How to lose a general election (Jack Bog's Blog)

John Kerry may not scream and shout names of states on national TV, or talk about the Confederate flag in positive terms, or adopt a condescending tone when discussing rural Americans. But he's surely not immune from uttering damaging quotations. Here's a sound bite from today's ABC News:

During a town hall meeting on the Dartmouth campus, Kerry noted that former Vice President Al Gore would be president if he'd won any number of other non-Southern states in 2000, including New Hampshire, West Virginia, and Ohio.
"Everybody always makes the mistake of looking South," Kerry said, in response to a question about winning the region. "Al Gore proved he could have been president of the United States without winning one Southern state, including his own."

"I think the fight is all over this country," Kerry said. "Forget about those red and blue states. We're going to change that now, and we're going to go out there and change the face of America."

"Everybody always makes the mistake of looking South." Johnny, the folks down south aren't going to forget that you stood up there in front of your little Ivy League preppy meeting and said that. What kind of nominee are you going to be with this on your recent record?

Maybe you can send Ted Kennedy down there to patch things up.

And, "Forget about those red and blue states"????

I'm tellin' ya, the only guy who can win against Bush is Edwards.

Comments (6)

Maybe, but I seriously doubt it. He is "young," pretty, Southern, and smooth-talking, which, to me, adds up to "slick."

Been there.

Posted by Parkway Rest Stop | January 26, 2004 6:48 PM

I moved to Oregon from NC in 1997. I was pretty politically active there; more so than here. And I'd never heard of Edwards until recently. Where was he? I'd like someone with some real experience.

Posted by alan | January 26, 2004 7:21 PM

"Slick" beat Bush Sr.

"Real experience"? Al Gore had plenty.

Posted by Jack Bog | January 26, 2004 7:50 PM

you are assuming that there is someone out there who CAN beat Bush. Bush is sliding a little in the polls, but remember that he has yet to spend any of that money he's been accumulating. As soon as he finds out which guy stumbles to the nomination, the money will start flowing and the numbers will go back up. I know Dems think that 80% of Americans hate Bush, but it's just not true.

Oh, and how exactly did Gore prove he could win by not winning a southern state? HE LOST!

Posted by nomar | January 27, 2004 8:28 AM

We can only hope...

Posted by mtpolitics | January 27, 2004 9:08 AM

Bush is very beatable if the Dems nominate someone who can compete nationwide. If they nominate a New England liberal (Kerry or Dean), we will have a repeat of 1988, in which the result was 426-111 electoral college, even though Dukakis only lost 53.4% - 45.6%.

Edwards may be "slick", but slick can crush Bush in a debate and hold himself in dealing with the press. If Gore had been even a little more "slick", he'd probably be President.

Posted by TimC | January 27, 2004 12:20 PM

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Monday, January 26, 2004

How to lose a general election

Comments (6)

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