What do the doomsayers want Kerry to do go nuts like Zell Miller?

[ranosgol]

Voterl grant you the attacks on Kerry have hurt some and I agree he should have seen the SVBT coming and should have jumped on that immediately and hard. Kerry can only do so much in getting his message out. He does not own a cable network and use it as conduit 24 hours a day. He is fighting a total right wing media as we all know and I will dispute any Rush fan on that issue. The debates will be the key. I know they will be scripted but it will be the only time these two men will be standing next to each other to be sized up. In the mean time he needs to keep hitting hard and put Bush and his record on the defensive. I think a 60 minutes interview would also be a plus. It is one of the most watched shows on television and it helped Clinton during his campaign.
I think it is also a waste of time of going after the so called ‘Swing Voter’ in my opinion a swing voter is nothing more than a Bush supporter who wants attention. Instead we need a high voter turnout and a high number of first time voters. Do the math only about 50 of eligible voters vote so half of that is 25 % so 25.1 % of the voters decide the election. The GOP base always votes that is why they are so successful.
If Bush wins we will almost certainly face an economic meltdown not seen since the great depression. Remember the United States has the most ill informed electorate of any industrialized nation. They only respond or wake up when a problem slap s them in the face. Four more years of the current GOP will be the biggest slap in the face this country has ever seen.
No matter who gets in office will have to face the damage the first 4 years of the Bush administration has done to the country and the economy. There are cutbacks and raised taxes facing whomever gets in, the damage has been too severe. I hope Kerry wins as we all do, if he does he will be tasked with running a country facing grave long-term economic problems not seen since FDR.

Kerry has been counted out many times before. I have faith in him to win.

[Southsideirish]

1. No, just "sharpen" it up a little bit - not a big problem - just do it!

[Prodemsouth]

2. Your post can also be taken this way - why win? Let Bush stick around

and deliver this "baby." That is why if Kerry does not win it might not be the worst thing that could happen- it could be great for the Democrats in the long term. They could come with a broad out of the closet progressive agenda in 08 and be able to do something because they will have a congress to go along with the President- just like in 32. Something highly unlikely to happen in 04. In fact if Kerry wins he will likely lose Dems in congress in 06 because he will have to do things that are not going to be popular to fix this mess.

[mondo joe]

3. These are the choices? Zell-style or barely a response?

How about priving beyond doubt that he will fight when attacked and he'll take out the attackers?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. Here's part of the 'barely a response' Kerry made last night:

"I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who misled America into Iraq."

"Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi royal family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney, and it's not going to change."

"The vice president even called me unfit for office last night," Kerry said. "I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty."

"If you believe this country is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush, but if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us."

"For four days in New York ... we heard almost nothing but anger and insults from the Republicans, and I'll tell you why," he said. "It's because they can't talk about the real issues facing Americans. They can't talk about their record because it's a record of failure."\\

[mondo joe]

5. Last night was a nice change of pace. We'll see if he keeps it up.

Don't forget the people who were uneasy with Kerry's campaign felt so after a few weeks of non-responsiveness.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. In other words your comment was bullshit.

[mondo joe]

7. No, my comment described the last few weeks.

And frankly I find the drama and exxageration tiresome.

If anyone expresses the least concern with the campaign they are tarred and feathered as doom and gloomers at best, as freepers at worst.

I personally still believe in government of, for and by the people.

When I think the White House is on the wrong track I say so. If I think Kerry is on the wrong track I'll say that too.

The idea that anyone here has asked for Kerry to do a Zell Miller style rant is an ugly straw man.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. You implied Kerry was giving 'barely a response', that was bullshit.

[mondo joe]

9. By my clock he spent much of the last month barely responding. No BS.

Disagree if you like, but I've watched and I've seen barely any response over the last few weeks.

In addition, I don't hope for a campaign of Kerry responding to Bush's attacks. I would like him to take the fight to Bush. And I don't expect him to be anything like Zell Miller in doing so.

If you sense BS it's right there - in the charge that anyone expects or wants Kerry to do a Zell.

[AntiCoup2K4]

10. You know, that's really not a bad idea! Maybe Kerry SHOULD go nuts.

Ever since Mush Limpdick started spewing hot air over a decade ago, the trend toward anger based media has grown, and now you have certifiable lunatics like Hannity, O reilly and Anndrew Coulter spewing venom all over TV.

You think Rove was really concerned that Howard Dean's "anger" would scare people off??

Fuck no, they were scared shitless that an audience conditioned to respond to the venom of FAUX and Clear Channel might embrace a message delivered with some backbone.

Fuck yes Kerry should show some anger. After the last 4 years - not to mention the last few weeks of the Not So Swift Veterans Against Truth - he's more than justified in being a little pissed off.

We all are :grr: