Why are John Kerry's surrogates so AWFUL????

[dolstein]

I found the joint appearance of Senators Bill Nelson and Norm Coleman to be deeply dispiriting. Sure, Norm Coleman is a 100% grade A a**hole. But he was also relentlessly on message. He was consistently on the attack against Kerry. He stuck to the Bush campaign's talking points with fierce discipline.

If only the same could be said for so-called Kerry supporter Bill Nelson. He didn't appear to have ANY talking points. He wasn't prepared to respond to Norm Coleman's misleading use of statistics regarding Kerry's poor attendance of public intelligence committee meetings. Apparently, he thought that showing up and claiming to be a Kerry supporter was good enough. Actually defending Kerry and going on the offensive agaist Bush was apparently too much to ask of this guy.

And unfortunately, as anyone who has witnessed Representative Jane Harmon's dismal performances on television, Nelson's lackluster performance is pretty typical of Kerry surrogates.

Does the Kerry campaign even HAVE talking points?

[JI7]

1. Max Cleland, Richard Holbrooke,Joe Lockhardt,Terry McAuliffe

they all do a good job.

one of the problems, such as in the case of John O'Neill is that he wont debate max cleland and he backs out of some shows depending on who he will be up against.

[bryant69]

2. Well you don't understand how brave he is

I mean when he backs out, really, it's not because he's afraid. It's because he is so brave he refuses to debate anybody he thinks will be too easy. He actually offered to debate Max Cleland if he could also have his shirt on fire at the same time but due to some federally imposed fire code this was illegal. So he bravely went home and made some nachos.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[fob]

9. "he backs out of some shows depending on who he will be up against"

In that case it's time our side scheduled a milquetoast to debate swifty o'neill and pull a switch and send out Cleland instead!

[THUNDER HANDS]

3. from what i've seen

I honestly think it's a reflection of how much these guys like Kerry personally.

The one's who know him well and love him will stand right up and shout someone down and really mix it up. The rest just kinda sleepwalk through a discussion.

You can tell who's who if you watch enough of this stuff.

[Southern Patriot]

4. Nelson was indeed ineffective.

Harmon is not much better.

The Kerry campaign should have been developing, grooming and prepping a stable of motivated surrogates.

Coleman was effective for Bush because, as you note, he was prepped with talking points. I'm also willing to bet that he's motivated by ambition (either an administration position or promise of political/money support).

One other thing: Senators are good for lots of purposes but most senators wouldn't be very good for this kind of job. Kerry himself suffers from some sort of elitist approach addressing to issues. House of Reps, Governors and others who are closer to the everyday concerns of people and who are skilled in rough debate would do a lot better.

Kerry should have Rep. Harold Ford (TN) stumping the country non-stop. There are others but they don't spring to mind.

[Hoping4Change]

5. Agreed. Much to laid back compared to repukes. They never

take control and take the offense. IMO they aleays play defense.

[Karmadillo]

6. I realize these guys don't want to spend all day on the internet,

but the Democratic Party could easily afford to have a team of researchers to track charges and countercharges and provide suggested talking points. Would be an easy way to avoid performances like Devine's on MTP yesterday.

[John_H]

7. Do you have all day? Some of them are excellent, but for the very

worst of reasons, the Kerry campaign has utterly botched its surrogate operation.

[Cheswick2.0]

8. because they are centrist DLC

they are too busy agreeing with the republicans to fight back effectively. If you want good surogates get some progressives who are informed and let them loose. There is nothing worse than a mealy mouthed and UNINFORMED surogate.