I do not want Kerry to get *nasty*

[troublemaker]

Demeaning Bush has limited benefit. In 1984 Ronald Reagan was almost as big a punch-line as Bush is today. He was actually senile... not just old, but clearly suffering from senile dementia. He forgot what he was doing during a televised debate.

This election is about FEAR. Some people fear being blown up by pagan foreigners. Others, like me, fear endless war and people being herded into concentration camps for political views.

Currently a few more people fear Kerry more than they fear Bush. That's the most meaningful dynamic... who scares you more? Any knock on Bush that does not generate raw FEAR is ineffective.

ON EDIT: I should have been clearer. Bush must be painted as frightening. Focusing that message requires skipping the argument that he is trivial and laughable. He is those things, but that's not a winning argument. Saying Bush is a dope is merely nasty. (It's true, but a nasty thing to say) The key is to tie his intellectual shortcomings to scenarios that harm people. People should be afraind that a simpleton is in charge of our nuclear weapons. (I hope folks will begin asking what Bush would have done during the Cuban mssle crisis.)

[roseBudd]

1. We need to get nasty using guerilla marketing

Create an issue that brings the media to us using viral and guerilla marketing techniques.

please help me get the word out:

most people have not read the 8/6/2001 PDB. I created a postcard size version.





Please print and distribute the image above. High res version for printing available below. Put them on car windows. Hand them out on street corners. We don't need TV buys to get some attention on this issue. We have to undermine Bush's perceived strength. We all are potential disseminators of printed media. We do not need a newspapers permission or lots of money for TV commercials. We need viral grass roots marketing. We need to create a buzz. If we create a buzz with massive distribution of printed ads we will get media coverage. If these start miraculously appearing and no one knows where they are coming from it will start to get media attention. We must mock Rice, Cheney and Ashcroft also. Bush incompetence led to poor choices for crucial posts.

Bush admin. INCOMPETENCE is key to undermining his strength.

high resolution version for printing here:
http://somnamblst.tripod.com /

[fishface]

7. Nice graphic...

hopefully I can remote link it to some boards I lurk in.

[roseBudd]

9. If guerilla marketing techniques

are used to disseminate these print pieces it will get media attention.

I should be a stealth campaign with no one knowing where they originated

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Brillian!

I've saved it and will pass it on to others!

[volosong]

21. TO TELL THE TRUTH, KERRY MUST GET "NASTY"

[roseBudd]

25. No like SBVfT we must get nasty

[wurzel]

2. Kerry has not been "nasty". Where has it got him? Where nice guys finish.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. He doesn't have to get nasty

but he has to tell the truth. I'd like to see an ad showing what Bush looked like as he sat in that classroom for all those minutes. How can anyone believe he immediately put a defense plan in motion if they've seen that film?

And that's just the beginning. I'd like to see ads with returning soldiers telling what it is like in Iraq and what it has been like to go back to jobs that are no longer there because of long deployments, lack of health care after 30 days, etc.

I'd like to see ads where they tell the truth about how the Houston school district fudged the numbers so they could make it appear that No Child Left Behind works. I'd like to see ads that tell how much NCLB is costing, and how much of the Federal money is missing.

I'd like to see ads talking about the lack of homeland security-how Bush has underfunded places like NYC.

This isn't getting nasty. This is telling the truth.

The problem is the news media won't cover it because it isn't nasty. They want to have something they can attack and spin in favor of Shrub.

[EnfantTerrible]

4. Agreed. Beside the fact that it's redundant

to demean the shrub... it's alienating to those Repugs who see themselves in him.

Not the way to win hearts and minds. Demeaning tactics have worked wonders with the Iraqi people...<ahem>

[shawcomm]

5. If the truth is demeaning, so be it.

as I see it. Plenty of criticisms to make, from his failure to serve to his failure with America. I don't think pointing out those failures are necessarily demeaning.

I think JK should just continue to be forthright and truthful concerning the shrub's failures. I don't see that as negative, but as a positive and helpful for America.

[Memekiller]

6. Difference between nasty and lying...

There's plenty of true things about Bush to push relentlessly.

But the press will treat it like a smear job, of course.

[Cobalt Violet]

10. Do you like the word *Critical* better?

He needs to get Critical of Bush or Bush is going to win.

[troublemaker]

24. No... *negative* Rabidly and unabashedly **NEGATIVE**

[Stew225]

11. street fighters win fights and

they don't fight by any rules! The gentleman boxer these days will get his tongue torn out.

[gulliver]

12. If politics isn't dirty, you're not doing it right.

Apologies to Woody Allen.

We need to stop getting fixated on false choices. Getting nasty does not mean being a sleaze. Nor does it mean ignoring the issues. All of the elements of politics and rhetoric must be used when the fight calls for them.

Kerry doesn't need to lie. He doesn't need to get Bob Dole nasty. Kerry needs to show a human side. He can't try to sell himself as an honest politician. He has to be about two degrees more sophisticated than that.

I think he is up to it. He has guts. He is smart. We'll see.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

17. Just a thought, it is too early to go "nice"

I don't like dirty campaigns anymore than you do but you don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

Bush is pandering to the uninformed and scared. We have to get these people's attention and hit them in a way they can understand.

THEN - after four years, eight, even twelve years of Democratic administrations in office we can revert back to campaigning on issues, etc. That will be enough time to re-vamp the education and healthcare system, show that a dem can address economy, terror, war, etc. and give all these scared and uninformed people the opportunity to catch up. Nasty will not be needed.

We cannot continue to campaign on the theory that the good guy always triumphs over evil. Bush/Cheney/Rove is an evil unlike any ever seen before in our nation.

[MrBenchley]

13. The Republicans NEED Kerry to get nasty

They can't win in a stand up fight and they need to pull the Democrats into the gutter....

Anybody see Marc Racicot on Face the Nation? After pretending briefly that his party had nothing to do with the slimeboatters...he then said that they were justified in putting on those ads (and yeah, don't think the internal contradiction was lost on anyone) by "all the negative ads" the Democrats have run.

Why would anybody want to play into this goober's fumbling hands?

[troublemaker]

20. I spoke ineffectively

I was differentiating nasty and negative. We need to get VERY negative, but in a focused way that is connected to fear.

Everyone already knows Bush is a stupid cowboy. Many people don't mind. Hence that is no longer effective. People must be AFRAID to vote for Bush. Every Kerry argument should be framed as "Bush's policy on X is likelier to get your child killed than my policy."

Most people think Bush was behind the Swift-Boat ads, and they admire him for it. Tying him to those ads would please Kerry voters, but would not sway any swing voters. (We are no longer the target audience, nor should we be.)

[roseBudd]

26. We must mock him with his Bushisms

Bush: 'It Reads Like a Mystery'
Tuesday, July 27, 2004


CRAWFORD, Texas — President Bush (search) met Monday via videoconference with his task force reviewing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations, and contemplates acting within days on some of them, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.

She would not say which of the more than 40 recommendations Bush was likely to adopt or if he would make his own proposals, and it was unclear if he will make any announcements on the matter this week as the Democratic National Convention is under way in Boston.

The president said he was reading the report and found it "interesting."

"It reads like a mystery, a novel. It's well written," Bush told The Associated Press in a brief interview just outside his home in Crawford. Asked what he was gleaning from the report, he said, "I'm gleaning that was a well- thought-out plot by the enemy."

[MrBenchley]

28. Again, where do you get this stuf?

"Most people think Bush was behind the Swift-Boat ads, and they admire him for it."
If that were in any way true, he'd be taking credit for it. But instead he's trying to run as far from them as he can while sniveling about supposed attacks he's already getting.

"People must be AFRAID to vote for Bush."
If they are, they won't vote at all. At the end of the day, people need a reason to get out and vote....and Kerry is giving them one. Why would anyone in their right mind abandon that?

[74dodgedart]

14. I agree. There are still the debates, there is plenty of time..

Don't become what you despise

[mzmolly]

15. I want him to realize this is life or death, it's about winning. NASTY

is what it takes! Get nasty on his ass - says me. :hi:

[LisaL]

16. Nobody is saying Kerry has to lie.

But there is more than enough negative things Bush did that Kerry can talk about.

[0rion]

18. I DO! SOOOOO BADLY!

I want Kerry to suckerpunch Bush every single day in every single ad.

[derby378]

19. You don't bring a knife to a gunfight. (n/t)

[troublemaker]

23. Not singling out this reply...

this is five replies in a row from people who do not differentiate nasty and negative. To me they are not the same thing.

Nasty rallies bases. Negative wins campaigns.

Nasty is a tool to suppress turn-out by demoralizing all but the most committed voters. It's a good tool, but not a good tool for us in 2004.

It means nothing to say Bush is a liar unless one has a compelling reason to think that Americans vote against liars. There is, of course, little evidence that they do. His lies must be tied to fear. His stupidity must be tied to fear. His alcoholism, his religious fanaticism, his corruption... all must be tied to fear. He cannot be trusted with our LIVES.

The original post is a call for unprecedented negative campaigning. If that was missed then the fault is mine for not communicating better.

[NJmaverick]

22. We need to get nasty

We need to allow Kerry to stay postive (like that smirking chimp) while we get nasty and do the attacking!

[Octafish]

27. Agree. Kerry should take the High Road.

Edwards can take the Low Road. And be very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very nasty. Using the Truth, of course.

Typing skilss soth: NASTY.