Kerry: Obama Won't Be Swift Boated

[LTR]

LANSDOWNE, Pa. - Sen. John Kerry reached out to veterans here on Barack Obama's behalf Saturday, saying he believes Obama is more prepared to be commander in chief than Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were when they took office.

Kerry told the crowd he did not think Obama would be victimized by GOP attacks the way he was in 2004 by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." Kerry took responsibility for not fighting the Swift Boat assaults more effectively, but he said advisors, including Bill Clinton, suggested he not defend himself aggressively.

"We didn't lose to them, I didn't lose to them, because we didn't answer it with the truth," Kerry said. "We did. We just didn't do it enough."

He said his campaign did not put enough money behind a campaign to counter the Swift Boat ads.

"We're not gonna get that close" to repeating the mistake, Kerry said. "We're just gonna come right back so hard and so fast."

Kerry said Obama had foreign policy experience from his travels abroad and service in the Senate and that he has a better understanding of foreign affairs than other successful presidents, including Reagan and Clinton.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/04/kerry_obama_won.html

[boston bean]

1. oooooh that sure is reassuring. nt

[blm]

2. In 2004, Kerry needed a Kerry quality spokesperson willing to oppose BushInc's spokespeople.

Unfortunately, gifted Dem talkers like Bill Clinton were standing with Bush and defending him against Kerry's criticisms of his Iraq decisions throughout Bill's high profile interviews for his summer 2004 book tour.

Thanks Bill.



http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/19/clinton.iraq/

[JoFerret]

4. Tripe and bananas

Kerry lost the campaign on his own.
Bush stole it on his own.
You pick.

[ProSense]

7. .

Hillary has lost.
Hillary can't win.

You pick.

[blm]

8. RNC stole that election FOR Bush and DNC let them do it. BTW, were you supporting Bill's

defense of Bush throughout his book tour, or are you claiming it never happened, or what?

[JoFerret]

3. Sign outside a rural church today

"God's last name is not damn"

[ProSense]

5. Kerry: McCain’s ‘100 Years’ Remarks Show A ‘Fundamental Misunderstanding Of Iraq Itself’

Kerry: McCain’s ‘100 Years’ Remarks Show A ‘Fundamental Misunderstanding Of Iraq Itself’

Good stuff!

Transcript: Sen. John Kerry on 'FOX News Sunday'

[LaurenG]

6. Yay John Kerry!

I am so glad he's behind Senator Obama. :bounce:

[blm]

9. He'd been behind for a long time before the endorsement. So was the NATIONAL NETWORK he set up in

2004 - minus the Clinton loyalists who were only there to undermine and sabotage ANY Dem nominee in 2004.

Looks like they work fine without the liars and cheating wing of the Dem party in their ranks.

Clintons have only themselves to blame for the years of undermining every other Dem leader - they finally are getting CAUGHT doing it openly. THAT is the difference.


The backstabbing:

http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13354

The repeated and very PUBLIC defense of Bush in summer2004:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/19/clinton.iraq/

The sabotage of Ohio Dem voters:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/oct/07/did_carville_tip_bush_off_to_kerry_strategy_woodward

[LaurenG]

10. I have an opinion about all that myself

I found it interesting that Kerry alluded to Clinton telling him not to fight the swift boaters. That was something I have been suspicious of for years now. I went insane writing Kerry telling him to crack those suckers (swift boaters)over the head hard.

[blm]

11. Dem spokespeople LET Kerry's attack on swifts in Aug19 speech go by without furthering his

attacks on swifts and Bush - they let it go as if it never happened.

By September, if Kerry himself would have continued with focusing on the swifts he would have been roundly seen as distracted from the campaign against Bush.

But Dem SPOKESPEOPLE were a different story - why were Dem spokespeople and the so-called left media not showing up for the peripheral battles while Kerry was campaigning against Bush?

Because most Dem spokespeople from 1993-2005 were all schooled in defending Clintons and were mute and ignorant when it came to defending any other Dem. Just as Clintons, NcAuliffe and Carville planned.

[Major Hogwash]

12. Time to move on.

They'll never understand it because they don't want to understand it.

If people want to blame Kerry for what happened in 2004, let them.
It won't change anything now.
This is 2008, for crying out loud.

Obama is going to get so much support this summer from the veterans that Kerry put together back in 2004, it isn't even going to be funny.

Things are looking really good for us already.
A radio listener called in to the Ed Schultz radio program on Friday from Boise, Idaho. He told Ed that while McCain may be a Republican, he is not a conservative.
The caller was a Republican who said he would probably vote for McCain anyway this fall, but there is no way McCain will get an outpouring of support for him here in Idaho like a true Republican conservative nominee would have gotten.

Romney had a lot of support here because he is first a Republican, then a conservative, and finally, a Mormon. In that order, that is their order of preference here. Very few Reublicans get elected here that aren't either conservative or Mormon. Quite a few moderate Mormons have been elected here, as long as they were Republicans.

I'm hoping more people heard that radio program on Friday than just me, because I have been saying for weeks now, McCain has WEAK support from one of the GOP's stronghold states, Idaho.

[blm]

13. Of course you're right. Obama and Dems will benefit from the network put together

by Kerry and many committed folks who took up the slack when DNC and party leaders were failing us at every turn.

It will benefit from the work Dean has put into rebuilding the party infrastructure he found in collapse.

I KNOW we will win this one and if the voting process is even 50% more secure the Dems will finally get many more of their votes counted - enough to get into the WH.