August 24, 2004, Good morning, Senator Kerry. This is your wake up call.
Joe Gandelman of dog run member The Moderate Voice urges me to post the substance of this e-mail I sent to him, but I'll just re-post it verbatim:
Joe, Joe, Joe:
Take away Kerry's Vietnam heroism (to be fair, about a year and a half--
Kerry served on a ship for a year before the Swift Boat tour), and what have
you got? A senator who in 19 years put forth no major bills, has a major
league liberal voting record, did nothing but grab tv cameras and headlines,
and shove people out of the way on lines saying "do you know who I am?" He
is a jerk, who talks in long boring sentences. Dubya is a jerk too-- and
frankly, a far more offensive jerk-- but Kerry is a jerk.
BUT-- he had those medals. Well, we all know he earned them. Let me
repeat: the people who have now been bought, cajoled, etc. by the Bush
campaign (and let's not hide behind 527's, as if the public can tell the
difference between those and "real" campaign ads) SAID he was entitled to
those medals. You'd think this would be nuts to put Vietnam service at
issue--but Karl may have found a cache of voters looking for a reason NOT to
vote for Kerry...
Dangerous game.
Kerry started this, though. Once he won Iowa, and had the nomination
sewed up, he should have figured this was coming and had an IMMEDIATE
reaction planned.
He'll have to start scrambling. The Bush family is the least honorable
political dynasty we ever had: taking them on is not for the squeamish.
Best,
TTD
Many thanks to the Unsseen Editor for also keeping score for me; basically, before the Swift Boat fiasco, we felt that Bush could be done in ONLY by something Kerry himself did. UE feels this might be less risky than meets the eye, if karl felt Bush was going down anyway, and his best shot was reaching out to a group of voters on the fence looking for a reason not to support Kerry.
Well, this was that possibility: Kerry has not reacted well. I'd personally like to see him go nucular: take on 9-11, once and for all. Families of 9-11 victims telling us that George W. Bush is not what he says he is, a bad commander in chief, etc., etc.
Tick tock.
Comments
In the Senate, Kerry
o took down BCCI
o resolved the VN PoW mess
o blew the whistle on the Contra/Drug Suppliers/CIA connection
Accomplishments in the Senate don't come only through the writing of and voting on bills.
Posted by Bob Munck at August 24, 2004 08:25 PM
We're among friends here. John Kerry pulling a mask off and revealing he is a shape-shifting reptile will STILL not make me vote for George W. Bush. I suppose nothing less than Abu Ghraib style torture could get me to do that.
Kerry has my vote, he has my support, and he has my money. I can, however, tell you that he is running a less than ideal campaign, loaded with vulnerabilities, which maybe if anyone with pull reads either of us, will get some ideas as to what to do NOW to correct this, while there is time.
No, I concur that accomplishments in the senate are certainly not confined to writing or introducing of bills; though serving 19 years in the senate and being the protege of the powerful Ted Kennedy, the absence of ANY bills is kind of interesting. And not in a good way. (IIRC, Kerry also served in the House for a short time... also no major bills...)
Kerry was Lt. Gov. of Mass. prior to serving in the senate, though he doesn't seem to talk about that (arguably a legitimate claim to service as chief executive). We NEVER hear about that-- probably because the Gov.'s name was Mike Dukakis. But its the sort of thing I'd LIKE to hear about: it qualifies Kerry for the office he is seeking.
Your list of senate accomplishments can also VERY easily be classified as "seizing headlines" while not actually achieving anything peculiarly substantive.
For the record, NY County DA Bob Morganthau is generally credited with busting BCCI, though Kerry certainly contributed to bringing things to light (over twelve years ago.
Senators McCain and Kerry (and others) performed most admirably re: normalizing relations with Viet Nam, including collateral benefits involving POWs and related issues.
The Senate Committee chaired by Kerry certainly brought many elements of the Iran-Contra affair to light, but that was over seventeen years ago.
Kerry has a full agenda of domestic programs and how to pay for them, a decent record as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that counts as the kind of experience AS A STATESMAN that voters will be comfortable with, I understand voters in some states like Wisconsin would LOVE to see a coherent policy on how Kerry will get us out of Iraq. But why are you and I talking about it, and not he and Edwards?
And most importantly, let's see some playing to win here, and not playing not to lose. I think the country WANTS to see him take on the bulls*** of the "War Preznit": Bush was a DISASTER ON 9-11; he was a DISASTER BEFORE 9-11. he has been a DISASTER SINCE 9-11. The country knows it-- they want to be walked through it.
In short-- Bush has just fired a nuclear strike as I see it, willing to denigrate every man and woman who honorably served this nation in the military (of which neither Bush nor Cheney so qualify) to "get Kerry". As I see it, the retaliation must m=not be measured: it must be nuclear.
Kerry must take Bush on for 9-11, and for leaving OBL out there, and drop the 'Nam bulls***.
Just my opinion, of course... but this should have been over a long time ago, and it's not.
Posted by the talking dog at August 24, 2004 08:49 PM
About Kerry's stint as Lt. Governor of Massachusetts: yes, he served under Dukakis, but in Mass. the Governor and Lt. Governor do NOT run as a ticket. Kerry defeated Dukakis' first choice for the job (whose name escapes me). When Kerry first ran for Senate, Dukakis refused to endorse him, or anyone.
J.
Posted by Jay Tea at August 25, 2004 05:49 AM
Kerry didn't start this. If you think this ad wouldn't have run if Kerry had a convention centered around Healthcare and unemployment then you're a fool. This Ad campaign has a lot more to do with BUSH's wartime experiences than it does Kerry's. It's just an attempt to bring Kerry to Bush's level.
Posted by soul at August 27, 2004 11:45 AM
Kerry didn't start this. If you think this ad wouldn't have run if Kerry had a convention centered around Healthcare and unemployment then you're a fool. This Ad campaign has a lot more to do with BUSH's wartime experiences than it does Kerry's. It's just an attempt to bring Kerry to Bush's level. I guess this is a Republican site? That's the only excuse I can think of for this BS.
Posted by soul at August 27, 2004 11:46 AM