HOW TO RUN AGAINST KERRY

All the signs are that the Republicans plan to disinter the old “l-word” campaign against Kerry. Liberal, liberal, liberal. To which the best response is: dated, dated, dated. The Finklestein strategy is very tired. Like an ad campaign that has lost its punch, it might backfire badly – making it look as if the Republicans are simply negative and still living in the past. A much smarter move, it seems to me, would be to paint Kerry as simply all over the map. Show not just how liberal he has been – but how conservative he has tried to seem in the past as well. Use his war votes – against the Gulf War in 1991 (but for it in letters to constituents) and for the Saddam War in 2003 (but against the $87 billion to make it work) – to cast doubt on whether he really is decisive enough to be president at a time of war. Make him look weak and vacillating rather than extreme and liberal. That makes the case for Bush’s war-leadership indirectly – and therefore more effectively.