Welcome Back Willie or Karl Rove's Tribute to Lee Atwater

Found this while surfing the AP:

Try it again Karl

It seems Mr. Rove and his merry band of pranksters think that the Willie Horton ad was such a good idea that they might be willing to try it again.

<snip>

Sig Rogich, a Republican strategist in Nevada, said Bush has to take the fight to Kerry.

"I don't think the campaign has done the best job of defining John Kerry yet," Rogich said. "I think the best is yet to come."
Rogich said Kerry's record in the Senate is fair game, as well as the Dukakis-Kerry administration scorecard from Massachusetts. In 1988, Vice President George H.W. Bush used the state furlough system and a polluted Boston Harbor against Gov. Michael Dukakis, the Democratic nominee whose lieutenant governor was Kerry.

"All those same issues might have some significance this election cycle," Rogich said.

<end of snip>


And not content with showing us his Lee Atwater impression, Kindly Ol' Karl is also going to steal a page from the Big Dog's playbook.

<snip>

Bush advisers say the president will outline new policies for a second term during his acceptance speech Thursday, then will spend the next week or so explaining and promoting them in greater detail. It's a model adopted in 1996 by President Clinton, who produced a poll-tested package of small initiatives designed to appeal to moderate and independents voters.

<end of snip>

I just do love it so when this "Boy Wonder" comes up with an original thought!


:eyes:

Dukakis was a governor acting alone in an executive, supervisory role for a state. As Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here." Even though Dukakis didn't "free" Horton as it was implied, he was on watch, and that was enough of a nexis for Atwater to play with.

Kerry is a member of a large organization, the Senate. The only time a senator separates himself/herself from the body is when s/he sponsors a bill and/or s/he is the head of a Senate committee. In all other cases, the senator "cooperates" (so to speak) with the brethren and cannot be held exclusively responsible for the outcome of his/her efforts, whether it be debating a bill or passing (or voting against) a bill.

I can't see how Rove can effectively separate Kerry from other democratic senators or from the body itself (signifying that a few republican senators would get caught in the net as well).

. . . if Kerry has to spend time talking about it, that's time that the Frat Boy's record of job losses and war based on lies and deception isn't being discussed.

The so-called journalists in the US corprorate media are doing a lousy job of moderating this campaign. They are the ones who should be suggesting that the Bushies are way out of line.

I really don't think Mr. Boy Evil Genius will try to play pin the "Wilie Horton" on Kerry.

What I do think is that sometime. somewhere, we'll hear about Kerry's ties to the "failed Dukakis administration". After all most voters don't remember the Duke's "Mass Miracle" as much as they remember the Duke's riding off into the sunset in a tank after Poppy Bush handed him his ass in the 1988 election.