Mikey Likey
It’s about three months late, but it seems Michael Williams can finally claim total vindication. Today, on Meet the [de]Press[ed], John Kerry advised Tim Russert that he didn’t really do that badly in an election in which he really should have gotten trounced. When asked if his last-minute endorsement from Osama bin Laden had played a role in the election, Kerry replied:
I believe that 9/11 was the central deciding issue in this race. And the tape — we were rising in the polls up until the last day when the tape appeared. We flat-lined the day the tape appeared and went down on Monday. I think it had an impact. But 9/11, you know, it’s a very difficult hurdle when a country is at war. I applauded the president’s leadership in the days immediately afterwards. I thought he did a good job in that, and he obviously connected to the American people in those immediate days. When a country is at war and in the wake of 9/11, it’s very difficult to shift horses in midstream. I think it’s remarkable we came as close as we did as a campaign. Many Republicans say we beat their models by four or five points as to what they thought we could achieve.
Kerry further elaborated about how although he lost both the electoral vote and the “popular vote,” he did win the popular vote among battleground states, and therefore would have won the electoral vote if only those votes had been distributed differently. He then explained that if only has aunt had had balls, she’d be his uncle.
January 30th, 2005 at 3:17 pm
Thanks for the pointer to these ridiculous comments.
January 30th, 2005 at 3:22 pm
Kerry Beats the Spread
Xrlq vindicates my April, 2003, prediction that John Kerry’s election defeat would be hailed as a victory due to “beating the spead”. I believe that 9/11 was the central deciding issue in this race. And the tape
January 30th, 2005 at 10:43 pm
Ah those hazy lazy days when we discussed what Putin’s “endorsement” of Bush really meant. Only addressing the issue of whether OBL’s statement was an “endorsement of Kerry” was really that or something else, consider three points:
- that’s the same argument made by Blogs for Bush
- perhaps even worse, that’s the same argument made by c17wife
- from See tape as boost for Prez: “We want people to think ‘terrorism’ for the last four days,” said a Bush-Cheney campaign official. “And anything that raises the issue in people’s minds is good for us.” A senior GOP strategist added, “anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush.” He called it “a little gift,” saying it helps the President but doesn’t guarantee his reelection.
- according to a poll I think I blogged but I can’t find, the OBL tape helped Bush by about 10 more points than Kerry. That was some kind of poll sponsored by a well-known Democratic political advisor company, but I can’t find it.
January 30th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
Color me stupid, but I fail to see the significance of these four links. It goes without saying that to the extent OBL’s last minute endorsement of Kerry helped anyone, it helped Bush. OBL’s not that popular, even in the blue states (especially NY, for obvious reasons).
January 31st, 2005 at 5:50 pm
Thanks for the laugh, xrlq. I totally laughed my arse off at that last line!! :lol:
January 31st, 2005 at 11:38 pm
I’m going to assume there’s a typo in the post, and you meant to say: When asked if [Kerry's] last-minute endorsement by Osama bin Laden had played a role in the election
I’m saying that if OBL’s tape was an endorsement of anyone, it was an endorsement of Bush. It might not have been an endorsement of anyone because a) he could claim credit either way, and b) his movement is oriented towards the long-term and individual presidents might not play that much of a role in their strategy.
January 31st, 2005 at 11:44 pm
You’re right about the typo, which is now fixed. I don’t know where you get the idea that OBL prefers Kerry to Bush. Do you assume he’s politically savvy enough to understand that his endorsements are more likely to hurt than help the intended beneficiary? I don’t. For all I know, he probably thought the U.S. was just a larger version of Spain.