B* Flip-Flop Insults go the Heart of Kerry's Character. He Should Be Mad!!

There are devious falsehoods being propagated by the President and his surrogates in a coordinated manner intended to impugn senator Kerry's character is the worst possible manner. The most insidious is probably the “flip-flopper” charge, because it thinly disguises a mortal assault on the senator’s character as a man of principle, of courage, of steel.

John Kerry is the last Just Man standing who can take the fight to Bush

Edgar Wallace's classic novel, The Four Just Men, told a story a band of men for whom justice was more important than life itself. These four men of substance felt the task thrust upon them of bringing to justice powerful peers who through deceit and power could keep themselves above the reach of the law.

John Kerry is such a just man for our time. His sacred mission is to bring an end the rule of Bush at the ballot box in November.

He is a soldier of courage and conscience in fighting for his flag and country and protesting an unjust war.

He is a prosecutor who sought fairness in the system and brought mob bosses to justice.

He is a principled legislator respected by men of principle on both sides of the aisle who seek just law to keep the powerful in check and regulate the affairs of state.

George Bush is Unbelievable

The President is now the mouthpiece-in-chief of a dynasty of deceit in which stories are manufactured to suit the needs to the day: stories about who gets the tax-breaks; stories about why men are sent to war; stories about wins gains and who looses under Bush rules.

Each look into the Bush regime reveals a truth stranger that fiction: Paul O’Neil reveals a head of state out of touch with the business of state; David Kay finds that “we were all wrong” about WMDs; Al Franken finds lies and lying liars that tell them.

Bush uses “Flip-Flop” to cover-up his flops

Bush senior said Bob Dole flip-flopped. Bush junior said Al Gore flip-flopped. Now George Bush’s talking about Kerry flip-flops as a way to get through a fund-raiser without talking about Bush flops – Bush flops on jobs, Bush flops on health-care, Bush flops on education, Bush flops on international alliances; Bush flops on Iraq.

Now, quite seriously, George Bush seems to use the one word “flip-flop” as a synonym for a host of more complicated concepts including: negotiating a compromise, addressing the problem, understanding opposing views, seeking an alternative, and, of course, “knowing a flop when you see it.”

It is clear that using the peculiar vocabulary of the Bush campaign, a senator who is thoughtful, analytical and judicious is definitely a raving, “unsteady,” “flip-flopper.”

Reviewing the job-loss impacts of NAFA and calling for enforcement of labor and environmental provisions is not a thoughtful first-step to address the problem BUT flip-flopping.

Supporting the Presidents authority to use force in Iraq but calling for respect for the judgment of our major Allies and U.N. inspections process is not statesmanship, BUT flip-flopping.

And so it goes; eight more months to go. Let’s hope come November we don’t have a prolonged debate about whether the voters are flip-flopping on the President when they send him back to Texas. Let’s hope the era of the “limited vocabulary” will be over.

I was being an asshole.

That's a very well written piece. And Kerry's been doing great, lately, too. I'm very impressed with him.

I am just cringing in anticipation of new Bush ADs featuring
Howard.

have earned the right to tell it like it is.

for Kerry's weakness as a candidate.
All people are looking for is someone who means what he says. If Kerry can maintain the backbone to do that he will be better off.

Oy!

No more. It was all BS. We should admit it and apologize by
helping Kerry beat back these bastards.

And slander isn't the word you're looking for.

Pro-war = Pro-Bush '04

The more I learn about Kerry the more I find that he has been far
more principled than people I have supported in the past.

He is rightfully offended at this bs

or anyone else--certainly when compared to some democratic primary campaigns in the past--for instance, Ted Kennedy vs. president Carter in 1980. Dean did a great service to this party by helping to give it some backbone and stand up to Bush--Democratic candidates got that message and have been doing it.

Kerry was a prosecutor.He is going to plan his case, and he is not going to spill anything until it is necessary for him to do so, and catch his opponent unaware. I am so glad that the democratic voters decided to go with a candidate with icewater in his veins when it comes to campaigning rather than fire in the belly. It is too easy fot a shot to go wide when it is fired in anger or in the heat of the moment, and I am also glad that the voters in the primaries have finally decided that they need a Washington Insider rather than stick with the cycle of outsiders that has been going on for close to three decades. I was listening to the BBC last night and they were going over exit polls they took during the pimaries and caucuses up until tuesday and they stated that the one common denominator among the voters they asked was that the vast majority of those voting wanted a Washington insider this time around, rather than elect someone who will have to get up to speed in not only foreign relations and national security, but domestic affairs, someone who will know how to get legislation passed, especially national health legislation. Many Democrats remember Clintons failure to pass national health as a result of his lack of familiarity of the legislative process in Washington, and not having long term relations with people in both houses of Congress as well as on both sides of the aisle, which will give Kerry a running start when it comes to trying to pass his national health legislation. He has stated that this will be the first legislation that he sends to congress, and Kerry know how to get such legislation passed beter than most of the other candidates. Then his personal friendship with Tony Blairs main rival for the leadership of the Labour Party in England will give Kerry a great advantage for going back to the U.N. to put them in charge of handling the setting up of Iraq's new government, as well as taking on a much larger military role. Either Blair will quickly deal with Kerry, or lose his position as leader of the Labour Party and be replaced as Prime Minister by Brown.

With Kerry as the nominee, the democratic party has a candidate who is ready for the rubber to hit the road on the first day in the White House. There have rarely been candidates so well prepared for the presidency as Kerry.

The desire for a Washington insider was made obvious when one looks at what started to happen to Edwards when he started trying to reporesent himself as a Washington outsider. He got an initial boost after Iowa, but as he started using the outsider image, Kerry polling numbers started pulling from the high 40's to low 50's into the 60's and 70's . No matter how many points Edwards moved ahead, Kerry gaines two or three points for every one point Edwards did. It would have been far better for Edwards if he had held onto the Washington insider role he actually has played for the last few years, and this might have given him more of a chance of beating Kerry.

That is how the campaign should frame the issue - Bush is not a man of his word. You nail it on the head.

It's a trust thing.

I'm a Pagan and don't believe in your god or your view of Kerry's sacred mission.

And yes, Kerry is a flip-flopper, so GET OVER IT when those of us who don't worship the Bore from Boston decide to criticise him on it.

If you want to limit the conversation to the GOP level, that's groovy, baby!

I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.

And Yoko.

He punches like a man set solid on his feet....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

It is an interesting charge to deal with, for it is a species of trap. The apparently proper way is to detail and explain positions, resolving seeming contradictions, and laying out broad consistencies, but this will never work; it takes too long, requires too much attention from the audience, and has a pettifogging air about it that is unsuited to the task at hand.

It is also a lightweight charge, with little stopping power to it. The people do not have any great expectation of consistency from a politician, after all: they are accustomed to think of them all as trimmers and weather-vanes to some extent, and are prepared therefore to both believe the charge, and not to really care too much about it. It is rather like accusing a gorgeous blonde of dye-ing her hair --- it is probably true, most men will think, but so what?

The best method is to do what Sen. Kerry seems to have embarked on already: paint as a bare-faced liar the utterer of the charge, and accuse him of desperately attempting to change the topic from his own failures and misdeeds, and so discredit this rather boiler-plate charge at the source. If the man who utters the charge is viewed as a liar shrieking "Flip-flop! Flip-flop!" so no one will notice he has bankrupted the country and put its people out of work while lining the pockets of his pals with loot from the people's Treasury, no one will much care about such a commonplace charge.

A part of this, of course, is to point out all the various broken promises and changes of face the opponent has made, and in this case, such things are legion; anyone here could point to a dozen without pause for breath.

A further element of rebuttal is simply the revealed stature of the candidate so assailed. Sen. Kerry is a steady and strong man, and people perceive him as such when exposed to him. He will be saying coherent, consistent things, as he campaigns, and will not be swayed from them; he will tower over his opponent, and not just physically. He will seem to the common eye far more steady and secure than the cheap, mean little road-house drunk he is faced with: no one will doubt for an instant which would win if it came to blows in the parking lot....

"Desperate men do desperate things, and stupid men do stupid things. We are in for a desperately stupid summer."

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

"And yes, Kerry is a flip-flopper, so GET OVER IT when those of us who don't worship the Bore from Boston decide to criticise him on it."

have to agree....

Peace
DR

Your god is made of clay friend.

"His sacred mission is to bring an end the rule of Bush at the ballot box in November. "

I am very uncomfortable with this type of language.
How about simply "his mission is to bring an end to the rule of Bush"?

This sacred stuff is too much like what bothers me in the fundamentalists and people such as Pat Robertson who believe God wants Bush as president.

If there is something misguided about this type of thought in Republicans, being Democrats doesn't suddenly give it justification. Granted, sacred can be used to simply mean "worthy of respect, venerable," but I just checked a dictionary and that is the fifth definition. Every definition before that has a reference to religion & the definition number 1 is "dedicated to or set apart for the worship of a deity."

These are men we are talking about, not deities.

a historic mission. This is not just an "election" for him, and
understanding that helps to understand how he really feels about
those who are placing the "he will say anything" tag on him.

I believe Kerry truly despises these attacks with a righteous anger.
I accept I may be wrong.

I bet Kerry is still really pissed about the "intern" bullshit. I can imagine what a horrible thing it must have been for him for those few days. It was Republican shills that put that out..liars and crooks.

It was a good move by Kerry to "inadvertantly" get overheard calling the Bush Clan a group of crooked, lying thugs. He's got to tag Bush with the Liar label until it sticks. Folks will choose a flip-flopper over a liar anyday.

the reaction from Dean and his camp was the same :
"I'm allowed to evolve, thank you very much"

Flip flop is a media construct.

and legitamately, sad to say.

too bad it wasn't Edwards....

purveyors.

and go erase all that video tape that demonstrates it.

Then perhaps a virus to scrub the internet of it.

and lazy opposition.

Your pen and your sword, that is.

...that I can understand your disappointment if you were backing another Dem candidate, but - if you want your country back, it is time to get behind Kerry and support him for all you are worth. Otherwise - you'll have 4 more years of Bush.

You can let Bush be a "uniter" or a "divider." Up to you...

A few days ago, outsourcing jobs was good for America.

Today, outsourcing is not a good thing.

Don't get mad...get even.

I am soooooooooooooo glad that we are nominating someone with a cool head, someone not subject to misspeaking or getting angry, or speaking out of anger, or someone who can be goaded into anger, because anger makes one prone to error,thus giving the opposition openings through which they can attack. Kerry's collness in his response to Bush is brilliant. He refuses to allow Bush to get off of topic, which is the reality of his administration. Every time BUsh tries to get off topic, Kerry simply states facts, and brings Bush and the public attention back on topic.

I cannot wait until Kerry starts pointing out that Bush is a good war-time president. That he was very good at getting us into a war before it was necessary. That the one thing Bush proved by going to war with Iraq was that going to war with Iraq at the time hewent was 8unnecessary, because when they got there, and found that Saddam had no WMD's but was waiting for the U.N. to lift sanctions and stop watching Iraq to start those prorams again, he proved that the U.N. policy of containment was effective and was all that was necessary to keep Saddam from being a threat.

before character attacks do a lot of damage.