Reply #25: ABB was a mantra for the primaries, not the general election [View All]

[gottaB]

The message was that any of the 10 Dem candidates were preferable to Bush, so there should be a limit to the criticisms directed at competitors.

All of the campaigns, all of the candidates embraced this idea at one time or another. For instance, John Edwards, who, iirc, had your support and respect during the primaries, was once asked to criticize his rivals' health care proposals. He instead made the case that every one of his rivals had a health care proposal, in contrast to Bush who had none, before going on to talk about his ideas about health care. That was an instance of an ABB argument.

Do you think Edward's argument didn't make clear what the Democrats stood for, how they contrasted with Bush, or why a moderate in SD should vote Democratic?