TOO LATE!
Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122
Posted on 08/31/2004 11:29:43 PM PDT by crushelits
5 minutes ago
NEW YORK - Anxiously watching President Bush (news - web sites)'s convention, Democratic leaders are urging John Kerry (news - web sites) to step us his attack on the Republican incumbent before eroding approval ratings become a serious political problem.
The candidate and his beleaguered staff are being flooded with advice, much of it contradictory. Some party officials want Kerry to criticize the president's for sitting out the Vietnam War in the Texas Air National Guard. Others say that would draw unwanted attention to accusations about Kerry's combat experience.
Democrats have seen Bush erase the gains that their nominee made at his convention a month ago in Boston, pulling into a tie in national polls that also show Kerry's personal image deteriorating.
In the broad scheme of things, the GOP advances may be nothing more than a political adjustment — a nudge of the pendulum, rather than a big swing. But for some Democrats, the president's momentum came as a shock, in part because Kerry's team had bragged openly that Boston had set the stage for victory.
That was their first mistake.
"It's never a good idea to get people too excited too early," said Bill Carrick, a leading Democratic strategist from California.
After raising expectations, Kerry listened to campaign consultants advising him to let surrogates respond to accusations that he exaggerated his medal-winning wartime service. They wanted him to remain above the fray, and he did, until the accusations from the group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth began tugging him down.
By the time Kerry personally struck back, calling the group a front for Bush spreading "lies about my record," the damage was done. Polls show Bush is now favored over Kerry on questions of who is more qualified to be commander in chief and which candidate is more honest. Immediately after his convention, Kerry led on both questions.
Bush has erased Kerry's lead on who would best deal with the economy, and has opened a gap on whom voters prefer to lead the war against terror.
In a race this close, the smallest shifts in voter preferences send partisans atwitter. Just last week, nervous Republicans were urging Bush to unveil a robust second-term agenda to shift voters' focus from the unpopular war in Iraq (news - web sites). Now, with the confetti set to fall, Republicans are temporarily in line while Democrats suffer angst.
"Bush and his surrogates have been vicious and unforgiving" with the Swift boat claims, said Frank Schreck, a top party fund-raiser from Nevada, "and they have scored a lot of political points."
Schreck wants Kerry to bluntly compare war records with the president. "Why not stand up there and say, `He chose to have his father get him out of harm's way while I volunteered to risk my life?'" The Bush campaign vigorously denies the president used his family's political influence to avoid Vietnam.
Ken Brock, a Democratic consultant in Michigan, said he wants to see Kerry fight back.
"Personally, I'm for somebody coming out and saying while Bush was in the Redneck Riviera, Kerry was picking shrapnel out of his butt," he said. "There are those who want John Kerry to drop his drawers and show America the scars."
The biggest complainers want Kerry to beef up his staff. The candidate himself is said to be angry with his team, quietly adding layers of new advisers to siphon authority from some aides. Rumors of a shake-up Wednesday were unfounded, but nonetheless distracted the Kerry team.
Outside the campaign, some Democrats want Kerry to put the intrigue to rest and shift his focus to the economy and Iraq, issues causing problems for Bush.
"My sense is the Swift boat stuff has been a major distraction, to say the least, for the campaign, and they need to get back to hammering him (Bush) every day on the economy and health care and the management of the war," Carrick said.
Mark Grebner, a Democratic strategist from Michigan, said Kerry is still in a strong position because Bush is politically weak. He said the only threat to Kerry is a terrorist strike, which would cause voters to rally around the commander in chief. "It's time to move on," he said.
They are getting desperate!
Kerry cannot attack Bush on the Vietnam thing. He is in a round room looking for a corner. Kerry is one record dump away from being driven from the race.
TOO LATE!
Stay Strong,
Fuzzy122
How could they possibly step up the attacks? They have been gutter snipes for months now!!! Of course, I know that they could even get worse, there is no stopping the attack machine of the leftist's!
The left and kerry has spent 200 Million $$$ attacking bush calling him a draft dodger and hitler so what do they have left ?
George W. Bush was driving the car that ran over Clinton's dog!
What...referring to Bush as Hitler, an AWOL deserter and a chimp isn't enough for these Leftist jackwits? Sakes...
And this is before Arnold added a 'terminating' blow!
"There are those who want John Kerry to drop his drawers and show America the scars."
Talk about getting mooned! Yuck... the mere idea of a hairy scar is so gross and revolting... Yuck...
I just love FOURNIERian angst!!!!!!
Every time Kerry brings up military service, whether his or W's, he loses blood, and he has already put himself on the critical list.
If I were advising Kerry, I'd tell him to lock himself in his hotel room and not answer the phone until November 3rd.
There is NOTHING Kerry can do now to save himself. If he can be saved at all, and I doubt he can, it will have to be done by others.
Schreck wants Kerry to bluntly compare war records with the president. "Why not stand up there and say, `He chose to have his father get him out of harm's way while I volunteered to risk my life?'"
Maybe because then it becomes fair game to point out that Kerry did NOT volunteer to risk his life. He tried for a deferment and was denied. He enlisted in the Reserves, not the active Navy. That didn't work either, as he got called up. Bush's Guard Unit did not. That was a military/political decision, not a matter of volunteering.
Kerry volunteered for Swift Boat service, one of the safest duties, off the coast of Viet Nam. The Navy changed the mission weeks later.
Kerry did all he could to stay out of harm's way.
Bush has been careful not to attack Kerry's service. Kerry and his surrogates have done nothing but attack Bush.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!
I hope Kerry has his make-up artist on retainer, because there arent any!
This I have to see.
LOL
Do it! Seeing Kerry's wrinkled old posterior would push five more states into the GOP column and give Leno and Letterman two weeks worth of cheap jokes.
Some party officials want Kerry to criticize the president's for sitting out the Vietnam War in the Texas Air National Guard.
Bring it on! And you can expect another Swiftboat ad. Think you can take another? I seriously doubt it.
They believed a documented liar?
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