This is a moment of truth for the Democrats. As other diaries have pointed out, the media is already allowing the WH to spin this story away. While this story is devastating any way you look at it, the BEST CASE SCENARIO for Bush is for this to degenerate into a he said/she said campaign story. What this means is the following:
- John Kerry cannot be the only person attacking Bush on this. We need to create a sense of general outrage that transcends the campaign, and even party lines. Surely some Republicans will denounce this blunder. Use them or their statements as much as possible.
- Get Jon Stewart on the media. No, not literally. But when Democrats are interviewed on TV over the next week, act like Jon Stewart would. Tell the interviewer to his or her face how the story on their network is not being reported properly. Tell them how THEY are HURTING AMERICA by treating this story like another horserace story.
- Remind the media that John Kerry is not a journalist. It is not the job of the Kerry campaign to report the news. It is not their job to get answers from the WH. "Why hasn't CNN asked Rumsfeld X? Why hasn't MSNBC asked Rice Y? Why hasn't ABC asked Bush Z?"
We need to force this story to transcend the campaign spin cycle.
UPDATE:courtjester in comments suggested
writing to McCain. I have already done so, requesting that he not accept blunders of this magnitude in silence. If you write, please be civil.