Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Sometimes, They Scream Because It Is True
One cannot really deny that Kerry has reversed himself several times in the past on his policy statements. It's become a running joke. You can buy Kerry weathervanes. There are Flipper pins and jokes and pictures, and even a website. The Dean campaign even gave Kerry a pair of flipflops for Christmas.
Explain it away as they will as complex nuancing, the Bush campaign has been able to take it and run with it, and screams are heard across the land.
"Liberals go apeshit over this stuff, " they write at Pardon My English, "screaming their lungs out about negative campaigning. But the reason why this theme has been so successful is because it’s a statement of fact. And pointing out a fact is not negative campaigning. It’s doing the voters a public service. The fact that our side has been able to make a universal running joke about it is just a little side benefit."
Screaming in this case is more like the screaming that happens when you touch a raw nerve. You can wish it away, but it's still there....unless you your candidate is the President. Then you can make joke like he did...
