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Edited on Sun Sep-05-04 04:55 PM by a new day
I know many wringing their hands over Kerry and going on and on about how he's turning into Al Gore or Mike Dukakis, but I want to reassurre you this is just bunk. Although it's tough to do, I personally believe Kerry is playing rope-a-dope with Bush. Take a look at Wednesday's GOP Convention..... can you say "overreach?"
Although it's been painful for Kerry to do it, he's largely held his fire for the last month because conserving his campaign cash is a critical part of his strategy. Bush is now locked into the same $75 Million spending limit Kerry is....... This makes the period between the end of the Democratic Convention and the end of the Republican Convention the political equivalent of the middle rounds in a prize fight. Bush has hit Kerry as hard as he can over the last few weeks and Kerry's strategy has been to lean up against the ropes, hold tight, take the pounding, and conserve his strength.
Kerry knows the fatal flaw in George W. Bush is his arrogance...... Bush fancies himself a bit of the bad boy, a clever bully who likes to crack down on others and get one up by whatever means it takes. Republicans sell this as self-confidence, as THE reason George deserves another four years. In their GOP gospel, Bush is decisive, unflappable, and free of self-doubt.
However, a handy rule of thumb in life is that nothing is ever exactly what it seems to be. The fatal flaw beneath the surface in Bush is that his self-assurrance turns far too easily to cockiness, to a smug sort of strutting around that lends itself to miscalculation. Remember Bush on the flight deck in his Mission Accomplished pilot suit and the made-for-TV codpiece? Wasn't he the fine little rooster that day! And look at where it put him...... in no time he was backpedalling to save his life.
Look closely at the speeches by Zell Miller and Dick Cheney. Both went way, way over the line. Why? Because in their cocky over-confidence, they genuinely believe they have Kerry on the ropes.
This, however, is the brilliance of the rope-a-dope, as Muhammand Ali first conceived it. Lay back, take some blows, make the other guy think he has you where he wants you, and let him tire himself out. Let his own over-confidance work against him by getting him off balance. Then, whenhe's off-balance and vulnerable himself, hit him back really, really hard.
Once the cash field is even and Bush has overreached, a Kerry counter-attack could hurt Bush a lot. Just take a look at the polls..... Cheney is a hugely unpopular figure with most moderate and swing state voters. Do you think Cheney really won any undecided voters tonight with his relentless ridicule and cheap shots against Kerry and Edwards? Or did Zell Miller, an over-caffeinated Benedict Arnold who has the appearance of a man badly in
need of a shot for rabies?
Look at the GOP message in sum and what have you got? Ridicule, Terror, and Lies. Not a single proposal for the future, not a single word on any topic besides National Defense. September 11, Terror, September 11....... that's ALL Bush and Cheney have to run on. And you think the American people won't see through that? Bush came out with a bunch of platitudes he can't deliver on in his speech Thursday.
Now, granted...... the rope-a-dope only works if Kerry DOES hit back. There is no rope-a-dope without the counter-punches. But, if Kerry does what I believe he will, he WILL counter-attack. And then you'll see what arrogance and cockiness have done for the GOP. Ridicule, Terror, and Lies. That's what the GOP has to offer....... Pretty thin offerings, wouldn't you say?
I personally think Kerry has them duped. They're so sure they've got him on the ropes, their message has gotten sloppy. Take away the Terror, the Ridicule, and the Lies, and what exactly do Bush and Cheney have to offer the American people that deserves giving them four more years???
The red meat partisans snug in their "little tent" inside Madison Square Garden ate up the Zell-n-Dick Terror and Ridicule show like it was a bowl of milk set before a hungry cat. But will it sell in the Swing States? My bet is, it won't. What we saw was nothing less than cockiness, smugness, arrogance, and overreaching. What the GOP thinks is dominance is really the worst kind of sloppiness. These guys in their eager over-confidence have thrown themselves off balance...... just where a rope-a-dope counter-puncher wants his opponent to be.
I personally think it's a bit too soon to be counting Kerry out of this fight.
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