The controversy on Kerry accomplished what the RW wanted

[TayTay]

It has "taken him out" for a while in MA. This was the point. The RW doesn't care about right or wrong or truth; they care about perception only. So, now JK is a bit tainted for a short while. (Short while is all they wanted.)

MA and NH have some really good election battles coming up this fall. There is a hot Senatorial race in NH, a hot couple of races for the House in MA and NH and a hot Gubernatorial battle in MA. JK's "brand" is a bit diminished at this moment, so he can't go on the road and defend Dems. (For a short while. This controversy doesn't have long, long legs. American political memory is too short for that.)

Scott Brown had a revolting quote in the paper the other day about feeling sympathy for the unemployed and how the nation needs jobs. Hypocrite. Brown voted against this, against the DISCLOSE Act and against everything else that would actually aid the average worker in MA. Yet, because of this mishap with Kerry (which the good Senator aided and abetted by not diffusing it sooner, imho) Brown gets to keep him "man of the people" thing going for a while longer.

JK was "played." He should have seen it coming. He didn't. No, it's not fair. Life is not fair. Successful politicians know that perception is reality, until a greater reality trumps that one. JK has been in this business for a long, long time. He should have had people around him to warn him this was coming. It was a preventable mistake with consequences. (Yes, he didn't do anything wrong. So what? Where does feeling righteous get you in the game of perception?)

[ProSense]

1. "Where does feeling righteous get you in the game of perception?"

Nowhere, and then you call them out:

Scott Brown voted against unemployment. There is an issue ripe with the Democrats currently, and that is ending Bush's tax cuts on the rich. Scott Brown has to vote.

I came across something that just defines the hypocrisy in Mass:

Schilling defends $75M deal with RI
Ocean State bested Louisiana, Canada

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Rhode Island beat out other places including Louisiana and some Canadian provinces to become the new home of Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Studios , by offering a $75 million loan guarantee, the former Red Sox pitcher said Wednesday.

<...>

Although Schilling “absolutely” wished Massachusetts had offered incentives to keep 38 Studios in the Bay State, only U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., made a significant effort to explore the possibility, he said.

“We made every effort to make that happen, and it was not going to happen,” he said. Officials in Massachusetts have said the state would never provide as large a guarantee as $75 million to a single company.

<...>

If 38 Studios is successful, it will help turn the Providence area into a hub for game development, which could create close to 2,000 jobs, Schilling said. The company currently employs about 200 workers who make an average of $75,200 a year, he said. It is likely to lease a headquarters soon “somewhere in downtown Providence,” he said.

link

Isn't this the guy people have been hyping to run for office?

[wisteria]

2. It may not be all that bad.

I agree that he should have seen something like this coming ahead of time and should have "dotted every i and crossed every t" to make sure there was nothing the Republicans could pick off and exploit. But,if this was in fact a Heinz purchase,then he took the hit for their inconsideration.I will admit that when I first read about the boat purchase in March, my first reaction was oh, maybe this isn't such a good idea right now but then I though, it is was his business if he wanted to purchase it-not mine.Let this be a lesson learned. But, Senator Kerry, and all other Democrats, can not go around and second guess themselves on everything thing they do or say for fear Republicans will spin it and exploit every little thing. Democrats need to take a page from the Republican playbook and handle these situations as they do-they rise above them, deny them using few words,and continue to say very little waiting for everything to blow over.

The article below from the Boston Globe today is not so bad, and I wonder if perhaps he should still campaign for Democrats who want him to The majority of those who are outraged over nothing the Senator did that was illegal, are mostly the same group of Republicans and perhaps a few Independents who never liked him and never voted for him or Democrats anyway. There might even be a way to turn this around to benefit Democrats on the tax issue. Maybe going out and campaigning anyway would further defuse this Republican sting, and actually benefit Senator Kerry and the party. Republicans try these things all the time, and the more they see they gain results from doing them,the more they will continue to employ these kinds of tactics.


http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/07/29/boat_tax_saga_hurts_kerry_how_much_is_hard_to_gauge/

[Luftmensch067]

5. Completely agree with you, Wisteria

I think JK should come out swinging and make appearances in support of state Dems. He is our senior Senator, for God's sake. When they see him in person, people like and respect him. And if he has to come up with a pat answer for the yacht question for the inevitable yahoos, more's the better in terms of shutting them up. And I agree with you and ProSense that the more success the RW has with tactics like this, the harder they'll push, so it's best to call them out!

[YvonneCa]

7. Well, I'm not in MA and so have no...

...real say here...BUT I agree with you. JK has NO REASON to be embarrassed or to 'lie low' if he is needed. I think that is the goal...take out powerful Dems. Why should we allow their tactics to work? Fight them, Dammit! :7

[ProSense]

3. Scott Brown voted against

small business lending

[MBS]

4. Dems should NAIL him for that n/t

[wisteria]

8. Oh, I agree, run with this and repeat it until it sinks in. n/t

[ProSense]

6. Here is a good piece

about conservative smears

[wisteria]

9. That is an excellent piece and it sums up how really deplorable Republicans are now. n/t

[Luftmensch067]

10. Excellent piece, thanks! n/t

[ProSense]

11. OT, but there maybe justice after all

The Wyly Brothers charged with insider trading. Posted here and in LBN

[TayTay]

12. Nice Responses.

I enjoyed all the comments in these threads about this whole silly Yacht thing.

There was an article in the Globe a few days ago that said that $25 million dollars, give or take a million here or there, will be spent soon in the Boston media markets (MA, NH, RI and some of CT) on election ads from August to Nov.

Wow! $25 million dollars to spend in a market where 90% or more of the people have already made up their minds on who they will vote for, if indeed they decide to vote. Wow! That is 3 times what was spent on the whole Senatorial general election in MA. The amount of advertising back then (and the endless phone calls and "push, push, push") drove me and countless others crazy. Too much all at once. It was enraging and exhausting at the same time. (And damn, I like politics. Most people don't.)

90% of the people have already made up their minds on how they will vote in November. So all this money, all this effort and ad push will be spent toward a small part of the population. The part that doesn't pay attention during the year. The part that decides based on snippets of information gleaned in spare moments of time. Maybe a Mom who catches a few seconds of the news whiile she is trying to bring order to a chaotic home full of kids and work and other things. Maybe a busy contractor who has a head full of things he has to do who hears a random conversation or catches a glimpse of a provacative headline in a newspaper.

These are the people who are going to decide based on perception. These are the people, good people by and large, who the RW is targeting in smearing Sen. Kerry. They aim to plant seeds of doubt in just a few places. They don't have to care about truth. If you care about truth, you are already in one camp or the other. (Truth, is absolute and relative in politics. Ask Sarah Palin who genuinely believes her own stuff.)

Sometimes I think we should develop a version of the Serenity Prayer just for folks who do care about politics. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

There are people in this world who don't care about what is true or what is "right or wrong" in the sense in which we discuss it here. There are a lot of people who post on DU who would rather be right than effective. (They wouldn't put it that way, but they act that way.) There are a lot of others who would rather be effective than right. We spend a lot of time in here trying hard to navigate the shoals between these groups. We actually discuss what is real and what isn't; what truth is and when the fine line between truth and perception is breached.

I think that's why I like this group so much.

It is very hard to accept that smears happen. It is incredibly hard to watch a slow-motion tackle of a good person like Sen. Kerry. It is even harder to watch when you suspect that the tackle could have been avoided. (I think it could have been.) Good, decent, truth-seeking people make mistakes. They are human. The fact that good, decent, hard-working and truth seeking people make mistakes is hard to accept. It annoys the heck out of me. (Until I remember that I make mistakes too and would like a little forgiveness when my inate humanity slips out.)

I can only hope that I can find that wisdom the Serenity Prayer talks about to know the difference. There are people out there who have edges as sharp as a butcher's knife. They believe in human perfection and can't understand that others make mistakes. I struggle to understand these people who are Democrats, say they are fighting for those among us who are less fortunate, less priviledged and less noticed in society and then can't tolerate mistakes. Who are these people and why are they here? What understanding of the human heart do they bring to the table; what underpins their argument? I only vote for human being, real people with flaws and triumphs. I can't figure out who the mythical perfect people in politics are or why I could ever identify with a perfect person.

We all make mistakes. We all need forgiveness for those mistakes. That is the real truth that the RW wants to make go away. It's the heart of the smear. They wish to cement a hard image of someone into the public mind and then deny that person any other motives or flavors or moods or, God forbid, the right to make mistakes and then move beyond them. I refuse to play that game.

[wisteria]

13. The Republicans never accept or refuse to acknowledge apologies.

They exploit every weakness or mistake and they are forever reminding those who pay attention to them, what this person did or said-no matter how long ago. Senator Kennedy is a good example of this RW tactic,but I never saw the right wing lies and smears keep him from doing what he set out to do, or helping his party when asked.

[ProSense]

15. Well said, and this is so true

"They wish to cement a hard image of someone into the public mind and then deny that person any other motives or flavors or moods or, God forbid, the right to make mistakes and then move beyond them. I refuse to play that game."

They are really determined to do that when it comes to Senator Kerry.

[ProSense]

14. Please

if you can, add a comment to this BG article before the RW attacks.

[wisteria]

16. To be expected, the usual anti-Kerry group ignores facts and apolgies and contines to repeat

what has been disproven. But, there are a couple of good comments there.