Susan Estrich going Nuclear

creators.com ^ | September 1, 2004 | Susan Estrich

[Roscoe Karns]

My Democratic friends are mad as hell, and they aren't going to take it any more.

They are worried, having watched as another August smear campaign, full of lies and half-truths, takes its toll in the polls.

They are frustrated, mostly at the Kerry campaign, for naively believing that just because all the newspapers and news organizations that investigated the charges of the Swift Boat assassins found them to be full of lies and half-truths, they wouldn't take their toll. The word on the street is that Kerry himself was ready to fire back the day the story broke, but that his campaign, believing the charges would blow over if they ignored them, counseled restraint.

But most of all, activists Democrats are angry. As one who lived through an August like this, 16 years ago -- replete with rumors that were lies, which the Bush campaign claimed they had nothing to do with and later admitted they had planted -- I'm angry, too. I've been to this movie. I know how it works. Lies move numbers.

Remember the one about Dukakis suffering from depression after he lost the governorship? (Dukakis not crazy, more at 11.) We lost six points over that lie, planted by George W.'s close friend and colleague in the 1988 campaign, Lee Atwater. Or how about the one about Kitty Dukakis burning a flag at an antiwar demonstration, another out-and-out lie, which the Bush campaign denied having anything to do with, except that it turned out to have come from a United States senator via the Republican National Committee? Lee Atwater later apologized to me for that, too, on his deathbed. Did I mention that Lee's wife is connected to the woman running the Swift Boat campaign?

Never again, we said then.

Not again, Democrats are saying now.

What do you do, Democrats keep asking each other.

The answer is not pretty, but everyone knows what it is.

In 1988, in the days before the so-called independent groups, the candidate called the shots. To Michael Dukakis' credit, depending on how you look at it, he absolutely refused to get into the gutter, even to answer the charges. His theory, like that of some on the Kerry staff, was that answering such charges would only elevate them, give them more attention than they deserved. He thought the American people wanted to hear about issues, not watch a mud-wrestling match. In theory, he was right. In practice, the sad truth is that smears work -- that if you throw enough mud, some of it is bound to stick.

You can't just answer the charges. You can't just say it ain't so.

You have to fight fire with fire, mud with mud, dirt with dirt.

The trouble with Democrats, traditionally, is that we're not mean enough. Dukakis wasn't. I wasn't. I don't particularly like destroying people. I got into politics because of issues, not anger. But too much is at stake to play by Dukakis rules, and lose again.

That is the conclusion Democrats have reached. So watch out. Millions of dollars will be on the table. And there are plenty of choices for what to spend it on.

I'm not promising pretty.

What will it be?

Will it be the three, or is it four or five, drunken driving arrests that Bush and Cheney, the two most powerful men in the world, managed to rack up? (Bush's Texas record has been sealed. Now why would that be? Who seals a perfect driving record?)

After Vietnam, nothing is ancient history, and Cheney is still drinking. What their records suggest is not only a serious problem with alcoholism, which Bush but not Cheney has acknowledged, but also an even more serious problem of judgment. Could Dick Cheney get a license to drive a school bus with his record of drunken driving? (I can see the ad now.) A job at a nuclear power plant? Is any alcoholic ever really cured? So why put him in the most stressful job in the world, with a war going south, a thousand Americans already dead and control of weapons capable of destroying the world at his fingertips.

It has been said that in the worst of times, Kissinger gave orders to the military not to obey Nixon if he ordered a first strike. What if Bush were to fall off the wagon? Then what? Has America really faced the fact that we have an alcoholic as our president?

Or how about Dead Texans for Truth, highlighting those who served in Vietnam instead of the privileged draft-dodging president, and ended up as names on the wall instead of members of the Air National Guard. I'm sure there are some mothers out there who are still mourning their sons, and never made that connection. It wouldn't be so hard to find them.

Or maybe it will be Texas National Guardsmen for Truth, who can explain exactly what George W. Bush was doing while John Kerry was putting his life on the line. So far, all W. can do is come up with dental records to prove that he met his obligations. Perhaps with money on the table, or investigators on their trail, we will learn just what kind of wild and crazy things the president was doing while Kerry was saving a man's life, facing enemy fire and serving his country.

Or could it be George Bush's Former Female Friends for Truth. A forthcoming book by Kitty Kelly raises questions about whether the president has practiced what he preaches on the issue of abortion. As Larry Flynt discovered, a million dollars loosens lips. Are there others to be loosened?

Are you shocked? Not fair? Who said anything about fair? Remember President Dukakis? He was very fair. Now he teaches at Northeastern University. John Kerry has been very fair in dealing with the Swift Boat charges. That's why so many of my Democrat friends have decided to stop talking to the campaign, and start putting money together independently.

The arrogant little Republican boys who have been strutting around New York this week, claiming that they have this one won, would do well to take a step back. It could be a long and ugly road to November.

To find out more about Susan Estrich, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

[Graybeard58]

If Ostritch has a problem with drunk drivers maybe she oughtta get on senator kennedy's case.

[Wayne07]

Everyone here should be prepared for the worst - it is being telegraphed. If you think it can't get worse, it can. I guarantee that blood will be boiling here for the next couple months because of outright lies by democrats and toal complicity buy the MSM.

Susan Estrich is a piece of garbage.

[austingirl]

I've said it before, she has rabies!

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

To quote an old song from the 60's

Susan
Looks like you're losing
Losing your mind
Wasting your time

[backhoe]

To read the latest on the Franchurian Candidate's bizzare exploits, click the picture, goto "last," and work backwards:

If you would like to help the Swift Boat Vets ( as I have, and I urge all to do-- even a few dollars will help ) kindly click on this logo:

If, perchance, the top "click the pic" link is not visible, click here:

-John Kerry- some selected, informative links...--

---

Judge for yourself- see the SwiftVet ads here:

 Swift Boat Ad #3: Kerry's Own Shipmate Calls Kerry on Lie

 The video

The first two ads:

 http://www2.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=Ads

Take a look at these three short video clips, especially the last one. You will walk away with a heavy heart.

POW'S TELL ABOUT TORTURE

---

Here is a link to page full of video and audio links.
"Stolen Honor" is at the top.

---

The newest SBV ad:

SwiftVets Ad #4: Kerry Trashes Medals -- An Insult to Vets, Say Shipmates

-mediaplayer link--

To read the latest on the Franchurian Candidate's bizzare exploits, click the picture, goto "last," and work backwards:

If you would like to help the Swift Boat Vets ( as I have, and I urge all to do-- even a few dollars will help ) kindly click on this logo:

[rabidralph]

Someone should merge this picture with Kerry windsurfing.

[tbpiper]

It could be a long and ugly road to November.

If anybody can serve up 'ugly', it's Susan. (and she doesn't even have to say a word, just show up)

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Not mean enough.

When it comes to meanness I think it's virtually impossible to top the Dem/NAACP ad recreating the dragging death of a black man in Texas in which the victim's daughter suggested that W made her feel as if her father was being killed all over again.

[Howlin]

I always thought draft-dodging meant you didn't serve, period. How wrong I was.

[My2Cents]

I immediately turn off FOX when she's on!!

And she was on a LOT, which is why as early as Monday night, I watched CSPAN's coverage of the convention.

[leprechaun9]

Is Ostrich Carol Channing's Mother? She has a face and voice that only a mother could love (or maybe her good friend, Sean Hannity)!

[jerry639]

Very true statement. Their anger is what will destroy them all.

[Rick.Donaldson]

Is it me, or does she ALWAYS sound as if she is WHINING? (Especially when she opens her mouth to speak)

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

The song writes itself :)

[Dead Corpse]

Hey Susan! Listen up...

[RhoTheta]

"This is great--I mean really really great. I love watching Dims implode--you simply CANNOT pay enough for this type of entertainment and we are getting it FREE!!

Pass the popcorn!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

Another great bumper sticker idea!

[scott7278]

 

[Richard Kimball]

Could Dick Cheney get a license to drive a school bus with his record of drunken driving?

Uh, Susan, you sure you want to bring up driving records?

[babaloo]

How will the FOX team handle this one? I say have her on every show to repeat this stuff all through the weekend.

[don'tspeak4me]

I emailed little Susie and told her to call 1-800-WahWahWah!

Demoncrats can dish it out, but they sure as hell can't take it. What a bunch of pathetic whiners.