All handlers aboard for Kerry for the 1st Debate except Charles Dickens -- What to expect pre- and post-debate.
Remember the collective sense of euphoria when Kerry made it through his acceptance speech? We didn't know if he could do it. Disregarding the emphasis on substance backfiring -- emphasizing Vietnam -- the Senator came through on delivery.
Apparently, his handlers -- and of course he has more pro's now than Carter has liver pills -- want to continue this scenario a little longer, as in right into the debate Thursday night.
Charles Dickens would not be welcome. This time the handlers want us -- I say us; by now we all realize it is those who will decide the election, the undecided and swing voters -- to watch the debate with low expectations.
Well, while it might be better if we didn't know ahead of time how we are supposed to think and react, hey, this the day of Al Gore's internet, and word does get around.
Today The Hill gives us the insight on the thinking of the Kerry team.
The Kerry campaign has enlisted congressional Democrats to play down expectations of the challenger’s performance in the first presidential debate this Thursday, and then flood the airwaves with jubilant analysis that he has won it.
The Democratic lawmakers will seek to influence media analysis by drumming campaign talking points into the press’s “echo chamber” before and after the Florida showdown.
Democrats want to avoid the mistakes they say 2000 nominee Al Gore made by ceding both pre-debate expectations and the post-debate conversation to Republicans, allowing aggressive GOP lawmakers and sympathetic pundits to set the tone for the debate analysis.
The idea is for Democrat lawmakers to create an “echo chamber” where the sounding of pro-Kerry spin would create its own reality.
Specifically, the Kerry campaign asked lawmakers to focus on the substance of the debate and not the individual styles of either President Bush or Kerry.
The perception of a Kerry victory would be easier to achieve if post-debate analysis did not devolve into discussion on Bush’s syntax or Kerry’s demeanor, the spin doctors say.
Democrats believe that Bush has successfully lowered expectations before previous debates, making a mediocre performance look impressive.
_______________
The Democratic group America Coming Together (ACT) reminded reporters in an e-mail of Bush’s “thrashing” of Gore in the three 2000 debates.
“Going into the first of three presidential debates with Vice President Al Gore, on Oct. 3, 2000, George Bush trailed Gore by eight points — 49 to 41,” ACT spokeswoman Sarah Leonard said.
“Seventeen days later, after thrashing Gore in the three debates, Bush had built an 11 point lead — 51 to 40. That is a swing of 19 points.”
_______________
Live and learn. I learned something today from the ACT email.
I watched all three debates in 2000, and the only trashing I remember seeing was what Gore did to himself. True he thrashed himself less after his initial fiasco mannerisms and actions -- gait, in your face manure eating grin when he walked up to Bush, etc. -- ut by then, the damage was done.
Apparently, his handlers -- and of course he has more pro's now than Carter has liver pills -- want to continue this scenario a little longer, as in right into the debate Thursday night.
Charles Dickens would not be welcome. This time the handlers want us -- I say us; by now we all realize it is those who will decide the election, the undecided and swing voters -- to watch the debate with low expectations.
Well, while it might be better if we didn't know ahead of time how we are supposed to think and react, hey, this the day of Al Gore's internet, and word does get around.
Today The Hill gives us the insight on the thinking of the Kerry team.
The Kerry campaign has enlisted congressional Democrats to play down expectations of the challenger’s performance in the first presidential debate this Thursday, and then flood the airwaves with jubilant analysis that he has won it.
The Democratic lawmakers will seek to influence media analysis by drumming campaign talking points into the press’s “echo chamber” before and after the Florida showdown.
Democrats want to avoid the mistakes they say 2000 nominee Al Gore made by ceding both pre-debate expectations and the post-debate conversation to Republicans, allowing aggressive GOP lawmakers and sympathetic pundits to set the tone for the debate analysis.
The idea is for Democrat lawmakers to create an “echo chamber” where the sounding of pro-Kerry spin would create its own reality.
Specifically, the Kerry campaign asked lawmakers to focus on the substance of the debate and not the individual styles of either President Bush or Kerry.
The perception of a Kerry victory would be easier to achieve if post-debate analysis did not devolve into discussion on Bush’s syntax or Kerry’s demeanor, the spin doctors say.
Democrats believe that Bush has successfully lowered expectations before previous debates, making a mediocre performance look impressive.
_______________
The Democratic group America Coming Together (ACT) reminded reporters in an e-mail of Bush’s “thrashing” of Gore in the three 2000 debates.
“Going into the first of three presidential debates with Vice President Al Gore, on Oct. 3, 2000, George Bush trailed Gore by eight points — 49 to 41,” ACT spokeswoman Sarah Leonard said.
“Seventeen days later, after thrashing Gore in the three debates, Bush had built an 11 point lead — 51 to 40. That is a swing of 19 points.”
_______________
Live and learn. I learned something today from the ACT email.
I watched all three debates in 2000, and the only trashing I remember seeing was what Gore did to himself. True he thrashed himself less after his initial fiasco mannerisms and actions -- gait, in your face manure eating grin when he walked up to Bush, etc. -- ut by then, the damage was done.
posted by Sid Cottingham | 9:01 PM
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