A lucky break for Republicans
This Boston Globe post-mortem on John Kerry, while not as comprehensive or interesting as the Newsweek masterpiece, is consistent with all else we've heard about the candidate.
Fortunately for Republicans, he was too wrapped up in his own world to take the excellent advice of Paul Begala, who is a bloodthirsty political killing machine, on how to defeat Bush:
Over his head/incompetent," [Begala] wrote. "For the rich/special interests.""Ideological/stubborn/rigid. Out of touch. Ignores problems. Can only to do one thing at a time. Liar/broken promises. Wrong Priorities. No plan for the future. Divider. You're on your own. Ignores middle class."
Pick one, Begala urged Kerry's staff, and then hammer it until Election Day.
That's exactly right. Rather than issue pontifications that drifted all over the landscape, Kerry needed to pick one theme and hammer it home.
I think "incompetent", "stubborn/rigid", "can only do one thing at a time", and "you're on your own" would have been the four most effective attack tactics for the Democrats. Each takes Bush's perceived strengths -- resoluteness, "tough sherrif", not wobbly -- and turns it against the President.
Lucky break for the Elephants.
