Tuesday, August 03, 2004
OUTRAGE! GOP IN TERROR HOAX!
Moving from last night's NY Times and Washington Post to today's AP:0 comments
U.S. officials: Intel dated back as far as 2000, 2001
Old news. No threat. Just lies. Tom gets to laugh at John Ashcroft since HE gets to blow the horn this time.
Tom Ridge has squandered any last credibility he had. Americans, and especially, NYers and residents of Washington, D.C., will never believe a thing this man says ever again. And—in that—we face our gravest peril.
The GOP has now gone too far.
Over time, they have come up with a stunning array of clever spins, mockeries, lies and distortions to steer our emotions away from our actually looking at their "achievements."
But even by the GOP's low brain-stem standards, this is a thoroughly disgusting and nausea-inducing ploy.
We here in New York City have lived with a target on our backs for close to three years now. We know that danger and that horror; we've learned to live with it. We've come to terms with that reality the same way Californians do, when living directly on the San Andreas Fault or in a palatial house surrounded by tinder-dry brush.
You live your life. Period.
What we don't need is the GOP abusing that horror, using us for their own political gain.
After Karl Rove's wall-to-wall attempts to define who John Kerry is for the American public this spring, it's becoming very clear that his efforts have fallen short.
Here—in case you have any doubt—are the real reasons for the alerts:
WP: Convention Gives Kerry Slight Lead Over Bush
Kerry energized his Democratic base and effectively introduced himself to many voters who had only a vague impression of him and reestablished himself as the candidate who better understands the problems of average Americans, the poll found. He appeared to answer questions about his fitness to assume the presidency in a time of crises abroad and terrorist threats at home.
Kerry, who emphasized his military service and began his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination by announcing he was "reporting for duty," is viewed by 52 percent of all voters as better able to serve as commander in chief, while 44 percent back Bush. And Kerry has erased the president's double-digit advantage as the candidate best able to deal with terrorism.
[snip]
A bare majority of voters -- 53 percent -- say they now have a clear idea of where Kerry stands on the issues, up from 46 percent immediately before the convention.
and this as well,
NYT: Polls Show Tight Race With a Few Gains for Kerry
Pollsters said such little movement after the extravaganza of a convention and a vice-presidential selection underlined how tight and frozen the contest was, and suggested an electorate that had largely made up its mind and was resistant to the kind of gyrations typical in most presidential campaigns. Some pollsters said that in this environment, slight shifts in voter sentiment that could prove significant on Election Day might not be picked up in national polls. The pollsters also said voter opinions of Mr. Kerry's qualifications had improved markedly.
Mr. Kerry's pollster, Mark Mellman, pointed to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, a CBS News poll, and a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, which all showed that Americans' views of Mr. Kerry had improved after a convention that had sought to build up his security and foreign policy credentials. The Gallup Poll found that an equal number of Americans—48 percent—said they trusted Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry to "handle the responsibilities of commander in chief of the military." Before the convention, Mr. Bush led Mr. Kerry on that question 51 percent to 43 percent.
"All the numbers suggest that this convention was a huge success," Mr. Mellman said. "The one thing you don't see is a big change in the horse race, but you can't have a change in an election like this."
Here is what is afoot here:
[Disclaimer: Once again let me state that I worked for Louis Harris & Assocs., The Harris Poll, for close to twenty years.]
Despite the GOP's Talking Points Army fanning out across the media Sunday, there never WAS going to be a decent-sized overall-race bounce for Kerry. The population has locked in emotionally, in an extremity not seen since before the Civil War. So, these numbers were not going to move much at all. What IS fascinating to look at, however, is the major movement within the Internal numbers.
This "paltry" four-to-seven point jump taken by Kerry should chill B/C'04's leaders to the bone.
Since there was no room for any bounce, even this minor four-to-seven point jump means the hotly contested "Persuadables" are in motion. And they're moving towards Kerry. That's very bad news for Rove.
All the Internal numbers show that the American public is starting to "know" John Kerry in a way they hadn't before the convention. And they seem to like what they see so far. That's very bad news for Rove.
The dramatic Internal number movement also means Kerry's core Democratic base is moving from merely hating Bush (which could conceivably spend itself and peter out at some point) to embracing Kerry as a man, leader, etc., and re-energizing Kerry's base. Now they have something to work FOR, as well as to work AGAINST.
At the same time, it means some of Bush's core support is also seeing a different John Kerry than they'd been told about, giving some of them second thoughts. Perhaps Kerry isn't Satan. Even if these moderates aren't ready to tell some pollster that they're changing their vote, that's still VERY bad news for Rove.
You can believe that the GOP could and would have handled a large horse-race bounce. Those leads come and go all the time. They could have weathered a large jump in Kerry's domestic numbers. They've already ceded that to Kerry. But Kerry's success in upping his "Commander-in-Chief" numbers were absolute poison for Bush/Cheney '04.
And do not for a moment doubt that these people behind Bush will go to ANY lengths to salvage their deteriorating position.
If it gets bad enough for them, watch for them to resurrect their idea of last month to postpone the election—for "terror concerns." Indefinitely, if need be (i.e., the poll numbers don't improve). Because, they'll say, "while we're safer than we've ever been, we're still not safe."
[ BTW, have you actually taken the time (when you're not fearfully running for your life) to parse that statement?]
This terror hoax clearly points out in earnest what I've recently been saying merely in jest:
"Vote for me—or die!!" is the official campaign slogan of B/C'04.
This administration owes New York City and Washington, D.C. a formal apology.
Oh, and BTW, where's our $21 billion 9/11 aid package?
posted by Gotham 1:13 PM
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