NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING
A guy in his 20s knocked on my door this morning and introduced himself as working for the Democratic National Committee. They were, he said, "working hard to defeat President Bush in the election this year."
I told him that if he wanted to defeat Bush, he would be wasting his time talking to me. I didn't have the heart to point out to him that the approach he had obviously been told to take is going to be a real problem for the campaign. His opening line is free publicity for the opposition. And there's (almost) no such thing as bad publicity. Both he and the DNC should not say they are working to defeat Bush. They should say they are working to elect Kerry.
I was, however, kind enough not to introduce him to my wife, who vehemently dislikes Bush, but likes Kerry even less. She would have had his guts for garters.
It would have been great entertainment. But it's a little hard on some of the participants.