Kerry Camp Makes Video to Defuse Attacks

AP News ^ | Aug 21, 8:27 PM (ET)

[jackbill]

Wonder what the contents of his speech will be.

I would expect that it would be more of his "He has not faltered, he has not flinched". McCain may be "strange", but I doubt that he is suicidal. He won't disrupt the convention.

[linn37]

This is sucking up more ad money that Kerry was saving for later. Excellent.

[sarasota]

With the Soros millions behind him, Kerry has all the money he needs, now and in the future, I think.

[dalebert]

I bet McCain suggested this ad.

[Republican Wildcat]

Time is more of an issue in this case than money. They are going to be preoccupied defending themselves against this group.

[Republican Wildcat]

Rush is having O'Neill as a guest on Monday.

[Chaguito]

FNC pointed out this evening that Kerry's add attacks Mr. Bush and not the accusations or even the Swift Vets themselves. Not a good strategy IMO

[CyberAnt]

I'm thinking the same thing.

And .. I also remember somebody asking McCain about his relationship with Kerry and he said they had burried the hatchet.

[CyberAnt]

I agree. Besides .. the ad is deceptive in that it presumes to know that the people doing the SwiftVet ad are the same people who attacked McCain .. according to Rush .. they're not .. and Rush told McCain he needed to check it out. I don't think Rush would have said that over the air if Rush didn't already know it's not the same people.

[Question_Assumptions]

They should be very careful about dragging McCain. Unless they have McCain's approval (they might), he could turn on them and make them look very bad. In fact, I'm almost tempted to think this is a sophiticated trap to get Kerry to lean on McCain. Here's how it works:

McCain comes out against the SwiftVet ads but doesn't really keep up an pressure.

Kerry relies on McCain's statement against the ad to discredit the ad.

McCain then reads Unfit for Command, has a change of heart, and then comes out saying that the book raises some important questions. McCain calls for Kerry to release all of his records and explain his Cambodia stories. How could Kerry recover from that?

Why would McCain do this? Perhaps he wants to be Secretary of State if Powell resigns. Maybe he wants to be Vice President if Cheney resigns, or wants Bush's backing in 2008. McCain has been campaigning for Bush and Kerry needs to be very careful that McCain doesn't turn on him.

[Southack]

"Sen. John Kerry's campaign released a video Saturday comparing the controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service to attacks on John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries."

Look at the title of the AP article. The Kerry Campaign is telling reporters that this video will somehow magically "defuse" the swiftvet controversy.

This is rank amateurism. Making new charges (in this case allusions to President Bush and dirty tricks) never "defuses" a controversy.

But the Kerry Campaign staff aren't savvy enough to know that fact. In their juvenile dreams, this sort of lashing out causes bad things to go away.

Let me be clear: thrashing about doesn't save you from drowning. No, it sinks you faster.

Specifically, the *only* audience who is familiar with claim of Bush dirty tricks is comprised of the Democrats' base. Only the hard-core among the Democrats have heard and remembered anti-McCain charges against Bush from back in 1999 and 2000. This is the territory of political junkies, not of Mr. and Mrs. Average American.

To that core audience of hard-core liberal political junkies, this new claim from the Kerry camp will carry weight.

To swing voters, moderates, and Republicans, these new charges will be puzzling...perhaps even ridiculed.

Now take a deep breath and ask yourself: How well can the Kerry Campaign be doing if it is releasing new ads that only its most hard-core supporters will even understand?

Since when is the hard-core Left the target audience of any national political campaign in America?!

In short, this is laughably bad political play.

5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires

[GretchenM]

.... tap tap tap .....

I'm still waiting for the only pertinent Kampaign Ad -- the one in which Kerry refutes the Swift Boat Veterans' statements about him lying and dishonoring his country ....

I'm getting older

and so much more disappointed with each passing day ... tap tap tap ...

tap ... Form 180 ... tap

[VisualizeSmallerGovernment]

I distinctly remember McCain's campaign manager bashing and trashing the Christian Coaltion in South Carolina.

Exactly. On the American Atheist's website, there is a scathing article about the 2000 South Carolina GOP primary written immediately after Bush won. It was all about Fundamentalist this and Bob Jones University that and Hard Shift To The Right, blah blah blah. Not one word was mentioned about a "whisper campaign" impugning McCain.

The problem with that analysis is that only about 1/3 of the voters in the exit poll identified themselves as fundamentalist christians, and Bush's lead in that demographic wasn't insurmountably large.

The reason people voted for Bush: They wanted tax cuts and they thought he could win the general election.

The reason people voted for McCain: They thought he was the person with the BEST CHARACTER and the MOST MILITARY EXPERIENCE. However, VERY FEW people cared (then and now) about McCain's pet issue, which was Campaign Finance Reform. If McCain ran on lowering taxes and reducing the size of government, he would have won in a landslide.

[Claire Voyant]

This has just gone NUCLEAR!!!!!!! Wonder id McCain will CONDEMN this? My guess is that he won't.

[onyx]

[Samwise]

[Claire Voyant]

EVEYONE needs to read REPLY # 11....McCain's OWN words DAMN KERRY....KENNEDY....FULBRIGHT...CLARK CLIFFORD!!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

LOL!!!!

[bootyist-monk]

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."

[onyx]

I want you to be right again,
and I think you are, considering that
your track record reads like that of Smarty Jones.