"Say goodnight, Gracie."
"Goodnight Gracie."
Posted on 09/02/2004 5:38:26 PM PDT by vanderleun
"Say goodnight, Gracie."
"Goodnight Gracie."
"Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
I was looking kind of dumb
With my finger and my thumb
In the shape of an "L" on my forehead "
-- SmashMouth, All Star
In the last few days there have been a lot of cycles wasted by people on the left, right, and center noting how badly the Kerry campaign is doing. To my mind, this is like suddenly discovering gravity.
The Kerry Campaign is doing badly because it has always done badly. Snagging the nomination from eight or nine less-electable clowns doesn't mean you're doing well, it just means you're not doing as poorly as the rest of the pack.
Still, I will admit that the campaign itself has, over the last fortnight, begun to do poorly in a more visible fashion than the performance of the previous year. Usually, they were able to keep the lid on somehow keep the right face on things, but of late this mask has begun to slip and that's a sign of deep existential distress on the inside.
The big question that keeps the keyboards humming at this point is : "Why?" This meditation is usually answered by some pundit or another hauling out the quick fix, the sure tactic, and the smooth move that will set things right and put John Kerry back on the path to the big chair in the oval office. Some have even gone so far as to propose Joe Trippi be brought in from the fields of clover he is currently cavorting in to right the good ship Kerry and send it smoothly into the harbor.
All these answers and suggestions are rank nonsense.
The single and only internal reason that things are now seen to be going badly inside the Kerry campaign is that deep inside the Kerry campaign, in the very core of the candidate himself, the have seen the fiery finger of fate write in glowing and deeply etched letters the single word: LOSER.
That's right -- down in the center where the Kerryites are sifting their statistics and spreadsheets and seeding their spin they already know what most of us are just beginning to sense-- THEY'VE LOST AND THERE IS NOTHING, BUT NOTHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT.
Keen noses can smell the defeat starting to sweat off in the campaign corridors.
If this were a boxing match, the guys in the corner would already be wetting down the towel and slipping the ringside doctor a C-Note to try and get Kerry out of there with his Senate seat intact.
But it is not a boxing match and they have to go through the motions for months with the taste of the butt end of Inauguration Day in their mouths. No, they have to fight on as if it matters and at the same time keep all barbiturates out of the candidate's reach. (On second thought, maybe a few diehard Democrats are refilling their Seconal scripts in the hopes that Edwards can score enough of a mercy vote to pull them through.)
There's probably more free-floating stress and anxiety in the Kerry Campaign today than in all of Florida's jammed evacuation routes because, in the Kerry Campaign, there is now no escape.
There are several dozen reasons that can be dug out to buttress the assertion that Kerry has lost. Running down the posts and pointers at Instapundit over the last week would be a start. Instead let's look at just one element -- swiftboats, the Dukakis Tank moment of the Kerry campaign.
If the Swiftboat story has started the take-down, just wait until people really get moving on Wintersoldier and the Kerry's little jaunts to Paris and his meetings with the Vietnamese. Think it won't come out? Think again. The Bush Campaign doesn't even start until tomorrow. And, hey, it doesn't even have to come out. It just has to be there. Is it there? Why, yes, Virginia it is. "It" is always there. In this case, "it" is the difference between losing the election and losing your previously safe seat in the Senate. And an ex-candidate and ex-Senator does not exactly fit into Teresa Heinz Kerry's internal fantasies about her future, so even that previously secure position is in play.
You can add in a lot of other things -- the voting record in the Senate for starters and the dubious health of the candidate for closers. Would all this happen? We're at 60 days and third down. John Kerry, first and foremost of anyone, should know by this time that politics is a full-contact winner-take-all sport. One you don't play without a helmet. Just ask Mike Dukakis.
What's that? Mike isn't speaking to you. Guess you should have let him do more at your convention than play tour guide, John.
---There's probably more free-floating stress and anxiety in the Kerry Campaign today than in all of Florida's jammed evacuation routes because, in the Kerry Campaign, there is now no escape.---
Outstanding!
That's why it's now or never.
Congressman Billybob
Zell did drive a strong nail, but I think Dubya's speech will drive another nail, but in a very gentle, forward-thinking manner. The President is at his absolute best when he makes the most important speeches and this is one of those speeches. He levitates to a "higher level", just as a sports competitor will often play a higher level of game against a more formidable contender.
Kerry isn't really the opponent - the entire Democrat-media machine is the opponent. G.W. Bush knows that, since he has dealt with the same machine in the previous election. Politics is a tough game that I could never stomach.
"You can add in a lot of other things -- the voting record in the Senate for starters and the dubious health of the candidate for closers."~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would somebody please update me on the health issues?
Sensational piece! But we need to get the wintersoldier stuff, the meetings in Paris, and the meetings with the North Koreans OUT THERE for people to know. The swiftboat vets cannot do it ALL.
Lets be careful. The campaign is not over until the election. A lot could happen from here to now.
Old racing expression:
Drive that car like you stole it.!!!
We have to keep working to get Bush and other Republicans elected.
Getting Daschle out of office would be extra frosting on the cake.....
The campaign is no longer about 2004. It is now about 2008. The strategy now is to destroy the Rat party as it now exists. Only by doing this can we be sure that Hillary will not be running in 2008. This will require a sweep of the senate and further increasing the house margin. When Tommy Boy Dashole is hugging W in commercials you know the Dems are in very serious trouble. Once he is gone, Hillary steps in as minority leader and is perfectly poised for 08. That's why smashing the party is essential and will take place this election day. It is over and it really has been over, even before this campaign started.
Billy Crystal had a few knocks for Bush, he was civil, BUT he said that he thought the Democrats made a huge mistake in nominating Kerry.
They were talking about the voting record of "The Chin" - all the votes of the French One against anything military. Crystal pointed out that Kerry was pretty much on his own there because Lieberman, (named off a few other Dem senators I can't remember) all voted FOR a lot of the defense bills.
The point he was making was that last election cycle Dem nominees were a lot more in tune with what was going on and that the Dem party made a huge mistake with Kerry because he is from the Dukakis / McGovern school of liberalism.
He did not state it directly but one had no problem reading between the lines...man, the Dem's are in trouble with this guy.
LVM
I agree. The Dems haven't started in on their last minute "Bush will make blacks 3/5th of a person again" routine, yet, the way they did in 2000. Besides, its amazing how many times Haitians in Miami can vote...
Kerry is toast. I would no more deny that than deny the earth is round.
It's fun to read something like this. But keep in mind, it's important for Bush to WIN BIG!
In the first place, we don't know what tricks the DNC and the media may pull. In the second place, the Dems are almost certain to steal more votes than they did in 2000. They miscalculated how many votes they had to steal in Florida, and they've been kicking themselves ever since.
Most important, we need to swamp the Democrats, giving Bush the mandate and the senate support he needs to nominate decent judges and Supreme Court justices. And we need to put him in a position where he can rev up the war on terror. If Bush wins by a small margin, we'll see more fillibusters and more dirty pool by the media for yet another four years.
bush is behind the swiftvets, remember?
(/sarcasm)
Best part......it happened on CNN.......they then had no choice but to follow up and it only got worse for Kerry from that moment on.
Kewl!!!! I like to watch skewered democrats wiggle!
Candidate Edwards gets "thumbs up" from unknown supporter.
Oh, I thought they were all Rove's brothers!
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