Is it Kerry's fault that he is blowing the election?

[Oddman]

Poll question: Is it Kerry's fault that he is blowing the election?

The Kerry campaign is floundering - he has no message and no backbone - is it his fault?

[alittlelark]

1. No, because He Has A Message, and a HELL of a Backbone!!

He is in no way blowing this election. WTF

[Bread and Circus]

3. What is it....in 3 sentences or less...

[alittlelark]

5. Bush is leading the country in the wrong direction (Fascism),

The economy reeks due to the tax cuts for the rich. The Iraq war is a debacle of catastrophic proportions.

[Bread and Circus]

7. Well, I created a thread on this...

If the message is consistent, Kerry wins....

If people post 10 different things, he loses.

[IHaveADream]

12. I LIKE that answer.

I think that would be the most telling . . .

[alittlelark]

14. depends on the posters.

[Bread and Circus]

20. It shouldn't....every damn Freeper knows what Bush's message

is.....

Kill A-rabs, cut taxes, get rid of abortion, and an UZI on every street corner.

[IHaveADream]

24. That's right

an Uzi under every pillow and in the back of every pick-up.

How many bullets does it take to kill a deer?

As many as I want.

[Oddman]

10. That's Bush's message - what's Kerry's?

[Oddman]

4. I'm talking about the public perception - not the actual facts :)

[Seabiscuit]

46. DU seems to disagree

42% agree with you. 58% think Kerry's blowing it for one reason or another (whether it's his fault, his aides' fault, the media, the stupidity of the American people, etc.).

That's pretty frightening if only 42% of DU'ers don't think he's blowing the election, when he's the only chance DU'ers have of taking Bush down.

[IHaveADream]

2. He still has 6 weeks!

I think he can turn it around!!!!

[Kal Belgarion]

6. That depends. Are you still beating your wife? (nt)

[Diogenes2]

8. What a loaded question!

Your premise, first of all, is false, that Kerry is floundering, failing, messing up. On average, Kerry is remaining in a statistical tie with Bush, & wil probably remain there until the debates, or even until election day. That's damn good for a challenger running against an incumbent... Go Kerry!!!

[IHaveADream]

21. Oh please - I want Kerry to win more than anyone!!

But even he knows he is floundering - that is why there has been such a shake-up in his campaign staff. No more sugar and spice and everything nice. He trails in all the polls by at least 7 points and as much as 13 points.

If he was doing so well and if he thought he was doing so well why the huge shake-up?

[Seabiscuit]

48. You're right, of course, but

58% of respondents as of this post think Kerry's blowing the election for one reason or another.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. On what are you basing you assumptions?

Polls were similar to this when Bush ran versus Gore and Gore still won. Furthermore, how can one BLOW an election when the media is rather complicit in spreading right wing lies?

[JI7]

13. since Bush is losing his lead in the polls

it seems some felt a need to come on talking about how Kerry is losing or going to lose.

[mikehiggins]

11. We know the media is lying, why beleive the pollsters?

After all we've been through over the last few years I am surprised to see so many DUers joining the chorus of how bad things are going.

Sez who?

The pollsters? Newsweek (?) polls 390 Gopukes, 300 dems and 230(?) indies and tells us BUsh is ahead?

HANNITY and SCARBOROUGH and the TALKING MORON BRIGADE tell us Kerry is doing badly?

Why do you beleive them?

I do not know one person who admits that they are going to vote for Bush. Maybe they are all lying but I'll bet the future of this country that Kerry will pull through in November, taking the popular vote AND the electoral college by numbers even the GOP won't be able to fuck with.

We just have to stay the course and keep harping on the W=WRONG theme no matter what.

THe time for nitpicking will be AFTER the election.

[IHaveADream]

18. I think that approach is too weak . . .

You have to point out the facts and pound the fact that bush isn't just wrong but he is a liar and thief who stole the last election, who didn't have a clue how to react on 9/11, who is responsible for over 1000 American soldiers dying, who lied to the country about the Iraq / 9/11 connection and WMD's - who lied about his service to his country, who lied about his drinking and drug use, who lied about Abu Ghraib, who lied about Iraq, lied about almost everything. And he has never taken any responsibility for anything. Why are we Democrats so week kneed and wishy washy - how did the Bush team transform Kerry's heroism into being a traitor? How did they deflect the National Guard papers into a discussion about whether they are authentic or not? Why can't the damn Democrats make the public see this sham of a man and his pathetic lies and pandering????

[EST]

33. Yes, yes, yes a thousand times yes!

You got it, IHAD! Also add "AND I HAVE PROOF." If that doesn't fix it all then it's a good thing the AWB expired-we're gonna need 'em.

[aquart]

15. I love negative disinformation spreaders.

I do not, however, consider them Democrats.

[yardwork]

16. For those who would like another point of view

check out the many threads by GOP Against Bush here at DU.

Start here and link to many other interesting threads.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x748458

[foo_bar]

17. is this a push poll or satire?

[IHaveADream]

22. touche

[FrenchieCat]

19. Yes, Kerry is blowing it....

His first big decision (the mother of all decision from a presidential candidate) to pick Edwards as his running mate is turning out to make Kerry appear to be totally out of touch. Edwards is ineffectual against Bush/Cheney and their fear mongering with terror. I am not saying Edwards hurts....but he sure isn't helping much in bolstering Kerry as a strong leader who has a plan to secure America. Edwards is more like an attack puppy than an attack dog. He snarls a few high pitch barks at BushCo., and then retreats back behind his master. It's pretty pitiful, to be honest.

Kerry was never going to be perceived as strong in NS/FP (as many of us knew before-hand). Kerry should have been shoring that area up, and instead decided to shore up what didn't need shoring...his economic stance (with Edwards). Bad, bad decision.

Kerry's political instinct is dead and gone. He was a force to be reckoned with back in the 70's. Looks like he lost all of that he had somewhere in the senate.

And I don't want to hear about how he is a "strong Closer". Pluuuease! He won Iowa because the media started heralding the "electable" (he can beat Bush)poll over and over again. Same poll they all used...just like they are doing now with the Times poll. Meanwhile, during the primaries, the media kept tearing away at Howard Dean (Iowa Caucus comments and secret papers) and Ignoring/smearing Clark (AWOL/Moore, General vs. Lieutenant Dole setup, etc...)

This is a national campaign...this is the big times! Kerry and his campaign really should have known better every step along the way.

Look, I want Kerry to win.....but damn, not wanting to attack Bush at the convention, that answer to his IWR vote, and the slow reaction to the SBVT were just more mistakes on top of mistakes. I just have to call them as I see them.

When (and I am praying these days) Kerry wins, it will be in spite of himself...not because he ran a "great" campaign.

[Yuna]

39. I agree he should have picked Clark/Dean

Maybe it's just me... but it just feels like the steam ran out in a lot of people (volunteers and party activists mostly - people that go door to door, handle phones, staff campaign offices, etc) after the primary. I'm not saying there is no motivation, simply that a lot of the motivation and spirit has died. I think this is one of the worst things that has happened so far. A campaign can't be won with out that driving force. Dean & Clark had many, many dedicated and energized supporters. If that could have been maintained I firmly believe kerry would be at least 10-20 points ahead right now.

What Kerry probably should have done within days after picking up his first several states would have been to declare either Dean or Clark as his VP ASAP. That would have prevented the organizations Dean & Clark built up from fading and would have kept them growing to this day.

Sadly those movements were shot to hell. A terrible waste.

[PittLib]

41. Quite frankly, I want to puke. With dems like you ...

who need freepers? I will seriously blame you if Kerry loses. Quit being so self righteous. You know how to run a campaign? Then let's see it. I so love people like you.

[Satchel]

45. Kerry can do better

Oh come on, we want to see Kerry win and naturally we want him to run an effective campaign in order to do so. Bush should be so easy to beat, he's awful. There are a million things to attack him on. Get to it Kerry!

[PittLib]

47. Hmmm you know... I just responded to your negativity on

another thread. What do you know. Actually, what do you know? You seem so full of criticism... so lets hear it. And I mean something we can use. No finger pointing and rehash... because I think we are all a little tired of that.

[Satchel]

53. Relax

I'm full of criticism because I'm encouraging Kerry to toughen up and fight back??
Yeah I'm sure Kerry reads this forum too.

Listen and listen good:
I know that a lot of people aren't sold on Kerry. They don't like Bush, but they want to know what Kerry stands for. I'm happy to tell them to the best of my ability, but I can only imagine the number of people who never talk to a Kerry supporter and don't get the message. He got seriously distracted by the Swift boat crap, he got stalled on Vietnam which is old news-no one cares.
He needs to admit it was a mistake to vote for the war and pledge he will not start new wars as president.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[IHaveADream]

25. You better not be calling Oddman a troll . . .

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. Or what? Are we having a problem of some sort?

[Rockygabriel]

27. OOPS Spelling Error

Thanks for your response.

I meant trawl.

When we unwittingly do the bidding for the worst president our nation has ever seen...or better said;

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... It may just be a duck.

Now for a trip down memory lane...

In 1996, in his Senate re-election bid against William Weld, a popular sitting governor, Kerry ended up in an old-fashioned dogfight.

Though the polls sometimes showed the race in a dead heat or with Kerry even trailing, Kerry eventually won by a seven-point margin, with fifty-two percent of the vote.

Hasta La Vista,
Rocky aka Leslie Gabriel :headbang:

[Dookus]

28. stupid, baseless question

I swear, this is the first election for half the people here.

[sandnsea]

29. It's ignorant Democrats' fault

That keep repeating this right wing bullshit. That's whose fault it is right there. Get your whiney asses off this board and go out and tell the truth to the voters.

[Awsi Dooger]

30. He's not blowing it, but there were unrealistic expectations of a cinch

Kerry's dosage index as a presidential nominee was never ideal -- Senator, New England, War and Peace speeches, likability concerns. The incompetence of our opponent and Kerry's military background led to rose-colored landslide optimism that was never realistic. Bill Clinton is the only contemporary Democrat who could have ended this by now, IMO.

Completely unfair that he has no backbone, in fact ludicrous. The message and the decisiveness will be on display in the debates. Kerry is being Kerry, dependably solid but no threat of brilliance. I doubt he would change much if he ran for president time after time. This time, it's very close if it will be enough.

[Oddman]

32. I think everyone should have read foo_bar's post . . .

I thought you folks would have gotten it - but your just a wee bit angry :)

It's not my opinion . . .

[progressivebydesign]

31. You forgot one category!

NO: He's not blowing the election, and these inane Kerry bashing polls are the work of trolls or wannabe trolls who think they know how to run a fucking presidential campaign because they took a political science class in high school, and could care less about whether or not Kerry gets elected, because it's more important to look really radical on DU.

You forgot that category. The Kerry bashing here is nauseating this week... What? is it Nader fans here? Bush fans? what is it?? Because NOT ONE of these posts are doing a goddamn thing to help Kerry win.

[Oddman]

34. No one is bashing Kerry . . .

and what we say or do here on this board has absolutely no effect on the campaign . . . just having a little fun.


A Pathetic Excuse for a pResident

[PittLib]

42. thank you!

[PittLib]

50. You said it... I might have to take a vacation from these

fatalistic nay sayers because they are making me question why I'm bothering with this campaign at all. I've volunteered, donated $$$ and time, registered voters - and why? To sit here and listen to this crap. You all really need to gain some perspective.

[IndianaGreen]

35. What message?

The noise about Vietnam era stories, together with the other media obsessions (Peterson, Jacko, etc.,) are trampling whatever message Kerry/Edwards is putting out there.

[juajen]

36. I do not like this poll

Kerry is doing beautifully, thank you. This poll is disingenuous and disgusting.

[depakid]

37. Talk about question begging

sheesh....

[ingsoc]

38. I know of at least 4 votes he lost today because of the gun issue.

Amplify that by a hundred-thousand times around the country, and those are the kinds of numbers than mean the loss of an election.

I have to tell you straight, Kerry blew it today when he went off about the AWB. He has gotten some very bad advice from his advisors, who are leading by their own unexamined opinions rather than how things are going to play with mainstream, heartland Americans. A number of my co-workers are politically independant gun-enthusiasts, and they were leaning toward Kerry...until this morning. As one of them said to me a month ago, he figured that the Dems had learned a tough lesson about supporting gun-bans during the Clinton admin, and that it was time to let them try to attract gun owners to the party again. Now him and his pals are dead-set against another Democratic presidency, if it means they'll have to put up with another 4-8 years of attacks on their 2nd Amendment rights. I don't know if they're voting for Bush, someone else, or just sitting the election out, but I can say this much; they ain't voting for our guy under any circumstances. Not anymore.

In spite of all the hunting photo-ops he's done in the past 6 months, Kerry has pretty much lost that segment of the voter -- it ain't chump change either; as past political campaigns can tell you (and as Bill Clinton had directly stated), this issue shakes up a hornets nest of activists, and most of them are on the other side from us, looking to kick our butts. There are huge swaths of working-class gun-toting males throughout the country, large enough numbers that they split the Union vote in 2000, and the Kerry campaign has just annoyed them again.

Can we please, *please* convince the Democratic planners to get this tarbaby issue out of the party? How many elections are we going to lose before we figure out that this gun-control issue is an albatross around our necks? It isn't like the people who are fanatics about gun-control are going to vote for someone else. This issue is turning into poison for the Democratic party.

[Name removed]

40. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[PittLib]

43. Aren't you brilliant? I sure wish my only concern was whether...

I could carry a gun, oops ... (edit) semi-automatic weapon. Wouldn't my life be friggin' peachy.

[PittLib]

44. Oh - speaking of pissing on constitutions ...

I'd think carefully about that statement, as the Bush Admin seems to think that is perfectly acceptable to amend the constitution, to twist it as they see fit. Oh, but not YOUR amendment, right? Of course not... silly me. What was I thinking?

[Satchel]

51. People will get guns anyway

He obviously has Libertarian ideals, what's wrong with that. I think Kerry should uphold the constitution too. Why should the gov't be able to have guns and not us?

[EmmanuelGoldstein]

49. New Here and Confused

I'm kinda confused...is this a pro-Kerry website or what? LOL. I think Kerry is on track and yes he had a bad August but since September started he has really sharpened his message. I'll be honest...Kerry wasn't even my third choice in the primaries (Dean, Clark, and Edwards were), but this is what our fellow Democrats wanted. We need unite behind him 100%, not even 99%. I can't believe some people are talking about the election being blown! Think about...a war time president is only ahead by 5-7 points? I'd say that's pretty good.

[Satchel]

52. Up your standards!

"A war-time president", that's the nicest description I've seen of him on here. In other words, he sucks and the war was phony, shoulda never happened...Kerry should be winning handily, definitely shouldn't be behind! We even have the economy on our side! No time to be satisfied or blindly optimistic.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

54. Jesus Christ on a Cracker!!!!

I'm continually amazed that Democrats ever win an election with constituents like this. Kerry is blowing it! Kerry should stop making the thumb and forefinger gesture! Kerry needs a seven-minute campaign ad!

Do the Republicans engage in these orgies of self-flagellation on the smallest issue? And does anybody want to bet me that there won't be a half dozen "gloom and doom" threads started before noon EST today? For God's sake, people, your candidate is in a statistical dead heat against an incumbent the week after the incumbent's nominating convention.

Is peace breaking out in Iraq? Is the economy booming? Are prescription drugs suddenly affordable?

Bush is in for a major-league ass-whuppin'

So stop whimpering!

[Misunderestimator]

55. Hey I think you meant to post this on this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1667905

... instead of starting a new thread.

Unless you were going for something even more grand... like "Create Threads Like a...."

[Moderator]

56. Locking......

This is flamebait.


DU Moderator