John Kerry Struggles to Right Campaign

[underpants]

Wow they gave him one whole day before they started in on him. That was nice.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/2004_kerry

DES MOINES, Iowa - On his first day as an official Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry did not get past his second campaign stop before having to deny a staff shake-up was in the works.

It was the last thing Kerry needed on a day his campaign was getting heavy media attention to his entry into the race, and he hoped to focus it on sharp differences he has with President Bush (news - web sites).

Kerry's political free-fall has prompted a fresh round of finger-pointing in his campaign and has the candidate considering changes, according to several campaign officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.


Kerry huddled with top aides after the exchange, and quickly issued a terse statement.


"I have confidence in my campaign," the Massachusetts senator said. "I have assembled a great team that is going to beat George W. Bush, and any rumors to the contrary are completely erroneous and there will be no changes."

[phillybri]

1. Political free-fall???

Who wrote this, Ann Coulter?

Holy shit....

[underpants]

4. Lessee W comes up with a new wild WMD excuse almost daily...

but if there is even a whisper of changes in the Kerry camp (14 months out) this is a struggling floundering political operation.

Uh-huh.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. VRWC lines up its sights on its biggest threat

no shit.

[underpants]

3. several campaign officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gee I wonder who these "officials" are and whose side they are on.

This reaks of at best Dean's people (don't want to start a flame fest) at worst (and more likely) this originally had Rove's letter head on it.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. It makes me want to scream

at the Deanies who like to draw blood from Kerry, the man I see as the Democratic Party's greatest asset, and our best hope to right this country.

[PATRICK]

9. oh those anonymous timorous beasties

If such informers actually exist and are not low level hangers on who are not higher up the food chain for good reason, a constructive shake up would be getting rid of these fools who are literally working for the GOP ocrporate media whether they admit in their secret fearful hearts or not.

They don't belong in a campaign. I mean, you don't have to be a stolid lying spinner, but you don't contribute to negative spin if you have more than a one watt bulb upstairs.

This is very common negative reporting slant of ANY Democrat who campaigns or is involved in an issue. Or maybe they do have have a bunch of dweebs running around pissing and moaning to the reporters every time
when spine is called for. Either way they are well worth ignoring- or canning.

Imagine yourself in the wintry Atlantic in a lifeboat and a ship's crewman saying "If they had listened to me the ship wouldn't have sunk."

Wouldn't you feel like pitching the guy overboard?

[LeftCoast]

6. More media bs

I support Dean as my first choice, but it gets my blood boiling when I see "journalism" like this. Good lord, these folks give prostitution a bad name.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

8. Thank You!!!

Let's support each other!

BTW: Aren't you the LeftCoast who "left the Coast"? :)

[LeftCoast]

15. Nope, that's Lydia Leftcoast

I've taken a personal pledge to not bash other Dem candidates. That's not to say I won't criticize - that's vital to any candidate - but bashing a Dem only does one person any good (Bush).

[realFedUp]

7. pretty minor....he'll be ok

.

[sfecap]

10. Chill...

Like Dean, Kerry is now going to be a media target. He's announced, he's visible, and the media will attack him. Pay it no mind...it's part of the deal.

He'll survive.

[T_i_B]

11. Kerry is popping up the UK press quite a bit today

Well, him and Hilary. (lots of speculation about a Hilary presidential bid.) Kerry is about the only Dem candidate the Daily Mail seems to have even heard of! :eyes:

Here is a Telegraph article on the subject. Make of this what you will.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/09/03/wpres03.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/09/03/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=92087

Standing against the backdrop of a Second World War aircraft carrier yesterday, the Democrat Senator John Kerry formally launched his bid for the White House with a broadside at President George W Bush.

Mr Kerry, one of nine Democrats vying for their party's nomination to challenge Mr Bush next November, paraded his credentials as a Vietnam War hero, a stark contrast with Mr Bush, who avoided service there by joining the National Guard reserves.

By ensuring that he was photographed with the USS Yorktown behind him in its berth at Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Mr Kerry was making reference to the appearance of Mr Bush on the deck of the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in May.

"Being flown to an aircraft carrier and saying, 'Mission accomplished' doesn't end the war," Mr Kerry said, his voice dripping with disdain. "And the swagger of a president saying, 'Bring it on' will never bring peace or safety to our troops."

[NewYorkerfromMass]

12. Thank God for Britain!

Thanks.
Been dripping with disdain since 12/12/2000. :mad:

[T_i_B]

14. Here is some more

The BBC article mentioning Hilary, as the breakfast news was this moring quuite often.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3201427.stm

Once considered a clear favourite for the Democratic nomination, the 59-year-old senator from Massachusetts has been upstaged by some of his rivals in recent months.

He is running well behind former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who has capitalised on growing doubts about US involvement in Iraq.

Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo has urged Senator Hillary Clinton - wife of the previous president - to change her mind and enter the race.

There are rumours that she considering such a move - though officially, she has denied it.

The UK Independent article. More freindly toward the democrats, more freindly towards Howard Dean, worrying about the visibility of the candidates. There is also an editorial in this paper worrying that the Democrats to not currently have a good enough candidate to make an impact. I gladly would post the bugger if I did not have to pay for it. Make of this what you will.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=439667

The unpredictable race for the Democratic presidential nomination is moving into high gear, with yesterday's formal declaration by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and the first official candidates' debate tomorrow in Albuquerque.

Using a US aircraft carrier as his backdrop, and accompanied by crew members of the gunboat he commanded as a lieutenant in Vietnam, Mr Kerry launched a blistering attack on the Republican incumbent, declaring: "George Bush's vision does not live up to the America I enlisted in the navy to defend."

But the Massachusetts senator was also playing catch-up. The summer has belonged to belonged to Howard Dean, the blunt-spoken former governor of Vermont, whose long opposition to the war in Iraq and the scathing attacks on President Bush have transformed him from quixotic also-ran into the clear front-runner.

Most candidates struggle to hold the attention of a few curious bystanders, but Mr Dean has been drawing crowds of hundreds, then thousands at speeches across the country, riding Democratic activists' almost visceral dislike of the President. Making unprecedented use of the internet to seek donations, Mr Dean expects to raise more than $10m (£6.4m) in the third quarter, a feat unmatched since Bill Clinton in 1995, when Mr Clinton had the full apparatus of the presidency at his disposal.

[Walt Starr]

13. I dunno, after listening to his speech yesterday I went from

"not going to vote for the guy nohow noway", to "I'll probably vote for the guy in the general election if he wins the nomination".

We'll see where he goes from here with me.

These are fluid times in the primary season.