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96
15:20
FROM:UPPER
PRESS
OFFICE
2024566423
A.ug,lst
16
1996
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Leon
Panetta
Harold
Ickes
George
Stepanopoulos
Don
Baer Bruce
Reed
Doug
Sosnik
Michael
Waldman
FROM:
Rahm
Emanuel
SUBJEC r;
David Axelrod
T0:65709
u
·
I
have
attached
a
memo
that
David
did
of
his
thoughts
fter
the
GOP
convention.
I
think
that
his points
worth
your
time.
LINTON
LIBR RY
PHOTO OPY
 
AUG-16
96
15:20
FROM:UPPER
PRESS
OFFICE
2024566423 T0:65709
13:29
/
·
ID:AXELROD
ASSOCIATES
a :
312-664-817-4
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CHICAGO.
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12:
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.1
To:
Clinton Team
From:
David Axelrod
Date:
August
16,
1996
Re:
Some Ideas
XELROD
ND
ASSOCIATES
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( 0:..')
Dole
clearly
ceded us sonie
opportunities last
night.
And
even
though I'm sure
you
have
more cooks
hovering around the
broth than
you
need,
I
wanted
to
briefly share
a
few
thoughts
and
suggestions.
1)
Be
big where Dole and the
GOP
were
small
.
f
I
were
you
guys,
1
would
have
the
President magnanimously stipulate his admiration for Dole's
years
of
service, which
l
believe
would
play
really well
with
voters
who
recoiled
all week long from
the
negative
and
per-sonal
GOP
hits.
(I
happened
to
be
in
focus groups
Wednesday night with
suburban
swing voters,
and
they were reeling
from
the
attacks
on
Clinton
night
before.
They
hated
it.)
·
What
if
the
President
Includes
language
In
his convention
speech
such
as this:
"Too
often
in
politics.
wgrds
become
harsher
than
they should,
and
personal attacks take
the
place
of
meaningful
debate.
We
owe the American
people more.
-<
"So let
me
say
tonight
that
while
we
may
differ
on
many
things, I like
and
respect
Bob
Dole.
•He's spent
much
of
his
life
in
service
to
this country,
and
his
life
In
service
to this
country,
for which
he
deserves our gratitude
and
admiration.
I
think he's
wrong
on
some
important
issues,
as,
I'm
sure,
he
think I'm wrong
on
those very
same
points. let's
have that debate.
Let's
join
thid discussion.
But
let'5
do
it
in
a way that elevates
rather
than demeans.
Let's
have
a contest,
not
PHOTOCOPY
 
AUG-16
96
15:2
FROM:UPPER PRESS
OFFICE
2024566423
..
= UG-:16-'96
13:29
ID:Axa ROD
&
ASSOCIATES
Clinton Team.Dole reaction
August-.16,
1996
. Page
Two··
T0:65709
8 :312--664-01'?4
a395
Pa3
2) Let•a
build bridge• to
the future.
The odd
thing
abOut
Dole•s
speech is
that, rather
than
offer a vision tor the
tutwe.
he
serv.ed
up
an
ode
to
lhe
past.
( 1
want
to
build
a
bridge
to
lhe
past. )
Clearly,
.people yearn
for iha
values
and
comfons--and
control-of
an
earlier time. But
they also
recognize
that
we
can't
put
the
gente
back
tnto
lhe
bottle.
ll\ey
want
a
President
who confidently meets the
challenges
of changing
limes,
not
one
who
curses
and
shrinks
from
them,
or
pretends
they
aren't
there.
So
1 would include
in
your thinking a
sectlon
that
makes the
point
and
sets
up
the
·vision· thing:
We all
yearn for simpler
times,
when
the world was
larger,
and
economic competttlon weaker
and
farther
from
our
shores: when
families
could
live comfonabty
on
mm
Income
much less
two,
and
parents
had
more
time
to spend
with their kids.
•we
all
yearn
for the
days
when drugs
and
violence
were
not
so
commonplace:
when
television
was
not
such
a pervasive
and
corrosive
force
in
our
lives; when farnilie6 were less troubled
and
children
were
free
to be children.
The
values
our
parents
and
grandparents taught us,
of
family
and
faith and communtty,
are
enduring
values, which
we
should
embrace
and
honor
and
pass
on
to
our sons
and
daughters. · "And
whether_
tt's
moderating what
our kids watch
bn
TV,
or
demanding rnore
of
them
and
their schools; whether It's
wortdng
:together
to attack
the
plague
of
drugs
and
crime, or replacing a
dependency
with
the
opportunity
and
incentive
to
work,
let
us
stand united for
Ume-honored
values.
· 'We
must build
bridges
tc>
the
future. not the
past.
Much as
we
might like
to
we
can't
go back.
"As
w
enter
a
new century
and·a
new
millennium,
wistful reflections about simpler times won't
be
enough
to
solve the
challenges of today
and
tomorrow. "The world is
changing.
The question for us
as
a nation
is
how
we
handle
thC)se
changes:
which
are
coming
faster
with each
passing
day.
CLINTON LIBRARY·
PHOTOCOPY

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