Kerry blames bin Laden tape for defeat

Last Thursday, John Kerry offered the opinion that it was the Osama bin Laden tapes that resulted in his defeat, because the American electorate was afraid after viewing the video:

Sen. John Kerry believes the videotape of Osama bin Laden that appeared days before the Nov. 2 election cost him the presidency, Fox News reported yesterday.
The Massachusetts Democrat told Fox News the tape first aired by Arab television network Al Jazeera may have scared the American electorate.

Videotape

Was this a master stroke by Karl Rove? Or a plan that backfired on bin Laden? OR...exactly what bin Laden wanted to happen?

I think I am going with irrelevant here, Jsobecky. It seemed to me that the decided Kerry voters felt it even more necessary to "vote Bush out" when the OBL video aired. Bush voters may have felt that it was not a good time for a different president, or that Kerry would not be able to handle the job.

I really don't know if the undecideds were prompted to vote Bush as a result of the video. They could have taken the video either way.

A friend of mine who really doesn't keep up with current events/news or politics (but would be put in the category of liberal, lifestyle wise) called me and said "I heard about that Bin Laden video. If Bush wins were F'd..stay off the subways if he does!" I use this as an example of how the terror-reality-check just made people feel more strongly about the candidate they already were supporting. Many of the more liberal people feel that Bush is making the US less safe, while many republicans felt that Kerry would have.


Now, Mr Kerry, while I voted for you, I think if there is anyone to blame your loss on it would be yourself and Mr Schrum for a campaign that did not enable the public to get a feel of who you were until the last couple months before election. I say get yourself a campaign wiz of a manager, stay in the public eye for the next 4 years, and try again in 2008.

Of course the tape was to Bush's advantage. Dont you know Osama would do anything to help his friend?
Kerry is absolutely right.
This was Rove's bouncing baby boy surprise. And people swallowed it up with no water.
Fools.

The Saudi's have approximately 700 billion invested in America, a little speech from Osama Bin Laden, and it's four more years in the Whitehouse for the Oil lobby.

Imagine how much that would have cost to buy publicity like that...

I think it's Kerry not being able to FATHOM the fact that he lost.
His supporters feel the same way, so I think he was looking for sympathy by saying that, about the tape..

Let's also NOT forget that Kerry was the second-string candidate for the Democrats, after their "starter" blew a vocal chord on stage..!

I don't think it's much deeper than just him being a sore loser..

[Edited on 20-11-2004 by spacedoubt]

That was my feeling also. I was curious as to how he would comment upon his loss, given a few weeks to reflect upon it. He apparently thought it was neck and neck until that moment. He was deluded, thinking that one single event caused his loss. The bin Laden tape didn't even cause much of a ripple.

IMO, the Republicans were fairly gentle on him. I can think of several things off the top of my head that, if put into a commercial, would have sunk him like a rock.

As soon as I heard of the tape, I knew that it would give Bush a boost. Even his own people said that it was perfect timing.

They just missed off one thing - "I am Osama bin Laden and I approve this message'

:shk:

Instead of accepting the obvious: that more Americans thought Bush was a better candidate than Kerry, Democrats continue to come up with all sorts of increasingly whacked-out alternative theories, and the Republicans can hardly contain their glee that the Democrats are doing so.

The subtext of all of them is that the American electorate is stupid and easily manipulated.

In truth, Kerry has no one to blame but himself for his defeat. Bush was, in many ways, a sitting duck. America was ready for a better alternative. Unfortunately, Kerry wasn't it.

Seeing Kerry make comments like this tells me we made the right choice. If he isn't man enough to accept responsibility for the outcome of his campaign, and if he truly holds the electorate in such contempt, then he has no business being President.

We've already elected a "blame America first" president: Jimmy Carter. For those old enough to remember his presidency, it should be obvious why we don't want to see a repeat performance.

I have voted for Democrats in the past, but I did not this time and have no plans to do so in the future. Why? Because I won't vote for anyone who calls me an idiot.

Only an idiot would do that.

Originally posted by spacedoubt
I think it's Kerry not being able to FATHOM the fact that he lost.
His supporters feel the same way, so I think he was looking for sympathy by saying that, about the tape..



[Edited on 20-11-2004 by spacedoubt]

Space, Kerry bowed out extremely gracefully, if you asked me. Inspite of all his lawyers, etc, and inspite of all the questionable problems with the votes, again, he handed it immediately over to Bush. These are not the actions of a sore loser.
Its also ok for Kerry to try to figure out what went wrong and how it went wrong.

Dgtempe,

I agree about him bowing out, the way you explained.
There may just be some inner torment going on.
I think he wants a big partisan "hug" so to speak...

Actually felt the tape favored Kerry. I almost changed my vote to Kerry because of the tape. In my opinion, it was clear OBL wanted Kerry to be President. I felt he was threatening the US if we elected Bush. In the end, I wouldn't let him sway my vote.

In my opinion, Kerry is just giving an excuse as to why he lost. That way, he can run again in 2008. I do have to admit, though, he did handle it very well.

People expected this to swing for Kerry, because it would remind the American people that once again OBL is still alive and kickin. Hoewever it probably had a side-effect that because of this video, Americans should vote for the stronger Terrorism candidate to get this man. So Bush got the video factor in this one.

Yes it is the actual physical vote, not the computer bytes that matters. The bin Laden tape is just another obfuscation. Kerry won the election but not the actual count which consists of computer bytes.

How did this happen anyway? Why are there no objections by democrats?
Well maybe it suits them fine, since we can assume they will have their elections appropriately rigged at another time. Power however that derives itself from the consent of the computer and its manipulation is neither broad based support, nor anything other than a convenient fiction bolstered by propaganda.

Kerry of course is going along with everything, by design. The phony Osama bin Laden tape is simply another diversion. Go research this on your own.

Originally posted by Majic
Instead of accepting the obvious: that more Americans thought Bush was a better candidate than Kerry, Democrats continue to come up with all sorts of increasingly whacked-out alternative theories, and the Republicans can hardly contain their glee that the Democrats are doing so.

The subtext of all of them is that the American electorate is stupid and easily manipulated.

In truth, Kerry has no one to blame but himself for his defeat. Bush was, in many ways, a sitting duck. America was ready for a better alternative. Unfortunately, Kerry wasn't it.

Seeing Kerry make comments like this tells me we made the right choice. If he isn't man enough to accept responsibility for the outcome of his campaign, and if he truly holds the electorate in such contempt, then he has no business being President.

We've already elected a "blame America first" president: Jimmy Carter. For those old enough to remember his presidency, it should be obvious why we don't want to see a repeat performance.

I have voted for Democrats in the past, but I did not this time and have no plans to do so in the future. Why? Because I won't vote for anyone who calls me an idiot.

Only an idiot would do that.

It's all part of the socialists' superiority complex: that they're smart, we're stupid, and they should be elected, no questions asked, because Republicans are stupid frat boys. No wonder they lost.

It's a piece of crap from Fox.

Any person who buys into any theory of what "lost" the election without cognizance of the FOI requests and reviews in 300+ vote-tampered counties is ignoring this site's motto too.

Deny Ignorance?

How about some of you spread some between two slices of wheat toast?
I'm hungry.

We did have a couple threads on ATS about this & I'd have to say Bin Laden did help GW get elected. Whether he did that intentionally is up for speculation. The more interesting part is why Kerry would be willing to even talk about this.

I absolutely love it! Kerry basically admits that we all know he'd be a cowardly wartime president.
Did it ever occur to John, in the quiet of the wee hours of the morning, that it might be that in the end, most of us realized that even though we all have issues with Dubya, we saw no need in getting into a worse situation?

Originally posted by spacedoubt
I think it's Kerry not being able to FATHOM the fact that he lost.
His supporters feel the same way, so I think he was looking
for sympathy by saying that, about the tape..

I agree with you 100%. Kerry lost because of ..... KERRY
(and maybe a bit because of Terry Kerry too )
He never closed the deal. It was him. It was his famous
flip flops. It was his making a bid deal out of being in
Vietnam for four months ... and then complaining because
everyone was talking about his actions in Vietnam. It was
him snobbily ordering specialty Green Tea for breakfast when
he was in the midwest instead of just having the Liptons which
was the only tea on the menu. (he got some funny looks on that
one!) It was Kerry's Senate voting record (what little there is of
it since he didn't show up most of the time) and the fact that he
voted against our defense every single time.

Those folks who talk of the UBL tape as being Carl Roves
doing ... Bet you are the same folks who were
absolutely sure that the Republican party had UBL locked
up somewhere and that they were going to 'catch him' two
weeks before the election.

The UBL tape did NOTHING to help G.W. win the election. Most
everyone had already decided who they were going to vote for.
If anyone was effected by the UBL tape ... they may have wimped
out and decided to appease UBL and vote Kerry. If anything, the
UBL tape would have helped Kerry ...

But honestly ... It wasn't the tape ... Kerry lost the election because
of himself, and even though his ego can't handle it .... that's the only reason.

I just wish he'd realize no one is listening to him anymore and that
he'd go away. His website is still issuing 'statements' about what
G.W. is doing. No one cares what Kerry says. All eyes are now on
Hillary for the dems. Kerry has already been forgotten.



[edit on 11/22/2004 by FlyersFan]