For those of us w/o TV: what are Kerry's people saying?

[InvisibleTouch]

No cable here, and television in another room, and I can't seem to drag myself away from DU at the moment, so ... I'm gathering there's been a lot of media spin trying to paint the Osama tape as an endorsement of Kerry. I'm picturing the rethugs and their sycophants converging on this story like sharks to chum. What's happening with our side?? I would hope Kerry's team has anticipated something like this, and is ready to launch a counterattack and point out the Bush-Osama connection, to point out Bush's failure, as Kerry's been saying all along. Surely they've had a contingency plan in case Dubya pulls OBL out of a hat just before the election? They knew this was a possibility, surely?

Someone in another post said the media will run with the side that gets there first and makes its case. I don't think the media truly cares about anything other than ratings (aside from unmistakable partisans like Fox) - they'll air whichever side is ready to go with a response. I'm just hoping Kerry's people are out there talking right now.

It's also been said in other posts that "people aren't stupid." I have to respectfully disagree. The great majority of people are, if not stupid, at least uninformed, and will believe what they see on television - especially if they see it repeated again and again. It's easy to forget that, if we spend lots and lots of hours here on DU with like-minded folks. It starts to look like the whole world is mostly smart and reasonable. But it's not. It's easy to sway the masses with knee-jerk sound bites - otherwise Dubya's approval ratings would be in the single digits. So yeah, I'm worried. I think it's a mistake to shrug this off. What's been the Democratic response so far?

[laruemtt]

1. they are reviewing it - will come out

nothing official yet, will say something in a while

[Francine Frensky]

2. CNN going to Frank Buckley

Kerry team still considering a response, going over tape....

Then they played a clip of Kerry talking earlier today, doing his standard stump speech, saying US would do better capturing terrorists if it works with the rest of the world.

They did mention that Bush, even after hearing about the bin laden tape, was still attacking kerry.

Time for kerry to go positive!

[InvisibleTouch]

3. Positive?

I think if Kerry misses the opportunity to lay into Dubya for his failure, it would be a huge mistake. The rethugs certainly won't pull their punches. Didn't we learn from 2000 that being "too nice" doesn't get us anywhere? There's a time to tell it straight out like it is, to use the harsh words ... but maybe that's not politics. I must admit, every time I've been frustrated and thought Kerry wasn't going to give a strong enough response, he's surprised me pleasantly ... not by laying into the opposition as would be my instinct, but by knowing just precisely how far he could go without having it backfire. I'm going to take a deep breath and trust his instincts again ... but that doesn't make the waiting much easier....