From the Guardian...
Why Bush's Man is Fighting Dirty
Bush's campaign mastermind has a simple rule: attack your opponent's strengths. As the polls show, it works.
Paul Harris in New York, Sunday September 5, 2004
The ObserverTiffany Watkins stood in front of a projection screen and went through her presentation to the convention delegates. Neither Watkins, nor the audience gathered in the plush New York hotel, were typical Republicans. They were all black. Nevertheless, Watkins, an operative from campaign HQ, urged them to get out the vote for President George W. Bush. 'We are not taking anything for granted,' Watkins warned.
Watkins does the bidding of Karl Rove, Bush's trusted campaign strategist, who has masterminded his campaigns since he first ran for the governorship of Texas. Rove's plan is simple: a mass mobilisation of the Republican base, coupled with a brutal media operation that has gone after Democratic nominee John Kerry's Vietnam record, seeking to portray the decorated veteran as a weak-willed liar.
Last week, the plan went like clockwork. The New York convention saw a series of brutal attacks on Kerry, lavish praise for Bush and dire warnings about the war on terror. The message was simple: America cannot risk electing Kerry. Bush was painted as a war leader; Kerry ridiculed as an untrustworthy flipflopper.
There has been a fundamental shift in the presidential race. Bush's offensive has left Kerry's campaign floundering. Last week, he shook up his top staff, bringing in Clinton era experts. He also went negative, too, lambasting Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney for dodging Vietnam. For Democrats that means Kerry, at last, has come out swinging.
But Republican strategists hope it may already be too late. After months of trailing, Bush has now moved decisively ahead in the polls. A Time poll had him with a huge 11-point lead. Another had him four points up.
But Rove is leaving nothing to chance. At a meeting last week of delegates from Ohio, perhaps the most important swing state in the race, Rove exhorted party members to greater efforts. 'Do more than you've ever done before,' he said 'We need to ask everyone we know to get involved in this crusade.'
Rove is credited with creating the Republicans' awesome machine. It is a huge pyramid, with Rove at its apex, feeding down in disciplined layer on layer into every county in every state in America. It has databases of tens of millions of voters, has signed up one million volunteers, has put field organisations in key states long before Democratic rivals and has poured millions of dollars into voter registration drives. Rove has learnt the lessons of 2000, when five states were decided by less than half a percentage point.
The media operation is equally sophisticated. Kerry's Vietnam record was meant to make the Democrats immune on national security. But Rove has a record of attacking opponents' strengths, not weaknesses. Kerry has faced a full-frontal assault by Republican leaders and shadowy surrogate groups, such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Kerry, a triple Purple Heart winner, has been left desperately fighting allegations that he betrayed fellow veterans by turning against the war.
Given that Bush himself dodged Vietnam when family connections got him a place in the National Guard, it was a stunning turnaround that Kerry's support among veterans proceeded to plummet.
The war on terror is key to Republican success. It is ever-present on the campaign trail and in television adverts. It was the main selling-point of the convention.
New York was a media triumph for the Republicans. Leaders of the Bush campaign have carefully distanced themselves from their dirty tricks squadrons. Instead, they relentlessly focused on the war on terror. Speaker after speaker, from former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to Bush himself, recalled in starkly personal terms they way they had dealt with the terrorist attacks of 11 September. The war in Iraq was artfully moulded into the war on terror. The message was simple: trust Bush to protect America from terrorist attacks. They have sought to make the election more about electing a commander-in-chief than a president.
The most devastating attack came from Zell Miller, a Democrat senator who has effectively defected to the Republicans. Miller laid into Kerry as not strong enough for the job. It was crude theatre. Miller listed defence cuts that he said Kerry had supported and then added: 'The man now wants to be the commander-in-chief of U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?'
Many pundits decried Miller's speech as over the top. But a survey of a focus group of swing voters in Ohio said they found the speech convincing. Miller's diatribe had hit home.
From a distance, at the start of last week, Kerry looked as if he didn't have a care in the world. Resting at his holiday home in Nantucket, he donned a wetsuit for a spot of windsurfing. A day later, he and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, took their motorboat out for a spin. They smiled and laughed as Kerry steered through the choppy waters.
But behind the scenes, the atmosphere was feverish. After a dreadful few weeks, the Kerry campaign has been gripped by rumours of a shake-up. Last week, Kerry and his campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, finally swooped. In came high-profile names from the Clinton era. Joe Lockhart, a former White House spokesman, will now join Kerry on his travels. Former Clinton adviser Joel Johnson will head a 'war room' to toughen up attacks.
Change was needed. Democrats were wrong-footed at their Boston convention. They stressed the importance of not 'Bush-bashing', only to be blown away by Republican attacks throughout late August. Kerry is also said to be furious at the lacklustre response to allegations about his Vietnam record. It put his campaign on the back foot, forcing them to fight on an issue (national security) they thought they had dealt with and keeping the election away from their core strengths, such as jobs and healthcare. 'They are allowing the Republicans to define the issues. You can't win an election that way,' said Ken Warren, a political scientist the University of St Louis.
But, Kerry's supporters say, there are two months to go. They insist, despite the last few polls, that the race is still on a knife-edge. They are probably right. There has already been a dramatic shift in gear. Last Friday, Democrats began a $45 million advertising campaign in 20 states, spending more than half of their remaining funds. Kerry also held a midnight rally after Bush's speech that forced him on to the television networks. He used the opportunity to accuse Bush and Cheney of skipping their Vietnam service. 'I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have,' he said.
That could be a fruitful line of attack. Already Bush's hell-raising youth and National Guard service are moving back onto the agenda. Ben Barnes, a Texas politician who says he secured Bush's place in the Air National Guard, is expected to give a TV interview as early as this week. 'I'll have something to say about that,' he told The Observer.
A video of Barnes is already circulating on the internet. It was shot several months ago, at a pro-Kerry rally in Austin, Texas. In it, the former lieutenant-governor of the state is blunt. 'I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard,' he says. He then describes how he was spurred to speak out after visiting a Vietnam memorial and feeling guilt at all the sons of the rich and powerful whom he had helped avoid being sent overseas. 'I became more ashamed of myself than I had ever been,' he said.
Suddenly America's already bitter, dirty and divisive election has just slipped even further downhill. It is possible that Rove may regret the direction in which the campaign is going. Probably not. One of his first political experiences on a national level was in 1973, when he was accused of holding seminars for college Republicans on dirty tricks techniques.
So much is now at stake. Away from Iraq and the war on terror, many Democrats are deeply afraid of the domestic agenda of a Bush second term. Bush has vowed to move on abortion rights, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and make his tax cuts permanent.
Social and religious conservatives are now firmly in control of the Republican Party. In New York, reporters were banned from a rally of Christian conservatives at the Waldorf-Astoria. Inside speakers debated fighting abortion and trying to remove the separation between church and state in American life.
For Democrats, that meeting was a stark example of the importance of this election. Many Republicans, who regard themselves in a 'culture war' with a liberal elite, probably felt the same. But as Republicans left New York last week, they were confident that their side is winning.
For the moment, Rove's plan is on track. Meanwhile, Bob Shrum, Kerry's own powerful political mentor, must try to win back the initiative. Republicans take heart from Rove's record. Since teaming up with Bush, Rove has powered Bush to the White House. Shrum, however, who has worked for four different Democratic presidential candidates, has lost each time.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
Bush's campaign mastermind has a simple rule: attack your opponent's strengths. As the polls show, it works.
Paul Harris in New York, Sunday September 5, 2004
The ObserverTiffany Watkins stood in front of a projection screen and went through her presentation to the convention delegates. Neither Watkins, nor the audience gathered in the plush New York hotel, were typical Republicans. They were all black. Nevertheless, Watkins, an operative from campaign HQ, urged them to get out the vote for President George W. Bush. 'We are not taking anything for granted,' Watkins warned.
Watkins does the bidding of Karl Rove, Bush's trusted campaign strategist, who has masterminded his campaigns since he first ran for the governorship of Texas. Rove's plan is simple: a mass mobilisation of the Republican base, coupled with a brutal media operation that has gone after Democratic nominee John Kerry's Vietnam record, seeking to portray the decorated veteran as a weak-willed liar.
Last week, the plan went like clockwork. The New York convention saw a series of brutal attacks on Kerry, lavish praise for Bush and dire warnings about the war on terror. The message was simple: America cannot risk electing Kerry. Bush was painted as a war leader; Kerry ridiculed as an untrustworthy flipflopper.
There has been a fundamental shift in the presidential race. Bush's offensive has left Kerry's campaign floundering. Last week, he shook up his top staff, bringing in Clinton era experts. He also went negative, too, lambasting Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney for dodging Vietnam. For Democrats that means Kerry, at last, has come out swinging.
But Republican strategists hope it may already be too late. After months of trailing, Bush has now moved decisively ahead in the polls. A Time poll had him with a huge 11-point lead. Another had him four points up.
But Rove is leaving nothing to chance. At a meeting last week of delegates from Ohio, perhaps the most important swing state in the race, Rove exhorted party members to greater efforts. 'Do more than you've ever done before,' he said 'We need to ask everyone we know to get involved in this crusade.'
Rove is credited with creating the Republicans' awesome machine. It is a huge pyramid, with Rove at its apex, feeding down in disciplined layer on layer into every county in every state in America. It has databases of tens of millions of voters, has signed up one million volunteers, has put field organisations in key states long before Democratic rivals and has poured millions of dollars into voter registration drives. Rove has learnt the lessons of 2000, when five states were decided by less than half a percentage point.
The media operation is equally sophisticated. Kerry's Vietnam record was meant to make the Democrats immune on national security. But Rove has a record of attacking opponents' strengths, not weaknesses. Kerry has faced a full-frontal assault by Republican leaders and shadowy surrogate groups, such as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Kerry, a triple Purple Heart winner, has been left desperately fighting allegations that he betrayed fellow veterans by turning against the war.
Given that Bush himself dodged Vietnam when family connections got him a place in the National Guard, it was a stunning turnaround that Kerry's support among veterans proceeded to plummet.
The war on terror is key to Republican success. It is ever-present on the campaign trail and in television adverts. It was the main selling-point of the convention.
New York was a media triumph for the Republicans. Leaders of the Bush campaign have carefully distanced themselves from their dirty tricks squadrons. Instead, they relentlessly focused on the war on terror. Speaker after speaker, from former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani to Bush himself, recalled in starkly personal terms they way they had dealt with the terrorist attacks of 11 September. The war in Iraq was artfully moulded into the war on terror. The message was simple: trust Bush to protect America from terrorist attacks. They have sought to make the election more about electing a commander-in-chief than a president.
The most devastating attack came from Zell Miller, a Democrat senator who has effectively defected to the Republicans. Miller laid into Kerry as not strong enough for the job. It was crude theatre. Miller listed defence cuts that he said Kerry had supported and then added: 'The man now wants to be the commander-in-chief of U.S. armed forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?'
Many pundits decried Miller's speech as over the top. But a survey of a focus group of swing voters in Ohio said they found the speech convincing. Miller's diatribe had hit home.
From a distance, at the start of last week, Kerry looked as if he didn't have a care in the world. Resting at his holiday home in Nantucket, he donned a wetsuit for a spot of windsurfing. A day later, he and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, took their motorboat out for a spin. They smiled and laughed as Kerry steered through the choppy waters.
But behind the scenes, the atmosphere was feverish. After a dreadful few weeks, the Kerry campaign has been gripped by rumours of a shake-up. Last week, Kerry and his campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, finally swooped. In came high-profile names from the Clinton era. Joe Lockhart, a former White House spokesman, will now join Kerry on his travels. Former Clinton adviser Joel Johnson will head a 'war room' to toughen up attacks.
Change was needed. Democrats were wrong-footed at their Boston convention. They stressed the importance of not 'Bush-bashing', only to be blown away by Republican attacks throughout late August. Kerry is also said to be furious at the lacklustre response to allegations about his Vietnam record. It put his campaign on the back foot, forcing them to fight on an issue (national security) they thought they had dealt with and keeping the election away from their core strengths, such as jobs and healthcare. 'They are allowing the Republicans to define the issues. You can't win an election that way,' said Ken Warren, a political scientist the University of St Louis.
But, Kerry's supporters say, there are two months to go. They insist, despite the last few polls, that the race is still on a knife-edge. They are probably right. There has already been a dramatic shift in gear. Last Friday, Democrats began a $45 million advertising campaign in 20 states, spending more than half of their remaining funds. Kerry also held a midnight rally after Bush's speech that forced him on to the television networks. He used the opportunity to accuse Bush and Cheney of skipping their Vietnam service. 'I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have,' he said.
That could be a fruitful line of attack. Already Bush's hell-raising youth and National Guard service are moving back onto the agenda. Ben Barnes, a Texas politician who says he secured Bush's place in the Air National Guard, is expected to give a TV interview as early as this week. 'I'll have something to say about that,' he told The Observer.
A video of Barnes is already circulating on the internet. It was shot several months ago, at a pro-Kerry rally in Austin, Texas. In it, the former lieutenant-governor of the state is blunt. 'I got a young man named George W. Bush into the National Guard,' he says. He then describes how he was spurred to speak out after visiting a Vietnam memorial and feeling guilt at all the sons of the rich and powerful whom he had helped avoid being sent overseas. 'I became more ashamed of myself than I had ever been,' he said.
Suddenly America's already bitter, dirty and divisive election has just slipped even further downhill. It is possible that Rove may regret the direction in which the campaign is going. Probably not. One of his first political experiences on a national level was in 1973, when he was accused of holding seminars for college Republicans on dirty tricks techniques.
So much is now at stake. Away from Iraq and the war on terror, many Democrats are deeply afraid of the domestic agenda of a Bush second term. Bush has vowed to move on abortion rights, a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and make his tax cuts permanent.
Social and religious conservatives are now firmly in control of the Republican Party. In New York, reporters were banned from a rally of Christian conservatives at the Waldorf-Astoria. Inside speakers debated fighting abortion and trying to remove the separation between church and state in American life.
For Democrats, that meeting was a stark example of the importance of this election. Many Republicans, who regard themselves in a 'culture war' with a liberal elite, probably felt the same. But as Republicans left New York last week, they were confident that their side is winning.
For the moment, Rove's plan is on track. Meanwhile, Bob Shrum, Kerry's own powerful political mentor, must try to win back the initiative. Republicans take heart from Rove's record. Since teaming up with Bush, Rove has powered Bush to the White House. Shrum, however, who has worked for four different Democratic presidential candidates, has lost each time.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
posted by BLONDIE at 8:08 AM
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