The Smell of Victory
Reported by Eleanor - August 1, 2004 -
Fox News Sunday (August 1, 5:00 p.m.) interviewed John Kerry and John Edwards, and presented a "Convention Report Card."
The interview of Kerry and Edwards was typical, except that Wallace tried to put words into Kerry's mouth by asking him twice if he called Bush a liar in his convention speech, in a discussion of what the statement that he would "restore truth and credibility to the White House" meant.
Kerry responded assertively, "You're trying to get me to say a word I'm not going to use." Wallace then switched to the 9/11 Report and the Kerry agenda. Wallace went down a list of Kerry comments such as, he will not lead us into a war of choice, or he won't play politics with the Constitution, as indicating that Bush would. Kerry again objected to Wallace's interpretation, and Wallace quickly backed down saying, "I meant by implication." (I was so happy to see Kerry stand up for himself, and not allow Wallace to put words in his mouth. That is an interview technique that works with some people.)
Wallace followed this interview of the candidates with Newt Gingrich and a pollster, Matt Dowd, who gave Kerry a 7 point bounce, and some pretty bad Bush numbers, like a less than 50% approval and a re-elect number of 43%. (Uhhh). Wallace asked Gingrich if the republican strategy is to sell Bush or tear down Kerry. Newt ignored this and began to tear down Kerry. When Wallace persisted with, "Don't you face a problem with anti-Kerry, not pro-Bush?" Gingrich bristled and said that America today is like the time of Roosevelt and Truman. Changes today are not "peace and prosperity." When asked why it took so long to lay out a second term agenda, why the huge deficit, and what will decide the race, Gingrich recited a list of republican points, but one of his last comments was a reminder that Kerry was the Lieutenant Governor to Dukakis. (Hard to resist I guess.)
I assumed the Convention Report card would grade the convention coverage, but instead it focused on Kerry, and over-all, an admission that Kerry is doing well. Kristol , Kondrache, and Barnes said Kerry is "pretty well positioned" or "unusually well-positioned."
When Wallace asked if Kerry can "gloss over or "fudge" his record, Mara Liasson said that with millions of dollars of ads run by the Bush campaign, they have not destroyed Kerry, and this is now a "change" election. When Wallace asked, "Is trashing Kerry a winner?" Kristol responded that the President has to make a case for himself. He must attack Kerry on substance.
Mara said that Bush's plan is Social Security reform, health care and retirement being individually owned, but he's rolling it out late. Barnes said there's no need to spell it out now, but we'll hear it at the convention. Kondrache said that 200,000 jobs expected are not showing up, but Wallace reminded them that there is no foot dragging on implementing the 9/11 Report. (When Bush tried to delay the investigation initially.)
The Power Player of the Week segment was skipped this week for some reason. To an email criticizing the choice of the partisan Howie Carr last week, Wallace said a democratic partisan will be at the republican convention. (Wasn't that person supposed to show up this week?)
Comment: Over-all, this show was tamer than most in its treatment of Kerry. Do they smell the possibility of a democratic victory in the air?
