Posted on 10/07/2004 8:22:42 AM PDT by The G Man
THE "FLIP-FLOP" CHARGE WAS A DIVERSION?
The guys at CrushKerry.com interview a GOP campaign operative - I think I know who they're talking to, and if I'm right, their description of his title and duties is accurate - and get a sense of an emerging strategy shift on the Bush campaign:
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We recently expressed our frustration over the “flip-flop” narrative with a veteran GOP campaign operative in daily contact with, and in some cases working side by side with, high-level "Bush/Cheney 04" campaign officials, and asked them why, given all the evidence that this message had long since played itself out, did the campaign continue to hammer away on it, ala Bush v. Clinton, ‘92? When were Republicans going to pummel this clown with his own record ala Reagan v. Mondale, ’84 and Bush v. Dukakis, ’88?
“October,” the operative, who asked to remain nameless, told us. “We couldn’t stay quiet all year. And if we’d been hitting him [Kerry] on his liberal record all year, it would have grown stale and lost its punch, like the flip-flop stuff has. The plan was always to barrage him with his record and brand him a Massachusetts and Washington liberal during the crucial month of October.”
So the “flip-flop” stuff was just entertaining background noise?
“That’s exactly right,” we were told. “Look, we know we can beat John Kerry on his liberal voting record. But that decision is made in finality by most voters during the closing days of an election. We needed to give people something to talk about for the past year while Kerry has tried to slash the President down with his vicious, negative attacks.”
But now the campaign is on? We’re going to see and hear a more offensive posture from the President and his campaign?
“Absolutely. I think you could call it ‘Shock and Awe.’ You’ll know it when you see it,” our source said.
We can’t wait. And we urge the President to give us more of what he gave us yesterday.
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Of course, I can't help but wonder why this new focus on Kerry's liberalism didn't start with the first debate. Or maybe it did start in the first debate, and I just missed it among all the "workin' hard... hard work" comments.
On the other hand, if this plan works - Kerry is defined as the epitome of Massachusetts liberalism, then it will be a much more effective and satisfying victory for conservatives if Kerry is rejected by the voters because of his liberalism instead of his indecisiveness or inability to stick to one position for a period of time.
On the other, other hand... if Kerry wins, then it is an unmitigated victory for liberalism.
[Posted 10/07 11:00 AM]
Does anyone know why these campaign folks announce tactics and strategy ahead of time?
I just donated another $250 to W's campaign. I'm going to give that much to the Thune campaign before this day is out.
Cheney used the the Massachusetts liberal tag in the VP debate.
It makes perfect sense for President Bush's campaign to save their best stuff for the end. Really, this whole thing has two components. First, Kerry is a walking self-contradiction who cannot be trusted. This part has already been established. Second, when the rubber meets the road, Kerry's record establishes conclusively that when he does take a side, he will come down on the side of socialism at home and a combination of weakness, pacifism, and appeasement abroad. This second shoe is now starting to drop as well.
A brilliant tactic, and the results will be culminating fantastically.... AROUND NOV. 10TH!!
Don't forget the SwiftVets who have done and can still do major damage to Kerry. They have a great ad campaign. Help them bring the truth about Kerry's treasonous activities to the voters!
http://www.swiftvets.com
If kerry wins, Castro may be on the next leaky boatload of cubans, fleeing Cuba, heading for the Keys.
I think the days are long gone when you can scare voters just by calling your opponent a liberal; if the flip-flop thing is getting stale, I think Bush 1 milked the "L" word for all it was worth, and it's even more stale. People really do want to hear about the issues. I think a campaign based on scaring people with the "L" word is a big, big mistake.
?? The Bush/Cheney campaign can't use anymore public donations since the convention. (Am I wrong?) I know they can save the money to fight the probable post-election legal battles, but I think donations would be better spent by the Swifties or some other candidates (such as Thune).
(Election day is Nov 2)
Stupidity?
Political people find it almost impossible to keep their traps shut.
Ergo the old saw about how if two people know it, it ain't a secret...
But really this info is hardly news to anybody at this point. The President took the gloves off big time a few days back.
They had better point out that Kerry was absent from the Senate more than 70% of the time etc.
Psy-ops is a thing of beauty when executed right.
Sandbagger. Bush campaigns are all about timing.
Well, you've got to have some kind of strategy . . . if this is it, then let's go with it . . . we'd be ticked if there wasn't a strategy . . . so let's not misunderestimate W and his team . . .
I have a buddy at work ....who thinks Bush is using a rope-a-dope on Kerry.
The W campaign understands that to overcome the MSM it is absolutely necessary to use tactics that could only be described as "Shock and Awe" to be heard. This tells me that the campaign understands the built-in hurdle that all Republican candidates face. I do often get sick of hearing conservative candidates whining about the MSM being unfair.
Personally, I'd prefer the "S" word -- socialist!
I disagree. If the L word didn't do damange to a liberals campaign, why do they all run and hide, obfuscate and deny whenever the liberal label is applied to them?
Why do they need to come up with code words to replace liberal, such as "progressive"?
Because they know liberals lose.
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