I LOVE the Swift Boat Ads!!!

[Beetwasher]

"Will This Over The Top Negative Attack Ad Spell Doom For Bush?"

This should be the question on every media outlet...If tables were turned and Kerry or his surrogates put out something this nasty, it would be...

Some say that this negative shit works, I say BULLSHIT. It may work sometimes, but it depends on the circumstances. It worked for Bush against McCain in SC, but think of the circumstances of that success. They only needed to convince REPUBLICAN'S in a Southern state. Also, at that time, Bush did NOT have the severe credibility problems he has now. Kerry is ahead of Bush in just about all the polls I've seen on the credibility issue. This shit won't fly when his cred is in the tank.

This will backfire HORRIBLY for Bush. I am SO happy they pulled this shit. This could sink him.

They will LOSE ALL THE MODERATE SWING VOTERS with this negative bullshit.

This could spell DOOM for the Bush campaign.

It's been rumoured that Bush is taking a personal hand in the campaign. I believe it. These ads have him written all over them. Vicious and stupid. It wouldn't surprise me if they were his decision.

I LOVE THESE ADS!!!!

[piece sine]

1. not me

I don't like them...at all.

[lancdem]

2. I love that McCain wasted no time in denouncing them

putting the WH on the defensive.

[Warpy]

7. I also love it that the WH refused to repudiate this ad

It pits McCain against Bush once again. The biggest danger all along has been that Bush would dump Cheney in favor of McCain. Now with McCain being reminded of what they did to him in SC, I sincerely doubt he will join that ticket.

The WH refused to repudiate this ad because they were behind it.

I hope McCain is waking up and realizing that this is what they're all about, and that getting beyond what they did to him isn't a good idea.

[childslibrarian]

3. I see what you mean

Swing voters don't like mean, mean. mean. Those ads are mean. Also they remind people of what the Shrub did not do...fight in the actual war...

[koopie57]

8. I agree with you

if we remove the hopeless-beyond-help right-wing nuts, most people are good people I think. We see so much of the right-wing hysterics and ugliness that it might be easy for us to forget that there are millions of voters out there who find that ads like this make them feel dirty.

[lastknowngood]

4. I don't believe in swing voters. It's all about turn out if the rethugs

can suppress the black vote by 5% they will win easily, that is their plan. Fire up the fascist right and use Foulmouth to fire the dumb religious manics and suppress the black vote. Watch for it.

[Literate Tar Heel]

11. it's not that simple

the black vote will get out more than they did in 2000 because they feel disenfranchised ... even if they manage to suppress it by 5 percent by illegal means, it may still be higher than it was 4 years ago ... I do agree that turnout will be the deciding factor, but this is good news for Kerry ... all the "likely voter" polls are about 3 points short on votes for Kerry, I think, because there are going to be so many new voters in this election who are only voting to get rid of Bush ... the reason their "strategery" has been to fire up the fundie base lately is because they know they cannot win the independent and swing vote ... that's big trouble for them because they're losing moderate Republicans along with them by the truckload ... this all has to be taken in context of course with the electoral map and not the popular vote, but at this point, things look really bad for Bush on the good ol' red/blue map

[Hamlette]

5. I wonder how vets and military families will react

will they be pissed that these guys tried to discredit Kerry or will they think Kerry discredits them?

Probably depends on which way they were leaning going.

In the talk of negative ads, while they say they do work remember that 70% of Americans supported Clinton during the impeachment trial with many of them saying Clinton was being unfairly treated. Could happen to Kerry...or Bush if we dump too hard on Bush.

[vetwife]

15. We are pro Kerry anyway but this really ticked my husband off

He said he was in Vietnam in 70-71 and was happy Kerry was trying to get him out of the jungle and to top it all off..he was furious with those idiots who put out the ad. He said he never ever felt Kerry was degrading his service and never put his personal life in jeopardy but these anti Kerry people are paid pundits for the GOP ! All the way back to where heir loyalty lies..with Nixon and Kissinger ! He said he would confront them all and say Kerry was a Truth sayer and not a truth Slayer ! Idiots, shot thmeselves in the foot ! I know this for a fact, there is a breach here as vets usually don't like vets taking shots at other vets. They did and it ticked off many vets ! They tried to break the Band of Combat Brothers. Didn't work !

[Proud2BAmurkin]

6. Repukes ALWAYS go too far. This will be no exception. I love em too

:hi:

[johnfunk]

9. May be time for a TV spot about all those ANG paychecks Bush Boy got...

... for not showing up for duty in Alabammy....

[glitch]

10. Exactly! Let them run - we don't want to interrupt them in mid-hang

so much rope, finally they are hanging themselves.

[DemonFighterLives]

12. They did goof up

But the sad fact is that the more they drag Kerry through the mud, the more it sticks. B*sh's base believe all that is put out by the reich and will not see the retraction and they hardly respect McCain to begin with. Nasty buggers. Let's hear some more about the deserter in chief.

[Beetwasher]

19. Who Cares About Bush's Base?

Is base is not even close to being big enough to win the election. His base are the ONLY one's that might believe this, and even many of them know it's a low blow.

[DemonFighterLives]

24. You may be right

Especially if some of the swifties come out against the ad. From my experience with Neocons, you can trot out tons of information, while they do the la la, I can't hear you thing. And I believe that is not just a few voters, but almost 50% that think * can do no wrong.
I hope I'm wrong, but negative ads work well with some folks.

[Suzi Creamcheese]

13. Yeah but the DNC threatening to sue stations if they carried it doesn't

seem like a good move. I think most people would reject it, this way it looks like we are trying to muzzle the press.

[janx]

18. I read what I thought was a memo from lawyers to the press,

and it seemed more like an alert than a threat of litigation, but I could be wrong.

The press would be well advised to take a closer look at the ad and what/who is behind it.

[Jim__]

14. I don't!

My understanding is that negative ads turn-off independent voters. Bush will not do well among independents thsi year. I think the repuke strategy is to discourage independents from voting. Ads like this will help to do that.

[donhakman]

16. Mc Cain declared the swift boat ad

vile and baseless, just like the campaign they pulled against him as well as the former senator from Georgia.

[janx]

17. I have no desire to see it, as it sounds despicable, but I have

been reading today that media outlets want to do an investigation.

Once they do that, things should get interesting.

The media were merrily rolling the tape, it seems, before this release went out today:

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=131-08052004

(It may not have been the only one.)

In any case, initially the media were simply showing the ad without any kind of thoughtful analysis or investigation on their own part. Once they started looking into things, the tone changed--even on FAUX news.

There is no excuse for political partisanship to grow so rampant that veterans are pulled into this slime. It's really inexcusable.

[Doctor_J]

20. you hit the nail, beet

it backfired, big time. Only the lowest of whores, CNN, is still running with it. Personally I thought it would work, but I sadly underestimated the people of our great land

[KharmaTrain]

21. They're Already Feeling The Fallout

Whoever made the call to release this book and all the slime is regretting this now.

Bunnypants has destroyed his credibility over the past year with many "in the middle". This includes moderate Repugnicans and also The Military! They've gone from kissing the ground Bunnypants walked on...remember the "help is on the way" was a Chenney line to the military, they ate it up alive. That was then, this is 1,000 dead later. It's also after months of uneveiling how inept Bunnypants has treated the military.

Be it stop loss, cuts in benefits, lying about being AWOL, dooming the military to failure or just the overall morale in the military, those in the service have made a 180 on this regime and a large number of vets were starting to follow.

This book has taken that trikle of vets turning on Bunnypants to what we'll see is a torrent. This not only was a shot at Kerry, but at a lot of the veterans who served in that horrid war. It brings back memories long burried (under lots of sleepless days & nights) and can't help but point to the current situation.

I wouldn't say Bunnypants wrote or directed this smear, but you can be sure he knew in advance it was coming. If you want to see the connection...I'd suggest going down the hall to Mr. Rove's office...he's usually there, unlike the manchild.

[catmandu57]

22. I don't like the ads, but,

I've said it before and I'll say it again. These people couldn't change a fucking flat tire, not if all the nuts were loose and the car was already jacked.
Everything they touch turns to shit, the trouble is it all rolls downhill and we're at the bottom. I agree that mainstream america will find this in very poor taste and a definite jab below the belt.
Fuck their base they dreank the koolaid a long time ago, and if they're cheering this bullshit on then they'll be exposed for the cretins they are.

[Kid_A]

23. Can someone post a link to the video?

I haven't seen these ads.

[KurtNYC]

25. They had to go hire shill vets because they didn't serve

And now the vets are being exposed as paid liars. Liars paid for by other liars -- here is your job growth. A whole new career path and industry: the lie industry.

[bullimiami]

26. the mccain smear was kept low profile though.

they did it without drawing a lot of attention to it until the damage was done and it was too late.