Kerry Took Poll on Bin Laden Tape to see what he should say
 

Cheney: Kerry Took Poll on Bin Laden Tape

Sun Oct 31, 6:50 PM ET

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

LOS LUNAS, N.M. - Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday that Sen. John Kerry's first response to Osama bin Laden's new videotape was to take a poll to find out what he should say about it.

A spokesman for Kerry's campaign did not deny polling on the bin Laden videotape, but suggested President Bush has done so. Bush's campaign strategist denied asking any poll questions about the al-Qaida terrorist.

"The thing that I find amazing about it is that John Kerry's first response was to go conduct a poll," Cheney told supporters in Fort Dodge, Iowa. "He went into the field ... to find out what he should say about this tape of Osama bin Laden."

"It's as though he doesn't know what he believes until he has to go and check the polls, his finger in the air, to see which way the wind is blowing and then he'll make a decision," said the vice president, who offered no evidence to back up his claim. "George Bush doesn't need a poll to know what he believes, especially about Osama bin Laden."

"I don't think that's a man who is up to the task of being commander in chief," Cheney said of Kerry.

Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart said Cheney "should examine his own house before throwing stones."

Asked whether Kerry's polls included questions about the videotape, Lockhart said, "We don't talk about our internal polls."

Matthew Dowd, the Bush campaign's strategist, denied asking about the videotape.

"We have not asked any questions related to bin Laden, this tape, or any other tape in our polling," Dowd said. "The president stands on principle and so does the campaign."

Lockhart said Cheney was referring to a Democracy Corps poll and inaccurately linked it to the Kerry campaign's private polling. Democracy Corps is a Democratic organization and not part of the Kerry campaign, though its management has worked closely with Kerry's team.

Its most recent poll asked voters about the bin Laden tape and found that more people said it made them feel like Bush had taken his "eye off the ball" in the war on terror than thought it underscored the importance of the president's approach.

A conference call with reporters on the poll included Kerry campaign staffers.

"For the Kerry campaign to say that this poll is not their own is laughable when Tad Devine and Joe Lockhart are the ones presenting the results," Cheney campaign spokeswoman Anne Womack said as the vice president arrived in New Mexico for a campaign appearance.

Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer said, "For the Bush campaign to continue making this charge when they know it's not true is laughable."

Cheney's new attack followed his comments earlier in the day that Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, had turned his back on U.S. troops to get ahead politically.

Kerry "is not a steadfast leader. Our president is," Cheney told hundreds of Republican supporters at stops in Ohio and Michigan, as he opened a nonstop leg of campaigning that will take him to Hawaii.

Cheney started the day in Toledo, Ohio, pressing one of the campaign's most consistent lines of attack on Kerry's Senate vote against $87 billion to help finance the U.S. war in Iraq (news - web sites). Bush's re-election campaign says the Massachusetts senator voted as he did because of the then-surging anti-war candidate Howard Dean (news - web sites). Kerry has rejected the accusation.

Cheney said that Kerry "in order to advance himself turned his back on the troops."

Singer responded: "John Kerry has spent the better part of his career on behalf of the military. The senator has been concerned about the consequences of giving the president a blank check and we're seeing the consequences of that in Iraq. It's a tragedy."

Clinton did that crap all the time. Remember their trial balloons?

No conviction or core, just "what do the people want to hear?"

Typical Socialist behavior.....no independent thinking allowed...the collective is everything....

Kerry is just a guy who is always trying to get it right, but he always winds up being no where...

Republicans do it all the time. My friend who is a republican received a questionnaire in the mail with all kinds of questions to determine what crap should be spewed out of Bush's mouth.

I can scan it for you so you can see for yourself it you'd like.....

And for the record, there is no socialist behavior going on in the part of Kerry, just more lies from the right regarding same. Fear tactics, that's all you guys know.

Scan it. I'd like to see it.:)

I know what CoolChick is talking about and it is entirely different, I get them too. They ae questionairs on what issues you think are most important and they come from the RNC. They do not ask what you would like to hear the President say on issues.

Have you seen the text of the 'Kerry poll"? How do you know it asks "how do you want John Kerry to respond to the OBL tape" versus "how do you respond to the OBL tape"???

I've seen the Kerry poll. It did not 'ask what Kerry should say.'

It has to do with two possible interpretations of seeing the tape -- a somewhat reasonable question (you knew I'd take that position) because there is no way of knowing how many Americans:
1. know only that there was a tape
2. know some of what was actually said
3. only heard third-person analysis (spin?) of what was said
4. actually heard some or all of the translation

And anyone who doesn't think the Bushies polled over the weekend is delusional.

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As previously posted, Bush strategists are thrilled with the new tape, since it plays to the fears that help GWB with mainstream America.

at least kerry looks for input. W is shoot 1st ask questions later. or should i say invade 1st, find the weapons find the weapons. then its spin the no weapons story.

Agreed,

That is scary. Clinton had no spine, the only spine he had was the popular side of the poll which held up his body and his policy making issues.

That being said, following polls isn't totally bad, it says you'll bend to the will of the people, but Clinton simply over did it with polls.

Then again Bush said Condi won't testify until overwhelming polls made Rove to tell him to flip flop. Bush said we don't need a WMD commission, he won't talk with the 911 commission, then he'd only speak an hour. Bush changed sides all because the polls were saying it really hurt him.

So both sides do run by polls, no side can say they don't.:)

Who created the fiction that Bush doesn't poll and use the results to create policy?

No administration has spent more on polling than this one.

The acceptance speech GWB performed at the RNC was originally to have more mention of the new NASA Mars initiative. but guess what? It didn't test well and was dropped a couple of days before the speech.

Haven't heard much about the Mars initiative since the big speech Bush gave? Well, it just didn't boost his polling numbers, so the whole thing is now 'stopped in Congress.' Just like that SoTU pledge for $15 million to fight AIDS in Africa. Didn't poll well; AFAIK, not a dollar has been sent to date.

So GWB is not only changing his direction on poll numbers; he's dishonoring his promises.

The only polls that madder are the ones with pretty girls in G-strings swinging around them.

I suppose to Dick Cheney "for the people, of the people and by the people" is a phrase that has little meaning and while it defines our republic he'll have none of it.

Just because a man asks your opinion does not mean in the slightest that he doesn't have his own. It is a wiser man that wants to know what someone else might have to say. Your own guy instinct may not be the right thing to do in all cases. A measure of wisdom...

A politician who asks my opinion is someone I am more likely to vote for in the hopes that they are not simply paying me lip sevices. If their actions in office do not support their words then of course I will not vote for them again.

Bump
:)

Me too.