They really do fear Kerry- view from a College Republican

[NewYorkerfromMass]

"About a year ago, John Kerry struck me as the strongest potential challenger to President Bush. He was a Vietnam veteran, distinguished senator and levelheaded. He shared initials with another JFK and looked like a president. With Kerry, there were no surprises. He was the Democrat's Democrat, and a safe choice to be the nominee.

I consequently hoped for Kerry's political demise. Apparently, so did the media. They wrote the candidate off as a stiff board with expensive hair cuts and the resemblance of Lurch from The Addams Family. After all, John Kerry just wouldn't produce the drama, juicy details and scandalous stories the media demand. So, they looked elsewhere for a presidential candidate...."

"While a Bush landslide was the dream of Republicans, the media cooperated by pushing the Dean campaign at lightning speed. It was a dangerous game of chicken careening toward political Armageddon in November 2004.

Sadly for some Republicans, it now looks like that date with destiny may never come to be. The media, along with Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, caught on to the Republicans' devious dreams and stopped the Dean surge in its tracks."

Kerry will be a good challenger

[dolstein]

1. Please -- PLEASE -- don't throw me into the briar patch!!!

Yeah, we've heard that one before. So the GOP is quaking in their storm trooper boots at the though of the Dems nominating Kerry, eh? Right.

[windansea]

2. Rove to Bush...

"well it's Kerry...now we can spend all our gazillions in about 6 states...maybe even take California"

"Thanks Karl...nappy time"

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. It seems that the GOP is indeed quaking

Senator John Kerry's emergence as the leading Democratic presidential contender won him a new round of criticism on Thursday, but not from other Democrats seeking the nomination.

Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, devoted much of a speech at the party's winter meeting here to questions about Mr. Kerry's positions on military strength and national security and his voting record over four terms as a senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. Gillespie's focus on Senator Kerry, compared with only passing references to other candidates — Howard Dean, Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Senator John Edwards of North Carolina — left the impression that Republicans are convinced that Mr. Kerry is likely to be President Bush's opponent in November.....

In another sign of Mr. Kerry's rise, the Republican Party of South Carolina, one of seven states with a Democratic primary or caucus on Tuesday, held a news conference with veterans to raise questions about the candidates' records, focusing particularly on Mr. Kerry, said Luke Byars, executive director of the state party.

Republican Meeting Turns Focus to Kerry

[ibegurpard]

5. OMG! I'm agreeing with Dolstein!

At least we agree on Kerry.

[sangh0]

16. Let that be a lesson to you!!

:-)

[ibegurpard]

20. I've even agreed with you a few times Sangha

just not lately :hi:

[girl gone mad]

3. The premise is..

completely ridiculous, and I'm tired of hearing about it.

[trotsky]

6. This is very interesting.

When faced with a serious challenger, however, President Bush will rely heavily on his conservative base. He will no longer waste time catering to the Left in an impossible effort to win its favor. President Bush will need to convince people to vote for him, not appease them by ceding certain values. After all, the goal is not to win more votes for the sake of winning more votes. It is to win the battle of ideas, ideology and beliefs.

If Bush* has to do this, he will lose. Guaranteed. Because the majority of people in this country DO oppose the conservative agenda. He only got close enough to steal the last election because he promised to be a "compassionate conservative," protect the environment, etc. He didn't "win" because of a strong conservative message, he "won" because he ran to the middle and offered a lot of Democratic values.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. BRRRRRING!!!! (or whatever bell sound you like)

It's the moderates.It's the moderates. It's the moderates. It's the moderates. It's the moderates. It's the moderates.

Bush will lose the center. He is out to lunch and has proven it.

Kerry may win in a landslide.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

30. Exactly. Not only can we win, but we can win on the merits.

The past three years has revealed to a lot of people that Bush really did misrepresent himself in the 2000 election. Even many conservatives are upset at the way he has exploded the deficit. And Kerry has the ability to argue progressive ideas, but in such a reasonable way that he actually convinces moderates and even some conservatives to give him a chance.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

33. More on the battle for moderates....

This is from the right wing Weekly Standard, but it discusse how the battle between Bush and Kerry would be for the center:

"..A Bush strategy keyed on labeling Kerry an extreme liberal will be far from easy. Many voters are more apt to see the sonorous Kerry as a judicious moderate than as a wild-eyed liberal adept at wearing a moderate's mask. Kerry will often pay lip service to the idea of the election as a stark issues referendum, but in practice he can be expected to resist or try to finesse most of the president's attempts to define the content of such a choice.....

....Moreover, the president has gotten into a habit of taking conservative positions, but using arguments that appeal far more to moderates than to conservatives to support the positions. When Senate Democrats filibuster Bush's conservative nominees to the federal judiciary, they do so because they favor a continued liberal majority on the Supreme Court concerning such issues as abortion and gay rights. They are quite open about this, and as a result the liberal base is highly mobilized.

Bush repeatedly attacks the Democrats for the filibusters, but seldom if ever mentions the issues actually at stake. Presumably in order to appeal to moderate or undecided voters, he implies that Senate Democrats oppose the advancement of Latinos or women, which voters find difficult to believe. So the filibusters continue, and the conservative base is not only not mobilized, but appears somewhat demoralized.

The other problem is with those voters in the middle to whom Bush and his political team often seem to be gearing their appeal. More and more voters sense there is a cultural divide in the country, and that Bush is on one side and most Democratic elites, including John Kerry, are on the other. This sense of a cultural divide, already evident in the demographics of the 2000 election, has been accentuated by the course of the debate on the war on terrorism, and the invasion of Iraq in particular....."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=3676&R=9CC3286B

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. why would the White House fear anyone BUT Kerry?

Edwards is slick and good looking, but has ZERO credibility on National Security.

Clark is a great general, but has ZERO credibility or experience on domestic policy.

Dean is like the political equivilent of a southpaw boxer, not the ordinary democrat, but it's not like he has something special in his resume or life story that Bush has to fear.

Kerry has everything, all rolled up into one nice and neat package.

[pnziii]

11. You're right about Kerry

He has everything the GOP wants in a candidate.

He votes along with the repubs on Bush's policies.

IWR, Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind.

If I was a GOP I'd vote for him too.

[sangh0]

17. "everything the GOP wants" is 3 bills

So what are we so afraid of a 2nd Bush* term? He's already shot his wad

[girl gone mad]

14. All rolled up in one nice...

boring, status quo, GOP appeasing package.

[Sensitivity]

38. Don't have to go far to see Kerry's problems. Check DU

[pnziii]

8. They really feared Dean

I don't care what the repubs say and I can't believe that people listen to them.

The repubs kept saying "Please nominate Dean he is the weakest".
If that was true WHY would they show their hand and make Democrats believe that they didn't fear Dean.

The Repubs want to win so why keep telling us Dean would lose to Bush and now that Kerry is the front runner you hear more and more from the Repubs that they fear Kerry.

If they REALLY didnt fear Dean they would have not said anything or said Dean is a strong candidate and could give Bush a fight.

That's what I would have done if I was Rove. Tell the People Dean was the strongest and let the Dems nominate the weakest candidate.

They didn't they kept saying Dean was weak and they wanted Dean to be nominated, but Dean got most of the negative ads put out by the conservative groups.

Just think about it. I always hear DUers saying how the repubs lie until they say Kerry is the one they are afraid.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

18. Suggesting America won't always have the strongest military

would not convince many people to vote for you for President.
Not a lot of people know that Dean said that but Rove will make sure they do.

[pnziii]

22. You don't think that's true?

God help us if we always try to have the largest/strongest military.

There go all the social programs you like.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

24. So Germany should have produced an A-bomb before we did?

That's one logical extension of this kind of thinking.

God help us if....

[vision]

26. Germany probably would have

produced one first if it wasn't for a lack of leadership in Hilter whom would get excited by one thing and pour money into it i.e. rocket engines and than lose interest in it and focus elsewhere. Right or wrong the truth is that for much of WWII Germany was the leader in development of weapons.

On the other side it is doubtful that the US would have been able to get an A-bomb if it wasn't for the leadership of FDR and the appointment of General Leslie Groves and scientist Robert Oppenheimer. So if the US continues to have leaders like Bush, who pour money into moneypits instead of true leaders than yes the US will not always be the strongest emoconmically, politically or militarily.

[oasis]

23. Dean's comments about Osama and Saddam showed his lack of political savvy.

[pnziii]

25. It's only the truth

The President shouldn't pass judgment on OBL. It's only the Presidents job to bring OBL to justice.
It's up to the Judges to decide his fate.

I guess he should have just told us what we want to hear, you know the rah rah make you feel good stuff and not tell you what you NEED to hear.

That's why Kerry will win. He says all the "right" things to make people believe he's the best candidate.

The American public can't tolerate the truth. They need to be coddled and that's what Kerry is doing.

[oasis]

35. If "the American public can't tolerate the truth" then anyone seeking

the presidency should choose their words carefully. Political savvy.

[tryanhas]

10. Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones.

I hate John Kerry.

[kentuck]

12. Kerry was at the bottom just a few weeks ago...

Before he rose like the phoenix. But I think the Republican corporate media thought he was dead in the water. So, they decided to go after Howard Dean, who looked unbeatable. They surprised themselves. They had no idea they would be so successful in tearing him down. Now Kerry is back at the top. All you have to do is listen to the talk radio right wingers to know they are now after him...again. It really doesn't matter who the Democratic candidate eventually is, they will have a strategy to tear each of them down. Our strategy should be to pick the best candidate that will fight back and put them on the defensive. Is Kerry the one??

[epresley]

13. I think the current administration

is too arrogant to be quaking in their boots over anyone. They control the house and senate, the media is in their pocket, they have unlimited funds, they stole one election and played dirty tricks during the midterms...they are pretty full of themselves at this point. Their smugness is their weakness - not JK.

[newyawker99]

37. Hi epresley!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[pocoloco]

15. Why settle for a "good" challenger??

This election is much too important! Especially when we have a
"great" one in the General! :toast:

[zulchzulu]

19. I've met many Republicans who hate Bush who will vote for Kerry

Many are vets. There are also people who just fed up with Bush and are looking at leaving the GOP and considering Kerry as the next President. Many like the fact that Kerry and McCain have worked together on legislation.

I'm guessing that if Bush runs a nasty campaign against Kerry (if that happens), many Republicans will cross over and vote for Kerry. And you can bet Bush is going to run a nasty campaign.

[incapsulated]

21. I wish that were so

But I don't think it is.

Kerry reminds me of Gore, but without the claim to eight years of peace and prosperity and without a southern state he's got a chance in.

Every indication is that Bush is going to run on national security. Fighting in a war 30+ years ago and sitting on some committees isn't going to look that impressive going up against the sitting "commander in chief", especially when it looks like they are gearing up to pull Osama out of a hat, just in time for the elections.

He could choose to run on the economy instead, of course. But the economy is in a "flat line" state right now and that's just about where most people overall rate it. It's not in the downward spiral that caused the palpable outrage that turned on his father.

I just don't know. I don't trust national polls, they are notoriously inaccurate. Look at the polls in the swing states. The last one I saw for a swing state had Bush in the drivers seat.

It's not going to be easy for any democrat to get rid of Bush. Whether Kerry is the one is hardly a sure bet.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

27. Not a sure bet

but our best one.

[incapsulated]

29. I disagree

But he is my #2.

[stickdog]

28. Republicans say, "We always lie."

Should we believe them?

[sistersofmercy]

31. Republicans fear Kerry because they know he is the most likely

candidate to cross party lines and pull in disenchanted Republican voters.

[0rganism]

32. If Kerry gets the nomination, I sure as hell hope this guy's right

I hope all of the media's attacks on Kerry are every bit as weak as the "French Looking" crap he got early on.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

34. French-looking, aloof Massachussetts liberal is all they can come up with.

I guess I have overestimated the intelligence of the American public before, but I still think people are going to recognize this as simple name-calling.

[incapsulated]

36. If you think that's all they can come up with

You're Dreaming.