Debate suggestions for John Kerry in this thread

[SoCalDemocrat]

My wife supports Kerry, but she's much more of an independent and not engaged usually in politics.

She found that Kerry comes across as stiff. He doesn't have enough emotion or get emotional in his speeches. This bothered her. BUsh she said was passionate, sometimes too much, but at least he made her feel that he cared deeply about his positions.

She also disliked Kerry using the word "I" everytime he speaks. It seemed one sided and conceited. Kerry could probably do better if he mixed it up with "My administration will", or "we will", or "together with the American people" etc. He already has been painted as an elitist, using "I" in every leading sentence doesn't help.

She also didn't think he defended the Bush flip flop attack on Iraq well. She got the impression that Kerry first supported the war, then was against it due to changing politics. This message seems to work well for Bush against independents and less informed voters. It needs to be strongly countered.

My personal counter is that Kerry voted for the $87 billion in the Democratic version of the bill, which was quite similar to the Repugs. He voted against the Repug version, which passed. I believe he wanted stronger oversight on how the money would be awarded and spent. Imagine that! This should be condensed into a short sound bite that Kerry could use to easily counter Bush.

My own criticism was Kerry allowing Bush to once again link Saddam to Al Qaeda through Zarqawi. He could of destroyed Bush here. All he needed to say was that Bush protected Zarqawi and his terrorist base camp from Pentagon attacks three times so he could use that excuse before the UN to make the case for war in Iraq. That would of ended Bush.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

1. My suggestion:

Do everything the same was you did it tonight. And pray that George W Bush doesn't get a brain transplant in the next few weeks.

[funnymanpants]

14. ditto n/t

[liberalpragmatist]

2. A Zarqawi quote would've been great

So would greater hammering of the "real-world" hammer - he should've said "fantasyland" and repeatedly hammered Bush as out-of-touch.

But those are minor points. You can't cover everything and on the whole Kerry did very well.

AND HE WON!!!

[WilliamPitt]

3. Change nothing

[JI7]

10. totally agree

be himself as he was in this first debate. especially since the criticisms in that post seem like she is going out of her way to tell why she doesn't like kerry.

[fujiyama]

27. I have to agree

Kerry was at his top form. With the exception of his response to the 87 billion question, he did whatever he could have - and more importantly whatever he had to do to keep this election alive.

He reignited his campaign and will get some much needed enthuiasm.

Thank you senator Kerry for keeping hope alive. Now go back, kick his ass another two times...and have Edwards do the same (well he's already better than Lieberman).

[kentuck]

4. The Bush campaign will be on the offensive in next debate....

They will be looking for the "home run". Kerry needs to homer first and take the wind out of their sails and their strategy. My suggestion for Kerry is to use the "Gipper" on him. Nothing would destroy Bush more than a Reagan quote. And the timing can be predicted.

Bush will be on the offensive. He will call Kerry a "flip-flopper' or a synonymous term. That is when Kerry needs to fire his "Gipper" at him. When Bush makes his accusation, Kerry turns toward him, shakes his head, and says, "There you go again". That would be like a stake thru his heart. :)

[pdmike]

5. Do it exactly the same

as he did tonight. Exactly. I was reminded of the Nixon-Kennedy debates with Kerry playing Kennedy to Bush's Nixon.

Bush appeared confused, defensive, petulant and indecisive. Kerry took the room without any question.

Kerry nailed the hell out of Bush when he pointed out that you can be certain and still be wrong.

IF IT WORKS, DON'T FIX IT!

I was very, very pleased with our next President this evening!

pdmike

[SilasSoule]

6. I was waiting for that zinger heard here on DU

That I think was originally a LTTE from Chicago. The one Where Kerry would say that, in regards to IRAQ, Kerry voted to give Bush the keys to the car, then Bush went out and Crashed the car!!!

[grannylib]

7. I think he did just fine. He was clear, articulate, concise, personable

very presidential. I disagree that * is passionate; desperate is more like it. He is irritated when people disagree with him - he has no tolerance for dissent or other viewpoints, that is crystal-clear.
And he has nothing of substance to say. In attempting to 'refute' Kerry's statements, he had nothing more than scripted sound-bites to fall back on.
He's got NOTHIN'.
* has fallen down a rabbit hole into his own little 'wonderland'
He's got it all ass-backwards.
I really can not think of a single thing he's gotten right since he stole the election.
Not one.
Oh! Except for managing to say something appreciative about Kerry's daughters, and about JK being a great dad; wonder who had the sense to school him to say something nice.

[SoCalDemocrat]

8. I think I'll go to a Freeper event for debate #2

I watched this one at DNC HQ.

For #2 I'm going to try a Republican campaign center. That way I can see how they're reacting.

We should try to watch how the independnets and non-political folks react. Our reactions are biased by our partisanship.

[polmaven]

28. Wow!

Watch the town hall event at a freeper party! You are a much stronger person than I. Wow! Talk about voluntarily putting yourself in harms way!

[welshTerrier2]

9. a few questions for mrs. soCalDemocrat

is your wife happy with how things are going in Iraq? is 1000 dead American soldiers less important to her than Kerry's using the "I" word ... is a serious presidential candidate somehow less valid than an emotional one?

with regard to the $87 billion, is your wife aware that bush threatened to veto these funds ... the truth is that neither bush nor Kerry sought to deny any necessary funding to the troops ... the argument was about a technical issue about accountability for the money ...

is your wife aware that most of the reconstruction funds authorized for the rebuilding of Iraq have not been spent? these funds could have provided jobs to Iraqis and started restoring their lives to something at least a little better ... bush has frozen the funds ... and the result is more insurgency ... poverty and despair are perfect ingredients for those seeking to enlist more anti-U.S. fighters ...

does your wife think it's a good idea to alienate so many of our allies? how does she feel that 90% of casualties fighting the insurgency in Iraq are U.S. troops? does she understand Kerry's point that bush never built a real coalition?

is Kerry an elitist for volunteering to serve in Vietnam? or is bush an elitist for having daddy pull strings to get him a cushy position in the Texas Air National Guard? who's the real elitist?

and speaking of flip-flopping, does your wife know what bush said was job number one? he said it was winning the war on terrorism and capturing bin Laden ... then he said it was to invade Iraq because they had WMD's ... then he said it was to invade Iraq to bring democracy to the Middle East? and she probably hasn't heard mr. chalabi's name mentioned much lately ... he was the Iraqi golden boy that bush put so much faith in ... now they've accused him of spying for Iran ... what does that say about bush's judgment?

it sounds like your wife's entire focus is on Kerry ... she talks about bush being "passionate" but ignores his record ... this is surely a recipe for disaster ... jumping off a cliff with a mighty "yeeeee hahhhhh" is passionate; it's just not a very healthy thing to do ...

[nostalgicaboutmyfutr]

11. I would suggest that Kerry...

just keep kicking georgie's ass!

[genius]

12. Get him together with Mike Byron before the third debate. Mike's got evid

that Bush is bad for the military. Pictures. Testamonials.

[SKKY]

13. When Bush says, "That's not what the Commander-In-Chief...

...does when he's trying to lead troops." I would have looked at Bush squarely in the eyes (Damn the 32 pages of rules) and replied, "Mr. President, what on earth could YOU possible tell ME about leading troops." Kerry does that, and the debate would have been over.

[Justice]

15. Two suggestions - China/North Korea and that wrong war, wrong time, blah

Kerry had a moment to knock this one out as a grand slam rather than a home run. He did great, and I was so pleased he went back to it. I would have added something like - well wait, Bush says we cannot cede our interests to other countries, yet he advocates for China and Japan to negotiate with North Korea for us - isn't that a mixed message? Madeline Alb. said something like this in the spin room - I thought it was a great point.

I would have liked Kerry to go back to that wrong war, blah blah blah crap and say here is why I said this....I hope Edwards does that on Tuesday.

[funnymanpants]

16. Don't listen to your wife

I'm trying not to be too disrespectful here, but your wife's views are ruining democracy. She thought the president spoke with passion? Good grief! How can I even began to counter that? If you are basing your views on such superficial impressions, don't vote.

I know you are going to say that you are just planning stragegy, that independents will determine this race, and it is important to get Kerry out of office. But I am so tired of having to dumb down messages and hone talking points because independents won't take the time to look at the issues.

PS Don't show this to your wife and don't hunt me down and give me a punch in the nose. Please!

[SoCalDemocrat]

18. Our views matter far less than hers

The views of a bunch of partisans like ourselves aren't that important. It's the folks in the middle that are not very political and not up on the issues until tonight that need to be influenced the most. We're the party faithful, the core...but they're the ones that will decide the election in November.

We should look around us for more like her and find out what they thought of the debate. We can learn from it for the next one.

I think she's right, Kerry does need to interject a few more personal moments where he shows some compassion and empathy on his positions. He's too stiff in his message. She said if Kerry showed some emotions he would win by a landslide.

My mother favors Bush. She's a former life long Democrat who switched in 2000. Why? She likes his down to earth personality and how expresses himself with feeling and emotion.

How hard can it be for Kerry to let some emotion into his performance?

[JI7]

19. it's not partisans, most of the undecided/independents liked Kerry

so your wife doesn't. but most did so he should just continue doing as he is. and he did show emotion. but if it's not enough for your mother and wife, well, then i guess he wont get their votes.

but the fact is kerry won among the NON PARTISANS.

[SoCalDemocrat]

20. She likes Kerry

She is still voting for Kerry. I'm just relaying problems she saw in his performance.

One reason Shrub comes off as more likeable is that he is down to earth and has easy mannerisms. Kerry is too formal all the time, he needs to loosen up periodically during his speeches.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

21. I think he should scratch his balls.

I think that's a good down to earth thing he could
do in the next debate. What does your wife think about
that idea?

[progdonkey]

17. Don't. Change. A. Thing.

[ComerPerro]

22. So, I don't get it. Do we come here to debate the suggestions of others?

"Debate suggestions for John Kerry in this thread"

So, someone posts a suggestion, and I should debate them?


Sorry, took a bad pun idea and went way too far with it.

[mzmolly]

23. Look into the camara more often.

I like your suggestions as well, but that's a simple one from mua'. :hi:

[rullery]

24. I loved Kerry's performance.

He was clear and decisive, not long-winded or vacillating as he has sometimes been inclined to do. I noted also that at the end of the debate he got in one of his best zingers. Bush complained that if he negotiated directly with North Korea, he would not be able to keep China involved in pressuring North Korea. Kerry in rebuttal said "Just because YOU can't keep China involved doesn't mean it can't be done. I will keep China involved in the process." (NOTE: This is not a direct quote, merely my recollection of what Kerry said. But it was close to this.)

[OnceUponATime]

25. I think a good line

that Kerry should keep repeating is his summation of Bush's Iraq policy in 4 words: "More of the same."

That's the kind of simple zinger the American sheeple can digest and understand, and you can apply to it to other subjects, too, such as the economy.

[bklyncowgirl]

26. Kerry was very good close to excellent but...

My husband, who's pretty apolitical, didn't seem to think that Kerry won. He thought that Bush came off pretty well, that he was understandable and that his continuing hammering on Kerry's shifting positions and that this was the wrong thing for a commander in chief was a compelling arguement.

He just didn't see the sort of things we all saw in Bush's face--and he watched the debate for the most part on CSPAN just like I did.

If I had to give any advice to Senator Kerry it would be to try and look into the camera and make that eye contact. Reagan could do it, Clinton can do it. I don't know, maybe Ben Affleck can give him some tips.

Otherwise I wouldn't change a thing.

[fujiyama]

29. Interesting

Your wife's critique actually goes with the poll taken and Kerry actually beat Bush in the debates among men by a larger margin than he did so against women.

It seems as though women are more easilly swayed by emotion. Bush's anecdote about the woman that came about her husband must have played into this. Also, it may have partly been the theme of the night - foreign affairs and the war. This isn't the debate that held the most interest among women.

I do feel that Kerry should have answered the 87 billion dollar question better. His reasoning should have been clearer.

As for her other points, I feel as though they really don't make much sense. Kerry did whatever he could. He has been completely consistant on his support for AUTHORIZATION of the war. He was critical of Bush's actions all along...and even before Bush entered Iraq.

Bush's passion was shallow and he looked extremely immature. His "passion" looked to me like desperation. It was a drawn out extension of his stump speeches. He kept to message though - all 15 minutes of it. Kerry isn't consistent. His calling it the "wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time" will undermine the morale of the troops. Kerry is insulting our puppet in Iraq. That's all I saw from it.

Sure, he's "real", in that he stumbled and seemed to blank out every couple minutes, but the fact is he still isn't all there. He ws passionately defending a failure, a mess, a catastrophe. I mean nothing against your wife, but at this point, if she doesn't actually support Kerry (rather than simply dislike Bush) , nothing will make her. And that's ok, because in the end the only important thing is that she votes for Kerry. That's the important thing.