Democratic Ineptitude...
...thy name is Terry McAuliffe...
Let's look at his track record:
- Under his watch, the Democrats have lost ground in both the Senate and the House during the 2002 election - a mid-term race that historically favored his party...
- Under his watch, they are all but certain to lose more ground in both the House and Senate in 2004 with likely losses of somewhere in neighborhood of 6 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate...
- Under his watch, the early and front-loaded Democratic primary season ensured that John Kerry wasn't fully vetted and "ready for prime-time" in the fall.
- Under his watch, the president has already jumped out to at least a 7% lead in the polls after he predicted that the president would get little to no post-convention bounce. If this holds, dispirited Democrats across the country may just stay home on November 2nd leading to even greater losses down-ticket.
NOW: he is intent on stepping all over John Kerry's message. If the story of the day is about George Bush's service in the National Guard, Kerry loses another day to get out his "positive" message. Here's a news flash: the media already spread that story, and it registered in the public's conscious a long time ago.
Unlike the story about Kerry's Vietnam service, none of this is news. Also unlike Kerry, Bush never ran on his service in the National Guard. He ran on his history as a successful and popular governor. Would that Kerry had a history as either successful or popular...
Kerry's trying to make news, but McAuliffe and his AWOL storyline are making sure he can't. Is there anyone out there who still believes that he's not intentionally throwing this election so that Hillary is the presumptive 2008 Democratic nominee?
The problem with that strategy is that while he's stepping all over John Kerry, his grand ineptitude may ensure that there won't be enough of a party left for it to matter...
Let's look at his track record:
- Under his watch, the Democrats have lost ground in both the Senate and the House during the 2002 election - a mid-term race that historically favored his party...
- Under his watch, they are all but certain to lose more ground in both the House and Senate in 2004 with likely losses of somewhere in neighborhood of 6 seats in the House and 4 in the Senate...
- Under his watch, the early and front-loaded Democratic primary season ensured that John Kerry wasn't fully vetted and "ready for prime-time" in the fall.
- Under his watch, the president has already jumped out to at least a 7% lead in the polls after he predicted that the president would get little to no post-convention bounce. If this holds, dispirited Democrats across the country may just stay home on November 2nd leading to even greater losses down-ticket.
NOW: he is intent on stepping all over John Kerry's message. If the story of the day is about George Bush's service in the National Guard, Kerry loses another day to get out his "positive" message. Here's a news flash: the media already spread that story, and it registered in the public's conscious a long time ago.
Unlike the story about Kerry's Vietnam service, none of this is news. Also unlike Kerry, Bush never ran on his service in the National Guard. He ran on his history as a successful and popular governor. Would that Kerry had a history as either successful or popular...
Kerry's trying to make news, but McAuliffe and his AWOL storyline are making sure he can't. Is there anyone out there who still believes that he's not intentionally throwing this election so that Hillary is the presumptive 2008 Democratic nominee?
The problem with that strategy is that while he's stepping all over John Kerry, his grand ineptitude may ensure that there won't be enough of a party left for it to matter...
posted by Jim | 5:11 PM
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