So it looks like attacks win

[Doctor_J]

Kerry and Dean have gone negative, and they are gaining in the polls on Edwards and Clark, who have stayed positive. Sad, but true. And nobody flings shit around like Rove. Don't think we can win in a game like this.

[gulliver]

1. Clark and Edwards need to get more aggressive.

Not necessarily negative, but they need to send a few shots across everyone's bow.

The Kerry campaign went negative on Clark using a pretext (The "He's a lieutenant" quote). It was sneaky as all hell. Clark should call them on that.

He should say, "You know John, your campaign sure is sensitive. You should tell them to take a pill."

[Leilani]

3. Kerry's been sending out smear brochures

since he was in Iowa "being positive."

They are here somewhere...and there are links to them.

Also, photos of the Kerry campaign stamp.

I'm really fed up.

I think Clark & Edwards have class.

[pacifictiger]

2. the media fuels the negativity

for ratings. We are a sensationalized tabloid addicted society and serious issues don't play well. Did you see how all the talking heads were a bit nonplussed after the last debate because there was no controversy? The mediators just wanted to talk personalities instead of substantive differences in policy plans for the future. Then they resorted to going back to the dean scream thing again because they had no new red meat to devour.

[Maddy McCall]

4. Really? Edwards hasn't played the neg game?

Clark is my first choice, and Kerry and Edwards are both occupying my second spot. Well, at least until today. While Edwards may have a veneer of positive campaigning, the truth came out today.

General Shelton is one of his advisors. And today, headlining on Drudge and MSNBC is Shelton's take on why Clark got fired. Go take a look for yourself.

**************

After Clark entered the Democratic race last September, Gen. Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters that Clark had been sacked as commander of NATO forces after the 1999 Balkans war because of "integrity and character issues." Shelton has refused to comment further, and Clark's civilian boss, the then Defense Secretary William Cohen, has also remained silent.

snip/

"I was forthcoming," Clark insisted. "If gave me an instruction, I did it. I would never have not done what they told me to do. But the truth is, they weren't in touch with the situation well enough to tell me everything to do. It's why you have the title supreme allied commander... The buck usually stopped on my desk... I had, by necessity, a certain independence. Yet no matter how many times I tried to bring Hugh Shelton and Washington to understand the allied side, it didn't compute. They just didn't see it." General Shelton, Clark's aides are quick to note, is now listed as an unpaid adviser to the John Edwards campaign.

***************************

I still like Edwards, but behind that toothy, innocent grin is the truth that he is charging Shelton to bring down Clark.

No wonder so many voters are apathetic these days. Negativity wins in the media, and voters feel they have no choice.