Kerry campaign manager admits underestimating Swift boat ads

[liberalpragmatist]

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/12/15/kerry_campaign_manager_admits_underestimating_swift_boat_ads/

By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer | December 15, 2004

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The campaign manager for Sen. John Kerry's failed presidential bid said Wednesday she regrets underestimating the impact of an attack advertisement that questioned Kerry's Vietnam War record.

Mary Beth Cahill, who spoke at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government with Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager, said the Massachusetts senator's campaign initially thought there would be "no reach" to the ad from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

<snip>

"This is the best $40,000 investment made by any political group, but it was only because of the news coverage that it got where it did," she said.

"In hindsight, maybe we should have put Sen. Kerry out earlier, perhaps we could have cut it off earlier."

<snip>

Cahill said the Swift boat ads show the power of news coverage, particularly cable news stations, which she said amplified the ads by running them repeatedly.

She said it was frustrating that the first ad continued to eat up so much air time even after the central allegations were debunked.

"For me, this was a very big change. The fact that it was disproved and it was still shown every day as part of the (campaign) coverage," she said.

[ronnykmarshall]

1. File this under :

NO SHIT!

[tk2kewl]

8. or file it under "Kerry OVERestimates campaign manager"

[Warpy]

11. Yeah, that's about it

Anybody competent would have had Kerry file a libel suit the day their damned book came out. Oh, winning the suit wasn't the point. Tying up their resources while gaining subpoena power to trace all their support was the point.

That Kerry still hasn't done it is incredibly telling. These jerks are not going to go away. He should know that by now.

Mary Beth Cahill should go back to the GOP, along with the rest of the DLC's stable of campaign handlers. They are the problem, not the solution to anything.

[JI7]

12. Cahill and most of Kerry's campaign team are Ted Kennedy's people

they have gone back to working for Ted Kennedy.

[fujiyama]

30. As much as I like Kennedy

When did he win a nationwide election?

Why do Dems keep hiring idiots to manage their campaigns? Hiring Shrum and Cahill made no sense...

[SharonAnn]

2. Guess I should apply for campaign manager then, because I

immediately recognized what was likely to happen with that ad.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone experienced in today's campaign media markets.

[Jack_Dawson]

3. MediaWhores Legitimizing the Swifties Didn't Help Either

a la Tweety, etc.

However, BBV is the real problem. Kerry's campaign is just fucking clueless.

[mcscajun]

4. Well, DUH!

You don't run and hide when you're attacked! You come right back at 'em!

[PROGRESSIVE1]

5. Kerry was vacationing during the Swift Boat attacks.

Kerry did NOT do everything he could to win.

I do not want him again in 2008!

[politicasista]

14. You will probably get your wish.

:argh:

[Democat]

33. Don't worry, the windsurfing pictures will overcome the swift ads!

Kerry is a strong closer.

He needs a vacation, he's been working so hard.

And all the rest of the pathetic excuses we heard.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JI7]

7. i don't think it would have mattered

if any change should have been made it should have been the Kerry campaign talking about his record from Vietnam, as a prosecutor , and his time in the senate. they should have talked about his taking on the mob, going after rapists and helping set up help centers for raped women, they should have talked about his investigations in the senate.

the swift boat thing was more of a media created thing. they had the facts and didn't report it for a reason.

[tabasco]

9. And overestimating the decency of the American People too.

I'm guilty too. I thought these scurrilous, disgraceful attacks would hurt the republicans.

[KurtNYC]

10. There are many things MB Cahill doesn't understand about how

the world works apparently.

When you are attacked you HAVE TO shoot back ASAP. That is PR rule #1. Kerry had the opportunity to go on CNN everyday that they had the Swifties. He or a surrogate could have gotten tons of airtime.

Disturbing.

If MB Cahill drove in the Indy 500, she would drive 65mph.

[lwyrfl]

13. good post, Kurt!

[demnan]

15. Why can't these high priced people see the obvious?

Why didn't they prepare for this and know what they were going to do? I mean this guy had hated Kerry for years, they had to know he was out there and the Bushies would bankroll him.

What kind of idiot is Mary Beth Cahill?

[IrateCitizen]

16. The kind who hasn't stepped foot outside the Beltway...

... in the past 20 years. The same kind of idiot as all of these professional "advisors" and "pollsters" running failing Democratic campaigns.

With any luck (for all of us), they'll all have to find REAL jobs very soon, and some people who actually have met face-to-face with reality over the past 20 years will take their places.

[TrustingDog]

23. I just don't get it either... geeeeeeze these people are in 'the business'

of politics, much of it nasty/dirty.


I just do not understand.


or maybe I do. Nader may have been right all along - they're all the same shitpile, one is a bit higher, is all.

[ecoalex]

17. Cahill was a repug Dream

It was obvious to me, anyone else? the rope a dope of Kerry during the swift boat liars attack , showed that he was dead meat. The lack of a counter attack immediately was the cause of instilling into cracker minds another repug lie.

[Leilani]

18. DUH!

Cahill & Mehlman were just on "Inside Politics."

She said she underestimated "terrorism" & "security" as the issues that Bush ran & won on.

This woman is clueless...she should have read DU...we Clarkies told her what it was about.

And we ALL knew the damage of the Swift Boat Ads...she didn't.

In 2008, how about they get some people who have a clue.


Kerry could have turned this around on Bush so fast: Bush was in charge when we were attacked, where's Osama?, money going to Halliburton, & not to Homeland Security.

This Presidential race was a real shame, because people didn't like Bush...he didn't win it, Kerry lost it.

And we'll all pay dearly for 4 more years.

[politicasista]

19. Okay someone else from the primaries could have done better.

Really? Say what you want, but I don't want to blame Kerry.

[Leilani]

20. The entire thing was FUBAR from beginning to end

And I didn't say someone from the primaries would have done better.

I said people who ran during the primaries had ideas that were ignored.

And we, as posters at DU saw the problems...why didn't they?

[NYCGirl]

21. And anytime any of us here would criticize, we were told by other

DUers, "Don't worry, they know what they're doing." Or "It's rope-a-dope." Or "political judo."
:mad:

[Leilani]

24. During the campaign I bit my tongue many times

because I really wanted to be positive.

A few times, I made what I thought was constructive criticism, but I tried to do it in a positive way.

I also wrote to the Kerry campaign a few times.

[Democat]

31. Great point NYCGirl, and here is another gem from the DU police

"How many presidential elections have you won?"

It was so obvious that the campaign was dropping the ball but some people just didn't want to see it. They just kept waiting for the imaginary "backlash" that was never going to come.

Some of those same people will do the exact same thing in 2006 and 2008. It worked in 2002 and 2004, why change now?

[Northern Perspective]

22. That wasn't the only problem, Ms.Cahill

The tragedy is that so many of the problems were of a much more practical nature. This is the heartbreaker. What will change between now and 2006?

"It's the incompetence, stupid
Forget MoveOn and ACT -- the real downfall of the Democrats was the Kerry campaign itself. A volunteer speaks out..."


http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/12/16/volunteer/index.html

[Leilani]

25. Welcome to DU!

Yes, I read that article, & actually, it wasn't very surprising.

[Northern Perspective]

26. Athens, not Rome

Thanks. Looking for an intellectual "home away from home". I think this is it.

[zulchzulu]

27. I drove Cahill around during the pre-First Debate prep in Spring Green

I got to drive her around and we did talk frankly and briefly about it. I asked her what they plan on doing about it and she explained that she had faith that people saw through the lies. She kept most of what they would try to do to herself...after all, I was just some guy driving the van. All in all, she was very cool about sharing a discussion without me.

Knowing that if the campaign went for the jugular on the Swifties (who were pretty much seen by the campaign as debunked), it would have stirred even more attention to the ads.

People have mentioned her that the Kerry campaign never struck back. First of all, the campaign had $75 Million to use from August to November. Rove knew that Kerry would have to keep his powder dry in August, so he unleashed the SBVFT shit then. McCain, Hagel and other Republicans came out against the ads. Many Democrats and Kerry surrogates came out against the ads. Kerry mentioned it in speeches.

The problem was how the media let it slide. The media that kept interviewing these liars are complicit with allowing them to have ANY validity. If they were real journalists, they would have thrown them out the door once the Swifites admitted they never actually SERVED with Kerry.

Bush knows that his jig will be up soon in the back of his mind. He destroyed McCain with the same bullshit. He won't get away with it.

[Democat]

32. He won't get away with it? He already did - he is the King!

I can't even imagine what more Bush could want to "get away with" - he is the king of America, what more is there to "get away with".

Are you still waiting for the recounts or something?

[robbedvoter]

28. Worse than "can't win war on terra" "uh, I can" hard work W?

The deck was stacked, don't buy in the lie. Sure the campaign was imperfect, but compared to whose?
The election was stolen, so these discussions are pretty much irrelevant (and I am no Kerry fan)

Check the #14 trait of fascism - it applies in every way:

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a
complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns
against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of
legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries,
and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their
judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Politics/Structure3.htm

[fujiyama]

29. I cant' explain

how mad this makes me. Many of us were yelling our heads off that this was having an effect. Unfortunately these million dollar advisors poo pooed us and dismissed it.

x(

:mad:

I don't want Cahill and Shrum anywhere near another campaign. They've more than proven their incompetance.