John Derbyshire offers his election 2004 analysis with two top-ten lists. I don’t agree with all his notes, but I had a similar idea this morning – the top ten campaign blunders of 2004.
As you can tell from the title of this post, it didn’t turn out the way I intended. First of all, I couldn’t come up with ten goofs made by Bush/Cheney; sure, there’s the time the VP mistakenly directed debate viewers to a website controlled by liberal billionaire George Soros, and Bush’s repetition and peeved facial expressions during the first debate, and the President’s poor handling of the media’s “cite your mistakes” question – those qualify. But overall the Republican ticket ran a very good campaign, staged a brilliant convention and held their own in the debates.
Kerry/Edwards, on the other hand, stepped in it daily and produced gaffe after gaffe. Adding them all up, it’s impressive that the Democrat ticket finished as well as it did; that’s why I’m not so sure about what some on the right are hailing as a lasting conservative regime. I don’t see that in the cards at all. I think what we had was a left-leaning electorate that, in the end, simply couldn’t support the lousy candidates they nominated, and was still dazed by the “fading but still potent aura of 9/11.” It won’t be as easy next time.
But for now, we have a two-year window, and 43 reasons to be thankful this holiday season. Why 43? Because that’s how many goofs immediately came to mind as I thought back on the Kerry/Edwards campaign – the 43 mistakes that kept Kerry from beating our 43rd U.S. President.
By the way, Democrats can be thankful, too, in knowing that they probably only lost because John Kerry was such a terrible candidate.
Here they are, in no particular order:
1. Kerry, a Boston Red Sox guy, says he is a big fan of “Manny Ortiz,” otherwise known as David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez. Earlier, Kerry says his favorite Red Sox player of all time was Eddie Yost, who never played for them.
2. Kerry refers to “Lambert field,” otherwise known as Lambeau Field.
3. Kerry praises the Ohio State Buckeyes, while in Michigan; he recovers: “…but that’s when I was in Ohio…”
4. Kerry says the use of American military force must pass the “global test.”
5. Kerry says, “I actually voted for the 87 billion before I voted against it.”
6. Kerry and Edwards exploit Mary Cheney in the debates.
7. Kerry and Edwards exploit Christopher Reeve; Edwards says people like him will get up and walk again if they win the White House.
8. Kerry says he still would have voted for war in Iraq, even if he knew we wouldn’t find WMD stockpiles.
9. Kerry says his “article of faith” cannot factor into his voting record, then he says “faith without works is dead.”
10. Kerry has no answer for Jon Stewart when asked about his tale of spending “Christmas in Cambodia.”
11. Kerry promises to release all his military records, then fails to sign a Standard Form 180 to release them.
12. Kerry says all his military records are available at his campaign headquarters, then refuses a reporter and later admits they are not public.
13. Kerry arrives at his convention, “reporting for duty.”
14. Kerry bases his entire campaign on 4 months of service in Vietnam, 30 years ago, and his disputed record of heroism.
15. Kerry’s minimum wage plan backfires.
16. The Democrat convention features speakers other than a conservative-sounding Barak Obama.
17. Kerry fails to draft John McCain for VP.
18. Edwards doesn’t live up to the hype and doesn’t deliver even his home state (bonus: visit link for prophetic “values” comment).
19. The Kerry/Edwards campaign remains unsure if there is one America or if there are two.
20. Kerry claims he hasn’t “spent negative money attacking Bush,” but he runs a negative campaign, fails to offer a credible alternative and settles for being not-Bush.
21. Kerry says he has a plan for every conceivable topic but offers very few details.
22. Kerry keeps his plans secret, reminds reporter of Nixon.
23. Kerry’s campaign holds up Ambassador Joe Wilson as the standard-bearer of truth and honesty, before Wilson is exposed as a liar by the 9/11 commission and has a meltdown.
24. Kerry’s campaign retains Sandy Berger as advisor on national security issues, before Berger is investigated for mishandling top secret documents and has a meltdown.
25. Kerry’s campaign manager collaborates with CBS’s 60 minutes story and contacts Ben Barnes, before the guard docs are shown to be forgeries and Dan Rather has a meltdown.
26. Kerry votes against ban on partial-birth abortion, although Kerry says he believes “life begins at conception.”
27. Kerry tells Miami audience he voted for an anti-Castro Helms-Burton bill, but he actually voted against it.
28. Kerry adopts Bush’s campaign 200
0 slogan, changing only one letter – Hope is on the way – but ending up with a meaningless phrase (you might need to wait for help, but hope is always there).
29. Kerry says Iraq war is “the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time,” even though he authorized it.
30. Kerry spreads military draft rumors, while offering a plan for mandatory service on his website.
31. Campaign manager calls visiting Iraqi Prime Minister a puppet and a liar, Kerry calls U.S. allies “the coerced and the bribed,” while claiming that he can expand the coalition and bring more allies on board.
32. Kerry flip-flops on the war, again and again.
33. Kerry flip-flops on everything else.
34. Kerry dresses in a funny space suit.
35. Kerry dresses in a funny hunting suit; says each hunter got one goose, but fails to produce his catch.
36. Papers find that Kerry voted to ban a firearm he owns.
37. Kerry says, “I don’t own an SUV,” then says his family has one, not him.
38. In 2002, Edwards says “Iraq is the most serious and imminent threat to our country,” then he campaigns against the war in 2004.
39. Kerry says we need to “get back” to where terrorists were only a “nuisance” and compares terror war to prostitution and illegal gambling.
40. Kerry praises Bush 41 for his Gulf War leadership and the coalition he assembled, but Kerry actually voted against that war.
41. Kerry claims to have passed 56 bills he had “personally written” in the Senate; FactCheck.org finds there were only 11. Kerry’s Senate record begins to look even less distinguished than people thought.
42. Kerry speaks French on the campaign trail.
43. Kerry claims to have “met with” foreign leaders who endorsed him, but he was never around any on the campaign trail and was unable to produce any names.