So, why is Kerry downplaying Obama's preparation for the debate?

[Baitball Blogger]

Just saw him on t.v. and he said that Obama has been busy running the country and hasn't had any time to prepare, while Romney has been well coached and he expects him to do well.

Is this a strategy?

[rox63]

1. Campaigns always try to lower expectations before debates

Normal operating procedure.

[former9thward]

2. Both sides are saying the other guy will win.

Democratic National Committee predicts Romney win. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/democratic_national_committee_predicts_evR1gr8P6vBzgkMxDxvx7N

[JI7]

6. How about the Zingers Romney will have and Christie saying ROmney will win

so much that it will turn the election around .

[magical thyme]

33. Christie wants him to lose

and his own campaign has been tripping all over each other all along....

[tblue37]

34. Christie doesn't really want Romney to win. He wants to have the field clear

for his own run in 2016, just in case he decides to go for it.

[tarheelsunc]

61. And it better be VERY clear if he intends to make it through

/endobligatoryfatjoke

He obviously has his eyes on the post-Obama presidency and would have run this year if there was not an incumbent up for reelection. He seems to have his own personal agenda and is less concerned with the well-being of his party.

[ProSense]

13. Romney's side wouldn't

know a strategy if it smacked them upside the head.

Romney Camp Pushes Dueling Messages Ahead Of Debate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021441746

[HopelesslyLiberal]

3. What the H*** does that loser know about running a presidential campaign?

After all, he wouldn't even support the Ohio delegation when they contested the vote on his behalf. The Libertarians and Greens had to pay for the recount while he fled the field with his campaign war chest between his legs.

[HopelesslyLiberal]

17. How Republican of you

Can't handle the truth? Attack the speaker.

[ProSense]

21. Evidently,

"Can't handle the truth? Attack the speaker."

...the "truth" is incongruous.

Here's your comment:

What the H*** does that loser know about running a presidential campaign?

After all, he wouldn't even support the Ohio delegation when they contested the vote on his behalf. The Libertarians and Greens had to pay for the recount while he fled the field with his campaign war chest between his legs.

This could only mean one of two things:

1) You believe Kerry won, meaning he knows something about running a "presidential campaign," but the election was stolen. You could call him a "loser," but you believe he won.

2) He lost, therefore he knows nothing about "running a presidential campaign," and the those who contested the vote on his behalf are morons.

I think he won, ran a great campaign, sabotaged by the media's complicity with the Swift Liars, but still victorious, and the election tampering, vote suppression, long lines, poll thuggery, blackouts, vote switching resulted in a stolen election.

[HopelesslyLiberal]

24. No, it was not stolen. He gave up

He refused to fight for us or for himself. He refused to pursue a recount. That's why TWO OTHER parties had to do it for him. The Ohio delegation challenged the vote. He spoke AGAINST them.

You can argue about election tampering all you want but since he refused to challenge the vote or fight for the election we will never know the truth.

He lost because he surrendered.

[ProSense]

29. So

"No, it was not stolen. He gave up He refused to fight for us or for himself. He refused to pursue a recount. "

...doesn't that mean he still won? Or are you envisioning a scenario in which he lost and should have fought "for us or for himself"?

"You can argue about election tampering all you want but since he refused to challenge the vote or fight for the election we will never know the truth. "

You can argue nonsense all you want, but your point is just that...nonsense.

[karynnj]

59. He did not speak against them - do you have a link?

The fact is the recount - as you state - did happen - and as ANYONE would have predicted it made very little difference in the votes. You do not find discrepancies of over 100,000 votes via a recount. This was not Florida with a difference of 356 votes - and ballots that could be examined to see if hanging chads had caused them to be miscounted.

He conceded because he did not have a majority of the votes actually cast in Ohio. He was cheated of what would have been a very unlikely upset win that was due to his excellent debates. The media worked hard to not let people see him for the man he is.

[pinto]

60. You've got to have some factual reports to back your surrender claim. Otherwise, it's just

a rehash of some vague buzz. Cite something specific. Thanks.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. And yet all you did was attack the speaker....

....funny....Republican indeed...."hopeless" indeed.

[ProSense]

10. Enough to

have been Obama's best surrogate in 2008 and his current debate prep partner.

[blkmusclmachine]

19. Kerry was appointed as the fall guy for 2004.

We just didn't know it at the time.


Operation NORTHWOODS

[HopelesslyLiberal]

25. Well, then the party leadership needs to be fired.

[ProSense]

31. No, the party leadership

"Well, then the party leadership needs to be fired."

...Obama included, in the process of kicking ass, and that seems to have some people upset.

Celebrate, don't hate!

[HopelesslyLiberal]

47. I'm happy that the GOP is losing

but with drone strikes and the NDAA being passed, I can't feel that democracy is winning. Holding the line is not necessarily winning, it's just not losing.

[ProSense]

51. Ah,

"I'm happy that the GOP is losing but with drone strikes and the NDAA being passed, I can't feel that democracy is winning. Holding the line is not necessarily winning, it's just not losing."

...just as I suspected, this has nothing to do with Kerry, and everything to do with Green Party bullshit attacks on Democrats. I mean, a few more comments and you're like to turn on President Obama. Transparent segue ("drone strikes and the NDAA&quot from this comment: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1443160

[karynnj]

37. Because the experts in the Democratic party told him that there was no case

-- and there wasn't. The Republicans won mostly by suppressing the number of Democrats who voted. There were 4 hour plus lines - and obviously many gave up because they had to. The fact is that Kerry was 120,000 votes short. NO recount has ever found even 10% of that.

The Democratic party did want want to be labeled as poor sports challenging when there was no case. The fact is that Kerry within the first 2 years after losing spoke openly in several public speeches about the voter suppression and the problems with machines - as did Teresa. In addition, Kerry gave a long Senate speech when Boxer introduced a bill to prevent voter suppression that detailed ALL the things that they know of that happened. Kerry and Feingold introduced a bill that would have required that paper ballots be available wherever something like Ohio happened, but they could not get much support.

By the way, if you were fooled by Edwards, the record is he did and said nothing publicly until he saw in late 2006 that he could speak to the blogs saying he wanted to contest - but he never said anything in mainstream interviews. (Nor did he say what his case would be in contesting.)

Seeing that you are hopelessly liberal, I assume you recognize that Kerry was the most liberal of the 2004 viable candidates (excludes Sharpton and Mosely Braun) and the most liberal nominee for many decades - including ) Obama.

[HopelesslyLiberal]

43. Since when is upholding the law and fighting for justice and your country "being a poor sport"?

Gore could have fought for Florida but he didn't. We were all in shock about the events and we let it slide. So, when we nominated Kerry it was with the idea that the "war hero" would not abandon us if similar events occurred again. Those events occurred and he abandoned us in the field.

When you are dealing with a case like this, hiding behind the technicalities of the law is cowardice. He should have stood with the Ohio delegation and made this the issue for the next four years not quietly slink into the shadows of system.

What does that say to the rest of the world? The Ohio delegation had the courage to bring the matter into the spotlight. He had a choice to leave it there or turn off the light. Was this about closing an accounting gap? No. It was about invalidating the results of an election because voters were defrauded by those charged with protecting the system.

Why do I use "Hopeless" in my nick? Because of this crap and the apologists that support it and allow it to continue. I wasn't there when women first fought for the vote or when unions were fighting and dying for the right to form or when african americans took a stand against violent forces for their right to vote. I can only wonder how they would feel that we take these matters so lightly that we reduce them to "being a good sport."

[ProSense]

48. Why

"When you are dealing with a case like this, hiding behind the technicalities of the law is cowardice. He should have stood with the Ohio delegation and made this the issue for the next four years not quietly slink into the shadows of system."

...so that Obama, a Democrat could win in 2008? So that you could be absolved of bitterness?

You don't give a shit about whether Kerry won or not. You seem to be using the issue to slam the Democratic Party, and opportunisticly to throw around slurs like "cowardice."

We're one month away from re-electing Obama, and here you are whining about an election eight years ago.

[HopelesslyLiberal]

50. So the Democratic party will stop racing to the right.

I'd like to see the Democratic party return to being to the left of the 1956 Republican Party.

[ProSense]

53. What the hell does that have to do with Kerry challenging Ohio? n/t

[karynnj]

55. Gore took back his concession and fought for a month

The Supreme Court decided for Bush. There is no way to appeal the Supreme Court.

I assume that you do not know that one of the lawyers leading the effort in 2008 to insure that the election was clean was Cam Kerry, the younger brother of John. In addition, in an interview on election day in 2008, Kerry spoke of a conference call he had very early that morning.

That and trying to pass legislation may not be as satisfying as protesting in the streets, but given that he is in a place of power, it is more likely to be useful.

[tavernier]

52. He was never a loser

and the worst moment in my life as an American was when I watched a warehouse full of disgusting, ugly people wearing band-aids and mocking every soldier that had ever been injured in combat in Viet Nam. To this day I tear up at that memory. This was a truly creepy and indecent moment of history in our country, and I'm not sure if I'll ever forget it. It bowled me over, and I have no doubt that it rocked Kerry to the core as well.

Karl Rove took credit for this maneuver later, and I truly hope he gets every bit of it once he meets his maker.

[Siwsan]

4. I suspect it just might be

I would think prepping for this debate is going to be unique. Willard lies with the same regularity that most people breathe. So, President Obama is going to have to be prepared to respond to a wide variety of obsfucations.

[ProSense]

5. Obama Spox: President’s Debate Prep ‘Less Than We Originally Planned’

Obama Spox: President’s Debate Prep ‘Less Than We Originally Planned’
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-spox-presidents-debate-prep-less-than-we

Obama Campaign Lowers Expectations For Debates
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/obama-campaign-lowers-expectations-for-debates.php

Plouffe: Romney Will Probably Benefit More From The Debate Than Obama
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021440708

[hollysmom]

7. standard operating procedure

He is playing the game correctly,always make it seem like your guy rose to the occasion, not sunk to it.

It is Romney's team that is so busy covering their own asses that they can't play the game correctly.

[NYC Liberal]

9. Yes. It's called lowering expectations and every candidate does it.

When you lower the bar, even a so-so performance is seen as a win.

Oddly though, Romney's team seems to be doing the opposite and raising the bar very high for Romney. When you raise the bar then you have to perform very, very well or it's a failure.

[JI7]

11. the Media Whores have Finally Admitted this year that Kerry won all 3 debates against Bush

but they are only doing it as a way to help romney by saying the election can still turn in Romney's favor through the debates. that kerry was further behind but the debates helped the election to get closer.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. It's sickening that they got away with that.

[gollygee]

12. Remember George W. Bush's debate performance?

It wasn't great, and it seemed obvious to me he didn't do well, but expectations were so low that people were amazed he was able to keep his head at all above water, and he was called the victor.

[blkmusclmachine]

18. GWB was getting all the answers thru that thing that was taped to his back.

Everyone remembers the bulge. So obvious.


Operation NORTHWOODS

[gollygee]

26. Yup

Otherwise he wouldn't have even met the very low expectations people had for him.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

30. The 'Willard of Oz' is going to have the voice behind the curtain

someone should shut off the sound! Dorothy!

[karynnj]

38. Where were you in 2004 - the Republicans did not even TRY to spin the first debate

Anyone watching saw one man who was articulate, pleasant, Presidential and knew his stuff -- and the other was the President, who was at some points completely under water - to steal your analogy.

Their spin, Kerry was better at debates, but Bush was the decider.

[alcibiades_mystery]

14. "Is this a strategy?"

Duh.

[Raine]

16. Psych your opponent out, make them over-confident. Standard way in a debate. nt

[quaker bill]

20. I think they want Rmoney to get aggressive.

If he gets amped and loosened up, he is a gaffe factory.

[WinkyDink]

23. You answered your own question.

[BlueStreak]

27. It isn't like Obama needs to take a crash course in the issues.

Obama and Biden understand the issues far better than Romney and Ryan ever will. So they don't need to spend any time memorizing names and places.

They do need to work on exactly how to phrase a few things, but really, this is that same sort of thing they work on every day.

The only special prep is to anticipate "gotcha" questions from the moderator and zingers from the opponent.

And unlike some other years, Obama really doesn't have to position Romney. Romney is already trapped by his own positions. Obama just needs to keep the electric fence powered up. Obama doesn't need to "score points". All he really needs to do is reinforce what the public already believes, which is that Obama is an honest man trying earnestly to do the best job under the circumstances and Romney is a shady character who doesn't share the common person's values. If that belief system holds after the debate, then Obama is the winner.

[oswaldactedalone]

28. Obama doesn't like debate prep

so has been putting it off under the excuse of too much other stuff to do. Jennifer Granholm mentioned this the other night and was begging Obama to get to debate camp. She was one of the ones who prepped him four years ago so she speaks with some inside knowledge of the subject.

[Kalidurga]

32. Well I have very high expectations...

In Romney becoming a gaffe factory. The dude couldn't even avoid gaffes in a relatively low pressure situation in London. How the heck is he going to avoid them when the stakes are much higher?

[NashvilleLefty]

35. Yes. Setting expectations. nt

[Dawson Leery]

36. Downplaying expectations works towards Obama's advantage.

Last edited Sun Sep 30, 2012, 09:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Don Christie and Hanoi Johnny(McCain) are (foolishly) playing up Romney's performance standards.

[orpupilofnature57]

39. Ever chase a person down and kill them?

John Kerry has given more to his Country and the Democratic Party than 99% of the people in this country and deserves more respect than that.

[Dawson Leery]

44. "Hanoi" is in reference to John McCain.

[karynnj]

40. You cross a line when you call Senator Kerry by a RW smear

I realize that you might mean McCain, which is also inappropriate and I've seen nothing where he speaks of the debates. You might have missed where Kerry is the person chosen to do debate practice with Obama and might have missed that Kerry's early endorsement in 2008 was important - not to mention Kerry gave him the key note speech. Kerry has been as loyal to Obama as anyone in Congress. You should remove your post.

[orpupilofnature57]

41. +1000

They couldn't of meant Mc Insane wasn't mentioned at all .

[karynnj]

42. Believe it or not, my alert was voted down!

I really do not get why ANYONE here would not vote to hide that post. The fact is that it is completely a RW slur and the poster using it obviously has not followed that the ENTIRE Obama team is saying the same thing. Kerry actually seemed half hearted in playing that game - not showing the same interest and intensity he showed speaking on any real issue.

[orpupilofnature57]

45. Not by me ,I voted to Hide and

gave the poster my resons, I am at a loss myself .

[karynnj]

49. Thanks to you and one other person.

[Dawson Leery]

46. "Hanoi" is in reference to John McCain.

McCain was on the air this morning talking about how the polls were going to change after this weeks debate.

See this:

http://thehill.com/video/sunday-shows/259353-mccain-obama-inept-and-ignorant-in-reaction-to-libya-attack

"Republicans continued this weekend to hammer the Obama administration over its response to the recent Libya attacks, with Sen. John McCain calling the president "inept" and "ignorant" in his handling of the episode."

McCain has decided to politicize the death of Ambassador Stevens.

[karynnj]

56. That is still inappropriate

Not to mention McCain had not been mentioned in this thread - and Kerry was called things like that by the right (connecting him to Hanoi Jane) and this was a thread that was on Kerry's comments.

[Dawson Leery]

57. That is your opinion.

I have respect for John Kerry. I worked on his campaign in 2004.

Pity McCain has turned out to be a bitter loser.

[Jennicut]

58. Of course. All politicians do this before debates.

It's an old method actually.