So Bush can’t run for a second term on foreign policy. And he can’t run on the war on terrorism. And he can’t run on the economy. What’s left?
The RNC believes the candidate who once claimed to be a “uniter, not a divider,” should inflame the simmering culture war and split the electorate along social lines.
Republicans opened a potentially significant new front Thursday in their battle with Democrat John F. Kerry, launching their first broad assault against his views on abortion, gun control, gay marriage, the death penalty and other social issues.
Since Kerry effectively clinched his party’s presidential nomination in early March, President Bush’s campaign and the Republican National Committee have challenged him almost entirely over his record on taxes and national defense.
But a study released Thursday by the RNC also targeted the Massachusetts senator on cultural concerns, such as his opposition to banning a procedure some call partial-birth abortion and his vote against a measure that allowed states to disregard gay marriages performed outside their borders.
I can only hope the Republicans pursue this strategy. It would be a gift to the Dems. As Kerry would say, “Bring…It…On.”
First, it would reek of desperation. Voters aren’t likely to respond to a message that says, “We screwed up Iraq and lost millions of jobs, but John Kerry is pro-choice and doesn’t hate gay people enough!”
Second, the public probably sides with Kerry on most of these social issues, especially independent voters in swing states who care far more about unemployment than civil unions.
And third, it’s a negative, backward-looking tactic in an event-driven, forward-looking campaign.
The truth is, the GOP has relied on this strategy — sometimes called the 3G approach for “God, Gays, and Guns” — consistently for 20 years. It worked against Dukakis, but Kerry isn’t Dukakis.
Ron Brownstein said the real purpose behind the strategy may be to bolster Bush’s standing in the South.
The study highlights Kerry’s views on issues politically potent in the South, and it surfaced on the eve of a gathering of Southern Republicans that begins today in Miami.
“The portrait that emerges is that Kerry, on every issue — economic, national security and values — is out of the mainstream in the South and, I would argue, nationally,” said Ralph Reed, the Southeast regional chairman for Bush’s reelection campaign.
(Yes, that’s the same Ralph Reed who led the Christian Coalition in the 90s and once described his approach to politics as “guerilla warfare.” “I want to be invisible,” Reed said in 1991. “I paint my face and travel at night. You don’t know it’s over until you’re in a body bag.” A fine Christian young man.)
To be sure, culture war politics is generally more effective in the South than anywhere else. In this sense, 2004 will be an interesting test on voters’ priorities.
Howard Dean frequently used a great line in his speeches to Southern voters: “You’ve been voting Republican for decades. How’s it been working out for you?”
With this in mind, Kerry will ask voters to put their own family’s and community’s best interests first. If successful, the Sou;th will be in play.
Perhaps the most frequent response from Kerry on social issues, though, is to portray them as a diversion from economic concerns. His campaign struck that note Thursday.
“John Kerry is going to connect with Southern voters on kitchen-table issues,” said Chad Clanton, a Kerry spokesperson. “George Bush can’t even see the problems they are facing down South … the job losses, the skyrocketing healthcare costs, the rising college tuition costs and the stagnant wages that have put middle-class families in a world of hurt.”