Hats Off To The GOP Dirty Tricks Committee

[Knockwurst]

I want to congratulate the GOP with all sincerity on their incredibly effective campaign tactics, the likes of which we haven't seen since Lee Atwater's Willie Horton ads (with the possible exception of Ed Rollins paying off African-American churchs to suppress the vote in Christine Whitman's gubernatorial campaign).

The Swift Boat "controversy" is a crowning achievement for Karl Rove -- an incredible display of ingenuity -- a body blow that Kerry is still reeling from like a drunken sailor.

Just when it looked like Bush could not possibly recover from events in Iraq and a sluggish economy at home, along came the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Calling into question events that could no longer be confirmed one way or the other 30+ years after the fact, the Swifities attacked Kerry where he thought he was strongest.

An added touch of brilliance was starting with a modest $500,000 advertising budget, so that the Kerry campaign would initially ignore them hoping the story would go away, only to have the GOP-friendly cable outlets such as Fox pick up the story and run with it, providing wall to wall coverage of the controversy the likes that advertising couldn't buy.

All the while, Bush/Cheney et al. profess nothing but admiration for Kerry's service record. Now that Kerry is finally responding about 14 newscycles too late by attacking Bush/Cheney's service or lack of it, he looks like some wildly frothing maniac maligning our President, who has offered nothing but kind words about Kerry's service.

And now they're moving from his wartime activities to his anti-war activities after he returned from his service. They're changing gears on Kerry faster than you can say NASCAR Dads. They got me so I can't stand the guy, and I'm voting for him.

If they pull this off (and it looks like they will), this will go down as one of the greatest tactical displays of all time. F'ing Incredible.

And please spare me the Oh-the-GOP-doesn't-have-any-connection-to-the-SBVT-ads bs. I'm congratulating you, it was a helluva job. I only wish the Dems had it in 'em.

[Utah]

I think it has more to do with Kerry's ineptness at campaigning. Additionally, the democrats made a bad choice in Kerry as their candidate. I think Lieberman would have won easily as his record is solid and he would have pulled in a lot of moderates.

Kerry is not dead, but it looks like the wheels are coming off the campaign. Still, 60 days is an enternity in politics. Kerry has a lot of time to self correct.

[MMMMMM]

If your thesis is true, and the Republicans are actually that much more tactically adept than the Dems...then I know which which party I should prefer for the purpose of designing and implementing strategies against Islamic terrorists.

[ThaSaltCracka]

First of all Lieberman wouldn't have won easily, he is Jewish. Now, thats not a negative to me, but you better believe it is for many dumb people.

Secondly, he is congratulating you guys. Just take the compliment. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[cjromero]

You're right, Knockwurst, the Swift Boat ads are much worse than the Moveon.org 527's that run ads comparing Bush to Hitler. Or the fact that 85% of the money going to the soft money 527s is going to support ads for the Democrats. Or all of the inaccuracies in Moore's "documentary."

Have you actually seen the ads? The current Swift Boat ad does nothing more than use Kerry's own words against him, as it contains portions of Kerry's testimony from 1971 as they talk to Swift Boat vets, including one man who was in the Hanoi Hilton, and remembers the North Vietnamese piping in Kerry's testimony to their jail cells as a form of torture, to show that Kerry (and presumably America) didn't support what they were risking their lives for.

As I have said in other threads, I am neither a hard core conservative nor a fervent Bush supporter. But when it comes to all this Vietnam stuff, Kerry has no one to blame but himself. It was his decision to make Vietnam, and his service in the war, as the centerpiece of the Democratic convention and his main argument for why he would be an effective Commander in Chief. His acceptance speech was basically, "I was born. I served in Vietnam. I deserve to be President."

The rumors about his questionable medals (and his campaigning for them) had been floating around Washington for years. He had to know that his entire military record was going to be examined with a fine tooth comb, and that his anti-war activities would be criticized.

Personally, I don't think Kerry's activities during and after the war necessarily prevent him from being an effective Commander in Chief, although you can make a credible argument that the Vietnam experience (and the development of his anti-war feelings) has shaped Kerry's views on when it is appropriate to use military force, and his view that America's current foreign policy is too unilateral.

[wacki]

As far as Kerry's service there are only two things that affect the way I think. They are:

Bush's Quote: "Kerry should be proud of his service". Which in my mind is a big + for Kerry's character (for being brave and serving his country) and even a little + for Bush (for showing that he is capable of being honest about his opponent). It also made me almost totally ignore the swift boat vets. The commercials using his own words, however, I couldn't ignore.

Then there is this article which is an even bigger strike against Kerry:
Kristol, in his own words.

I tend to lump Kerry's military and Intel voting record with the Vietnam stuff since it's proabably all related, atleast psychologically. And that is a HUGE, and unavoidable, strike against Kerry in my book.


Don't misunderstand me, I can't stand all this mud slinging. And I can go on, but you have to admit, Bush may sound dumb, but Kerry has made some really dumb decisions. He shot himself in the foot.

[Stu Pidasso]

[ QUOTE ]
Just when it looked like Bush could not possibly recover from events in Iraq and a sluggish economy at home, along came the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Calling into question events that could no longer be confirmed one way or the other 30+ years after the fact, the Swifities attacked Kerry where he thought he was strongest.


[/ QUOTE ]

Kerry knew about the book and the group even before he won the Illonois primary. Besides these guys are not new, some of them have been attacking Kerry for 30 years now. Kerry figured he could weather it instead of formulating a plan to deal with it. Kerry makes it easy for the GOP to look brilliant because he is such an idiot.

stu

[Cyrus]

"The Vietnam experience (and the development of his anti-war feelings) has shaped Kerry's views on when it is appropriate to use military force, and his view that America's current foreign policy is too unilateral."

I tend to trust people more about taking me towar if they had actually tasted combat themselves. Clinton was the first post-WWII President who did not personally have any military experience at all. (We will pardon Reagan's affable gimmickry during WWII.)

So, right, I tend to trust Bush Senior more than Bush Junior.

As to John Kerry, Vietnam was a long time ago. Many people will be surprised with his Iraq policy, if he is elected in November : Kerry will, more or less, stay the course. The main difference will be his "internationalisation" of the effort.

Plus, it will not be that bad for the GOP to lose the election: The next Prez will have to do battle with a monster more ugly than bin Laden's six-month unwashed ass: The monster deficit of the Budget.

[cjromero]

Many economists with disagree with your premise on the long-term negative effects of the deficit. Not being an economist, I have no idea.

As for Kerry's Iraq policy and his pledge to "internationalize" the rebuilding of Iraq, there is no evidence that it will ever come to pass. The reasons France, Germany, and Russia did not support the Iraq war have absolutely nothing to do with Bush and their view of him as a cowboy. They have everything to do with the financial ties those countries had to Iraq (especially France and Russia) and their belief that a "multilateral" foreign policy like the one adopted by President Clinton will help keep America's power and influence in the world in check.

If Kerry stays the course in Iraq, there is no credible reason to think that France, Germany, and Russia will send any troops or that they will contribute in any greater way than they are now.

[Utah]

The next Prez will have to do battle with a monster more ugly than bin Laden's six-month unwashed ass: The monster deficit of the Budget.

The deficit is not that bad. Additionally, strong productivity can wipe it out very quickly.