Quote:
Originally posted by CET
Going after Bush was exactly Kerry's problem. He spent so much time going after Bush that no one really knew where he stood on anything. By going after Bush, he was appealing to the "anybody but Bush" crowd, but he already had their vote. The swing vote isn't convinced by mud slinging, except that the mud slinger is a jerk. If Kerry had kept away from the mud slinging, I suspect he would have easily taken the swing states.
Look at Bush's campaign before the debates, he didn't say almost anything negative about Kerry and he consistently had a very large margin, usually around 10%. He even said how much he admired Kerry and his military service. He tried to get groups like the Swift Boat Vets to shut up, because he didn't want to be attached to negative publicity. He was doing great in the polls when he used that strategy. It was only when he went on the counter-offensive and got into the mud slinging himself that the gap closed to only a few points in either direction.
Conclusion: Mud slinging doesn't get anyone elected, it only hurts their campaign.
|
No one said anything about mudslinging. They did NOT go after Bush in terms of his job as president. They went after stupid Air National Guard bullshit that everyone got sick of.