Arianna - The Architects Of Defeat (Inside Baseball Kerry Campaign)

http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/column.php?id=744

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It was the “Truth and Trust Team” that fought to have Kerry give a major speech clarifying his position on Iraq, which he finally did, to great effect, at New York University on Sept. 20. “That was the turning point,” Thorne, who was responsible for the campaign’s wildly successful online operation, told me. “John broke through and found his voice again. But even after the speech the campaign kept returning to domestic issues, and in the end I was only able to get just over a million dollars for ads making our case.”

Despite a lot of talk about “moral values,” exit polls proved that Iraq and the war on terror together were the issues uppermost in people’s minds. And therefore as Thorne and Vallely, among others, kept arguing, if the president continued to hold a double-digit advantage on his leadership on the war on terror, he would win. But those in charge of the Kerry campaign ignored this giant, blood-red elephant standing in the middle of the room and allowed themselves to be mesmerized by polling and focus group data that convinced them the economy was the way to go.

“We kept coming back from the road,” said James Boyce, a Kerry family friend who traveled across the country with Cam Kerry, “and telling the Washington team that the questions we kept getting were more about safety and Iraq than healthcare. But they just didn’t want to hear it. Their minds were made up.”

Boyce, along with Cam Kerry, were instrumental in bringing to the campaign four of the more outspoken 9/11 widows, including Kristen Breitweiser, who had provided critical leadership in stopping the Bush administration from undermining the 9/11 Commission. "We told the campaign," Breitweiser told me, "that we would not come out and endorse Kerry unless he spoke out against the war in Iraq. It was quite a battle. In fact, I got into a fight with Mary Beth Cahill on the phone. I actually said to her: 'You're not getting it. This election is about national security.' I told her this in August. She didn't want to hear it."

The campaign’s regular foreign policy conference calls were another arena where this battle was fought, with Kerry foreign policy advisor Richard Holbrooke taking the lead against the candidate coming out with a decisive position on Iraq that diverged too far from the president’s. Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart consistently argued against Holbrooke, and Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden expressed his disagreement with this ruffle-no-feathers approach directly to Kerry. But until the Sept. 20 speech in New York, it was Holbrooke who prevailed — in no small part because his position dovetailed with the strategic direction embraced by Shrum and campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill.

And Arianna's column makes this point abundantly clear. That they ACTUALLY thought that the first presidential election after 9/11 would be about the economy... Jeez. Bush may be living in a bubble, but the dem leadership have a bubble of their own.

in Vermont. Bozos.

You`ve got to be kidding. The likes of Cahill and Shrum running for something here in Vermont? Take a good long look at who we send to Washington, then ask yourself if those two Democratic insiders could fit in here. Hardly!

;)

Send the Democratic strategists to Vermont and it will be a fire-breathing red state in a month. If this article and the quotes contained in it don't make you quake with anger at the stupidity of these goobers, you're an idiot. Just the thought of that milque-toast piece of crap Stanley Greenberg and his focus groups makes me want to strangle somebody. "Don't mention Osama!" Are you fucking kidding me? They happened to luck into a relatively charismatic candidate(i.e Clinton) and were lucky enough to have run against two charisma vacuums, and they think they're geniuses. I suggest we focus our activism in the next couple of years around getting rid of these people, ASAP!

I would never inflict these clowns on your fair state. My deepest apologies.

Richard Holbrook is another enabler. I used to think rather highly of him until I realized he never met a war he didn't like.

We are Americans.

We are teachers, lawyers, bankers, and doctors.
We work in factories, warehouses, farmhouses and office buildings.
We attend sporting events, company picnics, church functions, and reunions.
...and we believe we are a united country.

We stand up and sing along when we hear the National Anthem and speak loudly when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
We know love and life-long commitment are the foundations of a family.
We honor those who dedicate their lives to serving and protecting our children, our families, and our freedom.
We honor those who gave their lives for freedom by respecting the freedom of our neighbors to live the lives they lead.
We know that God gives us the strength to succeed and the wisdom to know the difference between right and wrong.
We ask our teachers and parents to work together in order to help our children succeed.
We demand a maximum return for our tax investments and believe they should be used for the greater good.

We believe in the American birth-right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
We believe in empowering and giving voices to all Americans.
We believe in is both a right and responsibility to speak out where we feel there is injustice.
We believe in the sanctity of nature and that the beauty of America must be preserved.
We believe in cultivating a culture of service where we develop stronger communities built on empathy.
We believe in working hard and embracing progress in order to ensure better opportunities for our children.
We believe in our cultural inheritance set forth by our founding fathers to never be satisfied with the status quo.
We believe in being a beacon of hope and integrity for the rest of the world.

We are hard-workers, free-thinkers and freedom-lovers.
We are Americans.

-TCNJ 11/12/04