JOHN KERRY'S QUIET COLLAPSE

New York Post ^ | 4/27/04 | JOHN PODHORETZ

[kattracks]

April 27, 2004 -- THE conventional wisdom is that the presidential election will be close. It's a 50-50 country, so the CW goes, just as it was in the year 2000.

Kerry is a terrible, terrible, terrible candidate.

It's not so much the policies he proposes, although they don't add up to all that much. The problem is Kerry himself. He no sooner opens his mouth than he sticks first one foot and then the other right in there.

[ought-six]

"What is the procedure, officially if he quits to bring the next Dem up to bat."

If Kerry steps down before the convention, he releases all of his delegates. Thus, at the convention, it'll be a wide open free-for-all with a hell of a lot of networking going on.

[ought-six]

"I just had a terrible thought!!! What if this continues to the Democratic Convention and then, knowing he's a loser, they nominate Hillary!"

Not to worry. The Hildabeast would get her clock cleaned, but it would be a lot of fun to watch.

[ought-six]

Delegates are committed only for the first round. After that, they're free to vote for whomever they want.

[Preachin']

If Kerry drops below 40% in the Polls, they will find a way to dump him, remember we're talking about the CLINTON'S.

That is so true. A landslide for the President Bush would also get a several more republicans elected in the US House and US Senate.

The democrats can't afford that.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Do you think its possible there could be a Hillary/Gore ticket?

Not a chance. They can't stand each other, and it's more likely that they're both sharpening their knives for one another in 2008.

[RinaseaofDs]

What hasn't been asked at this point is "What's in it for the media?"

What if the media takes this opportunity to move back to the center? Brokaw quits - didn't see that coming, but the timing is interesting. If you were an anchor, why quit at this point in history? Literally everything is changing, we are in the midst of a world-wide religious ware, so he quits now?

Rather is done. Jennings? Maybe he's a realist, tired of conceding half the market to Fox right out of the gate.

We may be witnessing the passion of John Kerry. He may be crucified in public by the liberal media. In turn, they use this to move their news departments back to the center as they eat in to Fox's share.

After yesterday, for example, I think people will be tuning into ABC to see what happens next. I don't think they are done yet, by a long shot.

My fear is that this can happen so fast. Amazing how much he hurt himself in 5 minutes. June is a long way off.

Here's the thing: Only the liberal press can kill John Kerry. If Fox tries it, they are labelled an organ of the R party. If ABC does it, they are journalists with the conviction of their journalistic ethics. ABC is going to quietly start laying off of GWB too. They may not say anything positive about GWB, but the negative stuff is done.

ABC is going to start talking up the economy. They are going to start talking about the war in a more positive way (if what everyone is saying about WMD discoveries and OBL capture is true, why would you want your network on the negative side of that story as it breaks?)

If I were ABC, I'd want to start putting my network into a position to celebrate with America. Only Fox is there right now, and for the life of me I don't know who is running things over there right now, but their shtick is getting hard to take. Oil for Food? Memogate? not a peep in a while from Fox. Michael Jackson? I'll bet if you turn it on right now, you could find out faster than you could the weather on your local station.

If the media cans John Kerry, they could move themselves back to the center considerably.

[roses of sharon]

Our activism should have been, and should always be, against the MSM. We should be relentless when exposing them and their lies.

And in talking to those around us in our everyday life, even strangers in the check out line! Its hard at first, but gets easier with every sound bite I try. What has always seems to get nods and agreement is when I talk about Bush's love of this country, and that he is a "good man".

Huge political discussions never work, but sometimes there are tiny facts that people say, "I didn't know that".

Of course I diss Kerry gently, by exposing him as a typical Senator snob, with mansions, planes, and $3000 bikes. (Hey, a little class warfare works with a man who claims to be a "man of the people")

And the facts about the way he treated and lied about our soldiers when he came home, REALLY upsets and bothers people. Since most have heard of them being spit on by the anti-war left.

Again, be relentless, do your part on the homeland.

[Mamzelle]

Podhoretz was a bigtime McVain supporter.

[SerpentDove]

[Aquinasfan]

"No," Kerry said, "you didn't see me throw the, Charlie, Charlie, you are wrong. That's not what happened. I threw my ribbons across . . .

Who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?

[Snake65]

Very interesting analysis. The period between now and November will be telling.

[aruanan]

Ha ha. This photo looks as though it could be for a brochure for a new funerary practice of posing the deceased in a "life-like" posture amongst the plants instead of laid out in a box.

[mlmr]

Why? I think Kerry would be a great candidate. Easy to beat and would take leftists socialists with him.

[JLAGRAYFOX]

I get the feeling the main stream media has turned on John Kerry. They don't like what they see! And, they are smart enough enough to know the the majority of American voters see that John Kerry is not even close to being Presidential material. So much for the "Democrat Primary" system. It would have offered up Howard Dean, and gave us John Kerry. Not too bright, are they? Tells you that the current Democrat Party needs to be destroyed at the ballot box this year!

[OESY]

I used to think that holding up attacks on Kerry until after their convention was best to prevent their pulling a Torricelli. But with all that is coming down the pike from the Boston Globe, I now think it's better to knock him off now and cause high anxiety among Dems who will go way over the top in their desperation, inciting them to nominate Hillary. This would be a good year to knock her off, and put "Paid" to her potential.

[mvpel]

They are suppose to represent the voters from all those earlier primaries and to do something else is a betrayal of those voters.

Don't forget, these are Democrats we're talking about here.

[Travis McGee]

No, Hillary and Gore wouldn't share a ticket.

[only1percent]

Posters are correct insofar as the sequence of events if Kerry voluntarily stepped down: before the Convention, it would result in an open Convention. After the Convention, the DNC would decide.

However, Kerry won't step down voluntarily, no matter what. He could conceivably be ousted if it looked that bad. This would happen at the convention: the delegates would adopt rules that lift their obligation to vote for the candidate to whom pledged. This could be easily done of the DNC Rules Committee proposed it; it would harder, but still doable, as a motion from the floor. Once freed from pledges, the Convention could nominate whomever it pleases.

In the modern era (since the bosses lost control of the conventions), this has only been tried once, by Ted Kennedy in 1980. Didn't work.

I have real trouble seeing the party establishment ever pushing for such a move. The delegates are not reliable political bosses (like the State Committee that swapped Lautenberg for Toricelli); they're a motley crew of mainly "grass roots" folk -- absolutely not trustworthy in the eyes of Clinton types. Kerry delegates would not be likely to nominate a centrist like Breaux or even a psuedo-centrist like Edwards. They'd swing out to left field, for sure -- someone as radical as John Kerry without the Silver Star to mitigate it.

[mwl1]

I am stunned that no one -- including this forum -- is discussing Kerry's off-camera snotty remark to the ABC cameramen and reporters following his GMA appearance -- the crybaby at work.

If this were a Republican who had done this, it would be breaking news, coast to coast... heartless, arrogant treatment of the working class.

Let's get rolling!

[mwl1]

The RATS can get away with a Torricelli on a localized, statewide basis because the national media protects them from the bait-and-switch being widely known to all Americans.

The RATS cannot pull a similar stunt on a national level.

Absent health or other significant circumstance, Kerry will be the Democratic nominee.