September 5, 2004
A TALLER DUKAKIS:
Wrong man for Kerry (Eileen McNamara, September 5, 2004, Boston Globe)
[John] Sasso began taking a more public role in the Kerry campaign even before the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and its Republican-backed smear campaign threw the candidate off-message and on the defensive. It was Sasso's signature on a fund-raising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, accompanied by a machine-autographed glossy of Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards.The problem with soliciting contributions to end the "smug and arrogant tactics of misinformation" that Sasso's letter rightly attributes to Republicans is that it only works when the purveyor holds the moral high ground. That would not be Sasso, he of the attack video that torpedoed the presidential campaign of Democratic Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware in 1987, he of the audiotape that ridiculed the physical disabilities of the wife of Edward King, Michael Dukakis's gubernatorial primary opponent in 1982.
Dukakis fired Sasso for lying about his involvement in the video, which showed Biden had borrowed without attribution from a speech by a Labor Party leader in Britain. He should have canned him for the crass assault on Jody King's dignity.
If Kerry wants to fight dirty against a Bush team that has gotten away with slinging mud across two presidencies, that's his choice. But no more whining, then, about the distortions of his military career. No more laments about how the media never focus on the issues. To choose Sasso is to choose the tactics Kerry claims to abhor.
John Sasso deserves nothing but praise for destroying the national ambitions of Joe Biden, but the idea that John Kerry can win a mud-slinging contest is delusional. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 5, 2004 9:19 AM
Sasso is a major source for the NY Times. When the Biden speech story broke, it broke in the Times. The consensus of the punditocracy was that Gephardt did it. But even then, I saw that the Times would back their anti-labor, Ivy League, leftie girlyman, Dukakis.
Posted by: Bart at September 5, 2004 11:35 AMMcNamara is just a voice in the wilderness for now among the big media's liberal columnists. If Sasso is on board and Kerry's numbers start picking up, whatever tactics he uses will be rationalized as being put towards the greater good of defeating Bush.
It's the same rationalization Michael Moore uses to justify the lies in his films, and no one will call Sasso on it unless it starts costing Kerry points in the polls, or until after the election, when it's time to play the blame-game for the loss within the party.
Posted by: John at September 5, 2004 1:18 PMKerry is worse than Dukakis! He's a cheap imitation Dukakis.
Speaking of "the Duke," he's like a gift that keeps on giving to Republicans. Not only did he give us the 1988 election, he also helped give us Kerry. It's a two-fer.
Posted by: pj at September 5, 2004 3:37 PMNotice how in McNamara's view Dems never engage in dirty politics/smear campaigns but that is all the GOP knows how to do.
Posted by: AWW at September 5, 2004 11:01 PMI always thought a "smear" was a baseless remark stated purely for political whimsy. What are the unsubstantiated "smears" from the GOP?
Posted by: rdeat at September 6, 2004 12:50 AM