Why Dem Strategist is right. - Democratic Underground

Brotherjohn

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Thu Aug-12-04 11:59 AM
Original message

Why Dem Strategist is right.

Edited on Thu Aug-12-04 12:04 PM by Brotherjohn

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=612933&mesg_id=612933
and
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=613305&mesg_id=613305

Dem Strategist this morning posted this:
"John Kerry's chief opponent is NOT George Bush. It's the media. And you can help defeat Bush by doing everything in your power to fight media spin."

Three things I was thinking about this morning reveal this to be the absolute truth, but to levels of absurdity even I had not realized. I mean, we've all come to accept these things as simply the day to day way the campaign is going. But I tried to view them from a distance, and I saw just HOW ridiculous they were, just HOW far gone the media has been.

1) Kerry is spending his time trying to explain his VOTE on the IWR, when it is BUSH who should be explaining his DECISION to GO to war! This is absurd.
2) Ads are running nationwide, and all the political talk shows are spending days questioning KERRY's Silver Star/Bronze Star/3 Purple Heart military record, when it is BUSH's AWOL/Vietnam dodging (and possible drug-related avoidance of his flight physical) military record receives relatively little criticism and questioning. This is absurd.
3) The Bush White House admits to outing an undercover Al Qaeda double-agent, an act which has (according to our allies Great Britain and Pakistan) botched the arrests of numerous Al Qaeda terrorists, and no one is saying a word about it. This on the heels of the political outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame (does anyone realize this White House is under CRIMINAL investigation?) This is absurd.

This is all due to the media. If the media were doing its job, Bush would already have been impeached based on #1, disgraced by #2 (both on the count of his now proven AWOL status and his implicit acceptance of the disgraceful attacks on Kerry, a genuine war hero), and a second round of impeachment proceedings would just be getting under way based on #3. If this were the Clinton presidency, all of that would have already happened (Hell, it DID! But the best ammo they had on Clinton was a mutual marital indiscretion.)

Dem Strategist also wrote:
"This is the first step. The next discussion we should have is about the one-dimensional responses to the Kerry-Edwards strategy. Some of you are playing checkers while Kerry is playing chess. "

That is SO on the button. Look, Kerry DID vote for the IWR. He will always have some level of responsibility with regards to the Iraq War. That is simply a fact. He can't (and won't) run away from that, even though it can be used (is being used) to paint him as "the same as Bush".

But Bush is trying to make him admit that was a mistake, and therefore paint him with the "ultimate flip-flop". That would single-handedly doom Kerry.

Kerry has been playing what is inarguably an awkward issue with nuance and finesse. There are other issues (including on Iraq) sufficient to undo Bush. Kerry IS, in fact, playing chess. He's giving Bush a knight so Bush doesn't take his Queen. He knows what he's doing.