Posted on 9/3/2004, 3:13:16 PM by crushkerry
We’ve said it before and we say it again this morning: simply being mad at George W. Bush is not a new campaign strategy. John Kerry’s new departure shows signs it is more inept that his previous campaign strategy. He is flailing. And he looks less presidential by the moment.
Kerry’s press conference/rally/tirade was ill-conceived from the beginning. It tells voters, “I react to events,” “I can only make news when George Bush does,” “Hey, I’m running too, you know!”
We at crushkerry.com thought it would have been clever if President George W. Bush, in his acceptance speech last night, had said something like this:
“And let me give one bit of advice to my friend Senator John Kerry, whom I respect very much. President of the United States of America is a hard job. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had … way tougher than owner of a Major League Baseball team (chuckle, chuckle.) And I can assure you, Senator, you will long for the relative tranquility of those frightening days you admirably served in Vietnam if you ascend to this high office. You cannot lose your composure when things don’t go your way. If you ever do become president, people will say awful things about you. They will question your competence. Your sincerity. Even your intelligence. And if those things force you into a hypersensitive, knee-jerk reaction at all hours of the night, then you are still not ready for this job.”
Perhaps he could say it at one of the debates, instead. It might become one of those “there he goes again” moments.
Anywho … back to Kerry. He wigged out last night. That’s the only way to describe it. It was the kind of hissy fit that is unbecoming of a wartime president, let alone any president at all. And besides, it was none of it truthful. Let’s look at what he said, and clear up some of Kerry’s frantic misstatements.
"I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned …”
No one affiliated with the Bush-Cheney campaign has ever questioned Kerry’s commitment to defend this country. Not once. We have, to be sure. Other conservatives certainly have. But not the Bush-Cheney campaign. The Bush folks have, however, taken a scalpel to John Kerry’s abysmal record on defense and intelligence in the United States Senate. And rightfully so. John Kerry has voted to cut defense spending twelve times. He’s voted to gut intelligence spending by a cumulative $6 billion. We would not be able to defend ourselves against terrorist enemies in John Kerry’s America. And it is entirely proper for the Bush campaign to raise these issues.
“… by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq.”
First, let’s look at the grammar. “Those who?” Is there more than one Dick Cheney who “refused to serve?” Is there more than one George W. Bush who “misled us into war?” Or was he talking about someone else? The clumsy construction of this attack shows it was frantically constructed, probably in anger.
Now, let us look at the facts. Dick Cheney did not serve in the Armed Forces. But neither has John Edwards. Does that make Edwards unfit to be Vice President? Moreover, Bill Clinton dodged the draft altogether, and yet Kerry promises to take America back to Clinton’s glorious Golden Age. But under Kerry’s logic, Clinton should never have been eligible to serve as president in the first place.
And about this “misled us into war” nonsense. We suppose it needs repeating that John Kerry voted for that war … as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee who had access to all or nearly all the same information our president had. Indeed, if Kerry actually had less information than our president and still voted for war, than it was he who took a greater leap of faith.
"I'm going to leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified than two tours of duty.”
Again, he’s talking about Cheney here. But my word … this is a rookie blunder, to be certain. History tells us folks don’t vote for Vice President. They don’t even vote for tickets. They vote for presidents. And here Kerry fell into the trap of reacting to the Vice President’s obvious taunt. Kerry diminishes himself by going after the VP. But then, we ought not be surprised. We hate to use the cliché “oldest trick in the book,” but …
“Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty … Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation.”
Wow! “Unfit.” Kerry has been reduced to using the very words from the condemnatory book about his dishonorable escapades in Vietnam and after. You know you’re behind in the public debate when you need to use the other side’s lingo. But aside from that, one can hardly call the most generous tax cuts in a generation for all working American families “doing nothing.” Moreover, there are only 42 million American without insurance, not 45 million.
"It's time to stop rewarding companies for shipping jobs overseas!”
Um … ahem … Senator? Remember all that stuff about your overzealous speechwriter? Let us remind you that not only do you routinely accept contributions from those companies, but you own significant amounts of stock in many of them, as well.
Then finally, Kerry’s spokesthing Stephanie Cutter added a little spin about their new strategy for good measure, "We're going to be very aggressive throughout the fall in painting the real picture of George Bush." What is the real picture of George W. Bush? Again, the Kerry campaign has been trapped in a rhetorical box by their own surrogates who have called Bush Hitler and likened him to Saddam Hussein himself. What new information can Stephanie Cutter tell us that will top that?
In a less partisan media environment, John Kerry’s midnight tirade would go down as Dukakis in the tank, Muskey crying in the rain, Bush’s no new taxes, Dole’s quit lying about my record, Clinton’s I did not have sex with that woman all rolled into one big whinny, unbecoming screech of nails across a chalkboard.
The 2004 campaign still lacks its “defining moments.” But Kerry’s strategic blunder last night was one.
Ping
Ummm, John, aren't you in the Senate? It is possible that during the last 20 years you could have wrote one piece of legislation to fix this or any other problem for that matter.....
Kerry's drunken rant last night may well be the end of his campaign that will result in W's landslide in a couple months.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1206498/posts?page=114
See the Cheney deferment thread above. Very important. It means that Cheney was not eligible, so the charge Kerry is making about Cheney avoiding the draft is a lie.
Was Kerry really drunk?
The guy obviously needs to take a couple of nips before he has the courage to talk in front of people.
Excellent!
Narcissistic Kerry is the only one in politics who yet doesn’t realize that he was never supposed to win.
I saw just a little of the beginning...he looked and sounded drunk/high.
Has any news media at least mentioned his odd behavior last night.
Has any news media at least mentioned his odd behavior last night.
I haven't seen any media coverage on it, but they all cut away from his speech when he began slurring words.
The media didn't seem very interested in covering the speech. It seemed to me that Kerry was well on his way to being drunk.
True! the President has gone out of his way to commend Kerry for his service. As Zell Miller said, his patriotism is not in question - his judgement is!
You missed the boat on this lie. There's a few light years' worth of difference between "going without health care" and going without health insurance. Of course National Proletarian Radio let that one slide, this morning. I nearly spit toothpaste all over the mirror.
The most hilarious part of last night's embarrassment was when Kerry, in that stentorian drone of his, told everyone that the most important thing that happened yesterday was that the Red Sox had cut the Yankees lead to 2.5 games. One of his lackeys should have told him that the Yankees won their game 9-1.
Hey, it was Springfield, a college town.
I hear the ditchweed down there is high grade.
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