Kerry Campaign Strategy: It worked for the Clintons

By Christopher G. Adamo

As the presidential primary season concludes, and general election politics become predominant, the preferred strategy of Democrat Senator John Kerry is rapidly becoming as transparent as it is despicable. Kerry and his minions plan to base their assault against the President on a foundation of the outrageous, accompanied by feigned shock and dismay at even the mildest attempts by the President to defend himself. Clinton hatchet man James Carville perfected this technique in 1992, and used it again with great success in 1996.

Thus, any serious discussion of the issues, by which voters could make an intelligent and informed decision, is strictly “off limits.” Kerry simply cannot tolerate it. Nevertheless, the glaring baggage he brings to the campaign requires a particularly high level of shrillness to deflect, which poses a risk. With such dramatic increases in the availability of alternative information sources as has occurred in recent years, via the internet and talk radio, mere stonewalling by the collaborating “mainstream media” cannot successfully hide Kerry's distortions and unfounded accusations against the President, nor his regular “flip-flops” on major issues.

Consider the prominent issue of the past few days, and the manner in which the Kerry cabal has responded to it. In the wake of President Bush's newly aired campaign ads that focused on the attacks of September 11, Kerry's minions have outdone themselves in an effort to convince America of the wrongful nature of the ads, contending that the President should in no way make reference to the defining episode of the present era. Instead, for the sake of the hallowed name of politics, he should encourage the American people to completely disregard that horrendous event when considering what sort of leadership is needed to safely guide them through the perilous times ushered in by it.

Thus America should consider Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard during the 1970's, though it is wrong, we are told, for Bush to direct any attention towards Kerry's actions during that same period, being that it was so long ago and far away. For his own part, Kerry is willing to proclaim what he ostensibly would have done in the aftermath of 9-11, had he been in charge. Does anyone detect an element of hypocrisy, verging on the absurd, lurking here?

So obsessive has the Kerry camp been in its efforts to entirely remove 9-11 from the debate that, in the past few days, surviving family members of WTC victims were paraded in front of the cameras to recite what could only have been scripted talking points for the network anchors. These people have since been uncovered as members of a front organization, funded by Kerry's benefactor and wife, Teresa Heinz.

Their grief, real though it may have been, does not uniquely qualify them as experts on international affairs. Furthermore, the oft-repeated reference to the attacks as occurring “On Bush's watch” reeks of partisan politics, and completely ignores the total inaction against growing terrorist activity during the eight years of the previous administration.

Yet it is they who cry most loudly that the President, by citing the most significant challenge to confront his administration, and thus referencing his indisputable success in dealing with it, somehow affronted them. If it was unforgivably wrong for the Bush campaign to remind us of that awful day, what does it say about Kerry and his camp that they would employ scripted talking points, dutifully delivered by relatives of the deceased on nationwide TV?

Similarly, the tremendous heroism and sacrifice of those New York firefighters, who gave everything on September 11, has been thoroughly demeaned by individuals who, while ostensibly speaking on behalf of the firefighting profession, attacked the President but voiced support for Kerry. Apparently, funding and perks are of greater significance than the threat of future terrorist acts.

America's foreign enemies have been driven back and their capabilities reduced, though not extinguished. They will reemerge if given the opportunity to do so. If Americans are once again willing to allow reality to be so completely overshadowed by the blatant tactics of unscrupulous demagogues, they will usher in nothing less than a continuation of the fraud and resulting national decline of the ‘90's. It was during that period that America's diplomatic prowess was undermined and ultimately left in shambles, while its military was methodically decimated, thus making it vulnerable to attack. Can the nation realistically expect anything to be different this time around?

Growing up during the turbulent decades of the ‘60's and ‘70's, Christopher  Adamo saw, to his dismay, the nation's moral foundations being destroyed  before his very eyes. But even then he was a staunch Conservative at heart,  and rejected outright the tenets of America's counterculture revolution.

 After a hitch in the Air Force, where he specialized in airborne  electro- optical systems, he pursued a career in the field of aerospace,  working for major defense contractors in California, Florida, and Colorado. But his career plans abruptly changed during the industry-wide downsizing that followed the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Presently he is working in the field of industrial instrumentation in the state of Wyoming. Concurrently, he has become involved in that state's political process, attending state GOP conventions as a delegate, and serving as a member of the Wyoming Republican Central Committee. He has also aided in the candidacies of local legislators and state senators, as well as a U.S. Senator and Congresswoman.

From 1993 to 1996, he edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming. During that period, he developed an acute awareness of the harm being done to Conservatism by liberal activists within the Republican Party as well as the Democrats. This remains a favorite theme of his articles, which now appear as a regular feature on GOPUSA.