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The elephant watch
Republican pre-response team skewers Kerry for his future failure to engage in past behavior they think he should change
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
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MONDAY, JULY 26, 2004 -- The Republican National Committee, in its pre-rebuttal press conference this morning, criticized John Kerry for his future failure to engage in past behavior that they think he should change. That may not be entirely clear, but then again the purpose of the 10 a.m. press conference was rather unclear to begin with. The Republicans’ "rapid-response team" will hold a press conference every morning this week to rebut whatever the Democrats do the night before -- but the convention has not yet begun as of this morning. Call this a rapid-pre-sponse. In any event, the most interesting thing to come from it was the news that Mitt Romney will scrupulously avoid all political appearances this week -- although he’ll be all over creation talking about security, if this morning’s network news shows are any indication. The Governor did send his Lieutenant, Kerry Healey out to pre-criticize John Kerry for not standing proudly next to Michael Dukakis in the coming week. (Kerry was Dukakis’s Lieutenant, remember, hence a parallel between them and Romney/Healey). Kerry’s predicted shunning of Dukakis upsets Healey presumably because it makes it harder for her to criticize the Senator for his association with the Duke. But back to the main message of the press conference. The Democrats, according to RNC chairman Ed Gillespie, "are a very angry, bitter, harsh party today." In fact, chimed in Congressman Henry Bonilla, "if you’re a hardcore, extreme Democrat, this is your dream ticket." The words "harsh," "angry," and "extreme" came up a lot in the half-hour. For instance, there was talk of the "bitter, harsh, personal attacks" mouthed recently by Whoopie Goldberg and friends. During the primary campaign the Democrats spoke of the President in "harsh terms," Gillespie said. But what really tees off the Republicans is that the Democratic Party is going to not be harsh, extreme and angry this week. Gillespie complained -- almost bitterly, perhaps even harshly -- that Kerry and Co. will act all nice and moderate and optimistic during the convention. They should, he implied, stick to their true colors out of fairness, so that Republicans can properly complain about it. In fact, Bonilla said, Kerry is confusing voters by this charade; they know in their hearts that he is an ultraliberal flip-flopper, but it doesn’t always square with what the Senator actually does and says. Kerry should adhere to the caricature created by the RNC, to spare the voters the pain of cognitive dissonance.
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