Deleted message

[Name removed]

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. He brought the fight to Bush's door.

This election campaign is not even a week old, and Bush is already playing defense. Pretty amazing.

[calimary]

3. I wouldn't let this get me complacent, though.

It's still a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG way til November.

Anybody who can, send John Kerry a donation, 'eh? I'm on my second round. He's gonna need bucks to beat the bastards. And Nader.

[flpoljunkie]

11. Speaking of Nader, did you hear Judy Woodruff on Ben Stein donating $500

to Nader, along with $1,000 to Bush. Think Ralphie will return the 500 bucks?

[napi21]

2. True today, but don't underestimate your enemy!

I keep reading about how wthe Pugs have been working on a strategy to win control of the Gov't for 40 years and they have finally succeeded. They're not about to give up easily, and they have a very large group of experts to draw from.

They are also a very mean and underhanded group and don't care if some people don't like their tactics, as long as they win.

The Dems always try to be too nice, and try to play fair.

O hope Kerry will change that!

[molly]

4. Go KERRY TEAM!

we've got them on the run!

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[flpoljunkie]

5. As Clarke foretold on "Sixty Minutes" WH attack dogs in full bore attack!

They are in severe back and fill mode and attempting cheap character assassination--running scared, to be precise.

[molly]

9. But OMG they are so very STUPID!

[mike_c]

6. a cornered, wounded animal is most dangerous...

...and I don't think Karl is a gracious loser. I'd hose Bushco down with gasoline and then microwave the ashes for a day or two before I'd be complacent about Rove's nasty factor....

[BootinUp]

22. yea heh, make sure that thing is dead!

LOL

[grannylib]

7. Thank you for noticing! What the heck is all this crap about Kerry's 'bad

week' and Chimpy's 'strong showing?'
With all the scandal that's come to light just this past week about the crooked liars in this unelected misadministration??
What a crock...what rw spin...

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. He needs to keep them this way

until November. Don't give an inch...be on his game at all times. Offense, Offense, Offense. 24/7

[Feanorcurufinwe]

10. On edit: good post

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DancingBear]

13. I've said it before, and I'll say it again

I've watched Kerry many times in previous Senate contests, and he has politically savvy up the wazoo. Far be it from me to understand how he does it, but his race against Weld was a textbook example of how to win an election.

I am guessing that over the next several months you will see Kerry run a campaign that (eventually) boxes Bush in, and defines him in terms that only the far right can love. By the time this is over, Kerry will own the war on terror. I don't know how he will do it (well, yes I do if a certain General is riding shotgun), but between the firefighters and the vets he will run the hero vs. zero campaign, and he'll win.

Imagine if he had a personality.... :)

[prodigal_green]

16. It's like watching my little brother

who is a champ at letting people he disagrees with destroy themselves with their own arguments. He feeds them the rope, and sits back and watches as they loop it, tie the knot, throw it over the branch and stick it around his or her neck before he comes back in and kicks the stool out from beneath him. I swear to god I've seen him make more than one person cry. Fortunately, he is a liberal. It is a thing of beauty to watch.

I'm guessing that Kerry plays chess. I doubt that the chimp could even win a game of checkers.

[Hav]

20. .

Interesting that you mentioned chess at the end about Kerry.
When I read that about your brother, my first thought was that he was probably a good chess player.

[capriccio]

14. Excellent assessment

I'd say Kerry has a huge strategic advantage. He's in complete control of his one big negative: his incessant equivocating.

On the other hand, without the help of a compliant media, Bush's negatives--the economy, Iraq, 9/11 revelations (his simian lineage)--are pretty much out of his control.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

25. It's is a common RW talking point

maybe the poster inadvertently picked it up from Faux or something.

[capriccio]

34. Oh Please...

Listen, I've been a Kerry fan since 1971 (yes, '71)...made my donations...gone to my meetups...so I don't need any condescending smart asses telling me about getting my talking points from Fox. And I shouldn't have to explain to anyone on this board who's at all informed that Kerry has a serious problem in trying to straddle issues (for the truly uninformed, I direct you to his comments on the 87 billion dollar Iraq bill and his comments on the Helms anti-Castro measure). I'm not going into this expecting perfection from Kerry. News flash--: he has his faults. And this is the biggest one...but the good news its that it's easily fixable...as long as he's not surrounded by a bunch of sycophants telling him that he has no faults.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

38. Oh please...

since you seem to be saying you should know better, I'll be blunt. Of course Kerry has faults. All human beings do. But your characterization of Kerry is unmitigated bullshit.

[fryguy]

17. only problem

is if Americans decide not to actually listen to what is being said by the Bushies and pay only attention to his sound bites, quips and slogans.....

.....or that in the middle of October they pull Osama out of his jail cell at Camp X-Ray, stick him in a spider hole in the desert, and have Special Forces "find him".....

[nomaco-10]

28. Exactly. Count on it.....

they'll produce OBL at the most opportune time, just weeks before the election. Not a doubt in my mind.

[TruthWins]

18. Bush League hasn't had to deal with someone from the big leagues

Kerry will not take anything lying down. Skiing down, maybe. Lying down, never.

[nomaco-10]

19. Next "reality check" when it comes to being .....

"off balance" is the fact that Kerry has about 2 million in campaign contributions left and bush* will have about 200 million. Kerry better hope bushco* keeps imploding just to get the disgruntled indies in his camp, without money for a long ad campaign his people will have to be very creative.

[Sagan]

21. needless to say, this is NOT the campaign Chimpco wanted

Two years ago, or even one year ago, I think just about everyone envisioned Chimpco cruising gracefully at this point in time with 60% approval ratings and a Democratic challenger either desperately attacking Chimpy or desperately agreeing with everything he said.

This is much, much better. :)

[welshTerrier2]

23. Wish I could agree, Pete

but I really don't give Kerry's campaign credit for the problems bush is having ... i think bush's wounds are self-inflicted ...

his credibility has been damgaged in a very significant way by his lies over WMD ... bush is seen as a typical fat cat republican selling our country to the highest bidder ... this image was built long before Kerry became the nominee ...

jobs are going overseas in record numbers and the public is legitimately scared ... greenspan is talking about cutting social security benefits ... the DOW is falling again ...

Europe has all but invaded the U.S. ... we have very few real allies left in the world ... Americans are dying everyday in Iraq and the situation there is clearly unstable ... turning control back to the Iraqis on June 30 is a joke ... and guess who we don't have trapped on the Pakistan border anymore??

I wish Kerry had the kind of money necessary to wage a real "rapid response" campaign ... his best strategy might very well be to just maintain a somewhat low profile as bush continues to self-destruct ...

[many a good man]

24. yeah, Nixon feared him, too

"Ohh, they don't know what they're talking about"!

[Nicholas_J]

26. Clarke is the icing on the cake

Bush admin keeps referring to Rand Beers as Kerry's National Security expert for his campaign but keep leaning out the fact that Beers worked for them after 9/11 and quit because of reasons similar to those brought up by Clarke. Then Paul O'Neills references to The Bush Administration focusing on Iraq from day one.

So Clarke is now the third person to leave the White House who refer to this issue, which rather validates Clarkes reports on the issue...


snip:


In a series of interviews, Beers, 60, critiqued Bush's war on terrorism. He is a man in transition, alternately reluctant about and empowered by his criticism of the government. After 35 years of issuing measured statements from inside intelligence circles, he speaks more like a public servant than a public figure. Much of what he knows is classified and cannot be discussed. Nevertheless, Beers will say that the administration is "underestimating the enemy." It has failed to address the root causes of terror, he said. "The difficult, long-term issues both at home and abroad have been avoided, neglected or shortchanged and generally underfunded."

The focus on Iraq has robbed domestic security of manpower, brainpower and money, he said. The Iraq war created fissures in the United States' counterterrorism alliances, he said, and could breed a new generation of al Qaeda recruits. Many of his government colleagues, he said, thought Iraq was an "ill-conceived and poorly executed strategy."

"I continue to be puzzled by it," said Beers, who did not oppose the war but thought it should have been fought with a broader coalition. "Why was it such a policy priority?" The official rationale was the search for weapons of mass destruction, he said, "although the evidence was pretty qualified, if you listened carefully."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62941-2003Jun15?language=printer

snip:

As treasury secretary, O'Neill was a permanent member of the National Security Council. He says in the book he was surprised at the meeting that questions such as "Why Saddam?" and "Why now?" were never asked.

"It was all about finding a way to do it. That was the tone of it. The president saying ‘Go find me a way to do this,’" says O’Neill. “For me, the notion of pre-emption, that the U.S. has the unilateral right to do whatever we decide to do, is a really huge leap.”

And that came up at this first meeting, says O’Neill, who adds that the discussion of Iraq continued at the next National Security Council meeting two days later.

He got briefing materials under this cover sheet. “There are memos. One of them marked, secret, says, ‘Plan for post-Saddam Iraq,’" adds Suskind, who says that they discussed an occupation of Iraq in January and February of 2001.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtmlhttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

O'Neill verifies that the Bush Administration was trying to find a way to invade Iraq as early as January 2001, Beers affirms that this was the focus after 9/11, and Clarke puts the whole thing together.
If Clarke was the first person to make these allegations, it would be easier for the Bush Administration to marginalize him, but Beers criticized the Bush Administrations focus on Iraq as harming the attempts to go after Al Qaeda, and O'Neill verifies this with documentation from prior to 9/11.

All of the Bush officials who have appeared to deny these charges appear very nervous and in bad shape. Condoleeza is heavily made up to cover what looks like a massive breakout of Rashes, and the State Department spokesman could barely talk today. SCott McCleelan was on the offensive.

Most damning is the hastily put togetther response to Clarkes interview on 60 minutes. 4 pages of denial put together within 4 hours of the interview. They seem rather desperate. I guarantee Beers is putting togetther Kerry's response, and I would not doubt there will be a Kerry commercial dealing with the issue.

With a race this close, all that is necesary is for a small percentage of the swing voters to believe Clarke, O'Neill, and Beers or Kerry to win.

[rasputin1952]

27. In truth...

I am surprised that bushco is even attempting a re-election bid.

I could run for president and beat him hands down. There is NOTHING since the inauguration that this goomer has done that has benefitted the nation...NOTHING!

So bushco is running on failure...a gopher could beat him.

I know that bush will get clobbered, and Kerry is a good man. He has my vote. I am hoping that Kerry will take the best of the former candidates and rip bush to shreds in a debate. There is indeed a LONG way to go, but judging how the idiot prionce came out of the gate....I am going to have FUN watching him self immolate. :)

I'm going to fight, right down to wire, and not allow any of the sludge bushco brings up to stick to Kerry in my neck of the woods.
Way I figure it, the downward spiral is gaining momentum!

:bounce:

[THUNDER HANDS]

29. I just donated $25

And I plan to donate $25 a month until the election.

(I can do that right, contributions aren't capped at a certain period in time are they?)

[cally]

30. You will not be able to donate after the convention

if Kerry accepts federal funds. Everyone thinks he will. So you can donate until the end to July.

[Lexingtonian]

31. seven plus months to go

But yes, I am perfectly certain that Bush is only going to get hit harder. The General campaign looks to be a pure Sherman's March of scorched earth- The Bush Scandals: Highlights 2000-2004. The next month or so is going to be as close as this race is going to be.

[Mr.Green93]

32. it could be over in the next ten days

[VOX]

33. Bottom line: Was any * supporter won over by Kerry's R&R this past week?

Was any fence-sitter won over by Kerry's R&R this past week? Did the latest bucket of hot water thrown in the general direction of * dissuade any of his supporters, or anyone who has a morbid fear of terrorism (as implanted by the media)?

Sorry to say that, IMO, I don't feel that anything significant has budged from its moorings in the past week.

The Richard Clarke material has legs, but it remains to be seen how far it will travel.

Sorry to be downbeat, Pete, but the right-wing are like cockroaches -- they just keep coming.

However, I am anxious to see how hard Kerry will fight when the campain proper gets under way.

[elperromagico]

35. But how substantial is *'s base of "true believers"?

35% perhaps?

[jumptheshadow]

36. However, there's more in store for Bush

The 9/11 commission; the Valerie Plame investigation; the possibility of some new twist in the AWOL story; a small, but growing continent of ex-Bush confederates pouring out their guts; and the nebulous but ever threatening stench of the Saudi, the Halliburton and the Enron stories.

I was surprised to see an apolitical guy at work spend a fair amount of time today searching the net for Clarke articles. I think this is a story that might spark a reaction with a lot of usually disinterested people.

You know who fascinates me: Rudy Giuliani. He has seemed mesmerized by the possibility of a national role in the Republican party. Yet this is a guy who once endorsed Mario Cuomo because he believed he was a better candidate than George Pataki. Faced with the increasing barrage of evidence about Bush's horrific incompetence, will Rudy continue to defend him?

[ByRillYAN]

37. Bush's biggest problem...

is the that the core Democratic base is riled beyond anything that has been seen since before i was born, 1987. the core Dem. base is willing to go to the streets and fight for whoever it is That wins the party nom. that has been so since Iraq, and those who are willing to go to the streets against bush have cont. increased since the start of the Iraq war. Bush cannot say the same thing, his core base of support has cont. declined ever since the start of the war. Kerry can get the entire Dem. support base to go out and campaign for him door to door, while Bush would cont. with massive campaign attack ads. When it comes down to the last push to the push to the election, which will be more effective: massive campaign fearmongering attack ads, or a massive door to door, personal contact, message hope, grassroots movement. if planned correctly, this campaign could mark a swing away from media driven attack/degrade the opponent campaigning to door to door/grassroots campaigning.