Kerry/Edwards will lose the election if they do not come up with short,

[patricia92243]

easy to understand answers on their vote on the Iraq war and several other things. Period - end of story!

Heard interview on NBC this AM and it was horrible. She asked perfectly legitimate questions, and I - a devoted Democrat - thought it sounded like a bunch of run-around answers.

Better hurry with answers, or it will QUICKLY be too late.

[trumad]

1. Oh really

So idiot liberal out there will not vote for Kerry cause he has a lousy answer for Iraq? So idiot liberals out there will enable bush to have another 4 years? Er ok...what ever you say.

[Ninga]

2. It's not the idiot Liberals,

its the swing voters.

[agingdem]

6. Some please...

define "swing voters"? Are these the guys who go into a voting booth and flip a coin? Four months before an election and these people are still on the fence?...how is that possible?

[trotsky]

7. I don't see how it's possible, but they're out there.

In fairly sizable numbers, too. One of the morning DJ shows where I live was talking about the 60 minutes interview this past Monday morning. It's a male/female team, the guy is pretty solid Repub but the woman is more centrist/left-leaning. They played the clip of Kerry "answering" the Iraq war question and the woman expressed her frustration with Kerry's response.

Personally I like what several other DUers have suggested as a response. "Like most Americans, I trusted our president to secure the support of the UN and other allies before invading, and then only if the intelligence indicating Iraq was a threat was sound. My president lied to me, as he lied to the American people."

[GR]

13. Sorry, Edward's Answer Was Ridiculous, No One Would Buy It...

Liberal or conservative...But of course we'll vote for him, but he's got to do a lot better on international issues. As I think about it, he probably voted for the resolution out of ignorance and fear of being called unpatriotic, not good reasons...

[mondo joe]

19. It's the swing voters. Seriously.

This plays into the worst ideas about Kerry - vague, indecisiove, flip flopper.

They need a CLEAR, SUCCINCT answer.

[freetobegay]

3. What ever it is

I am sure it will be better than what Bush/Cheney have come up with.

[meti57b]

4. I presume Kerry & Edwards are "running to the center" for the general ....

general election. To win, they need to get the undecided and independent vote. I do not believe that Kerry or Edwards would have initiated the war on Iraq nor will they initiate anything like it.

[still_one]

5. Here is the answer Kerry gave 7 months ago

“This was the hardest vote I have ever had to cast in my entire career,” Kerry said. “I voted for the resolution to get the inspectors in there, period. Remember, for seven and a half years we were destroying weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In fact, we found more stuff there than we thought we would. After that came those four years when there was no intelligence available about what was happening over there. I believed we needed to get the weapons inspectors back in. I believed Bush needed this resolution in order to get the U.N. to put the inspectors back in there. The only way to get the inspectors back in was to present Bush with the ability to threaten force legitimately. That’s what I voted for.”

“The way Powell, Eagleberger, Scowcroft, and the others were talking at the time,” continued Kerry, “I felt confident that Bush would work with the international community. I took the President at his word. We were told that any course would lead through the United Nations, and that war would be an absolute last resort. Many people I am close with, both Democrats and Republicans, who are also close to Bush told me unequivocally that no decisions had been made about the course of action. Bush hadn’t yet been hijacked by Wolfowitz, Perle, Cheney and that whole crew. Did I think Bush was going to charge unilaterally into war? No. Did I think he would make such an incredible mess of the situation? No. Am I angry about it? You’re God damned right I am. I chose to believe the President of the United States. That was a terrible mistake.”

[Ninga]

9. It's not the answer given 7 months ago that counts.

I understand the concern expressed originally. I am a devoted Dem to this ticket. However, I was even squirming when Edwards was giving his answer to Couric this morning.

1 million, 4 hundred thousand swing voters have been identified by ACT in Ohio.

A swing voter is one who will vote outside of their profile or registered party.

For example, 3% registered Democrats in NE Ohio voted for Republician George Voinovich for Senator in the last senatorial election.

They are swing voters.

[elfin]

8. I agree

I wish the electorate had the patience to listen to more than a ten word statement or answer to anything. bush lies in 10 words or fewer - and it works. Sad but oh, so true.

There are very few "swing" voters - but they are critical to our success. It will boil down to "get out the vote" - and the Repugs are usiing the gay marriage issue to get their base out - that plus the lies plus mo money for lying commercials could spell disaster for us.

We need to get snappy in replies that are clear and concise and tell the truth.

[still_one]

11. First of all I agree with you

but please remember it was bush who sent soldiers into Iraq.

Just like his administration says:

...even though they were incompentent, they didn't do 9/11, it was the terrorists...

Same thing applies, Kerry or Edwards didn't send the soldiers in, in was bush

[readmylips]

10. They are a bunch of crooks....

that was perfect and true..

[GR]

12. I Agree, Edwards Was Really Weak And His Answers Were Preposterous

"John Kerry will train the Iraqis to take care of themselves"...Gimme a break...

[JI7]

23. i don't see anything wrong with Edwards answer

first of all. foreign policy is not something he is strong on. his job is to get people to vote for kerry so his answers usually have to do with calling for supporting kerry.

why hold edwards to a higher standard than bush ? especially since edwards is a vp candidate and not presidential candidate.

[wurzel]

14. There is no answer. They should not have voted for the war.

Almost no member of congress, Rep or Dem, looked at the 92 page intelligence document the Adminstration provided. They voted for the war the same way they voted for the "Patriot Act". In complete ignorance. Now they are stuck. They can't admit they were too lazy or pre-occupied to read a document that put the case for, or against, the war. Cheney knows this which is why he insists that they voted with the same information he did. Knowing full well, of course, they never read it.

[PlanetBev]

15. I am very worried about this

There was an editorial in the LA times yesterday (sorry, no link) entitled, "Kerry/Edwards Stonewalling". It was exactly wbout this issue. Why can't they just say that if they knew then what they know now, they would not have voted the way they did? The truth is that Kerry and Edwards were bullied into it and were afraid they would be called unpatriotic if they didn't do along. They could untangle themselves from this tarbaby if they would just tell the truth.

[emulatorloo]

17. The GOP is praying for Kerry/Edwards to say their vote was a "Mistake"

Just for a minute lets understand that there is a principle (Protecting US from Imminent Threat) behind the vote

and a specific instance (Saddam Hussein is going to Attack Us)

We all know the specific instance was BOGUS>

But GOPers will use a Kerry Mistake Quote to say that he is against Protecting the US. It will be played out of context, it will go on and on and on.

Kerry and Edwards have both been tough on Bush manipulation of intel, misleading american people, misleading congress. People are gonna get the message without them delivering a sound bite for Rush to play over and over.

[Carolinian]

26. Good response. Above post is a must-read.

[wurzel]

21. If Dems had done their job they could not have been "bullied"!

It is not a matter of "what they know now". They could have known "what they know now" if they had taken the trouble to find out then.

The people were against this war from the beginning. Could they possibly have known more than Kerry? No. But they knew enough to oppose it. We'd had two years experience of Bush. We knew what a ideological incompetent he was. Didn't the Dems in Washington also know that? They can't possible tell the truth. The truth is they voted to support Bush without even looking at the intelligence they were provided with. They now have to pretend they read it. So Cheney can keep on saying "The Administration and Kerry voted with the same information". And there is nothing Kerry can do about it. And, of course, the Dems must now support Bush in blaming the CIA. It's a farce.

[aden_nak]

16. Agreed.

I'm not saying that it's right or even fair. Those words have nothing to do with politics. I'm saying that their longer, more complex answers are not marketable, and cannot be properly expressed during a hostile interview. Especially one that is going to be re-cut later.

That's not to say they have to lie. They just have to be able to explain their Iraqi position in two sentences or less. That's the attention span of the voting populace. Again, I'm not talking policy. I'm talking election marketing.

[emulatorloo]

18. Their interview in NYT was great. Unfortunately sometimes you have

bad interviews (although I didn;t see them on NBC this morning)

[Padraig18]

20. I heard the same interview, and thought he did quite well. n/t

[Lefty Pragmatist]

22. You nailed it.

They need sound bites. Many people are too busy to listen to complex explanations. The best thing about Clinton was that the analysis was complex but the answer that got spit out the other end was sheer televangelism.

This is a *very* anti-intellectual nation; it's one of the last forms of sheer bigotry not only tolerated but celebrated in the culture. We've gotta deal with it.

[David Dunham]

24. Edwards did a great job, as did his wife, in the interview.

Katie Couric was a b-tch, though.

[wish_I_could_vote]

25. she was such an incredible b-tch

I was disgusted and wrote to NBC to complain. Honestly, the better Kerry does in the polls, the worse she gets. If she cannot even control her facial expressions then get her the hell off the air.