Posted on 09/21/2004 8:39:55 PM PDT by tbeatty
It's apparent that the new Democratic strategy is to talk up the Candidate. Already I've heard things like "hit it out of the park" and "sharpened, focused, resonating".
In reality it's the same tired old Kerry being rewrapped and packaged in a desperate attempt to re-energize the base. The focus will single mindedly attack Bush on Iraq. Not the war on Terror. Not Vietnam. Iraq and only Iraq. "It's Iraq Stupid" will be the new tag line.
I realize this is only one day, but momentum always starts with one day. The question is how to "unsharpen" Kerry? I think the latest CBS fiasco has finally made the press back off Vietnam (both the good and bad for Bush) so I suspect the press will now go after Iraq in a big way to help Kerry.
My advice: Bring up every issue between now and Nov 2. Both strong and weak issues for Bush. Anything that causes Kerry to respond. He sucks at sound bites. If he's broad he can't be sharp and Bush has way more broad appeal than Kerry. Talk about school choice and immigration and Afghanistan and 9/11 and the economy and tax cuts, etc, etc. Just getting Kerry talking about them will trip him up.
And the debates HAVE to broad. No debate about only Iraq. Format is much less important than keeping Kerry broad and unfocused.
Of course, Dan Rather said Kerry "hit it out of the park" after the convention speech. That hit cost Kerry about 100 Electoral votes so maybe I am being paranoid.
> It's apparent that the new Democratic strategy
> is to talk up the Candidate.
The talking-up might actually slow the collapse if they
could get both Kerry & Mrs. Heinz to STOP talking. What
you're describing isn't cheerleading - it's damage control.
On the bright side, this election might finally bring an
end to focus-group-tested buzzword talking points, and
a return to content (where Bush has been all along).
The Kerry staffers are beginning to sound more and
more like the live characters in a "Weekend at Bernie's"
movie. The candidate is only standing at the mic because
his elbows are nailed to the podium.
Kerry's news conference was nothing BUT talking points and buzzwords: "Bush has no credibility on Iraq." "Bush has not shown leadership in Iraq."
He's trying to tear down Bush's strengths by just saying Bush is not what he clearly is.
To turn into Howard Dean may bring out the base, but Americans don't cut and run.
Besides, Bush is doing all four things in Kerry's "plan."
Give em credit where it's due folks. They've at least got a STRATEGY 42 days out of the election....
That's something...
=)
>> On the bright side, this election might finally bring
>> an end to focus-group-tested buzzword talking points, ...
> Kerry's news conference was nothing BUT talking points
> and buzzwords:
That's why I said "this election". I expect to see no
change prior to the 02 Nov outcome.
In Kerry's case, switching to "content" is no longer
possible, because there's no "there" there.
He can't even take a final stand on any of his multitude
of flop-flopped issues, because there isn't enough calendar
left to build an actual reputation of firmness.
"If I hold a position on Iraq for 6 weeks,
will you vote for me?"
I hope so. I think a lot of it is going to depend on if the press can hold it's nose and keep reporting positive Kerry spin. Luckliy the media is now more than the CBS NBC ABC WP NYT LAT. The problem is that if the press sees a glimmer, they will get all excited and we'll see nothing but Kerry on message with no dissent.
It would much rather have their base feeling dejected enough to vote for Nader.
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