Shrub's sole strategy for Friday's debate (and what Kerry must do)

[ALago1]

Bush's whole "presidency" has been such an enormous failure, that pointing to a success is almost impossible. Thus, to divert attention from this he has really no other option then to smear and attack his opponent with non-sequitir accusations. These take form primarily in the "Kerry is a flip-flopper" meme that wss pretty much all of Bush's material last week.

You could see the foreshadowing of Shrub's material in last weeks debate in his stump speeches immediately preceding the debate.

If this weeks speeches are any indication, he's going to assault Kerry's voting record and little more, taking any little nuance he can exploit over Kerry's many years in the Senate, and portray him as a man with no real principles.

I trust Kerry will devise a way to innoculate himself from this strategy, and turn it back on Shrub. Yet more importantly, Kerry has to do the following: Tell the voters what he's GOING TO DO in office. This was hard to do in the Foreign Policy debate because the mess Bush has gotten us in only leaves so many options to choose from.

Of all the independents I talked to (mostly in my workplace) after the debates, a common thread of opinion was that Bush looked like a jackass and didn't deserve their vote, BUT, they also really didn't like how all Kerry did was pretty much critique Bush and show what a ridiculous failure he has been. They all wanted to hear specifics of how he would conduct himself in office.

I think that if Kerry can provide the public with some concrete remedies he plans on implementing in office, he'll give them reason to "take the plunge" from an undecided to a supporter of John Kerry.

Just my personal opinion and I'd like to hear any thoughts you people reading this have. Thanks!

[notadmblnd]

1. I think so too, he needs to get down to specifics

too many people are saying they don't like bush but just don't know who/what Kerry stands for.

[ochazuke]

2. "The man's gonna raise your TAXES!"

I think that might be bush's mantra for debate 2. You know he can't have a lucid discussion of the issues. THAT'S HARD WORK.

Jeez. If someone had told you "Bush will say "it's hard work" over and over again when talking about the war on terror/Iraq, would you have believed them? He must have thought it up on the spot and then just repeated it out of panic. I mean, Rove couldn't have said "I got this great line!..."

Kerry of course will have plenty with which to go after the current occupant. I think all he has to do is be his presidential self, and slap down the lies when they come his way.

Our biggest problem: after debate 1, there's no way we'll win the expectations game.

[RevCheesehead]

24. Kerry should reply "No, George, I'm going to restore OUR taxes...

..to pay for this mess you got us into."

[clydefrand]

3. I think he gave concrete remedies. Download the

transcript from NYTimes or elsewhere and highlight the points where he was specific.

[pacalo]

13. I totally, totally agree. I don't know how he could have been more

specific. The cry for dumbing down reminds me of Perot's pie charts; problem is, the information in black & white didn't seem to help Perot.

[RevCheesehead]

4. Health Care!!!

I'm just fuming with our insurance company (thru church), which is charging me (one person) almost $1,000/month for insurance!!! The church pays about 80%, and I pay the rest. Neither the church, nor I, can continue to afford this, but payment is MANDATORY.

What really burns me is the prescription drug coverage. If we have an ongoing prescription for chronic conditions, we can use our local pharmacy for 3 months. Then, we MUST use their RX-by-mail service, or else pay full price for drugs. Their explanation? Their mail service "has a deal with drug companies for reduced prices."

Grrr.........:grr:

I mentioned to the other pastors that if we elected John Kerry, we wouldn't have to put up with this problem much longer.

[RevCheesehead]

6. let me add:

a savings account for coverage is worthless (and I can already do this through FLEX). But "savings account for coverage" is meaningless to people making $7/hour and trying to support their family.

Too many people I know simply go without coverage. I really fear for them. I really do.

[LiberalFighter]

8. MSA is a scam created by J Patrick Rooney of Golden Rule

Medicare's Hidden Bonanza

[RevCheesehead]

20. THANK YOU for that article!!!

I've passed this info on to one of our conference employees. Maybe we can get out of coverage from United Healthcare next year. The article is invaluable, and I am glad you posted it!!

[LiberalFighter]

22. No problem... NEVER trust that guy

[phantom power]

5. I think Kerry is already doing this about as well as

can be done in 90-second intervals. For example: in the first debate, he talked about the goal of increasing multilateral involvement in Iraq, and specifically, he said he would begin by holding a world-summit on how to procede with Iraq.

What are your co-workers looking for? What does the question "How would he conduct himself in office?" mean?

[ALago1]

7. I should re-phrase that sentence

Sorry that is quite ambiguous. I didn't mean "conduct himself" as a judgement on his character. I meant it simply as what policies he'll advocate.

And you're right, it's hard to do this in the 90 second intervals, but I think he'll be able to do so more effectively when discussing domestic issues, so I'm optimistic.

[K. F. Gibbons]

9. At some point Bush will have to run on his record.

[Yuugal]

10. Kerry should try the obvious.

Kerry should mention what he plans to do. For instance, just come right out and say to the 40 million with no medical insurance: You're Covered! To millions of young voters just say: NO Draft! To the rich people: Get Ready to PAAAAAAAYYYYYY! Oops, maybe not that last one. ;)

[goodwalt]

11. I don't think this "debate" can be won

In fact, I don't think what is scheduled for Friday can be called a debate at all. They have been given all of the questions in advance. Each campaign's speech writers have gone over them, and scripted out what they consider to be the most effective answers. And regardless of the substance of W's answers, he is going to come away being spun as the winner by the media because he will do Dramatically better reading from a script than he did last Thursday. This will be reported as either a draw, or as a Bush "win" because he will have "shifted the momentum". Hide and watch.

[ALago1]

12. I've heard different

IIRC, the candidates won't know anything about the questions until they are asked, leaving lil boy Bush very vulnerable.

Remember, the Town Hall format was where Clinton really shined. Kerry may not be a Clinton, but he can still gain a lot from this debate.

[babylonsister]

23. Me, too.

Bob Schieffer on Larry King last night said neither party is privy to questions beforehand. I understood this to mean for all debates, not just the one he's involved in.

[KellyPaDem]

14. Will someone please...

Will someone please tell the Kerry campaign not let the Republican's blame Kerry for the current economy and the intelligence failures. The Republican's have had the House, Senate, and Supreme Court if bills couldn't get passed its their own fault. I find it amazing that Kerry and Edwards TWO senators have been able to stop all these bills that would have "helped" this country so much from being passed. Does this mean members of the GOP bow down to Kerry/Edwards?

In Addition will someone please explain to me how Iraq became Kerry's fault.The President and his lackeys run around saying well Kerry voted for it, well Kerry voted for it. Like because Kerry agreed to give the president permission to go to war, it is his fault that we there today. The president had to follow Kerry's demand that we go to war? Perhaps I have been wrong all these years and it hasn't been Cheney pulling the puppet strings... its been Kerry.

Also, in the 2000 debate Bush said, that he was ushering in an age of "Ownership". Yet since he has taken office his administration has "owned" up to nothing. The Economy -- Clinton's fault, 9/11-- Clinton's fault, Jobs-- Clinton's fault. Iraq-- CIA, France, and some "folks" fault--also Kerry. Health Insurance -- Lawyers. No Child Left behind -- teachers. This is a far cry from the "buck stops here" I would love to see Bush called on this, never say your sorry--don't admit mistakes, we are never wrong Presidency.

[andym]

15. Bush has already signaled his strategy

He'll remind everyone that

1) Kerry Flip-flops.
Kerry must point out the obvious Bush flip-flops on domestic policy
and the sheer number of stupid decisions that Bush has made

2) Kerry will raise your taxes.
Kerry should point out, that this is only if you make 200K or more, and then explain how much better everyone will do under Kerry's economic plan. Kerry should challenge *'s understanding of the economy.

3) Kerry doesn't trust you with your own money. He wants big govt to manage SS.
Kerry has to counterattack about how his policies will put more money into average people's hands to do with what they like.

[deckerd]

16. Counteract "flip flops" with "mixed messages" from Bush. n/t

[ComerPerro]

17. Honestly, if they didn't hear "specifics" from Kerry,

Its because they weren't listening for them.

Besides, when has Bush ever offered specifics about his plan? Seriously. I have never heard him lay out what he planned to do, besides "stay the course", but considering his numerous failures I think that would be a bad idea.

I have come to realize that at this point, anyone who says that Kerry "has no plan" or "only has negative rhetoric" either hasn't been listening or is a pathetic, brainwashed stooge.

Maybe this country deserves Bush's special brand of fascism.

[secular_warrior]

18. I've heard the same thing from swing voters also- Kerry needs to do better

He did great at the debates at sketching out an outline. Now he needs to flesh it out and repeat it. Kerry should be repeating his plan everyday in a 30min or less stump speech so people basically know it word for word the way they know the pResident's (stay the course, Saddam was a threat, I will defend America every time, I will fight them overseas instead of here, etc).

I believe the KE campaign's greatest failure was not hammering their basic plan into the voter's heads much earlier, and not using the convention to drive the message home.

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. Four consecutive times, voters approved of the job Kerry had done

in their state....and voted him back in. That's a damned good record if you ask me.

I do believe, Kerry offered concrete alternatives...i.e. Real summits, on Thursday's debate. I think he'll continue to do so in the next two debates. It is media spin that all Kerry did was attack Bush on his handling of the war and terrorism. A lot more happened there. :hi:

[WI_DEM]

21. taxes will be what Bush will allude to time and again

Kerry should point out that Bush recently toyed with a national sales tax which would be the biggest tax hike on the middle class (and everybody) in history.