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First, just to get it over with, we do have to learn from our mistakes. Kerry won an impressive share of the vote, forever killing off, I hope, the daft notion that Americans won't vote for a liberal in large numbers. But that didn't dislodge Bush from the White House, and that fact will hurt millions of people. We've got to find out which steps we should have taken to reach and win several million more voters.
I don't know that the antiwar record would have done it, however. There are too many people out there who mistake a pro-war stance for being strong on national security. Cheney, DeLay et all never dragged their lazy carcasses into basic training and yet get away with the phoney macho man bit. For that matter, it seems Schwarzenegger does, too. It's that "strict father" model that George Lakoff talks about. Being a bellicose and stubborn ass gets you a ticket to the Resolute Leader Club, even if you couldn't lead your way out of a wet paper bag.
Perhaps Kerry should have put forth his own resume a little more and emphasized his experience. I think Bush did get away with defining Kerry, which is rich considering how useless and coddled Bush has been virtually all his life.
(Am I bitter? Noooooo.)
Kerry could have also emphasized how Bush lied about nearly everything (fiscal matters, WMD, being a uniter), and he could have emphasized how rude and divisive Bush is. Carefully screened Bush supporters at stump speeches even hurled abuse at JOHN MCCAIN. So much for the nice-guy image for Bush.
And we also should have had more debates. Kerry was amazing in those.
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