America/Conor O'Clery: Watching John Kerry campaigning in Pennsylvania this week, and trying to figure out what was lacking in his campaign style, the word gauche came to mind. The Massachusetts senator is awkward with people. He doesn't quite know what to do with his hands in crowd scenes. When cheered by African Americans in Philadelphia, he thrust a fist high in the air, something which was immediately picked up by the opposition as a Black Power salute. He also has a tin ear.
In every speech now he uses the word "values" so many times it makes listeners cringe. He's not a natural, like Bill Clinton. The Bush campaign watches him constantly, looking for attack opportunities. Every comment and gesture Kerry makes is monitored on a bank of televisions in the Republican war room in Arlington, Virginia. Bush campaign aides watch particularly for equivocation, or flip-flops.
The slogan on the door of communications director Nicolle Devenish reads "It's the hypocrisy, stupid". A couple of reporters were allowed in on Monday and they observed how the officials there sprang into action when Kerry said he was "proud" that John Edwards had joined him in voting against the President's $87 billion for the military. E-mails were immediately sent to activists and reporters.
Next day George Bush - a much more effective campaigner - was evoking boos for Kerry by telling crowds in Michigan, "Members of Congress should not vote to send troops into battle and then vote against funding - and then brag about it." The war room also studies where Kerry is travelling to get their retaliation in first with the local media Which explains why the Kerry website gives little advance notice of his appearances.
The Republican war room also pounced this week on remarks by Whoopi Goldberg at a Kerry-Edwards New York fund-raiser about how the name "Bush" could be used for part of the female anatomy. Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman depicted the Democratic event as a "hatefest" that showed Kerry "didn't share the same values" as ordinary Americans. He demanded a video of the event, which Democrats have refused, saying they can have it when the Bush administration releases details of Dick Cheney's secret energy task force. The black actress has since lost her contract as SlimFast promoter and John Kerry and John Edwards have disowned her remarks. She hit back, charging the Republicans with hypocrisy. "I find all this feigned indignation about Bush-bashing quite disingenuous," she said, noting how the Bush campaign and its lackeys had set out to destroy anyone who criticised them, and citing the case of Joseph Wilson, the former diplomat who reported for the CIA that there was nothing to support allegations that Iraq had tried to obtain or succeeded in purchasing uranium from Niger.
Wilson has again become the target of Bush apologists following the Senate Intelligence Committee's report that the CIA was wrong in its pre-war assessments of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The former diplomat has now been called a liar for maintaining that his wife, CIA employee Valerie Palme, did not suggest him for the mission. The committee report found that Palme had "offered up his name" and spoken of his qualifications in an internal e-mail.
However a senior intelligence official told the Los Angeles Times this week that the CIA supported Wilson's version. "Her bosses say she did not initiate the idea of her husband going," the official told staff writer Doyle McManus.
"They asked her if he'd be willing to go, and she said yes." Wilson admits he may have misspoken about some details, like his knowledge of forged documents.
However the Senate committee concluded: "To this day the intelligence community has not clarified or corrected its position on whether Iraq was ever trying to purchase uranium from Africa." The Justice department is currently investigating the possibly-criminal leak of Palme's identity in an attempt to discredit Wilson. Justice officials even interrogated President Bush about the matter.
It was on the day he talked to RTÉ - which might explain his ragged form during the television interview.
John Kerry moved quickly to end the controversy over the failure by the Democratic National Committee to list Hillary Clinton as a speaker at the upcoming party convention. He called the New York senator and asked her to introduce her husband Bill Clinton on the first night. The issue had threatened to get the convention off on a sour note. Hillary's backers mounted an intense lobbying campaign, getting the former chairman of the New York State Democratic Party to call the slight a "total outrage". The role of Hillary is sensitive.
Kerry needs her to energise the faithful but does not want her to steal the show. A source in the Hillary camp blamed Edwards, saying he sees Hillary as his leading competition for the Democratic nomination in 2008 if the Kerry-Edwards ticket is beaten in November. A prominent Hillary fund-raiser maintained, however, that Edwards would not be a serious challenger in that event, saying, "Nonsense, they'll throw the baby out with the bath water."
The political world was abuzz this week with speculation that George Bush might dump Dick Cheney and put Colin Powell or John McCain on his ticket to improve his chances in November.
The rumours centred on Cheney's low approval rating, and also on the mysterious dismissal of his personal doctor for his long-known abuse of prescription drugs. Democrats in Congress speculated that this was so Cheney could use a new doctor to certify conveniently that his heart was not strong enough for a second term.
The rumours got so intense that Cheney had to respond. He said Bush "has been very clear he does not want to break up the team." John Kerry took steps to ensure it would be harder for Bush to drop Cheney, telling MSNBC that it would be "an act of desperation". The more likely person to be dropped from the Bush team is Donald Rumsfeld.
The Defence Secretary, for years the public face of the war on Iraq but now burdened with the prison abuse scandal and other war foul-ups, has already almost dropped out of sight. Since April 27th Rumsfeld has appeared only twice in the Pentagon briefing room, where he used to pop up at least once a week.
War is peace. White House spokesman Scott McClellan briefed reporters this week that in an upcoming address the President would speak on the three basic elements of his strategy for peace. "One, taking the fight to the enemy..."