From a Guy Who Knows

Dan Payne is a Dem consultant who worked on Kerry's senate campaigns. Unfortunately, he's not working on the current campaign - y'know - the important one. In the Boston Globe, he jotted down a few choice notes for Kerry.

Bush shamefully exploits tragedy

THREE YEARS after 9/11/01, presidential politics is driven by fear of terrorism and war in Iraq. 9/11 represents horrifying failure of America's defense that happened on George Bush's watch. But Bush shamelessly campaignson it."A catastrophe" is how national security professionals describe Bush administration's response to 9/11 in James Fallows's piece in current Atlantic. Bush ignored clear warnings from outgoing Clinton officials that terrorism was serious threat. Ignored Aug. 6, 2001 briefing paper, "Osama bin Laden Determined To Strike inside US." On 9/11, when told "America is under attack," Bush froze in Florida classroom for seven long minutes reading "My Pet Goat."

Bush's anti-terrorism plan is simple: Kill Iraqis. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, but Bush knew most Americans felt someone had to pay for it. We don't like Saddam, let's blame him. Kerry needs anti-terrorism proposal. Thanks in large part to Bush, most of world's one billion Muslims now hate us. Senseless slaughter in Beslan, Russia, makes global anti-terror action urgent. Kerry's Grand Canyon doctrine of no regrets for voting to let Bush invade Iraq has got to go. Saying Iraq is "wrong war, wrong time, wrong place" is first step. But Kerry has to oppose Iraq war. Forget flip-flop charge. Supporting unjustifiable war that's killed 1,000 Americans and 12 to 15,000 Iraqis is worse.
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Does Sasso have enough time? Leaving master strategist John Sasso at Democratic National Committee was like leaving Ferrari parked in garage. Putting him on campaign plane with Kerry will make Kerry better. Sasso's smart, focused, respected, and tough. I used to play in poker game with him; he rarely lost. But if this were Texas Hold 'Em, he's holding small pair in hole.

Note: Bush had shakeup, too. Bush's top female attack dog Karen Hughes had to come back to help his struggling campaign. Footnote: Hughes was born in Paris, France, not Texas.
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Bush means more. More deaths in Iraq; more tax cuts for richest 2 percent; more assault weapons; more refusing to deal with worst deficit in American history; more jobs shipped overseas; more moves to privatize Social Security; more years of far-right John Ashcroft snooping and imposing his morals on us; two or more right-wing Supreme Court justices; no more stem-cell lines for research on incurable diseases; more damage to our air, water, and wilderness; more phony prescription-drug schemes for senior citizens; more control of US foreign policy by neocons who want to use US military as toy soldiers in ideological adventures; more energy policies designed for and by Big Oil.

Kerry needs swift recovery by Clinton. Bill Clinton is most popular white politician among African-Americans since John F. Kennedy. Kerry campaign should use satellite technology to beam Clinton to every black news outlet in United States.

Rove's righteous army. Bush strategist Karl Rove says 4-6 million conservatives did not vote in 2000. He's aiming to fix that by rallying Christian evangelicals and conservative Catholics. I'm not religious, so I want to know: Is coffee in hell cold?

Who said it? "Republicans sold us out with a generation of trickle-down economics that blew the deficit sky-high, drove poverty through the roof, and squeezed the middle class like a lemon at a county fair. They gave themselves the gold mine, and they gave the rest of us the shaft." Zell Miller, 2/25/96

Kerry's TV isn't working. Other than early biographical spots, not one Kerry TV commercial is effective or unique. (Go to MSNBC.com to see for yourself). We're lucky to live in Massachusetts. Bush's TV spots anger me, Kerry's depress me.