -- an image that is more than a little of the mirror image.

But of course many seem to think that conservative is a dirty word -- but it is just a question of what you are trying to conserve -- like the commons, like the environment, like our military, like our capital, like our jobs, like what is best in our values -- like America .

Some folks want to attack Bush (politically) from the left or the center.

I say attack him (politically) from behind... cause the neos aren't on the right flank -- they are in lala land.

[Guaranteed]

16. It all just depends on which polls you want to listen to.

Do you want to listen to Zogby, Harris, IBD and Rasmussen, or do you want to listen to the AOL Time/Warner whores?

[lefty75]

17. Too many to choose from

There are so many things Kerry could blast Bush with, maybe too many and the message gets confused. Americans are not good at complex arguments you know. I say get a simple effective message and go with it. He seems to be getting better, now the media has to allow the message out.

[jonnyblitz]

19. I don't and neither does anybody else though they claim

otherwise or they wouldn't cite them with such delight everytime they favor Kerry...

[rullery]

20. Here is a poll I really like

http://www.race2004.net/ According to this one if the election were held today, they project Kerry would win with 274 electoral votes, while Bush would get 264 votes. At the same time, Bush would get about 100,000 more votes than Kerry, so Bush would win the popular vote. I really think this would be so fitting, given what happened in 2000! I can just see all the Freepers hollering!

[qanda]

21. My ignore list grows longer and longer...

By the beginning of November, I won't be able to read posts from anyone on DU-- I'll just be talking to myself.

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. Fuck the polls and the media

It's pictures like this that tell me Kerry is going to win and win big.