Kerry needs completely different examples to attack Bush on flip-flopping

[Awsi Dooger]

I just saw clips from the Dianne Sawyer interview. Every example Kerry cited of a Bush flip-flop is a switch from no to go. That can come across almost as a Bush positive, especially with the inevitable pro-Bush debate spin, initially rejecting an idea then realizing the benefits and changing his mind:

* Bush opposed going to the United Nations before the Iraq war, then decided to go

* Bush opposed a 9/11 commission, then allowed it

* Bush did not want a homeland security department, then changed his mind

I forget the fourth example Kerry provided, again a no to go, because I was already stunned Kerry doesn't get it. The attacks on his $87 billion stance would be significantly less if he had "switched" from voting against it to voting for it. Does anyone really believe the GOP would be featuring that clip so blatantly if Kerry had said, "I did vote against the $87 billion, before I voted for it."

[Catfight]

1. MARS! One day he was all about Mars this and that, the next day

because the polls said he was out of touch with reality (duh) no more Mars! Coo Koo Bush.

[Awsi Dooger]

2. That was a go to no, wasn't it?

Great memory, Catfight. Mars was so otherwordly even by Bush standards I forgot about it completely.

[blm]

3. He shouldda said "Bush was AGAINST Homeland Security before he was FOR it.

And that "Bush was AGAINST a 9-11 commission before he was FOR it."

And "Bush was AGAINST the $87 billion appropriations bill before he was FOR it."

[Disturbed]

6. Bush threatened to veto..

the $87 Billion Bill if it wasn't what the Neo Fascists wanted. Bush has not vetoed any Bill yet. That's the Bill that Kerry voted in favor of because? When it was changed Kerry voted against it as a protest knowing that it would pass no matter how he voted on it.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Bush has no flip. He's just a flop.

List his failures.

BTW, Bob Dole gave me an idea. Well, not like I talked to him directly, but he said something very interesting on t.v. He said that it's very difficult for a senator to get elected because he's fighting his own voting record and that there could easily be an appearance of flip-flopping. That's the nature of the beast. He said he could never explain his changes in his position in the Senate. Maybe Kerry can, but he couldn't.

So, Bush had a scene with Ann Richards in a debate where he stated that his position was valid, even if he didn't have the same political experience and background. Use the same strategy on him. Turn the tables on Bush. Tell them that Senators should not be penalized just because they are doing their jobs. It's their job to follow the riders that get tagged on those bills and read the fine print. He should tell the audience that it's unfortunate that there isn't time to discuss each decision separately, but that the American people should be assured that he reads them and that with his experience with Vietnam, that he will be looking for every minute opportunity to avoid the same quagmire. If getting out of Iraq is considered a flip-flop, then so be it.

[Johnjronald]

8. Kerry needs to take W's "Stay the course" bullshit HEAD-ON

I agree, and this reminds me, there was a good political cartoon in the Houston Chronicle sometime back that I wish somebody would spin into a TV ad; I'd love to see somebody rip George & the Rove machine on their "stay the course" / "George Bush offers consistent leadership" line...the Chronicle cartoon showed Bush behind the wheel of an 18 wheeler, muttering "stay the course", while his passenger, a cartoon animal, kept interjecting comments like "aren't we going the wrong way on a one-way street"..."isn't that an oncoming truck off in the distance?"..."aren't you going just a little to fast?"..."are you going to slow down or turn around?", etc, eyes getting wider all the time, while George just stares into the distance and keeps saying "stay the course"...

If done on television I think it would make very effective advertising...George at the helm of a rig, or a bus, or hell, even cut in some "Thelma and Louise" final chase scene footage---anything showing him barreling headlong into obvious disaster, "never wavering"...and at the end of the commericial show the camera jar violently from some big crash just off camera and have a voiceover in Texas twang say "Yep, George Bush IS consistent alright. Consistently awful. America can do better. Vote Kerry for President."

I don't know if this would be a succesful example of attempting to "re-frame" the debate, or just taking the lemons that are out there and making damn fine lemonade.

Then again, there's always that George Carlin-esque voice in my head that says:
"I got a lot of good ideas---trouble is, most of them suck." ;-)


John J. Ronald, graduate student
MLS general study program
School of Library & Information Sciences
University of North Texas
UNT School of Library and Information Sciences
http://www.unt.edu/slis

Eaglemail: [e-mail]
Personal: [e-mail]

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Welcome John.

Good first post. BTW, you might want to edit it and remove personal info. Sometimes very unfriendly conservatives lurk on this webpage and they can get very personal and nasty.

[Awsi Dooger]

11. I like it John R Ronald, welcome to DU and go Mean Green!

Reminds me of something I wanted Gore to depict in 2000, after 8 years of center/left of center prosperity. Show GW at the wheel of a White House-styled mobile home and yanking the wheel straight right, and over a cliff. Sadly, I wasn't far off.

Your idea sounds like something for a 527, our version of the sailboat ad. We definitely need humorous and memorable spots like that, and a return to pro-Kerry biograhical stuff, not merely counterattacks to Bush negativity.

As I wrote yesterday, it seems we frantically overlearned the so-called Willie Horton lesson from '88 and are robotically reacting to everything they do, instead of framing the debate and the issues in our terms and best interests.

[markbark]

5. Here's a handy list...

Bush is:

1. against campaign finance reform then he's for it

2. against setting up a department of Fatherlan.... er HOMEland Security, then he's for it.

3. against setting up a 9/11 Commission then he's for it

4. against nation building, now he's doing it

5. against deficits, hit the trifecta

6. for free trade, then sets tariffs on steel, then against tariffs ( a double flip with a half gainer!)

7. against the US taking a role in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, then pushes for a "Road Map" and a Palestininan State

8. for "States Rights" on gay marriage, then pushes for a constitutional amendment to prohibit same.

9. says he'll provide money for 1st responders, then doesn't

10. tells military families that "help is on the way" and then cuts benefits

11. Oct 2001 "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden"; Feb 2003 "I don't know where he is. I don't know and I really don't care.


Need any more?


--MAB

--edited STUPID typos...

[Catfight]

7. Against Condi testifying, then for it.

Against testifying himself, then okay with Dick Cheney holding his hand.

Read Al Gores NYTimes Opinion piece today as well...good flip flopping campaign lying stuff there!

[Awsi Dooger]

9. Great list, Kerry should take note

Especially the cutting of benefits to military. That's a go to no and particularly relevant in a foreign policy debate with our troops at war.

Also, a domestic flip-flop like spiraling the deficit would be an effective way to sneak an economy-related jab one week early. Hell, just look at the 2000 debates and Bush has contradicted almost everything he said. Anything that wasn't necessarily changed by 9/11 can be attacked as a flip-flop.