The Yellow Dog has bared its teeth. Now the question is: Will it bite?

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

The Kerry campaign chose midnight to growl. To howl at attacks. Did it feel cornered or is this the beginning of a true fight for survival.

After so many months of "taking the high ground" and speaking to issues, (when not defending themselves from the fabrications of the Swift Boat Stooges) has the Kerry Campaign finally decided to take an offensive stand? I hope so.

The Republican machine has laid out the rules by which it will play: Rule #1
There are no rules.
Rule #2
See Rule #1

It's time we adopted those rules. There are more nasties in the Bush administration to throw out to the public than Bush has to throw out about Kerry. The election is ours if we use the ammunition that this administration has given us. Want to win? Get as down and dirty as our Republican Friends and advertise these facts:

Prescott Bush's ties to Nazi Germany.

Dubya's propensity to blow up living creatures with firecrackers as a child.

The DUI's of BOTH Cheney and Bush.

Laura's killing of her boyfriend in Texas.

The new information of Dubya's behavior in Alabama during his AWOL years (pissing on cars in the parking lot).

The fact that his prior business experience was a string of failures that included financing connected with the Bin Laden family.

His record of death penalties in TX as governor.

His friendship with Ken Lay.

His Daughter's drinking arrests.

The list can go on (please ad to it in this thread). It's time we started playing the same game they are or roll over and play dead. We have the teeth. We need to bite back.

[xchrom]

1. let's hope so...

especially since ken lay = bush's idea of ownership society, if you already got a bunch -- a bunch more couldn't hurt.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. The thing they don't like to talk about is WHO will do the "owning."

I'm sorry, if you're making $5.65 an hour at Walmart, you aren't going to be owning much of anything.

[wtmusic]

3. Gimme a break

Just when has Bush attacked Kerry's family?

Pissing on cars? Is that going to win us the election? (JOHN KERRY -- America Needs A Leader Who Never Pissed On a Car)

His death penalty record will probably enamor him of swing voters.

There's more than enough in the REAL issues (war, environment, deficit, economy, health care) to sink Junior's ship. Kerry needs to attack him on the things that affect people now.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

4. Did you miss the vitriolic attacks on Theresa by Rush, Sean and

other Bush shills?

His mocking a "born again" asking for mercy?

Pissing on cars... Hey, it's not a presidential picture even the most die hard Bushie likes to imagine.

It's time to take off the gloves and be as crass as the Repugs have been.

[ElectroPrincess]

8. You got that right !

I'm with you Billy P. I'm an educated American but will get down in the mud and sling as much as the right wing radicals. Anything that is legal - it's fair game. Ask yourself, dear moderate ... more appropriate and only "based on facts" Americans = Is the continued survival of our Democratic republic worth FIGHTING for? Yes, whatever that is not illegal ... "rumors and inuendos" works for me because that's EXACTLY how the right wing radicals will STEAL this election if we don't particiapate in the mud-wrestling fest that campaigning has devolved into. Sad but true, I'm game. :-)

[belle]

24. Play hard and relentless, but not dirty, if by dirty you mean...

just making shit up out of whole cloth. Not (just) because it's unethical, because it's stupid. It tends to backfire, especially if you don't have the media machine sewn up as tight as the Repubs do; and, more to the point, why would you need to? The truth is so much more damnind than anything you could possibly make up. Just research, research, research, then whistleblow, whistleblow, whistleblow. Do whatever you need to do to get the message out there. And get in a few well-deserved laughs at the losers as you call them on their shit.

[wtmusic]

12. So Kerry should adopt the tactics of the shills?

Oh come on. There's a winning strategy :eyes:

[foo_bar]

13. no, perfect their tactics

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. Should we ignore the tactics of the shills?

If we do, we're likely to get our collective ass handed to us on a platter in Novenmber.

[ldf]

25. sorry, we can worry about reclaiming the high ground

AFTER we kick bush's ass out of the whitehouse.

there is a little too much at stake now to worry about niceites.

that DOESN'T mean we have to tell lies. hell, there is way to much truth out there for us to have to do that.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

26. Ka_CHING!

You are dead on. There's plenty of truth and plenty of Bush behavior to throw ou there and let Bushco expend their energies (read money) trying to explain.

Like Bush did to McClain in 2000 when they said he had a black baby when he had adopted a child from Bangladesh, they took a positive and pitched it to the basest natures of the basely ignorant... It sadly worked. We have to get down in the same sort of mud because the average American is either too stupid, too lazy or too busy to find out the truth about anything.

It's a side effect of the information super highway. If you can't become an expert in womething in four minutes, it's not worth knowing.

Sigh.

[childslibrarian]

5. I agree

The economy, the war,...why would we need to bring up that old stuff?
There was a heart rending story this morning in the Philly about an area soldier killed 9 days ago and his funeral. Does the American public know people are still dying in Iraq? Do they know we've lost 1 million jobs? No, the media doesn't report it. We have to. And that costs $$$$.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

10. You and I look at reasons like this. Unfortunately, we seem to be

in the minority.

The Republicans have established a new paradigm: He who slings the most mud wins. And as Clinton (Good luck, Mr. President) repeated in his book, everytime they throw something out there, you need to hit back.

If we don't start hitting back harder, we are going to have a tough time winning in November.

It's just my opinion and it's not one I really like myself... I wish we could run on the issues.

[JanMichael]

9. Did you miss the spouse attacks?

Sorry but the Bush "machine" has attacked Kerry, his family, and his supporters with "personal" means, period.

So Prescott coddled Nazis? Great!

[xchrom]

11. sorry bud, it's part of how you play the game

shrug it off -- take off the gloves and get jiggy wid it.
it's reality.

[bahrbearian]

6. I haven't heard of him pissing on cars , who reported that? LOL.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. Mrs. Allison spoke about it in the recent Salon piece that the Guardian

picked up on.

I don't have the link handy, but it's worth hunting for if you didn't get a chance to read it.

[Beam Me Up]

17. Specific quote and link:

The break happened not long after a boozy election-night wake for Blount, who lost his Senate bid to the incumbent Democrat, John Sparkman. Leaving the election-night "celebration," Allison remembers encountering George W. Bush in the parking lot, urinating on a car, and hearing later about how he'd yelled obscenities at police officers that night. Bush left a house he'd rented in Montgomery trashed -- the furniture broken, walls damaged and a chandelier destroyed, the Birmingham News reported in February. "He was just a rich kid who had no respect for other people's possessions," Mary Smith, a member of the family who rented the house, told the newspaper, adding that a bill sent to Bush for repairs was never paid. And a month later, in December, during a visit to his parents' home in Washington, Bush drunkenly challenged his father to go "mano a mano," as has often been reported.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/02/allison/print.html

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

18. Thanks for posting the link. And let me recommend to those who

haven't read this: It's worth the "day pass" to read this great piece!

[Mz Pip]

14. Mud slinging

only seems to work when the Republicans do it. People only seem to believe outlandish accusations when they are given by Republicans. I don't know why but it seems to be true.

Hate works, but only for them.

Then two things mentioned about that have relevance are the connections to bin Laden family and Ken Lay. How pushing Laura's involvedment in a fatal traffic accident 40 years ago will bring any voters over to our side is beyond me.

MzPIp
:dem:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. Who would think that events 30+years in the past could have an effect

on the voting public.

It's been an effective Repug tool to create doubt through partial stories and innuendo. If you see that a wheel works, you would be silly not to use it because you didn't invent it.

[Snotcicles]

19. Because of Democrats

having superior intellect, we lack the natural ability to be ruthless. Unlike the neanderthal (repubs). We must manufacture this skill, fine tune it, then use it when we need drive a point home.
With some practice we will excell far beyond our opponents. After we win the election,we unlike them, will be able to supress this monster and go on to make a better world.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

27. God, I hope so.

[DieboldMustDie]

20. Gee Dubya's stated desire to be dictator should be made widely known.

"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

-- CNN, December 18, 2000

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

21. We need to get The Daily Show to put together vignettes of the

Resident's little faux pas like this.

The Republican Machine has admittedly been working to reduce Kerry to a "cartoon like" figure which Americans cannot take as a serious contender for the office.

We have a lot more ammunition and creativity than they do. We've been held back by trying to maintain a civil discourse. It's time to change because "civil" doesn't work with these guys.

[Snotcicles]

22. It's historic

Every time the republicans get in office they muck it up so bad the Democrats get elected to come in and clean it up. You would think after awhile those dummys would get past there greed and opulency. look at the big picture, and leave the party of the privledged.
But no they keep listening to Pharaoh blame the left all the while they keep getting less out of life.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

23. Well said and welcome to DU, Snotcicles...

I have to chuckle typing that name.

:toast:

[kath]

35. YES, the dictatorship comment should be broadcast far &wide, &the Trifecta

"joke", which he said at least twelve times, the asshole. MoveOn or *some* group should be jumping all over this stuff.

[anarchy1999]

28. Please don't forget all the Iran-Contra criminals in this current admin!

There was a 'toon from a couple of years back where it showed '41 and '43 at the top of the stairs leading into the basement where they were all stored, with '43 asking if he could dust off another one to bring up. If I am not mistaken, I do believe it was DeOre, from none other than the DMN (Dallas Morning News). I remember because I clipped it out and saved it, god knows where it is now in this mountain of paper we've saved over the course of these last miserable four years!!!!!!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

29. It seems as if the neocons consider these people heros...

If they don't get a job in this misadministration, they get a Job with Faux News or a talk Radio program. Cripes, they'd like to put Nixon up for Sainthood.

[anarchy1999]

30. God love you BP! You are a Saint at DU, didn't you know?

n/t

Make the list, it's too late for me, but I know you have it. Put it up. Do me a favor though, start with OLLIE.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

32. See: Iran-Contra players return to power / By SARA FRITZ

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/25/Columns/Iran_Contra_players_r.shtml
<snip>
What was the lesson of Iran-Contra?

Former independent counsel Lawrence Walsh summed it up this way: "The Iran-Contra affair illustrates both the forces that propel high-level officials to engage in illegal activities and the barriers to full disclosure once the illegal activities have been exposed."
<snip>


And from:
FINAL REPORT OF THE
INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR
IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS

Volume I:
Investigations and Prosecutions
Lawrence E. Walsh
Independent Counsel
August 4, 1993
Washington, D.C.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

ABSOLUTELY THE STUFF THAT THE REPUGS DON'T LIKE TO HEAR!

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/

<snip>
George Bush served as vice president through the Reagan presidency from 1981 to 1989. In January 1989, he succeeded Reagan as President. It was in his capacity as President that Bush committed what will likely become his most memorable act in connection with Iran/contra. On December 24, 1992, twelve days before former Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger was to go to trial, Bush pardoned him.1 In issuing pardons to Weinberger and five other Iran/contra defendants, President Bush charged that Independent Counsel's prosecutions represented the ``criminalization of policy differences.''

1 President Bush also pardoned former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane, former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, former CIA Central American Task Force Chief Alan D. Fiers, Jr., former CIA Deputy Director for Operations Clair E. George, and former CIA Counter-Terrorism Chief Duane R. Clarridge. The Weinberger pardon marked the first time a President ever pardoned someone in whose trial he might have been called as a witness, because the President was knowledgeable of factual events underlying the case.

The criminal investigation of Bush was regrettably incomplete. Before Bush's election as President, the investigation was primarily concerned with the operational conspiracy and the careful evaluation of the cases against former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North of the National Security Council staff, prior to their indictment in March 1988. This included a review of any exculpatory material that might have shown authorization for their conduct. In the course of this investigation, Vice President Bush was deposed on January 11, 1988.

A year later Bush was President-elect, and OIC was engaged in the intensive preparation for the trial of North, which began on January 31, 1989. After the completion of the trials of North and Poindexter and the pleas of guilty of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord and Albert Hakim, OIC broadened its investigation to those supporting and supervising Poindexter and North. This investigation developed a large amount of new material with which it intended to question President Bush. His interrogation was left to the end because, as President, he obviously could not be questioned repeatedly. It was Independent Counsel's expectation that he would be available after the completion of the 1992 Presidential election campaign.

In light of his access to information, Bush would have been an important witness. In an early interview with the FBI in December 1986 and in the OIC deposition in January 1988, Bush acknowledged that he was regularly informed of events connected with the Iran arms sales, including the 1985 Israeli missile shipments.2 These statements conflicted with his more extreme public assertions that he was ``out of the loop'' regarding the operational details of the Iran initiative and was generally unaware of the strong opposition to the arms sales by Secretary of Defense Weinberger and Secretary of State George P. Shultz. He denied knowledge of the diversion of proceeds from the arms sales to assist the contras.3 He also denied knowledge of the secret contra-resupply operation supervised by North.4

<snip>

[anarchy1999]

39. Thank you ever so much for this link!

n/t

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

41. No prob. Glad to pass it on.

[Cleita]

31. For my part, I ordered my copy of Kitty Kelley's "The Family"

When I am through reading it, I intend to give it to the most rabid freeper relative I have. I think we should all give our copies of this book and Fahrenheit 9/11, when we are done with them to right wing friends and relatives before the election.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

33. You go, Cleita! Good luck on getting them to read it.

I doubt it's on the Faux reading list.

[Cleita]

34. Oh, this particular relative is all into gossip. She'll read it all right

and then cluck about it to all her friends. I don't know if she and her husband will watch F911, but I didn't think they'd watch "Lord of the Rings" but they did. We exchange DVD's all the time so I'll offer it to her.

[Pepperbelly]

36. That is what 527s are for ...

Geez ...

It's not OUR fault that our money guys are gents rather than thugs.

[I_Hug_Trees]

37. well least our guys are spending more

than theirs are. I mean if * were to keep up with the spending of moveon.org and ACT, we could be in trouble. I hope Kerry continues to outsepnd them. It is money that will win this election.

We need someone fighting for our right, my rights. Kerry has proven this time and time agian. Id he is half as good as a president as he was as a senator, he will rock. God I love his wfie.

[John_H]

38. I'm with you except for the Bimbo Twins and Pickles.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

40. Like Keyes respected Cheney's daughter? These people eat their

own. And Dimson brought them to the party himself. Please note the Repug's respect for Hillary even before she was Senator Clinton.

What's good for the goose...