Kevin Phillips on NOW with Bill Moyers says Kerry has to fight HARD.

[Zen Democrat]

Kevin Phillips on NOW with Bill Moyers says that if Kerry doesn't have the guts to fight Bush like Perot fought Sr. and McCain fought Jr., that he doesn't have what it takes to be president. He says it remains to be seen whether Kerry can wake up and realize that he's got to get down and fight hard with these guys. He also said that if this campaign is going to be fought over Vietnam, then so be it, but that consequently whatever George W. Bush was doing in 1968 is back on the table.

Remember in 2000, Bush said that what happened 20 years ago is ancient history and he didn't believe in the "politics of personal destruction." The press backed off and didn't pursue any questions about his past. But Phillips says that Bush's youthful indiscretions are now fair game.

[The Magistrate]

1. Mr. Phillips Is Correct, Ma'am

He is one of the best analysts in the business.

"LET'S Go GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Zen Democrat]

2. His point about Perot and McCain seemed to be that ...

Perot was vicious in his accusations against GHW Bush and pushed voters to Clinton. McCain went after W's ties to Bob Jones University and white-supremacy, but Bush out-dirtied McCain and won.

Phillips said the group Bush is going to for the Swift Boat smear is the same group of right-wingers that the Bushes have always turned to to destroy their opponents. You can't beat them by being nice.

[Malva Zebrina]

3. Interesting

In the minds of the average voter, I think this is true.

They, the average voter I think, will respond to the bread and circus sensationalism and will form an opinion based upon how strong a candidate is onhis reaction to attack. If the candidate does not respond to attacks on his character, he will be perceived as weak and that will translate to being weak on defense of this country.

Kerry and Edwards have established their platform re jobs, the economy etc and can continue to do so, but to not respond to these slimey attacks will project that Kerry is weak--not able to fight ergo not inclined to protect this nation from the terrorists.

[papau]

4. I agree - Kerry not able to fight Slime - then not able to govern :-)

:-)

[pocoloco]

5. So sad and depressing for us all...

no guts no green stamps

[Karenina]

6. JERRY SPRINGER RULES!!!

:eyes:

[Zen Democrat]

9. Not Springer, but FIGHTING FILTHY LIES WITH TRUTH!

[union_maid]

7. Luckily, Kerry has the guts

I'm sure he has more than almost anyone and was more prepared than any other candidate would have been for the visciousness of the attacks. Unlike W, when Kerry said, "Bring it on!" he knew what would be coming.

[napi21]

8. Kevin has some GREAT suggestions!

I hope somebody from Kerry's campaign is watching!!!

[TacticalPeek]

11. Amen.

He hit four or five targets dead center, from middle class squeeze to amorphous dem strategy, etc.; this guy knows how it all works.

[Democat]

10. Just another "hand wringer" according to some DUers?

If you want Kerry to fight hard you are just a hand wringer.

Like Bill Clinton. :)

[senseandsensibility]

15. Exactly.

Fighting evil liars is hand wringing. :eyes:

[DemBones DemBones]

20. Right, and I'm damned tired of it.

I wonder how old these people are -- do they remember past campaigns?

[madfloridian]

12. It was an outstanding show, all segments.

It was indeed a political primer.

[BillZBubb]

13. Any politico who doesn't listen to Kevin Phillips is a moron.

This guy knows the American voter--particularly the white male American voter. He's the creator of Nixon's "Southern Strategy", which Repugs have been using to hammer Democrats for decades.

He correctly pointed out that Democrats are fooling themselves if they think Kerry has a lead. Until he closes the deal, he doesn't.

The way to do that is to out fight Bush* and his slime machine at every turn. If it means you've got to be just as dirty as they are, so be it. Male voters will respect that. Nice guys finish last.

[Gloria]

16. Jeff Greenfield said something along the same line a couple of

nights ago....that all the talk about Kerry "winning" in terms of electoral votes is not correct.....the "leads" he has in a lot of the states are within the margin of error....so, the race is by no means a done deal!

[Kanary]

19. seems to me it's time to start collecting all this free wisdom,

so that when we are criticised for saying Kerry needs to get some backbone, we have a lot to lend credibility to our contention.

Kanary

[PROGRESSIVE1]

14. Phillips is right and Kerry needs to start pulling away now.

[Zen Democrat]

17. Phillips' "American Dynasty" really drills the whole Bush family

and this from a Republican strategist who worked for Nixon. He doesn't even think the Bushes are Republican -- just out for personal power at any cost. This guy who authored many Republican victories over the years, realizes correctly that these people have to be taken down and it can't be done by any other means than playing against the grain, whether the media likes it or not.

The media is more often than not, WRONG. Time and time again their conventional wisdom has been shown to be pure bullshit. Worrying about what the media will say or do is immaterial at this point. People aren't stupid -- and most of them are smart enough to pay little attention to the talking heads. They're watching CSI or Everybody Loves Raymond and when a political ad comes on for 30 seconds or 60 seconds it gets their attention. Kerry has to fight back on network TV spots -- with whatever tactics necessary. And the media be damned!

[Leilani]

18. I don t know if he is a Republican anymore..

I saw him on C-Span some time ago, & he was completely fed up with them.

[DemBones DemBones]

21. But was he fed up with all Republicans or just the Bush* gang?

There is a distinction to be made.

[Leilani]

24. He was fed up with the Republican Party

his point was that they used to care about real people, & now they are owned by corporations. Criticized the current party pretty strongly.

But I think he has contempt for the Bush family.

[DemBones DemBones]

26. Well, he's right about that, but the Bushes are the worst

of a bad lot. When you can start thinking "Gee, Nixon wasn't such a bad guy," you know how bad things have gotten!

Republicans really need a reform movement, to bring them back to decency.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

27. He switched to independent and

has basically come out and said that it is because he believes the Bush family has ruined the Republican party.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. Kerry has to leverage

Money is limited for everyone, but the not-so-swift boat vets (or more precisely, their puppeteers) got a big bang for the buck.

[Joe Turner]

25. Kevin Phillips Knows the Bush Family for what they are

A bunch of Unethical Opportunists that will don whatever political suit that suits their needs, at that particular time, to consolidate political power and use it to bleed off America's wealth. In this despicable Family it is their Holy Grail.

[madfloridian]

23. They discussed the lack of debate on Iraq.

Transcript is not up yet, but the main point was that we were being offered no debate at all on the topic. No definitive stands on where we go from here, and voters deserve more than that.

I ran across this article tonight, and it expresses somewhat the same thoughts that Phillips did.
http://www.bangornews.com/editorialnews/article.cfm?ID=428702

SNIP..."The Missing Great Debate

"Actually, two debates have gone missing. The first is whom to blame for the intelligence failure that let a gang of radical Islamic terrorists slip into the country, hijack jetliners, destroy the World Trade Center, damage the Pentagon, and narrowly miss attacking either the Capitol or the White House. That one was settled out of court when the 9/11 Commission achieved unanimity by blaming no one in particular in its otherwise outspoken report.John Kerry, perhaps for sound political reasons, has deprived us of the other great debate, over whether the United States should have gone to war against Iraq. Mr. Kerry, after long evading a straight answer, finally said that he would have voted to give President Bush the war power even if he had known then what we all know now. Mr. Bush had set a trap, demanding a yes-or-no answer. The New York Times editorially joined in the demand. Maybe Mr. Kerry could have continued dodging the question. But he could hardly have renounced his vote without implying that hundreds of Americans had died in vain, that more hundreds had suffered war wounds in vain, and that still more Americans continue to risk their lives in that still-unfinished war. Howard Dean dared to call the war a mistake, and after a brief surge of popularity, lost out, much as George McGovern went down in defeat for daring to call the Vietnam War a national mistake. Most Americans really hate to be told their country has been mistaken...."

SNIP..."Meanwhile, despite optimistic forecasts by administration leaders, the war goes on, with gradually mounting American casualties and uncounted thousands of dead and wounded Iraqis. And, according to a Wall Street Journal report, the U.S. intelligence community is debating whether the many recent arrests of terrorist suspects have crippled al-Qaeda or whether it remains strong. The article quoted senior intelligence officials as saying that new leaders have emerged, creating "al-Qaeda Central," whose top-down command structure is sending encrypted messages to operatives in Britain and the United States and updating information on targets that were first cased years ago.

Americans deserve a thorough look at how we got into this situation. But, sad to say, there seems to be no way to cast an effective vote on such an important issue...."