Kerry campaign response to Scott McClellan

[bigtree]

Just reported on Hardball.

"John Kerry is not the type to sit reading 'My Pet the Goat' while America is under attack John Kerry is a fighter and does not tolerate lies." ( probably not a direct quote but close enough)

[shawmut]

1. Here is the quote

"John Kerry is not the type of leader who will sit and read `My Pet Goat' to a group of second graders while America is under attack,''

[djg21]

48. Error in quote!

Shrub didn't read MyPet Goat to anyone. A teached read it, and Shrub, like the rest of the second graders, simply followed along!

What a turd!

[TheWebHead]

2. now that's 'Hardball'

this is getting really nasty, about time the Kerry campaign used the 'My Pet Goat' card :)

[PA Democrat]

3. ZING! My jaw dropped when Andrea Mitchell read that!

The gloves are off. I think that Karl Rove and Dubya have "misunderestimated" John Kerry.

[Julien Sorel]

5. And I think this has become a mudslinging contest.

Kerry has the advantage on issues, but no one will talk about them anymore. Two points for Rove.

At least the dimwits here will be happy. Kerry's behaving exactly the way they want him to. Woohoo.

[bigtree]

8. There is a line

There will come a point where the majority of the public will view the two camps as equally negative and the attacks will blur. I suppose it was inevitable, but at least the Kerry campaign has other issues and concerns to focus on, and has. The Bush camp can't defend their broken record and they are reduced to negative attacks. Nowhere to go but down for the Bush campaign.

[girl gone mad]

9. Politics is dirty..

only when it's done right, to paraphrase Woody Allen.

I think Kerry is wise to hit back hard. History is rife with candidates who decided to take the high road, a.k.a. alsorans.

[Julien Sorel]

13. You can hit back without "taking the low road."

I agree with the departed dem_strategist on this one; the media forced things to be played out this way. They wanted something juicy, and when it wasn't there, ran with this. Who loses? We all do. Even the Republicans lose in the long run. Economy? Naw. Employment? Naw. Iraq? Naw. Let's sling mud, because that's what the media pay attention to! Of course, challengers fare worse in mudslinging contests, especially Democratic ones, since they supress voter turnout and Dems generally need good turnout to win. But hey, it will be entertaining! That's what counts. Politics as bread and circus.

[Bluzmann57]

21. While it may be true

that voter turnout may suffer because of mudslinging campaigns, I believe this will help the Dems no matter what. We have never been so united in history, at least not in my 46 years on this planet. And Dems still outnumber Repubs on the registered voter rolls. I do wish that the Kerry campaign could have stayed on the issues and think that they will bring them to the forefront again. But Kerry has to strike against all this B.S.

[Kahuna]

23. Ask Mike Dukakis and Al Gore about trying to take the high road..

with this crowd. Then come back and call us nitwits. If you're going to go down, at least go down fighting.

[Julien Sorel]

29. How many times must I say,

no one suggests Kerry "take the high road?" It's the way you go about taking the low road that counts. Schoolyard little one liners sound cool, but it's just a name calling contest, and the issues get left behind. We win on the issues. Now it's just name calling. They will win those battles 9/10 times.

But it sure feels good reading those zippy press releases. Ooooh! look at the Kerry campaign fighting back! We might lose but we aren't wimps!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. I find it interesting that you gave Rove two points when Kerry is...

...absolutely killing the NeoCons on the facts about the Swift Boats. Not only that, but a portion of the mainstream media has also gone on the attack by linking the anti-Kerry swifties directly to Rove.

Maybe you ought to take another look at who's really in the "dimwit" column.

[Julien Sorel]

36. Oh, I have a good idea who belongs there.

What does "killing the neocons on the facts about the swift boats" have to do with issues? Will it help Kerry win the election, or was it a distraction away from his campaign's strengths? The inability to see the big picture is a hallmark of being a dimwit.

[katusha]

14. it is odd that you would post deriding mudslinging

and then proceed to sling mud against those who would disagree with you, calling them dimwits. not that i disagree with you or am trying to deride you in any way, i just think it says something about human nature.

[thecrow]

22. Ah, let them dance already!

We have been waiting for something like this.
HOOOORRRAYYYYYYY!!!! Kerry!!!

[katusha]

25. which dance????

i guess the "blue danube" was too slow for the american public so now they will mosh to the sounds of megadeth
:-)
:-)
:-)

[Julien Sorel]

30. I'm not running for president.

I'm not even running for dogcatcher.

[katusha]

35. i just found it interesting

i also wish that the american public had been interested in a debate about issues that affect us, but oh well. this is getting very nasty very fast.

[PA Democrat]

15. And what was Kerry to do?

He HAS been talking about the issues and guess what, the media has been covering NOTHING BUT the Swiftboat ads.

I would prefer to deal with the issues as well, but when there is an all out blackout by the media of everything BUT the smear campaign, you MUST deal effectively and brutally with the attack machine. Otherwise they are an ongoing distraction from the real issues.

[Malva Zebrina]

40. I agree 100percent

there will be time to keep harping on the issues. By the time of the debates, Kerry and Edwards will be well versed and quite capable of debating on those issues. That is all they have talkied about on their campaign throughout the country.

But one cannot let the Bush bully propaganda machine continue on and expect it will fall off of them like water over a greased pig--else Kerry will be perceived as weak by the people who love the bread and circus over the rather droll issues of the economy etc.

[movonne]

16. What do you want him to do???? they have slinging mud for days

now and some of it sticking.

[The Magistrate]

18. People Like A Good Fight, Sir

Elections have more in common with a pair of baboons contending for the alpha point of the troop than people like to admit. The question is not how much mud is flung but how much sticks, and we will have the advantage there, it seems to me....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Julien Sorel]

31. Better to throw the rock of issues

than the mud of insults and one-liners. That should be left to the surrogates, not the campaign itself. We will see. I hope you are correct.

[The Magistrate]

42. Rocks Are Fine With Me, My Friend

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[loathesomeshrub]

43. You sound like you don't care if Kerry loses, as long as he doesn't come

down to Bush's level. Well excuse the rest of us who think that that is just not an option. With 46% of the nation dimwitted enough to believe the mudslinging from the other side, we can't allow another potential percentage of voters who want to hear Kerry fight back with his side, be lost so that you can feel superior.

[Julien Sorel]

47. I think I know where you went to school.

Someplace in Florida...

At any rate, that is definitely not what I said. What I said was, the strength of the Democrats is on the issues. Clinton has a saying, "When people think, Democrats win," or something to that effect. When contests devolve into mudslinging, it gives the Republicans an advantage. They win the "values" debate with the public, and a great deal of how much mud will stick to you has to do with peoples' perception of your values. People also "like" Bush, for whatever reason, while they find Kerry aloof. In a mudslinging contest it wouldn't take much to go from aloof to mean-spirited. Ooops! There go those negatives.

The nation itself loses as a whole, of course, as well, and I think this is something Democrats should at least try to get the media to pay attention to: we could have someone serve 8 years in office who didn't really win his first election, and "won" the second only by profiting from some of the grossest dishonesty, and the meanest campaigning ever in a presidential campaign. What does that say about the country? What does that say about the quality of man George Bush is? Eight years of this guy?

So, to sum up, and try to avoid having to say this again and again and again and again, as seems to be necessary here,

1) I personally have no problems with rough campaigning. I'd rather things didn't get to that point, but they do at times.

2) When they do, it's important to try to play things to your strengths. Trading insults via press releases is playing into Rove's hand, because he has nothing else to work with but negativity. We need some other group to do it. The media seem to want Kerry to do it, but it diminishes the candidate when he has to attend to garbage like this.

3) The dem_strategist person tried to get some of the people here organized and attacking the media, but too many people here were far smarter than he is, and wanted to waste time debating him and pouting.

4) (minor point) It's better for the country when elections are decided on issues, not nonsense.


5) The fact that Kerry is personally involved, and his campaign is wallowing in the slop with the likes of the Swift Boat pond scum has got to make Rove happy.

[TNMOM]

24. If the choice is either

take the high road and risk country through another 4 years of hell, or fighting back and putting our country on the right course, well, I'm fighting back. Deep down, you're probably glad someone is socking it back at Bush. If you don't want to fight, you don't have to, but don't look down on those of us who are fighting because when we win -- you win, too.

[Generator]

Beautiful post-thank you!

And this was left off the last part of the quote:

JOHN KERRY IS A FIGHTER

You aint seen nothing yet.


A Screw those that say this quote was dirty. BULLSHIT. George W. Bunnypants did sit there and do nothing while our country was being attacked.

The ads against Kerry are a lie.

[ibegurpard]

32. I hope this means you will be leaving us dimwits again

eom

[BillZBubb]

50. Look, BUB, you continue to show your true stripes.

Oh, no, we've got to stay on the high road! Boo hoo, boo hoo!

Then you call people who disagree with your approach dimwits! Classic. I think I have a pretty good idea what you are.

[A_Possum]

4. Exact quote is even better.

Boston Globe

''Mr. McClellan needs to understand that John Kerry is not the type of leader who will sit and read `My Pet Goat' to a group of second graders while America is under attack,'' (Stephanie Cutter) said.

Looks like it will play to the media. YAY!

[HEFFA]

6. Kerry's taking off the gloves while W fiddles with his mittens.

Maybe Barb can help figger 'em out fer 'im. After all, she probably knitted them for him.

[MikeG]

7. Just sent it to Drudge.

I get better results when I end my message with "POST IT ASSHOLE!!"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. You Get Drudge's Attention When You Mention "ASSHOLE"

nt

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. When are they gonna take the gloves off?

lol

[mumon]

12. Yes!

Leadership or Cowardice? You decide.

[grasswire]

17. Stephanie Cutter...

...is a firecracker!

She's my heroine today.

[Bandit]

19. I wonder if Kerry approved that response?

It doesn't really sound like Kerry and if it did come from Kerry McClellen may have been right about Kerry losing his cool.

[bigtree]

20. Yeah

*Freep* Kerry's a loose cannon. *Freep*

[Bandit]

26. Let's put it this way.......... It was not a smart comeback.

Freep you very much.

[bigtree]

28. Works for me.

Echoes Kerry's charge that Bush was lame in the face of the attack on the World Trade Center.

[Generator]

39. Oh I so disagree it goes to the heart of the entire campaign!

Bush's only ahem trump card is the war on terror. The emperor is not wearing any clothes.

What they are trying to do with these ads is say that Kerry is unfit to be commander in chief. This comeback was directly pointing out that Bush has already proved himself unfit to be commander in chief.

If you disagree, I guess you are voting for Bush. If we have to tiptoe around and pretend that what Bunnpants did was HEROIC while Kerry who frigging fought in Vietnam is questioned as a fake, then yeah the gloves are off.

[lolly]

27. Jeez

Sometimes, losing one's "cool" is called for, when cool means ignoring the beam in your opponent's eye while he shrieks endlessly about the (non-existant) mote in your own.

[iwantmycountryback]

41. What is it with some people

They want him to fire back hard!! He does it, and now they're questioning if it is a good idea. Make up your mind!! He has to come back hard on these people.

[hatrack]

49. Yes, and when Dukakis kept his cool responding to a loaded debate ?

That really boosted his standing in the general election contest back in 1988, didn't it?

In the Mondo Whoro that is broadcast "journalism" today, they'd be hooting and jeering at whatever Kerry did, so I pretty much don't give a tin shit as to what potential press reaction to this is going to be. Kerry could stand there acting noble as ape shit piled up around his feet and spattered his clothing, or he could pick up the nearest ax handle and start swinging back. Either way, he'd be damned, either for inertia or for "lowering the tone/losing his temper/abandoning issues for personal attacks blahblah (insert self-righteous mooing from the WSJ editorial page).

As far as Scott McClellan is concerned, if The Littlest Press Secretary pointed to indicate north, I'd buy a compass. If Deer Scott stated that Duluth in January tends to be cold, I'd fly up there with a thermometer, a parka and Bermuda shorts. And if he were standing on the sidewalk with his suit on fire, I wouldn't walk across the street to piss on him - and the same goes for Brit Hume, Wolf Blitzer and the rest of the corporate press mouthpieces.

The unpleasant fact is that every campaign comes to this point sooner or later. In our case it's sooner, especially considering that the GOP convention hasn't even convened yet. Even back in 1952, when everyone was so measured and genteel, things got ugly about six weeks before Election Day, even with avuncular Ike and witty Adlai running neck and neck.

[RamboLiberal]

33. Another zinger

Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said in an interview on CNN that Kerry looked "wild-eyed" talking about it.

Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade responded tersely: "Maybe if George Bush had seen combat up close, his hired gun mouthpiece wouldn't be so flip about the dishonest and dishonorable attack funded by the President's Texas pals."

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/51405|top|08-20-2004::19:30|reuters.html

[Myrina]

44. SA-LAMMMMMM !!!!

:wow:


When'd these boys find their cojones, anyway ?!?!?

BRAVO !!!

[iwantmycountryback]

46. NICE!!!

We're only attacking his war record, why isn't he complacent?

Hopefully these statements will have some effect on people of common sense.

[TheDonkey]

34. Damn, this is going to get ugly (like we didn't know that before but...)

Yikes. This is going to be a rough fall.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[spanone]

45. BULLS-EYE!!!!!!!!