Catch the rerun of Russert's show with Buchanan and Joe Klein...

[Gloria]

(on edit)---on CNBC.....this is a very serious discussion about this campaign...



Klein said that there were a lot of lies at the RNC and included McCain in that, too. They dicussed the Zell thing at length....Klein was truly disgusted by it.

Klein says all the polls are not accurate (my words). He says the Democrats' "Holy Grail" of the "right track/wrong track" question is bogus, because who know how many saying things are on the wrong track really feel that Bush hasn't been tough enough and want more!

Buchanan said that if there is a real 6-7 point bounce for Bush, he'll win because that will freeze in place. Kerry has to offer a reason why people should vote for him and he hasn't. He mused about "if you can't sell the job picture in Ohio after all this......"

Klein said that Kerry straightjacked himself on Iraq. Russert asked Iraq isn't being a huge issue....Klein said it was because of "John Kerry's focus groups" and mentioned Carville's opinion that everybody in a focus group wants a "positive" candidate. But he said that people are deeply disturbed about Iraq. He said he expects things to be very bad..outside events may help Kerry. They agreed the debates were the biggest thing...

ON EDIT---Klein also said that Kerry should drop this stuff about "bringing in allies" to help with Iraq, because no country is going to touch it with a ten foot pole (my words)....It's our mess and we have to take care of it. Later, Buchanan said that if Kerry is behind might have to take a risk and declare that he'll get the troops out in a year...

As for the debates...Klein said that the Kerry team had taped the Gore debates and used the little dials to judge which responses were the most well-received. Klein was very adamant...he said if they try to go that route, basing the debates on focus groups like this....KERRY WILL LOSE.

Klein asked "Where is the Kerry?" that came back from VN and was so eloquent.
Then Buchanan predicted Bush would win...and Klein almost grudgingly said that it was trending Bush.

***

All through this interview I thought Klein seemed very frustrated by what Kerry was doing.
And I got the sense that Klein was really mostly disturbed that Kerry was being so "focus grouped" that he was losing himself. That there's a "personal" element that is missing. And frankly, that is what I've been sensing, too. Not that they guy isn't personable or anything...but the spark of passion to fight for himself has been missing. Buchanan said the SB ads had damaged Kerry mostly because Kerry had let it go on for so long...(sic)....It's like something essential, authentic was missing in the way Kerry handled it.....(my opinion)

[Nite Owl]

1. What channel is it on?

[grasswire]

3. CNBC

I saw just a bit of it and plan to watch the re-play at 10 PDT.

Russert just got out of the way and let Buchanan and Klein go at it.

Intelligent debate! Wow!

Buchanan says the U.S. will cease to exist in ten years if we don't introduce tarriffs to protect U.S. trade.

[Nite Owl]

4. Thanks

[Gloria]

5. Yes, it was truly sobering precisely because it was such a sober

debate, devoid of a lot stupid questions and spin....

[bushwakker]

18. buchanan is a great analyst

he knows that campaigns are strange things. the idea that bush would gain ground based on kerry's war servive would have been absurd a month ago - but it's happened. campaigns take on a life of their own and who knows where they go.

buchanan is able to analyze purely from the eyes of a student of the battle. he sees what's happened. they softened up kerry - then put the hammer down with the convention. bush's speech was great - that's a fact. and the whole convention was a cohesive, effective presentation.

buchanan loves this stuff. kerry has to change the the dynamic. there is a wall around bush right now that he will hide behind unless forced to come out. kerry can do that by challenging him, in a personal way about his service in the TANG.

[girl gone mad]

2. Kerry:

This is your wake-up call.

:)

[NWHarkness]

6. Why?

A GE shill interviewing a back stabber and a fascist?

Thanks, but that doesn't appeal to me.

[bushwakker]

19. grow up

klein is on board with kerry and buchanan, while a piece of shit, would probably not be too unhappy if bush lost. russert is truly hopeless. the analysis is good. stop with the slogans - it does no good. kerry must attack. now.

[AmerDem]

7. I watched it before.

I was actually surprised at Kleins hits on shrub and the repukes. He is usually a repuke shill. Forget about those 2 other blubbering idiots. Every chance they had, they hit Kerry..what else is new.

[umtalal]

8. I watched the interview and I agree that Kerry is too stuck with

the "focus group" babble. Sort of like Gore in 2000, too focused. We witnessed a man on fire with Gore after the selection. But I have to trust in Senator Kerry and Dr. Dean remark that the Senator will respond because he (Dean) has seen first hand. Dr. Dean tells the truth no doubt about it.

[seabeyond]

9. happened to gore, want kerry to just be himself

do it his way. f* gore all over the place trying to please everyone

[gulfcoastliberal]

10. Focus groups do not work

If something seems too manufactured and contrived, people can see through it. Kerry needs to articulate himself on his own terms.

Iraq must have been a big focus group item. I can see focus groups responding positively to the concept of "including more allies to spread the burden". Even with the IWR authorization, I really think it could have been handled so much better. Straitjacketed is the correct term.

[Leilani]

11. I am about to watch it now...

& what I am hearing about it, is the way I am feeling.

Why doesn t Kerry run on his beliefs & what is good for the country, rather than focus groups?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

12. Buchanan admits the country is getting more liberal

[Nicholas_J]

13. I dont know

Buchanan is a conservative, but there is just something I like about the guy.

He has very correctly indicated that Bush was conned into going to war in Iraq, and that Iraq didnt pose the slightest threat to the U.S. and thatbthe neo-cons who surround Bush are not in the slightest bit interested in protecting the U.S. against terrorism, but are on a campaign of conquest, trying to start and spread a new American Empire.

He calls it straightforewardly. Osama and those who attacked us on 9/11 are not in Iraq, and never were. That the Invasion of Iraq has done more to create a massive breeding ground for even more terrorists for Al Qaeda.

They way he puts it. During Desert Storm, halof of all Saddams tanks were destroyed, his Air Force was almost completely destroyed, that during the period between the end of the Gulf War and the beginning of the recent war in Iraw, the U.S. flew over 40,000 sorties over Iraq, and Saddam could not manage to shoot down a single U.S. or British Aircraft, and at the same time, these sorties were performing air strikes on Iraq taking out every radar installation, every military target that Saddam tried to rebuild, and on and on. Buchanan makes an extremely convincing case against invading Iraq, and even more strongly makes the case that Iraq posed no threat to the U.S. imminent or otherwise, given that Iraq's GDP was less than one percent of the U.S. GDP.

Buchanans arguments could be very well used by the Democrats against Bush.

[grasswire]

15. I almost think that Kerry should hire Buchanan on the sly

Geez. He's so smart. A true strategic thinker.

But how depressing. Both Klein and Buchanan think Bush is going to win unless Kerry does something different.

[fujiyama]

17. I grudgingly

admit that Buchanan does have some good points. I mostly agree with him about the cost of empire and the disasterous consequences of going along with the neoconservatives' plan.

He also has some interesting things to say about free trade, NAFTA, etc.

[Nicholas_J]

21. Any guy

WHo punches out a cop, is okay in my book. Buchannan has a king of style about him that I like. He does have some interesting things to say about free trade and NAFTA. He beat Sharon to the punch abourt putting up security walls, as I remember hsi ideas for putting one up at the U.S. borders.

There is something very audacious about Buchannan that I just find interesting. He is sort of the Republican Party's Al Sharpton, at least in his approach. Sharpton has issued with Donkeys. Buchannan with elephants.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

14. Klein's phone ringing for about a minute while they talked

that was annoying. :freak:

[bushwakker]

16. The defining experience of JK's life has been slimed

and he doesn't respond like a normal human being would - with utter, redfaced outrage. I submit that it's not the SBL's lies that have hurt Kerry - but his response. The good news is that can change.

[Leilani]

20. What a terrific show!

Buchanan & Klein each made excellent points.

And what a REAL discussion for a change, instead of all this other garbage that is floating around.

I agreed with much of what they both said.

I agree with Buchanan s points on the war, & the neocons...Buchanan should know...he has been warning against them for forever, & they have branded him an anti-Semite as revenge. Pat Buchanan is whacky & extreme in some of his beliefs, but he is not an anti-Semite. He is an American-firster. That is also his view on free trade; America first.

Klein was pretty good on the Kerry campaign issues.

I was also glad to hear from 2 sharp analysts, that I am not a doom & gloomer; I am just a realist.