Not Your Sweetie

(#22) (Rated 5.00/1)

by C4Clark on 06/15/2004 09:07:14 AM EST

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GOOD MORNING, ALL MY CCN FRIENDS...
I have just finished having the "highlights" of the last thread or so read to me. I'd like to say something about the subject of "Kerry's VP Furor". I hope you'll indulge me, and consider what I have to say as someone who (for the hundredth time...) has SUPPORTED JOHN KERRY FOR 30+ YEARS here in Massachusetts.
It is often said that it is easier to be a vegetarian after you see how the sausage is made. Politics is like sausage. It ain't a pretty thing to watch while it's happening. Having watched Kerry "make sausage" all my adult life finally led me to support Wes Clark. The reason is obvious, and if you've ever read about my support for Clark, you all know why.
What you are all witnessing right now is what I've come to refer to as THE KERRY MOMENT. It happens in EVERY SINGLE CAMPAIGN IN WHICH HE RUNS.
He waits JUST a moment too long to respond to a crisis in the making, or to an attack that has been made. AND THEN CAVES TO THE PRESSURE FROM THOSE AROUND HIM TO DO SOMETHING.
Usually, by the time he is FORCED to make a decision that should have been made with a cooler, clearer head, his indecision has left him at the mercy of every opinion of every advisor around him and he JUST DOES THE EASY, EXPEDIENT, and may I say, POPULAR THING. So, when he said the VP decision would be his alone, I was sceptical.
And now I see Kerry painted into a corner by his own lack of the ability to JUST DO THE BOLD, COURAGEOUS THING. Look closely... sausage is about to be made. IT IS A CLASSIC "KERRY MOMENT" you are witnessing. I went to bed last night positively convinced Wes Clark was our next VP. I no longer feel that is a firm belief.
What USUSALLY follows this "Kerry Moment", you see, is the action his inability to make a decision based on his gut. IN EVERY SINGLE CAMPAIGN FOR 30+ YEARS, I can tell you that that has meant:
-- He makes the popular, easy, expedient choice.
-- Immediately he has "buyer's remorse", and goes into a sort of "depression" over what he's decided.
-- Loses the "fire in his belly" from the depression, and immediately begins to plummet in the polls (sound familiar yet?)
After that, his staff usually goes into DEFCON 4 MODE, and pulls some sort of rabbit out of the hat, whilst slapping him silly until he awakes just in time to pull a squeaker win out at the end.
It's goind to take more than a staff that can do DEFCON 4, and I feel the odds are against him this time. I don't feel a "squeaker" against Bush is possible to win. BushCo is going to have to be stomped but good, or they will win. My feelings for Edwards aside, he willnot be the helpmate in any stomping. He must NOT be chosen.
But, will Kerry be able to resist the calls from his Party to choose Edwards --whose PR people have made look pretty, popular, populist, and thoroughly electable? Or will he AVOID the catastrophic ending to this "Kerry Moment" for the first time since I've known him, and choose Wes Clark, who is ready, willing, and able to help with the stomping but good?
Stay tuned. As Sybil says watch and listen.
I'm not optomistic. But, I hope and pray, and frankly, look forward to coming back after Kerry's moment of truth (when his "message" to us about him is clear), and apologize for being as pessimistic as I am right now. I just wish I didn't have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'm not going to have to.
THE "KERRY MOMENT" HAS ARRIVED. WATCH AND LISTEN. WHAT YOU SEE IS SAUSAGE BEING MADE.
Edwards or Clark? Watching and waiting...
By TC
(posted by C4Clark)