Was waiting to respond to SBVT (sic) strategy or mistake?

[KurtNYC]

I think we all saw "Dem_Strategist" here last week and he espoused that the Kerry campaign was "playing chess" even though many wanted him to play checkers. Many DUers pounded the table for a quick and effective response and counter attack for the SVBT ads and CNN's obessession with airing them free of charge.

Do you think, in hindsight, that the Kerry camp may have waited too long to respond, timing which gave the lies some breathing room and they will now be harder to kill?

OR....

Do you think the plan all along was to let Bush/Rove dig a nice deep hole for themselves, let them (predictably) deny involvement with these ads and now go after Bush directly for dirty campaigning -- something which would not have been doable in a quick pre-emptive response to SVBT?

Any other theories are welcome too.

[swag]

1. Too early to tell, but my hunch is along these lines:

metaphorically speaking, our guy is the one in the white trunks.

KERRY BUMAYA!

[jonnyblitz]

8. at first I thought it was a mistake. Now I tend to agree with you

Too soon to tell..

[opihimoimoi]

2. Too late to ponder, must act proactively now tro expose them for what they

are.....political shit at the expense of wounded vets who continue to have emotional problems due to that long ago war.

They are opening up old wounds for a lot of people.

Digging at scabs is what it is....

[unfrigginreal]

3. At this point, I don't care about the shoulda, woulda, coulda.

I'm just happy to see the aggressiveness from the campaign now. If there were lessons learned, then good. There's nothing wrong with a campaign that gets smarter along the way.

[xcmt]

4. Kerry's playing chess.

I think we can say it was an effective gambit. He opened up his defenses for a glancing blow, a minor sacrifice, but only to make Bush & Co. overzealous in their pursuit of an easy win.

Now Bush is in bed with SBVT, and now the knights come out to play.

[amber dog democrat]

6. and maybe they have too much frontal development

and will have to castle too soon. Eventually they will have only a few moves left and all of them will entail more risk and sacrafice. They do seem to have an endless supply of pawns however.

[Trajan]

5. No ... I dont think he made a mistake ....

The lies of the SBL's have fully developed ... and are being SMASHED to pieces by the media now .... By making the SBL's claims such a focus, the media can now be used to call into question the ethical weaknesses of those who have tried to ramrod these false charges down our collective throats ....

Furthermore: It reopens the scrutiny of Bush and Cheney's service histories ... or lack thereof ...

IS the timing perfect ? .... perhaps not ...

IS this going to result in enhanced stature for Kerry ? .... you bet it will ...

Watching Barry McCaffrey and David Gergen last night: two moderate republicans ... BOTH were disgusted by the SBL's smears and falsehoods .... If this is a representative slice of moderate republican thinking about this issue ... then Bush is in serious trouble ... By failing to prove their assertions, this whole ordeal RE-establishes Kerry as a BONA FIDE war hero ....

Kerry is gonna come out smelling like a brand new rose ...

[Kahuna]

7. So long as it works out in the end it doesn't really matter. If Kerry

continues to hold his own then he didn't necessarily wait too long. As long as he finally acted and acted forceably, I am satisfied. I wanted him to act and act agressively and he has done that. Smart man.

[TheRovingGourmet]

9. Mistake. But that is strongly influenced by a regional bias.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. Q: How many Bush campaign members have resigned since Kerry countered?

A: One. But that's one more than has resigned from Kerry's campaign.
I'd say we are winning this fight.