Prisoner of War
May 29th, 2007 at 4:47 am by Susie
Unfortunately, there’s a marked tendency on campaigns to push the candidate in the direction of the issue rather than let the issues shape the campaign. In this case, it sounds plausible - although we’ll never know for sure what happened:
WASHINGTON — Senator John F. Kerry voted for the Iraq war resolution in 2002 after weighing the political ramifications and being told by his future campaign manager that he would never be elected president in 2004 unless he sided with President Bush on the issue, according to a forthcoming book by Kerry’s former strategist.
The book by veteran Democratic Party strategist Robert Shrum, titled “No Excuses,” paints a portrait of an often-dysfunctional Kerry presidential campaign in which senior strategists clashed with each other.
That doesn’t surprise me. Campaigns are full of court intrigue, with everyone jockeying for power. Too bad it comes at the expense of the voters.
And of course Shrum tries to have it both ways. You can’t insist on putting your stamp on the candidate’s message and then blame his loss on everyone else - but Shrum, who (correct me if I’m wrong, hasn’t run any winning campaigns) does it anyway.
“You can’t insist on putting your stamp on the candidate’s message and then blame his loss on everyone else…”
When did that rule go into effect?! Seems like S.O.P. to me.