Attn: All those who think Kerry needs to go into attack mode

[WilliamPitt]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040905/nysu013_2.html

End transmission.

[kodi]

1. 'bout 5 hours late

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x803390

[Pab Sungenis]

2. Great...just what we need.

He's turning more and more to the campaign manager of the last man who failed to go negative against a Bush...and lost big.

[billbuckhead]

5. Sasso wanted to go very negative on Bush 41 but was fired for it

Sasso wanted to bring out Bush the elder's infidelity with Jennifer Fitzgerald, but Dukakis didn't want to.

[TeacherCreature]

3. On the other threads, folks were being called defeatists and repugs...

For posting or discussing this very story.

Will they admit they were a bit heavy-handed now?

Probably not, but who cares?

Meanwhile, I hope this really DOES mean that the campaign will be getting tougher.

A LOT tougher.

[Union Thug]

4. Stick and move, Johnny boy..

or the microcephalic chimp will get 4 more years.

[graywarrior]

7. I sent Kerry an email today saying

You want this Lynn girl (I'm from a tough town north of Boston) to come out there and show you how to fight? Start kicking ass.

[wryter2000]

6. A tad more transmission would be helpful

Are you saying he will get fiercer?

I hate to say it, but I think * needs to be hammered on the missing parts of his military records. I wonder if Kerry's veteran platoon can do it for him. It could be done in a way that doesn't disparage the National Guard (for heaven's sake, they're paying a price now!) but emphasizes that he let the Guard down.

Editted for clarity.

[wtmusic]

8. What's he furious about

that he took her advice?

[WilliamPitt]

9. Candidates take the advice of campaign managers

When they don't, more often than not, they get wrecked.

See: Kucinich, Dean (On Dean, I read Trippi's book...on Kucinich, I was there)

[wtmusic]

10. Why the Cheney is a "press release" coming from Newsweek

also labeled a "news release"...?

smells fishy

[Doosh]

11. "He can hit as hard as the Republican hit machine."

that's all I need to hear, let 'em loose!

[unfrigginreal]

12. The sky is falling...The Sky Is Falling

Why is Kerry putting out this doom and gloom press release? Kerry must be a freeper.

[mzmolly]

13. The only thing that worried me initially is that Sasso helped with Dukakis

campaign.

However, upon further examination, I think I like him juuuust fine.

:evilgrin:

Here's a bit more info on Sasso, sounds like he knows how to dig some dirt anyhoo?

But when Sasso got his hands on a videotape of the Kinnock speech and a videotape of the Biden speech, Sasso figured he had a way of damaging Biden.

Sasso put the two tapes together on one tape and leaked the "attack video," as it came to be known, to the New York Times, NBC and the Des Moines Register. All three published the story. None revealed its source.

The story immediately snowballed. Other Biden character flaws were discovered (he had inflated his academic record and had insulted a voter in New Hampshire) and Biden withdrew from the race.

But one question still remained: Who had leaked the attack video?

...

But what had Sasso really done that was so terrible when he leaked the attack video?

There was ample precedent for digging dirt on opponents. The Republicans had a "truth squad" following Harry Truman around the country in 1948, leaping on his every word and reporting on its findings to reporters. And in 1968, the Republican National Committee tape-recorded every Hubert Humphrey speech and provided reporters with lists of what it considered inconsistencies and errors.

Today, campaigns make e-mail accusations on a daily basis. Dirt is dug and served up to the press regularly.

But Sasso got bounced, not so much for what he did, but for not coming clean about it from the very beginning.

http://www.rogersimon.com/archive/004605.html

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. Why the HELL isn't Kerry running ads debunking the Smear?

He could run an ad with every member of his crew describing how THEY were the very ones under fire on the river. The ad would be just like the SmearBoater ad, but telling the true story. They could have Rasmann himself, a Green Beret who was not a member of Kerry's crew, an unbiased witness whose life was saved, telling the world what really happened. They could describe how at least two other Bronze Stars were awarded that day to the smearers. And they (if they have it) run quotes of the smearers who were previously praising Kerry for his valor. Getting Cahill, or a host of other campaigners to go on talk shows and do a disjointed effort where the TV talking heads don't give them an opportunity to tell their side of the story won't get the message out. I don't care if Bill Clinton himself ran Kerry's campaign. A directed ad debunking this in the most hard-hitting manner, accusing the smearers of baseless lies, with not one single fact to prove their claims is the only way to handle this, in my opinion. Why aren't we seeing at least one ad setting the record straight?

[sendero]

15. The thing is this....

... if someone calls you a $#%#$% liar or whatever, and you say nothing in response, most observers will come to one of two conclusions:

1) you ARE a #$%#$ liar and hence will not challenge the charge

or

2) you are a total bath-toy wimp who will not stand up for himself


The old "I won't dignify those charges with a response" bullshit does not play in today's political world.

[MrBenchley]

17. Because the smear fell apart by itself....

and the issues are what's going on in 2004....not what happened last century....

[bigtree]

16. Newsweek, who has caused a stir with its weighted polls is reporting this?

one old friend says. Washington Correspondent Richard Wolffe and General Editor Susannah Meadows report.

Who the hell are these people and why should we believe them?