- If You Elect George W. Bush For Another 4 Years, More Wars Like Iraq Are Possible. -
I was glad to see in sunday's PAGE 1 of the WASHINGTON POST that Kerry is going to put Iraq back on the table. I thought it was crazy to think that you could just ignore it & it would go away by talking about Jobs & Health Care. No matter how on message about the economy the campaign was, all it would take is a carbomb blowing up to change the media's direction. The Iraq War & the 87 billion dollar vote has ALWAYS been the hurtle of Kerry's campaign & the Bush's campaign for that matter. If you think about it, Iraq has been the one issue that cut Bush among all the others. It wasn't the shitty economy or Haliburton that hurt Bush, only after things went FUBAR in Iraq did his numbers start to slide...
Democratic challenger John F. Kerry plans an aggressive attack on President Bush and his policies in Iraq, seeking to put the president on the defensive over an issue that has plagued Kerry's candidacy for months.
Bush has tried to emphasize Iraq's progress toward democracy, but events there have undermined that message in a week that has included car bombs, kidnappings and more U.S. casualties. Kerry advisers said they have concluded that they must engage directly on the issue of Iraq, despite their hopes of shifting attention to the economy, health care and other domestic issues, and say that renewed concerns among the American public about the situation in Iraq provide a fresh opening to challenge Bush more directly.
Kerry began the attack Thursday, charging that Bush continues to mislead the country on Iraq, and will escalate that criticism in the coming week. "He has led us into a situation that is more dangerous and destabilizing with each passing day, whether the president is willing to admit that or not," said Kerry senior adviser Joe Lockhart.
With some Kerry advisers convinced he cannot win a debate over whether the United States should have gone to war, given Bush's relentless attacks on Kerry for shifting his positions on the war, the Massachusetts senator has settled on two-phase plan to refocus the debate. Aides say he will first challenge the president's optimistic assessment of conditions in Iraq and then draw a sharp contrast with Bush over getting the United States out of the country within four years....
Three things Kerry MUST do for this to work:
- PAST: Using the new information in the NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATE, attack the administration for misleading the public & argue it as a pattern of deception leading all the way back to the foundations of the War In Iraq.
- PRESENT: Explain the difference between his course of action & Bush's plan, while also explaining his actions for this war. He must do 2 things. One, explain explicitly how his plan is different than current policy. The other being something I've said a million times, the $87 Billion vote is the knife in Kerry's side. He MUST take it out to beat Bush. At least the Swift Boat liars charges have been fought back by the campaign, the $100 million dollars in Bush campaign commercials about flip-flops has NEVER been answered. That's the reason they've taken hold. An unanswered charge is a true charge to the public. He MUST give a credible reason for his vote. If not now, then he'll just get hit with it at the debates. Might as well start monday.
- FUTURE: What is the exit strategy? What is victory in Iraq? Tell America how far he thinks the "light at the end of the tunnel" is away from where we are now. Bush hasn't done this, & it leaves him vulnerable. Kerry could establish a road-map to victory, with definable goals. The other thing is a choice of leadership. Ask America if they want a president that will send their children to another war like Iraq. Do they want to take that chance?
Iraq is the card in the deck that trumps all others. It's also the card that leads to the others as well. Talk about economy, jobs, & healthcare can be linked to Iraq. Kerry doesn't need to win the issue of Iraq. He just needs to be more credible on it than he is now.