Why is Kerry taking yet another day off?

[LTRS]

And tommorrow too? Meanwhile Bush is out there hammering him everyday, and we have no real response from Kerry regarding Bush's gift from the media today - a speech carried live and in full by cable news networks?

[vickie]

1. He's preparing for the debate.

[ohioan]

77. AND he doesn't want to step all over the message of the day:

Edwards Kicks Cheney's A*s"

[dolstein]

2. 2 reasons

First, because he's preparing for the debate. What happens between now and then is nothing compared to what happens at the debate.

Second, he's saving his voice.

[lancdem]

10. Exactly

maybe Bush should spend more time preparing, considering how pathetic he was last Thursday.

[liberal N proud]

55. He doesn't need to prepare, he stands there and looks like a total

ass then 5 or 6 days later they come out with a speech where he gets the stage all to himself and answers all the questions without worrying about anybody challenging them.
Karl Rove gets a chance to prepare his script and they get the mulligan.
CNN, MSNBC and FAUX will cover it with out offering equal time to his "OPPONENT" (btw: Do you suppose he even knows who is opponent is?)

[babylonsister]

117. Didya ever think Shrub is trying to lose his voice

on purpose? No vox, no debate.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Third...it projects the public perception of a winner

while your opponent is spending the day scrambling to do damage control now for TWO debate performances...one where the top of the ticket was caught in the headlights and one where the person everyone knows is the REAL president got caught in two major lies, plus directed people to the wrong website and is now beingg caught in a lie by the website he intended to direct them to....ain't it a great day to catch one's breath?

[Ducks In A Row]

22. agreed

the debate is important, because bush will again suck

[stupid grin]

116. eggzactly,!

The importance of the debate far outweighs any of the incoherent garble that bush will spew out within the next few days.

[David Dunham]

3. Kerry is in debate preparation.

[CrowNotAngelGRL]

14. Bush is out

trying to save his ass, but he's not thinking about the next debate. Heh heh. Will he do the same type of performance from the last? :shrug:

[PROGRESSIVE1]

45. But he should at least show his face and give a speech hitting...

* as hard as he can.

[mbali]

83. Do you know how much work is involved in Kerry giving a speech?

He doesn't just show up somewhere and start talking. The speech has to be written, logistics have to be coordinated, policies have to be addressed, travel arrangements must be made, staff must be pulled off of whatever else they're working on to do all of this.

Giving a speech on the day after Edwards' big night is a bad idea. Not only does it divert attention from the message of the day, i.e., Edwards v. Cheney, it draws the candidate's attention and resources away from what he should be doing over the next couple of days - preparing for the debate.

Give the guy a break.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

86. Then he should give a speech on Friday afternoon to get some attention.

We cannot slip for one day. We have the Momentum and Bush has the "joementum" and I'd like to keep it that way!

[LTRS]

95. Exactly!

But beware - apparently that notion makes you a freeper.

[mbali]

96. Are you serious?

He doesn't NEED attention the day of the debate. He'll get plenty of attention.

Thank GOD you aren't running his campaign.

[mac56]

4. ummm..to give Edwards a chance in the limelight?

nm

[Jack_Dawson]

5. The home stretch

Gotta be fresh for Friday's debate.

[Worst Username Ever]

6. Even heroes need to breathe.

[LTRS]

15. This is his 19th day off since the convention

I think he may be setting a record here. He better kick butt on Friday is all I can say!

[JI7]

21. you seem to think that campaigning only involves public appearances

[LTRS]

28. Yep, pretty much

If sitting in a hotel room in Colorado could get a guy a elected, it wouldn't be such "hard work."

Maybe I give him too much credit, but I don't really think the needs TWO more days of debate prep - so much so that he can't fit in a rally in a state where we could take it.

[JI7]

30. he isn't sitting around in a hotel room

[NoBorders]

31. the debate is worth FAR more than a campaing stop or two

He'll be reaching a national audience and receive tons of news coverage. The opportunity cost of not doing well in the debate is much higher than not getting a few sound bites in one or two news cycles. And bush just looks foolish trying to do damage control.

[LTRS]

33. I agree with that

But it seems a waste for him not to make an appearance...

1) to slam Bush's attempt at a do over debate minus his opponent. I mean come on, the dem response was Jean Harmon for gawd sake (and it was pathetic!)

2) to do a 1-2 hour rally in a state we can win with a little extra effort

[JI7]

36. he did slam bush for the do over debate

[LTRS]

38. With a quote in a press release?

Takes a little more effort than that.

[JI7]

39. he is doing a lot more than that

[LTRS]

44. Like what?

Read this top story on Yahoo:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=1&u=/nm/20041006/pl_nm/campaign_dc

[JI7]

48. yeah, and ? hahhaha

[LTRS]

51. All he has is a spokesperson rebuttin this to AP

And the cable news shows are showing Jean Harmen for the democratic response.

Had Kerry been available his face would be on CNN instead of hers and we would have got more than one line in the AP article as opposed to the paragraphs they devoted to Bush's message.

[JI7]

54. the cable news are showing Cheney lied in the debates and Bush

trying to save his ass after his debate failure

[LTRS]

61. And they aren't covering Bush at all?

Guess again. He got 20 min of uninteruppted time for the speech, and many, many clips of it since then. Yet Kerry too busy to respond himself. The cable news are not the least interested in quoting a spokesperson.

[JI7]

65. he always gets coverage without interruption, what's new ?

and the cable news are not interested in kerry either or else they would have shown his speech yesterday as they showed bush's today. but they didn't show kerry's yesterday.

[LTRS]

69. Oh, you're right

The cable news networks would rather have dem Jean Harmen as the person they can turn to in response for the dem rebutal. That's who they had, do you realize that? Are you saying they wouldn't have put Kerry in that spot had he made himself available? If you think that you are not being realistic.

[JI7]

70. he made himself available many times and they refuse to cover him

[LTRS]

75. Yes, of course

like I said, they would rather have Jean Harmen than the candidate himself. Surely that's it. LOL! No, sorry, I'm not buying that.

[JI7]

80. many people would rather have Kerry on

[LTRS]

85. Except he didn't make himself available

Which takes us back to the original point of my post. We don't have time for him to take time off to the extent that he is not even available to respond to such an open opportunity as *Bush gave us today.

My critique and advice is that he needs to get out there, not hide in hotel rooms.

[JI7]

89. he has more important things to do such as try to win the election

and he isn't hiding in hotel rooms.

[LTRS]

91. Letting Jean Harmen respond in his place

isn't going to get it done, I can tell you that.

[JI7]

94. it's not his place to respond to every single thing Bush does

[LTRS]

99. No, of course not

But Bush revealed himself to be a very poor loser today when he demanded coverage for what is nothing more than his normal stump speech. Clearly he even realizes he got his butt kicked in that debate and is trying to stem the blood flow.

And Kerry could have used that to major advantage. He could have used it to show that Bush is a LOSER. He couldn't make the case during the debates so he had to demand a debate with no opponent... yada, yada, yada.

But no, he's just too darn busy. So they sent lame Jean Harmen to do it instead. Wanna know how many times her clip has been repeated on CNN since? None.

I rest my case.

[JI7]

101. they released an ad saying bush lost the debate and he is now lying

about it.

it seems you thought up in your mind that it would have been a good idea if kerry responded as you wanted. and because it wasn't done you think there is a problem with the campaign and now you are attacking those who disagree with you.

[LTRS]

It is a huge opportunity missed

... have a nice day.

[JI7]

104. the huge opportunities are the debates

[LTRS]

106. If you think elections are won solely through

debates I am sorry I engaged with you. You don't understand the notion of campaigns if that is the case and I have wasted much time. Like I said, have a nice day. :)

[JI7]

110. i understands campaigns and importance of debates

i know debates are not theonly things around which is why the campaign is doing many other things. but i also understand the importance of debates and that bush sucked and kerry did well and that resulted in polls moving in kerry's favor and going down for bush.

[jacksonian]

113. come on

don't tell me you haven't seen plenty of campaigns suffer from too little preparation - which all has to happen in some room somewhere. Cheap shot.

Bush said nothing today and did nothing that was going to get him elected. Nothing has changed the momentum.

[David Dunham]

24. He's not taking the day off. Debate prep is hard work.

He also needs to save his voice.

[progressivebydesign]

7. He's in Colorado preparing for the debate. n/t

[Julien Sorel]

8. Because he isn't as smart as you.

[cheezus]

13. lol

best reply ever

[LTRS]

18. And thankfully, not as snarky as you!

[Insomnicole]

25. Hee.

That's gotta be the ultimate reply to the endless "How come Kerry isn't doing X?" questions.

[JI7]

32. hahha

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

71. Dammit

you get over here and clean my keyboard :D

[DenverDem]

9. Preparing to kick busholini's ass is a "day off"?

Edwards replied forcfully to junior's innanities, the nazi corporate media neglected to cover it (big surprise).

Rest assured that Johnny K's NOT TAKING THE DAY OFF.


More importantly, each of us must not take the day off either. What have you done to help elect John Kerry today?

[sandnsea]

Don't sweat it

He's always at his absolute best after a couple days off. The next two days is all about the Cheney lies anyway.

[JI7]

11. because campaigning will not matter if he sucks during the debates

and he isn't taking the day off as in doing nothing. he is preparing for the debates which is part of the campaign.

[LTRS]

17. True enough

If he kicks butt again during Friday's debate I will forgive him, but in 20 yrs of following politics I don't think I have seen a presidential candidate ever take this much time off after the convention.

If we lose, put me down for pointing to all this time off as part of the "recriminations" that will inevitably follow. :)

[JI7]

19. those are not taking days off as in doing nothing, they do strategy

and other things. and also he has campaigned most of the times. he even campaigned during the republican convention. but the big media never shows him as they do bush.

[LTRS]

23. I didn't mean to imply I thought he

wasn't doing anything. He's not campaigning. The absolutely true fact that he is NOT getting the national news coverage Bush is getting is exactly why he needs to hold more rallies and hit the stump more. If the national media won't help him connect with folks in swing states he needs to do it himself. Local news always covers those and he needs that coverage.

[JI7]

he is relying on local news coverage, and Bush is out because he is trying

to save his ass from the debates. he had something else scheduled. and you do imply he does nothing just because you don't see him. would you rather kerry be out trying to save his ass after a debate failure rather than prepare for the next debate.

and the news is covering cheney's lies from the debates and edwards positive performance. you think kerry should do something to take attention away from that ?

[mbali]

87. The fact that YOU didn't see him on CNN this morning does not mean

he is not campaigning! There's more to campaigning than speaking at rallies.

[emulatorloo]

35. How exciting - so you are setting yourself up to say "I TOLD YOU SO"

BTW Edwards and the campaign are all over Bush and his Mulligan Speech. . .go read yahoo news or check out threads on DU.

[LTRS]

41. No, his "aides" are all over it

AP-"Kerry aides said Bush's speech was an attempt to rectify his mistakes in last week's debate. The two meet on Friday in St. Louis in a debate that will cover all topics, and next week in Arizona on domestic issues.


"The president tried to redo the debate from last week by giving a speech full of untruths he couldn't say on stage with John Kerry because he knew Kerry would knock them down," Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said."

What we need is Kerry on the cable networks with a response instead of Jean (lame dem) Harmen.

[JI7]

43. why ?

kerry has responded many times to many things. the cable news stations usually ignore him. do you think bush himself always attacks kerry directly ? he has aides who go on tv to do it.

[LTRS]

49. So they wouldn't have used Kerry instead of Harmen

If Kerry was available? Now come on.... that's not even close to believable.

[JI7]

50. Bush always attacks Kerry, what's new ?

he isn't going to be led around by bush , responding to every single attack rather than trying to take control of the debate.

[LTRS]

53. It's not new that repetition is what gets the

message across. And not responding to this clearly sissified attempt at a do over by Bush, John Kerry missed an opportunity of large proportions.

[JI7]

56. Bush missed an opportunity with his debate failure

[LTRS]

64. So it's all over, we can kick back and relax?

Guess again.

[JI7]

67. i never said anything is over

[mbali]

90. What DIFFERENCE does it make WHO is all over it?

The important thing is that this is getting major coverage without having to use up all of the Top Gun's energy and attention to get it out there, leaving him free to keep his eye on the prize - the next debate.

This is the way campaigns are SUPPOSED to work.

[bowens43]

16. The Debate.....

It could be the final nail in the idiots political coffin.

[undercover_brother]

20. Also helps to build anticipation

Sort of like not letting the groom see the bride just before the wedding starts. He is building anticipation. He can't very well play down expectations now. We all know what happened in the first debate. If he keeps out of the public eye just before the debate then the media and public will be more hungry to digest his every word when he does speak again. Think Alan Greenspan.

[LTRS]

26. I think you overestimate the American public

on that score. Nevermind - I lost myself for a moment and forgot I was in "Kerry can do no wrong" land. LOL!

[JI7]

29. you are the one who seems to think Kerry is taking a day off

when he is preparing for the debates which is not taking a day off and part of the campaign.

[LTRS]

34. From campaigning, and he is

and it's a waste when he is in a state that we could take with a little extra effort.

And why is the only dem response to Bush's shot at a debate do over from that lame Jean Harmen?

[JI7]

37. not sure what your talking about but he did hold a rally in the state

just like he did in wisconsin. but he also stayed in private for some time to prepare for the debates. and it's part of the strategy to stay in a certain state for debate preparations. many in wisconsin where he stayed were impressed that he would stay in their area.

[Captain Lance Bass]

27. Becuase he has a landslide in the bag

Also...what is Bush hammering him on?

Same ol shit.

People are getting very bored with the Bush "Kerry is a flip flop-liberal tax raiser-vasilating windsurfer" garbage.

He can flail his arms all he wants and say his lies but Americans are turning on their tvs everyday and they see.

Higher Gas Prices
Higher Job Loss
More Chaos In Iraq
Higher Health Care

Let Bush "hammer" away. Reality is on our side.

[DemocracyInaction]

40. Just saw Edwards on stump slamming Bush's speech

...same old ideas, same old plans, etc. Said they have nothing new and just keep spouting the same old stuff. Kerry will hit him with it Friday night. No one is listening to this anyway.

[LTRS]

42. Read this - top story on Yahoo - not good

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=615&e=1&u=/nm/20041006/pl_nm/campaign_dc

[JI7]

52. you seem surprised that Bush would attack Kerry

[LTRS]

57. No, I'm surprised Kerry is taking another day off

and missing a huge opportunity to paint Bush as a big sissy boy who needs a do over with no opponent because he lost a debate.

Had Kerry made himself available for say 10 minutes, we would be seeing his face directly after every replay of the story of Bush's speech today (which so far has been on CNN and MSNBC about a half a dozen times already).

[JI7]

60. you seem to think cable news is fair

they rarely show kerry when he responds .there is no guarantee they would show him. and edwards is out there and going after bush and cheney.

[LTRS]

66. Maybe you didn't catch this part...

They had Jean Harmen as the democratic response!!! Are you really arguing that they wouldn't have preferred to have Kerry do that?

Man, you all have totally drunk the kool aid!

[JI7]

68. they would prefer Kerry lose the election

kerry knows everyone isn't sitting around watching cable news. and those who do tend to be the ones who are already decided. if it was up to cable news then Bush would easily win the election.

[LTRS]

73. You people sound like Freepers

Instead of "*Bush is perfect - a god, can do no wrong - everything he does is exactly correct" - you just replace the * word with Kerry.

I don't know about you, but I wanna win more than I want to make excuses for Kerry. Apparently I am in the minority here. This is a JK fan club, not a place for campaign discussions.

[JI7]

74. WOW, you are really revealing yourself with this one

although i suspected it early on

[LTRS]

81. Right, because what good con wouldn't

want JK to speak up and kick Bush butt rather than hide in a hotel room while a lame dem like Jean Harmen provides the rebutal to sissy boy's do over speech. Get real.

[JI7]

84. not everyone is sitting on their asses watching cable news shows

[LTRS]

88. Yes, everyone IS

You don't realize that the tv news is what drives perceptions of the candidates.

Kerry has been labeled a flip flopper to the extent that even DEMS make excuses for flip flops he never made. And you know why? Because he let those charges go unanswered day after day after day - ignoring the attack. When he did get around to responding it was far too late to change the perceptions.

[JI7]

92. but he did respond and cable news did not cover it

and everyone ISN'T sitting around watching cable news.

[LTRS]

102. Find me a quote from Kerry about Bush's speech

today. Not from his spokesperson, but from Kerry himself. He offered NO response at all. And because of that there will be no clips of his response. And because of that * will remain basically unrefuted in this ridiculous speech today.

[JI7]

107. uh, he was not unrefuted today, edwards has gone after bush and cheney

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

114. Actually you do sound like you have an agenda and it isn't to help us

No it isn't being a kool aid drinker to look at the manner in which you repeatedly try to make an issue out of nothing in this thread...I think yo are in the minority here for reasons other than the ones you would ascribe.

[trumad]

63. Dude...you're trying to hard here....

You asked the question, we replied with why he's taking off, but you won't let it go... Replies like "not good" only show that you are setting this up to make Kerry look bad.

We got the big Mo here and all you want to do is un-spin it.

[speedoo]

72. You seem to be ignoring a couple of very important facts.

First, the shrub was busy campaigning last week before the debate and then he went out and probably lost the election, because he was poorly prepared.

Second, there is a lot of new stuff that has to be incorporated into Kerry's debate prep now, including Cheney's lies last night, the shrub's lies today, the very significant news today on lack of WMD in Iraq and the WAPO article describing a book that makes a case that France would have put as many as 15,000 troops in Iraq if the shrub had not been so impatient and petulant.

I'll go with John Kerry's decision over your second guessing on this one. It's a no brainer.

[Richardson08]

46. It's the same speech he gives during every campaign stop

no new ground was broken

Even the cable networks mentioned that.Nothing new was mentioned in that speech

[montana500]

58. Kerry is in Zen debate mode

He is preparing like a madman so he can come out on Friday and pull a Yoda.

[jackstraw45]

47. Bush took Sunday off

and has taken 40% of his presidency off.

So Bush is NOT out there hammering Kerry every day.

Just to clarify.

:)

[Oddman]

62. Agreed - bush was off for a month just before 9/11

nobody remembers that.

Kerry is the smart candidate doing his prep work for the debate. Bush doesn't like to study or read - ADD.

[w4rma]

59. It's Sen. Edwards turn in the spotlight. Tag team. (nt)

[Forkboy]

76. Damn,this is really buggin ya

[Oak2004]

115. And this thread is bugging me

It's as if some people have forgotten that we're not theatre critics passively watching and critiquing a fiction. We are, right here, right now, actors in an entirely real war for the soul and the future of our great nation. Our thoughts and our actions need to be focused on the objective in front of us. Our words and actions should meet the test of advancing us towards the defense and restoration of American democracy.

I won't get into whether or not particular choices Kerry has already made (note past tense) should have been made. What Kerry has already committed to is beyond, not just my ability to change, but even Kerry's ability to change at this point. But what is under the control of each and every one of us is how we spend our political energy.

Campaigning, either as a candidate or when working for a candidate or party, is extremely draining. Every one of us only has so much emotional capital we can invest in what is a stressful, often painful, process. If we try to spend any more of this capital than we have, we burn out. Investing that limited capital into criticizing what is at this point beyond anyone's control is not just useless. It frames the situation to depict us as passive observers, rather than active partners in the campaign. And, by flailing critically at futilities, it insidiously spreads discouragement.

In the next months and years we'll have plenty of time to critique the way this campaign has been managed. And in fact we should revisit this and every other facet of this campaign, so that we can learn from it. But right now we don't have the perspective it takes to truthfully analyze what is happening as we speak, and we cannot afford to burn our all limited emotional capital on things like this just weeks before the most important election of our lives.

[Teaser]

78. What are you talking about...

There's been plenty of response form the Kerry campaign.
And it's been brutal, which is best left to surrogates.

People are never happy here. never.

[mbali]

79. Why do you assume that he's "taking the day off?"

Just because we don't see him doesn't mean he's not working his butt off to get himself elected.

There's more to running a successful campaign than being front and center on the news everyday.

[shawmut]

82. This thread smells funny

[LTRS]

93. It smells like a kool aid factory

Where no critique of poor campaign practices should be spoken. My apologies, I was misled by the title of the forum.

[JI7]

97. so now you attack people because they disagree with you ?

there are many threads on this forum which talk about what the candidates should do. but because someone disagrees with you , you respond with kool aid , freepers etc . seems some people can't take it that peopel disagree with them.

[LTRS]

100. Not until the freeper mentality attacked first

I'm not like most dems - I believe in attacking back. :)

[JI7]

103. freeper mentality is to attack attack attack personally

anytime someone disagrees with you. some people have a hard time keeping emotions under control so they attack personally with things like kool aid. kind of like bush and cheney who can't keep their emotions under control in those debates.

[LTRS]

105. Yes, which is what you have been doing

and I am responding, which is what dems should do. If they did they would win far more elections.

[JI7]

108. Edwards and Kerry didn't win the debates by acting like freepers

[ogradda]

98. he's getting ready for friday's debate

bush is out still fighting the last one in front of his hand-picked, loyalty oath signing cheerleader squad :evilgrin:

[MADem]

109. TURN ON YOUR TV, READ YOUR PAPERS

What would you rather see them covering? Kerry gives yet another speech, or CHENEY LIED IN THE DEBATE??

Kerry is SMART to lay back--let the media point out, again and again as the newscycle spins, that Cheney LIED about Edwards. He lied about not ever meeting him, he lied about his own attendance in the Senate, he lied, lied, lied! That's all I'm seeing today, and I am loving it!

If you go out on the stump, that 'CHENEY LIED' message slips to the rear in the story rotation. Let it sit, front and center, like a dogturd on the doormat, until even the sheeple who pay no attention start to smell it.

[mbali]

119. You are SO right!

Headline "Cheney Lied in Debate" is so much more damning than "Kerry Accuses Cheney of Lying in Debate"

[Captain Lance Bass]

111. What do u want him to do? Froth at the mouth

all over the airwaves?

Have some faith.

Bush is on the defense.

His "this is what I should have done in the debate" speech this morning is proof. Kerry won it fair and square, to respond would be stoopid. Kerry coming out would take away from all the pundits who have been laying waste to Cheney's performance last night with FACT CHECKING his statements about never meeting Edwards, coalition losses, Iraq/9/11 ties.


Its all good.

[Generator]

112. Are you MAD? He's on Dr. Phil

That damn Kerry, he's never where you want him to be. And if he was, CNN wouldn't carry it anyway.

[desiindian]

118. He's on Dr. Phill today. It will be enough for the day since it reaches

critical audiance. Anything more would distract and confuse the voters with too many messages. Also, he might be recording robo voice mails which will be sent to millions of homes, come election day asking people to vote.