NYT Nagourney: Was Kerry's response too late? TV news fueled SBVT

[DeepModem Mom]

NOTE: See in the last excerpted paragraph the critical part played by "television news shows" in fueling this issue.


NEWS ANALYSIS
Kerry Might Pay Price for Failing to Strike Back Quickly

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: August 21, 2004


WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 - The fierce back and forth over John Kerry's Vietnam War record may seem an odd storm to break out during the summer lull before the Republican convention. But it goes to the heart of his challenge to President Bush, and its resolution may prove pivotal in determining Mr. Kerry's hopes of victory this fall....

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Mr. Kerry decided to respond this week by blaming Mr. Bush for what he described as a scurrilous attack, and by filing a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. His actions came after confronting considerable evidence that two weeks of largely unanswered attacks were taking their toll....

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In fairness to Mr. Kerry, his aides were faced with a strategic dilemma that has become distressingly familiar to campaigns in this era when so much unsubstantiated or even false information can reach the public through so many different forums....The first choice is to discredit the attack before it takes hold. Many Democrats counseled Mr. Kerry's aides to do this the moment the advertisements began.

The other choice is to ignore what appears to be noise from the sideline, in the calculation that attacking serves to elevate the attack to the public's attention. This was the argument that some of Mr. Kerry's advisers had been making over the past two weeks in urging supporters to play down the advertisements....

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What they apparently failed to calculate was the extent that advertisements featuring other Vietnam veterans, speaking coolly and directly to the camera, would become the subject of TELEVISION NEWS SHOWS. That was all the more so because the advertisements and the book were released in August, a slow month when news outlets are hungry for any kind of news....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/21/politics/campaign/21assess.html

[Guaranteed]

1. That's right. The ads became the news.

If it wasn't for that, this would have just blown over like most things do.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Seems as if my sig line holds some truth -- press wrapped around...

Rove's finger.