The Republicans NEED a negative campaign

[MrBenchley]

They can't afford to have Kerry go out every day and talk positively about jobs, about health care, about the environment, about the need to restore science to scientific decisions, about the need to have a real foreign policy and not freedom fries...

....because they have no vision. They have nowhere else to go. Everything they've touched has turned to shit, and all they've got on tap is more of the same. So they have to run this dirty campaign.

Can we win the war on terror? We can't get a straight answer on that from day to day....

What about jobs? Suck it up and don't be girlymen.

Why are we in Iraq? Well, you can't prove pResident Fucknut ever said Saddam was an imminent danger.

At this point the ONLY hope the Republicans have is that they can turn off as many moderate voters as they can with a "there's no difference between parties" spiel while both sides trade vicious attack ads. Then they hope that their crazies outnumber hardcore Democrats...or keep it close enough to allow for a little vote fraud.

It would be a four-star disaster for John Kerry or his campaign to start trading chippy charges with Rush Limbaugh and the like in public, although it might be fun for some. All it says to most people, though, is that both sides fight dirty.

[The Traveler]

1. It all depends

On HOW it is done. Kerry has to respond with vigor, decisiveness, class, and humor.

[MrBenchley]

4. I don't think he has to respond at all

the trailer trash have shot THEMSELVES in the foot with their bandaids...

He needs to stay on focus, with a positive message...

The Democratic message so far is "Hope and Help Are on the Way."
The Republican message so far is "Michael Moore sucks."

[LondonAmerican]

2. Bottom line is that

Kerry should have gone negative on Bush much earlier instead of adpoting a lazy pollyannaish 'positive' campaign. Screw that. That's the best way to lose.

Kerry needs to take the fight to the enemy instead of just mouthing that tired 'bring it on' cliche. HE needs to BRING IT ON, instead of constantly lamely responding to Bush/Rove's absurd attacks. And he needs to be consistent dammit.

I do not want another four years of Bush and if Kerry is such a fighter then why is he always taking it on the chin? Get out there and fight dammit!

[MrBenchley]

5. Gee, if dirty tactics and smears are what you want

that's all the GOP has....

Negative campaigning is fun and easy......positive campaigning is much harder work. But bear in mind, the Republicans NEED voters to be turned off...they can't win with a large turnout.

[bigtree]

3. The voters want and need a campaign focused on the issues

and concerns that most affect them. That's what they will respond the most favorably to.

[MrBenchley]

7. Exactly so...

I doubt there's a working person anywhere who appreciated being told "dun't be an economic girlyman" by a rich teutonic twat. Not any working man, nor any working woman.

Or being told by a guy who's the cover boy for steroids that you have to "work hard and follow the rules." Ri-i-i-i-i-ight.

[Thrill]

6. Of Course. Negative WINS

why can't people see this? You don't win anything in politics being a nice guy being positive. The American people as a whole need to hear the negative one liners and negatie ads.

[MrBenchley]

8. No, it doesn't.

If what you want is a negative campaign, there's a dandy one underway at the Garden this week.