Posted on 09/13/2004 10:32:13 PM PDT by MadIvan
ONE of the more interesting things that John Kerry has done in 30 years in American politics is a stint as the No 2 to Michael Dukakis as Governor of Massachusetts.
Like much of the nonmilitary part of his CV, however, this period has been little mentioned in the 2004 presidential campaign.
Indeed, poor Mr Dukakis has been noticeable by his complete absence from this year’s contest, airbrushed out of Democratic history like an early Bolshevik in Stalin’s Russia.
The 1988 Dukakis presidential campaign against George H. W. Bush is now universally acknowledged to have been among the most jaw-droppingly inept in modern political history — a byword for political amateurishness; America’s 1980s equivalent of Michael Foot. Mark Katz, a political humourist who began his career as speechwriter to Mr Dukakis, sums it up rather well: “My job was to write humour for the Dukakis campaign. So it still gives me a special pride when people refer to the campaign as one long joke.”
Though Mr Kerry accepted the Democratic nomination at the party’s convention in Boston in July, Mr Dukakis, a former governor, former presidential candidate and old friend, was not allowed to speak.
Rumours that he had been found gagged and bound in a holding room beneath the Fleet Centre were not true. Instead, it turned out, he was cheerfully lecturing on political science to small audiences of undergraduates across the river in Cambridge.
Yet the name Dukakis is back in Democratic conversation because some in the party see signs that Kerry is going the way of his old boss 16 years ago.
The Kerry campaign, which set out to avoid the mistakes of the Dukakis campaign, is actually starting to look like an extended homage to it.
There are some unavoidable similarities. Both men are prominent Massachusetts politicians taking on flawed, incumbent Republicans called George Bush.
Kerry, like Dukakis, is insufferably wonkish. Mr Dukakis once admitted to having read a couple of volumes on Swedish land-use management while he was on holiday. Mr Kerry speaks to campaign audiences as though he were lecturing them on Swedish land-use management.
Both men claim (for Americans) suspiciously European antecedents — Mr Dukakis was a second-generation Greek immigrant and Mr Kerry’s family is half French.
Both had interesting and outspoken female relatives — Olympia Dukakis was a cousin who won an acting Oscar for her role in Moonstruck; Teresa Heinz Kerry is a ketchup billionaire who sometimes leaves friends and critics alike dumbstruck.
More troubling for the Democrats is that the current campaign dynamics suggest that the similarities may be even stronger.
After a brilliantly successful Democratic convention in 1988, Mr Dukakis opened up a big opinion poll lead over Mr Bush and seemed to have the presidential race to lose. He promptly lost it.
This year Mr Kerry was deemed to have had a similarly successful convention and now looks to be losing the campaign.
The most striking parallel is the way both candidates let their opponents define them in ways that are not politically helpful.
For Mr Dukakis the accusation was that he was soft on crime. The critical moment was the famous Willie Horton campaign commercial that featured a convicted criminal who had been released from prison under a Massachusetts law signed by Dukakis as Governor. After his release, he committed a hideous murder.
In a misjudgment of epic proportions, Dukakis campaign officials thought that if they ignored the accusation it would go away.
Mr Kerry’s Achilles’ heel has been exposed by a similar campaign.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial last month seriously undermined his credentials as a Vietnam War hero. Again, Kerry campaign officials chose at first to ignore the ads for fear of giving them extended publicity.
Like Dukakis, as Kerry watches his poll ratings slump, he is getting embroiled in the — usually terminal — media discussion about infighting within their campaign teams. Both had smart women campaign managers who were savaged by brutal male rivals. Susan Estrich was sacked by the Dukakis crowd. Mary Beth Cahill hangs on as official Kerry campaign manager, but has been steamrollered by a series of highprofile appointees from the Clinton Administration.
The two candidates even have visual metaphors for their inept campaigns.
For Mr Dukakis it was the toe-curling moment when he donned an ill-fitting helmet and sat in the turret of a tank, in an effort to demonstrate his military credentials. For Mr Kerry it looks increasingly like the TV pictures of him windsurfing off Nantucket while Republicans were tearing him to shreds at their convention in New York – as Jay Leno, the late-night television comedian put it, proving that even his favourite pastime depends on which way the wind blows.
Of course, the big difference is that the 2004 campaign is not over yet. Mr Kerry’s last chance at redemption may be the presidential debates.
Then again, they may be the opportunity for Mr Kerry to fulfil the Dukakis analogy completely. It was the 1988 debates, and in particular a mind-numbingly passionless answer from the Democrat to a hypothetical question about the rape and murder of his wife, that finished him.
"Kerry has "Dukakitis"
Dukooties
Well, my pjs tonight are a soft denim spaghetti strap floor length gown with a split side...shows off my tan. ;-D That and sandals.
Hub likes it, what can I say?
We can only hope.
Then this one's in the bag. Last I heard, John Kerry doesn't answer "hypothetical questions." He said so in a softball interview with the New York Times over the weekend. No fooling.
I'm more charitable to Dukakis. He wasn't overly bright, but he never apologized for his beliefs. Kerry on the other hand is a truly contemptible human being. What will finish him in the debates, is his lack of core convictions. Heck, as a candidate he can't even answer "hypothetical" questions with ringing certainty. (laughing)
*tweet* *throwing flag*
Penalty. Intentional teasing. Poster gave description with no photo. 15 post penalty. Still first down.
*tweee-ee-eet!*
Kerry's got much more "splainin" to do than Bush does. LOL!
And who was the campaign Manager that can take credit for this ??
Susan Estrich !
Oh, GREAT! ANOTHER guy who thinks love is like football, and flirting is a foul! ;-D
Always incisive....nice job good post interesting read
"Trivia 101: Which Democrat rival first brought up the Willie Horton issue against Dukakis?"
Gore!
I calls 'em de way I sees 'em, toots. ; )
Give that freeper a prize! Gore was the first to run the Willie Horton ads. You'll never learn that from the MSM.
Oh for goodness sakes! JF'nK defines himself as a Viet Nam vet every chance he gets. Why can't any freaking media tell the truth?
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