Republicans are geniuses...

wasteofo2

In the public eye:

Before the Democratic Convention, John Kerry had marginal leads in national polls, and was leading most states that really could go either way. He was a war hero, he got shot up in Vietnam, came back, protested the war because it was being fought horribly, and fought for tons of stuff for the veterans in front of the Senate. Now, thanks to some republicans handi-work, John Kerry lied and cheated to get his medals, was never even shot at, much less actually hit by a bullet, came home, fought against the troops and veterans.

Before a week ago, George Bush got into the national guard on favors from his dad and his friends, was a chicken hawk who supported the war but didn't want to fight, skipped out on even going to the guard, got a sketchy OK to leave. There's even a $50,000 reward for anyone who can personally account for George Bush serving in the guard, and no one had taken it up. Now, George Bush served honorably, got into the guard totally legitimately, did everything he needed to do and passed with flying colors.

All of this, and on top of it, they've managed not to talk about the past 4 years in any more depth than nationalistic rhetoric. Despite recent cencus data showing between 2002 and 2003 1.4 million Americans fell into poverty, 1.3 million lost health-care, despite Bush being the first president since the Great depression to loose jobs in a term in office, the Republicans have convinced an astounding number of people that the economy is the best we've ever had in our lives.

God, they're so good at...

russ_watters

Getting a bounce from your convention is to be expected, so I wouldn't say there was anything special about Dubya's performance at the RNC. The corollary to that though, is that the lack of a bounce for Kerry from the DNC points to some major incompetence on his/his campaign's part.

JohnDubYa

I don't think it's the intelligence of Bush, but rather the stupidity of Kerry. He simply has ran a lousy campaign. But it ain't over until the fat lady sings.

phatmonky

I would agree on this.
Dubya's campaign has been run well, but by no means top notch. Kerrys has been a complete failure. I can't figure out WHY they continue hiring the people they do?! Shrum has a 0-7 losing streaking for campaigns. Why would you hire such a guy to run your's?!

wasteofo2

I wasn't talking about their conventions, but their ad campaigns, stump speeches, general lies/deceptions. They're double plus good duck-speakers, that's for sure.

Gza

Damn fine policticians they are!

JohnDubYa

That's okay. Someday Kerry will discover his true talents too.

Gokul43201

The Democrats play to your intellect, while the Republicans play to your emotion. It was over before it even started.

phatmonky

You've got to be kidding me.
You should be a campaign or whitehouse spokesperson, for it seems those guys get off on telling you something that you KNOW is false. The thing is, they know it's false too, but they will sit there and just say it.
I remember Ari Fleisher(sp?) once responded to questions about aid to nations that helped with Iraq with "Are you hearing yourself? What you are saying is that other nations can simply be bought off, and we know that just isn't the case!" This was met with a subtle laughter from the press corp. ahhaha.

Anyways, you want to talk emotions?

Democrats:
Class warfare
Class warfare
Class warfare
Europe doesn't like us
Muslims don't like us
AD NAUSEUM

phatmonky

Kerry's latest campaign strategy? The assault weapons ban! 3 days now of chastising Bush on it. Pssssttt, Kerry! Iraq, Security, and all at once now deficitjobseconomy. I can't believe he chose a campaign manager that has a record of 0-7

But noooo, focus on how terrorists are going to suddenly buy the legal post 1994 AK-47, when they wouldn't be willing to get the pre-1994 ak-47 before! Wooh! Not to mention the losing strategy of blaming Bush for it, since he says he supports it and will resign it if congress will bring it up.

kat

Honestly the Republicans didn't need any great campaign strategy other then to let Kerry and terry stab themselves in the foot repeatedly. It was obvious from very early on that as long as Kerry didn't have to speak and Terry was behind the curtain (so to speak) his polls remained high. Every time Kerry came out and started speaking and allowing the press to question him his numbers dropped.
The only reason he showed any convention bounce at all (minimal that it was) is that the the polsters re-weighted their polls, which showed a false bounce. When using the same poll weighting he actually had a negative bounce.
I'm afraid the Repubs can't really take too much credit, other then knowing when to keep their mouths shut.

Tigers2B1

OK - if the democrats are the 'undercover' smart ones – i.e. if their craniums are bigger – they simply change the play to intellect blueprint and, instead, use the proven 'play to your emotions' cource of action. Why on earth do these smart guys continue to employ a strategy they know doesn't work? Maybe I'm too emotional to figure this one out, but truly, if your statement is true this has me stumped. I mean, they could use their big heads to figure the proper mix- you know split it up, 25% intellect, 75% emotion – or a more powerful 15% / 85% mix – just whatever works best. Put Gore on it – he's Kerry’s dirty little s^$+ dog, he’ll get it done -

kat

In the meantime, Kerry's getting no press time. Is he still running for President?

Ivan Seeking

This is really Kerry's weakness - facts and logic are boring. Lies and double-talk win the day. It is difficult to compete with those willing to take the lowest road.

I think Kerry should focus on the real cost of the war and Bush's idiotic refusal to build a true coalition. We are going to pay, and pay, and pay and pay... I doubt if the real cost of the Iraq war will be known for a couple of decades but an extrapolation seems possible. Also, this war undermines national security. I think Kerry should focus on this as well. We see our forces spread too thin and soldiers overtaxed and hyper-extended. Iraq is breaking down and now civil war seems imminent; and we are stuck. This should have been everyones problem but Bush just had to play cowboy. So now it all hangs around our necks like a lead weight and empties our pockets like a thief. In short, GW gave away the farm - a real genius.

Ivan Seeking

Oh yes, then we still have the real problem of terrorism. Almost forgot...

kat

Actually Kerry's problem is his double talk.

Kerry can't afford to focus too much on the war. His supporters do not agree on how he should approach it and no matter which way he flies on the subject he risks allienating a large percentage of his supporters.

Ivan Seeking

This is an example of what I mean. Republicans choose to ignore the specific details of each vote. Kerry's so called waffling is really a matter of making different decisions about different proposals. To lump them all together is a typical lowest road tactic. But, people fall for it. It makes things easy.

Well obviously I should be his campaign manager.