A Look Back on 2 Critical Moments.

Newsweek did a campaign post mortem in a special issue out this week. its a must read. Here are 2 things that stood out to me, as outlined by Salon.com:

First, for any of us tempted to be nostalgic for the Clinton years -- and there's probably a lot of that going on this week as Republicans further tighten their grip on government, here's something to temper our longing for the '90s. "Looking for a way to pick up swing voters in the Red States, former President Bill Clinton, in a phone call with Kerry, urged the Senator to back local bans on gay marriage. Kerry respectfully listened, then told his aides, 'I'm not going to ever do that.'" Being more Clintonesque on gay marriage may have won Kerry some swing votes, but that comes with a price, and one Kerry wasn't willing to pay.

This is the sort of thing that gets my friend Big Gray upset about Clinton and the Democrats. This willingness to cut someone else to get ahead is the way they see it. I do not agree at all, and only WISH i had the foresight to have come up with this advice as Clinton did.

Look...i’m not certain that a close election year—when bush can ONLY win by firing up the evangelicals—is the best year to push for immediate incorporation of gay rights on a scale unequaled in the course of human history. i mean seriously, the mayor of San Fran was working AGAINST the law and FOR what he thinks is right. great. what did he accomplish? a backlash across the nations where marriage and civil unions are now illegal AND he handed out marriage certificates that aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. YAY. great! what a great moral victory.

This part below is pretty alarming to see now--after the fact. This stuff just pisses me off. they knew this sort of crap was coming in a run against Bush. not being ready for it was incompetence.

The Swift Boat disaster was the darkest period for Kerry, and any Monday morning quarterbacking about his campaign must question how slowly Kerry moved to challenge the well-orchestrated attack on his Vietnam record. Newsweek reports that: "In early August, when the Swift Boat story started to pick up steam on the talk shows, Susan Estrich, a California law professor, well-known liberal talking head and onetime campaign manager for Michael Dukakis, had called the Kerry campaign for marching orders. She had been booked on Fox's 'Hannity & Colmes' to talk about the Swift Boat ads. What are the talking points? Estrich asked the Kerry campaign. There are none, she was told. Estrich was startled. She had seen this bad movie before." It was "shades of Dukakis,"
Newsweek says.