[freedom1st]

I'm sure JF'nK used "you know" because he admired how Hillery always sounds so intelligent using "you know", you know.

[FRgal4u]

The correct tactic for Bush here is to use wit, humor, jokes to dig deep (real deep) into Kerry (his votes, his stance, his flipflops, his non-accomplishments in the senate). Drive the base supporting Kerry nuts and thereby forcing Keery (with his own very dry humor and long winded answers)to fight back. The nastier Kerry looks, the more he will lose in the tiny middle slice of the voting public. If one assume the R base will bascially cancel out the D base this fall, this election will be decided by less than 10% of the middle slice. The question for this middle slice is do you want Lurch be in your living room for the next four yrs or you wanna have the folksy common man who is less stiff for four more yrs.

Wit will go a long way for Bush in this election. His greatest advantage is the ability to sum up complex issues into a single one-liner for the public. The public need not to know HOW you are going to get the bad guys, just say, we are going to get them, no hole is deep enough for them to hide...that's more than enough. Better than the long-winded answers like ok, we will get nato approval, we will get UN approval, we will talk to chiraq, have a summitt blah blah...

[VadeRetro]

It was, like, I mean, you know, an indirect apology.

Yeah, but sort of like, you know, not admitting anything fer shirrr!

Kerry will not wear well between now and November. He tries to puff out his chest, but he's the American version of a cheese-eating surrender monkey. He's too Euro-poofy for anywhere but Massachusetts.

[Cicero]

That's not the real John Kerry, a dignified man long steeped in civility.

Say, what?

[Fenris6]

Presumably unaware of the presence of a live microphone

After all the chest-thumping has died down, this is the part I still find disturbing. Does anyone really believe it was accidental? I think he did it on puropse, it fits his character pattern. And thats the problem. He's like a little bitch in high school who doesn't have the guts to challenge you, so he "whispers" it loud enough for you to overhear. What a joke. This man wants to lead America?

Perhaps "all those world leaders" that want him to win will step up and teach him to be a man first. LOL.

[WOSG]

Mr Safire,

First, let me commend your columns especially on Iraq in the past year. Hopefully you will do a "One Year After" column on
what was won and what was lost in replacing Saddam with the seeds of a democratic Iraq.

Overall good column on Kerry's latest gaffe, but the faux praise of Kerry as a man 'steeped in civility' is too much. Did the NYTimes editors make you put that in?
Have you not read his "F##$)#" evaluation of Bush's Iraq policy in Rolling Stone? Nor his many other over-the-top 'exaggerations' about terrorism being
exaggerated? He may be well bred, but that doesnt make him any less rude nor arrogant in what he says. And this gaffe not the first time Kerry has mined
the "Bush as liar" muck to serve his supporters.

As for this:

"But then something revealing happened. Kerry chose not to brush it off easily. On the contrary, in full macho mode he declared to a news conference that "I have no intention whatsoever of apologizing for my remarks." "

Remember when Quayle accused Al Gore of "pulling a Clinton". Seems to me that Kerry is "pulling a Dean" right here.
If he wants to keep that approach up, let him try. He'll go as far as Dean went with the same attitude.

We dont need macho man, we need a steady hand and good leadership. On this score, Bush's ads are a home run, and Kerry's claims and gaffes are foul balls.

[thoughtomator]

Safire is being civil and extremely generous in order that Bush-haters won't immediately skip the column. Read between the lines!

[js1138]

I think all Bush has to do in this campaign is play back Jerry's own words.

[NYCVirago]

Kerry's pollsters apparently told him that his defiant embrace of the nasty crack backfired, and he was being tagged not as deliciously tough but as distastefully negative.

I figured as much when he made his invitation to Bush to go to a Red Sox-Rangers game with him when the election was all over.

[Puzzleman]

If there is anyone left who believes that Safire is a Republican or a conservative, he should read this article. Safire heard Kerry say that Republicans are “the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen.”

This statement would immediately offend Republicans. The Democratic presidential nominee elect has just said they are “crooked” and “lying.” Safire didn’t notice. He was struck by the phrase “you know.” He isn’t bothered by outrageous insults hurled at Republicans. Why is that? Well, probably because he is a Democrat!

[Puzzleman]

Ann Coulter knows that Safire is not a real conservative.

This is the link

[OESY]

Kerry's nasty quotes should help him implode:

About Dean: "You can't make 15 gaffes a week and be president."

To voters: "I have no intention whatsoever of apologizing for my remarks."

But, FRgal4u and Reactionary have outlined above a winning strategy for Bush.