The Strategy to Defeat the Republican Strategy

This is our challenge. As the Repubs debate whether to attack Dean before he is even the nominee and claim that they wish to "de-personalize" the campaign. They don't want it to be about Bush. But they want to paint Dean as "angry and pessimistic". They are being deceitful, but that is nothing new.

Our candidate, whomever it may be, should make a major speech saying that his campaign is going to be about the future of America. We are going to re-establish trust for our nation around the world. We want to cut the deficits so our economy can experience "real" growth. We will put people back to work. He can say that he wants to run a positive campaign without personal attacks. Our nation deserves to have a civil discourse about the direction we are headed.

Then his VP candidate and his advisors can tear into Bush at every opportunity. The Repubs will complain that the Democratic candidate is running a dirty campaign and has gone back on his word to not make personal attacks. Our candidate can grin and say, "I have not made any personal attacks on Mr Bush. This is a free country and I cannot stop other people from saying what they want to say, just as Mr Bush obviously cannot stop the tactics that his campaign is using..." And that will be his response everytime he is asked about it. His advisors and VP can continue to attack and tear down Bush's credibility as the Repubs and their FOX cohorts whine and moan.

This is the way they are going to play the game and that is how we need to counter their strategy. Our candidate will stay above the fray unless he is personally attacked then he will have the option to respond or let others respond for him. They can say that our candidate is doing his best to not get into the personal attacks but that the Repubs are making it awful difficult.

Brit Hume and others will report that the personal attacks on Bush seem to be hurting the Democrats campaign but that is the sure sign that the campaign is on the right track because Brit Hume and others could care less if the Democrats are on the "wrong" track. They are not there to guide us in the "right" direction. They are our opponent, just as much as Bush and the Repubs are our opponent. That is something we need to understand.

They can call it deceitful and not something the Democratic party should indulge in, but when the opponent is fighting with fire, then we must also fight with fire. The trick is to not let them paint our candidate as "angry and pessimistic". He can talk about the future of America. The rest of us, in General Clark's words, can "beat the shit out of them". That is the way to beat the strategy the Repubs have put forward.

(edited spelling)

the media allow the pugs to ALWAYS define the terms of the debate in their favor, thus putting dems on the eternal defensive.

pugs have become expert at turning ANY challenge, jujitsu-like, into an attack. one of the reasons is that the media allows them, abets them, sets them up.

a KEY strategy is to adopt this tactic......NEVER should a dem spokesperson accept pug terms of discussion.......ALWAYS turn it back on them, even if the answer isn't responsive to the topic at hand.

it's what THEY do, and being on the defensive DOES not WORK. it makes the respondee look WEAK.

look at Dukakis or Gore. they tried to be reasonable, logical, and were eaten alive. the press had much to do with that.

BUT, Clinton answered the smears with constant attacks of his own, planting the "it's the economy, stupid" meme in the voting public's consciousness. over and over and over and over, the sluggish economy, combined with 41's perceived Marie Antoinette-like lack of empathy was what did him in.

some simple, emotional hook MUST be found....something that can be similarly planted in the public mind, then hearkened back to at all times......a hole card, as it were.

a go-to answer, a "Yeah, but what about......"

for the rest of us, including his VP and his advisors. All the while letting it be known that he is trying to talk about issues but the Repubs are into "character assassination". He is doing his level best to have a civil discourse on the issues but there are some people that would rather talk abut something else. At the same time, our Party slices the crap out of Dubya. That's the way they play the game. We can be the good guys and lose or we can convince the people we are the good guys and win.

had I my wits about I'd have said "the Clinton campaign" answered with attacks of their own.

what you said about seeming to keep above the fray was what WON South Carolina (of course, with media's active complicity in not reporting Rove, etal's black hand behind the curtain) for Bush, and, in effect, the election, as it became obvious that NO negative stories from the mainstream handmaidens would furrow the puppet's feeble visage.

if they wouldn't report who was behind the slimy crap being spewed at McCain there, what WOULD they discuss?

where'd they think all those stories about insanity, treason in the Hanoi Hilton, black love children, CAME from, the Oort Cloud?

and his lieutenants, and other Democrats, should yell the truth about Bush from every rooftop. They don't want the truth told about Bush. But if our candidate gets down in the dirt, they would spin it very negatively, in my opinion. You don't agree?

It is Exactly what it needed! Keepup the good work bycitgo

I'm not sure I got the entire gist of it....

they have their nasty-mouthed hired guns do the dirty work, the Rush's, Coulter's, Hannity's, those guys.

Then they just do whatever the hell they want and ignore the fray.

That is EXACTLY what the Dems need to do.

It takes organization and teamwork. Something Dems aren't known for.

Oh, and leadership. Hello? Any leaders out there?

I think it's time for a purge of the Dumbocratic party.

They will ridicule, make accusations, and lie about their opponent - just like they did with Al Gore the last time. They're already saying that Dean is too angry and too pessimistic. Dean needs to say that is the just the way they play politics but he plans on conducting a civil campaign and talk about the issues and he hopes Mr Bush will do the same. But we know what Mr Bush will do. His "hired guns" will do the dirty work for him. If Dean is the candidate, we must permit him to stay positive and above the fray as much as possible, just like Bush will try to do, and the dirty battles must be fought between with the ground troops, just like the Repubs do. We will fight them on their own terms and not let them define the parameters of battle. We will continue to tell the truth about Mr Bush. He is not going to escape scrutiny this time around, as he did the last time.