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James Byrd
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 7:53 pm Post subject: Kerry Strikes Back - In Bush's Shadow - Wolffe & Meadows |
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| Quote: | In Bush's Shadow
Striking Back: Reeling from tough attacks and bad advice, Kerry launches a counteroffensive against a resurgent president
By Richard Wolffe and Susannah Meadows
Newsweek
Sept. 13 issue - John Kerry wanted to hit back. It had been a miserable August as he took incoming fire about his military service from a gang of hostile Vietnam vets. But no, campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and other staffers argued, the Swift Boat ads would blow over. Finally, Kerry had had enough. For three or four days, as he campaigned across the country, Kerry ripped into Cahill, furious that the mostly baseless attacks on his valor were driving his numbers down. "He was very angry," one old friend says. "The calculation had been made that this wasn't going to hurt him." Kerry's solution was to reach for an old ally. "Get Vallely," he screamed.
Thomas Vallely is the leader of the pack of vets that Kerry calls his dog-hunters, a group that has beaten back the attacks on his Vietnam record since his first Senate race 20 years ago. "He knows that I know the other players," Vallely says of Kerry's Mayday call. "He knows that I also like this stuff."
The return of the old warriors marked a turning point in the Swift Boat controversy, and a rare moment when Kerry stamped his authority on a drifting campaign. "OK, time to break out the fatigues. We've been there, done that. Time to do it again," says David Thorne, Kerry's close friend, of the mood among the senator's inner circle.
And so, even as the balloons were falling at the Republicans' party in Madison Square Garden, Kerry's motorcade pulled into Clark County, Ohio, where Al Gore beat George W. Bush by just 324 votes. There, Kerry finally struck hard at his opponents' record during Vietnam. "I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have, and who misled America into Iraq," Kerry told a crowd of several thousand supporters at a midnight rally in Springfield. The Bush team, as usual, responded rapidly to Kerry's decidedly unrapid response. Karen Hughes, the president's longtime message maven, accused Kerry of being "consumed" by Vietnam, saying he had "diminished himself" with the attack.
Kerry's counteroffensive seems to fit a well-worn pattern. After a period of complacency, the senator blew his slender lead in the polls and slid into frustration and inertia, before emerging with a new fighting spirit. It happened in the Democratic primaries, when Kerry's campaign was written off well before the first votes were cast in Iowa. Could it happen again in the general election? "There is nobody, nobody, who is a better finisher than John Kerry," says one close adviser and former staffer. Thorne promises there's more lashing to come, but even some of Kerry's most trusted friends can't be sure when the gloves will really come off. "I hope we don't get to the near-death experience again," says one senior aide. "I think he's a lot better when he's behind, but I hope we don't get too far behind."
Behind is where Kerry now stands in the horse race with President Bush. According to the new NEWSWEEK Poll, Bush now holds an 11-point lead over Kerry in a three-way race with Ralph Nader, erasing the seven-point edge Kerry held during his convention in July. Bush now enjoys his best favorable ratings since February (55 percent), while Kerry's unfavorable ratings are at their highest of the campaign (45 percent). For the first time in more than a year, 53 percent say Bush deserves a second term.
Those numbers lifted the already buoyant mood among Republicans as they closed out their convention in New York last week. Bush's advisers believe they can resist the tendency to become overconfident, recalling their shock at their sharp decline in the polls in the final days of the 2000 race. Yet they're clearly in a bullish mood. Asked about Kerry's reputation as a strong closer, one senior administration official replied: "It may be too late by the time he tries to do so." Though cautious about predicting that they could sustain the bounce out of New York, Bush's aides were upbeat as they traveled to Wisconsin to launch their postconvention tour. Normally inaccessible to the press, a succession of senior Bush advisers chatted freely while Karl Rove, the president's strategic mastermind, offered cream puffs to sweeten the mood among reporters.
Kerry may have taken it out on his staff, but he has only himself to blame for his current predicament. Kerry tied himself in knots over Iraq, saying he would have voted for the war even if he'd known there were no weapons of mass destruction—a move even his friends say has hindered his ability to attack Bush on the subject. And he shut down his campaign's TV ads between his convention in Boston and the Republicans' gathering in New York to conserve cash—giving the Swifties a strategic opening. Cahill stands by the strategy. "We jointly made the decision about when to respond, and when we did, it was a very direct and strong response from him," she says, pointing to a mid-August speech when Kerry accused the Swifties of doing Bush's dirty work. Cahill insists that the campaign went through a similar ebb in March, when it took a big hit in the polls as it concentrated on fund-raising. (At the time, the campaign was saved by the downward spiral in Iraq.) She maintains that her conversations with Kerry remain private; others say there's nothing unusual about the candidate's venting at his aides—in this campaign or any other. "The truth is that he'd be lost without her," says one senior staffer. "She saved this campaign once already."
Cahill is likely to survive the turmoil, but Kerry's friends and closest advisers say the senator is already leaning more heavily on another old chum: John Sasso. Last spring Kerry installed Sasso, who ran the Dukakis campaign in 1988, as his general-election manager at the Democratic National Committee. According to a source familiar with the campaign, Kerry wanted Sasso to run his campaign from the outset, and asked him again to do so when he fired his first manager, Jim Jordan, last year. Sasso and Cahill already meet several times a week and talk daily about the campaign's field operations. Sasso has a rare quality among Democrats, according to those who worked with him in '88. "Nobody has sharper elbows than John Sasso," says Michael Goldman, a former Boston political consultant. "He can hit as hard as the Republican hit machine." Other experienced operatives joined Kerry's campaign last week: Joe Lockhart, the former Clinton White House press secretary, and Joel Johnson, Clinton's former communications adviser. But even as the campaign was bulking up, Kerry lost another valuable ally, at least for a little while, when Bill Clinton was rushed to the hospital for heart surgery. Clinton had cleared his schedule in October to spend the month barnstorming the country for Kerry as well as continuing his book tour.
For the moment, the fight against the Swifties lay in Vallely's hands, as the Kerry campaign expects new ads through the fall about Kerry's antiwar protests. Early last month Kerry's vets were told to hold off as Cahill and others fretted about pushing the story onto the network news. This time around, it's a free-fire zone. Vallely, who is now the director of the Vietnam Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, has built his own mini war room with former senator and Vietnam vet Bob Kerrey, among others. Kerrey says he wants the candidate to take pride in his antiwar protests. "It took courage to do what he did in '71," says the former senator. "John Kerry was trying to end a war so Karl Rove didn't have to go." Other old hands say the revival of the vets could galvanize the entire campaign. "The Kerry campaign is not on the skids, it's just stopped," says a source familiar with Kerry's inner circle. "Getting vets in might be a new direction."
As he rode out the end of summer at his island home on Nantucket, Kerry began work on what may well be his last chance to turn the tide. He spent hours prepping with Cahill for the final set-piece battle of the election: the TV debates against Bush. "It all comes into focus for him in the last few weeks," says a longtime staffer. It had better. The hour's growing late.
With T. Trent Gegax, Tamara Lipper and Eleanor Clift
© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5916073/site/newsweek/
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Its going to get ugly with these mud slingers working for Kerry now. Keep up the good work Swifties! |
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Navy wife
Research Director
Joined: 09 Aug 2004
Posts: 353
Location: Arlington, VA & Ft. Worth, TX
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Amen, brother. Now we know why his Band of Brothers has been so silent! |
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baldeagl
PO3
Joined: 07 Aug 2004
Posts: 260
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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Kerry's "doghunters" is a group of vets that have always rallied to his side to take on charges about his record. They get their name from "that dog won't hunt", which is a phrase they love to use when refuting the charges against Kerry.
They have one problem, and Kerry articulates it well, without realizing it. | Quote: | | "I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have, and who misled America into Iraq, |
In the past Kerry has always faced men questioning his record who were "those who have refused to serve when they could have" (according to Kerry), as he puts it.
This time Kerry is facing men who volunteered to serve when they could have and served honorably. His dog hunters will be no match for the truth spoken by men who slept, ate and fought alongside Kerry and know exactly who he is.
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antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/ |
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Mooncusser
Lieutenant
Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 245
Location: Missouri
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Reminds me of Patton. 
_________________
MACV '64...65
Thu Thua, Long An
I actually won the election before I lost it.
"It is a good day to fight! It is a good day to die! Strong hearts, brave hearts to the front! Weak hearts and cowards to the rear!" (Crazy Horse) |
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Beatrice1000
Resource Specialist
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1179
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:19 pm Post subject: Re: Kerry strikes back |
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| James Byrd wrote: | ..."Thomas Vallely is the leader of the pack of vets that Kerry calls his dog-hunters, a group that has beaten back the attacks on his Vietnam record since his first Senate race 20 years ago... He knows that I also like this stuff."
..."Bob Kerrey says he wants the candidate to take pride in his antiwar protests. "It took courage to do what he did in '71," says the former senator." |
"Dog-hunters?"  So Vallely also "likes this stuff" --sounds like a thug -- what stuff? attacking fellow vets? -- [was he with Kerry in '71?]
Bob Kerrey's quote speaks for itself -- he's shown his disgusting hand. That's their angle: angry young man saves the nation by bringing all the troops home. Period. End of story.
Ain't gonna work.....
Last edited by Beatrice1000 on Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:21 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Nathanyl
PO3
Joined: 24 Aug 2004
Posts: 280
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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If Kerry is really bringing out Thomas Vallely he must be desperate.
From an article by John Pike
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2003_Sept_16/ai_107543547/pg_3
On Sept. 18, 1972, the evening before the primary election during his second attempt for Congress, Kerry's brother Cameron and one Thomas Vallely, both part of his current campaign team, were arrested by Lowell police at 1:40 a.m. and charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny. The two were apprehended in the basement of a building whose door had been forced open, police said. It housed the headquarters of candidate DiFruscia. The Watergate scandal was making headlines at this time, and it was called the Lowell Watergate.
"They wanted to sever my telephone lines," DiFruscia said recently. Had those lines been cut, Kerry's opponent would not have been able to telephone supporters on Election Day to get out the vote and coordinate poll watchers, vital roles in a close election. "I do not know if they wanted to break into my office," says DiFruscia today. At the time he said, "All my IBM cards and the list of my voter identification in the greater Lowell area are in my headquarters."
Cameron and Vallely, along with David Thorne, who was Kerry's campaign manager at the time and has been close to him since they attended Yale together, did not deny the two entered the building in which they were captured. They said at the time they were in the cellar of the building to check their own telephone lines because they had received an anonymous call warning they would be cut.
This reporter heard an allegation that another congressional candidate placed the alleged anonymous call, which was denied. But if the Kerry campaign was concerned about someone breaking and entering to cut off its telephone service, why didn't they just call the police? Why break the law? And what does any of this say about Kerry's mind-set? Kerry campaign officials did not answer important Lowellgate questions.
The case was transferred to superior court and continued without a finding, where it was dismissed about a year later. But since it happened at the last minute, and Kerry won the primary but went on to lose the general election, this ugly business did not receive intense media scrutiny. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were busy investigating another break-in. |
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James Byrd
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 15
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the information Nathanyl. I couldn't place the name of Thomas Vallely until you refreshed my memory. The reason I posted this article is because when people get in a corner, they will stop at nothing to win.
| Quote: | Monday, March 29, 2004 (Wall Street Journal)
John Musgrave, one of the six witnesses who placed Mr. Kerry at the Kansas City meeting, says the head of Veterans for Kerry, John Hurley, called him twice and pressured him to change the story he had already told a Kansas City Star reporter about the 1971 meeting. |
I have two questions of Mr. Kerry
1. Mr. Kerry, alot has been made on your voting record in the Senate. I would like to know about your voting record in Kansas City. Specifically on "The Pheonix Project" Did you vote for it before you voted against it?
2. Will you sign Form 180 to release all you miltary records and allow Douglas Brinkley to release all of your notes he used to compile Tour of Duty?
Your silence is deafening. |
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The Cyber Menace
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 49
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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This must be the tenth time now that the press has come out with a round of stories describing Kerry as 'striking back', 'fighting back', or some other display of bravado. Yet he has yet to offer a substantive rebuttal of the charges being mad against him by the SBVT. THAT'S WHY he's dropping in the polls. People know when someone's blowing smoke when they see it.
Stop crying, Senator, and start dealing with the substance of the issues before you!!!!!  |
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CandiM
LCDR
Joined: 20 Aug 2004
Posts: 411
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | "I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have......." |
Yeah--Right--
But he doesn't mind having someone who didn't serve "when [he] could have" like his pretty boy running mate defend him--Guess Kerry considers that to be Edwards' service to his country--C
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“I haven’t seen anyone milk this much out of a bad boat ride since Gilligan” -- Dennis Miller |
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Chuck Z Ombie AC2000
LCDR
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 426
Location: Northern New Jersey
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:25 pm Post subject: |
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Hurricane frances and clinton's heart attaxk stole all Kerry's thunder, i guess hell have to wait til tuesday to 'fight back'
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John Kerry, R.I.P. (Rot In Paris) |
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msindependent
Vice Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 891
Location: Colorado
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| Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2004 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| So, this thug Vallely and Kerry's brother broke into the opponent's office - omg this is so bad. |
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fortdixlover
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 1476
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| Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:11 am Post subject: |
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| The Cyber Menace wrote: | This must be the tenth time now that the press has come out with a round of stories describing Kerry as 'striking back', 'fighting back', or some other display of bravado. Yet he has yet to offer a substantive rebuttal of the charges being mad against him by the SBVT. THAT'S WHY he's dropping in the polls. People know when someone's blowing smoke when they see it.
Stop crying, Senator, and start dealing with the substance of the issues before you!!!!! |
Perhaps we should buy Kerry a light saber to battle the Evil Darth O'Neill.
-- FDL |
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Nomorelies
Vice Admiral
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 977
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:12 am Post subject: |
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The Real Thomas Vallely
Thomas Vallely has been called in by Kerry to rally the troops and trounce the Swiftvet attacks. We should all remember that he was with Kerry during the darly 1970's during the anti-war protests and Kerry's ascension to fame when he lied before the Senate hearing April 22, 197. Thomas Vallely is now the director of the Vietnam program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
http://www.asianlabour.org/archives/000913.php
| Quote: | | "Fear of the future and lack of confidence holds them back," said Thomas Vallely, the director of the Vietnam program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, during a recent visit here. "Vietnam can become a modern economy, because they have the money and the knowledge. Even given the failed education system, they could get out-sourcing business like India has...." |
Thomas Vallely favors outsourcing of IT jobs to Vietnam since India has been so well covered and labour is cheaper in Vietnam.
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Last edited by Nomorelies on Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:16 am; edited 1 time in total |
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corbe
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 11
Location: New Braunfels, TX
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| Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:13 am Post subject: Thank You, Nathanyl |
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| That was one of the Best, Comprehensive articles I've read on this Man (sic) that want's to be President. |
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The Cyber Menace
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 22 Aug 2004
Posts: 49
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| Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 1:58 am Post subject: |
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| fortdixlover wrote: | | The Cyber Menace wrote: | This must be the tenth time now that the press has come out with a round of stories describing Kerry as 'striking back', 'fighting back', or some other display of bravado. Yet he has yet to offer a substantive rebuttal of the charges being mad against him by the SBVT. THAT'S WHY he's dropping in the polls. People know when someone's blowing smoke when they see it.
Stop crying, Senator, and start dealing with the substance of the issues before you!!!!! |
Perhaps we should buy Kerry a light saber to battle the Evil Darth O'Neill.
-- FDL |
Nicely done.  |
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