Did Kerry withdraw himself from Dem Campaigns or did Dem Heirarchy do it?

[KoKo]

Should he have withdrawn? He looks like he was disgraced by having to withdraw. Was it a wise decision for him to withdraw even the the story continues in calls for him to apologize even though he's withdrawn from appearances? :shrug:

Could this whole incident have been better handled? If so HOW?

[madfloridian]

1. Well, I think Clinton is with Ford today in Memphis...

But Ford is ashamed of Kerry and Dean and doesn't want them around. He's willing to take Kerry's money, though.

I guess Clinton's ok with Ford.

[sandnsea]

3. Of course - Clinton is with Ford

Well no friggin' wonder Ford is attacking Kerry. Makes perfect sense now.

[madfloridian]

5. Temple of Deliverance in Memphis.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/1/10403/7039

"Clinton will make an appearance at Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ 369 GE Patterson Avenue Memphis, TN where it is expected that he will endorse the campaign of TN-9 House nominee State Senator Steve Cohen and Democatic U.S. Senate nominee Harold Ford, Jr."

[KoKo]

7. Some pundit said it was knocking Kerry out for Hillary....I don't know that

I believe that, though.

[karynnj]

2. He said on Imus that he withdrew

so he was not an issue in those campaigns. This was likely a good idea. It stinks that a joke mangled because he lost his place in the text can be spun this big. I have seen some Democratic spokeman handle it very well - Murtha, Carville among them - adroitly turning it to he war in Iraq. I guess the moral is that by putting himself on the line with so many appearances, he said one line that backfired. (Bush does that daily - but the comment is merely laughed at.)

He also said that he was going to DC to handle the problem. I'm not sure what he could do - at this point.

[KoKo]

6. I'm wondering what strategy could have been used to handle this better..

because we Dems always get caught up in stuff like this. Remember when Durbin was forced to apologize, Reid was forced to apologize? (I can't even remember what both had to apologize for..but remember the apologies because it was humiliating to us Dems) Why is it that Dems suffer for their statements (which are always true) and have to take consequences that allow the media to dance on our bones?

What can we learn about this....so that it doesn't happen to the Candidate who runs in '08. After years of Clinton and failed elections...we still get ourselves into these messes that we can't seem to cleverly get ourselves out of. We are smarter than they are...and the truth is on our side, but we still apologize... Something's got to change.

[karynnj]

9. That is an interesting set of questions

I wonder if the reason we are more likely to apologize has to do with things similar to those Lakoff spoke of. The Republicans are authoritarian and they see themselves as the father of the family who controls everyone else. So if the unruly kids, Democrats or the reporters not in their pocket, call them to task for something - they just glare and refuse to give them the time of day.

The Democratic model is more equalitarian - at our best,we do respond when someone calls are actions into question - by first considering if we actually did anything wrong and trying to see the situation from the other side. My quess is that top Democrats may have asked Kerry to apologize.
Here Kerry took responsiblity for saying something ambiguous - while maintaining a clear distinction that he in no ways intended to denigrate the troops. My guess is that he was motivated out of love and respect for the troops and a desire to not put the candidates on the spot as to whether he should apologize.

The other factor is that their communication network is far better than ours. Think of all the obnoxious things Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld have said or done - and there's no real demand for apologies. Cheney's comment on waterboarding is far worse for the troops and the nation than Kerry's statement - which at the worst would have meant that some people do to the service becasue they fail at school. This is NOT close to the Republican lie that it says the troops are dumb. But there is no chorus of people asking him to apologize for jeapordizing our moral honor.

I am at a lost as to how to avoid it - I think Kerry handled this with as much grace as he could and he tried to consider the needs of the party. I think some of the Democrats were a major part of the problem starting with Hillary.

If you look at all the people attacked:
Bill Clinton - had the power of being President - but was humiliated with the Monica story. His approach of trying to slam the RW- didn't work.

Howard Dean and Al Gore - were at various times mocked as angry, possibly crazy

Kerry in 2004 tried defending himself with truth and dignity - this waa muture, disciplined, and graceful - and unsuccesful - though it did leave him with his pride, integrity and reputation.

Durbin, always seemed one of the nicest guys in the Senate, and they absolutely humilated him, but he is still there.

Kerry this time - guilty of nothing - apologized and they are still attacking. The worst thing is that with the election where it is - Kerry can not fight this in any way that benefits himself - not the party.

This is not promising.

[MADem]

4. He did it. This "whole incident" isn't over yet. If the Monkey wants to keep

beating on the Kerry drum, he's gonna have to start talking about EYE-RACK, his big fuck-UP. After all, the troops that he's so ardently, conveniently, outraged about (you know, those guys with the lousy equipment, the brutal deployment schedule, the crappiest pay raise in over a decade, a hundred dead in October alone?) aren't stationed in fucking Bermuda, are they?

He might be feeling self-satisfied right now because he threw that ole Kerry into the briar patch, but we know how that story ended....

[KoKo]

8. I hope with all my heart and soul you are correct....because if Kerry

laid his own life on the line to expose all this then he's truly a Saint.

And I hope that for him ...if his judgement was correct.

My "gut" tells me that Kerry's EGO got in the way of "PRUDENCE." :-(

[MADem]

12. It's already happening, we can only hope the leviathan will turn by Tuesday next

Maybe Not Such a Great Move After All?

Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey write for Newsweek: "The risks for President Bush are greater than they are for Senator Kerry, who may have suffered the deep embarrassment of falling into a familiar self-made trap. But he leads nothing inside his party, sets no strategy and the Democrats can easily disown him -- as several candidates have done by canceling events with him this week.

"President Bush, on the other hand, enjoys no such luxuries. In fact, the concerted attack on Kerry -- complete with White House and Republican National Committee press releases -- threatens to undermine a central premise of the party's strategy. For months on the campaign trail, GOP candidates have insisted the election isn't a referendum on Bush or national politics; it's a choice between two local contenders. The president may have diverted attention back onto Democrats, but he also turned the focus back on himself and the war."....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/11/02/BL2006110200794_pf.html

A boatload of source material in that piece!!

[Norquist Nemesis]

10. I'll mark my calendar for Nov 8th and get back to you on that.

'kay?

[KharmaTrain]

11. This Was A Rove Trap...A "Hail Kerry"

I'm sure if it wasn't something Kerry had said, there would have been some video of a Hillary slip up or Howard Dean or whomever. For months the RNC has been waiting for a "gotcha" moment where they could trap a national Democrat for booosh to run against...and lo and behold, Kerry helped them out.

Look at how the story was astroturfed and how it's been pushed along. The Mighty Wurlitzer was all warmed up well in advance and it was just insert the Demon Democrat's name in the tune and away we go. The report starts with Drudge (as usual) and soon spreads to right wing blogs that magically appear in newspapers in the morning and right onto the hate radio shows. By noon-time, a CNN deems there's a "news story" here and the next chorus begins. The cable networks are then flooded with the talking heads with the talking points and the gang bang is on. It's less than 24 hours and Kerry's already tarred, feathered and has to defend beating his wife.

Kerry was in a damned if he do, damned if he don't...he backs down, he gets pummeled for being "weak" (and we see the fallout with the "applogy" our good buddy Tony Snow would be a "lifeline"...yeah right)...but inversely, had he chose to fight this, the story would have kept on and booosh could then try to replay the '04 election. The wedge game was on and spastic colons like Harold Ford bought into it. Kerry had to put a kabosh on this cause the corporate media wasn't going to let up.

The saving grace of this swiftboating was not everyone was playing the GOOP's tune. Thank goodness for a Keith Olbermann who didn't have the platform in '04 to say aloud what so many of us feel...a voice in the wilderness, but a voice nonetheless. Also there's Progressive Talk radio that didn't exist in many places in '04. And, of course, the rising power of the internets, the google and the blogs. The corporate media while still able to make a loud noise, is losing its power to this new medium. Thanks to DU and Kos and Josh Marshall and others, millions will go into the polls next Tuesday with far more knowledge and information of the corruption and largess of the Repugnicans than they would have if we only had corporate media to rely on.

Kerry was caught flat footed...note they grabbed his quote from a west coast visit. By the time he gets off the plane and shakes the jet lag out of his head, his words are all over the place. I can't see how he could have handled it any differently...and hopefully he's sprung himself free of this trap. My hopes are that there isn't another landmine or two ahead. 6 days seems like forever.

Cheers...