Z, another guy who agrees with me that Kerry's buttons are being pushed:
polipundit.com
The Kerry Strategy
Word is that at midnight tonight, John Kerry will begin to "fight back" against the "negative Republican attacks" by contrasting his service in Vietnam with George W. Bush's Air National Guard service and Dick Cheney's "five deferments."
This is a colossal mistake.
The campaign George W. Bush is running: I'll kill the terrorists, unlike that wimpy, flip-flopping John Kerry.
The campaign Senator Kerry should have run: I'll fix George Bush's economy and you can trust me not to blow up the world.
The campaign Senator Kerry has run so far: I served in Vietnam.
The campaign Senator Kerry will soon be running: I served in Vietnam and George Bush didn't. Therefore, I'll be tougher on the terrorists than Bush.
By doing this, Kerry will make terrorism the central issue, not the economy. Worse for him, he'll be making the argument that he'll be tougher on terrorists than Bush. This will scare the bejesus out of voters who intended to vote for Kerry because he won't blow up the world.
Bush is already the scourge of tyrants, the Ground-Zero-bullhorn-wielding, UN-defying warmonger.
Kerry's best argument against Bush is that Kerry won't blow up the world.
By trying to appear tougher than Bush with military-record comparisons, Kerry will:
1. Squarely bring the focus to terrorism, overriding issues that naturally favor him.
2. Make it acceptable to question his Vietnam service and anti-war protesting.
3. Lose the battle on toughness. The Ground-Zero-bullhorn-wielding Commander-in-Chief will always be voters' first choice on toughness. Undecided voters will break for the incumbent in times of war.
4. Lose voters who'd vote for Kerry because he'd run a more "nuanced," "sensitive" War on Terror. Voters who're afraid Bush will blow up the world.
5. Lose voters for whom the economy is issue #1.
6. Make it difficult for down-ballot Democrats to win. All of the competitive US Senate races are in red states. Most of those Democrat candidates aren't Vietnam veterans. All of the Republican candidates, however, will be presumed to be tougher on terrorism.
So what prodded Kerry to this act of lunacy? Well, mostly the Swiftees. And the attacks on him at the GOP convention (remember the Purple Heart bandaids that some delegates wore?) By giving into his emotions, Kerry is throwing Bush into the brier patch, just as Bush wants. |
