NYT, pg 1: G.O.P. Offensive Puts Small Dent in Kerry's Image

[DeepModem Mom]

G.O.P. Offensive Puts Small Dent in Kerry's Image
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG

Published: June 20, 2004


WASHINGTON, June 19 — When John Kerry effectively nailed down the Democratic presidential nomination on March 2, the White House was waiting. With relentless precision, it began a 90-day campaign to weaken Mr. Kerry's candidacy, a blast that included record spending on television advertisements and attacks on Mr. Kerry's credentials and ideology led by President Bush himself....

***

Three months and $85 million after Mr. Bush began, pollsters and independent analysts said that while Mr. Bush had raised doubts about Mr. Kerry, he had not scored as much damage as some Democrats had feared — or some Republicans had anticipated — with this unusually expensive and early assault, particularly given the size of the investment and the use of Mr. Bush.

Mr. Kerry is viewed more negatively by voters than he was on the morning of March 3, and Mr. Bush appears to have succeeded in planting doubts about the firmness of Mr. Kerry's convictions, according to a variety of polls.

But polls also show Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry tied, while Mr. Kerry continues to be viewed more favorably than not. Democrats seem relieved that this period has ended, and more confident of victory than they did when Mr. Bush's attack began in March, all the more so as Mr. Kerry has eclipsed Mr. Bush in his fund-raising over the same period....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/politics/campaign/20CAMPAIGN.html

[thebigidea]

1. before clicking on this, I knew Nagourney had to be involved

he is sooo transparent.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Actually, the emphasis seems on "small," rather than "dent" --

I was a bit surprised.

[I thought so.]

3. Oh, they tried to play it.

It just didn't work. $85 million is wasted. The money failed. It will be a tough fight,but Kerry will prevail. Thanks for the post.

[calimary]

6. It appears that IS where the emphasis is meant to be.

That, in effect, all the king's horses and all the king's men haven't been able to knock Kerry down or out by now, as they apparently DID presume they would. As, I SUSPECT, pretty much EVERYBODY in the observer class assumed it would be the foregone conclusion. This is not the only article or assessment I've seen in the past few weeks or so that's indicated that - for 85 million dollars - more than half his warchest, and the relentless character attacks in those MANY MANY commercials that were utterly blanketing the airwaves in battleground states - he shouldn't be "neck-and-neck" with Kerry. He should presumably be more comfortably out in front. The repeated references to "planting doubts" about Kerry - reminds me of the attempts to plant reasonable doubt in the OJ trial - they should have achieved a bigger lead. But what they didn't count on is that reality bites. The REALITIES of the instability in Iraq - heck, MUCH of the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel and the Palestinians, for instance) keep intruding.

Every now and then also, the economic factors (again, read REALITIES) keep intruding, no matter how good the latest job figures appeared. People in that case have seen so much of a bad economic track record up til now that it's an idea that has long since had a chance to lock itself in. Plus there's still those annoying little bits and pieces that keep coming out, that question whether the figures we're getting in the last couple of months are really legit. More reasonable doubt.

No matter what the PR, actual REALITIES AND EVENTS keep contradicting it, most of those realities so glaring that they can't be ignored by the media. Like with Iraq. The reason why you hear so many White House officials and apologists haranguing on in seeming desperation that - we aren't hearing about all the GOOD news in Iraq right now - is because they ARE desperate about that. They realize their PR can't snatch away the spotlight from all the carnage and chaos. They realize that, damned those news reporters, the good stuff is being neglected in favor of coverage of car bombs all the time! And they can't get around the fact that the reason those car bombs keep getting the most attention is BECAUSE THEY'RE STILL HAPPENING ALL THE TIME, they're still awful, and seemingly getting worse, along with the continuing carnage and chaos. The facts keep getting in the way and rebutting the PR. Which is why - no matter how much doubt they try to plant, cosmetically, about Kerry, the realities are doing a doozy of a "doubt planting" job on bush.

This is good. And meantime, what else did they also add? That Kerry's fundraising has outstripped bush's? My, my, my. THAT wasn't expected, either. And THAT, too, is telling. THAT one comes straight out of the everybody-loves-a-winner department. Apparently more than a few people have developed a winner perception about Kerry. And you know what they say about perception.

[murielm99]

4. I still think they (Rove and all) had their sites set on Dean.

They thought he would be the nominee, and had all their research done.

When Kerry got the nomination, they were playing catch-up. Maybe they still are.

I liked Dean, but Kerry is too hard for them to crack. He is too complex for them.

[NNN0LHI]

5. They have been trying to crack Kerry since Nixon was president

And to no avail. He is the Rethugs worst nightmare. They have not laid a glove on Kerry after spending 85 million dollars.

Don

[I thought so.]

7. And Karl said so about Dean.

Kerry will not play their game. Believe me, Karl had miles of bad videos showing Dean as an angry hateful unpatriotic NE liberal that would ally with the Talliban and Osama bin Laden.

Kerry has been doing retail politics everywhere. He has had a gift. having won early so he can run just like Bush.

Bush is crippled by his fear of undecided people. He can only appear at staged events with asskissers. He has to have body guards at his military photo-ops where all cheer because of orders.

He is hoping that his fundy base will elect him. It won't be enough.

[dsc]

8. I presume you have a link to just one of those videos

since there are so many.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Kerry is running his campaign on the Chimps record

Exactly as he should be doing. It is a sure fire strategy to a landslide win in November as far as I can tell. Kerry won't even have to ask the voters if they are better off now than they were four years ago. They are already thinking about. There is not enough bandwidth to list all of the bad shit that will be associated with Bush and his administration when it comes time to vote. The debates should be a real hoot too. I think Kerry is in the drivers seat right now. But a lot can happen in the next 4+ months.

Don