Kerry´s Klimb

Like a Red Sox fan, he fights the other team, and his own

by Alan Bisbort

Source: Hartford Advocate, September 30, 2004.

John Kerry is getting bombarded daily with a seamless chorus of malignant lies, otherwise known as Republican campaign rhetoric. Even ABC News has taken to deconstructing Bush TV ads and pointing out the, ahem, "inaccuracies." The 1988 campaign of Bush's father -- engineered not to win but to destroy his opponent -- was as effective as it was sleazy, so effective that Dukakis' loss was made to seem entirely his own fault (a perception that persists to this day) and so sleazy that its mastermind Lee Atwater, while dying of brain cancer only two years later, expressed his regrets.

Though nothing matches the cynical sleaziness of Karl Rove and the 2004 campaign of George W. Bush, it's not as effective at destroying Kerry. While there's little doubt that the Swift Boat bullshit ended up getting mostly on Kerry -- creating the "Atwater effect" of putting the guy who fought heroically on the defensive while the coward who went AWOL gets a free pass -- the tide has turned. Even against this daily Rovean diarrhea that washes over him, Kerry stands even with Bush in the polls.

The reason is easy to find: Kerry ditched the 30-year-old Vietnam story and focused on 2004. He made a powerful speech outlining a coherent Iraq policy and pointed out, all week, how out of touch with reality Bush is. Reality is harsh indeed, so harsh that even the mainstream media can't go AWOL from reporting on it.

The most jarring news, of course, were the beheadings of civilian contractors (other hostages await similar fates, sadly). More U.S. troops died this week, too -- all the while Bush was posing triumphantly in D.C. with his puppet Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi -- added to the 432 American soldiers who've died since April. During this same time, according to figures released by Allawi's government, 3,487 Iraqi civilians have died (328 children), and 13,720 were injured. The actual figures are higher, because these are just those that have been reported. Contrary to the rosy picture presented by Bush and Allawi to Congress, electricity and water are still rare commodities there. Check out "Baghdad Burning," an excellent blog by an Iraqi resident: "A few days ago, most of Baghdad was in the dark for over 24 hours and lately, on our better days, we get about 12 hours of electricity. Bush got it wrong -- the electricity is drastically less than pre-war levels, but the electricity BILL is way above pre-war levels ... . Before the war, Iraqis might pay 5,000 Iraqi Dinars a month for electricity (equivalent of $2.50) -- summer or winter. Now, it's quite common to get bills above 70,000 Iraqi Dinars ... for half-time electricity."

If anything is hurting Kerry, it's the divisive voices from within his own party.

I recently had some exchanges with a former elected official from my town, a lifelong Democrat. He's down on Kerry, bigtime. He uses words like "dishonest" and "total joke" to describe him. His main beef is Kerry's "early support for the war," but this is a "sin" he shares with 76 other senators.

Democrats' dismay with Kerry is much larger than his "sins" warrant. Though I could never get them to change their minds, I would suggest refocusing the thinking. A presidential election is always a referendum on the incumbent.

While I take much of what Kerry says on the campaign trail as rhetoric, I do judge him on the 20 years as a senator and the priorities that he has consistently stood up for: the environment, women's rights, education, a strong, vigilant defense coupled with diplomacy and international cooperation, the sciences, a commitment to a sane national energy policy that makes us less dependent on foreign oil AND offers U.S. scientists and businesses a chance to lead the way into a new alternative energy future (four more years of Bush will put the U.S. so far behind other countries on this that, when the oil runs out, we'll be a second-tier nation).

Finally, on Sept. 23, George W. Bush reiterated his mantra, when shown some harsh findings in a recent poll: "As you know, I remain skeptical about polls. I don't run my administration based upon polls and focus groups."

Well, if ignoring the polls is good enough for the president, it's good enough for me. And it should be for you too. Ignore the polls. Kerry will win this thing.

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reprinted from The Hartford Advocate