Kerry Takes Off The Gloves
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A Less Kind, Less Gentle John Kerry
By Marc Sandalow
The San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday 19 September 2004
Washington - Sen. John Kerry is condemning President Bush with sharper language and more pointed attacks as the campaign heads into its final six weeks, hoping to turn the 2004 election back into a referendum on the incumbent.
After a summer of muddled messages and sagging poll numbers, the focus of Kerry campaigners has shifted from introducing their candidate to the nation to drawing distinctions with the president, a more combative posture that aides said will characterize their tone through election day.
In the past six days, Kerry has charged Bush with caving in to the gun lobby, favoring Halliburton at the expense of American taxpayers, glossing over glum news from Iraq while "living in a fantasy world of spin," and presiding over an economic recovery that has generated "more excuses than jobs."
"I am absolutely taking the gloves off," Kerry told radio host Don Imus this past week. "I'm prepared to take (Bush) on."
The confrontational tone, cheered by party loyalists, nevertheless carries a risk for the Democratic challenger. Kerry won his party's nomination in part because he was seen as more steady and careful - and therefore more electable - than former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, his chief rival in the early primaries. If Kerry's attacks are viewed as too strident, it may leave some voters wondering what he stands for besides "not-Bush," and turn off other voters who are reluctant to change presidents during a war.
The sharp aim at Bush comes after a summer-long focus on Kerry - his service in Vietnam, his evolving position on Iraq, his Senate voting record - that eroded his position in the polls and left many Democrats gloomy over their prospects for winning back the White House.
"Of course there's frustration," said Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party, after meeting with 500 party activists in Oakland last weekend. "There is frustration that he should be more pugnacious against the president, that he should raise the hypocrisy of the (president's stances) on the domestic front, that he should be more focused and targeted."
This week Kerry seemed to do all of the above. After admonishing speakers not to turn the Democratic convention into a Bush-bashing affair, Kerry this week made the incumbent's failures the centerpiece of his White House quest.
On Monday, Kerry devoted a speech to a topic that he and many other Democrats have shied away from - the expiration of the assault weapon ban - asserting that by refusing to stand up to the National Rifle Association, "George Bush chose to make the job of terrorists easier and made the job of America's police officers harder."
On Wednesday, Kerry went after Bush for the loss of 1.6 million jobs, dismissing White House claims that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had made it impossible to fulfill Bush's pledge to add 6 million jobs during his term.
"His is the excuse presidency: never wrong, never responsible, never to blame," Kerry said in a speech in Detroit. "He's blamed just about everyone but himself and his administration for America's economic problems."
On Thursday, Kerry spoke to a Las Vegas gathering of National Guard officers who had given Bush a rousing ovation two days earlier when he praised American successes in Iraq. "He failed to tell you the truth," Kerry charged.
"Two days ago the president stood right where I'm standing and didn't acknowledge that more than 1,000 men and women have lost their lives in Iraq. He didn't tell you that with each passing day, we're seeing more chaos, more violence, indiscriminate killings. ... You deserve a president who will not play politics with national security."
And on Friday, he linked Vice President Dick Cheney's association with Halliburton to the construction company's $7 billion contract in Iraq, demanding: "We need a commander in chief and a vice president who put the interests of our troops and our taxpayers ahead of their big money friends. ... As commander in chief, I will have two words for companies that cheat the U.S. military - 'You're fired.' "
The attacks come after a rocky stretch in which Kerry tried to introduce himself and sell his agenda to the nation. Polls show that a majority of Americans favor Kerry's approach to domestic issues, yet he emerged from the summer seen as less able than Bush to take a strong stand, exercise strong judgment and display leadership.
This week's more strident tone is a calculated risk. While it may serve to fire up his base and help define his differences with Bush, it could also turn off voters who are hesitant to remove a wartime president. Some of Kerry's words were reminiscent of Dean, who soared to the top of Democratic polls last year because of his confrontational style and anti-war stance. Democrats ultimately rejected Dean in favor of Kerry, in part because Kerry seemed like a safer, and more electable, alternative.
"He has to be Howard Dean to the base Democrats. But if he's Howard Dean, then he risks losing those in the middle, who are thinking he's wacko," said independent San Francisco pollster David Binder.
The Bush camp immediately seized upon Kerry's strong words on Iraq, characterizing it as his eighth position on the war, and distributing one news release entitled: "John Kerry: the new Howard Dean."
The flip-flop charge is repeated in nearly every stump speech by Bush and Cheney, and polls suggest it has stuck with many voters.
A Pew Poll released on Thursday found that 51 percent of respondents agreed with the statement "John Kerry changes his mind too much." Asked which candidate is best described by the words "takes a stand," 67 percent said Bush while 23 percent said Kerry.
Regardless of what voters think of Kerry, Democrats have long believed that their best chance rests on turning the election into an up or down vote on Bush. Several polls released this week show that a majority of voters believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, and is in need of new leadership.
"If this election was going to be a referendum on George Bush and his policies, then all along it looked increasingly promising for the Democrats - and that's still the case," said Paul Maslin, who was Dean's pollster. "If the debate is about who the challenger is, and all the attending doubts, no matter who the nominee would have been, then it's a different story."
In a conversation from his hospital bed before undergoing heart surgery two weeks ago, former President Bill Clinton reportedly told Kerry to more sharply define his differences with Bush. The campaign has added several Clinton aides - veterans of the only team to elect a Democratic president since Jimmy Carter nearly three decades ago.
And some Kerry followers say the new tone follows a pattern of Kerry growing more focused and effective in the closing weeks of a campaign.
"Kerry himself is someone who is historically a very strong closer," said former Kerry communications director Chris Lehane. "He tends to do better when things get tight."
As the latest polls show Kerry's position improving late last week, his aides were quick to credit the aggressive stance.
"We are in the final stages of the campaign," said campaign spokesman Joe Lockhart, one of the former Clinton aides retained by Kerry. "Not a day will go by between now and election day that John Kerry is not going to raise his concerns and talk about the differences."
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