Kerry blows it on North Korea

Kerry followed the Dem party line that we should be having bilateral talks with the Norks while having the six party talks. Putting aside the fact that the Norks word is no good, he oviously did not comprehend how we got the Chinese into the talks.

Of the five countries talking to the Norks, China has the most leverage. The Norks depend on them for their very survival, even in the meager form it now exist. The way we got the Chinese into the discussions was to make it clear that we would not talk with the Norks without them. The Chinese and the Norks would love to have it just between the US and the Norks. By getting the Chinese into the discussion they can put pressure on the Norks to compromise. That pressure would be non existent in bilateral talks.

To further incentavive the Chinese we had to make it clear that if they wanted the US to prevent the Japanese, and South Koreans from going nuclear they had to get the Norks to step back. If the Norks have nukes, then other countries in the area could have them putting China at risk, especially since they are tied to the Norks and could be dragged into a conflict triggered by the Norks.

This was probably Kerry's biggest mistake in the debate.

The President scored points by hammering Kerry on his disparagment of the coalition and his inability to lead the "wrong war at the wrong time." If you do not believe in what you are doing and the people you are doing with how can you expect to lead?

The President was clearly annoyed with Kerry's ignorance at several points during the debate. Kerry was, however, not as annoyingly condesending as he normally is. For Kerry, that may be his biggest plus.

I believe that coming out of this debate, the Bush-Cheney campaign will continue to effectively define Kerry and keep him on the defensive.

It should be remembered that Kerry's gaffe on "voting for the 87 billion before voting against it" was not the result of being tired late at night, but was Kerry's lame attempt to respond to a Bush ad that greeted him when he got to West Virginia for a noon rally. The ad very effectively challenged Kerry for voting against funding the troops in combat. It was the ad that caused the Kerry gaffe not fatigue. Subsequent ad have kept Kerry on the defensive and the debate performance is probably being mined for material as this is being written. Those who focus too strongly on the debates and overlook the thrust and parry of the entire campaign are making a mistake. A campaign, like portrait is made up of many strokes of the artist brush, some more bold than others.

In my mind Bush destroyed Kerry on several key points, but it is up to the followup of both sides to determine the outcome. Kerry has the advantage of the liberal media, most of which are not as blatant as CBS. Evan Thomas suggestion that Kerry would get a 15 point advantage from this media support, suggest that this race would be over in a rout if Kerry did not have that support. No doubt, his supporters in the media will continue to try to pull the country to the dark side. It is up to the President and his campaign bring light to the race.

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