Not only could the assholes not fathom the inevitable onslaught, they could never come up with a good attack themselves.

Why did the convention not attack Bush? Why didn't Kerry personally go after Bush's incredible service record?

Why couldn't Kerry personally call Bush a terrible liar and ethical monster?

Americans are stupid politically and we horribly hurt ourselves by thinking we should be above it all or intellectualize it. All Kerry did was appear weak while his base frantically tried to get the campaign from bending over. All they ended up doing was spreading their cheeks wider for Rove.

Kerry the Fighter. God I want to cry it's so sad.

Snorting good image as part of the wire story.

Eyes wide open, mouth agape, hand clucthed to chest; she's exclaiming, "Jeaaahzus! I never imagined that those friendly Republicans would have never been so mean!"

Not only will they be propped up with $300 million, they will also have the entire 'Republican noise machene' as David Brock
calls it in his new book. The right has an interlocking network of mrdia which can take a lie and time and again prove the truth of Goebell's big lie theory.

Never,never,never assume negitive campagining wont work, it almost always does. It seemed like all August long the Boston crowd had blinders on and now America must suffer four more wars-er-
years.

"Never,never,never assume negitive campagining wont work, it almost always does"

Sorry, it always works. Voters buy into it but lied when asked about it. Kerry's favorable numbers dropped 10 points from 53% to 43% when the SWB liars hit the air according to Newsweek polls.

What other evidences do they need? Kerry intentionally threw the election. He kept 50 millions in the bank. Can someone explain that to me ?

as feared a year ago, the Dems had no clue. Or more precisely, the Dems in charge had no clue. They did know one thing, and that was that Howard Dean represented a clean sweep of all the Mary Beths and Shrums out of the Dem party power grid. So they got rid of him as a viable candidate (maybe not, it now seems). The clear fact, visible to many of us at least a year ago, was that the 04 Dem Campaign was going to go ahead and make all the mistakes needed to re-elect an idiot. And even with that, Kerry almost won.......and if he had really *wanted* to be president, he might have (recount).

Dave Johnson has it right. Cahill, and presumably Kerry, still don't "get it." In their Ivy League intellectualism, they have NO clue as to how to understand a Red State viewpoint, much less how to relate to it. As a result, every single southern and southwestern state went in this election.

I think you need your doses checked. you gotta be kidding me attacking the messenger is so like the left. So now Kerry is to blame not the left liberal agenda that the majority opposes. Keep saying that and the GOP will be in power for a long time to come. America is tired of being told it should feel guilty for having what it has, that we owe it to the rest of the world to do something for them while they stab us in the back and mouth obscenities to our face. We in the majority are tired of hearing how anything we say or do is wrong if not supported by the left thought (PC) police. thats why not only kerry lost the Democratic Party as a whole. so my message is to quit acting as if being an American is a bad thing that we owe the world anything and start acting like the leaders instead of whiners then maybe you will find people willing to beleive in your message. But hey what do I know I just voted what ifelt was right.

Avenger, exactly how are we "leading" the rest of the world?

So now Kerry is to blame not the left liberal agenda that the majority opposes.

Majority? Without the christian fuck-nuts your goofy boy would have been sent packing.

We in the majority are tired of hearing how anything we say or do is wrong...

You are wrong to think this way. You are not a majority. When everything you do is isolationist, creates death and destruction, and demands others live and think exactly as you do, you are wrong. Get over it and placate yourself with your brown shirt and snappy right arm extended salute, no matter how wrong it is to do so.

exactly how are we "leading" the rest of the world?

"Every year expeditions went out holy grailing, and next year relief expeditions went out to hunt for THEM. There was worlds of reputation in it, but no money." Mark Twain

Avenger,

quick stat. If all the people of the world consumed as much as Americans, we'd need 5 planets to keep up with demand. Now compaire that to decreasing education and productivity levels in the U.S. vs. the world, and vola Americans don't really deserve what they have (and more correctly, the Uber-rich Republicans don't deserve what they have).

Sure..blame Mary. Kerry bashed the military over the nam war as well as the war itself then when he runs for president he uses the same war to paint himself as an Audy Murphy hero. Mary had nothing to do with Kerry losing. It was the idiot himself. The second those swiftboat ads came out Kerry should have signed the form to release ALL his military records to clear the air. Considering the Presidents office was at stake and Kerry's refusal to release his records it became clear as to who was telling the truth. The Vets finally got a victory out of the Nam war and wrote the last chapter.
Chevy

avenger,

honey, lunch is ready. i cut off the crusts just how you like it.

Chevy, the release of records was irrelevant since nearly every contention made by the Swifties was proven false.

The problem was that the candidate and his campaign didn't see it coming and took too long to react to it. Furthermore, basing your campaign on what you did 30 years ago when there was so much to batter Bush on that happened in just the last three years was beyond the pale.

The convention, even though polls showed it was more successful in affecting public opinion than the GOP convention, was a wasted opportunity to define Bush's shortcomings when everyone was paying attention. To compound that error by going dark in August and accepting public funding, and then ignoring Rove's history and getting whacked by the Swifties' lies was Cahill's error, when it turns out that Shrum wanted to respond but Cahill didn't and Kerry didn't overrule her.

Game, set, and match.

Avenger,

You are NOT in the majority. You are just part of a lunatic fringe. If you look at the overall statistics, you and your kind represent about 25% of the population.

Your boy George “won” in 2004, not by fair means but by foul. Go read:
“20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA” at:
http://nightweed.com/usavotefacts.html

and about the voting frauds in Ohio, Florida and many other states by the Repuglicans at:
http://www.fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/

See you and your kind in 2006! (And in the next few months also)

Alvin

isn't avenger a coward who should go to Iraq or STFU? I thought so.

What a coward... and his in the majority there of the 59 Million Bush voters. All COwards.

Well, I'm as enraged as anyone else but the problem with Kerry and Mary beth etc...is not that they are "blue state intellectuals" who don't get how "red staters" think--there were plenty of us blue state intellectuals who saw this coming, and who advocated all the "right things"--we just weren't part of the campaign. We'd have been part of dean's campaign, and we were even out there working for Kerry, but we weren't allowed to use our brains. I remember going door to door in new hampshire and talking about BCCI to undecided voterss and discovering that, y'know, its not too hard to boil that down into a few telling soundbites that make Kerry's case very well. But we weren't supposed to be doing that because bob shrum thought it was "too complicated"
argh
aimai
PS.
in re the republitrolls, I think STFU and head to Iraq to enjoy our new position of premiership in the world is the only right response. good for everyone who made it.

To be fair, Kerry did want to strike back hard and was repeatedly overruled by Shrum and Cahill. Read this chapter of the Newsweek post-election cover story for info on this: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6420967/site/newsweek/

Of course, Kerry should have overruled them - he was the one running for President, not Shrum and Cahill, so he does share some responsibility. Nevertheless, Shrum, who was responsible for so many of this campaign's bad decisions (i.e. not talking about Kerry's senate record or BCCI) needs to be kept from getting within 100 miles of any Democratic Presidential Campaign in the future. When you're 0 for 8 there's no 9th chance.

Oh and "john" - Kerry does not have $50 million left. He had $45 million left in primary funds after the convention, but he was legally barred from spending a dime of it b.c he took public financing. He diverted huge amounts of it to state parties and the DNC and kept some for legal funds and other expenses. In the end it was less that $16 million. Gore had $7 million and overall Gore's campaign spent less than 1/2 of what Kerry's spent. That remaining money could not have been used to win Kerry any extra states. Ohio and Florida were saturated - $16 million would have done nothing.

Avenger,

Here is onepoint I forgot to make. Your advice to start acting like leaders would be fine. But I am not sure we should follow the kind of leadership shown by Bu$h and Company. For details, have a look at the Chickenhawk database at:

"Che Guevara"

Yeah, in addition to everything you said, the John O'Neill attack machine began under Nixon in the 70s. So Kerry ostensibly had 30 years to prepare a bloody response. Kerry could have gone for Bush's jugular on so many issues and instead he tried to lead a "positive campaign." But one of the things that gets me the most, Kerry aside, is the DNC idea that they should focus on domestic issues. Hello!!!! If you want to argue with Bush that he's made America less safe, then the DNC needs to present an alternative foreign policy. They still do! But I won't hold my breath. Grrrr.

liberal pragmatist

Your points are well-taken with respect to Ohio and Florida, but how about with respect to Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada?

I am not necessarily calling out Kerry for having money in the bank. I confess that I don't know the facts accurately enough. But I do wonder why he didn't go all out and spend every dime of it.

Shorter Mary Beth Cahill:

I and everyone in charge of the Kerry campaign should have been fired in March.

Back when the Kerry people were doing a sack dance on the Howard Dean people, including me, I pointed out that they should not be laughing because the same thing that destroyed Dean would be used against Kerry. They did not believe me. They were convinced that their man was invulnerable to such attacks.

They were winning back then, and nothing is so blinding as winning.

Folks,

It's kinda simple, the dem party has to make too many little groups happy and won't get a message. Please continue to go in the wrong direction and point fingers at each other; it will only help us Bush lovers keep a republican in the WH.

Bottom line it's the base. If the base won't get out and vote don't expect the MTV crowd to help ya. You have a core and we also. We just focused better. Now you can too, just figure out how to get the microburbs and stop spending all the money and time in metros. Dems own the metros but missing the rest of the USA.

wolfetx, we actually agree for once.

Well, in response to James E. Powell, the money was leftover primary funds which by law they were forbidden from spending post-convention. I suppose they could have spent it pre-convention, but they shouldn't just spend money for the sake of spending money and they were already spending quite a lot pre-convention.

Whether they intentionally wanted some money left over either for legal challenges or a prospective Kerry reelection fund I don't know. I suppose the most legit criticism would be that he should have released the remaining $16 million to state parties involved in close senate races, such as South Dakota, Florida, North Carolina, Alaska. Now, I don't know how much extra money the DNC could have pumped into those races. But I don't think there was any malicious intent. Either it was just honestly money that was left over either inadvertedly or intentionally, or, less charitably, it was money that was incompetenly managed. However, like I said, the Kerry campaign couldn't have spent a dime of it after he was officially nominated.

Soto:

Chevy, the release of records was irrelevant since nearly every contention made by the Swifties was proven false.

Well, then. You don't "get it," Steve. Not responding to the SBVT was not some tactical error; it was the only choice Kerry had. Because if Kerry had gone into it even deeper with O'Neill and the others, the call for him to release all of his records would have been emphasized past the point of ignoring it. And what would the full record have revealed? That John Kerry received an "other than honorable" discharge from the Navy.

Big Media did all it could to bury Kerry's treasonous activites, but they would not have been able to quell the riots against the man had the full record come out.

You say that "nearly" everything the Swifties said about Kerry was false? What did they get right about his record?

Toby, show me the proof for the dishonorable discharge claim. Put up on this issue, or shut up.

Majority? Without the christian fuck-nuts your goofy boy would have been sent packing. "phidipides"

I'll pray for you

isn't avenger a coward who should go to Iraq or STFU? I thought so.

What a coward... and his in the majority there of the 59 Million Bush voters. All COwards.

Posted by pacified at December 20, 2004 12:37 PM

I've been to Iraq fought there lost people Icare about there so cjke on that you limp dick communistic bastard.

mom,
forget the fucking sandwhich I eat concertina wire a piss napalm.

for the rest of you liberal fuck heads this is why you lost the elcton becuase to 59 million people who vote in the US not Europe , Asia or the Middle East yoour party is seen as UnAmerican alomost communist and your politicians run around like chickens with their heads saying the sky is falling but not offering any solutions just pointing and crying the big bully beat me to any one who listen. Your team is weak and your quaterback looks like a monkey fucking a football. So tink before you speak becuase evidently you guys couldn't beat your way out of a wet paper bag and you have no one to blame but your own limp dick plicies and idiotic agendas.

I believe the Swift Boat Vets. Read the book, saw the news conferences and interviews. Their characterization of John Kerry's service and character fit him very well.

Avenger,

You and your kind are absolutely stupid dumb-heads. Your spelling is lousy, your grammar is atrocious, and your ideas are idiotic.

That idiotic President and his party have bamboozled you into voting and dying for them. Face the truth for once!

Revenger.

stupid dumb-heads

enough said about some critizes some elses grammar.

Soto:

Toby, show me the proof for the dishonorable discharge claim. Put up on this issue, or shut up.

I didn't say dishonorable discharge, Steve.

Anyway, can you think of a rational reason why Kerry refused to authorize the release of his full record? There he was, on the brink of becoming the most powerful man on Earth ---and unwilling to accede to a request to disclose the full record of the experience upon which he had based so much of his candidacy? That's ridiculous. Kerry was obviously hiding something that he knew would destroy him. Why can't you see that?

Toby,

George Chickenhawk Bu$h did not release ALL of his glorious Vietnam War records, either.

Why do you insist that Kerry should always have been the one to shoulder the burden of proving his innocence?

Revenger.

What an ass! How in hell did she get hired anyway?

Real news:

BREAKING: KERRY GOES TO COURT!!!
by stunster

Thu Dec 23rd, 2004 at 09:50:16 PST

Kerry to Enter Ohio Recount Fray
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Report
Thursday 23 December 2004

2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter.

Diaries :: stunster's diary ::

Triad Systems has come under scrutiny recently after Sherole Eaton, deputy director of elections for Hocking County, swore out an affidavit in which she described her witnessing the tampering of electronic voting equipment by a Triad representative. Rep. John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested an investigation into this matter by the FBI and the Hocking County prosecutor.

Truthout will have more on this specific Triad allegation later in the day.

Previously, the Green Party and Libertarian Party has not fared well in their efforts to get emergency orders regarding this matter in Ohio. In order to pass muster with a judge, the individual or group requesting an emergency order for such a recount must show both irreperable harm as well as a substantial chance for success on the merits. While Green and Libertarian representatives have been able to show irreperable harm, they could not establish a substantial chance for success on the merits, because no recount would deliver Ohio to either party.

Kerry's entry into this recount effort changes the math on this matter dramatically. He can likewise show irreperable harm, and unlike the Green and Libertarian candidates, he can also prove a substantial chance for success on the merits because he lost the Ohio vote by a statistical whisker.
more
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122404Y.shtml UPDATE: Editor's Note | Due to a severe snowstorm, the Southern District courthouse was closed today, and Kerry's representatives were unable to file on this issue as intended. They will file on Friday, December 24 if the courthouse is open, or on Monday, December 27. In other words, they will file as soon as they are able to. No one controls the weather, unfortunately.

What an ass! How in hell did she get hired anyway?

Real news:

BREAKING: KERRY GOES TO COURT!!!
by stunster

Thu Dec 23rd, 2004 at 09:50:16 PST

Kerry to Enter Ohio Recount Fray
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Report
Thursday 23 December 2004

2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter.

Diaries :: stunster's diary ::

Triad Systems has come under scrutiny recently after Sherole Eaton, deputy director of elections for Hocking County, swore out an affidavit in which she described her witnessing the tampering of electronic voting equipment by a Triad representative. Rep. John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested an investigation into this matter by the FBI and the Hocking County prosecutor.

Truthout will have more on this specific Triad allegation later in the day.

Previously, the Green Party and Libertarian Party has not fared well in their efforts to get emergency orders regarding this matter in Ohio. In order to pass muster with a judge, the individual or group requesting an emergency order for such a recount must show both irreperable harm as well as a substantial chance for success on the merits. While Green and Libertarian representatives have been able to show irreperable harm, they could not establish a substantial chance for success on the merits, because no recount would deliver Ohio to either party.

Kerry's entry into this recount effort changes the math on this matter dramatically. He can likewise show irreperable harm, and unlike the Green and Libertarian candidates, he can also prove a substantial chance for success on the merits because he lost the Ohio vote by a statistical whisker.
more
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122404Y.shtml UPDATE: Editor's Note | Due to a severe snowstorm, the Southern District courthouse was closed today, and Kerry's representatives were unable to file on this issue as intended. They will file on Friday, December 24 if the courthouse is open, or on Monday, December 27. In other words, they will file as soon as they are able to. No one controls the weather, unfortunately.

What an ass! How in hell did she get hired anyway?

Real news:

BREAKING: KERRY GOES TO COURT!!!
by stunster

Thu Dec 23rd, 2004 at 09:50:16 PST

Kerry to Enter Ohio Recount Fray
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Report
Thursday 23 December 2004

2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter.

Diaries :: stunster's diary ::

Triad Systems has come under scrutiny recently after Sherole Eaton, deputy director of elections for Hocking County, swore out an affidavit in which she described her witnessing the tampering of electronic voting equipment by a Triad representative. Rep. John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested an investigation into this matter by the FBI and the Hocking County prosecutor.

Truthout will have more on this specific Triad allegation later in the day.

Previously, the Green Party and Libertarian Party has not fared well in their efforts to get emergency orders regarding this matter in Ohio. In order to pass muster with a judge, the individual or group requesting an emergency order for such a recount must show both irreperable harm as well as a substantial chance for success on the merits. While Green and Libertarian representatives have been able to show irreperable harm, they could not establish a substantial chance for success on the merits, because no recount would deliver Ohio to either party.

Kerry's entry into this recount effort changes the math on this matter dramatically. He can likewise show irreperable harm, and unlike the Green and Libertarian candidates, he can also prove a substantial chance for success on the merits because he lost the Ohio vote by a statistical whisker.
more
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122404Y.shtml UPDATE: Editor's Note | Due to a severe snowstorm, the Southern District courthouse was closed today, and Kerry's representatives were unable to file on this issue as intended. They will file on Friday, December 24 if the courthouse is open, or on Monday, December 27. In other words, they will file as soon as they are able to. No one controls the weather, unfortunately.

BREAKING: KERRY GOES TO COURT!!!
by stunster
[Subscribe]

Thu Dec 23rd, 2004 at 09:50:16 PST

Kerry to Enter Ohio Recount Fray
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Report
Thursday 23 December 2004

2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter.

Diaries :: stunster's diary ::

Triad Systems has come under scrutiny recently after Sherole Eaton, deputy director of elections for Hocking County, swore out an affidavit in which she described her witnessing the tampering of electronic voting equipment by a Triad representative. Rep. John Conyers, the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested an investigation into this matter by the FBI and the Hocking County prosecutor.

Truthout will have more on this specific Triad allegation later in the day.

Previously, the Green Party and Libertarian Party has not fared well in their efforts to get emergency orders regarding this matter in Ohio. In order to pass muster with a judge, the individual or group requesting an emergency order for such a recount must show both irreperable harm as well as a substantial chance for success on the merits. While Green and Libertarian representatives have been able to show irreperable harm, they could not establish a substantial chance for success on the merits, because no recount would deliver Ohio to either party.

Kerry's entry into this recount effort changes the math on this matter dramatically. He can likewise show irreperable harm, and unlike the Green and Libertarian candidates, he can also prove a substantial chance for success on the merits because he lost the Ohio vote by a statistical whisker.
more
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/122404Y.shtml UPDATE: Editor's Note | Due to a severe snowstorm, the Southern District courthouse was closed today, and Kerry's representatives were unable to file on this issue as intended. They will file on Friday, December 24 if the courthouse is open, or on Monday, December 27. In other words, they will file as soon as they are able to. No one controls the weather, unfortunately.