Must do better(Howell Raines on why Kerry will loose.)

The Guardian ^ | June 2, 2004 | Howell Raines

[John Valentine]

If you do a Google "News" search on the string "hammer and chisel politics", you'll get one hit: Raines' own piece.

That's a "pundit" for you!

[Dont Mention the War]

If you do a Google "News" search on the string "hammer and chisel politics", you'll get one hit: Raines' own piece.

Ditto on a Google Groups search. Twenty-three years' worth of Usenet posts, and the only time the phrase "hammer-and-chisel politics" has ever appeared? In a post to alt.society.liberalism. Made five hours ago. Of Raines' own column.

[ShandaLear]

"White House strategists are betting that leaving Iraq in 30 days - no matter what chaos ensues in that country - will leave them time to revise history between now and election day and, more importantly, get on with the work of destroying Kerry's image."

We're leaving? WHO KNEW???!!!

[lillybet]

kerry's image, another injection of, botox, then he'll look like Barbies boyfriend Ken, remember what happened to him,

[EllaMinnow]

ping

[expatpat]

Kerry has assured the DLC, "I am not a redistributionist Democrat." That's actually a good start. Using that promise as disinformation, he must now figure out a creative way to become a redistributionist Democrat.

Clear evidence of their lying ways.

[cyncooper]

Thanks.

I needed the laugh!

[okie01]

Basically, the whole subtext of this piece is that Kerry is a friggin' idiot.

Not to mention a conviction that the American public is a bunch of friggin' ignoramuses.

Note that Raines seems intent on telling Kerry how to address the media, who will then "translate" his message to the public.

Raines' entire piece betrays the self-absorption of the dominant media culture: Kerry must address them. And they will then manipulate the public for him.

Recalling that a Howell Raines with this elitist mindset was once the managing editor of the most influential single news medium in the free world is a stunning notion. It serves as absolute proof of the left's intellectual cynicism and the media's utter vacuity.

[dano1]

"And they will then manipulate the public for him"

Exactly. They will manipulate the public for him, or through him.

[colorado tanker]

There's hardly an American who does not know that George W got into the Air National Guard when others couldn't through his father's political pull, that he got into flight school ahead of others due to his father's political pull, that he was allowed to skip his normal weekend drills and make them up without being punished because of his father's political pull.

Actually, I don't know that. My understanding is that there was a wait list to enlist in the Air Guard, but not for pilots. Most people know what mediots don't, that driving jet fighters is dangerous, whether you're at home or in Vietnam.

There's hardly an American who doesn't know that Cheney used graduate-school deferments to beat the draft.

I don't know that either. Cheney didn't "beat the draft" - he was never drafted. Why would he voluntarily enlist when he was married with children, had a family to support? When most deferments were abolished and the lottery was started, the guys with high numbers weren't call draft dodgers, they just weren't drafted.

What I do know is that Kerry was turned down for a deferment for further schooling, and only then joined the Navy. I do know lots of guys who joined the Navy and Air Force to avoid being drafted for ground duty by the Army or Marines. I betcha Kerry's odds of ending up on river patrol duty when he enlisted were less than Bush's odds of ending up in an aviation accident as a pilot.