Does Kerry have any bombs to drop? (Speculative thread)

[ALago1]

Ok so it does still seem that Kerry still has the momentum going into the final two weeks, albeit not resounding momentum.

I've been looking at some of the posts on DU tonight and think there are some good horses Kerry can ride to victory on Nov. 2nd if he can orchestrate them effectively into his campaign.

First off, I think this flu shortage vaccine story has legs and should be put on the front-page of every media outlet-highlighting Bush's failure to be adequately prepared.

Second, the Plame investigation. I don't know if the Kerry camp can integrate this into their campaign as it seems to be an independent effort - but it would certainly help if some big indictments come down in the upcoming days.

These stories aside, do you think there is an Ace up Kerry's sleeve that nobody knows about? What do you think that could possibly be?

I know this is nothing but speculation, but it's fun to speculate at times, and I need a break from hearing people stressing out over all the nay-saying going on from recent unreliable "polls"

[sandnsea]

1. The refused mission

Because of water in the fuel and no armor on the trucks.

Where'd the $87 billion go?

We don't need to wait for the campaign, we can make it a story ourselves. We have to help anyway, he can't do everything by himself. They've already put an ad out on the flu shot.

Call, email, write.

[Carla in Ca]

29. Here is a post I wrote earlier today

We need to hit media with one voice


like when we hit the polls after each debate. It will have the same effect, believe me.
Use our media list as a guide and write, write, write!

One voice:
Administration even out-sourced our flu vaccines?!
Zarqawi and Al Qaeda may have joined forces in Iraq?!
1,100 dead/1,000s wounded with no end in sight?!
Largest deficit in our history?!



KERRY IN A LANDSLIDE!!!!

[KansDem]

55. Does anyone else see the irony?

Because of water in the fuel and no armor on the trucks.

Contaminated fuel from an administration headed by two oil executives?

[The Straight Story]

2. vaccine shortage - did kerry do it :)

I have seen some speculating and asking who benefits (perhaps trying to relate benifitting to causation). If Kerry wins on that, would that mean we should suspect him? ;)

The ace up his sleeve - just let * talk more. Maybe a commercial would help as well:

This is America.
This is America under bush (insert picture here you see as apropriate, many to choose from).
Any questions?

[DemBones DemBones]

43. Why post right wing talking points?

Kerry can't be blamed by any reasonable person for the flu vaccine shortage. Some fools may try to blame him but most people have better sense.

Kerry will win the election if people realize that Bush* is the man in charge of an administration that screwed up (again!) when they should have protected us.

That's a benefit to Kerry but it's also a benefit to us.

Financially, this will have all sorts of impacts. Why don't you investigate and see what stock prices are rising? No doubt there are people trying to profit from tragedy to come. But so far, I see no one engineering this for profit. It happened by accident because Bush* ignored reports of vaccine contemination in September.

Just like 9/11 happened because Bush* ignored reports of terrorist plans in August.

[The Straight Story]

61. talking points?

I wasn't sure what you meant until I saw something to day saying kerry voted against a bill that would have solved the vaccine problem (and since it came from the mouth of * we can be sure it is a gross distortion).

I was in no way implying it was kerry's fault - it was more a jab at some of the things I have seen in the past here (and other boards from tech ones to political ones) which seem to think that when someone benefits from something negative then they were in someway involved in creating the negative for self gain. Bush gained from 9/11, but I don't think he made it happen - I think he was/is incompetent. Benefitting from something does not mean you were part of the crime that gave you the benefit - and that was what I was getting at (and I used kerry because some folks balk at the idea that if he gains from something he is involved it, yet see people they don't as part of something they gain from - it was a device used to show how we should be more careful in placing blamed, and that there is enough things with * that if we focused solely on those he would be ousted.)

[tedoll78]

3. I called my rather apolitical parents this evening.

The Flu Story is HUGE. Plenty said mocking how drugs from Canada are supposedly unsafe.

I'm glad that Kerry's folks are on top of this with the commercial and all..

[txindy]

7. Agreed. MASSIVE flip-flop by Junior there and very public.

Not to mention it being a real life and death issue for those very vulnerable to any illness. And every day we get deeper into the flu season. Two weeks from now it'll be an even bigger story.

[evilqueen]

51. that and the "rationing of medical care"

asking us to allow seniors and children to have the shots first... and then, if there's any leftovers, we can have those.

Doesn't it make you wonder what else we'll have to ration?

[Joy Anne]

4. malpractice insurance costs

I've begun writing to newspapers suggesting a connection between high medical malpractice insurance rates (a big issue in PA) and Spitzer's accusations against Marsh & McLennan of bid rigging insurance to the tune of $800 million.

[sandnsea]

16. Marsh McLennan?

Tell me more. Bremer was President of Marsh Consulting, an insurance/terrorism subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan.

[Joy Anne]

18. see Google News

There are a zillion stories. This is the first I came across that specificly mentioned the Marsh subsidiary:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Kroll%20CEO

[sandnsea]

21. Yep, Bremer connection

http://www.marshcrisisacademy.com/content/40_thought_leadership/!_library.asp?id=61

And, of course, Craig Stapleton, former Pres of Marsh McLennan, is Bush's cousin's husband.

Interesting, I'll need to read more.

[Joy Anne]

44. interesting

And I guess we all know how Bremer advises handling crises: bail and then dump the responsibility on someone else.

[shawmut]

5. Someone on this board said there was something coming up

this week. Not sure how credible that person is though.

[bush equals idiot]

8. I think there is a lot going in the bat cave. heh heh

[txindy]

9. That sounds vaguely familiar.

Was it the Plame case? Or maybe I'm thinking it is because I've been hearing more about it, lately. Then, again, maybe it's wishful thinking on my part! ;)

[ALago1]

13. I remember that post.

It made me optimistic for a short period, but I'm treating it with heavy skepticism now - just because I could have said the same thing and people could have chose to believe me.

[GimmeDANEger]

14. they said the 20th

so this wed.

[AndyTiedye]

6. No

Kerry has given it his best shot.
We had all hoped for more of a boost in the polls from the debates,
but it is not to be.
The undecided voters have sipped too much of the kool aid, and Kerry cannot break the spell.

It is up to us now.

All our hope now lies with the unlikely voters.
We need them to be allowed to vote.
We need them to vote.
We need those votes to be counted.

[jimshoes]

12. I'd be surprised if the Kerry camp

didn't keep some ammo in reserve just in case. Because you know the other side is going to unload everything they have in the next two weeks.

[AndyTiedye]

24. But Nobody Would See It

The debates were Kerry's only chance to reach the people and he knew it.
They drew a huge audience, and Kerry presented his case well, and
hit Boosh with everything he had.
There was no point holding ANYTHING in reserve for later,
when our bush-league media won't report it.

That isn't to say that *the CIA* might have a surprise in store
for a commander-in-chief who has betrayed them so foully.

But we must not stake the future of our country on that.
We have to assume that we will not win over the undecided voters,
and make sure that everybody who wants Kerry to be President votes for him.
Then we have to make sure that those votes count.

http://www.verifiedvoting.org

[demwing]

38. I think you fear too much

not that things are rosey and warm and fuzzy and happy, just that I bet Kerry does have some reserve, I bet Kerry does have a plan "B" for the post debate campaign.

How could he not? In fact, we are seeing it unfold.

What you should remember is that the voters will remember, and carry with them, the last thing they learned about the candidates before they enter the polling booths on 11/2.

After 20 very successful years in politics, do you think Kerry doesn't understand this point? Do you think that he has nothing left to use just before election day? Through the primaries and the GE months, including the debates, does John Kerry strike you as a candidate who does not thoroughly prepare?

You give the man far too little credit.

However, voter turnout is the key, on that we agree. I personally disagree with your view that Kerry is out of amo, but I'll keep fighting as if we were 10 points back and sinking.

Its the only wise thing to do.

[Doohickie]

10. I think you're right, except the order is wrong.

PLAME is Number One. Indictments before the election, perhaps all the way to the top. Who will vote for someone facing impeachment on charges of treason?

I could be wrong, but the case seems to be moving along and could break open real soon.

Or maybe I've damaged my brain with all those Clancey novels in the '80's.

[RollergirlVT]

22. The best part of the Plame case is....

It outs Bush and his mob but not by the hand of Kerry. Its the CIA. So there is no write it off to partisan politics crap.

[creeksneakers2]

11. Kerry still hasn't used the story

about how Bush thrice ignored military plans to take out Ansar al-Islam and maybe Zarqawi. We have Bush from the last debate denying he ever said he wasn't concerned about Osama. We have Bush taking troops away from the hunt for Osama and moving them to Iraq. We never used Bush ignored terrorism before 9/11 and called going after Osama "swatting at flies."

Kerry could do an incredible ad with the theme that Bush has consistently sent the wrong signal to terrorists and is unfit for command because of his poor judgment.

[shraby]

17. Kerry was a prosecutor.....prosecutors

save the hardest hitting evidence for last cause that's what will be remembered the most. I expect an interesting time between now and Nov. 2.

[secular_warrior]

33. YES - that is the biggest "non surprise" argument Kerry hasn't used

Bush is NOT fighting the war to WIN, because he is afraid of the political ramifications. Military critics like Gen. Barry McCaffrey and other conservatives have stated this.

Kerry needs to tie this into a theme: the Iraq War was started for political reasons, and is being waged as such.

This is the argument that will sell in center-right Middle America. People in Ohio are the audience we are trying to convince. The arguments re. Bush's evils that affect those of us on the left will not have any effect on them. Our argument must be framed in terms of "how America can win and how Dubya is helping us lose". This is the only language Middle America understands.

[JohnnyCougar]

35. Right on!

Sell the frickin' prosecutor image already.

[psychopomp]

39. Kerry's prosecutor image

really through in the debates, and it was that surprisingly tough, prepared and methodical Kerry that the country has responded to most.

A couple of speeches that help keep that image in the minds of voters would give the campaign the edge it needs.

[evilqueen]

52. "Bring it on!" was a brilliant move too.

Heh.

[quaoar]

15. Kerry has already deployed the heavy artillery

Social Security

It is the Democratic daisy cutter.

[T Town Jake]

40. "It is the Democratic daisy cutter"...LOL, I'd call it the...

...political equivalent of a MOAB myself. But it's being justly deployed at precisely the right time - and for all the right reasons. The future of Social Security is simply too important to be left in the hands of the current crowd in control, period. That's a message I'm glad to see is now being hammered home.

[cmayer]

19. I'm guessing our October surprise will come from CIA

A lot of career CIA are pissed. Anyone want to bet they know where a few bodies are buried? I wouldn't be surprised to see one or two dumped on the White House doorsteps.

Of course there will be no CIA fingerprints.

[life_long_dem]

25. The CIA definitely doesn't want to take the blame for Iraq.

See the Knight Ridder article in this thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1099014

<snip>
top officials are blaming the CIA for failing to predict the messy aftermath of Saddam's fall.
<snip>

[Francine Frensky]

45. Isn't this still Poppy's CIA??

I think it's a stretch to think the CIA, which is loyal to the bush crime family, would want to get rid of junior.

[cmayer]

56. Actually, now it's W's.

With Porter Goss in charge.

The CIA isn't unitary. And if any info can get tracked back to an individual before Kerry takes charge, it is the end of his or her career.

But I still wouldn't be surprised by a surprise.

[zulchzulu]

20. A few tricks up the sleeve

He just needs a few more ads explaining how Bush has lied so much.

Plenty of material.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

23. Abu Ghraib Child Rape Video

Not that Kerry has it or has control over it. Seymour Hersh has seen it and something tells me someone has a copy that they will make public before this November 2nd. It's far too big to have it smothered by Bushco.

[jeanmarc]

49. That would work

I still have a repug 'friend' who listens to Lush Rimjob and denies even now that any abuses happened there.

[Tatiana]

26. I don't know if Kerry has some bombs to drop.

But I'm sure the CIA does.

[seabeyond]

27. well if he has a bomb, gotta drop it now

it has to take three four days to make it to the press. they need to see if it is a story by dangling a bit, and then the public has to grab hold. then it has to set with the people for three four five days. so gotta do it.

the bush drunk was too late and the arnie groping too late

and has to be huge. not a little pettily dui thing

[shockingelk]

41. It could be dropped two or three days before ...

It would have to be huge and undeniable ...

Video of Bush going bonkers and cussing out an aide ... or making a "pretty head" statement like his mom ...

A pre-Iraq invasion document addressed to the Prez that says Iraq almost cartainly destroyed their WMD and has no capacity ...

Photos of Bush sacrificing a cat with Bill Frist ...

[jmowreader]

59. The cat thing won't work

He'll just lock up the Cat Hater vote.

But the CIA is a different story: Loyal though they might be to the Bush family, they're also fucking PISSED because of Plame and the "oh, they're just guessing" thing Bushler tried to pull.

[kaitykaity]

28. I'm waiting to hear what Al Gore has to say tomorrow, and

if Gore is just a lead in to more Dem heavy hitters
taking the stage and boosting Kerry.

I want positive. I want vision. I want leadership
from Kerry.

Let the proxies throw the bombs. It's safer that way.

[naufragus]

32. what proxies

there are no freaking proxies

[kaitykaity]

34. WTF?

Gee, that's a nice reply.

Wish you knew what you were talking about.


Biden
Gore
Hillary Clinton
John Edwards
Ted Kennedy
John Podesta

and on and on and on and on.

Get a fucking clue.

[evilqueen]

53. oh... and also us... the bloggers.

In case anyone didn't notice. Bloggers have had a pretty good impact on the media in the last year.

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

30. Where did the new Bush guard records disappear to?

The Associated Press said the links to the "Rat Shit Records" are to be found here:

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/bush-records/index.html

Personally, I am excited to read about what was going on when he washed out.

Why is this coming out now, two weeks before the election? Because they have tried hard to keep it covered up to the last.

[Heath.Hunnicutt]

60. New Bush guard records correct working link

http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/bush_records/index.html

The first AP Articles had a hyphen instead of an underscore.

The best thing about these records is they show that Bush was assigned some pilot duty after he was grounded. I noticed that the days in question and the alternative service days both show up on his pay points calendar. I will check this out more tonight.

[Lakerstan]

31. Time to ram that fucking boat on the shore!

Forget dropping bombs - that's too impersonal.

[sofa king]

36. What would I like to see? I'd like to see the dike burst.

After four years, the Justice Department, the CIA, Congress, and the Department of Defense all have to be sitting on hundreds of pages of incriminating reports which have been successfully secreted away.

I don't know what threats are being used to keep what must be hundreds or even thousands of citizens silent, but if just a few of them come forward in the next few days the damage could be unprecedented.

Here's a short list of some of the things I'm talking about:

* Dick Cheney rewarding Roger Stone for stealing Florida by allowing him to name appointees to the National Indian Gaming Commission, then bagging millions from poor Indian tribes as a gaming lobbyist. This scandal almost certainly points a finger at Tom DeLay's aides as well.

* The illegal diversion of some $700 million from the pacification of Afghanistan to the pockets of Dr. Ahmed Chalabi in return for false intelligence on Iraqi WMDs.

* Details of how the White House bypassed the CIA by creating a propaganda/intelligence arm within the DoD, the Office of Special Plans, in order to mine Chalabi's false intelligence and hoodwink Congress with it.

* Possible examples of the Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General being called off of investigations into account padding by Kellogg, Brown & Root and its parent company, Halliburton.

* It is known that the EPA is essentially being controlled by Presidential edict, with letters flowing downhill from someone in the White House to the EPA heads telling them to not enforce and relax regulations. The directives themselves, however, have yet to surface in the mainstream media.

* The destruction of ancient Indian desert drawings after Glamis Imperial successfully bribed Department of the Interior officials to reverse a decision against Glamis' planned strip mining effort.

I am sure there are--quite literally--dozens of other examples, every one of which has been successfully buried by the Bush Administration. This is the most criminal presidential administration since Warren G. Harding. People have got to come foreward with this stuff--and they need to do it today, RIGHT NOW, for it to sink in.

[sofa king]

37. Breaking news: Democratic flyers found in wealthy neighborhoods!

It would appear as if this is the bomb they're planning on dropping.



Trying to scare conservatives away from the polls.

[DemBones DemBones]

42. The vaccine shortage could give Kerry a landslide. No doubt about it.

The Bush administration messed up big time and it will have repercussions that we may well feel for the rest of our lives. Flu deaths this year will be only the tip of the iceberg.

Read up on the effects of disease epidemics and pandemics on past civilizations if you think I'm exaggerating.

But the word MUST get out that Bush* deserves a share of the blame.

I've been reading letters at Congress.org and seen people blaming DHS, Tommy Thompson, and the CDC. Not one that I read blamed George W. Bush.*

John Kerry knows this issue is huge. Every Democrat and Kerry supporter needs to know the same things he knows.

[mourningdove92]

50. I agree, the shortage of flu vaccinations could well be the

final straw for bushco. Lots of news coverage on this issue and I think it will only continue. The flu is starting to hit, and deaths will be inevitable. More blood on smirks hands.

[Francine Frensky]

46. The disobeying orders group may have a big impact --

you've got lots of famly connected to those 18 people. Lots of people to interview, and the topic hasn't been ruled out-of-bounds yet by the media (as soldier deaths have been).

Watching the Today show, they did a segment on it, from the soldiers' family perspective.

[shockingelk]

47. Bush could drop this bomb

Star wars missile defense thing goes haywire.

FOX News reports that the President may have just saved the nation from nuclear holocaust. It goes on from there.

[lefthandedskyhook]

48. Voter turnout will be the bomb that wins

Everybody who can needs to volunteer for election day GOTV activities. We don't want to have any need for recounts.

In New Mexico, Kerry volunteer efforts have yielded about 5 times more results than republican attempts. Even so, we still need MANY more people for election day activities. The word is that this is happening in all the battleground states.

Vote early, take the day off Nov. 2, and please help if you are in a battleground state.

[Dawgs]

54. Like I've said...

Right before the election(like two/three days before) run an ad that says something like...

"Swift Boat Vets accusations exposed as all LIES", or something similar.

I think he can use this because the Bushies can not comment on it. The only people that would jump on this would be the media. It might change enough minds to make a significant difference. My guess is that these guys are planning something big around this time, and he could use a line like this to trump whatever they try. The American public likes simple one-liners that they can remember. And this one might be one he could use.

Like it or not, I think these SBVT's hurt Kerry more than anything.

[Dinger]

57. I Wish Someone Would Bring This Up, But

it would take a helluvan invesigation, but I wish someone would bring up the margie Schoedinger rape/murder/suicide.
I know, I know. Tin foil stuff, and all that, I know, but even if she was loony, does that make it O.K.? In my opinion, it makes it worse. Her husband is still alive,a nd I think he'd be a good place to start (unless they've got to him). I've e-mailed links to Censored 2002,'03,'04, etc., and I've never had a response that said I was nuts. I just wish a reputable person or group would do a serious investigation, and debunk this story, or go with this story. You never know . . .

[AusTexDem]

58. NUCLEAR MATERIAL MISSING FROM IRAQ

I was sure he was going to use this in the 3rd debate.



http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=96386®ion=6

[doni_georgia]

62. It'll be a November surprise

(1) Look at the new voter registrations. I've posted this elsewhere, but history tells us that floods of people don't register to vote in large numbers when everything's hunky-dory; they register because they're pissed.
(2) The registration-fraud stories brewing in Oregon and Nevada, along with the irregularities in Ohio, and especially the Garmanian cluster that transpired with the first day of early voting in Florida, seem to be gaining a toehold in the minds of the electorate.
(3) Kerry pounded home his message in a big way in the debates. The more Bush attacks Kerry while Kerry holds his position, the more of a liar he looks (to the uninitiated; to me he's a liar from the get-go).
(4) Gas prices are a $2.00 a gallon again. Bush does not want this - or does he? There seem to be two possibilities at work here - either he can't prevent this, whch would mean that the powers that be in the world oil industry think he's a lame duck, or that he's allowing it to happen to line his friends' pockets, which means even HE thinks he's a lame duck. Doesn't matter. I don't have to see who's behind me to know when I'm being screwed, at the pump or otherwise.
(5) How many people out there who lean toward Monkey Brain - because they can't vote for a Democrat - might just decide to stay home? The Dems are energized, because they are PISSED OFF. The GLOP has no such motivation and I wonder how much the "embarrassment factor" is going to hurt their guys. This might be an even bigger factor than the uncounted (in the polls) voters. I have talked with quite a few GLOP folks whose embarrassment is obvious. They don't like their guy. And they're either stuck with a guy they know they don't like, or another guy they don't like. The Dems have no embarrassment factor; they're rarin' to go to the polls and get that asshole out of office muy pronto.

The November surprise, I think, will be a four-point popular vote edge to Kerry. A lot of folks just aren't being accounted for in the polls, and my guess is that there are a lot of people we aren't hearing from for one simple reason: they don't trust the government OR the media.

The great thing is that the Florida 2000 debacle coupled with the pre-election difficulties does not look good for the GLOP. Another questionable election total ANYWHERE has to work against them, to my thinking.

This may not be enough to reassure anyone, including myself, but my guess is a tight electoral college race despite a clear popular-vote lead for Kerry. I told my better half two weeks ago that I thought it would all come down to Wisconsin, more on a gut hunch than anything else. I still think that. Before you doubt my gut hunches, let me point out that back in February, when it looked like Chimpo was a mortal lock for reelection, I said that everything was going to fall apart for him over the summer. The only place I guessed wrong was that I never believed the GLOP would be able to lie so effectively about the mess we is in.

Folks, if the Clinton administration's last three years had looked like the past three years of this bunch's rule, Clinton WOULD NOT have survived. Period. They'd have hung him on the Senate floor. They tried hard enough as it was. Imagine if Plamegate, the flu vaccine, Abu Gharib, 9/11, the oil price hikes, the recession, the job losses, the Florida 2000 fiasco, etc. had been in their arsenal then. Somehow I think those issues are more compelling than a stupid blue dress. I tend to think a lot of people are finally thinking about the contrast.

Mac in Ga.

[TexasSissy]

63. Anyone know if * got another DUI in the last four years?

We all know he's on drugs...is that his replacement? Hard to prove.

[doni_georgia]

64. If that's his replacement we saw on the debates,

then judging from the mood swings, I'd say there's more than one of them. I understand Saddam's doubles are looking for work....

Mac in Ga.