Get off his back and get off your butts!

It's ridiculous to attack Kerry for not smearing or going negative on Bush. That's not his job - his job is to present himself and his plans for America. It's up to the surrogates (which includes us) to build him the backfires he needs and do the dirty work.

I'm sick of hearing Democrats beat up on Kerry because he's not presenting his message AND attacking Bush AND dogging out the Swift Boat Liars AND calling out Cheney AND smacking down McCain AND giving more speeches AND not getting on television more AND not on a daily basis adjusting his campaign strategy according to the views expressed on the DU message boards (which, of course, he should be studying religiously) in between all of the other stuff he's supposed to be doing. We're behaving as if Kerry is our saviour who must carry out the entire campaign by himself while we sit on our butts at our computer second-guessing him.

Well, that will get us and Kerry nowhere. Kerry doesn't need MORE advice. He needs voices, and legs, and hearts. We need to be speaking out FOR Kerry, not yelling AT him. We are his best asset and can make an immeasurable difference by speaking out for him. It's not Kerry's job to defend himself and get out his message and attack his opponents. Much of that WE should be doing.

Notice that you don't hear Bush defend himself against every criticism? He bats it away and stays on message. But that doesn't mean that charges against him go unanswered. His surrogates speak up loud and constantly. THEY do much of his dirty work, so that he can stay above it, stay focused and present himself to the American people.

The DNC press conference now on C-Span is an excellent example of what we need to be doing. They're defending Kerry and saying things that he cannot and should not say. They've gone after Bush. Ahnold, Cheney, the convention, etc. THAT'S what Kerry needs.

So, please, people. Stop demanding that the candidate carry the entire campaign himself. He's more than doing his part. It's time for us to do ours.

For that terrific post you get one:

"YOU DA MAN"!

like taxpayers are NOT different under Kerry @ $190k yr


Taxpayers Income Current Kerry Difference
--------- ------ ------- ----- ----------

Married $190K 30,500 $30,500 0


Single $275K 59,800 62,300 2,500


Married $500k 111,350 118,450 7,100

Married $750k 167,250 190,450 23,200

Married $1Million 215,250 250,100 34,580


Source: Deloit & Touche
WSJ page D2 8/26/04

very well put, your post. i especially like this post. i imagined it all in one breath, lol

I'm sick of hearing Democrats beat up on Kerry because he's not presenting his message AND attacking Bush AND dogging out the Swift Boat Liars AND calling out Cheney AND smacking down McCain AND giving more speeches AND not getting on television more AND not on a daily basis adjusting his campaign strategy according to the views expressed on the DU message boards (which, of course, he should be studying religiously) in between all of the other stuff he's supposed to be doing.

We have to find a way of forcing this media to stop bashing Kerry while giving Bush a complete pass. Look at this "Purple Heart Patch" pass the Repukes just got? I believe that is what is really behind this frustration. Frankly I thought the Dems would do a much better job. Especially after the lesson of Gore.

would vote to give Bush authority for the Iraq war even knowing what he knows now", what should I say?

Here is what Kerry said:

""Yes, I would have voted for the authority, but I would have used that authority, as I have said throughout this campaign, effectively. I would have done this very differently from the way President Bush has. My question for President Bush is: Why did he rush to war without a plan to win the peace?""

What Kerry would have done is work more with the UN and not been influenced by the Project For A New American Century neocons.

This is Kerry said about the issue with Paula Zahn on CNN last September, 2003. It explains his position pretty concisely:

ZAHN: Is there a contradiction with your support of allowing the troops to go over to Iraq and now being so highly critical of this post-war...

KERRY: No, none whatsoever. There's no contradiction at all.

I am absolutely convinced I voted for the security of the United States of the America with the assurance of the president that he was going to go to the United Nations and build a international coalition, that he was going to make a plan to win the peace, that he would do the preparations, he would respect the U.N. process and that he would go to war as a last resort.

The president set the date for the start of this war. Not us. And he did not go as a last resort. He broke his word to the American people. He broke his word to the Congress and through us, the American people themselves. And he rushed to war. He doesn't have a plan. We need to go to the United Nations, Paula. We need to get the sense of American occupation off the table. We need to strengthen America by taking the target off our troops and bring the world to the table to help us.

Yes, Kerry voted to give the president the authority to use a variety of measures to enforce the UN Resolutions, up to and including force. He did this, not because he was voting for war or expected Bush to invade Iraq, but because he believes that a president needs to have all options available to him when negotiating with an adversary. He felt that, in order to force Saddam to comply with the UN Resolutions, Saddam needed to have the threat of force hanging over his head.

However, Kerry also expected that the president to use these options rationally and responsibly and to use war as a last resort, not the first and only alternative. Unfortunately, in tossing aside all of the other options and rushing to war, without adequate planning for the hostilities and no plan for peace, President Bush has proven that he cannot be trusted with the necessary powers placed into the hands of the Commander-in-Chief.

www.kerrysupport.com

Set up your own grassroots effort without waiting for the Cavalry to arrive.

Plenty of info, documents to print out, MP3s to download and talking points to arm yourself...

Bring it the hell on.

we can watch CSPAN and if you need a warm fuzzy from the left then turn on Air America on your PC and listen. Don't allow Republicans and right wing media to get all of us second guessing about our strategies. This is how they work -- wise up guys-- remember we are the smart ones :kick:

Saying Kerry needs to change course isn't an attack on him. I suggest you get over the Republican style sensitivity that leads you to feel any criticism or dissent is an attack.

There are people who support Kerry in multiple ways but aren't happy with some of his decisions. What do you suggest those people do with those opinions - bury them?

As the republicans herd the moderates up to podium this week-their main theme is to try to show unity in spite of the publicity of dissent among their ranks-- see log cabin republicans and republicans for choice.

They are going to put lipstick on this pig irregardless of what the minority in their party thinks.

If they feel that we have dissent behind our candidate they will go after it and exploit it.

I, for one, am not a qualified campaign manager so I am leaving it up to them. I am supporting Kerry because I agree on most of the issues he presents and I will stand behind him because he is the right candidate.

Kerry hasn't been saying much of substance about much of anything. His acquiescence on Iraq is defeating the very thing that Goober is most vulnerable on.

If he wants a party that will follow blindly his every utterance and bow to his commands, he should have been a Republican.

He doesn't have to listen to us "amateurs." He doesn't have to listen to his "experts." He doesn't have to listen to the polls. He certainly doesn't have to listen to his opposition. From Viet Nam to the Senate, Kerry got where he his by placing his faith on his OWN instincts--and he hasn't really done that since he wrote his DNC speech. It started to show. We didn't like it. So we yelled. And today, we're seeing seeing the results--a pointed, animated speech by Kerry, and surrogates displaying spinal fortitude which I hope will be carried into the national media.

This election is not about the people who pore over Kerry's internal polls and demographics and projections and messages to stay on and marketing strategies and timelines and margins of error. It's about the people who are going to be casting the votes. We don't like being treated like second class citizens, and we don't like being ordered to "stay on message" when the message is that the message clearly doesn't work. So we yell--loud enough for Kerry to hear. If that's resulted in hurt feelings or lost jobs in the Kerry camp, that's just too bad. Because as Kerry finally seems to have figured out, when WE yell, he'd BETTER listen.

:headbang:
rocknation