ANALYSIS: Barack Obama's three most vulnerable areas that need to be brought up!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on December 17, 2007 - 6:52am.
Rapid Response
Hello Everyone:
Here are there are three key areas where I see Barack Obama as being the most vulnerable right now based on his own quotes which he has not specifically answered yet that I think need to be publicly brought up BEFORE any primary votes are cast:
1) Barack Obama firmly promised BOTH in November of 2004 and in January of 2006 on Meet The Press that he would definitely NOT run for President or for Vice President in 2008 and that he would serve his full six-year Senate term:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6430019/
Meet The Press Transcript for November 7, 2004
Guests: Karl Rove, senior advisor to the president; Senator-elect Barak Obama, D-Ill.; Maureen Dowd, columnist, New York Times; William Safire, columnist, New York Times
MR. RUSSERT: "Before you go, you know there's been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your full six-year term as U.S. senator from Illinois?
SEN.-ELECT OBAMA: Absolutely. You know, a little--some of this hype's been a little overblown. It's flattering, but I have to remind people that I haven't been sworn in yet. I don't know where the rest rooms are in the Senate. I'm going to have to figure out how to work the phones, answer constituent mail. I expect to be in the Senate for quite some time, and hopefully I'll build up my seniority from my current position, which I believe is 99th out of 100.
MR. RUSSERT: Barack Obama, we thank you for sharing your views.
SEN.-ELECT OBAMA: Thank you so much..."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10909406/
Meet The Press Transcript for January 22, 2006
Barack Obama, James Carville, Paul Begala & Mary Matalin
MR. RUSSERT: "There’s been enormous speculation about your political future, Senator. The man you succeeded in the Senate, Peter Fitzgerald, a Republican, said this recently. “I think there’s a very good chance that Senator Obama is on the Democratic ticket in 2008 as the vice presidential nominee.” Do you agree?
SEN. OBAMA: No. You know, I can’t speculate on those kinds of things. What I have said is that, you know, I’m not focused on running for higher office, I’m focused on doing the job that the people of Illinois just sent me to do.
MR. RUSSERT: But there seems to be an evolution in your thinking. This is what you told the Chicago Tribune last month: “Have you ruled out running for another office before your term is up?” Obama answer: “It’s not something I anticipate doing.” But when we talked back in November of ‘04 after your election I said, “There’s been enormous speculation about your political future. Will you serve your six-year term as United States senator from Illinois?” Obama: “Absolutely.”
SEN. OBAMA: I will serve out my full six-year term. You know, Tim, if you get asked enough, sooner or later you get weary and you start looking for new ways of saying things. But my thinking has not changed.
MR. RUSSERT: So you will not run for president or vice president in 2008?
SEN. OBAMA: I will not.
MR. RUSSERT: Senator, thank you very much for your candor and for joining us and sharing your views.
SEN. OBAMA: Had a great time, Tim. Thank you..."
These were not Larry Craig "I intend to" kind of statements that leave the door open a little bit, they were more like firm George H.W. Bush "read my lips" type of statements that totally close the door!
What significant thing(s) changed in 9 months from 1/22/06 when he firmly promised to serve out his full 6 year Senate term and promised NOT to run for President or VP in 2008 to 10/22/06 when he felt that he had to break those definite promises that he made?
Also, if he broke his firm promises NOT to run for President or VP in 2008 and to serve out his full six-year year Senate term, then how can anyone know for sure that he will keep any future promises that he makes during the general election if he is the nominee?
Also, how can Obama be ready to be President right now when he made this statement about his own lack of knowledge in November of 2004?
SEN.-ELECT OBAMA: "I don't know where the rest rooms are in the Senate. I'm going to have to figure out how to work the phones, answer constituent mail. I expect to be in the Senate for quite some time, and hopefully I'll build up my seniority from my current position, which I believe is 99th out of 100."
Forget about what Obama may or may not have said in Kindergarten which I do NOT think is important at all because what he firmly said on Meet The Press in both 2004 and 2006 is much more relevant in my opinion. I have not even heard this key point being publicly discussed yet!
2) Barack Obama's ridiculous statement that "Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child in Asia—Southeast Asia" has not been publicly brought up very much and I have not heard Obama give a direct response to it or modify it in any way yet:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/20/clinton-hits-obama-on-foreign-relations-experience/
November 20, 2007
Clinton hits Obama on foreign relations experience
"On Monday, Obama told an Iowa audience, "Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child in Asia—Southeast Asia."
According to the campaign, Obama was six years old when he moved to Indonesia in 1967, and stayed until he was 10.
Obama said his time there and the fact that his father is from Kenya gives him the knowledge "of how ordinary people in these other countries live..."
Democratic primary voters need to ask what kind of assurance will that statement give to the general public to decide Obama is ready to both inherit and fix what Bush will leave behind on 1/20/09?
Also, what will Obama tell the 2008 GOP nominee if it is Rudy Giuliani and he brings this up and compares this statement to his running New York City after 9/11 or if it is Mitt Romney and he compares it to his running an entire state?
Barack Obama will have to answer for this statement sooner or later. The best time to do that is RIGHT NOW because if it is later rather than sooner, then it will be too late to change nominees without a lot of embarrassment!
3) Barack Obama is probably not electable as a general election candidate because he said said on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 that he is not worried about swiftboat attacks and that he does not pay much attention to what Mitt Romney says about him:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21562193/
Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate for October 30
Read the transcript from the special coverage
updated 11:16 a.m. CT, Wed., Oct. 31, 2007
DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES PARTICIPATE IN A DEBATE
SPONSORED BY MSNBC
OCTOBER 30, 2007
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC ANCHOR: "Senator Obama, we’re going to transfer into a new area here. A question specifically for you because you’re in a rather unique position. It’s about religion and misinformation. Governor Romney misspoke twice on the same day, confusing your name with that of Osama bin Laden.
Your party is fond of talking about a potential swiftboating. Are you fearful of what happened to John McCain, for example, in South Carolina a few years back; confusion on the basis of things like names and religion?
OBAMA: No, because I have confidence in the American people.
OBAMA: And I don’t pay much attention to what Mitt Romney has to say—at least what he says this week. It may be different next week..."
Barack Obama's campaign adviser David Axelrod also does not seem to understand the power of the Republican attack machine when he made this statement:
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/obama-camp-says-clinton-is-obsessed-with-gop-attack-machine-2007-08-24.html
Obama camp: Clinton obsessed with GOP "attack machine"
By Klaus Marre
August 24, 2007
"A top adviser for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said Friday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the front-runner for her party’s presidential nomination, is obsessed “with what she calls the Republican attack machine.”
“I think we need a candidate who is obsessed with unifying this country again,” said Obama adviser David Axelrod..."
Does Barack Obama really understand the main reason why John Kerry lost in 2004 and does he also truly understand exactly what he will be up against if he is the 2008 Democratic nominee? Does he understand the key points that authors Mark Halperin and John F. Harris made about both the 2004 and 2008 elections in their book titled "The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301030_pf.html
The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008
Chapter 1: The Way to Lose
By Mark Halperin and John F. Harris
Tuesday, October 3, 2006; 6:08 PM
"The bottom line was that the Bush campaign and its allies did a better job than the Kerry campaign and its allies in using the Freak Show -- its magnification of the personal and negative -- to define the opposing candidate. But the story as told in this chapter is a tactical one. What is more important for the next presidential election is the strategic reality that the Freak Show does not affect both parties equally.
The dynamic in 2008 will be the same as it was in 2004. There are structural issues in politics and media that now favor Republicans over Democrats. Freak Show politics will represent only a moderate threat to Republicans and give them a major advantage as they try to define the opposition on unfavorable terms. On the other side, Freak Show politics offers virtually no advantages for Democrats, but will again present a huge threat to any politician hoping to keep control of the narrative of his -- or her -- life story..."
I articulated further about that book in this post:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/8841
ANALYSIS: A great Washington Post article about how the media affects Democrats!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on October 5, 2006 - 2:03pm.
Does Barack Obama and his adviser David Axelrod truly understand how truly powerful that Rush Limbaugh and the Neocon GOP attack machine really are?
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13578
ANALYSIS: Why Rush Limbaugh is so powerful & what many media pundits do not get!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on October 10, 2007 - 1:47am.
Why have I not heard these statements from Obama and Axelrod being brought up yet to show that Barack Obama is probably NOT electable as a general election candidate because the other side will negatively define him as a candidate before much of middle America with their huge media empire!
Rush Limbaugh has admitted that the GOP has not gotten around to Obama yet due to "their time with Mrs. Clinton" but will go after Obama if he is the nominee:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_121307/content/01125113.guest.html.guest.html
Attacks on Obama Come from Left
December 13, 2007
RUSH: "But look what the Democrat Party, led by Bill and Hillary, have tried to do to the first legitimate top-tier black presidential campaign. They have been the ones trying to destroy Barack Obama. Republicans haven't gotten around to him yet. They've spent their time with Mrs. Clinton...
Look, if Obama happens to get the nomination, I'll be very honest with you, I will oppose him..."
Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons agrees that this will be the case with whoever the 2008 Democratic nominee is:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0712/10/sitroom.01.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
CNN Poll: Huckabee Soars to Top; Huckabee on Gays & AIDS;
Aired December 10, 2007 - 16:00 ET
JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: "But I think Paul hit on something else, which is that Hillary Clinton does have this sort of nagging negative number that is out there. We saw it in the CNN poll I think you talked about. And you can see where Barack Obama and John Edwards maybe are little bit more popular right now. But give them enough money and enough time, they will make -- the Republicans will make the Democratic nominee, whoever the nominee is, as unpopular as anyone else..."
If Barack Obama and his campaign do not understand this key concept, then Obama in my opinion is not ready to run for President yet because he will probably lose in the general election unless he gets some kind of a lucky break that happens in his favor!
Hillary Clinton already expects enemy swiftboat attacks to happen and she knows how to deal with them while Obama has NOT shown any indication yet that he can deal with them:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0712/14/sitroom.01.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
Hillary Clinton's Final Push; South Carolina Polls; Ad Fact Check
Aired December 14, 2007 - 16:00 ET
YELLIN (voice over): "Over and over, Senator Clinton made the case that she is the most electable Democrat.
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have an opportunity here in Iowa, and then in the succeeding contest, to nominate the person we think is best able to win. I'm battle- tested, I can withstand what is going to inevitably be the Republican attacks on whoever we nominate.
YELLIN: From the same stage, a key Des Moines congressman endorsed her, echoing that message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We endorse Hillary because we want to win..."
So Barack Obama's own statements firmly promising not to run for President or for VP in 2008, his own statement "Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child in Asia—Southeast Asia," and his own statement of not being concerned about swiftboat attacks and not paying much attention to Mitt Romney are his three most vulnerable areas in my opinion that I think need to be brought up as issues right now BEFORE any primary votes are cast!
These posts will specifically and credibly document why I definitely believe that Barack Obama is probaly NOT electable as a general election candidate right now:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14107
ANALYSIS: The tough BUT fair questions I have NOT heard Barack Obama answer yet!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on December 12, 2007 - 10:45am.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13992
Hillary's high negatives are an illusion compared to Obama or any other Democrat
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on November 28, 2007 - 4:49pm.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13894
ANALYSIS: Statements from Obama that show his lack of electability if nominated!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on November 14, 2007 - 10:46am.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13782
Barack Obama will be swiftboated & will get eaten up alive if he is the nominee!
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on November 1, 2007 - 3:49am.
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13433
ANALYSIS: Why I think that Obama would be a very weak general election candidate
Submitted by Mitch Dworkin on September 24, 2007 - 9:01am.
If I could think of these points, then so will the 2008 GOP nominee, Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and company!
It is very important in my opinion that all of these points are specifically answered by Barack Obama BEFORE any primary votes are cast because of how very high that the cost will be IF we lose the 2008 Presidential election. That high cost will be another Neocon ideologue picking right up where Bush leaves off on 1/20/09!
I am sure that Barack Obama is probably a very sincere person as well as being a good Senator for Illinois BUT he is in way over his head running for President right now in my opinion!
Mitch Dworkin
http://www.securingamerica.com/
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10756
StopIranWar.com: "War is not the answer"
Submitted by Wes Clark on February 21, 2007 - 11:40am.
http://www.securingamerica.com/ccn/node/7191
Listen to Gen. Wes Clark fight for Dems on Sean Hannity's radio program: An excellent example for all of us to follow and what we all need to be doing to help fight back against extreme right wing Neocon smear propaganda!
checks like this one from CNN!
Barack Obama will have to start getting specific and show some actual substance on the issues or he will probably get blown out in the general election if he is the nominee:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0712/14/sitroom.01.html
THE SITUATION ROOM
Hillary Clinton's Final Push; South Carolina Polls; Ad Fact Check
Aired December 14, 2007 - 16:00 ET
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're keeping the presidential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, honest. We're taking closer looks at their respective ads, their commercials, how they're playing. Are they telling us the truth?
Or special correspondent, Frank Sesno, is here in THE SITUATION ROOM.
It's going to be a fascinating, new wrinkle. What do these ads say? Are they honest? Are they not so honest? Are they embellishing? What's going on?
FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Do they say anything? That's the real question.
Let's take a look today at Barack Obama and what he's doing on the air. He's got a 60-second ad. It's very, very interesting. He's trying to capitalize on a certain sense of momentum, and he would think -- or would like the rest of the world to think inevitability.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SESNO (voice over): As Iowa ticks down, the ad wars ratchet up. And with Barack Obama trying to look credible, electable and on the move, this ad...
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice over): I'm Barack Obama, and I approved this message.
(on camera): We are in a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. The planet is in peril.
SESNO: ... 60 seconds of fawning visuals and cliched generalities, tries to reinforce the points. There are quick shots of wrapped gazes, starry-eyed voters literally looking up to Obama.
OBAMA: America, our moment is now!
SESNO: The camera work puts Obama center stage in a place that appears cavernous, maybe like the floor of the Democratic convention. Look at that again. The ad, the convention. The ad, the convention. But there's not much content here.
OBAMA: The same old Washington textbook campaigns just won't do.
SESNO: No plans, no policy, no names. The full screens go for character. "Scrupulous honesty" is one example.
Joe Klein's "TIME" column did praise Obama, but it also referred to his confusing campaign and static performances.
OBAMA: I want to be the president...
SESNO: Glittering is what this ad is all about. They've come to elevate Obama, not explain him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESNO: So elevate Obama, not explain him, is what this ad is trying to do.
There is one shot in this, Wolf, where he says, you know, we don't need the fights of the '90s again. I'm not exactly sure, and he doesn't say what the fights of the '90s are, but clearly, it's an attempt to differentiate himself from Hillary Clinton, to say I'm not Hillary Clinton, I represent the new direction, the change, the what you really want to do with Washington.
BLITZER: If you were living in Iowa right now or New Hampshire or South Carolina, you would be bombarded with these 30-second spots which historically have been very effective, and they spend an enormous amount of time, the professionals, working on every split second in these images.
SESNO: Every split second -- the way the candidate is lit, the way they're framed in the photo, the looks and the gazes, which is what was so interesting in that spot, as they're looking at the candidate.
Another very interesting thing in that spot, there were no minority faces. They were all white faces looking at Barack Obama. Maybe not surprising necessarily, because in Iowa nearly 94 percent white, but here's a candidate who's running on diversity. That 60- second ad showed none of it.
BLITZER: And, you know, there's a whole new phenomenon of the ads now appearing not only on television, or radio, for that matter, but on the Internet. And there they have a lot more time to do these slick commercials, and you're taking a closer look at those as well.
SESNO: We're going to be looking at all -- you know, I was talking to Mark Preston (ph), one of our guys here who writes for CNN.com and does other things, and he was showing me a count yesterday. If you are sitting in a 24-hour period in Iowa in all different markets, over 500 buys in a day, in a 24-hour day. So what you said at the outset, that you're inundated with these ads, absolutely the case.
BLITZER: And that's going to be a regular feature here in THE SITUATION ROOM as we go on.
SESNO: As much as you can take of it, Wolf.
BLITZER: Well, it's fascinating material.
SESNO: Oh, it's very...
BLITZER: And we want to take a closer analysis of all these guys.
SESNO: That's right. What they're try to go do in front of the camera, in their speeches, in their ads. It's all part of the persona and the policy mix they're trying to put forward.
BLITZER: Frank, thanks very much...
candidate honest ragarding the claims that they make!
It does not look like Barack Obama has scored very well on Politifact.com:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/personalities/barack-obama/
The Obama file:
Barack Obama
Democrat from Illinois
Barack Obama is a U.S. Senator from Illinois. He was born in in 1961 in Hawaii, where his parents met as students at the University of Hawaii. His father is from Kenya and his mother is from Kansas. He graduated from Columbia University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School. He previously served in the state Senate and was an instructor at the University of Chicago Law School. He and his wife, Michelle, have two daughters.
Barack Obama's official website
Recent statements by Barack Obama
"I do provide universal health care."
Thursday, November 15th, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nev.
>> Details
"John wasn’t this raging populist four years ago" when he ran for president.
Thursday, November 8th, 2007 in Chariton, Iowa
>> Details
"Right now, an employer has more of a chance of getting hit by lightning than be prosecuted for hiring an undocumented worker. That has to change."
Thursday, November 15th, 2007 in Las Vegas
>> Details
"I'm the only person on this stage who has worked actively just last year passing, along with Russ Feingold, some of the toughest ethics reform since Watergate."
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 in a Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Pa.
>> Details
Obama spokesman Bill Burton says Clinton gave Bush "a blank check on a critical foreign policy issue."
Sunday, October 21st, 2007 in
>> Details
See them all
The washington Post that will easily catch things like this:
What Obama Got Wrong
Friday, December 14, 2007; Page A14
WHAT HE GOT WRONG: "I don't want to wake up four years from now and discover that we still have more young black men in prison than in college."
-- Barack Obama, rally in Harlem, Nov. 29
Obama has repeated this false claim to predominantly African American audiences, even after The Washington Post pointed out the mistake to his campaign. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 106,000 African American men ages 18 to 24 were in federal or state prisons at the end of 2005. An additional 87,000 were temporarily held in local jails in mid-2006. According to 2005 census data, 530,000 African American men in this age group were in college.
Black male college students outnumber black male prisoners even if the age group is expanded to 30 or 35. The Obama campaign has not responded to several requests for statistical data to support the senator's remarks, and it has not explained a similar claim that he made to an NAACP audience on July 12.
-- Michael Dobbs
For daily truth-squadding, visit washingtonpost.com/factchecker. Read the Candidates Week series at washingtonpost.com/frontrunners. Kevin Merida will discuss his article today at 1 p.m.
documentary about responding quickly and fighting back against enemy attacks to negatively define you as a candidate!
Campbell Brown did an excellent job with this documentary in my opinion and she gave Democrats very fair warning of what will happen to them if they do not get this point:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0711/28/se.02.html
CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL
Campaign Killers: Why Do Negative Ads Work?
Aired November 28, 2007 - 23:00 ET
"(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I served with John Kerry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam.
CAMPBELL BROWN, HOST (voice-over): It was a minor ad buy in just seven inexpensive media markets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swift boat. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Swift boat.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That swift boat...
BROWN: But it became the dominant news story of the 2004 campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry lied.
BROWN: The attack didn't come from a campaign but rather a group of Vietnam vets attacking the candidate who had billed himself as a war hero.
STEPHANIE CUTTER, KERRY '04 COMMUNICATIONS DIR.: When I first saw the ads, I thought, this is crazy. There's no way that these accusations are going to hold up.
BROWN: Stephanie Cutter was John Kerry's communications director.
CUTTER: The old rule of crisis communications is that you don't respond to an attack, otherwise you elevate it.
BROWN: It took two weeks for Kerry to speak out.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're not telling the truth. They're a front for a Bush campaign.
BROWN: But by then the damage was done. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: People figured, well, if he's not answering the ads, the charges, they must be true.
BROWN: What was especially troubling to some was that Naval records and eyewitness accounts by other sailors contradicted just about every claim the swift boat vets made. But it didn't seem to matter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ad was misleading.
BROWN: John Gere (ph) is a political scientist from Vanderbilt University.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The real problem with the swift boat ad isn't the content of the ad, per se, it's the fact -- the attention the news media gave it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They served their country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It actually got more attention than the Iraq War. That strikes me as a problem because the Iraq War was the big issue in 2004. Swift boat wasn't.
BROWN: Yet the swift boat ad may well have been the lethal blow to Kerry's campaign. The attack has even added a new term to the political lexicon, swift-boating a candidate. It also demonstrated the power of independent groups, the damage they can do while allowing the candidate they support to claim innocence...
BROWN: Experts say Dukakis ignored the basic rules of campaign combat. When attacked, attack back. Don't let them turn a positive, for example, his environmental record, into a negative. And always, always remember any picture can come back to haunt you. Tried and true strategies that have been used for centuries...
BROWN: Fast forward now to 2004, when technology once again changed the battlefield.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you have any question about what John Kerry's made of --
BROWN: Swift Boat's power was magnified by the nonstop play it got on the Internet, blogs and 24-hour cable news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- for that injury.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry lied to get his bronze star. I know. I was there. I saw what happened.
BROWN: There was plenty of evidence to contradict the ad, but it didn't matter. The charges seemed to stick.
MCKINNON: I knew it was going to have a huge impact, and the only surprise was that the Kerry campaign didn't respond quicker.
STEPHANIE CUTTER, KERRY CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: In retrospect, we probably should have had him respond earlier. And there was much debate about that in the campaign.
BROWN: Stephanie Cutter, Kerry's communications director --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Navy documented John Kerry's heroism --
BROWN: Says the campaign did put out a response to the attack.
VANESSA KERRY, KERRY-EDWARDS 2004: Which wound do you want to see? Which scar do you need to see to prove --
BROWN: But that they underestimated the power of the new media environment.
CUTTER: We didn't understand at that point the power of right wing blogs, how that seeps over to Fox News, gets covered by the mainstream media, and seeps out into the general public. By the time you're responding to an attack like that, the damage is already done.
DUKAKIS: When something like that happens, you've got to put responsibility for it squarely in the lap of your opponent.
We go through these cycles over and over again.
BROWN: From the man who made his share of mistakes, some words of advice for surviving the attacks to come.
DUKAKIS: Any candidate who is running for the presidency of the United States, particularly on the Democratic side, has got to expect them. They're going to be coming. They already are...
BROWN: With the 2008 presidential election now less than a year away, there are more viral attack videos being uploaded every day. Search Youtube, and you can find Rudy Giuliani dressed in drag and John Edwards combing his hair.
Campaigns, though, are fighting back. For example, Hillary Clinton now has an entire website dedicated to rapid responses to issues and attacks that come out of nowhere..."
Barack Obama responding in point 3 of this post to Brian Williams like this shows to me that he does NOT understand what it means to be swiftboated and negatively defined as a candidate by the other side which puts his electability as a general election candidate into very serious question in my opinion:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21562193/
Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate for October 30
Read the transcript from the special coverage
BRIAN WILLIAMS, MSNBC ANCHOR: "Senator Obama, we’re going to transfer into a new area here. A question specifically for you because you’re in a rather unique position. It’s about religion and misinformation. Governor Romney misspoke twice on the same day, confusing your name with that of Osama bin Laden.
Your party is fond of talking about a potential swiftboating. Are you fearful of what happened to John McCain, for example, in South Carolina a few years back; confusion on the basis of things like names and religion?
OBAMA: No, because I have confidence in the American people.
OBAMA: And I don’t pay much attention to what Mitt Romney has to say—at least what he says this week. It may be different next week..."