Infinite MonkeysWe're in the final weeks before the election, and it's time to start pulling out the final themes and hammering them home. I fully expect Kerry supporters to try late hits the way Gore did on the DUI, but I'm hopeful that most people have a fairly clear idea of the President already.
Here's my thoughts on a few major themes; I'd welcome comments:
- Kerry's a liberal. This is the overarching theme of the rest of the points. Remember, though, that unlike in 1988 this isn't enough alone. The 18 - 30 year olds are a little fuzzy on why that's bad, because they don't remember the 70's.
- His record shows he voted for taxes, against the military and, most important,
- He voted against the 1991 Gulf War. I, like many viewers, wished the President had hit this point harder in the debate (I still believe the President limits himself too much in discussing his father's years in office, for many reasons). But it's not too late to use this in ads. Surely there must be some good stuff in the transcripts (or even video) of Kerry in the Senate discussing the Gulf War...
- Last, he's a straddler. This is worse than a flip-flopper. It's not that he changes his mind a lot, but that he tries to be on both sides of the issue. His responses in the second debate were great examples of this. Or, as James Taranto calls him, he's a "but-head."
Any others I missed?
Posted by David at October 11, 2004 09:04 AM | TrackBackHe didn't just vote against the military, he voted against virtually every weapons system that won the Cold War and the Gulf War. He tried to gut our intelligence services after the first attack on the World Trade Center. And of course, he took intelligence matters so seriously he missed over 70% of the hearings on the Senate intelligence committee. He simply does not take these issues seriously enough to be President.
Posted by: JamesPh at October 11, 2004 10:12 AMI assume the Liberal tag works, but I'd like to see the following 2 things hit on endlessly.
1) Kerry's allies (France and Germany) have stated clearly they will not help us in Iraq. It's said Kerry has acknowledged this, but it needs to be driven home that when he talks of allies he means there are none except those he's insulted.
2) the "Nuisance" line from the NY Times is so major. It's admitting defeat and accepting it.
Posted by: Emerson at October 11, 2004 12:59 PMNot that the Kerry team would bring this up, but Bush is a liberal, too. He's so liberal that the Democrats had to field JOHN KERRY in order to find a candidate they could meaningfully distinguish from Bush.
On Friday, I was enjoying adult beverages and porch music with some friends in Payson, and one of my friends, who opposes Bush on almost everything, said that he was nonetheless voting for him for a single reason: judicial appointments. This might be an important issue to hammer on in venues trying to motivate "true" conservatives to vote instead of staying home.
Posted by: RobbL Monkey at October 11, 2004 03:20 PM