Bloomberg reports that Billionaire Bush hater George Soros, who spent $26 million in the failed effort to defeat President Bush, said Democratic challenger John Kerry was a flawed candidate:
"Kerry did not, actually, offer a credible and coherent alternative," Soros, 74, said yesterday in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "That had a lot to do with Bush being re-elected."
[. . .]
The Kerry campaign "tried to emphasize his role as a Vietnam War hero and downplay his role as an anti-Vietnam War hero, which he was," said Soros. "Had he admitted, owned up to it, I think actually the outcome could have been different."
Soros also dumped on the Democratic Party:
Soros said he also now questions "what the Democratic party stands for." Democrats need to counter "a very effective conservative message machine," he said. "There really needs to be an alternative."
I disagree with Soros' analysis. Ultimately Kerry couldn't generate the support necessary to defeat an incumbent president because of Kerry's constant nuances. Kerry's failure to stick to a position left the impression that he doesn’t believe in anything. People want a leader who makes it clear that he has firm beliefs. We will support such a leader even if don't agree with all of that leader's positions.
Be sure to catch his whinefest on "Meet the Press" today -- going through every "I didn't really lose" quasi-statistic he could come up with (e.g., "I actually won the popular vote in the battleground states").
Meanwhile, no word from him yet on the calls for him to give back his Senate salary "earned" during the campaign.
Posted by: KipEsquire | Sunday, January 30, 2005 at 10:55 AM