Salon: Dukakis-Bush deja vu

[kskiska]

Recalling the presidential race of 1988, the Bush campaign is attacking John Kerry as soft on defense and out of touch with ordinary Americans. And once again, the media are only too happy to join in.

Last week, as the Bush campaign and the news media continued to question John Kerry's heroism during and after the Vietnam War, I detected the beat of what I call the Bush family's Texas two-step: "Wimp" your opponent, then "weird" him. Make him look soft on defense, then show him to be out of touch with the lives of ordinary Americans.

When I discussed this with a friend from Bush War I, the one against Michael Dukakis (I made TV spots for Dukakis during the presidential primaries), we were struck by the banality of the Bushes' strategy. In 1988, opposing Dukakis, they ran against a Massachusetts liberal. In 2004, opposing Kerry, they're again trying to run against a Massachusetts liberal.

Note the shorthand: "The senator from Massachusetts has given us ample grounds to doubt the judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security," Vice President Cheney charged in a political diatribe delivered at Westminster College in Missouri -- one that offended the college president so deeply he immediately invited Kerry to speak in response.

Just as Kerry began national TV advertising focusing on his combat service, the Bush attack Hummer swung into action. With guidance from an anti-John McCain, pro-Bush publicist, a group of veterans fragged Kerry in an attempt to dishonor his exemplary military duty. As Joe Conason wrote in Salon last week, one of the Kerry-hating veterans, Texas lawyer John O'Neill, "has been assailing Kerry since 1971, when the former Navy officer was selected for the role by Charles Colson, President Nixon's dirty-tricks aide."

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/10/attacks/index.html

[whistle]

1. Cheney needs to be kept in a room full of microwave ovens...

...all operating on HIGH!

[MikeG]

3. I'd make him go through a metal detector over and over again.

[physioex]

2. I remember that campagin....

I was never politically active until this campaign. The rules have changed and the stakes are much higher. I won't stand by and watch it happen, I am going to be doing what little I can to fight.

[Snow]

4. Y'know, we;ve already heard "stay the course"

I'm waiting for "a thousand points of light"