Media bias isn't helping Kerry
The incredible pro-Kerry bias in the media's coverage of the controversy over the Democratic nominee's record in Vietnam is hard to miss. I can understand the anxiety on the part of the liberal media that the story not continue to occupy the headlines- and I chuckle at every desperate statement and action of the Kerry campaign in response to the controversy...which only serve to keep the story in the headlines- and make the challenger, rather the incumbent, the issue in this campaign.
Civics 101: In a democracy, it is the normal role of the incumbent to be the issue, and to defend his record. It is the normal role of the challenger to attack that record. When the challenger, rather than the incumbent, becomes the issue- as in 1964 or 1972 or 1988- the incumbent or his party always wins an election which seldom turns out to even be close.
The increasingly obvious panic in the Kerry campaign is well-founded. This could not be happening at a worse time for the Senator from France. With the Republican convention coming up in nine days, and the possibility that Mr. Bush- whose numbers actually improved in several polls after the Democratic Convention- might get the "bounce" John Kerry was denied looming larger with each survey showing that the stories about Kerry are having a major impact.
If this continues for any appreciable amount of time- if the Kerry campaign is not able to decisively regain the offensive- it begins to look like this may not be the squeaker everybody, including Karl Rove, predicted.
Unless Kerry is somehow able to make President Bush the issue again, and the candidates resume the normal posture for challenger and incumbent, George Walker Bush is going to be re-elected in a blowout.
Civics 101: In a democracy, it is the normal role of the incumbent to be the issue, and to defend his record. It is the normal role of the challenger to attack that record. When the challenger, rather than the incumbent, becomes the issue- as in 1964 or 1972 or 1988- the incumbent or his party always wins an election which seldom turns out to even be close.
The increasingly obvious panic in the Kerry campaign is well-founded. This could not be happening at a worse time for the Senator from France. With the Republican convention coming up in nine days, and the possibility that Mr. Bush- whose numbers actually improved in several polls after the Democratic Convention- might get the "bounce" John Kerry was denied looming larger with each survey showing that the stories about Kerry are having a major impact.
If this continues for any appreciable amount of time- if the Kerry campaign is not able to decisively regain the offensive- it begins to look like this may not be the squeaker everybody, including Karl Rove, predicted.
Unless Kerry is somehow able to make President Bush the issue again, and the candidates resume the normal posture for challenger and incumbent, George Walker Bush is going to be re-elected in a blowout.
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