Kerry: It's Better to Be Lucky Than Good -- or -- Hoist By Their Own Petard



The new Republican talking point is that Kerry is the same on the war as Bush, so the war doesn't matter as an issue. Their talking heads are now also pushing Nader as the only anti-war candidate. Tom Horner, local GOP mouthpiece, was uttering this spin on Minnesota Public Radio this morning.

The new talking point is aimed squarely at depressing left-wing turnout.

The hidden flaw in the new spin: Are we really going to re-elect the architect of an unpopular, failed war? The GOP now tacitly admits the war is a political failure -- they're saying "don't take it out on us, Kerry has the same position." This position is, of course, poll-driven: e.g., the new Gallup poll showing that a majority of Americans now think it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq. (link via DailyKos)

Perversely the GOP attack on Kerry as a flip-flopper may be helping him with Iraq. People don't *want* to stay the course in Iraq, the want a president flexible enough (and smart enough) to change course when necessary.

So, despite the fact that Kerry's stated policies on Iraq don't differ too much from Bush, no one really believes him, and, politically speaking, that could be helping him and hurting Bush.

BTW Some progress is being made on the transition to a new URL -- stay tuned

(Edited Fri., 6/25, 2:44 pm CDT -- for slight improvements to grammar, readability and taste)

Posted: Thu - June 24, 2004 at 03:58 PM        

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