Republicans go after a person's strengths not their weaknesses

[Bandit]

Gore was renowned for his integrity all through the Senate. He was considered untouchable on that subject. So they set out to deliberately dismantle him on his most potent virtue. His integrity. They felt his weaknesses would take care of themselves but they had to attack his strengths. They were surprisingly successful of course with a lot of Media help. Now they are trying the same tactic on Kerry. This one will backfire on them. It is very much a Kerry strength and is in sharp contrast to Bush*'s strength. They are going to find out exactly why this is Kerry's strong point. Kerry is using the exact same tactic but against Bush* it is presumed strength. We all know Bush* is not a strong commander or strong on the military. It is a farce and Kerry will systematically dismantle that popular conception of Bush*. They have bitten off more than they can chew and I have a strong feeling they are about to choke on it. Gore thought it was a ridiculous smear that didn't need any comeback. He knew everyone was aware of his absolute integrity. He was mistaken in how low these folks can go. Kerry is not under any delusions. This is going to get a lot better as it goes along.

[On the Road]

1. Absolutely True About Attacking Strengths

An old Vince Lombardi strategy. But I'm afraid the attacks have permanently damaged Al Gore.

Gore was behind because he was seen as wooden, timid, and boring. He fixed those problems, but did not successfully defend his integrity.

Right now, Kerry is only appearing in the news for two-second sound bites. He does better with a little more time. That will happen in the debates and in the few weeks before the election.

[mondo joe]

2. Dead right.

You're dead right. The Repubs try to break down any strength in an opponent, and transform it into a weakness.

They also do this astonishing thing - they find the one most inconceivable, most outrageous tact and then go with it. Like Dole saying that Kerry should apologize, when he's the one being attacked with slander and libel.

I think there really must be an organic difference in the brains of repubs and dems. I am capable of being vicious, but nothing like that - nothing so absolutely reverse of the truth.

[FighttheFuture]

3. It's brilliant, frankly, But, it requires a complicit and complacent...

news media and an ignorant population who are deprived of tools to figure it out such as fair media, unbiased news sources and good education. Remember, most do not have the Internet, and those that do, many do not know how to use it nor evaluate the accuracy of what they do hear.

The other thing they do so well it assign despicable attributes and actions that they do to others. It takes the heat off them and it smears the other person, causing them to expend energy defending meaningless, but dangerous, charges.


All this would fail with a more robust and independent of corporate control news media. Alas, that is gone.

[emulatorloo]

4. Republicans Accuse Others of their own failings

Cheney accused Kerry of having no developed sense of right or wrong.
Bush accuses Kerry of being a flip - flopper.
Bush campaign through Swifties accuses Kerry of lying about his war record

Goes on and on. . .accuse your opponent of your own failings, divert attention.