"Kerry defends Democrats'wartime service" -front page in today's Globe

[MBS]

See http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/ar... /

JK defending stellar PA congressional candidate Patrick Murphy against swiftboaters:

"Attacking Patrick Murphy for his service is a little bit like Jessica Simpson attacking Albert Einstein's IQ"
"A lot of these people in the GOP. . .they think somehow that they served because they played with GI dolls when the were little.. the guys who really servved understand what is means, and we've had enough of these lies. . "

See also reactions of NH voters to recent clips of 9 possible Dem candidates for 2008... .

late for work. . more at the link

[fedupinBushcountry]

1. The BG just

cannot write an article on Kerry without some snark.

I love the last part of the article.

"If you do run for president -- and I do hope you do -- fight like hell," one person at the fund-raiser told him.

"I'm in a fighting mood," Kerry responded. "We -- together -- lost to two lies: the lie about the war in Iraq, and the lie about me personally. And if you don't think that puts me in a fighting mood, you don't know John Kerry."

[karynnj]

2. A year plus before the primaries, this is a good article

Reading:

"John Kerry's a new guy, a new man, a new candidate," he said. "He's got an agenda, he's got passion. He's an articulate critic of the administration. Their only complaint is, 'Why didn't he say these things two years ago?' The response is, 'Wow, that's not the John Kerry I remember.' It's a challenge for him to show that he should have a second chance."

All I can think of is "Al Gore", who many are pushing to run though he is reluctant. Kerry never stopped fighting. "He's got an agenda, he's got passion. He's an articulate critic of the administration." seems a definition of what a candidate needs. At this point, I don't think the other candidates have this yet.

I think the BG is wrong on his not having an articulate position on Iraq in 2004. He did - the Republicans SAID it was the same as Bush's - but did you see Bush do what Kerry spoke of at NYU which the RNC people said was the same? I don't remember an early 2005 Regional summit with intensive diplomacy, but I do remember that Bush turned down other countries' offers to train the Iraqis quickly. Kerry also said no permanent bases in 2004. (Kerry's 2004 proposal has many of the same elements as his Oct 2005 and even April 2006 ones - the problem was different though and in 2004 he was postulating an intelligent, principled CIC)

The confusion was that the Bush people lied on their position and the media never called them on it. At this point they, at least admit that he is good now.

[Mass]

3. Title on the URL: "now, Kerry defends Democrats'wartime service"

Never trust the Globe. While the article is factually correct, it insists on the fact that Kerry did not defend himself and ignores the obvious: "Nearly no Democrats defended Kerry the way Kerry and a few others are defending those who are attacked".

[karynnj]

4. Very true

It also ignores that outrage expressed towards despicable lies against another evokes a completely different appearance than the same outrage when you are attacked.

There should have been a much bigger Democratic response - at least on something as clear cut as the purple heart bandaids.

[wisteria]

6. That is a good point. We need to continue to emphasize that point.

Support is important and it was sorely lacking among influential Democrats in 04. Kerry fought back along with Cleland, but many others including our supposed Democratic pundits did not. They allowed the lies to continue and offered no hard reburials to the MSM misrepresentation of Kerry.

[TayTay]

5. Actually, this is very good news.

And, for the BGlob, a rave of sorts. Disregard the snark. It does not engage the heavy ammunition that the Glob could have brought out. The Glob is actually very gingerly approaching the topic of the good Senator running again. (Ahm, yes, I'm serious.)

Once again, I ask you to consider the following: This is as much about Massachusetts as it is about Sen. Kerry. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is very nervous about having someone run for Pres again with strong Bay State ties. This doesn't mean bad, it doesn't mean that people don't want pols from Mass to run for national office, it means nervousness and how bad is this going to be for the Commonwealth. It is distinctly not fun to have your state become the butt of national jokes as the place where the liberal nuts go to hang out. It is not fun to have your state held up to ridicule. It is not fun to think that you are electing people and they use you and leave. (Note that this doesn't mean this ever happened. It means that the Globe could write this in the future. They did not in this article.)

The BGlob is seriously entertaining the fact that Sen. Kerry may run again for Pres. They are mulling over what that means. They have NOT thrown major brickbats. They have brought up the standard arguments against, but not with unusual vehemence. (Seriously, this is far from a shitstorm. Far, far, from a shitstorm.) Remember, John Kerry was elected to a six-year term in the Senate to represent the interests of the Commonwealth and he might spend 4 of those years running for Pres. This is a delicate thing to talk about at home. Very, very delicate. Emphasis must be paid on how much Massachusetts is NOT deprived because of this. (We are not suffering from lack of attention. We are very well represented in the Congress. Everything is in order, no priorities have slipped. At all. No one is neglecting the state because they have their eye on higher office. Well, except for Mitt Romney. Now there is a guy who is going to get brickbats thrown at him.)

The situation in Mass depends a lot on what happens next week. A Democratic Governor in Mass makes a big difference. Having Ted Kennedy re-elected with a nice fat margin matters. Having a Democratic Congress matters an enormous amount. (Massachusetts will be well-represented with Teddy Kennedy in the Senate and several House committees chaired by Massachusetts Democrats. The state will be elevated in the 110th Congress. We can afford to have a Senator run for Pres.)

Does this make sense? There are stories beyond just the surfacey stuff that the article raised. The Glob is holding fire at this moment, honest-to-god. This is a good, good thing.

[karynnj]

7. As usual, you make a huge amount of sense

I hadn't realized that Massachusetts would have House chairs as well as Kennedy in the Senate. Which committee(s) would Kennedy opt to chair? Kerry would chair Small Business? I shouldn't be surprised as you have lots of long serving House people.

I do see that they weren't all that negative - especially as they are saying he's fighting now (to counter one charge) and that he was an articulate critic now (to counter another). The Luntz quote almost says that he would be perfect if he hadn't been the 2004 canddiate. That's not bad - and with many people open to giving a reluctant Gore, who has NOT demonstrated all these things, a second chance - Why not Kerry? Kerry's timing may be very good.

[TayTay]

10. The issue is also one of who will be minding the store for Mass

in the Congress if a lot of energy goes into have TWO people from Mass run for the Presidency. (Yeah, I don't claim Romney as being from Mass and I dislike him as a phony, but there it is.)

Here are Teddy's Committees:
Kennedy, Edward M. (D-MA)
Joint Economic Committee
Committee on Armed Services
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (Would Chair in a Dem Senate.)
Committee on the Judiciary

Ed Markey would Chair: Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
of the Committee on Energy and Commerce (Say hello to Net Neutrality!)

Marty Meehan would chair: Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities of the House Armed Services Committee.

John Olver would Chair: Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, The Judiciary, District of Columbia ::
Of the Appropriations Committee.

Richard Neal would be 3rd in seniority on the powerful House Budget Committee.

And a lot more. Ah, this matters a great, great deal. Massachusetts would be well represented in the congress. Very, very well represented. There is a real good reason why '06 matters so much and it is so worth it to fight for every inch in ths midterm.

[karynnj]

18. It might be good to get this fact out on non-political techie sites

Ed Markey would Chair: Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
of the Committee on Energy and Commerce (Say hello to Net Neutrality!)

[ProSense]

8. Agree, and then there is this:

Patrick for governor

[Mass]

9. This was not exactly a surprise.

[whometense]

11. I'm frankly amazed by this article.

There's something seriously weird going on in the Boston newsrooms.

The Boston Herald endorses Martha Coakley?? http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articlei...

The Boston Herald endorses Ted Kennedy???? http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articlei...

The Boston Globe speaks kindly of John Kerry???????? Tay's right, the snark in that article is a mere token nothing. The fact that they are not taking him out at the knees for even thinking about running again is major, big banner news.

Kimberly Atkins has an article in today's Herald about Mittens sucking up to Jebby. http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid...


I've gone into the brickbat manufacturing business. If blogger will allow it, that is. Here's the post I'm trying to put up right now:

From the 2008 front,
and skimming along under the radar, we have Mittens contemplating hitching his presidential wagon to the Bush crime family.

Earlier this month, Jeb Bush’s former chief of staff and top political adviser, Sally Bradshaw, jumped to Romney’s Commonwealth political action committee.

Soon after, Romney flew to the key electoral Sunshine State to join Bush for campaign events and fund-raisers - and, sources said, to gauge Bush’s interest in being a running mate.

"There has been substantive talk between the two of them" about the possibility of the president’s younger brother running for vice president if Romney wins the nomination, one GOP source with knowledge of the Oct. 19 meeting told the Herald. "Everyone in Florida is expecting an endorsement by Gov. Bush (of) Romney."

Nice.

[wisteria]

12. Frankly, once this Bush gets out of office, I don't want to hear that

name for the rest of my lifetime. No more Bushs'!

[whometense]

13. It's as iff Mitt is

going out of his way to piss off the residents of MA.

He probably couldn't do anything worse than to hitch himself to Jeb. Short of standing in the middle of City Hall Plaza and eating puppies, that is.

Sometimes it seems like he sees his path to his fantasy presidency as a wide tire-stripe down the back of the state he purports to govern.

Elias: http://chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com/2006/10/mitt-and-j...

Mitt and Jeb?

The Herald is pimping speculation that Mitt Romney wants to run with Florida Governor Jeb Bush as his VP candidate in '08. They've got a anonymous quote in there asserting that Jeb is about to endorse Mitt.

Which would make it a historic Mormon-Catholic ticket...something new and perhaps too new for the GOP.

All of that presupposes that Mitt can in fact win the nomination or that Jeb Bush won't survey the GOP notional electoral wreckage next week and decide that he is the only "name" politician left who can save the partei.

If Romney wasn't such a weasely amateur in politics he might realize that Jeb is first and foremost a Bush, a family that has made a primitive fetish out of treacherous self interest.

La Famiglia Arbusto must look at Mitt Romney's earnestness and just laugh, he is exactly the sort of jerk they've been running thru electoral wood-chippers since the salad days of Texas John Connolly.

Otherwise, Jeb just casts too big a shadow for Romney to take him on as VP, the Viceroy likes nice quiet yes men or yes women on the order of Kerry Healey.

[MBS]

14. I also read this article as positive news, especially coming from the globe

First, it was on front page
Second, it opened with those great one-liners, again, right there on the front page.
Third, it concluded with JK's fighting words (as fedup noted above), and with mention of people in the crowd asking him to run in 2008 (for more mention of the crowd's mood on 2008, also see post by DavefromPrinceton in the Democratic Dailyhttp://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4583)
Fourth, it mentioned that Kerry "came off the best" in Frank Luntz's (spring 2006?) survey of NH voters of possible Democratic candidates. ((Luntz asked respondents to evaluate REAL FOOTAGE from recent public appearances; it wasn't just another popularity-contest poll. By the way, both Hillary and Edwards came in with "high expectations", but ratings fell sharply for both after respondents viewed footage)
Fifth, it showed JK campaigning hard for a first-rate congressional candidate, and indirectly highlighted the hard work that Kerry has been doing all year

By the way, Patrick Murphy is a first-rate congressional candidate, and deserves any support people might be inclined to give. We need him in Congress, he eminently deserves to win, and I think he's got a real shot at winning against his first-term congressional opponent. His web site is http://www.murphy06.net/index.php

[wisteria]

15. I actually got excited (in a pure way) after reading this article.

That's our guy!!

[whometense]

17. I meant to mention the

bit about Luntz, which was absolutely

And the part about Edwards disappointing - the same way I felt about him in 2004. The first few hearings I'd think wow! but by the third or fourth time, I'd be thinking - do you have anything else? In all my history with Kerry I have never for a second thought anything remotely like that. No one has Kerry's depth - or range of knowledge - and that's why the others can't beat him in a debate or a Q&A.

[karynnj]

19. Whome,

You have to see the Livestrong speech on the johnkerry site. I never thought I could be MORE impressed by Kerry than I was before I saw it (I assumed I had maxed out, I hadn't) - this is unbelievable. It is so real and powerful - he makes an amazing case for cleaning the environment at the end.

Also, although this was TEXAS, the woohoo people were very much there in force!

[whometense]

20. Wow.

Just watched it, with tears in my eyes.

You can't get more genuine than that.

And, as many tactical lessons as he may have learned from the 2004 campaign, I'd say the biggest lesson he learned is to just let it rip - he's speaking with such honesty and openness. I've never heard him talk publicly about anything so personal as his father's death. Wow. You're absolutely right.

And I loved the line about "Dr. Ego and Dr. Bigger Ego."

Also, the jokes at the beginning were the best I've ever heard in a speech - they were really funny - about the guy in the airport, and about the SUV drivers. Just great.

[TayTay]

21. He is doing what he has to do

to draw a distinction between '04 and a possible '08. I like this race better. It's more real. (Not snarky. It's more real to me.)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[whometense]

22. My goodness,

how prescient of you.

I guess we now have the answer to that particular question, don't we?

I was going to add in my previous response that I think this is in a way a natural extension of the changes (ALL good!) he's gone through since he married THK - he's so much more comfortable, relaxed, and open, and I think a lot of it is due to their relationship.

[TayTay]

23. It had to be differentiated

Or there is no reason to run again. By the way, this is the guy I voted for all those times. Much more real. '04 hid some of this. This is more real.

[karynnj]

24. The amazing thing is that the more you see of the

real person he is the more you see what a really good person he is. I liked the doctors line as well and his entire description of having the ultrasound - it's clear that Teresa and John Kerry were head and shoulders better than his doctor, who I assume had a decent reputation.

I really wish people had seen this man and Teresa for who they are. I am so sick of a media of kool kids who need entertainment. Kerry is so solid and would be an outstanding leader.

He really really connected to that crowd.

[TayTay]

16. I agree. I know a brickbat when I see one and this ain't it.

This was a friggin brickbat, complete with deliberately misquoting Kerry and taking his views out of context. This created a shitstorm that has lingering tentacles to this day.

DEMOCRATS' PLATFORM SHOULDN'T BACK GAY MARRIAGE, KERRY SAYS
Boston Globe, The (MA), THIRD, Sec. Metro/Region, p B1 (05-06-2005)
By Rick Klein GLOBE STAFF

BATON ROUGE, La. - US Senator John F. Kerry said yesterday that he believes it's a mistake for the Massachusetts Democratic Party to include a plank in its official platform in support of same-sex marriage, saying that such a statement does not conform with the broad views of party members.

Kerry, who opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions, said in an interview with the Globe that he would prefer that the party not mention gay marriage in its platform, because Democrats continue to disagree on how to handle the issue.

"I'm opposed to it being in a platform. I think it's a mistake," Kerry said shortly after hosting a forum on his universal children's healthcare bill in Baton Rouge. "I think it's the wrong thing, and I'm not sure it reflects the broad view of the Democratic Party in our state."

Some analysts believe that the same-sex marriage issue contributed to Kerry's loss to President Bush in last year's presidential campaign. Kerry's position puts him at odds with the state Democratic Party chairman and his fellow Bay State senator, Edward M. Kennedy, who is scheduled to address the party convention next weekend.

Kerry said he does not plan to attend this year's state Democratic convention or to lobby against the same-sex marriage plank. He said he has not been closely monitoring debate over the state party platform.

The article above was intended to remind Kerry that he was wanted at home, forget this national stuff, concentrate on being the Senator from Massachusetts and, ahm, don't even think about running again, cuz we are armed and loaded. BTW, Teddy understands his home state and doesn't make odd pronouncements about things we have now accepted, like marriage equality. We don't like that. At all.

The article today is a kiss, compared to that. Partially, I think the Glob has decided to go after Romney and is withholding fire on Kerry. For now. I am not one to forget, however, that this could be temporary. We shall see. But for now, this is about as friendly as it gets.

EDIT: By the way, the same writer wrote this article and the one on today's front page. Hmmmmmmm.