Fox attacks Clark, Drudge attacks Edwards, and everyone

[GumboYaYa]

attacks Dean. It's pretty clear that they are doing everything to take these three down as fast as possible.

As distasteful as it is, I have started reading Drudge every day just to know what the GOP hit du jour will be. I have seen few RNC style hits on Kerry so far. Am I missing them? If so someone tell me what they are saying about Kerry.

Does this mean they want to run against Kerry right now?

You know when/if he gets the nomination the swords will come out. I can picture the tv commercials with Kerry morphing into Teddy Kennedy. By the end of the election, people will think Kerry himself was responsible for Chapaquideck (sp?).

I think the RNC believes it can beat Kerry by Dukakasing him and is focused on destroying the others for now.

Anyone else think this the current GOP strategy?

[bicentennial_baby]

1. Yep

That's how it's looking to me as well...

[Gman]

2. They may very well want Kerry to get the nomination then

ridicule him for his looks. Rush already calls him "Frankenstein". They'll likely tell the woman vote that he's ugly and they'll do it over and over and over until it starts to being perceived as true, regardless of Kerry's message.

Issues be damned, that's how the GOP does things.

[MidwestTransplant]

10. They fear Clark and Edwards

the most.

[GumboYaYa]

13. They feared Dean at one time, simply

because the way he rose in the polls and in the eyes of voters was not something they had ever seen and could not understand. Now that they have effectively defanged Dean and they are on to others.

[m-jean03]

26. Kerry is a handsome guy!

He's got a kind of low-key, squinty-eyed good looks...
Sure he's an older gentleman but so is Clint Eastwood.

[poopyjr]

3. I don't know why they would want to run against Kerry.

War hero, elequent speaker and debater, tons of experience, tall, good hair etc.

[TLM]

6. I know why they'd want to run against Kerry....

boring, wooden, fence rider, can't really attack Bush on a lot of stuff because Kerry voted for them, can't win in the south... easy to see why they'd want to run against Kerry.

[GumboYaYa]

8. So far the big knock I've heard on Kerry from the RNC

is that he is a clone of Teddy Kennedy. In the South, the name "Kennedy" is a synonym of crazy left-wing socialist.
Otherwise they are leaving him alone. No current hit pieces on the medals (remember Drudge had this on his site early on when Kerry was supposed to run-away with the nomination).

One positive of having so many candidates that scare the RNC in a close race is that they are forced to start multiple charagcter assassinations early in the process. Hopefully the voters will have time to see the hits for what they are before the general election.

[TheDonkey]

14. u didn't catch the "puff the magic dragon scandal" w/ kerry

The media tries but no one cares.

[GumboYaYa]

17. I must have missed that.

Did it happen this week? Tell me more if you don't mind.

[Skwmom]

4. I'd recommend you pay a visit

to this site http://www.moderateindependent.com.

[Qutzupalotl]

24. Yes! Especially see this page:

http://www.moderateindependent.com/v2i2elections2004gop.htm

The basic idea is to push Kerry and Edwards early on, then turn on them. The goal is to bury Clark – who they are worried is the best candidate to beat President Bush – and ensure that Dean wins – the person they consider easiest to beat.

[GumboYaYa]

25. That seems plausible to me as well.

It is just one more step further than the scenario I painted. My only reservation with that scenario is that they have so effectively damaged Dean, that the likeliehood of him being the nominee is low IMO.

Overall, the page linked to confirms my point.

Like I said elsewhere, I am not making a value judgment. We all recognize that the RNC has a plan to influence the Dem elections and to destroy our ultimate nominee. We may disagree on the permeatations of theplan.

I'm a Dean supporter so I am not saying this b/c my guy is now in the lead, but Dem vandidates and their supporters need to stop carrying water for the RNC.

[TLM]

5. And notice that almost nobody is talking about Kerry...

looks like Kerry is the right wing meida's candidate of choice.

[blm]

7. Nope. They thought they killed Kerry off months ago.

Or did you forget how they declared Kerry dead for months, drying up his fundraising?

The media is shellshocked because they KNOW they did Kerry wrong for almost a year. He rose above their attempts to mute him.

[GumboYaYa]

9. I don't buy that.

It sounds like you must be a Kerry supporter and are looking at this through rose-colored glasses.

Understand that I am not making a value judgment about any candidate. I am simply discussing the RNC strategy in order to counteract it for our nominee, whoever that may be.

The reason I don't buy your argument is that John Edwards was written off months ago as well, but it took no time this week for the attacks on him to surface. If you honestly believe that the RNC is shellshocked and not preapred to take Kerry down as soon as they decide to do so, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

[TheDonkey]

12. Um' does "french looking" ring a bell

They effectively ignored and bashed Kerry for awhile now.
Dean is the hot item so of course they are going to either really love him (many mag covers) and really ridicule him (the scream).

But Kerry has been attacked for being aloof, french lookinhg, daintly eating a cheesesteak wrong (WTF?!), and so much more. But after the "HE ATE SWIIS CHEESE!!" news became boring they outright ignored him when his poll #s dived and kept covering Dean and Clark as they frontrunners.

[GumboYaYa]

I do remember those attacks among others, but they have not

resurfaced this week. I think that tells you the current thinking of the RNC.

[Homer12]

11. It's sounds like RNC Plan B

Plan A: Attack Dean
PLan B: If no clear front runner, attack everybody still in the race

PLan B is in effect, their attacking everybody as much as possible. Trying to help split primary voters apart and wound everybody since they have no clear fronrunner.

[cthrumatrix]

15. well....it seems to be falling into place nicely for them

[Blue_Roses]

16. My point exactly

Just discussed this here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=173241

[GumboYaYa]

20. You and I are on the same page.

The point I am trying to get too is that the Dems need to stop carrying water for the RNC. We can disagree on policy and those differences should be discussed, but we all (not just the candidates) need to step back from the personal attacks on the candidates. We are just setting up the RNC for 2004.

[Uzybone]

18. The RNC is relying on Dems to attack Kerry

and judging from DU they have calculated that pretty well.

[GumboYaYa]

21. Again, I don't buy that.

If the RNC wanted the Dems to be attacking Kerry they would be teeing up issues like they are for Dean, Edwards, and Clark.

To me it is pretty clear that Kerry has gotten a pass from the RNC this week.

[in_cog_ni_to]

19. Kerry's their man. n/t

[MoonRiver]

22. It will only get worse. However, I feel more optimistic than I have

in a long time. Our Dem candidates have figured out that the media is NOT on Dems' side and they're watching their backsides, plus, confronting AWOL on all his outrages, past and present. The more media whores confront our candidates the more we Dems can bring the truth out about this illegitimate and despicable regime. Proud to be a Democrat!!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[GumboYaYa]

23. If we know it will get worse (and no one disagrees)

the question is how do we frame the issues to turn the attacks that we all know are coming on their head.

I for one think that all the candidates should start talking about the "right-wing echo chamber" in the media. Collectively they should agree not to participate in the "right-wing echo chamber."

We need to start conditioning the public to see through the personal attacks that we know will come (and that holds true for whoever gets the nomination).

[MoonRiver]

28. Absolutely! And I believe that is happening.

But we have to get even more vocal in our opposition. Whenever one of the whores tries to pull a fast one we have to jump in immediately and deluge that person with outraged messages.

[GumboYaYa]

30. Its more than that.

The language we use needs to become as coded as the language they use.

We need to have a lexicon for the Repubs bad deeds and start working it into the debate now. When they attack our candidates we need to all call it a right-wing smear job or something similar so that people start to associate the attacks with smears whenever they hear it.

I think a big part of being effective in changing the media discourse is to develop our own code words and use them so much they become part of the public consciousness.

[Tom Rinaldo]

27. The point is Not second guessing who the Republicans are supporting

The point is to NOT do their dirty work for them, regardless of who they may or may not favor at the moment.

As Du'ers we should not pass on attacks against one of our Democratic candidates unless we are dead certain, and I mean CERTAIN, that they are both accurate and relevent to the choice at hand. If one of us gets caught inadvertently participating in a set up hit job against one of the Democratic candidates (and we should all always be on the look out for this), we should come back online and apologize and admit we jumped to a hasty conclusion, and examine how that happened. Then we can all join in the efforts to actively debunk that sleazy line of attack WHETHER OR NOT we are supporters of the victim Democrat. We have to take back our own process before we can take back our country.

[GumboYaYa]

29. Exactly....

I just got back from picking my four-year old up from pre-school and dropping him off at home. I listened to Rush in the car. He was assigned to Kerry today. Rush was calling Kerry lerch and saying how boring he is. I guess they just have to take everyone down now that it is close.