Perfect!

[ProSense]

From The Premise:

November 20th, 2006 - 6:16 pm |

Hilarious. And all too familiar.

Jason Zengerle of the pro-war, Joe Lieberman wing of the Democratic Party, writes this of John Kerry:

…Kerry seemed to divine an important lesson from the mid-term elections:

“Since we had very close races, I made the decision to make certain that I didn’t distract. The results speak for themselves,” he said.

Yes they do. Now Kerry just needs to pull another disappearing act for ‘08 and the Democrats will take the White House, too!

Only twenty-eight minutes later, early Iraq war cheerleader and resolute conservative Andrew Sullivan links to the swipe with his own:

The only politician with greater powers of denial than the president appears to be his 2004 opponent, the worst politician in Washington, John Kerry.

There’s something truly comical when a man who is as precise with language as Andrew Sullivan throws an infantile rhetorical fit. I suppose Mr. Sullivan is concerned that Senator Kerry might somehow prevent the ‘last big push’ that he and George Bush are so excited about now that Donald “Small Army” Rumsfeld is gone.

Not surprisingly there have been a lot of people trying to take John Kerry down and drive him from the roster of prospective presidential candidates over the past couple of weeks. I haven’t commented on that much because it’s normal. It was inevitable in 2003 when Mr. Kerry decided to campaign for president, and it’s inevitable now.

John Kerry is the only politician considering a run in 2008 who scares everyone from Hillary Clinton to John McCain, because he’s actually qualified to be president. He knows it, they know it, and the voters know it.

Everyone else wants to have a personality contest, but if John Kerry runs they can’t. They’ll have to campaign on the merits, and they can’t beat John Kerry on the merits.

– Mark Barrett

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[Democrafty]

1. it IS perfect!

I wish Mark Barret allowed comments so I could tell him how awesome I think he is.

[Island Blue]

2. This sentance say it all ...

"Everyone else wants to have a personality contest, but if John Kerry runs they can’t. They’ll have to campaign on the merits, and they can’t beat John Kerry on the merits."

Perfect indeed!

[fedupinBushcountry]

3. Excellent

I think I know who Mark is, and I can tell you this he knows John Kerry and he knows exactly what happened on the ground in Iowa in '03 - '04. He is one hell of a guy.

Bravo Mark !!!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

[ginnyinWI]

4. cool.

Some of them do get it! :) :) :)

[wisteria]

5. Sooooooo true. n/t

[rockymountaindem]

6. I think this is a bad angle

Look, I know John Kerry is not the "wooden" characature he is frequently portrayed as, and you know that, but in the end the voters' perception of a candidate's character matters. Saying that any campaign in 2008 will be about "the merits" makes no more sense than saying that the 2004 campaign was about "the merits" and not swiftboat lies and barbs traded on late nite TV. Those things really matter a lot.

I think that living under the misperception that these problems will suddenly disappear in a moment of clarity during the '08 campaign is dangerous for all candidates, Kerry included. This might not matter in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the candidates can reach more voters more directly, but in the general election it's key. So, rather than comfort ourselves that everybody's going to be in a better mindset in 2008, we should buckle down and figure out how to improve the image of John Kerry's personality among the voters.

Step one: fire all the consultants who told him to tone it down and not get mad.

[wisteria]

7. We need a merit candidate with personality and JK have both.

Actually, who ever said Hillary was a personality candidate? The problem as I see it is the news media. They refuse to allow him to have a personality let alone present him in a good light. This is a big problem and I don't know what we can do about it.

[ProSense]

9. The media can give anybody

any personality they want to. Bush, the "plain-talking compassionate, Christian conservative cowboy who folks would like to have a beer with," is a complete fabrication of the media. He is in reality a callous, lying, incoherent, dry drunk!

[karynnj]

8. John Kerry' s character is conceded by nearly all Democrats

That is important and he has no problems there. I agree with your second paragraph that personality does matter - and I think Kerry needs to continue doing what he has been doing - being seen on talk shows - as a stable, calm, thoughtful person. He also needs to be seen with people - connecting with them. This is harder - not because he can't or doesn't do this - but because the media tends to not show it.

My guess though is that in a time of trouble, after 8 years of chaos and hurt, you don't look for the flashy, charming bad boy - but the trusted, wise, supportive father figure. That's Kerry. (Hillary is too cold to be a supporting mother figure - no matter how good she was to Chelsea.)

[rockymountaindem]

10. You could have a point there

All I'm saying is that we need to confront potential problems head on, not pretend they don't exist as I feel the article in the OP does. I hope Kerry finds a way to get better media play. Oh, like maybe having that pic of him in Wisconsin at the rally right before the election with 90,000 entheusiastic people there plastered on every flat surface in America with the tagline "does this look like an ABB candidate to you?" on it.

[politicasista]

11. I agree n/t

[karynnj]

12. I do agree that Kerry has a media problem -

It is real and I suspect that it reflects that people satisfied with the status quo (which well rewarded media people basicly are) are scared of people who want genuine change.

When we list things that most impress us about Kerry - many are times when even as a sitting Senator he took on the establishment. In campaigns, it is normal for the party out of power to speak of change - but it is rarely with complete sincerity. As to Democrats, people Kerry caught who were involved in BCCI up to their necks were people who were in Democratic administrations. Clinton appointed Altman with full knowledge of his role. Unlike most DC insiders, Kerry did not protect people on his side who were corrupt. He has integrity. The fact that he can't be controlled has to scare some people.

[TayTay]

17. That depends. Kerry has to be Kerry

part of this argument is that people have to be themselves. Kerry is, authentically, a smart problem-focused guy. That is who he is. Any attempt to turn him into a back-slapping Clinton-wannabee is not going to work.

Kerry was down 10 points in the polls going into the first debate. He recovered overnight. Why was that?

[politicasista]

13. I also think

that if Kerry runs again, he is going to have to get the ground game going again, meaning talking directly to people on the ground like 03 and 04.

It's clear that the polls and media isn't his friend.

[ProSense]

14. It's absolute insanity

that the media can write an article about Newt Gingrich with seriousness, while continuing to play their charade with Kerry.

[politicasista]

15. They want to take him out

I agree with rockymountaindem, the true perception of Kerry needs tofind a way to get media play and get out there to people in Iowa and other primary states, which is why he should visit there (maybe under the radar :)) and talk to voters about his populist, anti-corruption and Iraq withdrawal message.

Someone in GDP pointed out that Gore was polling better (as a former presidential candidate) around this time. Kerry's poll numbers are not good right now, (I know they are meaningless) that's why I hope that if he plans on running that he can get the ground game going cause that may be his best bet.

[fedupinBushcountry]

16. I really really doubt

that will happen. There will be a few that treat him fairly, mainly those that are in print. But TV, noway. They don't want Kerry, and I think my son gave me the reason why, after his loss in '04. He said that Kerry is to GOOD for them, he wouldn't make good (gossipy tabloid)stories, he would be getting the people's work done, and oh how that would destroy this lazy tabloid media we have now.

I'm positive JK knows what he is up against and he was up against it before. He knows what to do and he will answer and talk with the people just like he did before. JK does not give into the pundits and the insiders and he has been talking to the people all over the country and now he will continue on that path. One other thing, we all still have his back.

[Firespirit]

18. Gore also had a "sympathy" factor

He was widely regarded as the rightful winner of Florida and thus the presidential election. Despite what we know on the blogosphere, Kerry never picked up such a distinction.

Kerry's poll numbers have been lower before. In 2003 they were significantly lower than they are now, but he came back. I don't believe that he has actually lost supporters. The decline in poll numbers is a combination of several things: a certain amount of embarrassment in saying to a media pollster after the joke BS that he is still their candidate of choice, and an uncertainty now in whether he would be a good campaigner. No one doubts that he would be a fantastic president.

[wisteria]

20. Gee, I wonder how people arrived at their feelings of Kerry possibly

being a bad campaigner and not learning from past mistakes?
The media frustrates me. There has got to be something that can be done to get him some good press. He just doesn't get a break. It is always snark and negative comments.

[wisteria]

19. Gore was polling better because he was in hiding and the media,

the Republican party,Hillary Clinton and McCain didn't go after him and accuse him of insulting the troops. Kerry's numbers are down because of the over hyped and negative airplay Kerry's misstatement received. Don't you understand that? You can not compare Gore to Kerry at this point in time. No other politician has been given so much negative attention in the press. All the others are riding on good press and puff pieces.

[politicasista]

21. That's what is so frustrating about this episode

All the other candidates are riding on good press and puff pieces, and this whole "botched" joke incident has ignored everything else that Kerry has done the last year and a half.