Posted on 11/26/2004 6:27:27 AM PST by johnny7
WASHINGTON - One of Sen. John F. Kerry's staunchest campaign supporters, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, said Kerry crippled his presidential bid by refusing to go negative against President Bush beginning at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. ``George Bush ran a better campaign than John Kerry,'' Frank said in a Herald interview. ``I think Kerry made a mistake. I think they should have attacked Bush more at the convention, raised the issues more,'' added Frank (D-Newton). ``I think they underestimated the power of the negative this year.''
Frank, stressing he was speaking in hindsight, said the Bay State senator ``wasted'' a golden opportunity to expose Bush's weaknesses during the DNC with a national audience tuned in. Kerry instead focused on his Vietnam War record at the convention. Further, he said Kerry ``was hampered by the fact that he voted for the war in Iraq and was then basically running an anti-war campaign. ``That's tough to do. It's justifiable, but it's hard to justify,'' he said. ``That was where they were able to nail him, unfairly, but with some effectiveness, on this notion he was inconsistent.''
In a wide-ranging interview in his Capitol Hill office, the 64-year-old Frank also: * Ridiculed Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. ``I don't think he governs very effectively or very well. He's just not good at it, he doesn't like it and he doesn't even try hard. There's a lot of posturing. Unlike (former governors Bill) Weld, (Paul) Cellucci and (Jane) Swift, he's decided to become a national very conservative Republican. They were Republicans adapting to Massachusetts.'' -- Predicted he will retire from Congress when he hits his ``early 70s'' and plans to write a history of the gay-rights struggle. ``Very few members of Congress age well by the time they're 75.'' -- Said the controversy over same-sex marriages in San Francisco hurt Kerry, despite his opposition to gay marriage.
``That's tough to do. It's justifiable, but it's hard to justify,'' he said. ``That was where they were able to nail him, unfairly, but with some effectiveness, on this notion he was inconsistent.''
Say that with your mouth full!
Unlike (former governors Bill) Weld, (Paul) Cellucci and (Jane) Swift, he's(Romney) decided to become a national very conservative Republican. They were Republicans adapting to Massachusetts.''
No... they were RINO's who appointed pro-gay judges.
-- Said the controversy over same-sex marriages in San Francisco hurt Kerry, despite his opposition to gay marriage.
Same-sex marriage was adopted by Kerry's homestate. He never once expressed outrage that the voters had no say in the matter.
Someone, please, take away Barney's Happy Pills. He's obviously doped up on something, with these kind of hallucinations.
Not negative enough?! Arghhh.
Attacked Bush more? All they did is trash Bush from '98 to the present with a brief break in Sept. '01. People got sick of it and didn't believe it.
Didn't go negative
These people are delusional and I mean that cause they actually believe their BS
I long will we have to listen to this crap. If sKerry didn't go negitive what in God's name do they call it when he says the POTUS is not telling the American people the truth?
"Not going negative"?
They're joking, right?
Advice on winning a National election from Barney Frank.
Too funny.
Sick and DELUSIONAL!
Moreover, his 527 proxies were viciously negative in an over-the-top way throughout the campaign.
The only way Senator Kerry could have been more negative would be to repeat the 527 allegations, which would have revealed him as a dangerous crackpot to the general electorate.
If Kerry had "attacked" Bush any more than he and his cronies did, they would have been tackled by the Secret Service!
These people have got to be crazy!! The Democrats perfected the art of "going negative"!! I have never been sure what that means exactly...the dems think it's negative to tell the truth...
Kerry didn't "go negative"????
That was his whole campaign, that and constantly saying he had a plan.
Good lord man, if the Kerry campaign wasn't negative, what would have been negative? Maybe actually bringing a gun to the debates would have been negative enough.
Barney Frank
One of the symptoms of advanced AIDS is dementia.
What a tool. The GOP completely destroyed the dungocraps during the conventions. It wouldn't have mattered what content was used at the DNC because the presentation, speakers and just about everything else the RNC ran was light years ahead of the competition.
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