Sounds like a good Ad approach to me. "PoliPundit"
Suggestion
Right now the criticism of John Kerry is all over the place, from attacks on his flip-flops to attacks on his Botox. However, for the general election, the GOP will need to hammer home one line of attack against Kerry. For instance, the line against Al Gore was that he was a liar. The line against Michael Dukakis was that he was too liberal. The line Bill Clinton used against Bush 41 was that he'd failed on the economy.
The most salient of Kerry's flaws - his soft-on-defense voting record - has been largely ignored until now, probably because his Democrat rivals have been reluctant to bring it up in a Democrat primary. But that doesn't mean the GOP should ignore it.
Here's how I think the Bush campaign should "Dukakis" Kerry: A few weeks before the election, run a series of ads featuring Kerry's cowardly record on defense. Highlight each vote Kerry cast against a defense program - the B1 and B2 bombers, the Patriot missile, the F-14, the Apache helicopter, etc. Each ad should showcase a weapon, mention a war/battle in which it came in handy and then note Kerry's vote against it. The climax of the sustained ad campaign should be an attack on Kerry's votes against funding our troops in Iraq and his repeated attempts to slash billions of dollars from intelligence budgets. The GOP might even highlight Kerry's call to "almost eliminate CIA activity."
Why would such a strategy work? Because the Republican national convention has been scheduled just before September 11. Republicans can use the occasion to bring national security to the forefront, above all other issues. Kerry's vulnerability on that score alone will defeat him. When undecided voters are in the voting booth, they'll go with the safe choice. That's what undecideds did after Bush's DUI revelation in 2000 by voting for Gore, thereby costing Bush the popular vote.
If such a strategy is employed, the lying liberal media, and Democrats in general, will howl that Republicans are questioning Kerry's patriotism. Let them. Charges of racism did not prevent the Willie Horton ads in 1988 from being effective because the ads were true and raised a legitimate issue. The same applies to Kerry's anti-American voting record.
During the presidential debates, Kerry will accuse Bush of "questioning my patriotism." Bush will brush aside the charge and say that he's "questioning his judgement, not his patriotism." Then the Bush campaign will unveil yet another ad featuring yet another weapons system Kerry voted against. It'll be delicious to watch. And, as a bonus, it'll drive Democrat politicians crazy, like Senator Max Cleland's defeat in 2002 did.
Democrats have been waging all-ought war (pardon the pun) against President Bush for well over a year. They've viciously assaulted his judgement, his credibility, his legitimacy and his patriotism. They've "gone nuclear." The president now has a choice: fight with "conventional" weapons and die, or fight back with every weapon at his disposal and live.
posted by PoliPundit at 11:00 AM |
