What if Kerry did this....

[SeekingTruth]

What if Kerry got up and said that as a country we need to set aside all the Swiftboat ads, the Kitty Kelley books and talk about the issues that face us. That he is not concerned with whether or not Bush or Cheney served the country honorably, but that he is concerned with the safety of our soliders; the safety of the US, the health of the US.

I think he needs to get off the past and get off the past quick. All of this National Guard business is hurting us more than Bush - by the time the dust settles and people agree that Bush didn't serve and did get help getting into the National Guard, it will be Nov 3 and four more years of Bush.

I think we are so disgusted with all that Bush and his cronies have done, that we are in a blood frenzy instead of making sure Kerry gets in the Whitehouse....

thoughts?

[NJCher]

1. I think it's a good idea and combine it with a choice on Iraq

He offers no choice on Iraq. See this article re strategy:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/06/deja.vu/index.html


Cher

[BushOutNow]

11. Exactly!

[newyawker99]

12. Hi BushOutNow!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[LisaL]

2. I see no reason

as to why Bush couldn't be bashed on what he did 35 years ago in parallel with what he is doing now. It shows that his character didn't improve since his younger days.

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. Absolutely!

Bush supporters are always eager to bring up Kerry's activities when he returned from Vietnam as a sign of his character. They won't touch his service anymore, but want to push the idea of 'debating' the Winter Soldier, etc. Yet, as far as Bush goes, they have only one thing to say..."He was honorably discharged."

Certainly no character flaws there to be debated. /sarcasm

[Hello_Kitty]

4. Kerry should do what you say....

And let others do the bashing. Bash away people!

[whirlygigspin]

5. Cheney that noise

Kerry needs to go on a slaughtering bloody rampage and bash those pnac neocons heads-in day and night, until they're dead dead dead!

You can't play nice with vampires; a stake through the heart and burn their fuckin coffins so they can never come crawing back.

[SeekingTruth]

6. But can't you see.....

that while all the attention is on the things that aren't as important for Kerry, the Bushies are directing this show and getting the better of us.

For example, the other side KNOWS there is a great dislike for Bush and is using our dislike for Bush against us to their advantage. Our rage is working against us - we are not thinking clearly. Sure, as much as anyone, I want to take the proverbial pound of flesh out of the Repugs, but look at where it is getting us right now. We are facing a candidate with so many failures under his belt and the race is neck and neck! Why is that?

I believe it was Merton that came up with Manifest and Latent Functions. This is how Rove is operating. The manifest function is out in the open- keep the Democrats focused on meaningless things that can't hurt Bush; keep them talking about the idiotic Air Guard story and all the time we are not talking about Bush's dismal record. The latent function, or hidden function, is just that - Rove does not want us talking about Bush's terrible, terrible record.

We must wake up....

[Seabiscuit]

9. BINGO!!!

My thoughts exactly. I'm fed up to the gills with Kerry's namby-pamby "be nice" form of losing politics. Go for the jugular, JK, or lose and betray us all!!!

[abrock]

7. You obviously aren't 'one of us'

Fucking shit man, Bush and the media couldn't get enough of the Kerry bashing with the smear vets and then the RNC, I say fuck them all now. Kerry SHOULD attack directly at Bush's service, reputation, history, and terrible record of failure at every stage of his life.

[SeekingTruth]

8. Think of it this way......

Kerry has to get off the past because there are too many people willing to fight him on that....you have the other vets, the medals, the congressional appearance and so on (don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with all of these things, just pointing them out)...

Now, contrast this to who is going to defend Bush on the mess in Iraq? Pick up the new copy of Time and Newsweek - horrifying stories in there about how bad it really is in Iraq;

Who is going to defend Bush on his environmental record? His energy policy? His Enron links? His job creation? The lies in just the last four years? His true record on terrorism (letting bin laden slip away in Tora Bora, pulling the true effective warriors from Afghanistan to plan for the war in Iraq). His education plans?

The list goes on and on, but right now we are stuck in the debate of 30 years ago.

People don't really give a shit about Bush's phoney military record...

Let's be honest....there have been tons of great anti-Bush books and movies out there these past few years and we are still a 50/50 nation....something needs to be tweaked....

[abrock]

10. Here is the problem.

Kerry bashes Bush, media airs maybe 30 percent or so of his Bush bashing shit, and only 70 percent kerry bashing shit.

But if Kerry doesn't bash Bush, the media airs 95 percent anti-kerry shit, and only 5 percent Kerry agenda shit.

IT IS THE BASHING THAT GETS AIRTIME.

[SeekingTruth]

13. You are right, but...

it is the things that Kerry must choose more effectively. Take today, he is hitting Bush where he needs to be hit - on his excuses, his failure to take responsibility for anything. Also, Kerry should hit on Bush for not firing anyone in his adminstration except for the guy who correctly predicted that the Iraq war could cost 200 billion. No one has been fired for 9/11, the bad planning for Iraq and so on. This kind of goes right to the core of Bush claiming to be ultra-responsible.

My point is, I bet if one ran a poll asking, "Did GWB pull strings to get in the Air Guard?" The results would be overwhelmingly "YES", but no one really cares. (And don't get me wrong, I want to see Bush get his smirking ass kicked so badly). But the problem is all the time that is wasted on this issues, the more time is lost discussing the real issues.

I sincerely believe that Karl Rove and Company have expected our bloodlust to lead us astray. Really, it's simple defensive tactics - use our energy against us and it is working wonderfully.

As a glaring example, yesterday a huge thing happened - the 9/11 widows who more or less spearheaded the creation of the 9/11 commission endorsed Kerry and look how little coverege it received.