What's wrong with the Dem's
"Iraq veteran" strategy?

Rahm Emanuel's cynical ploy (see previous entry below) uses smoke and mirrors to equate anti-war veterans with strong support for national security. But voters in 2006 look to be having none of it, just ask Paul Hackett and Tammy Duckworth.

Voters in 2004 weren't buying this strategy either judging by the fortunes of John Kerry, a better known anti-war veteran, and the one who got Swift-boated right down the river. Clearly, the DCCC's candidate recruiting machine didn't pay any attention to Presidential politics or they might not need to be reminded that he who does not remember the past is doomed to repeat it.

Mensa man and GOP pollster, John McLaughlin, makes another argument for why the "Iraq veteran" strategy will fail... read on.


DEMS PUT BAD BETS ON VETS
by Deborah Orin of the New York Post

March 23, 2006 -- "There's a disconnect - the Democrats are trying to recruit people that have a strong support-the-troops image, when their base is anti-war and anti-military," said Republican pollster John McLaughlin.

Recruiting Iraq veterans blew up spectacularly for Democrats when they enlisted anti-war Marine vet Paul Hackett to run for Senate in Ohio, only to dump him for liberal Rep. Sherrod Brown. Hackett accused Democrats of "betrayal."

For original article, see http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/commentary/63512.htm