Reply #54: Kerry needed his own strong response

[depakid]

and his own ads- which he "held off" during late July and August, under the assumption that he "wouldn't have enough money" (which turned out- as we know- to have been a gross miscalculation- he 10's of millions left over after November 4).

We argued and argued about that- Kerry going blank- and lying back and taking it. Relying on surrugates to fight that battle (and going blank on the air) was suicidally stupid-

And sure enough, those of us who remember the Dukakis campaign called that deja vu- his reticence did indeed cost him his momentum- and the election. It's possible he could have salvaged it, had he come out forcefully in answer to Bush's "if you knew then what you know now" challenge about the war.

But he didn't. He ended up giving some wishy washy answer instead. That right at the beginning of Sept, if I recall.