Kerry's Hard Work (Not Media Conspiracies and Foul Play) Put Him On Top

[DrFunkenstein]

You media conspiracy people seem to forget that the media trashed Kerry from the get-go. Kerry was always the aloof, fence-sitting patrician that took the nomination for granted. When they had staff shake-ups (first Lehane, then Jordan), both times the media predicted that it was the death-knell of the campaign, and never let up.

The media, throughout the race, was all about PROCESS stories - and Dean was the king of process. The media loved the novelty of the internet armies and kept it going for a long, long time. The Sunday morning shows predicted Dean would sweep things up pretty much since September right through to the week before Iowa, when the polls starting shifting.

While Dean made a series of gaffes in January, ineffectually dealt with criticism, and failed to transition from insurgent to Presidential, Kerry was plugging away night after night by letting EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the room fire off all their questions - even the nutballs. Kerry busted his ass and Iowans respected him for it.

The media was completely shocked by the turn around, and had to account for their completely overlooking Kerry's strength. Kerry not only won Iowa and New Hampshire - he completely slammed Dean hard in both states. Couple that with Dean's inability to lose gracefully - an extension of the entitlement shown in his Iowa debate quip about his second term - and you have a major shift of dynamics.

The media did not annoit Kerry. Kerry worked hard, surprised everyone, and got his due. If the same had happened to a different candidate, you can be sure that the coverage we be comparable.

I can imagine that it is difficult to be on the wrong end of that shift in dynamics, but it is not the result of some media conspiracy to prop up a "safe" candidate. It was the combined result of Dean's poor closing, and Kerry's strong final push.

I have total respect for the hard work Dean supporters themselves put into the insurgency, and I would hate for them to sink bank down into "you can't beat The System" theories. There is still much work to be done in this country - for one thing, your candidate is still running, but even if he drops out our Democracy remains unfinished. Whatever Dean's personal fate, I don't think it changes the fundamental fact that it is the movement, not the man that will change this country.

You all know me. I've been Kerry all the way. But even if Kerry dropped out (which seemed VERY likely a short while ago), I would simply re-direct my energies against Bush, rather than focusing on the Democratic nominee. Honestly, I wouldn't have been crazy about a Dean nomination, but I would have accepted it and moved on. I was raised a Democrat and will probably die one. And I, for one, would like to see a Democrat picking the Supreme Court Justices and establishing our place in the community of nations. Kerry may not have been your first choice, but he is a legitimate one. He's a fighter, and he's not going to stop until Bush goes down for the count.

[Virgil]

1. It is not the media. It is the establishment being on the media.

I have ask for days on Kerry's position on things. People do not know. What you see in the media is recomendation after recomendation from other party loyalists. Kerry is a newsworthy thing and should be in the media. The thing is it is all recomendations and slogans about change and the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. All these words and nothing about what he thinks needs to change. Kerry leads the pack because the establishment supports him and not the media or his ideas. But feel free to inspire me with some Kerry wisdom.

The middle class is being wiped out. Is anyone interested in saving it? How would you save it if you wanted to?

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Slogans...

"We don't need slogans, we need solutions." - John Kerry

[krkaufman]

13. Right on...!!

"I know something about aircraft carriers... blahblahblah... Bring iiit oooon... briiiing iiiit oooonnn... brrriiingg iiittt oooonnn."

"We're coming, you're going, and don't let the door hit you on the way out,"

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. " I believe...."

[George_Bonanza]

16. Big-time DLCers like Gore and McGreevey backed Dean

How many times must I repeat this? Dean's about as big a threat to establishment politics as an angry Al Gore. The establishment gave up on Kerry for dead when he was being triple-lapped by Dean in NH and was remaining stagnant on money and endorsements. Where were these establishment guys when popular opinion was that Dean had it wrapped up and Kerry was a miserable failure who squandered some great chances?

[JohnKleeb]

18. To be fair George, virgil is a Kucinich man

But I agree with your premise, Dean had some very establishment backing. It dont get anymore establishment than the rightful president of the US, and I personally didnt expect that endorsement, I admit I was a little disappointed in Al but I didnt bash him for it. Kerry I admit has some very establishment backing, Ted Kennedy for instance but there are some in the establishment who I admier much like Ted and Al and etc. Kerry won because he saw an opening in Iowa and exploited it, and long story short, hes been on fire ever since.

[Bill of Rights]

3. I personally think it was dirty campaigning

against Dean that got him the Iowa win. From then on he has gained positive, free press. JMHO.

[T Roosevelt]

5. That's part of it

It was the mudslinging that Gephardt and Dean got into, plus the millions that organizations like Club for Growth spent against Dean. Kerry (and to a lesser extent Edwards) sat on the sidelines, watched, and benefitted.

[molly]

8. Did Dean ever do any dirty campaigning of his own?

I thought he was the initiator of it? Am I wrong?

[krkaufman]

14. My brother put it well...

Murder-suicide of Dean/Gephardt left the door open for whoever else was there. Clark missed a great opportunity, unfortunately. And Kerry was negative but nothing like Dean/Gephardt, and he was able to draft off the Edwards' good vibrations.

Pretty much a dead heat coming out of Iowa....

... until the Newsweek issue, and the "Kerry leads Bush" poll... and the NH primary next door to Massachusetts.. leading to more momentum.

[MurikanDemocrat]

9. Didn't Dean initiate the dirty campaigning??

As I recall, Dean is the one who went negative then Gep followed. Voters don't like it and it backfired on both of them. They BOTH got their butts handed to them.

[WiseMen]

30. That is the fact.

[MurikanDemocrat]

4. Thank you for an excellent post

I get a bit weary of the conspiracy accusations and the suggestions that that people who voted for Kerry are idiots that let the media pick their candidate for them and the only people with brains choose Dean.

Hell the media annointed Dean the front runner and assumed winner for most of the year and he of all candidates benefitted from media coverage. His downfall is his own doing and those who refuse to see that do so at their own peril and just prolong their own agony.

[nwstrn]

6. Excellent point, DrFunkenstein

I think the voters in Iowa had a long time to look at the candidates and made a reasoned decision on which candidate would best represent the Democratic party. The media didn't coerce or trick Iowans to spend election night as Kerry supporters. Kerry convinced the voters that he was the better candidate.

[blm]

7. and this deserves a bump.

Thanks Doc.

[ShadowCabinet]

10. I agree that Kerry put a tremendous effort into Iowa and NH.

But, and it's the big "But" - he got a huge helping hand by the smackdown the media was doing on Dean in the days leading up to Iowa caucus. Every tick and movement in one poll or another showing Kerry moving up was treated with the solemnity and intensity of someone predicting an up-coming tornado.

While I applaud the Kerry campaign for it's efforts, let's not kid ourselves here. The media guerilla war being waged on the Dean camp combined with Gephardt's "take down Dean at all costs to win Iowa" played a tremendous part in things.

Kerry's part was like a NASCAR driver who drives straight through the crash of the guys in front of him....(geez, I gave myself a "Days of Thunder" flashback!).

[MurikanDemocrat]

11. But Kerry's movement up in the polls WAS news

At one time Dean had a double digit lead, perhaps as much as 20 points, and the fact that by the time caucus week rolled around Dean's was dropping while Kerry's was rising WAS big news.

You seem to be suggesting that the media should have shown special treatment to Dean and ignored it, or perhaps not even pointed it out. The media was simply reporting the facts. That's what happens in primaries.

And, that war between Gephardt and Dean was initiated by Dean. So he gets no free pass on that either.

[D G]

12. Kick, and is that Keanu Reeves for Kerry?

:kick:

[sandnsea]

15. Very hard work

And some very dedicated people who put one foot in front of the other and kept their eye on the prize and absolutely refused to give up or even get discouraged. Every person giving absolutely everything they had to give, intense focus, and a bond that transcended. It was an amazing thing to see through emails and blog posts and occasional glimpses on tv. Max Cleland, he worked with the only hand he had left... broken. I read alot of stories like that. It was truly humbling.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

23. That's the essence of it. Kerry was always there. Steady and strong.

No matter what the other guys were doing, Kerry kept plugging away, and was eventually rewarded for it.

[George_Bonanza]

17. Dean failed to adapt

Grassroots and angry rhetoric is fun for the first 8 months, but people wanted evolution, meaning the change from scrappy underdog to wise and visionary uniter. Instead, Dean never changed from his bombastic and error-prone ways. Some of the examples are his bloody duel with Dick Gephardt, his repeated Soviet Union slip-up, and his inability to present "Dean: The Man" (it was always "Dean: The Fun Campaign"). Contrast that with John Kerry, who wore out his 60 year old self by spending night after night winning over unswayed voters in Iowa, by answering every question with care and expertise. When voters got tired of the Iraq issue, trusting that Bush would be ousted and the Democratic replacement would make things much better, Dean lost a lot of steam. Hell, he even lost the anti-war crowd to JK in Iowa and NH.

[Raya]

37. Dean did the best he could.

[zoeyfong]

19. How come Kerry's "hard work" had no effect for months, and then

all of the sudden, he surges literally 30-40 points in a couple of weeks? Come on, after a year of the media's brutal treatment of dean, people got in the voting booth and decided to "play it safe" and go with the guy the media told them was "electable." Kerry has faced nothing like what dean faced from the media; the worst they have said about him was that he was boring and his campaign had fizzled after their early declaration that he was the man to beat.

[sandnsea]

20. Timing is everything

He knew when to get the team together, when to push hard, where to push, how to use the media, etc. He made the necessary changes in the way he was talking to Iowans and the rest came together because he had the strategy and organization in place.

[Mobius]

21. Hard work , my foot...

the media just decided to chew on someone else this week. EVERY candidate is working just as hard as Kerry is.

[sandnsea]

24. Iowa

It's about Iowa. We had NO media going into Iowa except attacks.

[blm]

27. This was about what happened in IOWA.

The good press only came AFTER Kerry's long, hard work.

[Cheswick2.0]

22. I think you are wrong

I believe media and dirty tricks had a lot to do with what is going on. I also believe Kerry is a dishonest disaster.

[farmbo]

26. Robo-calls were made to Dean supporters at 2:00 am...and Push polls

...were in the field both in Iowa and NH.

And...I know...no one can pin them on Kerry (yet) but he was the primary beneficary of the dirty tricks.

That's Rovian bulls*%! Not hard work.

[loupe-garou]

28. Did any of you see Dean yell at the old guy in Iowa

who was upset about him dissing the "president". None of us agree with the man, but to see a major candidate telling an old man to shut up and sit down.........that kind of thing doesn't play well many places.....

I think Dean did it to himself largely. Now he's calling Kerry a republican. I thought the Hippocratic (sp?) oath was "First do no harm." !!!!!!

[wabeewoman]

31. The man was a republican operative

and Dean let him go on for 3-4 minutes and then he wouldn't let Dean talk. I personally thought he handled it well. Check out David Podvin's article about Dean's treatment vs Kerry and Edwards. http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/040201_TheScream.htm

[DrFunkenstein]

33. Or Talk About His Second Term In Total Seriousness?

People laughed like it was a joke, but he just looked puzzled at the response.

And, I hate to say it, but the Dean activists were not very well organized despite their numbers, and I have a feeling that the Perfect Storm orange caps rubbed Iowans the wrong way (I have no idea why whatsoever, it's just a hunch).

I don't think Kerry's hard work alone could have won, certainly not by that margin. I think Dean had to make a few missteps on his own, including his inability to quell media murmurs about his temperment. Bush was able to turn his idiocy into a plus, but Dean never really dealt effectively with the media on that point.

[corporatewhore]

29. Well it certainly wasnt taking a stand on bold progressive issues

Kerry inspired Fear rather than Hope

[jpgpenn]

32. poppycock!

[PAMod]

34. Sen. Kerry was the beneficiary of media-fueled doubts...

about the other candidates.

Sorry Doc, I know you love your guy, but most of the Democrats, especially on this board are ambivalent at best. Any doubts that existed about the rest of the field was magnified by the media coverage.

JK is the safe comfortable choice. Period. He is the most famous and we all desperately want a victory in November.

To imagine that he is the nominee because he "worked hard" or because he is somehow superior just isn't so. If his team is actually operating on that premise, they, and we, are doomed.

The rest of this post is right on. I am not crazy about a Kerry nomination, but I will support him in the GE.

Anyone know where I can get a "Redefeat Bush" bumper sticker?

[mitchum]

35. kicking truth over bullshit

Kerry 2004

[seventhson]

36. Uhhhhhhh....heh heh uhhhhhhhhhhh....Beavis

he said "hard"

heh heh