JaBbA's Hut

In this Yahoo! news brief, reporter Nedra Pickler talks about the change in tone of Kerry's campaign - but the spin is clear.

his strategy in the meantime is based less on building himself up than on tearing down the president

Bush has been blasting Kerry since Iowa. Why isn't Bush's campaign characterized like this?

Kerry has had difficulty pinning down the message he wants voters to take to the ballot box on Nov. 2, while the Bush campaign has been more disciplined and consistent.

Now Kerry is trying to turn Bush's policy choices into character flaws.

I think Bush set these rules a long time ago.

Kerry still has a tough time explaining his position on Iraq. He told radio host Don Imus on Wednesday that the United States should never have gone to war in Iraq, even though he voted for the congressional resolution authorizing it. He said he voted that way because of the claims about weapons of mass destruction, which seemed to contradict his statement a month earlier that he would still have voted for the war even if he had known Iraq did not have any such weapons.

It doesn't take a lot of brains to understand that Kerry voted to Authorize the THREAT of war to get Saddam to cave in. (a vote I still think was wrong. Congress has a Constitutional responsibility to declare war. But it was a mistake 99 Senators made). This is a Republican talking point. A commentator can make these statements, a reporter should stay away from the talking points.