Kerry's Race to Lose
Reported by Eleanor - August 12, 2004 -
Among other items, Special Report with Brit Hume (Aug. 12, 6:00 p.m.) spent a lot of time on Cheney's ridicule of Kerry's remark about a sensitive war, while another key topic was poll numbers.
War of Words Again - Cheney "fired from both barrels" with an assault on Kerry's comment about a more "sensitive" war. The Kerry camp said that Kerry would conduct a different war with sensitivity in reaching out to other nations, and Bush can only be negative. Bush kept up the pressure indicating that Kerry tried to "squirm out of that vote." (for war). Hume: Kerry didn't quite say he would have voted for war even if he had known of no WMD. He said he would have done it differently by bringing in more allies. "Bush shouldn't be sending mixed signals."
During the panel discussion on "sensitive wars," Juan Williams clarified that Bush made a similar remark in 2001 before 9/11. Charles Krauthammer supported Cheney by asking who cares about what the French and Germans say. Williams came back with an observation that Bush is exhibiting sensitivity by not going into the Mosque in Najaf, "so that argument doesn't stand up." Krauthammer came back again with a response that the current approach to the Mosque issue is "common sense." Ceci Connally said we need to be "culturally sensitive." Krauthammmer ended with "this is an obsession with sensitivity." (Williams won this point with the Mosque analogy.)
Polls - "Kerry aids are increasingly confident." Michael Barone, US News & World Report, discussed Kerry's lead in the polls. The question for this segment was, "Is this race John Kerry's to Lose?" Barone indicated that Bush might be the "next Harry Truman," and that Bush will lose unless something changes. A new poll in Florida shows Kerry with a six point lead, even with Nader in the race. Other Florida polls show a four point lead for Kerry. Twelve national polls show a slight lead for Kerry of 2 points on average. Hume called this "negligible," and "Why does it look so good for Bush?" (Meaning Kerry) Barone said that late deciders will likely vote for Kerry. It depends on what happens in the next few months. Barone also pointed out "hostile coverage" of Bush in the papers. He then mentioned the republican convention and new ads showing his second term program as helping Bush. Barone mentioned individual investment accounts for Social Security. Polls show Kerry far ahead of Bush in the under 35 group of voters, but the private Social Security and health accounts might help Bush. Barone also noted that Bush is "articulate" in the new ads, as he "sometimes isn't." Kerry is leading Bush by a wide margin on the economy, but Bush is ahead on being a "strong leader."
Comment: Hume had a discussion on the "Unfit for Command" book that attempted to show both sides. The real issue here is the media attention this book is being given. By showing "both sides," the media: 1) Keeps the book in the news 2) Implies that both sides are legitimate. The intent of this book is clearly to bring down Kerry by trashing his Viet Nam service, which is actually a big asset, and to neutralize any image of Kerry as a strong leader - which is the only area where Bush polls are strong. Fox was running an ad about a later program concerning the same subject.
