Friday, October 29, 2004

Bad Call John VI

Dick Morris - a svengali-like figure in his way - is typically entertaining, and has the peculiar distinction of being the only significant insider to bolt the Clinton fold. He rubs many people the wrong way, and while I often read his perspective I rarely post on it.  Yet today he’s summed up the blunder the Kerry camp has made over the ‘missing explosives’ so well, I felt an exception ought to be made:

John Kerry was on the verge of moving out to a victory after the third debate. Taking advantage of its pre-ordained focus on domestic issues, he had finally, finally swung the debate back to the issues on which he has — and has always had — a lead: domestic policy. Next he got a short-term bounce from Bill Clinton’s presence on the campaign trail and seemed on his way to closing the Bush lead.

Then came the “disappearing explosives” story. Kerry’s handlers, tacticians to the last, disregarded the needs of basic strategy and hopped on the issue with all four feet, running a TV ad lambasting Bush for losing the weapons after the invasion.

Strategically, this flawed decision assured that the final week of the campaign would focus on the areas of Bush’s strength and Kerry’s weakness: Iraq and terrorism. Tactically, it tied the electorate’s confidence in John Kerry to the mystery of what actually happened in an ammo dump in the desert 18 months ago.

Then it began to explode in Kerry’s face. Soon we heard that there were only three tons of explosives . . . and they weren’t there when we occupied the dump . . . and they were removed by the Russians before we got there . . . and, perhaps, there are satellite photos to prove it.

All of a sudden, Kerry seems just not ready for prime time.

The backfire is amplified by the involvement of CBS and The New York Times. The plans of “60 Minutes” and Dan Rather to break the story on the Sunday before the election reflect overt partisan bias — an overt conspiracy of these leading outlets to stack the deck in favor of Kerry.

Kerry apparently doesn’t get that at all.  You see, he’s still talking about it even as the Pentagon releases satellite photos of trucks at the site before the US got there.

Posted by Matt on 10/29 at 10:35 AM
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