Posted on 08/20/2004 1:51:34 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
For nearly two weeks, Senator John F. Kerry had refrained from commenting directly on the crescendo of attacks on his Vietnam War record. The work was being left to campaign aides, who were scrambling to control the escalating damage being done by a television ad and a book that alleged that Kerry had lied about his combat service and did not deserve his medals.
Then, Wednesday night, Kerry told his aides that he had to act. As he sat down inside his Louisburg Square home on Beacon Hill, Kerry scrawled two phrases on a yellow legal pad about his antagonists, a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group, Kerry wrote, was "a front for the Bush campaign" and "he wants them to do his dirty work."
Overnight, this new strategy by Kerry resulted in a hastily produced ad defending his war record and a speech in which the Massachusetts senator responded in detail to the group's charges. The question, however, is whether Kerry acted too late, letting the attacks grow on the Internet and talk-show circuit to such a degree that some swing voters think one of Kerry's core characteristics has been undermined.
"He had to do it," said former senator Bob Kerrey, who was tapped by the Kerry campaign to write an opinion column in The Washington Post defending the record of the Massachusetts senator.
"It was gathering a life of its own, and he had to respond. He couldn't do it through surrogates. He had to confront it himself with facts and passion."...............
Kerry had made Vietnam a centerpiece of his campaign, surrounding himself with crewmates at the Democratic National Convention and portraying his combat experience as preparation for being commander in chief.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I remember the 'old' days when they at least threw something in for the last paragraph and at least pretended to be 'fair and balance'.
LOL! "Facts and passion" are two traits that aren't associated with Kerry. He makes things up first of all and second, he has the look of The Lurch of the Addams Family. I have yet to see Kerry get excited about anything - he can't even energize his own base! Unbelievable.
Exactly. He responding alright but he's avoiding telling the truth, since its not on his side.
bttt
Alas, the good old days...
But then again these ARE the good ol' days for Dubya is a mindful leader and lest we could have had Algore.
There's alway a bright side. : )
They lie even about documents that NOBODY has been able to view and that NONE of his own flunkies can cite from in his defense. Now THAT's impressive!
Now, I've thought about that but it just won't fly. Kerry looks like he's on the ropes and frantically striking back. Bush has commended Kerry on his service. He has asked Kerry to denounce the 527s (I know this isn't reported accurately in the MSM). So a call for Bush's records, after all the yowling they did not to long ago, will only draw more attention to John Kerry and his personal and military failings. He will look like Captain Queeg.
Great minds think alike. :^)
>>He's been lucky so far: everyone's focusing on his rather strange 4 months in Vietnam - nobody's saying very much about his activities to support the enemy just after the war.<<
You can bet that those ads are already in the can, waiting to be used.
Now, if we can just get the anti-Bush protesters to go completely out of control in NYC, marry that footage up with the Vietnam ant-war footage and marry both to John F*'n Kerry images from both eras...sweet.
(From one USMC vet to Another) Semper Fi!!
Does the ad mention the Washington Post story? Had that story run before the ad was produced?
I find it quite interesting that on the day Kerry responds publicly for the first time, ALL of the cable appearances by the "dog hunters" were canceled "at the last minute". John O'Niell made appearances on O'Reilly, H&C, and Lou Dobbs and did his usual great job on all.
Jeffink: "Mr. Pwesident, Pweeze make them stop!"
Is this what to expect from a Jeffink admin? Whining crying and deceit[referring to missing documents from his website...]
Well, of course!
Speech was written by Adam Walinsky, USMC reserve, former legislative aide to Robert Kennedy.
The amazing thing is that all Kerry had to do was say nothing more about his war record than what was known. He still would have had people looking to kneecap him for what he said when he came back, but now he's got them going after both kneecaps for the fabrications and what he said.
Maybe the real rope-a-dope is not W's record, but simply making this into a Hitlery-type victim of the VRWC routine to keep people off Kerry's record. While this is going on, not very much is being said otherwise, or it's getting lost such as the flip flop on troops coming home and his continued support of the Iraq War after he said it was a mistake.
In the meantime, I'm curious to see what else they throw at the Swifties. Unlike the usual puddle the floor Republican routine, these guys are not only standing their ground, they're taking more each day.
How about that!!!!!
Sorry for the dupe post. My connection is a little shakey this morning.
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