Pretty convincing post mortem from W’s cousin, the man who perhaps won him the election in 2000.
One other thing it suggests: As perhaps wrong-headed as it was to make Edwards the VP candidate, a ticket headed by Edwards (a foreign policy lightweight) would out of necessity been backed by Zinni or some other heavyweight. Would that have made it a better bet? I’m not sure.
Pretty unconvincing. John Ellis is no more than the idiot cousin here…her had nothing to do with the 2000 victory other than making some phone calls and altering some poll results.
However to address his points.
“Culture”
“Kerry was never going to be credible as a faith based candidate”
He needed to show that he cared about “the porno-ization of American media, the sexualization of children and the “pimp and ho†Rap culture”
“Rationale”
Kerry’s book on Bush might have been called Liar, Incompetent, Moron, Fool. It was never going to sell above 50%. It felt good and it ginned up the base, but a majority of people simply did not and do not share this view of President Bush
“Strategy. Did the Kerry campaign really imagine that they could out direct-market Karl Rove? ”
Ad Nauseum
War:Had he chosen former Marine Corps Gen. Zinni (or someone like him), he could have said: “In choosing Gen. Zinni…
The Demos had 33 more convincing generals than Zinni (Shaliskashvili, Clark) and Bush hid his generals. That’s bullshit.
“Culture” – Kerry never once spoke of these things – but all of Bush’s people had money in Porno and such. Again, difference between perception and reality – John Ellis is thinking like a strategist, not as a rational thinker. Kerry addressing these baseless accusations allows the basis of the discussion to be set at Porno…or child sex (what does John Kerry have to do with child sex?)
Ellis, working at Fox, blew the whistle on the original call for Gore in Florida. If he hadn’t? Oh, it probably would have all happened anyway, but he was in there.
Two things:
Kerry was supposedly going to be strong on foreign policy and terrorism because he was a vet, but as we saw his somewhat ambivalent relationship with his past words and deeds undermined him.
Kerry was very weak on the cultural issues, and he didn’t instigate his own Sistah Souljah moment, to draw a values line.
This is the porno issue, it is where Walmart ends up being a moral beacon rather than a health and benefit denying demon.
There is a large demo that hates swearing and nudity and assorted ills, and will be happy to ignore them so long as they don’t have to see them every day. Ellis is saying Kerry didn’t engage them, didn’t say, I don’t like it either, and so seemed aloof and uncaring. That cost him.