Kerry Says He's No Dukakis

[Freddie Stubbs]

Candidate Distances Himself From Liberal, New England Tag

WASHINGTON -- John Kerry knows Michael Dukakis.

He worked for Michael Dukakis. But he says he's no Michael Dukakis.

In a delicate balancing act, Kerry said he's thrilled to have the ultimate Massachusetts liberal -- Sen. Edward Kennedy -- campaign by his side in his race for the White House. But he carefully distanced himself from Dukakis, the last Bay Stater to seek -- and lose -- the presidency.

And that's not the only way Kerry's liberal Massachusetts lineage can be troublesome at times.

more: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/politics/2483936/detail.html

[deutsey]

1. No comparison, in my opinion

I think being compared with Dukakis should be the least of Kerry's concerns.

[PAMod]

2. Good Lord, who was even comparing him to Dukakis?

Geez, why even bring it up?

That was just the worst run campaign I can ever remember. It's painful to even think about it.

That team had no response to the constant onslaught from the Republicans. Willie Horton, Boston Bay, ACLU, and on and on.

Then there was that video of Dukakis in the tank.

Ugh.

The only bright spot was we didn't lose congress in 1988.

[DrFunkenstein]

4. Dukakis In The Tank

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[deutsey]

5. Although I kind of liked Dukakis

and thought the tank thing was overblown, this is a GREAT comparison!!!

:thumbsup:

[PAMod]

8. Dukakis is a great American but...

can you remember a worse run campaign for president?

McGovern & Mondale got rolled, no doubt, but the Dukakis/Bush race should have been close at least.

Throughout '88 I thought the Duke must have some explosive October surprise, and that is why they just let the Republicans attack and attack without any response.

Oh, and the debate question from Bernie Shaw re. the death penalty - why, oh why didn't Dukakis just blow Shaw out of the water for even asking it.

Then Lloyd Bentsen looked so presidential against Quayle - even that made Dukakis look bad.

If Dukakis had displayed any fire at all in that race, it would have been a squeaker.

I forget who said it, but "if you aren't willing to fight to get elected, how do we know you'll fight for us if you do?"

[ProfessorPlum]

9. my favorite nickname for Dukakis is

"Zorba the Clerk". I agree, a great guy, but what a lousy campaign. Well, that's the American way - blame the victim!

[deutsey]

12. Oh, he blew it

I always liked that SNL skit where Dana Carvey was portraying Bush 1 as a complete idiot during a debate and John Lovett (sp?) playing Dukakis mused, "I can't believe I'm losing to him," or something like that.

[PAMod]

15. I remember that skit!

Heh heh heh.

That is 15 freaking years ago. A whole other lifetime ago for me.

The Democratic National Convention that year was very well done, I thought. I really believed that Dukakis would coast. That feeling lasted for what, a couple of weeks?

Boy, the lessons that were learned from that campaign! Clinton had it figured out, didn't he? Respond fast and hard, every time.

If you don't fight back the sheeple think its true.

[deutsey]

16. Clinton's team scored huge points with me

with their aggressiveness in firing back against GOP smears. We'll need to have that same approach and then some with Rove.

[PAMod]

6. Gawd, I amost spit coffee on the screen

How do I save that for future laughs?

[DrFunkenstein]

13. You Really Need To Check Out

www.awolbush.com

Check out the "art" section.

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[DrFunkenstein]

3. Dukakis Was The Archetypal Wimp

He even made George Bush Sr. look manly. Kerry is not only a war hero, but he also took down mob bosses, Oliver North, Manuel Noriega, and the BCCI money-laundering scheme.


The Democrats kicked Kerry off of the Iran-Contra committee because they thought he would end up impeaching Reagan (they feared the effects of a second Watergate):


But when congressional leaders chose the members of the elite Iran-contra committee, Kerry was left off. Those selected were consensus-politicians, not bomb-throwers.

The feeling among a disappointed Kerry and his staff was that the committee members were chosen to put a lid on things. "He was told early on they were not going to put him on it," Winer recalls. "He was too junior and too controversial . . .. They were concerned about the survival of the republic."

Even some Democrats "thought John was a little hotter than they would like," says Rosenblith.

As a consolation prize, the Democratic leadership gave Kerry chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations and a charter to dig into the contra-drug connection.

---

BTW - Ollie was so scared of Kerry, he had set up a secret counter-investigation with the FBI. Just like Nixon, who was also peeing his pants over Kerry.

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[babzilla]

7. "Kerry says he's the second choice"

"We're four-and-a-half months before the election," said Kerry. "I'm very comfortable. If you look at the data, I'm the second choice for an awful lot of people that no one else is."

<snip/>

But it's OK if Dean wins the Granite State primary, Kerry said. Particularly, he added, if others in the nine-member Democratic field "who don't have a chance of winning" shear away votes that could have been his.

"If they hadn't been there and I could have won -- what's the difference?" said Kerry. "I might as well go on to the next place and win."

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Except he's behind in the next place, too.

[renie408]

11. ROFL

[mndemocrat_29]

14. Dukakis ran an awful campaign

The only smart move that he made was picking Bentsen for the second half. However, that backfired when it became obvious that Bentsen should've been on the top of the ticket.

"You sir are no Jack Kennedy"