Posted on 09/16/2004 12:04:57 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
In a run-up to the first US Presidential debate on September 30, the contest for the White House between George Bush and John Kerry remains close. But there are indicators that could spell trouble for the Democratic challenger Kerry.
While browsing through a book display at Costco - a superstore frequented by average Americans - one saw the book “Unfit for Command“ prominently placed.
The book, written by Swift-Boat Veterans, attacking Kerry‘s Vietnam record of three decades back, has successfully penetrated mainstream bookshelves. Then, too, the venerable New York Times has listed it as its number-1 non-fiction hardback bestseller.
The aforementioned calls into question the campaign strategy of John Kerry wherein the debate is about his war record in Vietnam (where he was decorated for his services) while exempting Bush, who chose to avoid the Vietnam conflict.
When the focus should have been on Iraq, Kerry‘s defensiveness allowed the focus to shift to the war in Vietnam, 30 years back.
While Bush continues to project his Iraq policy vigorously, Kerry continues to wobble and pander. He has made references to his Jewish grandparents, whereas Kerry is now a Roman Catholic, in an obvious bid to curry favour with Jewish voters. Then, too, Kerry‘s colourless persona and drone-type tone of speaking comes across as elitist, enabling Bush to depict himself as a folksy populist.
Under the US Presidential system, there are 538 electoral votes of 50 states in all - equal to the sum of the 538-member US Congress - 100 in its Senate plus 438 in the lower House of Representatives. Whosoever gets more votes in one state, gets to keep all the electoral votes of that state under the winner-takes-all formula.
The fight is going to be tight. Among the crucial battleground swing states are: Ohio (20 electoral votes), Pennsylvania (21), Florida (27), Missouri (11), New Hampshire (4), New Mexico and Nevada (10 between them), and Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa (27 between them). Since 1956, Missouri has always voted for the winner.
When Bush should have been on the ropes, it is Kerry who is back-pedalling. On Iraq, he has been unable to clearly differentiate himself from Bush. First, he supported the invasion of Iraq and now he has failed to portray it as misguided and incompetently conceived. Again, space has been given to Bush to paint Kerry as a vacillator and a bumbler with no clear convictions.
Some plain-speaking and an attacking strategy could have worked wonders to Kerry who seems to lack the horsesense to go for the jugular. Kerry has not driven home the truths, in that 9/11 occurred during the Bush-Cheney watch, and its aftermath has only made Americans more panicky and paranoid and left America more vulnerable and unpopular.
In the immediacy of 9/11, a dazed Bush was nowhere to be seen in the vicinity of Washington or before the nation, while Cheney hid in a bunker only to emerge a year and a half later with his prediction that US troops in Iraq would be welcomed as “liberators“.
According to boxing pundits, a challenger cannot merely outpoint the reigning heavyweight champion of the world. To wrest the crown, there has to be a knockout. Thus far, there have been only pinpricks, let alone a left jab or knockout punch.
Barring a spectacular performance in the debates, or a catastrophic US loss in Iraq, Kerry seems poised to join the 1988 Democratic candidate, Michael Dukakis, as an also-ran in US politics.
Kerry who seems to lack the horsesense to go for the jugular....
Yep, Ole Horseface has no horsesense whatsoever.
Surprise, surprise!
99.1% of Communists and 100% of terrorists and/or their enablers prefer sKerry.
He's never had to work for anything and it shows.
Bump!
"Democracy in America", by Mowahid Hussain Shah
.I knew the Muslim press would pick up on Horseface's Jewish ancestors. So how can they want him to be president?
Because he's a coward and a will sell out his country.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.