If Kerry wins in November, we'll remember this week as the week he won.

[AngryYoungMan]

I really think so.

It's like chess, where the most important factor in the game isn't the pieces or the game position but which player has "advantage" (or whatever the word is; I'm not really much of a chess player but I love the concept as explained to me).

At a certain point in the game, one player is making moves and the other player must respond to them. The second player can't evolve his or her own strategy because he or she must "use up" each move reacting to what the opponent just did.

A few words into a clip-on microphone and John Kerry (who was already well ahead in the polls) accomplished this. Everything Bush is doing is a RESPONSE, now.

Not even Bobby Fischer could win a game where the opponent held onto the "advantage." (Or whatever the right word is.) Wresting it away from the grand master is the hard part. Kerry just did that. Let's hope he doesn't ever give it back.

(Just the ramblings of a New York insomniac)

[silver state d]

1. You see beyond.

indeed victory in many things is gained through the accumulation of small advantages and this week may one day represent a carry over point for him.

[Melodybe]

2. I love every second, this is going to be a good year!

[Langis]

3. I have been feeling the same way today

It just feels like it's all coming togather, and Bush is going to be gone. This is going to be a good year.

[Sugarbleus]

4. I've been out of here for

about a day and a half. It was rather depressing in here several days ago. Today, however, the mood has lifted and we are on a roll..
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeyaaaaaaaaaa :)

GO KERRY!!:).......................GO KERRY!!:)

[bearfartinthewoods]

5. this idea depresses the shit out of me.

a lot of people credit kerry's 'fuck' statement as the point that turned his primary campaign around. now this 'blip' is gonna win the election.

is this all we have to offer? what the fuck has happened to us....

[enough]

10. No it's not all we have to offer, it's totally irrelevant.

But if this is the way the game has to be played, we have to be able to play it too.

If we're going to stay "above" this stuff and let the peabrain bullies get in all the punches, we'll be defeated at this level and never get to show (or even figure out) what we really do have to offer.

[molly]

6. You are correct - strategy is not a game for idiots

:toast:

[vi5]

7. Let's not get cocky...let's see what the polls say...

I'm not saying that should dictate how Kerry acts (that's what killed Gore's campaign I'm convinced). But we don't know what kind of impact this week had on the polls.

I think he should still keep it up, but let's save our victory dances for later and keep focused and keep working.

[Lexingtonian]

8. Welllll....

The term you're looking for is 'the initiative'.

Actually Kerry pulled ahead in head-to-head polling against Bush in late January- right after the New Hampshire primary. The most remarkable thing is that Kerry's lead on Bush in polls has held up so consistently for six weeks, perhaps even increasing a little bit. (The newspaper and TV dolts haven't clued in that the electorate may actually have a liberal/moderate Left majority.)

Kerry's campaign began to slip over into campaign mode focussed on Bush and Nader in late February. Hitting the ground running and very well prepared on March 3rd. And they had a great first week, as you can tell. Swung at the first fastball over the plate and it went over the fence.

The Rove operation definitely has been surprised that they've been met by something a couple of sizes larger and meaner and more aggressive than they were counting on. Got a nasty big chunk taken out of their buttocks and everyone heard that nasty squeal of pain, rage, and fear with which they ran off.

[HFishbine]

9. You ain't seen nothing yet

This is going to be more like a boxing match than a chess game and the bell has just sounded to start the first round. There's a long way to go. There are going to be a lot of "decisive" weeks, including the one where the DOW hits 8,500 and unemployment rises back above 6%.

[MessiahRp]

12. Actually I'd rather just have the boxing match than the election

really... lock the two in a room and let Kerry whip Bush's ass. Please... Anybody agree with me on this? I think it would kill the buyrates of Tyson-Lewis on PPV and hey if they charge $49.95 we could make back some money to pay back some of the deficit!!!

Anyways, the problem with a lot of Republicans is that they play down to the lowest levels. You'll never hear them come off as intelligent scholars so in a way Dems do themselves in by seeming like they can't connect with the average voters. Average voters being what FOX and MSGOP paint them as: uneducated NASCAR dads.

By playing down to the lowest common denominator we at least put the people in play that vote Republican if only because it seems they speak to them. This may be why we're doing extremely well in polls in the South against Bush.

They all realize that he's killed off the programs they used to rely on for help, he's sent jobs overseas and built a deficit so huge most of their grandchildren will be stuck paying it off... they also see attacks on Medicare and Social Security which most of them had expected to rely on when they got older.

Now that we're speaking their language, they are hearing us better and even if it requires us to seem "unpresidential" every once in a while to respond with anger to the fleecing of America, it doesn't matter because the voters see that as a sign of the candidate caring about them and changing what has afflicted their lives.

Besides, voters ultimately decide what's Presidential anyways.

Rp

[Kahuna]

11. Right. It's impossible for the bushies to go 8 months..

without fresh new lies. Bush's new ads naming Kerry already prove what a liar he is.

[Hav]

13. I think it might turn out positive

With that remark the talk and attacks about "Kerry the flip flopper" lost importance, instead it's the talk now about him who calls them crooks and liars. That was an effective counterattack, they are on the defensive now.
Being someone who calls crooks crooks is better than being someone who is called a flip flopper.

[kentuck]

14. Good point, Hav !

The Bush people do understand the importance of being on the "offensive". It looked for a moment as if their "flip-flop" charges might put Kerry on the defensive. However, this seems to have put Bush back on the defensive.