What did Cokie Roberts mean by "testing by fire?"

[question everything]

or something, on ABC this morning.

She said that first Dean and Gephardt went at each other and now Edwards and Clark so Kerry is left alone and is not being attacked that would prepare him for the general campaign.

But... both Bush and Gore did not have much of opposition on their primaries campaign, didn't they?

[Renew Deal]

1. Bush was in a big fight with McCain and

Gore and Bradley got really nasty.

[lovedems]

2. That wasn't really what struck me

(I was watching ABC this morning instead of MTP). She was trying to make the argument that Kerry was going to have credibility problems in the GE because "he threw his war medals" but then he really didn't throw them, they were someone elses.

I was shocked! Kerry is going to have credibility issues if he goes up against the chimp??????? She was a useless shill this moring and I will turn the television down next time she comes on. She didn't say anything but a but of crap this morning.

[West Coast Democrat]

3. Cokie's having a very hard time digesting shrub's poll numbers

For the last 3 years, she's been calling him "a very popular president." Her bush-whoring is well-documented, and she'll be very hard on whomever the Democratic candidate is.

[oasis]

4. The "medal story" is a big deal? Maybe Cokie intends to pump it up.

[lovedems]

6. My husband kept "shooing" at the television saying

that this isn't going to be a big deal! George Somebody, was trying to convince the panel that Americans were in debt "because this is a good time to be in debt". That is when I started "shooing" at the telvision saying "tell that to the unemployed or underemployed!" George Stephanopolous kept trying to form a reasonable debate, but it was pointless. There was also some repulican strategist on but his lips were only moving, he wasn't saying anything that sounded important. Typical out of touch with the voters BS.

[Guaranteed]

5. It sounds like what she was saying was that Kerry isn't being

tested by fire...."tempered," so to speak. If no one's criticizing him, then there are all kinds of things out there that we don't know about that could take him down in the GE.

[question everything]

10. And do you, or others, agree with this assessement? n/t

[BeyondGeography]

7. Please, don't take anything she says seriously

Cokie Roberts makes Margaret Carlson sound plugged in.

[Maccagirl]

8. I saw her spin about the MTP interview

and she was in complete fellatio mode. I had to turn the channel in disgust.

[John_H]

9. She tried to revive every 2000 meme

Senators can't win, reinvents himself, not likable, etc.

Mirror mirror on the wall, tell Cokie who's laziest and most cynical whore of all.

[Leilani]

11. First of all, I can't stand Cokie Roberts

& she is such an establishment whore. (her brother Boggs is the biggest lobbyist in DC)

But I believe she has a point. Kerry took lots of hits from the media before the process started, but since Iowa he has had it pretty easy.
The candidates are not going negative on him, & the press has been pretty fair.

This is not one of those bruising, knock down, drag out primary races, which get candidates ready for the GE.

It will change dramatically when he comes up against the Rove machine.
I'm not saying he can't take it; just that it has been relatively smooth, thus far.

[AnnitaR]

12. The kid glove treatment that Kerry has received

this primary will not help him in the GE!

The Pukes mouth's are watering over how well he is being treated right now. They want him on a very, very high pedestal when they start knocking him off. They higher up he is, the harder he falls.

Dean & Clark have taken their hits this primary and would be much better prepared for what the Pukes could throw at them. Kerry was a blip on the radar before Iowa and after Iowa he's been on his honeymoon. I'm not saying he can't handle, he's just nowhere near as prepared as he should be.

[tobius]

13. "Shill" or not

she has a point. Kerry was so far behind for so long that what scrutiny he received was minimal, now he is riding a positive wave and no one has dared go negative after Dean and Gep took each other down. His explanations for 3 Iraq war votes are a bit unsettling to me ( against the first, for the second, then against funding on the third ) and yes, if I tilt my head just right and cover one eye, there is hope they will fly with the general public. If Iraq was a small issue and the only one,no problem.

"Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated."
                        --Will Rogers