http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html
Per a Republican source, the new BC04 ad will rotate into their national cable buy and it "will address John Kerry's claim that 'a lot of people don't really know who I am.' The ad points out that John Kerry's problem isn't that people don't know him. It's that they do."
It's charming and evocative title: "Doublespeak."
The Kerry spots interestingly avoid the biographical stuff for which some Democrats are clamoring, but do smartly provide Kerry specifics (as much as one can in a 30-second spot!) about what he would do about Iraq and what his priorities would be (security, healthcare, the economy).
But four things are clear:
- Proving that the transition from nomination-campaign-to-general-election-campaign is still underway for both candidate and staff, Team Kerry was totally unprepared for something that should have been researched and ready to take off the shelf a year ago.
- The WhiteHouseBC04RNC machine is awesome at seizing on an issue in the news, getting their talking points and marching orders disseminated and putting Kerry on the defensive and looking Clinton-Goreish. They are organized, relentless, and savvy.
- The Kerry campaign's rolling release of the military records (We loved the Aaron Brown-Kelly Wallace play-by-play on the process last night!!) suggests that they are doing the kind of purge-it-all-out move that such contretemps demand. But what of the Washington Post report that Mrs. Heinz Kerry's tax returns could be next?
- It's clear that it's NOT clear if the military records will yield a darn thing. So far, the only clear area of possible controversy (beyond the non-release) involves the terms of the first Kerry Purple Heart, and we are old enough to know that it didn't take much to get one, and there is at least some documentation of an injury.
Republicans will continue to try to raise questions, and here are ours at this writing:
a. Is the campaign withholding any records?
b. Has the military got any records that the Kerry campaign doesn't have?
c. What, if any, documents are missing?
First I can't help but wonder if the repugs are cribbing from some of the previous anti-Kerry dailykos diaries like this one by some resident genius who referred to Kerry as "Senator Kennedy": (Keyword: "Doublespeak")
http://mikepridmore.dailykos.com/story/2004/2/4/181044/2713
Second, if they are cribbing from anti-Kerry diaries, I wish them the same success (or actually the lack thereof) I had with this info in the primaries.
Third, Kerry is usually pretty good at undoing the "Doublespeak" moniker by contextualizing his decisions. I hope he takes the opportunity to show that instead of being a waffler and flip-flopper he is a thoughtful leader who actually sticks to his principles while competently making individual decisions based on the facts at hand. I also hope he takes the opportunity to show that Bush is incompetent because he stubbornly never changes his mind no matter what even when he is obviously wrong.
Fourth, I think the Kerry team is thoroughly vetting his records and will release them all.
Fifth, the staff of The Note (including Halperin), as in their 2nd point above, often seem to go out of their way to fellate Repugs while generally mocking Dems as something resembling the Clampetts. I noticed they neglected the positive Kerry info I mentioned here:
http://mikepridmore.dailykos.com/story/2004/4/21/101531/720
Sixth, the linked articles in The Note seem less than informative today.
Seventh, of course team BushCo is more organized at this point because Kerry is really just getting started while Bush has had time to organize. This article from January shows just how much organization repugs had even then:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/11/politics/campaigns/11BUSH.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5070&en=08d
cd2d0aafeb6fe&ex=1082692800&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1082565297-/O+Sx8QiF4h4iWknlGgCAw