Heard a new ad with Kerry's nuisance comment

[fujiyama]

What was Kerry thinking when he put prostitution and terrorism in the same sentence? I know he doesn't believe they are on the same level but it was an idiotic thing to say considering the republicans have spent 3 years trying to make everyone paranoid.

It's like that SNL clip of the last debate - "I'm John Kerry and I could win this thing but I don't know when to stop talking". Well, it was something along those lines.

I hope this doesn't hurt him. He's been doing well the last few weeks with these debates. Why say something unecessary that has the potential to screw things up?

[undercover_brother]

1. Republicans working hard to help promote the terrorists messages

The Republicans have allowed the terrorists to win by promoting fear. The object of a terrorist is to promote terror. Terrorists can't win tactically, but they can win strategically if we allow them to promote their terror agenda. So far this administration has been very willing accomplices to promoting fear and terror. Their entire Republican Convention was dedicated to fear and terror.

John Kerry knows how to defeat terrorists. You don't defeat them by constantly spreading fear and terror. A terrorists greatest weapon is fear. That is how they choke a society. John Kerry realizes that you must be strong in attacking terrorists, but you don't promote their message through a color coded chart which does nothing more than to remind Americans of the terrorist's message.

By moving the terrorists message to the back burner and labeling them a nuisance instead, we take a HUGE step towards cutting off the head of their propaganda purpose. This is the same as refusing to air their beheadings videos or refusing to air Bin Laden video taped messages. We must deny them their manipulation power.

Terrorists must be hunted and killed, but their attempts at dictating how our society will be run should be no more than a nuisance. Terrorists SHOULD NOT be supported through promoting their message of constant fear.

[AirAmFan]

20. Great insight! Every phony color-coded alert is a major al-Qaeda victory.

Osama and Zarqawi WIN every time Tom Ridge pokes his no-neck head out of his bunker.

[cali]

2. completely agree

I was stunned by the stupidity of putting those two words in the same sentence. I think it was a big mistake.

[undercover_brother]

7. Read what he said and NOT what the Republicans interpret for you

[papau]

10. We will only feel safe when terrorists are a nuisance like prostitution.

rather causing fear and changing ouy way of life as they are doing now

It is a bit "paranoid" to think that the GOP had a point in there ad - or where even close to the truth of what Kerry said.

Indeed, the really sad fact is that the media will not tear down the GOP for the lie - and in Sunday talk they let the GOP talking heads say the terrorists/nuisance/like prostitution crap as if that is what he said.

[cali]

21. oh brother,

brother. The repukes already have an ad up and running. It was a tactical mistake for Kerry to put the word nuisance within a mile of the word terrorism. Care to argue that, instead of reflexively defending Kerry?

[undercover_brother]

23. Republicans working hard to help promote the terrorists messages

The Republicans have allowed the terrorists to win by promoting fear. The object of a terrorist is to promote terror. Terrorists can't win tactically, but they can win strategically if we allow them to promote their terror agenda. So far this administration has been very willing accomplices to promoting fear and terror. Their entire Republican Convention was dedicated to fear and terror.

John Kerry knows how to defeat terrorists. You don't defeat them by constantly spreading fear and terror. A terrorists greatest weapon is fear. That is how they choke a society. John Kerry realizes that you must be strong in attacking terrorists, but you don't promote their message through a color coded chart which does nothing more than to remind Americans of the terrorist's message.

By moving the terrorists message to the back burner and labeling them a nuisance instead, we take a HUGE step towards cutting off the head of their propaganda purpose. This is the same as refusing to air their beheadings videos or refusing to air Bin Laden video taped messages. We must deny them their manipulation power.

Terrorists must be hunted and killed, but their attempts at dictating how our society will be run should be no more than a nuisance. Terrorists SHOULD NOT be supported through promoting their message of constant fear.

[Longhorn]

24. Read Will Pitt's find on Brent Scowcraft saying the same thing:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1036858

[sinkingfeeling]

3. It's just another ad...all 'sound bite' and for those that cannot

read or comprehend the entire 11,000 word article. The whole thing is a great read and any intelligent person should appreciate Kerry's thought processes. It is available at http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101104J.shtml

[Hello_Kitty]

4. I don't think there was anything wrong with what he said

He was being interviewed in a lengthy article and the comment was meant to explain how to successfully deal with terrorism and was meant as a comparative analogy. I actually think it's pretty pathetic of the rethugs that they have to comb through every quote attributed to Kerry to find some little tidbit that they can take out of context and spin. Their boy gives us fresh material on national TV every time he opens his stupid mouth. Remember his "We can't win the war on terror" comment to Matt Lauer?

[mzmolly]

5. Was the comment made pre 911? If so isn't that when Bush claims

"he" changed his mindset?

[kentuck]

6. Dems have response ad....

Showing Bush saying that we cannot win the "war on terror".. :)

[desiindian]

8. Don't be nervous..See this link

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/11/13026/211

there is an answer for everything. Believe in "internets".

[NYCGirl]

15. That's great. And you know how peevish W gets when compared to his dad!

This could actually work in our favor.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. As usual, it's distorted and taken out of context.

Here's what he actually said (from the NYT article mentioned in another post):

(The reporter says): In his rhetoric, Bush suggests that terrorism for this generation of Americans is and should be an overwhelming and frightening reality. When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview.

"We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance," Kerry said. "As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life."

In other words, his vision is more positive, not frightening like Bush's. He believes we need to get to a point where terrorists are not allowed constantly to overwhelm us with fear, even if terrorism can't be completely eradicated from the world. Sounds pretty rational to me. But Bush feeds on fear. He can't win without it, so he will make Kerry's vision of an existence where we aren't constantly terrified look like a trivialization of the threat.

[progressivebydesign]

11. THanks for the truth..

..some people here are so quick to call Kerry's actions and Kerry "stupid", without know the TRUTH. Why in th world anyone still takes republican ads for gospel, is beyond me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. That's because some DUers are way smarter than Kerry.

I can't figure out why they aren't running for president themselves, or, at least, why Kerry hasn't hired them to manage his campaign and do his ads.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Yes, some seem to delight in pointing out potential problems for Kerry!

One has to wonder why they always look for the worst in our candidate. It is disheartening. Nice we can hide these posts.

[sangh0]

16. And it's always the same posters

over and over

[fujiyama]

27. IF you are trying to accuse me

of something please come right out and say it.

I want Kerry to win. I NEED him to win. The way this administration has done things, I'm thinking that my generation may be sent to die for their wars.

I trust Kerry. I trust his judgement...

Howvever, I'm not blind or retarded. I've seen how these ass holes in in this administration work. Every single word Kerry utters will be twisted in every way possible. People claimed that the shit boat ass holes wouldn't have an effect. I think they did. I think Kerry should have defended HIS honor earlier.

Many of us DON'T want an honorable man's integrity smeared. That's why I made this thread. I want to ask people how it will have an effect. I understand the context from which this quote was taken but at the same time I know that that doesn't matter to the admin and the media.

[kentuck]

13. It's this kind of shit that keeps people from being fearful all the time..

We can't win if people aren't afraid. We can't let Kerry destroy the facade that this is an enemy that is so dangerous that we must fight them for at least the next generation.

[AirAmFan]

17. Kerry said: Bush is WRONG--we CAN and WILL win the war against terror!

Once again the Republicans are spending millions of dollars to promote an Orwellian inversion of the truth. Kerry was responding to a question about Stupid's flip-flop on whether the war against terror could be won. If Stupid tries to use this quote against Kerry, he should just ask, what is YOUR vision of victory in the war against terror. Or have you flipp-flopped back to where you were in August, when you told Matt Lauer you didn't think we could defeal al-Qaeda?

From http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/10/magazine/10KERRY.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=

"On an evening in August, just after a campaign swing through the Southwest, Kerry and I met, for the second of three conversations about terrorism and national security, in a hotel room overlooking the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier.... Bush told Matt Lauer on the ''Today'' show in August that he didn't think the United States could actually triumph in the war on terror in the foreseeable future. ''I don't think you can win it,'' he said -- a statement that he and his aides tried to disown but that had the ring of sincerity to it. He and other members of his administration have said that Americans should expect to be attacked again, and that the constant shadow of danger that hangs over major cities like New York and Washington is the cost of freedom. In his rhetoric, Bush suggests that terrorism for this generation of Americans is and should be an overwhelming and frightening reality.

When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. ''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' Kerry said. ''As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''

This analogy struck me as remarkable, if only because it seemed to throw down a big orange marker between Kerry's philosophy and the president's. Kerry, a former prosecutor, was suggesting that the war, if one could call it that, was, if not winnable, then at least controllable. If mobsters could be chased into the back rooms of seedy clubs, then so, too, could terrorists be sent scurrying for their lives into remote caves where they wouldn't harm us. Bush had continually cast himself as the optimist in the race, asserting that he alone saw the liberating potential of American might, and yet his dark vision of unending war suddenly seemed far less hopeful than Kerry's notion that all of this horror -- planes flying into buildings, anxiety about suicide bombers and chemicals in the subway -- could somehow be made to recede until it was barely in our thoughts.

[Teaser]

18. Think, please.

please. Did you even listen to what he said?
He said we need to get to a place where terrorism is no more than a nuisance, because our enforcement against it is so good.

[sandnsea]

19. "I don't think you can win it"

We have to push that instead of going on the defensive and allowing them to put the focus on what Kerry said.

Kerry compared it to fighting the mob. Reducing their power until they're nothing more than a bunch of street corner punks. That's exactly right.

[Crago]

22. Re: "Heard a new ad with Kerry's nuisance comment"

I hope this doesn't hurt him. He's been doing well the last few weeks with these debates. Why say something unecessary that has the potential to screw things up?>>

The Repukes take everything that Kerry says, out of context and uses it against him. When is he and his handlers going to realize this? It's not like it hasn't happened before. When!

[Mike L]

25. How can Kerry continue to be so stupid with his comments? Damn!

Get someone to screen everything he says.

[Barney Rocks]

26. this can't be true

prostitution and gambling are victimless crimes (the people that do them are more hurt than anyone else). Whereas terrorism is a crime meant to hurt the innocent--not so much the perpetrator.

this has to be very out of context--because I do not think that Kerry would make an analogy like this.