PALM BEACH, Fla. – To be re-elected, President Bush must define John Kerry as an ultra-liberal extremist, top political strategist ****** Morris said Thursday night at a special "Off the Record" forum held by NewsMax for opinion leaders in Florida.
Kerry will win in November if he succeeds in disguising himself as a moderate, Morris warned. Bush will win if he paints the Massachusetts Democrat as Michael Dukakis’ lieutenant governor and protégé.
But Morris says Bush's team urgently needs to get their message about Kerry to the American public in the next few months. If the American people don't have a clear idea about Kerry's record by May, Morris predicts the election will be a "nail-biter."
You can get your own audio of this exclusive election briefing by ****** Morris, Click Here.
“George Bush must define John Kerry so John Kerry doesn’t define John Kerry, and that’s the issue defining this entire election,” Morris told the audience of VIPs, which included congressmen, Republican Party officials, a former member of Margaret Thatcher's government, a former ambassador and an admiral.
Bush’s father “didn’t do a damn thing about crime” as president but was elected in 1988 by using the Willie Horton issue to reveal Dukakis’ softness on crime, said Morris, an analyst for Fox News Channel, columnist for NewsMax Magazine and adviser to dozens of U.S. and foreign politicians ranging from Bill Clinton to Trent Lott to Mexican President Vicente Fox.
His best advice for the White House: Don’t attack Kerry for things he can deny. Attack him for things he’ll admit.
Dukakis, he recalled, destroyed his huge lead in the polls by trying to defend his prison furlough program and opposition to having schoolchildren recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
The GOP must expose the weaknesses that Kerry can’t deny, he said, such as:
Same-sex marriage. Kerry was one of only 14 senators who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act. He says he favors civil unions while opposing same-sex marriage, but voters will realize civil unions are “the exact same thing,” Morris said.
The strategist cautioned that while Republicans must oppose discrimination in employment and housing, the marriage issue is a disaster for Democrats.
As the San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday, even the Senate’s most left-wing member, Barbara Boxer of California, is running scared from the issue, and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the first openly gay member of Congress, is warning of a backlash from voters against Democrats.
Capital punishment. “John Kerry admits he’s opposed to the death penalty,” which 70 percent of Americans support.
“Damn it, use this issue!” Morris urged.
