What Kerry was up against

[Firespirit]

There is a terrific graph in this dKos diary of Bush's approval ratings throughout his term. This is this person's photobucket account and I don't want to hotlink the image, so check it out. Take a close look at the 2004 segment of it. His approval rating was on the rise that year, and it was very clearly at, near, or slightly above 50% on the day of doom. The very LOWEST dot on the graph at 11/04 has him about at 47% and the highest, 52%. This ought to put to rest the myth that "everyone hated him but Kerry was hated even worse."

[karynnj]

1. For the Clinton comparisons,

Bush 1 was at 33% near the election day and was pretty much below 40 for at least 6 months before the election. (Not to mention Clinton had Perot bashing Bush 1 and then acting in a strange manner and a merdia that showed the increasing happy crowds - that Kerry had too, but only on CSPAN).

The thing I worried about when the pundits kept speaking of the fact that Bush below 50 being great for the Democrats was that in recent history, no President was in the 40s - meaning there was no data. Consider that some people who say they don't approve are on the other end (the Buchanans) and they will likely hold their noses and vote Bush.

[politicasista]

2. Hope so

I posted the Dowd article at another board about Kerry being right, and the response was "we tried to tell you." No mention of Kerry being right or what he was up against in 04, but I guess it's a good start. :shrug:

I asked some questions in a thread about the blame Kerry (and Gore) game, but no one wants dare wants to answer them. (Not in the JK group of course. :))

1. How come no one blames the weak DNC infrastructure, left-leaning pundits, or fellow Democrats that sat on their behinds while the Smear Boat Liars made their rounds and Kerry's war record was attacked? Same when Gore was attacked? Where is the anger at them and the media instead of Gore/Kerry?

2. If Bush was so beatable and "hated" in 2004, then why didn't SWMNBN and others (not including Gore, Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, Dean, Clark and other 04 candidates) run in 2004? Oh, that's right, Bush isn't running in 2008, so the race is wide open, and the mess will get worse so _______ will clean it up. :sarcasm:



Anyway, back to the topic, I still hope that the truth will come out and put the myth to rest that other myth 2004 should have been a "cakewalk" and ________ would have stood up to Bush, Cheney, Rove, and won in a landslide. Kerry's name is still not popular in some circles (mainly cause of 2004). They seem to not understand what he was up against and had their backs more than they realized. But for now, they will just keep blaming Kerry and giving silent Dems a pass.


Thanks for this post Fire, we all hope the myths will be rested and the truth will continue to come out someday. :hi:

[MBS]

3. I had a LTE in the Boston Globe in February

(there's a thread somewhere in this forum. . ) which offered the same perspective as you and Firespirit, and , in case it gives you a little hope, I got a good response from several Boston Democrats, including 1 person I didn't know at all, 1 acquaintance who was a strong Kerry backer in 2004, 1 who was a semi-strong Kerry backer, and two who were Kerry backers only in the general election and were in the tedious "we need a fresh start" group vis a vis 2008. Despite the disparity in views, these guys all seemed to get it. They'll catch on eventually. But, of course, there are still lots who remain willfully clueless: I share completely your utter frustration.

Firespirit, there's another graph somewhere in this forum (I think I put up one version of it, it's a graph from the WaPost, I think) that demonstrates your thesis in even starker terms. JK himself says that the release of the Bin Laden tape a few days before the election affected the outcome. . the outcome of this last election was profoundly affected by fear (in my letter, I described the electorate as "confused and cowed by fear") as well as the lack of help from the ever-dysfunctional self-serving Democratic party minions. .