Saturday, October 09, 2004

Gamemanship

Bush has used the "He voted for the 87 billion before he voted against it" line numerous times in the debates. This is an interesting tactic considering Bush is the undisputed King of the Mis-Statement.

Perhaps Bush would like nothing more than for Kerry to come back at him with a line about his own inability to formlate coherent thoughts on countless occassions in the past.

"Mr. President, I am suprised that you of all people would want to introduce mis-statements into this debate, but I will not stoop to those sorts of attacks"

"Well Mr. President, not all of us can always speak with your clarity and presicion, pleae forgive me for that one."

One might think some such line would have worked well for Kerry, and yet he was pretty much willing to take the 87 billion line on the chin again and again and keep silent. Perhaps Bush is egging him on to hit back, and the Kerry camp, knowing this, has smartly decided not to belittle the President in that way.

Somehow we have regressed as a society to the point where we are like third graders again, and it' bad to be seen as the smart kid (yeah we wouldn't want a smart President now would we?). If Kerry comes off as a smart- aleck from the Northeast, picking on an easy-target dim bulb from Texas, it could hurt his chances.

For whatever reason, people have come to accept, and even embrace, the steady stream of verbal bloopers that come from our President's mouth (don't ask me I have no idea why). So I think it was indeed wise for Kerry to pick his battles elsewhere.

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