Kerry on the "bankruptcy" of the McCain campaign

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Joining us now is former Democratic presidential nominee and Massachusetts senator, John Kerry. He is campaigning for Barack Obama tonight in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

Senator Kerry, thank you so much for coming on the show tonight.

SEN. JOHN KERRY, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Well, thank you for having me.

And congratulations on your early success here.

MADDOW: Thank you very much. It‘s nice of you to say.

Senator, you know something about viciousness in national campaigning.

(LAUGHTER)

KERRY: Yes.

MADDOW: Was what you experienced with this Swiftboat attacks in 2004, do you think it was bad for the country as well as bad for your campaign?

KERRY: Yes, of course, I do. I think what happened then was bad because when campaigns become dominated by lies and very personal, and frankly, the focus is on conflict, not on the American people and their real concerns, I don‘t think it‘s good.

Just as right now, I think what John McCain and Sarah Palin have done at these rallies to kind of incite their troops and create this hate language out there, is very, very dangerous far all of us.

MADDOW: Today, we heard Senator McCain, essentially say that he will, personally, bring up this Bill Ayers guilt-by-association connection at tomorrow night‘s debate. How do you think that Senator Obama should respond that? McCain is telegraphing his punch in this case.

KERRY: Well I think that Barack—I mean, let‘s see what happens and, you know, you can never predict, but obviously, Barack Obama needs to be crystal clear as he has been, incidentally, every step of the way, about the really sort of slight contacts that have existed here.

And John McCain, you know, needs to be careful of his flank. I mean, I read a story today that John McCain has—the head of his transition was lobbying for Saddam Hussein. I mean, if this is what we want to debate about, John McCain really runs the risk here.

And Barack Obama, as we all know, never fired the first shots in this effort. You know, John McCain advertised weeks ago that he was going to go after Barack Obama‘s character. And that he was going to assault him on the very thing that is he‘s assaulting him on.

I think it‘s disgraceful to pretend that something that Barack Obama had absolutely nothing to do with, somehow has an impact on his judgment when he hasn‘t—this is not an advisor. This man doesn‘t work for the campaign. He‘s a citizen in the city of Chicago, who‘s crossed paths occasionally.

And John McCain has countless numbers of people in his campaign and around his campaign. What about all the Republicans who have gone to jail, Duke Cunningham from the United States Congress? What about Mr. Libby from the White House who was the chief of staff to the vice president? Is John McCain therefore, guilty because of all of them?

I mean, this is ridiculous. It‘s insulting to Americans. And people want to talk about the economy, their jobs, their healthcare, about how you make America strong, get our troops home from Iraq in a responsible way, fight a more effective war on terror, pay for education, fix this economy.

Those are the real issues and John McCain can‘t talk about them. His own campaign has said, “We don‘t want to talk about the economy.” So they are trying to go out and attack Barack Obama.

I think Americans know better this time. I think we learned a lesson in ‘04 and I hope that lesson will be profoundly registered on November 4th.

MADDOW: I think the candor with which they have talked about their strategy this regard, as you‘ve been pointing out, has been remarkable. We heard Governor Palin today with Rush Limbaugh talking about how she intended to keep on keeping on hitting Barack Obama on character issues. The campaign aides speaking both anonymously, and putting their names to quotes saying, that they were going to try to get away from the economy and instead, attack Barack Obama.

I wonder, as you‘ve been campaigning in the battleground states for Senator Obama, people on all sides decry the negative attacks but what effects do you perceive them having among undecided voters?

KERRY: Here‘s what we know. We saw in ‘04 that attacks on your person, no matter how valid, the mainstream media deems them—if they are reaching people who have not made up their mind, and that‘s all they hear, that has an impact. And that‘s why I think all of us need to be very careful and work extra time to make sure that these attacks don‘t settle in.

For instance, you know, when they announce what they‘re doing, they know they‘re talking to the elite media who follow that announcement. The average American doesn‘t hear that announcement, all they‘re going to hear is the advertisement itself that carries that negative message, or the sound bite that carries it.

And their effort is to sow doubt. Their entire strategy is: sow doubt, attack character.

And what we need to do is make certain that everybody understands that. The bankruptcy of that and the bankruptcy, in effect, of the John McCain campaign.

MADDOW: Former Democratic presidential nominee and my senator, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, thanks so much for taking time to talk with us tonight. I really appreciate it.

KERRY: Good to be with you. Thank you very much.

MADDOW: Thank you.

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