This Isn't 2004, Kerry's Spin Isn't Gospel

[tritsofme]

Its seems like a lot of people around here think that they can just repeat the spin Kerry is saying about this whole botched episode and it will go away. That's what we did things around here when Kerry made a gaffe in 2004, and it certainly didn't work out too well. The tortured logic in watching people go on for pages on why Kerry really did vote the $87 billion before he voted against it only seemed to prove the point of his detractors further.

If Kerry kept his mouth shut we wouldn't even be talking about this right now. Kerry could have spun this a 1000 different ways that wouldn't have created controversy, he picked the one that hurts Democrats most. My sentiments lie with that unnamed Democratic congressman that said, "I guess Kerry wasn't content blowing 2004, now he wants to blow 2006, too"

It doesn't matter what he meant to say, it doesn't matter what point he was trying to make, it doesn't matter if you are more clever than the rest of the general public and understand what he meant. He made a gaffe, and it put us back on the defensive.

Its pure naiveté to claim that this comment helps Democrats in any way, and I think that is what pisses me off the most about this situation.

This isn't going to move the discussion to an unpopular war in Iraq, the corpmedia has already successfully moved the discussion towards "the troops". No one likes this war, but everyone loves "the troops." Now the GOP can move discussion away from their unpopular war and onto "the troops" that the big bad Democrats think are a bunch of foolish idiots for joining up.

The GOP won this news cycle, and there aren't very many left before voters head to the polls.

It is foolish to waste time defending this Kerry gaffe, and Democrats should stop doing it, respond by saying "I don't know what he was thinking, now this is our plan for America"

Change the subject, move on.

[malaise]

1. Spare me please

Go Kerry - on the offensive.

[troublemaker]

2. worst... post.... ever

[troublemaker]

26. example:

A Freeper just disappointedly paraphrased Bill O'Reilly as saying "Kerry said nothing disrespectful of American troops. He was taken out of context."

I didn't see O'Reily, but if he said anything like that we have to ask: Would he have said that if Kerry had apologized and asked that we all move on? Kerry's defense is the best defense if it's true and the best defense if it's false. Contrition encourages more attacks and more media focus.

I agree that it is best to move on, but I believe that Kerry's presser today was the optimal strategy for shortening the amount of time the media spends on the thing.

[ruggerson]

3. Exactly

this was a big fucking stupid mistake on Kerry's part.

It's over.

Let's change the subject.

This election is not about John Kerry, it's about getting Congress back.

If we change the subject NOW, this will be irrelevant in two days.

[BeFree]

18. The subject is:

Bush is a dumbass and he is stuck in Iraq because he is not and never was a good student. Yet you and the OP think rush and his ilk are telling the truth?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Oh, please...

[jumpoffdaplanet]

5. bullshit

Olbermann played the lead up to the joke, and it's obvious what Kerry was doing.

Bushco was too stupid to understand they were being called stupid. And the useless press got pwned.

[JuniperLea]

9. So sad to see so many DUers don't get it

The lead up says it all...

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

17. Well, then.

All 200,000 who watch Olbermann will know what's up. As for everybody else...

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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

[elocs]

28. This happens far too often here at DU.

Anybody whose opinion does not line up with the majority (?) somehow cannot be a Democrat or then is explicitly labeled a freeper, Republican, or RWer, or is inferred to be one. Let's start being Democrats with some tolerance for other's viewpoints and not just a bunch of prissy cheerleaders who rah-rah the latest cheer. Isn't somebody allowed a viewpoint on what Kerry said other than it was the most brilliant, strategic maneuver of our lifetimes? Kerry himself said that he botched the joke and when a joke has to be explained, the humor is lost.

[Texasgal]

34. Wow...disagree

and you are labled a freeper.

Nice. :rollseyes:

[OzarkDem]

Good point

Time to get back to work and win next week.

[Lex]

7. Talk about your tortured logic.

yikes

[OzarkDem]

8. Good point

Time to forget about this mess and get back to work to win next week.

[splat]

10. Kerry has to finish it now

...speak truth to power.

[SeattleGirl]

11. Completely disagree with you.

It's playing favorably for Kerry and for the Dems, and very unfavorably for Bush and the Repubs. As Keith Olbermann said a while ago, "Kerry was calling them stupid, but they are to stupid to figure that out." "Them" being Bush and the Republicans.

[cali]

25. Not that it's terribly important

but there's really no way at all to know how it's playing at this time. My guess is that it motivates the bases of both parties, but we'll just have to see.

[BeFree]

12. It doesn't matter?

BS. What matters is the Kerry called bush a dumbass, yet you take the news spin hook-line-and-sinker?

Big mistake. You should apologize.

[tritsofme]

16. It doesn't matter what I think.

All that matters is how it gets spun and has already been spun in the corpmedia.

[BeFree]

21. What matters here

... is that you are trying to spin DUers into thinking Kerry was wrong.... when it is evident that our enemy is who was wrong.

Just stop your spin. And apologize.

[tritsofme]

27. I think the way this was handled was wrong

And I have no problem saying it.

Its not just the GOP and the media spinning, now we have the American Legion demanding an apology, the GOP is going to pull military parents in front of cameras to cry about Kerry calling her baby an idiot, and the media is just going to lap it up. This is Karl Rove's wet dream.

This whole episode needs to get out of the news cycle ASAP.

[BeFree]

33. And you still repeat it? On and on you go.

It doesn't matter what you think, is what you said, and you are right.

What matters is that the truth is known. But I am beginning to wonder if that is your angle......

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

20. This may come as news to you, but...

...most people get their news... from the news.

[BeFree]

23. It is evident

... that you get your news from them and dare to even question the veracity and content. Thank Gawd some of us can see beyond the news. You should try it some time. Like now. Kerry called bush a poor student. That's the truth, and that's all that needs to be heard.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

30. How the fuck would you know where I get my news?

Or anything else about me for that matter? And when did I ever question the veracity of what Kerry said? Point me to one statement that I made that questioned the truthfulness of anything he said. You won't find one, because quite frankly I don't give a flying rat turd whether what he said was true or not. He made a statement that was both unnecessary in the context of the election and could be easily attacked by the media and the Republicans. Politically, it was a dumb move. It will also probably be irrelevant to the outcome of the election, but that doesn't change the fact that it was dumb.

Save your holier-than-thou truthseekiness until after the election, eh? I'm glad you're enlightened. Most people aren't. Most people do get their news from the news, and right now the news is full of despicable lies and bullshit about Kerry which did not have to happen.

[BeFree]

35. The truth is

That the media spun Kerry's truthful words and you are here, it seems, to make the spin keep spinning.

Why do you accept the spin so readily? If it was the truth you wanted to see come out of all of this it seems you would be going in a totally opposite direction.... bashing the media, and not Kerry and his supporters... Hmmm.

[tritsofme]

36. You talk as though all of us sitting here

in our little echo chamber nodding our heads has some effect on how this gaffe is percieved by the general public. It doesn't.

Analyzing the situation without rosy colored glasses needs to be done.

[BeFree]

37. You talk as though all of us sitting here

are dumbasses and not able to see through the spin. The only effect we can ever have on the general public is by standing for the truth all the time. Yet you want us to deny the truth, turn on our team member and suck in the spin from the media?

BS. Totally, and I'm calling you on it.

[Mass]

13. Move on, you are right.

And thank you for the lesson. May be you should have change the subject yourself.

[blm]

14. BushInc would spin anything Jesus or Churchill said - and some Dems would

complain that they were naive, too.

The hysteria around this is BULLSHIT.

Dem "strategist" class who think GOP lies should NOT be handled and knocked down forcefully are what is wrong with this party. They have infected a whole pack of you who fear straight truth as an antidote to spin and lies.

[blue cat]

15. No one

especially a democratic politician campaigning for other democratic politicians should have to keep their mouth shut. He was clearly referring to Bush if you read the entire thing. I'm sure that it will hurt him and democrats in general because most people won't take the time to see what Kerry was really saying. That was their intent when they created this fake outrage or else they are too stupid to know that Kerry was referring to Bush in Keith Olbermann's words.

[blogslut]

19. You say spin

I say bravery and passion.

[tridim]

22. Time to update the old ignore list

Thanks for the reminder tritsofme. :)

[David Zephyr]

24. Even if you were right (you're not), what's the point. Drop it.

Do something better with your time.

John Kerry is a true American hero.

This does no good whatsoever.

Drop it.

[Double T]

29. Good points. There is a lot of 'thin skin' around here when it comes to giving opinions about......

Kerry's bungled 'joke' that wasn't funny and WAS actually quite insulting as HE originally told IT. Kerry screwed up, tomorrows a new day, let's move on!!!

[boolean]

31. Holy FUCK. You STILL believe the 87 billion GOP spin?!?!

I stopped reading your post as soon as I saw that Puke talking points are still working on you.

[tritsofme]

39. There's nothing to "believe" about it

It was another stupid thing Kerry said and the GOP had a field day with it.

I know what he was trying to say, but a seasoned politician shouldn't be open to such varying interpretations.

[survivor999]

32. Well said.

World has changed.

[Ignacio Upton]

38. You are going to get flamed, but you are right

We know that Kerry was attacking the intellectual stupidity of Bush and the planners for the war, and not the troops. HOWEVER, we need to be realistic about how the MSM news cycle works. DUers in 2004 kept touting Kerry press releases slamming the Swiftboat liars that ultimately didn't help turn his campaign around, and now someone think that touting Kerry's response will solve everything. Trouble is, most Americans don't read Kerry's speeches, and they only read and watch MSM sources. Practically-speaking, we need to change the subject and push this story out of the news cycle by Thursday.