SwiftVets.com

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Democrats Press Kerry to Step Up Attacks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4465699,00.html
Wednesday September 1, 2004 7:31 AM
By RON FOURNIER
AP Political Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Anxiously watching President Bush's convention, Democratic leaders are urging John Kerry to step us his attack on the Republican incumbent before eroding approval ratings become a serious political problem.

The candidate and his beleaguered staff are being flooded with advice, much of it contradictory. Some party officials want Kerry to criticize the president's for sitting out the Vietnam War in the Texas Air National Guard. Others say that would draw unwanted attention to accusations about Kerry's combat experience.

Democrats have seen Bush erase the gains that their nominee made at his convention a month ago in Boston, pulling into a tie in national polls that also show Kerry's personal image deteriorating.

In the broad scheme of things, the GOP advances may be nothing more than a political adjustment - a nudge of the pendulum, rather than a big swing. But for some Democrats, the president's momentum came as a shock, in part because Kerry's team had bragged openly that Boston had set the stage for victory.

That was their first mistake.

``It's never a good idea to get people too excited too early,'' said Bill Carrick, a leading Democratic strategist from California.

After raising expectations, Kerry listened to campaign consultants advising him to let surrogates respond to accusations that he exaggerated his medal-winning wartime service. They wanted him to remain above the fray, and he did, until the accusations from the group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth began tugging him down.

By the time Kerry personally struck back, calling the group a front for Bush spreading ``lies about my record,'' the damage was done. Polls show Bush is now favored over Kerry on questions of who is more qualified to be commander in chief and which candidate is more honest. Immediately after his convention, Kerry led on both questions.

Bush has erased Kerry's lead on who would best deal with the economy, and has opened a gap on whom voters prefer to lead the war against terror.

In a race this close, the smallest shifts in voter preferences send partisans atwitter. Just last week, nervous Republicans were urging Bush to unveil a robust second-term agenda to shift voters' focus from the unpopular war in Iraq. Now, with the confetti set to fall, Republicans are temporarily in line while Democrats suffer angst.

``Bush and his surrogates have been vicious and unforgiving'' with the Swift boat claims, said Frank Schreck, a top party fund-raiser from Nevada, ``and they have scored a lot of political points.''

Schreck wants Kerry to bluntly compare war records with the president. ``Why not stand up there and say, `He chose to have his father get him out of harm's way while I volunteered to risk my life?''' The Bush campaign vigorously denies the president used his family's political influence to avoid Vietnam.

Ken Brock, a Democratic consultant in Michigan, said he wants to see Kerry fight back.

``Personally, I'm for somebody coming out and saying while Bush was in the Redneck Riviera, Kerry was picking shrapnel out of his butt,'' he said. ``There are those who want John Kerry to drop his drawers and show America the scars.''

The biggest complainers want Kerry to beef up his staff. The candidate himself is said to be angry with his team, quietly adding layers of new advisers to siphon authority from some aides. Rumors of a shake-up Wednesday were unfounded, but nonetheless distracted the Kerry team.

Outside the campaign, some Democrats want Kerry to put the intrigue to rest and shift his focus to the economy and Iraq, issues causing problems for Bush.

``My sense is the Swift boat stuff has been a major distraction, to say the least, for the campaign, and they need to get back to hammering him (Bush) every day on the economy and health care and the management of the war,'' Carrick said.

Mark Grebner, a Democratic strategist from Michigan, said Kerry is still in a strong position because Bush is politically weak. He said the only threat to Kerry is a terrorist strike, which would cause voters to rally around the commander in chief. ``It's time to move on,'' he said.

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EDITOR'S NOTE - Ron Fournier has covered the White House and politics for The Associated Press since 1993.

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

What, has everyone gone nuts over there???

For heaven's sake - it's gotten painful to watch!
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[FredRum]

This is the slowest political train wreck I've witnessed in my lifetime, and the saddest part is that the Kerry team is so loathe to admit to themselves that no amount of new advisors or new messages or new strategies can stop it. It's starting to affect me just like a good episode of Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm--I'm cringing and averting my eyes because it's getting uncomfortable to watch
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[Stevie]

I hope kerry does drop his drawers on nat'l tv! wha fun.... it'll be flashed (pun) all over the world..... yeah!

just heard that kerry never had a hispanic on his staff until he started to run for president.... that's from hispanic delegate from wisconsin.....

they want to hit bush on the economy.... if ya'll don't watch the stock shows... the stocks go up when bush's numbers go up and go down when kerry's numbers go up - that tells you what wall street thinks.... be sure to let friends and neighbors know this... a lot of people believe what the press and kerry tells them about the economy....
the latest thing is about our 'poverty' level.... that's scaring people... well, according to ben stein, (I think it was ben).... our poverty level is not what other countries consider poverty.... it's along the line of - they only have 1 tv and 1 car (I only have 1 tv and 1 car)... etc.... they aren't starving etc... and I heard that we only had 32.000 jobs created last month.... came out the week after I heard Arnold say on Leno show that CA created 45.000 new jobs in July! well, isn't Ca still part of US? something wrong with someone's figures (think I'll call Arnold's office this week)

[FredRum]

Stevie, Ben Stein (love that guy, by the way) was probably referring to the sort of "poverty" information that's in this extensive report.
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[msindependent]

Redneck Riviera? All these people should be fired. No wait, I want Kerry to lose.

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No Traitors in the White House