Reply #75: Kerry's just fine

[kerrygoddess]

Kerry Charts Own Course on Middle East Tour
4 January 2005

Senator John Kerry arrived in the Jordanian capital of Amman, to begin his 13 day tour of the Middle East. Kerry has scheduled visits to Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Israel, and the West Bank.

April Boyd, a Kerry spokeswoman, said he has meetings scheduled with local leaders, military commanders, troops from Massachusetts, a wide range of specialists in the area.

Senator John Kerry has made foreign policy a foundation of his 20-year Senate career. Kerry has been a member of the Foreign Relations Committee since he first entered the Senate. Kerry is the Ranking member on the Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

"He intends to play a prominent role in foreign and domestic policy, and this is clear evidence of this," said Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party. "The fact that his first major public outing following the election relates to Iraq and foreign policy tells us that he intends to be a strong spokesperson on those issues."

Kerry is the only elected official on his trip, and he is making an unusual number of stops in the Middle East, suggesting that he wants to go beyond the sometimes-scripted events planned by the Bush administration. Foreign trips are fairly typical for members of Congress -- a large number of House and Senate members are making trips to Iraq in the run-up to the Jan. 30 elections there -- but Kerry insisted on charting his own course for his trip. He is making stops in Israel and its occupied territories, as well as other Middle Eastern nations.

Johnston, state Democratic Party chairman, said Kerry has indicated he hopes to focus more on domestic policy, particularly as healthcare and Social Security become increasingly important issues. Late last year, Kerry issued a call for supporters to join him in pushing for an expansive health care bill for children.

"John's career in the Senate has focused on foreign policy issues," Johnston said. "But as a result of the campaign, he became very knowledgeable about domestic policy issues, and he became quite passionate on the health issue in particular. People are hoping that he will be very vocal in taking on Bush's policies."

A recent Newsweek article stated that upon his return from the Middle East, Kerry will “introduce two bills in the Senate: to provide for health insurance for every child in America and to increase the size of the U.S. military by 40,000 troops.”

Kerry recently set up a new political action committee naming Boston “streetwise political organizer” John Giesser, as the head of the PAC. Kerry supporters anxiously await direction from Kerry’s new PAC. Despite the recent news article disparaging Kerry’s effectiveness to connect with his supporters, there are a large number of Kerry faithful, who strongly disagree with those assertions.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=190