Tomorrow's
Boston Globe has a story about a two-hour interview with Kerry where he describes the shortfalls of his campaign, pledges to sign a form releasing all his military records, then challenges Bush and the Swift Boat Vets to do the same. More below the fold (Military Records at the bottom)
Reasons for his loss, in his words
Bush had 4 extra years to set up his campaign structure and strategy:
"You know, you're putting together a half-billion dollar corporation, hiring hundreds of employees, in the span of days. And the human resource issue of getting everybody tuned in on advance [work], on crowd building, on message, and war room. It's very complicated. And you know, [Bush strategist] Karl Rove had six years . . . to be spending $400 million a year doing messaging, framing, branding, all the kinds of things they do, and they do it very effectively."
Aides didn't clarify his statement about whether he would have gone to war:
The sheer pace of the campaign left him unable to follow up on hurried requests to aides, he said, causing mistakes to occur at crucial moments. On Aug. 9, while campaigning at the Grand Canyon, Kerry answered yes to a question about whether he would have voted to give the president the authority to go to war in Iraq knowing what ''we know now" -- that there were no weapons of mass destruction. Kerry said the question was poorly phrased and he thought he was only reiterating why he had voted to give Bush the authority in the first place.
"When it got misinterpreted, I said [to an aide] I hadn't said that. And I told my campaign . . . they should go out and correct it."
They did not. Bush made hay over the fact that Kerry had endorsed invading Iraq even if there were no weapons of mass destruction. But Kerry, keeping up his rigorous series of speeches, was unaware for a while that his campaign had never cleared up the matter.
"I later learned" that no correction had been issued, Kerry said. ''But it was clear to me that was to be clarified."
Swift Boat Vets (He takes responsibility for not properly rebutting them)
Kerry said his campaign had already rebutted the group twice, and thought the matter was over.
"Let's get the record absolutely straight," Kerry said. "[The veterans' group] first surfaced in the spring and we did have a press conference on the same day and they were gone. And then they came back and there was another press conference and another dealing with them and they were gone, folks. Then the Republicans got involved with them . . . and they came back in August, right around convention time, and they came back with TV."
Kerry explained: "I don't remember seeing the first ad; I think I read it rather than saw it. Several friends of mine saw it immediately. My reaction the minute that I heard what they had said [was that] I was outraged and I said this has to be responded to. Within a few days, I gave a speech to the firefighters and I responded to it."
But the first ad appeared Aug. 5. Kerry did not make his speech to the firefighters until Aug. 19. The two-week delay between the charges and the rebuttal allowed the allegations that Kerry had exaggerated his military record to take root, according to some Democratic organizers.
"Look, are you asking me should it have been responded to immediately? I've said it a hundred times -- yes," Kerry said. "And I'm not going to get into pointing fingers at anybody. It's my campaign, should have happened, and that's the price you pay."
Kerry still might run in 2008
"Running for president is a great experience," he said. ''It is a unique insight into people's lives, a sort of sharing of their lives . . . It is very emotional. I tell you, the number of people who were tearing up in rope lines, holding their kids out to you, wanting to be there for that moment, saying 'Take care of my kid,' 'Make sure Social Security is there for me,' or 'Make sure my kid has a good school,' or 'I don't want my son in Iraq.' . . . You come out of there with a huge sense of the power of this country, and affection for the American people and for the process."
Kerry's intentions to stay viable as a party leader and potential 2008 presidential candidate will be girded by a new political action committee that will be run by his longtime strategist John Giesser of Newton, who will also oversee a 3-million-person e-mail list at johnkerry.com. Meanwhile, Kerry said, he is working on a book, but will not reveal the subject. He said it is ''premature" to think of another presidential run but acknowledged that he believes he's become a much better politician over the past year.
"I think I'm a better listener," he said. "I talk a different language. I got beaten up a lot over that, fairly. No complaints. You know, you've got to break out of Senate-ese and all that junk. By the end of the campaign, I really developed into a much better candidate than when I began this thing, and I hope developed into a better person."
Military Records
Kerry pledged to sign Form 180, releasing all of his military records, but challenged his critics, including Bush, to do the same.
"I want them to sign it, I want [swift boat veterans] John O'Neill, Roy Hoffmann, and what's their names, the guys on the other boat," Kerry said. ''I want their records out there. They have made specific allegations about my record, I know things about their records, I want them out there. I'm willing to sign it, to put all my records out there. I'm willing to sign it, but I want them to sign it, too."
Very interesting. Kerry knows things about their records... I'd like to hear about that. Could be pretty bad for them. Why didn't Kerry ask for the release of the records during the campaign?
I think Kerry was a good guy dedicated to his job and the public good, but he was just bewildered and over his head when it came to the race. He was amazed at how much of it was based on slander and bullshit and how little of it was based on substance. He'd never experienced politics that dirty before.
His last contested Senate race, which he won handily, was against former MA governor Bill Weld, a GOP moderate who, on the Daily Show, came out and said he personally liked both Bush and Kerry. That campaign was run on substance rather than bullshit.
The Swift Boat Vets pissed him off a lot obviously. Just look at these quotes to see that. I say none of these guys will release their records. Who's willing to bet? 100-1 odds?
Kerry later confirmed that his decision to sign the form is not conditional on any others signing, but he expressed lingering bitterness over double standards on military service.
"Let me make this clear: My full military record has been made public," Kerry said. "All of my medical records and all of my fitness reports, every fitness report involving each place I served, is public. Where are George Bush's still? Where are his military records? End of issue."
I don't know if he'll run again. I don't know if I'd vote for him. But please, no more Kerry-bashing. He was a good guy that just really didn't understand how to win in a dirty Rovian political environment. He just believed that people would look at the facts rather than the spin and decide who to vote for.