Kerry has about two weeks left to reclaim control of this election.

[jbfam4]

Reframe Bush -- Fast
John Kerry has about two weeks left to reclaim control of this election.
By Robert Kuttner
Web Exclusive: 09.16.04


http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8502

John Kerry is in trouble because the Bush campaign has seized control of what psychologists call the "frame" of this year's presidential contest. Bush, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and company have framed the election starkly: Bush will keep us safe in a time of terror. He will put money in people's pockets by cutting our taxes, and somehow that will also be good for the economy.

Bush and Cheney have also framed Kerry. He is inconstant, an effete elitist who lives in a lah-de-dah neighborhood, speaks a foreign language, keeps changing his mind on everything from Vietnam to Iraq. This signals that Kerry is culturally different from ordinary folks (like Bush) and that if he wavers on everything else, you can't trust him to be resolute on terrorists.


For Kerry and for Democrats, the frustrating reality is that everything important about George Bush and his presidency is a lie. Bush himself is far more of a phony. As several biographies have documented, he virtually fell upwards, benefiting from family connections to survive a dissolute youth, draft avoidance, and several business failures. But Bush has seized the iconography of the honest cowboy, the regular guy clearing brush on his Texas ranch, the war hero arriving by fighter plane to rescue America. That Kerry actually served in combat, that he made his way upwards with far less family help, gets buried under the smears.

[Lancer]

1. On the plus side,

it's exactly two weeks to the first debate.

[Spiffarino]

2. It seems to be happening now, though slowly

And I don't think you can blame Kerry for the delay. We've had hurricanes and the CBS document scam pushed by the VRWC to keep cable news occupied. All the while Kerry has been out there slugging away and aggressively telling the truth about the Chimp in Charge.

From an 11-point post-convention poll bounce, we now have two new polls indicating a dead heat. I think this is good news, don't you?

[21winner]

3. I'm tired of seeing this posted.

As if this guy had ever won an election. People that win do it,those that can't have an endless supply of bad advice.

[bemildred]

5. Might as well read sheep entrails. nt

[Crachet2004]

4. Its turning now...Kitty Kelly's 'dime-bag Laura', and CBS...

Outing idiot Bush's TANG nonservice, really HURTS them. We live in an America of WWF and Jerry Springer-people love outrageous shit...doesn't matter if its true or not. Of course, in The case of Bush, we probably haven't heard a tenth of what he has skated by with.

If John Edwards called Dick Cheney a dickhead, or just a Dick, we would probably gain ANOTHER five points in the polls.

We should start making fun of them like John Stewart does. God knows there is plenty of material there. Ridicule them, especially that pompous ass Cheney.

These guys are ruthless, no doubt, but they are also clowns...and a little ridicule might be just the ticket we need.