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Political Strategy Backfires

Proverbs 18:17 ¶ The first to plead his case [seems] right, [Until] another comes and examines him. The principle behind this verse is illustrated in the recent criticism of President Bush that has been widely reported. Blogs for Bush provides an interesting (but of course one-sided) analysis of how these have fared. In a related development, the daughter of Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes, the individual who alleges he "pulled strings" to help Pres. Bush get into the Air National Guard, has come forward to say that her father gave a different story in 2000 (Live interview - Mark Davis Show, 9-9-2004). She said, "This came out in 2000 and I asked him then, at the time, if he [helped get Bush into the Guard]. He said: 'No, absolutely not. I did not do that'."

Prov. 26:27 ¶ He who digs a pit will fall into it, And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him. Chris Lehane (former Gore and Kerry consultant) while on Nightline last night described the political strategy that Al Gore used four years ago and that Kerry is using now - define your opponent through constant statements that put him on the defensive. Lehane said "spin" is acceptable to use but false information is not; the latter can be extremely damaging to a campaign. Unfortunately for Kerry his "pit" became too obvious and has put him constantly on the defensive.

This doesn't mean that Bush proponents are not using the same strategy. However, it does appear that republicans have been more effective at defining their opponent and keeping him on the defensive through the use of real statements and actions by Kerry.

Memogate Controversy: Memos alleging Pres. Bush disregarded orders while in the military have become the catalyst for a raging storm against CBS and the Kerry campaign [more]. If the disputed memos turn out to be authentic, the storm could certainly turn. Consider CBS' recent statement:

NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Later today, CBS News will address on the air and in detail the issues surrounding the documents broadcast in the 60 MINUTES report on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. At this time, however, CBS News states with absolute certainty that the ability to produce the "th" superscript mentioned in reports about the documents did exist on typewriters as early as 1968, and in fact is in President Bush's official military records released by the White House. This and other issues surrounding the authenticity of the documents and more on this developing story will be reported on tonight on THE CBS EVENING NEWS WITH DAN RATHER.

On the otherhand, if the memos are fake CBS has just dug deeper. Powerline Blog notes Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell's statement to Fox News that if CBS's National Guard documents are forged, "the race is over." (see also Bush Haters Sink Kerry). The news will be Rather interesting tonight.

Update:

Here is a link to a 4-minute Dan Rather Interview. I haven't watched it yet and would be interested in your comments.

Update:

Here are few sites that comment on CBS' defense of their original report:

Blogs for Bush - CBS undisputably aired one side of this two-sided story: (i) CBS trotted out its original analysis, (ii) supressed all exculpatory evidence; and (iii) concluded, based on the preponderance of the evidence, that the documents are real.

Powerline - Dan Rather has disclosed the identity of one of the CBS/60 Minutes document experts (are there more? I don't think Rather mentioned any): Marcel Matley. Matley's expertise is handwriting analysis. But the issues raised throughout the blogosphere yesterday and the MSM today relate primarily to the apparently word-processed nature of the documents.

Posted by tim at September 10, 2004 12:14 PM

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