What Does America Need to Know Right Now to Tip it to Kerry?

[Stephanie]

I think Kerry can win it on the facts alone, if he can get them out there. For instance, I doubt very many people knew before Kerry told them, last Friday, that Bush let bin Laden get away at Tora Bora.

What's the next piece of information America needs to understand, in order to tip it to Kerry?

My vote:

That this Iraq War has been in the planning since 1998, and the planners are now officials in the Pentagon and the Vice President's office. This war was never about WMD.

more info

[existentialist]

1. What does America need to know right now to tip it to Kerry

My vote. Simply that the Bush administration cannot be trusted to tell the truth about anything. This can be demonstrated very simply from the debates so far where both Cheney and Bush were caught in the most amazing lies, that were so easily proved to be lies.

[Stephanie]

2. It was the most amazing when Edwards all but said, "You're a liar."

And then Cheney proceeded to lie his ass off regardless! They have no control over it.

Welcome to DU, wicasa.

[liberal_in_GA]

3. His work regarding BCCI!

I think people NEED to know that Kerry started fighting terrorism when Chimpy was still driving his car into ditches.

[disneyboy]

Noone will believe

The problem is NOONE will believe it cause it would go against EVERYTHING they were taught and brainwashed by on 9/12/01.

[Stephanie]

5. It's so esoteric - I don't know, that's a tough sell.

How would you explain it succinctly?

[liberal_in_GA]

11. How about something like...

"In the late 80s and early 90s, I investigated and exposed a criminal enterprise that funded international terrorist organizations."

[JohnnyCougar]

23. Why do people ask this?!?!

"I dismantled a major terrorist funding source that was bailing Bush out of failed business ventures. This was while my opponent was still battling adolescence in his late 30's"

Is that succinct enough?

[Stephanie]

27. That's quite succinct, but really...

this is a story I have not really understood myself. If I don't know much about it, who do you think does? Very small minority.

*edit* I mean that speaking as an obsessed DUer and news junkie.

[Virginian]

4. IMHO

I believe the bible belt needs to know that Bush does not attend Church is not a member of a Church and does not tithe and the girls were not raised in a religious home.

The churches have driven this misconception that Bush is the best choice because he is a "Christian." The fact is that he is a "Phoney." He took advantage of these kind people by telling them he found God, quit drinking and turned his life around. That was a good way to get out of having to explain his reckless "youth" that lasted until he was 40.

I think if this were to get out, North Carolina would be a blue state and other states in the bible belt could turn blue as well.

A well placed ad by "Christians against False Prophets" explaining that Bush is not a Christian, and has abused the trust of believers in this nation and has led this nation on a path of evil and destruction might swing it.

[Stephanie]

6. That's great but how would you convince them?

Kerry can't go out in the debate and say "Bush doesn't tithe."

Or can he?

[Virginian]

20. I would have loved for someone at the town meeting to ask him.

I thought that would have been very revealing. I would have been interested in hearing his answer to "Where is your home church and do you tithe?"

The followers are fickle. If they can be swayed by swift boat, they can be swayed by "Christians against False Prophets" or whatever the name of the group might be.
I bet some of them are just begging for some reason to not vote for him and this could be it.

[DURHAM D]

9. Point out that he is never at the office. He is always out

on vacation or on the campaign trail spending tax payer money to
fly around in his big airplane.

[sandersadu]

24. Tithing

I totally agree that a main point is Bush's "fake religiosity" He probably can't cite more than 5 scriptures from memory, clearly doesn't live by the Bible's principles, doesn't attend church and doesn't tithe.

He is a fake, and worse than that he sometimes reminds me of the Anti-Christ. This is a serious issue IMO, and one that could tip the election to Kerry.

[Stephanie]

29. Bush is a Christian the same way he is a Spanish Speaker

He fakes it with a few key words and phrases.

[spanone]

7. That Bush* is 'playing' the Iraqi war to ensure his re-election.

[Stephanie]

16. What are they doing exactly?

I heard something about this but not much. They are planning a crackdown somewhere to influence the election?

[realcountrymusic]

8. Bush's favorite stuffed animal that he takes to bed

Seriously, what else would finally end this nightmare? Jeez, I hope WE have some kind of October surprise. I'll settle for a November 2d surprise, however.

RCM

[henslee]

10. That dirtybomb materials vanishes and continues to vanish from Iraq --

ON THEIR WATCH.

[Stephanie]

13. Thank you! THAT is a critical issue to me -

that nobody wants to acknowledge, although Kerry DID mention it on Friday, glancingly, but I was thrilled that he said it at all.

Anyone who wants to know more about this search "Tuwaitha + looting"

[henslee]

25. Huge issue. There's a link in breaking news. UN came out with some info.

A classic example that war is being prosecuted irresponsibly. We guarded the oil minstry and said to hell with everything else.

The sincerity of our presence in Iraqi is in doubt. When we let the museums and libraries get looted of artifacts and texts, I knew it was over. We facilitated the theft of their culture, an unforgivable act.

[Stephanie]

37. I don't see anything in LBN

Can you link? What was the story about?

[DemocracyInaction]

12. There's something he has to do

They don't know this so Kerry has to tell them and I don't think the Kerry camp knows that they don't know: He has to tell them what Bush's tax cuts for the rich add up to over a 5-10 yr period; how Bush when he started spending like he was drunk said that this kind of debt was no problem; BUT when it comes to any domestic spending he cries like a stuck pig that we have no money. A Congressman who appeared with Will Pitt on C-Span months ago (can't remember name but was in Moore's film)said that when they tell you they have no money, etc., they are lying. Kerry has to lay this base before proposing his own plans because Bush is going to yell all night "Tax and spend liberal; no way to pay for it; and cutting the rich's tax breaks only brings in a small amount of revenue".

[Stephanie]

14. What'd he say last time? "that's a tax gap" ?

And what did they pass today? $140B corporate tax giveaway? It's like the looting of Enron. They know they are doomed so they are looting the U.S. economy.

[DemocracyInaction]

17. Stephanie---that's exactly what I thought and

Kerry has to bring this up in the debate. Show how they are looting us as fast as they can and Bush and the REPUBLICANS are aiding and abetting it. Let him go after both Bush and the whole stinking repub congress this time!!!

[Bleacher Creature]

15. If the average person spent 20 minutes

examining the issues WITHOUT being influenced by statements from either the campaigns themselves, talk radio, or cable news, Kerry would get 70% of the vote -- minimum.

Bush's record alone would seal that.

[gauguin57]

18. Absolutely PNAC. I've been sending my PNAC materials to the MSM ...

... hoping someone would bite. They need to revisit this story. I don't think it's been mentioned on television since Nightline in March of 2003, though it's been in some major newspapers.

I think this recent CIA report of no WMD is a perfect time to bring up the PNAC connection.

And as for the religion thing ... here are a couple of stories that I think show his alleged "conversion" AND his lip service to born-again Christianity are a bunch of bullcrap.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A24634-2004Sep15?language=printer

http://gailsheehy.com/Politics/polimain_bush3.html

[LibDemAlways]

26. A caller to c-span this morning

gave a short but succinct version of PNAC. The host dismissed him outright with a disdainful "Where did you hear that?" followed by "We'll go to the next caller."

[blm]

19. That he was the FIRST lawmaker to expose terror networks and their funding

and for FOUR YEARS it was the Republican powerstructure that put up roadblocks to his investigations to protect their international financial cronies.

The Republicans sided once agian with criminal financiers over the security of American citizens.

Anyone stop to think that 9-11 wouldn't have happened if Bush1 and the Republican thugs had worked WITH Kerry on BCCI instead of working so hard to cover up for their cronies?

[Stephanie]

21. How to connect that to today?

BCCI is such an involved story - I don't know that much about it myself. What exactly is the connection between BCCI and 9/11? If I don't know that, it might be a hard sell for the average voter.

[blm]

22. Usama Bin Laden lost millions of dollars when Kerry had BCCi closed.

Imagine if our government worked WITH Kerry to trace terror funding like he wrote about in his 1996 book, The New War. We would be so far ahead in this war against terrorism, and they never would have amassed as great an army that they now have.

Post 9-11, the public GETS that the funding of terrorism is a bad thing.

[Stephanie]

40. This is a serious issue that has gotten NO attention

I no little to nothing about Kerry's BCCI work, nor about BCCI funding Bin Laden. Isn't there a BCCI trial going on right now in England?

[moondust]

28. Outsourcing will kill the red states, too.

Republican-led corporatism killed off thousands of family farms. Now Republican-supported outsourcing is going to kill off small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in rural areas. There won't be much left.

Bush = Green light to outsourcing.

[Stephanie]

30. First they killed the farms, now they're killing the factories.

How do Republicans expect people to earn a living?

Who are they going to sell their products to?

[welshTerrier2]

32. and white collar knowledge workers too ...

job losses are hitting workers with all kinds of skills ...

[Stephanie]

38. There you go - what were those special visas Bush wanted?

So that you could do your outsourcing right here at home w/o the trouble and expense of moving your operation to India? The visas would enable you to import your foreign workers to work at a lower rate, and then export them again after a few years. Man, I think that was discussed pre-9/11.

[louis c]

31. How about

Kerry's courageous leadership in the BCCI scandal as chairman of the banking committee in the Senate.

He uncovered money laundering to terrorists, including bin Laden's brother-in-law.

This helped break up Drug cartels, and led to quite a bit of Saudi connections.

I've always thought this was a big deal, and that the Kerry campaign missed a great opportunity in not highlighting this at the convention and in ads.

[welshTerrier2]

33. looking ahead versus looking back

somewhere in my travels today, someone said they thought voters tended to look more at the next four years than the past four years ... i'm at least somewhat inclined to agree ...

i think going down the road of the neo-con plan to invade Iraq since before bush took office won't get us anywhere ... it probably doesn't even help us much that there were no WMD's ...

the issue now is that things are a total mess in Iraq ... voters see that very clearly ... what they don't see are clear and specific solutions to the Iraq crises ...

so, highlighting the fact that voting for bush buys America more of the same is half the battle ... it's fair for Kerry to argue "it's time for a change" ... but the other half of the deal is a clear plan to either a. win the peace or b. get the hell out of there ... i don't think Kerry's "build alliances" approach has hurt him but i don't think it's really helped him much either ... it's a "yeah ... OK ... I guess so" strategy ... it is not a crisp, clear, specific plan ...

of course, to be totally truthful, I think the right approach is to cut our losses and stop the madness ... neither bush nor Kerry is going to "win the peace" ... sorry, I suppose i've digressed a bit ...

perhaps Kerry's most effective direction is on the budget deficit ... all the usual suspects about "mortgaging our children's future" should be thrown at bush ... i especially like the "bush never vetoed a single spending bill" ... that's a good one ... if the kinds of deficits bush has run up continue, we will never have a sustainable recovery ... bush likes to talk about smaller government but his spending programs are out of control ... it's like everything he says ... the clear skies initiative brings more pollution ... the medicare bill only improves the health of HMO's and the pharmaceutical industry ... spreading democracy is really no more than suppressing insurgencies and occupying Iraq ... it's no different with bush's call for smaller government ... he has never vetoed even one little old spending bill ... not one ... Kerry needs to put out a very detailed budget program (if he hasn't already done so) and then get some credible economic types to vouch for it ...

[Stephanie]

36. You may be right, but what about the future wars?

What if America knew that the neocons are busy preparing plans for the next wars - against Iran or Syria - the next stage in their dream 50 Years War? The same people who brought you this Iraq war have a lot more in store for you!

The deficit definitely. And this week's corporate tax bill, for sure. But who to explain all the Dems who voted for it?

[Strawman]

34. Bush might very well break the nuclear taboo in effect since 1945

He wants battlefield nukes and we can reasonably assume that he would have a radically lower threshold for deciding to use them. Nutty right-winger with an itchy nuclear trigger finger. Worked against Goldwater and this guy is much, much dumber. Non-proliferation goes out the window then and we have an unrestrained Hobbesian global nuclear arms race. Might be a little extreme, but Kerry has hinted at this line of attack and set it up somewhat already in the first debate (I think it was the first one). It would undercut the "Bush is better on national security" assumption many undecideds have. That's the kind of thing that might get their attention.

[Silverhair]

39. Already being tried. Kennedy has said it in a speech. nt

[obiwan]

35. ... we should be told that Chimpy walks around...

... with a ferret in his pants and a tune in his (empty) head.