It is more and more apparent that the Democratic National Committee continues to be under the adolescent control of that group of intellectually pretentious and politically deficient gang who tried to help Gore win the final Florida vote.
They were routed then by professionals and experts at the game of politics just as they are being routed now. Every move they made then proved to be a wrong move and was quickly routed by the Republican experts at political strategy and campaign deception. All the while, the Gore team, naive to the core, thought that it was winning the battle. And all the while they thought they were winning, the Republicans continued to suck the Florida sand from under their feet, leaving them with no firm footing underneath and the prospects of their political swamp looming closer and closer.
So is it today with John Kerry and his Cambodian and Vietnam morass. Instead of sucking the Florida sand from under their feet, the Republican strategists force the Dems deeper into the Cambodian jungle, forcing them to look now helter skelter for that escape route to rid themselves of a rapidly developing implosion of the Kerry campaign. And the deeper into the jungle they are forced, the more mistakes they make. And the more mistakes they make, the more frantic they become.
Witness the events of the past 24 hours. What was denied is now admitted. What was feared is now fearsomely confronted. "Bring It On" is in reality a frantic call for HELP. The Republican operatives have been bringing it on now for some time. The Democrats just didn't know that they were gradually being surrounded.
The trap was really set during the Democratic National Convention. When the would-be Commander-in-Chief strode boldly to the rostrum, saluted smartly and announced: "Reporting for Duty" the trap snapped shut. Kerry was caught. He simply did not know it.
Kerry challenged Bush at Bush's strongest suit, not his weakest. Bush wins hands down when it comes to which candidate the American people trusts more to wage the continuing war on terror. Kerry thought that four months in Vietnam made him more qualified than Bush.
Had Kerry gone at Bush on the basis of Bush's vulnerabilities, (the deficit, health care, the economy, and other domestic issues) he might have found some traction. But attacking the Bush front line at its strongest point meant that Kerry and his advisors, like Gore's team in Florida, simply did not understand the lay of the political landscape.
We are witnessing today the same kind of campaign implosion that we witnessed with Dukakis, McGovern, Mondale, and Carter (his second term). One might also include Dole who practically conceded the race to Clinton two months before the November vote.
When will Kerry concede? When will the Democrats face up to the fact that it is practically over unless they can change the subject.
And do they think that now, today, next week, they are likely to be able to change the subject.
Not if Kerry and his band of politically naive and strategically innocent band of brothers and sisters continue to have their way. |
