Kerry’s Swift Response to Two-Year Old Smear Campaign

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John Kerry continues to put the finishing touches on his 2004 campaign strategy:

Kerry said he is concerned that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is again resorting to “the politics of fear and smear.” […]

“We’re not going to give them an ounce of daylight,” said Kerry, who is considering another run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

The senator said his response to the commercials in 2004 was not strong enough.

“We thought the fact that the truth was out there was enough,” he said. “Clearly it wasn’t.”

OK, so Kerry finally gets that his non-response to these attacks was pathetic. But does he think that if he runs again he’ll get Swift Boated in the same way he did in 2004? And what exactly is his big plan for fighting back, besides actually paying attention next time? No doubt there will be a brilliant strategy unveiled by 2010.

This just in: Kerry thinks of snappy comeback to 5th-grade school-yard taunt.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

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