Hurrah for Senator Boxer, Rep. John Conyers, JesseJackson, Maxine Waters & Donna Brazille!!Keep the news flowing: Contact media!John Kerry may have written his own political obituarywith a pathetic letter to his supporters saying thathe won’t back a protest by African-American Housemembers against voting fraud in Ohio. Instead, heurges his supporters to call Republican leaders anddemand that they reform the electoral system.The letter reads like it was written by the caricatureof John Kerry that George W. Bush portrayed during thecampaign: the indecisive, flip-flopping politician whowants to be on every side of an issue.“I will not be taking part in a formal protest of theOhio Electors,” Kerry wrote in an e-mail to 3 millionsupporters on Jan. 5. “Despite widespread reports ofirregularities, questionable practices by someelection officials and instances of lawful votersbeing denied the right to vote, our legal teams on theground have found no evidence that would change theoutcome of the election.”While rejecting the efforts of Rep. John Conyers andother members of the Congressional Black Caucus todemand a floor debate on the Ohio abuses at a jointcongressional session on Jan. 6, Kerry then calls onhis supporters to renew the fight for fair electionsin the future.“If you want to force real action on election reform,we’ve got to demand that congressional leaders holdfull hearings,” Kerry wrote. “Make sure they hear fromyou and help hold them accountable.” He then listedthe office phone numbers for Republican House SpeakerDennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.Democratic ChasmThis latest Kerry recommendation – to avoid ahigh-profile clash with the Republicans now in favorof some bipartisan hearings in the future – is sure toinfuriate much of the Democratic base that has beenfuming about the illegitimacy of the Bush presidencysince five Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Courthanded Bush the White House in December 2000. [DespiteKerry's letter, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., agreedto sign the House motion, ensuring that a floor debatewould occur.]Based on e-mails that we’ve gotten from scores ofrank-and-file Democrats, they are sick of nationalDemocratic leaders who act as if the country isoperating under business-as-usual political rules. Therank-and-file sees a national crisis that requiresboth strong leadership and creative strategies.Mostly, they want to dig in and fight, not ask GOPleaders for anything, let alone their agreement tohold hearings on election reform.The obvious question in response to Kerry’s proposalthat his supporters call Hastert and Frist would be:Why? What possible good would that do?More likely, the impact of Kerry’s letter will simplybe to widen the chasm between the Democratic base andthe party leadership in Washington.Time and again, Democratic leaders have asked theirgrassroots supporters to get organized for one morecampaign. Then, those same Democratic leaders pulltheir punches and try to squeak out electoralvictories by the narrowest of margins. That strategycreated, in Elections 2000 and 2004, the opportunityfor the Republicans to use last-minute dirty tricks tograb victories.Many rank-and-file Democrats are sick and tired ofthese well-paid Washington-based consultants whoconstantly advise Democratic politicians to finessecontroversial issues and not to be too shrill.For instance, veteran Democratic adviser Robert Shrumhas been blamed for the mushy tone of the Kerrycampaign and its failure to sharply define the dangersof a second Bush term. Still, Shrum, who has advisedeight losing Democratic presidential campaigns datingback to 1972, saw his consulting firm collect about $8million in fees from Election 2004. [Washington Post,.Dec. 30, 2004]Kerry's ChangeAs for Kerry, he put himself on the Establishmenttrack in the 1990s, reversing his earlier status assomeone known for speaking truth to power. In the1970s, he protested the Vietnam War as a returningveteran. In the 1980s, as a freshman senator, he stoodup to the Reagan-Bush administration over thecontra-drug scandal and conducted a courageousinvestigation.For his work investigating the Nicaraguancontra-cocaine smuggling, however, Kerry was mocked bythe Washington Establishment. Newsweek termed him a“randy conspiracy buff” and the major media didnothing to rectify that negative image when Kerry’sinvestigative findings were vindicated by the CIA’sinspector general in a 1998 report. [SeeConsortiumnews.com’s “Kerry’s Contra-CocaineChapter.”]After the pounding he took for his contra-cocaineprobe, Kerry began listening to advisers who urged amore cautious style as the route to a possiblepresidential bid. So, by fall 2002, Kerry was on thelookout for safe, centrist positions. As Bush charteda course clearly aimed at war with Iraq, Kerryaccepted an understanding with Bush that the presidentwould exhaust all diplomatic options before sendingU.S. troops into Iraq.At the time, millions of Americans were in the streetscalling for the Democrats not to give Bush theauthorization to go to war because the protestersrecognized that Bush wasn’t serious about avoiding warif at all possible.Indeed, it was hard for many rank-and-file Democratsto think that Kerry and other Democratic leadersreally believed Bush’s assurances either. ManyDemocrats suspected that Kerry and other senators weresimply ducking a fight with Bush to protect theirpolitical “viability.”Democrats saw the same timidity when Kerry and hiscampaign advisers thought they could earn browniepoints from the major news media by running a largelypositive, issues-based campaign in 2004. To take thehigh road, Kerry’s advisers even excised criticism ofBush from speeches delivered at the DemocraticNational Convention, but all Kerry got for that was arare “bounce-less” convention.Bush and his advisers also had no intention offollowing Kerry on that high road. Pro-Bush attackgroups, such as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,aired dishonest ads accusing Kerry of lying about hiswar record. Kerry’s aides were shocked when big newsoutlets such as CNN rushed to play up those attacks.When Republicans turned the GOP Convention into aKerry-bash – complete with Purple Heart band-aids tomock Kerry’s war wounds – the media largely fellsilent or marveled at the skillfulness of thenegativity, rather than make Bush pay any price.'Bring It On?'To the disappointment of many Democrats, John Kerrywho challenged the Bush dirty tricksters to “bring iton” early in the campaign didn’t get mad when he hadevery reason to denounce the smears against hisservice in Vietnam and the criticism of his principledprotests of the war once he returned.If there was ever a time for a straight-talking speechto the American people about how the Republicans playdirty politics, that was it. Instead, Kerry asked Bushto join him in urging supporters to refrain fromnegative advertising. Kerry even called on pro-Kerrygroups to pull ads criticizing Bush’s ducking ofservice in the Texas Air National Guard. Bush,however, never specifically disavowed the anti-KerrySwift boat ads.A Washington Post analysis of Election 2004’s campaignfinancing concluded that the first Swift boat ad –accusing Kerry of lying to get war medals – was one ofthe key moments of the campaign as well as one of themost cost-effective attacks on Kerry. [SeeConsortiumnews.com’s “It’s the Media, Stupid!”]Many Democrats also were distraught when Kerryconceded defeat on Nov. 3, the day after the election,even as reports were flowing in about votingirregularities in Ohio and elsewhere. Though Kerrycontinued to say that all outstanding votes should becounted, his concession undercut recount efforts inOhio where tens of thousands of votes were discardedand never examined by hand to see if they did show avote for president.Now, Kerry has repeated that hair-splitting approachto the election. He won’t support a congressionalchallenge to the voting irregularities, but he wantsthe Republican congressional leadership to hold somehearings. He also says he will submit some legislationseeking reform of the electoral system.To many Democrats, John Kerry’s have-it-both-waysletter ends whatever hope he may still harbor to be anational political leader.

posted by Joshua P. Angell  @ 9.1.05

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