Posted on 07/10/2004 12:29:18 PM PDT by Liz
In a stunning acknowledgement-----indicative of a major Kerry misfire-----news reports quote Mark Mellman, Kerry's top strategist, as saying that the Kerry campaign does not expect the No. 2 selection---John Edwards--- to give it a surge in the polls.
Mellman claimed the campaign already has coalesced its core supporters and there are too few undecided voters to sway in an evenly divided nation.
Mellman's blatant spin----a last-ditch effort to save the foundering ticket----is one that astute political observers don't believe for a minute. The Edwards pick was expected to lauch the Kerry ticket into the stratosphere.
Mehlman's admission is a stunning turn of events barely a week into the Edwards-Kerry launch.
The conventional political wisdom was that Kerry's boring and haughty attitude was a turnoff----even to his base voters----and that the campaign sorely needed a dose of "sex appeal."
The Kerry people decided Edwards fit the bill. Edwards is youthful, enthusistic, a good speaker (he is a trial lawyer), and has a pretty-boy image that is accented with serious hair.
Edwards vigorously campaigned for the spot and his Southern roots also helped Kerry makeup his mind. even though Edwards did not even win his hometown in his Senate race---and did not win his home state in the presidential primary.
But almost immediately, things took a turn for the worse as the campaign had several defining moments:
(1) A Democrat Hollywood fund-raiser turned into a vile, pornographic Bush-bashing with many of the stars making hate-filled, crude joes at the expense of a sitting president. Not surprisingly, days later the Kerry camp was trying to distance itself from the Hollywarped weirdo Bush haters. One news report, "Hollywood's Bush bashing gets Kerry Some Bad Reviews," contained a scathing review by Democratic Sen Zell Miller. In a statement issued yesterday, Sen. Miller (D-Ga.) said he was saddened, but not surprised, that Kerry didn't challenge the (anti-Bush) commentary. "Last night John Kerry held a fund-raiser in New York that featured performers in a time of war calling the president of the United States a killer, a cheap thug and a liar. John Kerry just sat there, grinning like a mule eating briars," Sen Miller said.
(2) The two candidates engaged in a series of touchy feely personal appearances where they couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. Some newspapers picked up on it and criticized the overt friendliness of the two men. Jay Leno also did a critical take on it. One hilarious email traveled across the nation which satirized the Democrat candidates' proclivity for playing grabass. The incident spread like wildfire. The hugging and kissing even had newspaper running headlines such as "Daschle Denies Hugging Michael Moore."
One post-Edwards survey published July 10 had Bush and Cheney ahead by 5 poimts in Virgina.
The Democrats internal polls must tell a sorry tale. The Kerry-Edwards ticket upon which the Democrats built their hopes of victory is turning out to be a bigtime downer, and is falling flat on its face.
The Democrats next move should be interesting. Maybe Kerry and Edwards will dose-up on Levitra.
This is gonna be fun to watch.
As we speak the Bride of Clintonstein is warming up in the bull pen.Beware the "Lautenberg Gambit."
So now is the Frenchman going to dump the Breck Girl? After all he is not officially nominated yet. Then again, neither is Ketchup Boy.
"Where's my bride?"
I also think the media totally underestimated the impact of Edward's fourth-most-liberal Senate ranking. Bush's line that "in Massachusetts, they call that balancing the ticket" is devastating. Kerry's people obviously thought they could pass Edwards off as a moderate, but Bush is not going to let them. This ticket should be dead as a doornail by September.
Especially to see them self-consciously trying to avoid each other's body space. So they may keep at arm's length, but watch and see if they caress each other with their eyes. Gonna see a lot of fluttering eyelids, I'll bet.
"OK, I'll kiss you, but stop calling me Opie, huh?"
"But will you still love me in the morning?"
LOL. Hey, maybe they found true love (/sarc).
I heard that spin and had to laugh. Even their creativity is boring.
I wonder if the Abu Ghraib prison photos will rival the Kerry-Edwards lovey dovey photos? Maybe we could see those every night on the news for two months? Hmmm?
I like when they keep petting each other. Its got that bathhouse feel to it. Its a loser message.
Instead of purple kool-aid will red kool-aid do?
Click the Pic
Mellman comment----scroll down to bottom of article.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uskerr103887374jul10,0,3339036.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines
I know it sounds ridiculous, but it will all become clear when those two rush back to Washington to vote against a "protection of marriage" bill in the Senate sometime in the next couple of months. You can bet Mr. Frist is going to have that bill on the Senate floor for them to deal with.
Heh....cute.
Ya'll gotta admit. That article has got more spin than a Nolan Ryan slider.
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