Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Learning From the Best

Kerry's Deathbed Conversion - What the candidate learned from Clinton

This weekend may well be remembered as the one when the campaign for the presidency changed. Five days ago Kerry was doggedly refusing to punch back at the Bush campaign's attacks; yesterday he rolled out a new punchline for his stump speech: "W stands for wrong." He's been willing to fight back hard against those who try to turn his Vietnam service against him. And he's been schooled by the master during a widely-reported marathon phone call between Clinton and Kerry as Clinton awaited heart surgery. The polling numbers that came out this weekend were scary--can 54% of the country really be thinking about another four years of this hell?--but Chris Suellentrop gives me reason to hope in his last paragraph: "The revamped Kerry campaign looks more like the Democrat who beat a president named Bush than the Democrat who lost to one." It's not time to panic yet.

1 comment:

Paul V. Allen said...

I hope people are paying attention to the news: Iraq death toll over 1000, most of them coming after "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" and the crazy budget deficit predictions. I think as the RNC fades from the short-attention spans the numbers will even out again and even go in Kerry's favor if he keeps up his strong criticisms. Anyone I've met who's unsure about him had that as their main concern; that he wasn't being tough enough when he clearly has so much ammo!