I have to say that i think it's been more a good week for Bush than a bad week for Kerry. I know that i'm going to get yelled at by everyone about Medicare or the coalition falling apart and everything that kos (Kos you are an eternal optimist and i applaud you for it) pointed out could potentially be bad for Bush. But what is scary to me is the way they managed to shape the public debate all week, as well as put Kerry on the defensive by yelling as many lies as they could think of from the rooftops.
They went after Kerry on defense EVERY DAY. with the same kind of single-mindedness that they went after Saddam. Did they distort facts? Yes. Did they do everything in their power to avoid substantive issues? Yes. Did they flat out lie? Yes. But they did a hell of a good job of it, threw us on the defensive and managed to avoid the very real stories that Kos pointed out. After weeks of getting thrown off course, they finally pulled themselves together and displayed the kind of message discipline that is their strongest card.
I think kerry has to, in a sense match that. There are so many avenues to take shots at Bush it's ridiculous. health care, the war on terror, the economy, the environment. But what's going to make the most difference is if they pick one point and spend a week or two DRIVING THAT MOTHER HOME!! I want to see Kerry, his surrogates, the DNC, everybody, spend two weeks talking about nothing except Bush's failure in the war on terror (admittedly that's going to be tough if they really catch al-Zawahiri) and how John Kerry is going to keep this country safe. How he is ready to defend our country and take the fight to the terrorists, no matter where in the world they hide.
If people feel like Kerry can fight the war on terror, Bush will be in even bigger trouble than he is now. Kerry (and our party in general) wins on ALL domestic issues. But people are concerned about terrorism and Kerry is not yet defined in the eyes of most Americans on the issue. The Bush campaign is aware of this which is why they're trying so damn hard to paint him as weak on defense. they know that if Kerry can convince people that he's strong on defense they might have to talk about something else. Than we can start hitting him on everything else. Issues like the prescription drug plan and the jobless recovery are not going away and Bush has virtually no chance to change the way he is seen in relation to these issues. Kerry needs to go for the jugular. Don't concede national security to Bush! We can't count on McCain to save us every week.