Is it just me...

[MrBenchley]

Or are these "John Kerry voted to go to war in Iraq" attack ads the dumbest thing ever?

So we're not supposed to vote for John Kerry because he let this imbecile go to war, and vote for the imbecile instead?

Bush/Cheney 04: John Kerry didn't keep us from fucking up!

This seems even stupider than some of the Rick Lazio ads in 2000...and they were bone-stupid. (My favorite of those was the one where he actually took out TV time to point out that an elderly Jewish lady who appeared as a Hillary Clinton supporter in one of Hillary Clinton's own ads was actually....a Democrat.)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. You're misunderstanding their intent

which is to portray Kerry as having voted for war and now being against it.
Kerry voted to give Bush authority in IWR, but that's not the same as voting for war.

[MrBenchley]

3. I know that's the intent, but I'm talking about the result

I know Bush means to make it an ad about Kerry flip-flopping, but doesn't it backfire bigtime? Haha...that Kerry's so wishywashy, he even let me fuck up the war in Iraq!

It's certainly the only time in my life I've ever heard of party A condemning party B because he agreed with party A on a decsion that was clearly wrong.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. But Bush doesn;t think he's fucked up the war in Iraq

and a lot of people like Bushler's damn the torpedos style of stubbornness.

[MrBenchley]

6. Well that's one vote....

I wonder how many others feel that way...

"a lot of people like Bushler's damn the torpedos style of stubbornness"
I really wonder how many do, though.

[RevCheesehead]

2. Let's change that statement: Kerry voted to support the president

Part of the agreement was that war was the LAST RESORT - they were assured that * would pursue diplomatic means.

Every time someone says "Kerry supported the war," fire back with, "No, he voted to support the president."
on edit: "...and the president misled us into war."

[MrBenchley]

5. Well exactly....

So the ad is aimed at people who don't remember the debate leading up to the war, who supported the president then, but now who don't think the war is going badly....

I somehow don't see that winning over many moderates or independents....

But then have you noticed that so much of the GOP effort is aimed at keeping the dittoheads inflamed? That doesn't sound to me like they're really leading in any polls....

For all you hear about their bounce, and their lead, the GOP sure is running like they're afraid even the hard core kool-aid drinkers will stay home.

[RevCheesehead]

7. If I remember correctly,

Kerry addressed this misperception in his press conference.

I remember him saying something like "now let's be clear - I didn't vote to go to war. We voted to support the president, and he assured us that he would pursue diplomatic measures. War was the last resort."

[MrBenchley]

8. I think he did a good job of it too...

Which still leaves the Pirates of Halliburton running an ad condemning Kerry for agreeing once but now disagreeing with the pResident who told us all the war was over ("Mission Accomplished") a year and a half ago.....

I can't help thinking this is going to backfire more than a little bit.

It's like they're going "Haha! Kerry is so dumb he believed Bush." It's sort of reinforced by the childish tone of the ad, which accentuates that Bush rushed into war without much adult thought.

Like I said, maybe it's just me...but I keep being reminded of Lazio's ads. There was one dandy where little Ricky brought on Mrs. Lazio (who looked about ten years older than Ricky) to complain that Hillary was picking on little Ricky (mostly by mentioning his record to that date)...no matter what the content of the ad, I think it struck many people emotionally that little Ricky had run crying to his mama....

[MrBenchley]

9. Guess it isn't just me...