Kerry reaches out to middle while Chimpy is still wooing his base

[joanne]

LAMAR, Colo., Aug. 7 - Cruising across the country on a post-convention tour by road, water and rail, John Kerry has begun reaching out to moderate, undecided voters with a general-election message that suggests he is more confident in his base than President Bush is in his own.

Indeed, while Democrats note that Mr. Bush continues to talk about banning gay marriage and late-term abortions, and to visit bedrock Republican areas of the country like Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mr. Kerry, the Democrat from Massachusetts, is rolling through the Great Plains and the high plateaus of the Southwest preaching fiscal responsibility, tax cuts, gun owners' rights and national security.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/politics/campaign/08memo.html

[coloradodem2005]

1. He is even reaching a little past the middle, I think.

n/t

[GalleryGod]

2. Will Pitt: WIN FIRST. Play NICE Later!

IMHO..that is sage advice from DU's H.L. Mencken!

[Nite Owl]

3. I'm finding it more than a little scarey

that Bush* is doing this. There's no way that he can win with only his base and they aren't stupid politically. Is he counting on BBV coming through at the end so why bother or are they afraid of the undecided voters asking him questions he can't answer and he might not react well?

[Toots]

4. I think it is more Fear

They are afraid of the boos and protests that will erupt if regular people are allowed to listen to him. It would not play nice on National News. They live for the sound bite and perfect setting in photo shots. They are smart enough to know that more than half the nation despises him and the whole Thug Cabal.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. It's elementary Presidential politics. You have to solidify your base 1st.

Kerry has done this, Bush hasn't.

But will Bush ever be able to solidify his base? Doesn't look so.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

12. Thats a disturbing graph...

....the big slide kicking in in '74, then the big yoyo over the past 10 years or so....unstable....

[yardwork]

16. I see it differently.....although I see your point

Instead of unstable, though, I see it as a chart of the true impact of Reagan economics, which has been sh*t.

The myth is that the Great Society under LBJ was enormously expensive, and then Jimmy Carter wrecked the economy even worse until Reagan came along and saved it. The facts show the opposite.

The Great Society and Vietnam War cost the U.S., but not that badly. Costs rose as Nixon escalated the war and inflation and high oil costs in the 1970s caused a recession. Things were not as bad under Carter as they were advertised by the opposition.

Things took a major dive under Reagan but started to recover a little toward the end of his second term, until Poppy got a hold of the country and drove the deficit to record lows. Waaaaaay worse than anything LBJ or Carter ever did! We never hear that from the talking heads!

The remarkable thing is what Clinton did for the U.S. economy. We see this amazing turn-around: record deficits turned into a wonderful surplus.

Until shrub got a hold of the country and outdid his daddy by breaking the previous record for the basement.

If we can wake up the country, get them to put down the kool-aid, and recognize that the U.S. economy does well under Democrats, maybe we could live in that nice blue spike forever. Well I can dream....

[AndyTiedye]

5. Bush* Knows He Can't Win The Election - He Intends to Steal It

He needs his base to be his "brown shirts" after he steals the election
and the people don't buy it.

Bush* probably can't retain power by declaring martial law -- who is he going to call up?
He needs the RW fundie militia types to back him when he crosses the Rubicon this Fall.
His campaign is directed to them.
The "Dominion" types. The ones who eat up all the "Left Behind" books.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

7. poo poo

[yardwork]

15. "He might not react well...." is an important part of the equation

From what we see, shrub appears to be completely around the bend. I think his handlers are terrified that one of these days he's going to lose it on national TV. They're protecting him from himself by keeping him in a cocoon where he never gets exposed to protests or difficult questions.

How they plan to win an election with this strategy is beyond me. Either they're counting on a big boost from some event between now and the election, or they're counting on a stolen election.

[Kahuna]

8. Yep. Chimpy is wasting valuable time wooing his base.

A sure sign of a doomed campaign.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

9. Kerry reaching out

[union_maid]

10. Bush has burned his bridges...the base is all he can have

He has nothing to offer anyone except people who are neocons or who are convinced that Bush is going to deliver the country into the hands of the Christian Right and of course those would be the same people that think if gays marry it invalidates their own marriage to their opposite sex cousin. There is no other reason to give him a vote. Compassionate conservatism? If anyone believed that the first time, well, "there's an old saying in Texas...Tennessee..fooled me once..um..uh...won't get fooled again."

[DeepModem Mom]

11. I loved this article -- look at this excerpt:

"More important, (Kerry's) message is now being delivered through a one-word frame: values. Mr. Kerry is thus taking on a phrase that Republicans have used as a cudgel against Democrats for a dozen years.

'Values spoken, without actions taken, are slogans, not values,' Mr. Kerry said in Hannibal on Wednesday. 'Values are the choices we make, and I think it's time we started to demand of people in public life that you stop talking about family values, and you start valuing families.'"

[Piperay]

13. GOOD

article! :thumbsup:

[Inland]

14. That's where Cheney is every day

Going to small groups of true believers and trying to rally them.