This Is BS, But No Surprise

[Annie]

Why 'No Surprise'? http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002439.php

http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2004/09/the_new_reactio.php

Now for the meat:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationw...,2880282.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines

Did Kerry pull a Dukakis?BY CRAIG GORDON
WASHINGTON BUREAU

September 5, 2004

AKRON, Ohio - It is the cardinal rule of modern American politics, and one John Kerry should know well, because he served with its namesake in Massachusetts - don't pull a Dukakis. Let no political charge sit unanswered, lest it take root.

Michael Dukakis was slow to respond to Republican attacks in 1988 and got crushed by George Bush the father. Some Democrats fret John Kerry now has made the same mistake against Bush the son - letting attacks on his Vietnam record and fitness to serve go unanswered too long - and fear that Kerry is slipping badly in the face of new polls showing a Bush lead.

"Time is running out . . . to turn this around," said Tony Coelho, a former manager for Al Gore's campaign, who believes Kerry didn't respond forcefully enough. "It's not hard, and he did not do a good job on that."

After a month of withering attacks, Kerry now finds himself on the defensive and scrambling to gain the initiative heading into the fall campaign, still battling the Republican charges while trying to wrest the debate onto his terms, with an ever-dwindling number of days to do it.

Kerry's response to last week's Republican convention, and the road map to the days ahead, was on display in recent days as he returned to the campaign trail with a one-two punch. He showed a willingness to challenge Bush's and Vice President Dick Cheney's fitness to serve in highly personal terms while accusing Bush of failing the nation on the issues that affect people's lives - the economy, jobs, health care, Iraq.

"The president wants you to re-elect him. For what?" Kerry told supporters in Ohio Friday. "Losing jobs? Building the biggest deficit in American history? Getting us into a war that you spent $200 billion on when he told you it would cost you $1 billion?"

Kerry campaign officials acknowledge the convention and swift-boat ads took what they believe will be a temporary toll, but argue the race ultimately will be fought out on their issues because that's where voters' true concerns lie. Kerry yesterday highlighted a 17 percent increase in monthly Medicare benefit costs, announced Friday, to show that Bush broke a promise to seniors.

"With the exception of the last couple of weeks, when Republicans engaged in personal smears ... Americans have given John Kerry an edge. Obviously they are more interested in jobs, health care and the economy than they are about the smears of a bunch of Republican liars for Bush," said Kerry spokesman David Wade.

Kerry himself yesterday promised to fight back against Republican charges, telling an Akron crowd that, "We're going to take the wood to them."

'A Residual effect'

Yet the powerful lesson of Dukakis' error is simple - once the attacks begin to filter into the public consciousness, it is exceedingly difficult to go back and neutralize them, making the task facing Kerry in the weeks ahead all the more challenging.

"Even the most outlandish accusation, if left unrebutted, will have a residual effect. It's important that it be contradicted and contradicted immediately," said Ann Lewis, a campaign communications chief for Democrat Bill Clinton now working for the Democratic National Committee. Clinton's campaigns are widely credited with perfecting the art of "rapid response," a direct outgrowth of the Dukakis experience.

To be sure, there are several important differences between the predicaments of Dukakis and Kerry, respectively the former Massachusetts governor and the man who served as his lieutenant governor briefly in the 1980s.

Aiding Kerry's quest is a nation deeply divided about Bush, where the race has rarely strayed from dead-even. Polls suggest there is fertile ground for Kerry's economic arguments, with a majority of Americans saying the country is on the wrong track and that Kerry would do a better job of improving the economy. Bush gets higher marks on fighting the war on terror.

Kerry's political reputation is that of a "good closer," someone who is at his best when battling from behind.

Echoes of '88

Yet the parallels are worrisome for Democrats. In 1988, Republicans and their supporters threw a variety of highly incendiary issues at Dukakis. The state had given a prison furlough to convicted killer Willie Horton, who then committed rape, and Dukakis had vetoed a bill requiring schoolchildren to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Sitting on a double-digit lead after his convention, Dukakis was slow to respond, in effect, believing the charges were so outrageously distorted that voters would ignore them. Dukakis' position eroded so far that when he finally tried to strike back, it was too late.

Kerry, too, had a slight uptick in polling after his convention, where he highlighted his Vietnam service, and that's when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth came in. In television ads and a related book, they charged Kerry with lying to receive his medals, exaggerating claims of heroism, and discrediting soldiers as an anti-war protester. The Republican convention hammered a related theme - that Kerry can't keep the nation safe.

Kerry's campaign advisers have said they underestimated how the ads would be amplified and repeated in the media echo chamber, and believed that newspaper reports discrediting some accusers and their charges would blunt their effect - like Dukakis, that the public simply wouldn't buy it.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

Note, the assumption is that the Kerry campaign, like the Dukakis were in the 'right'. The bad GOP clobbered them by meaness and falsehoods. BS! to the Nth degree!

 

[theim]

If nothing else, Kerry is good for some interesting new phrases

"all hat, no cattle"
"we're going to take the wood to them"

are these common everywhere except Wisconsin or something? I mean, I can see the wood thing as maybe being like a wooden rod you beat people with, but WTF can "all hat, no cattle" possibly mean?

 

[BlueGin]

If nothing else, Kerry is good for some interesting new phrases

"all hat, no cattle"
"we're going to take the wood to them"

are these common everywhere except Wisconsin or something? I mean, I can see the wood thing as maybe being like a wooden rod you beat people with, but WTF can "all hat, no cattle" possibly mean?

Kerry stole the "All hat,No cattle" line from John Mccain,who said that about Bush when he ran against him in the primaries. It's supposed to mean a wannabe cowboy ( I think anyway...).

 

[Annie]

Kerry stole the "All hat,No cattle" line from John Mccain,who said that about Bush when he ran against him in the primaries. It's supposed to mean a wannabe cowboy ( I think anyway...).

I can understand his misstatement above. I may be naive, but wth does he mean with, "we're going to take the wood to them"? Sounds perverse, but I may be wrong....

 

[theim]

Kerry stole the "All hat,No cattle" line from John Mccain,who said that about Bush when he ran against him in the primaries. It's supposed to mean a wannabe cowboy ( I think anyway...).

But why did Kerry use it? Does he want to be the real cowboy now? Is he critisizing Bush for not being enough of one? I thought Dems hated cowboys! Im so confused its time for bed

 

[JIHADTHIS]

Lucy, lemme splain about dee hat:

ALL HAT NO CATTLE

I saw someone refer to Kerry on another blog as:
All gas, no beans..................

 

[JIHADTHIS]

I can understand his misstatement above. I may be naive, but wth does he mean with, "we're going to take the wood to them"? Sounds perverse, but I may be wrong....

Take the wood to them as in throw em a beating

 

[Annie]

Take the wood to them as in throw em a beating

Thanks, better than my sicko mind! :shocked:

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Thanks, better than my sicko mind! :shocked:

Ya know, if I were in a cruder mood, there might be a same sex marriage joke in here somewhere.

 

[Annie]

Ya know, if I were in a cruder mood, there might be a same sex marriage joke in here somewhere.

:spank3: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

 

[Merlin1047]

"Kerry, too, had a slight uptick in polling after his convention, where he highlighted his Vietnam service, and that's when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth came in. In television ads and a related book, they charged Kerry with lying to receive his medals, exaggerating claims of heroism, and discrediting soldiers as an anti-war protester. The Republican convention hammered a related theme - that Kerry can't keep the nation safe."

I guess I'm dense. How can the author link the SBVFT ads with the convention theme that kerry "can't keep the nation safe"? How the hell are those two "related" except perhaps by the most tenuous of links and the author's wishful thinking? Are they still trying to link the SBVFT with the Republican campaign?

Grrrrrrrrr

Oh - and I believe that "All hat, no cattle" is a metaphor for "all show and no substance".

 

[musicman]

I can understand his misstatement above. I may be naive, but wth does he mean with, "we're going to take the wood to them"? Sounds perverse, but I may be wrong....

I can just hear Beavis and Butthead losing it over that!

 

[MtnBiker]

"Time is running out . . . to turn this around," said Tony Coelho, a former manager for Al Gore's campaign, who believes Kerry didn't respond forcefully enough. "It's not hard, and he did not do a good job on that."

It is not that he did not respond forcefully enough, it is that his response whether forcefull or not is still in doubt. He did not respond by explaining himself and releasing records. He responded by calling the SBVT liars and trying to link the Bush campaign to the ads. So the doubt still remains.

Then the succesfull RNC continued the doubt surrounding Kerry.

 

[BlueGin]

I can understand his misstatement above. I may be naive, but wth does he mean with, "we're going to take the wood to them"? Sounds perverse, but I may be wrong....

Maybe both of those comments were secret shout out's to his loverboy Mccain. Kinda like "thinkin of ya baby..who's your daddy" *wink* *wink*.