Reposted from my blog at
Three Guys:
"We can win in or out of the mud this year."
I said this a while ago.
Let's just say my conviction is weakening.
There is no doubt in my mind that George Bush is the worst president of the last fifty years and most likely in the entire history of this country. Things are that bad. And they will almost certainly be much, much worse if these people are allowed four more years of destruction before they are through.
One would think, if the facts on our side, we shouldn't have to get in the mud.
Unfortunately, what I've learned over the past few weeks is that the facts on our side are complicated. In the time it takes us to explain why the war on terror has failed under Bush's leadership, or why No Child Left Behind is bad policy, the right has shouted "9/11" 127 times.
The disasters of Bush's leadership are complicated. The smears, platitudes, and lies of the Bush campaign, on the other hand, are simple.
That's why we're flailing.
This is a structural problem with democracy itself. The worse argument is very often the easier to shout and thus the easier to spread. I have no idea what to do about it.
I don't want our 527s to go ultra-negative, because I think it would backfire on us. The media controls information, and they control public opinion, and they want us to lose. We shouldn't give them any ammunition.
But we've got to change what we're doing, all the same. Kerry needs to stop being polite and start getting real. Call out Bush on everything Bush can be called out on -- it's time for blood*. Call him the worst president of our lifetimes, because he certainly is. Bring up the spies in the DoD. Bring up Valerie Plame. Call out 1000 dead boys in Iraq, 7000 wounded, and 8 billion dollars "lost." Call out Dick Cheney as the real president. Bring up My Pet Goat. Don't crouch it in analysis, don't try to justify it, just say it.
Go nuclear. Stop making sense, and just shout.
After all, they stopped making sense in 1980, and look what happened.
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* John Kerry especially needs to say the name no one will say -- Osama bin Forgotten -- especially if his capture is going to be announced in late October. The mere fact that neither he nor any other major Democrat has yet done so, even after the 9/11-fest at the RNC, seems like evidence to me that they all must know his capture is about to or likely to be announced.
Otherwise, why didn't anybody point out in response to the convention that three years after 9/11, we still haven't caught the guy that did it?
Tinfoil hat off.