LA Times: Clinton may be a target of Rove's reverse psychology

[catgirl]

In a tactic from the '04 Bush-Kerry match-up, the strategist could be trying to divert attention away from a more formidable Democrat.

-snip-

The decision to focus on the New York senator to the exclusion of other potentially formidable Democratic standard-bearers such as Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois offered a rare glimpse into a world where things are not always what they seem -- the world of modern-day electioneering, whose denizens often prefer going from A to B by way of Z.

In this case, Rove's weeklong broadside against Clinton -- which he is expected to repeat in multiple appearances on television talk shows today -- looks suspiciously like an exercise in reverse psychology that his team employed three years ago when it was preparing for President Bush's reelection bid.

The ploy was described by Rove lieutenant Matthew Dowd during a postmortem conference on the 2004 election at Harvard University the month after Bush defeated Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts.

In the run-up to the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when it was not yet clear who Bush's opponent would be that November, Rove and his aides had begun to fear that their most dangerous foe would be then-Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-rove19aug19,1,4021917.story?coll=la-politics-campaign

[The Count]

1. Riiight...like the part where Bush defeated Kerry - "that's the ticket"

What a ton of BS!

[catgirl]

6. I think there's a lot of truth in this.

People rally behind their own. When Elizabeth Edwards announced
the bad news of her health, Edwards poll #s shot up. They did come
back down though. I'm wondering if Rove & Co. are trying to get Hillary's
#s to skyrocket so Al Gore would close the door on a run. Why all the Hillary
bashing (from the pukes) so early?

[cobalt1999]

2. I love how Rove is picking our candidate

either directly or indirectly.

Who the hell cares what the Republicans want or even to try and guess what they want? They are irrelevant to our process.

[EFerrari]

4. Agree. I'm so tired of reactivity. n/t

[mnhtnbb]

3. their most dangerous foe would be then-Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

I still say that Edwards has the best chance to take the WH.

[cally]

5. I've always thought Edwards is the most formidable candidate

to the Republicans. That's why RW press pushes the haircut story for Edwards and not the makeup story of Romney. They're terrified of Edwards