Posted on 11/12/2004 10:06:13 AM PST by Carl/NewsMax
Top strategists with John Kerry's presidential campaign are blaming his crushing defeat last week on bad advice from Clinton operatives who took over the campaign after Labor Day.
"When [James] Carville and [Stan] Greenberg tell reporters that the campaign was missing a defining narrative, they forget that they were the ones insisting we had to keep beating the domestic-issues drum," complained David Thorne on Thursday.
Thorne - a brother-in-law from Kerry's first marriage to Julia Thorne - was one of Kerry's closest advisors throughout the campaign.
Thorne told political gadfly Arianna Huffington that because of the misguided Carville-Greenberg strategy, "We never defended John's character and focused on his leadership with the same singularity of purpose that the Republicans put on George Bush's leadership."
Kerry's brother Cameron agreed, telling Huffington, "There is a very strong John Kerry narrative that is about leadership, character and trust. But it was never made central to the campaign."
Tom Vallely, the Vietnam War veteran whom Kerry tapped to lead the response to the Swift boat attacks, told the columnist: "The Clinton team, though technically skillful, could not see reality — they could only see their version of reality. And that was always about pivoting to domestic issues."
Reports Huffington:
"In conversations with Kerry insiders over the last nine months, I’ve heard a recurring theme: that it was [Bob] Shrum and the Clintonistas [including Greenberg, Carville and senior advisor Joe Lockhart] who dominated the campaign in the last two months and who were convinced that this election was going to be won on domestic issues, like jobs and healthcare, and not on national security."
The failed strategy apparently originated with ex-President Clinton himself, who trumpeted the domestic issues mantra in repeated calls to Kerry.
Writes Huffington:
"Behind the scenes, former President Clinton also kept up the drumbeat, telling Kerry in private conversations right to the end that he should focus on the economy rather than Iraq or the war on terror, and that he should come out in favor of all 11 state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage — a move that would have been a political disaster for a candidate who had already been painted as an unprincipled flip-flopper."
Blame the obvious.
May Kerry and Hillary have a full death cage match on pay per view.
/sarcasm off
"There is a very strong John Kerry narrative that is about leadership, character and trust. But it was never made central to the campaign."
You've got to be kidding! What color was the Kool-Aid.
"We never defended John's character and focused on his leadership with the same singularity of purpose that the Republicans put on George Bush's leadership."
JOHN KERRY HAS NO CHARACTER OR LEADERSHIP YOU DUMB A$$ES!
Iam so glad you asked that question--I was just going to.
I wasn't sure if it was the same person -- I prayed it wasn't because I always liked him. Then the other day, when he came on Fox I heard him thank the host when the host said;"welcome back". I thought OH NO he ways with Kerry and is now back after the failed Kerry election.
Then a few days later I heard another host mention that he had had a son die in boot camp or training or something.
Does anyone know anything about that?
The old media are useful as a funhouse mirror. Much of the information on FR comes from the old media. The function of FR is to sift through the spin and present the information in a useful context.
I'm shocked.
I have a feeling it was the other way around - - that scumbag crawled into bed with Kerry.
That's what worries me about this country. The Dem did get out their vote. They just didn't imagine the Rep would get out theirs. But they didn't vote FOR sKerry. They voted against Bush. Lieberman they might have voted FOR. sKerry just wasn't liked. And this nimrod, this ABB, this generic entity with a 'plan' he could never explain, got 48% of the popular vote and came within whatever the provisional ballots determine in OH of even winning the Presidency.
One of the Kerry flunkies, Joe Trippi, is on Hardball tonight encouraging the conspiracy theory wackos to think the election was fixed. Blame Clinton AND blame Bush!
Talking about Iraq was a waste. The moonbat, social-fascist wing of the Left were going to vote for him on that issue anyway. Had Kerry focused on economic issues he might have pulled some votes, but it is doubtful considering so many (according to polls) had already made up their minds a month before the election.
What the Dems need to worry about is the possibility they maxed out their support. The stupid vote did come out in droves for Kerry, as evidenced by the human debris parading their unresolved mental health issues on the web and elsewhere. These are not people playing with a full deck, and probably are transient in their ardour.
Kerry had every reason to win this election, however we prevented such by our massive turnout. There was nothing Clinton could do positive or negative for Kerry. 55 million usually wins elections, but we got 60 and ... there you go.
Joe Trippi is the genius who made Howard Dean believe he was a serious candidate for President.
I encourage the moonbats to keep their line of reasoning up.
Just the mere mention of her running should insure 60+ Senate seat in 2006...I can't wait...bring on the total destruction of the donkey party....
ROTFLMAO!! Oh the comparison of these pictures is too much.
When the media are the news, the candidate fades into the background. And when the guy next to him onstage hogs the spotlight, the same thing happens, and it's too late for recovery.
Something happened in the last three weeks(At least my county - and I suspect nationwide). I wish I could put my finger on what it was. I saw Bush signs go up literally overnight on my dad's street. These were people I didn't know were republican.
When I saw that, I wasn't too worried about our side voting. Anyone who puts a sign up is voting.
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