Keith Oberman sometimes seems out of his league as a newsman. His questions ramble, and he seems uncertain of his fact and himself. But sometimes he exhibits a gustiness that few except the right -wing nuts ever show. Watching a repeat of Countdown last night I saw Oberman refer to Michelle Malkin, a flack for the Swift Boatsdguys, as making “a fool of herself” on MSNBC earlier last night, It was on Hardball and the transcript is here.
But also listen to David Gergen, an advisor to both Dems and Republicans, although, I believe his is a Republican.
GERGEN: That‘s the point, Chris. More than whether Kerry gains or Bush gains is the fact that it‘s not good for the country. To have an argument about the past when we should talk about the future is trivializing what we face as a nation. How will we come up with a strategy to win this war on terrorism?
Where will the next president go over the next four years? To divert attention from that issue is harmful to the process. I will tell you—the Republicans do not help themselves. Over time when you have a pattern from—when they went after John McCain in South Carolina when they went after his war record and then went after Max Cleland in 2002 and one of the Republican leaders Ann Coulter said maybe it‘s his own fault that he lost three limbs in Vietnam.
Now they‘re going after Kerry on his war record. This is really a mistaken, terribly wrong-heading pattern for the Republicans. It only drives people away. These things can work in the short term, but in the long term McCain was helped. His stature grew after the South Carolina primary and the president‘s stature, while he helped himself in the short-term, he was hurt in the long-term.
But Gergen also seems to not appreciate the Lee Atwater strategy, which again is illustrated in this Swift Boat smear campaign.
GERGEN: Well, I guess they don‘t because they seem to [appreciate the damage the GOP is doing to itself]—Dana said they‘re dancing away from it in Texas and not denouncing the ad, but they‘ve—I think the Democrats—it is interesting to me, Chris. The last couple of weeks, we thought George Bush was politically more adept and boxing in John Kerry on Iraq and he did a good job. On this issue, it defies belief that the Bush administration would like to keep the issue of John Kerry‘s war record and shrapnel in his leg and his heroism front and center in the campaign. This is Kerry‘s strong point not his weak point.
As Atwater advised: Whatever your weakest point is (in Bush’s case, his lack of Vietnam service), accuse your opponent of it. That’s what Bush is doing, trying to denigrate Kerry’s service to shift the focus from his own shortcomings.