Kerry aides: Judgment error on swift-boat ads

[kskiska]

John Kerry's campaign leaders acknowledged Thursday that they initially failed to grasp the political dangers of anti-Kerry ads by swift-boat veterans but insist that any damage hasn't fundamentally weakened the Democrat's position heading into the decisive phase of the campaign.

The Kerry brain-trust made a last-minute visit to New York to tamp down rumors of a campaign shake-up and to reassure panicky Democrats that they have a plan to reverse Kerry's slippage in the polls.

After laying low most of the Republican convention, Kerry is wasting no time launching into the final two months of the campaign with Thursday night's midnight rally in Springfield, Ohio, to immediately rebut Bush's convention speech and plans for a $50 million advertising campaign.

(snip)

They believe the ads and attacks like Miller's turn off undecided voters that could be key to the election and say they plan instead to talk about a substantive program for where they plan to take the country -- something they believe voters were left wanting amid a week of Republican attacks.

more…
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/ny-usdems0903,0,562229.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

[Democat]

1. Maybe some of the DU optimists can finally admit the error

We heard so much on DU about "rope-a-dope", "hand wringing", and "armchair strategists", not to mention "chess" and "judo" when the bottom line is that the Kerry campaign fucked up.

All the bullshit aside, Kerry's campaign made a major mistake.

They can, and hopefully will recover, but it was a mistake.

Being optimistic is one thing, denying the facts is another.

[AlCzervik]

13. Yup, whats needed is less handlers and more Kerry

[lancdem]

21. That I agree with 100 percent

[AlCzervik]

27. I think the downfall of any campaign is mirco managing everything

Kerry should relax and loosen up and try and ejoy himself.

[4_Legs_Good]

30. and more Dean, Clinton, Carter, Clinton, Carville, and EDWARDS

Everyone should be out and preaching. We need to get people excited about Kerry and about the Democratic Party. Right now people are still voting AGAINST BUSH, which is fine by me, but there are TONS of people who probably won't vote (for either) unless they're excited about one of them.

Time to pull out the big guns!

david

[Buck Rabbit]

32. And a heavy dose of Clark (n/t)

[4_Legs_Good]

33. Amen!

[xxqqqzme]

40. U got that right!

time to move down the alphabet from ABB to the Cs,D & E. Time 2 pick up that pool cue and start swinging.

[dolstein]

2. The campaign aides are complete wusses, but even worse

they talk to the press.

Never -- NEVER!!! -- admit your mistakes to the press. The Bush campaign doesn't. And they've made quite a few.

[lancdem]

4. I don't think admitting something everyone has known

for some time is a big deal.

[joefree1]

3. Kerry served, Bush swerved

Can you say AWOL. I knew that you could.


Download the free poster/sign here:
http://ediablo.com/eDiabloGallery.html

[Democat]

5. Here is one quote that concerns me in this article

They believe the ads and attacks like Miller's turn off undecided voters that could be key to the election...

This article is about how extremist negative attacks have damaged Kerry (Swift Liars) and in the same article Democrats argue that more extremist negative attacks (RNC) are going to help Kerry.

Which is it? Do the attacks hurt Kerry or help him? So far there doesn't seem to be any evidence that they help him and there is growing evidence that they are hurting him.

I hope Kerry's people aren't going to wait for the "backlash" that never comes.

[lancdem]

10. I don't necessarily agree

The SBVT ads gradually were picked up by the media and were not rebutted quickly enough, so they raised doubts in some voters' minds. The Zell Miller speech was so blatantly nutty even Repugs said it hurt Bush. He went off the deep end.

There is such a thing as overkill.

[BillZBubb]

14. I am MORE than concerned. It appears they STILL DON'T GET IT

What are they friggin bi-polar? They hurt/they help!??? What the f**k?????? Even crazy Zell hurt them, but they don't realize it yet. They are living in "Dukakis political fantasy" world.

If they don't go to the barricades against these slime bags, they'll (make that we ALL will) rue the day in November. They attack with a knife, you attack with a gun. They attack with a gun, you attack with a 500 lb bomb.

[lancdem]

17. Zell hurt them?

How?

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

36. Becuase he made a good case that Kerry has a weak record ....

...on national defense issues.

Dont matter how true it is, or the details or backround...in campaigns, just get the message out with some outline of a record, and that works.

Kerry is got a tough fight here...

[Warpy]

Well, DUH

That's what negative ads are FOR, to convince the other guy's voters to stay home! Don't tell me those worthless DLC jackasses didn't know THAT!!!!

Good gawd. If this is the calibre of people surrounding Kerry, we are sunk.

[lancdem]

22. What's this have to do with the DLC?

[WyLoochka]

23. It's because of the damn focus groups

The Democrats won't use the truth to bash BushCo, because when they ask a focus group, "Do you like negative campaigns?" every single person in the group always says NO.

What Kerry's advisers fail to connect is that people say they don't like negativity but they DO respond to it and it sways their votes away from the candidate who is being smeared. People just won't admit this in front of other people in a focus group.

The smear boaters didn't run any focus groups before letting loose with their lies - they just let 'em rip because the GOP knows it works.

And we are afraid to bash with the truth!

[bagnana]

29. THAT IS TRUE!

People claim they want candidates to talk about issues, but the truth is that very few decide elections that way: they decide who they like and vote for him. The GOP recognizes this. Otherwise how could Al Gore have failed to trounce Bush? People (aided by the media's lies) decided they didn't like him and liked Bush better.

Likewise, people decided they didn't like rich old white guy Bush Sr. vs. Clinton, or grouchy old Dole vs. Clinton. This year, Repubs are trying to call it steadfast dimwit man of the people vs. wishy washy rich guy from the East. If we can play it as dimwit elitist short-tempered warmonger vs. thinking honorable war hero, then we should win. Orc vs. Ent.

[bushwakker]

41. They need to go after the AWOL issue hard

this is a no brainer. the facts are there and they opened up this can of worms.

[Ducks In A Row]

6. I don't believe any aides talked to newsday

if they did this they would be fired.

it's a lie, and it's stupid to believe anything in the press that you don't hear from kerry or edwards.

[MaineDem]

7. Names...do they name names?

I tend to follow your way of thinking here. I believe so little of what I read in the media these days.

Edited to add: Yes, I see they quote Mary Beth. "We did not calibrate the degree to which this would become the entire focus of August, and really the entire focus of cable television and then jump into print,"

But I still think the article is a bit overblown.

[agingdem]

20. Exactly!

I want the names of these supposed "aides". This has Rove's (channelling Lee Atwater)filthy hands all over it.!

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Today's Date: 2 September 2004

Election Day: 2 November 2004

Sixty-two days remain.

A lot of ass can be whooped in sixty-two days.

--bkl

[OKNancy]

9. The fundamental error

once again was not knowing or discounting the power of the internet. The internet is where these guys got started. I think a lot of us here at DU knew all about this stuff. THe SwiftVetLiars been around a LONG time. I don't know if anyone told the campaign, or if they did say something and were discounted.

As we saw with our visitor, he/she was very naive about what was going on in cyberspace. I sometimes feel some of the "professionals" are stuck in 1980.

[JackDragna]

11. Another shining example..

..of our weak-kneed candidate and his bumbling staff. Kerry better go on the attack or he'll lose in a Dukakis-like landslide.

[lancdem]

12. Actually, Kerry is the one who wanted to go after SBVT early on

[BillZBubb]

15. Doesn't that make it worse?????

He's the candidate--he wants to be leader of the free world--and his staff stops him from acting?

I don't think we want to push that story. It's a candidate killer.

[lancdem]

19. How does that make it worse?

It shows his instincts are right, and he'll trust them more in the future.

[BillZBubb]

24. Leaders lead, followers do what others tell them.

If you don't understand how the Repugs would use this, you have no sense of politics.

[tabasco]

16. The Kerry campaign is just like me.

I think the American people still have enough decency and sense to reject the scurrilous attacks.
I do want to see Kerry go on the warpath and take no prisoners. I am confident that the Kerry strategy is sound.

[w13rd0]

18. The FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM...

...is that the front-group for Bush was able to spend unlimited amounts and rely upon an unquestioning Bush-boosting media to try and kneecap Kerry, knowing full well that he's limited to matching funds. Why do you think Bush NOW wants to ban 527s? The Kerry campaign spent some of its federally limited funding to respond to attacks that "supposedly" weren't from Bush.

WHEN has Bush EVER responded to a MoveOn ad campaign? Answer: never, because at every opportunity, the media has played down our statements, our sentiments and our attempts to inform the voting public, while cheerleading those that seek to misinform the people. And Bush didn't have to spend a dime out of his federally limited piggy bank. Just some of the same dirty shitmoney that went to some of the same shitbags that have been pulling dirty tricks for years. And now, they'll take all "overflow" and pump a lot of it into "safe" candidates in battleground states, where the state and local candidates will run advertising attacking Kerry and supporting Bush. Their strategy is to make up for their lack of a record, a lack of accomplishment, and a lack of informed supporters by just riling up the religiously insane and washing the complicit media in a deluge of blood money thru various "organs"...

[sandraj]

34. I read the following article in the Chicago Tribune today

and wonder if the Swiftboat sham served two purposes:

1. To kneecap Kerry as you mentioned
2. To shut down MoveOn.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/

Look for this headline:

Bush campaign sues to shut down political groups

(requires registration, sorry)

"The Kerry campaign has alleged that the Bush campaign has illegally worked with the swift boat group. Such coordination with a 527 group would be illegal under its tax status...

The Bush campaign has denied any illegal coordination, but the president has refused to denounce the swift boat ads' content. Instead, he has urged Kerry to join him in seeking an end to 527 groups...

Three of the largest 527 groups are linked to the Democrats: The Media Fund, America Coming Together and MoveOn.org."
(more at link)

[creeksneakers2]

25. Better to blame the campaign than the candidate

Now the story will be Kerry takes the reigns and fights back. I'm looking forward to tonight.

I was one of those who was complaining and I think it was the right thing to do. Kerry got the message and is fighting back now. He was great yesterday.

Since the day Kerry struck back at the swift boat vets the erosion seems to have stopped. I don't think the swift boat ads hurt Kerry at all. I think people saw Kerry being attacked and Kerry failing to defend himself. The poll erosion mostly came from leadership questions. People won't follow someone if they think they are too weak to defend themselves.

[skip fox]

26. For all your Swift Boat questions, a new version of the file:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x71309

[kentuck]

28. John O'Neil is still out there....

and now he has 3 million dollars..

[rocktivity]

37. John O'Neil has three million dollars

and zero credibility.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Malva Zebrina]

31. It is not too late to fix it

and I hope to see a change in the tactics.

Issues and the intricate explanations are fine for people who are involved enough to read it. I have always said that it is not the usual approach of the average voter. I know this because I was a voter who was not too interested in the issues for many many years for most of my voting years. I know many people who vote this way. I am telling you, belioeve me, it is the perception and not the intricate expanation of issues that seduce the average voter. Kerry needs someone to spin it this way. This is the most crucial of all elections--the way to fight back is to give it back to them the way they do. It is the thing that makes headlines. It is the appeal to the bread and circus Americans who are content to sit in front of the TV and watch CNN for the latest sound bite.

[Disturbed]

35. Perception becomes reality.

So far the Neo Fascists have been successful in painting Kerry as wishy washy, flip flop through lies and half lies. Kerry needs to stop defending and go on the offense. He has to make simple statements that cut through nuance. Most of the public does not follow complicated issues. Kerry needs to dumb down his statements and attack like a doberman and draw blood.

[rocktivity]

38. If this thread is any indication

Kerry is locked, loaded and down with the program!

:headbang:
rocknation

[MarkTwain]

39. Kerry: Wake The Fuck Up ! ...

... from hereon, your campaign strategy should be told in three words:

Take NO Prisoners.

The fact that you are slipping in the polls, slipping in all of the electoral vote analyses, and that son of a bitch in the White House finds his approval ratings rising - after one of the most incompetent, vicious, and evil administrations in the history of this country - says that you and your campaign are fucking up misreably.

You're gonna' lose this and our country will be lost for the next fifty plus years as a result.

Every single Democrat I speak with and a number of Republicans who are equally disgusted with the Resident Idiot can not understand why you do not just get your god damn act together and take this war to Dick Cheney and Karl Rove's doorstep. Now.