9.14.2004
Bush Banks Battleground States?
Not that you can trust most of the polls out there today. Besides the fact that we have almost two months until the actual election, none of them seem to be able to get as clear a picture of the political field as Zogby. Yahoo! today reported that President Bush is very close to locking up some of the key battleground states in this year's election including Missourri, Wisconsin & Ohio:
Ohio, with 20 electoral votes, went for Bush in 2000 but economic issues this year should be helping Kerry, Democrats suggest. Unemployment in Ohio stands at 5.9 percent, above the national average of 5.4 percent.
"The big problem that Senator Kerry has right now is that he has not communicated to the people of Ohio exactly what his plans are," said Paul Tipps, a Columbus lobbyist and former state Democratic party chair. "This state is very much John Kerry's to win. But he hasn't done it yet."
Indeed, it appears Kerry needs to strengthen his image in these hotly contested states. An editorial at BuzzFlash insists that Kerry can easily pull it out, he's just got to learn to play dirty (someething we Democrats don't do so well):
The Democrats still seem to think you can beat the Republicans playing a game of defense.
It's like the Corleone Family versus the Quakers, except the Quakers don't rely heavily on corporate support.
We wrote in an editorial in the spring of this year that Kerry needed to define George W. Bush or be defined. Apparently, they weren't listening to us over at Kerry headquarters. They were shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic consultants who make their careers off of losing campaigns by urging a "middle of the road" course. Meanwhile, the Swift Boat Liars slithered out of the sewer system and through the back door.
We have hesitated to write this editorial because John F. Kerry is truly a decent and honorable man. He is a true leader. He has recently taken some strong shots at Bush, which the mainstream press tends to bury in their coverage. Edwards has also been partially unleashed.
But that is not enough. Kerry and Edwards are fighting for democracy against the same people who tried to frame a President of the United States, through a medieval witch hunt, by hijacking the sacred process of our "justice" system. Through the intervention of Cheney's longtime friend, Antonin Scalia, they stole an election from the American people. They lie, cheat and steal.
It's an excellent read and takes a few well deserved jabs at the press:
It is true that Kerry and Edwards are not just running against the GOP mob family. To be fair, they are also running against a mainstream press that buries the truth about Bush being AWOL and grounded as a pilot on the inside pages, while splashing the delirious lies of men who didn't even serve on Kerry's boat on the front page.
Bush is like one of those inflatable dolls that bursts open several times a day and deflates. The job of the corporate press -- per daily message points provided by the Karl Rove crew -- is to patch him up and re-inflate him everyday into Popeye by the next morning.
In an age of headline news, absent the substance, there appears to be no historical memory beyond the latest six-hour news cycle.
Indeed, it seems odd that nothing the Kerry campaign brings up seems to stick. Well, there was the memos that showed up on 60 minutes but about 5 minutes of "discrediting" seemed to be enough to satiate the press. 5 years of discussion about the Swift Vets didn't seem to quiet the story they were pushing, however.
Ohio, with 20 electoral votes, went for Bush in 2000 but economic issues this year should be helping Kerry, Democrats suggest. Unemployment in Ohio stands at 5.9 percent, above the national average of 5.4 percent.
"The big problem that Senator Kerry has right now is that he has not communicated to the people of Ohio exactly what his plans are," said Paul Tipps, a Columbus lobbyist and former state Democratic party chair. "This state is very much John Kerry's to win. But he hasn't done it yet."
Indeed, it appears Kerry needs to strengthen his image in these hotly contested states. An editorial at BuzzFlash insists that Kerry can easily pull it out, he's just got to learn to play dirty (someething we Democrats don't do so well):
The Democrats still seem to think you can beat the Republicans playing a game of defense.
It's like the Corleone Family versus the Quakers, except the Quakers don't rely heavily on corporate support.
We wrote in an editorial in the spring of this year that Kerry needed to define George W. Bush or be defined. Apparently, they weren't listening to us over at Kerry headquarters. They were shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic consultants who make their careers off of losing campaigns by urging a "middle of the road" course. Meanwhile, the Swift Boat Liars slithered out of the sewer system and through the back door.
We have hesitated to write this editorial because John F. Kerry is truly a decent and honorable man. He is a true leader. He has recently taken some strong shots at Bush, which the mainstream press tends to bury in their coverage. Edwards has also been partially unleashed.
But that is not enough. Kerry and Edwards are fighting for democracy against the same people who tried to frame a President of the United States, through a medieval witch hunt, by hijacking the sacred process of our "justice" system. Through the intervention of Cheney's longtime friend, Antonin Scalia, they stole an election from the American people. They lie, cheat and steal.
It's an excellent read and takes a few well deserved jabs at the press:
It is true that Kerry and Edwards are not just running against the GOP mob family. To be fair, they are also running against a mainstream press that buries the truth about Bush being AWOL and grounded as a pilot on the inside pages, while splashing the delirious lies of men who didn't even serve on Kerry's boat on the front page.
Bush is like one of those inflatable dolls that bursts open several times a day and deflates. The job of the corporate press -- per daily message points provided by the Karl Rove crew -- is to patch him up and re-inflate him everyday into Popeye by the next morning.
In an age of headline news, absent the substance, there appears to be no historical memory beyond the latest six-hour news cycle.
Indeed, it seems odd that nothing the Kerry campaign brings up seems to stick. Well, there was the memos that showed up on 60 minutes but about 5 minutes of "discrediting" seemed to be enough to satiate the press. 5 years of discussion about the Swift Vets didn't seem to quiet the story they were pushing, however.
