From FoxNews: Have the Swift Boat Ads Hurt Kerry’s Image?
HUME: We got something on our screen now that shows this was. Before the [first Swift Boat Veterans] ad we had 42 percent [of surveyed Independents] leaning toward voting for Kerry. After the ad, it came to 29 percent.KESSLER: That's correct.
HUME: And so you had a decline. Measurable decline, would you say, in support for Kerry?
KESSLER: Yes. The first Swift Boat ad definitely had an impact.
Read the whole interview, which also says that Kerry's counter ad didn't help him and that the second Swift Boat ad hurt Bush among Independents.
From FoxNews: Negative Attacks Often Prove Effective.
Some political advisers have suggested the Massachusetts senator waited too long to respond forcefully. If nothing else, the issue has thrown Kerry offstride during a between-conventions period when he had hoped to focus on the economy and other issues.Polls suggest that the Democrat's support has been slipping.
A CBS poll said independent voters were split on whether the allegations were believable, and noted a shift in veterans toward Bush.
A survey by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Public Policy Center said more than half of those surveyed had seen or knew about the ad, even though it ran only in a few markets.
From FoxNews: Swift Boat Vets Vow to Press On.
Not only has the Kerry campaign backtracked on the Christmas in Cambodia claims, but the Swift Boat group now says that the Kerry campaign has backtracked on statements about Kerry's first Purple Heart. (Via LGF)
UPDATE August 30: This cartoon appears in the Monday Special edition of Investor's Business Daily. It is also being linked by Mark Steyn (see "Taking A Bath" on right side bar).
UPDATE II -- August 31: This headline on CNN's home page seemed to reflect our cartoon: • Sources: Dems fear Kerry campaign adrift.
The concern, according to these sources, is that Kerry has failed to effectively respond to attacks from Republicans and criticism of his military service in Vietnam, particular ads from a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.Posted by Forkum at August 24, 2004 11:26 PM
|