Posted on 09/03/2004 10:48:47 AM PDT by 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.
Just wait until they hear the September campaign -- Kerry's "V" on his silver star is a fake, two of the four stars on his campaign ribbon are fakes, two of his three silver star citations are fakes, John Lehman never saw or signed his silver star citation #3, and his release from the Navy was 6 years later than it was supposed to be. The guy is a TOTAL FRAUD.
No Susan, but I do remember the Johnson/Moyers; "Daisy Ad" of 1964. You know, Susan, the ad that sealed Goldwater's fate, in '64 and 58,000 of my generation who's names are on a black wall.
It's payback. (spit!)
Estrich has completely lost it. She makes Zell Miller look like he was asleep during his barnburner speech. Susan, Susan, Susan... GET A GRIP HONEY!!!
After reading this article, I've come to the conclusion that Bush is winning, by landslide proportions.
Now that's funny! :o)
She has totally lost her mind.
She did not say one word, not one word, about Kerry's qualifications or programs and how they differ with the President.
It was just pure, distilled, unmitigated, hatred!
It was a scream at the mountains in utter frustration!
Well done everyone, well done
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
I think Susan is (1) off her rocker and (2) suffering from a severe case of projection! Not mean enough? Guess that's why yesterday's DNC talking point of 'Zell Miller is a racist' was bandied about!
Does anyone else find it absolutely incredible that the Democrats have nothing to talk about but the past?
They are totally totally bankrupt.
Dishonesty is a two-edged sword. Democrats use it to deceive others, but eventually end up deceiving themselves.
And of course, Susan, we're to believe that you're a tea toteler. I'm sure after one or two you have the lamp shade on your head and you're slobbering over some guys ear on the stool next to you.
This lady is supposed to be a college professor. I can get better political insight from a cab driver.
I think, actually Kerry's handlers were right. He should have kept quiet about the SVFT. As many of us here can attest, we watched the controversy unfold here a few weeks ago, starting when Kerry made reference to it in one of his speeches. It would have been a tempest in a tea pot if he chose to forget it. I mean before he said anything, none of the major news media covered it.
nick
Susan had better be careful. This flirts with slander.
This bitch better be careful if she is determined to take the gloves off. I don't think she knows exactly who she is dealing with.
Hey, did you hear that? Kitty Dukakis burned a flag at an antiwar demonstration.
GWB's ANG service and his history of drinking? You mean this hasn't already been brought up ad nauseum? He's demonstrated four years of steady, competent leadership, so those are moot points.
Does she really want to go there??? How many died after John Kerry left Vietnam after 44 days and came back to trash the soldiers who remained in Vietnam?
The internal polls bust be devastating.
I don't know, Susan. Who seals a perfect military record? One with three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star with non-existent "V" device, and God knows what other falsifications?
Please tell me, Ms. Estrich. I'd love to hear your answer.
Freudian slip... "must" be devastating...
They threw everything they had at Bush beginning last October but they didn't take him down. Now, they're pretty much out of ammo. People will yawn at more on the Air National Guard and DUI's.
No one in all of God's creation would even dare to claim you were, susan.
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