Al Gore spoke to the House Committee this morning and the Senate Committee this afternoon. JK was very pleased to see his ally and comrade in the Capitol building today.

“Vice President Gore did America a great service through his testimony today. Through his sustained advocacy and forward thinking on climate change, he has helped to push one of the greatest threats to our survival onto the national agenda where it can no longer be ignored.

“It is long overdue to make the hard choices - about alternative energy and clean coal, conservation and fuel efficiency - that will free our future from the dominance of big oil and yesterday’s fossil fuels, a dominance that in the era of global climate change threatens the future itself. Here’s the bottom line: within the next decade, if we don’t deal with global warming, our children and grandchildren will have to deal with global catastrophe. We cannot postpone the reckoning until the day after tomorrow. If you offend no one, you change nothing. The world is changing and now the reckoning is real. The House and the Senate need to act on global climate change, and we need to heed Vice President Gore’s warnings.”

The quote from today’s hearing that NPR chose to open with was choice Al Gore:

The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, ‘Well, I read a science-fiction novel that tells me it’s not a problem.’

I apologize if that’s not exact but it’s pretty close. And said in Al’s warm southern voice, it certainly got the point across. You can read/hear more of NPR’s report here and read some of the background material they’ve gathered on Gore’s initiatives. <!-more-> Melinda Henneberger at Huffington Post has a nice post about Al Gore’s appearance in front of the House Committee this morning. Quoting from Al Gore, she wrote:

“There is a sense of hope in this country that this United States Congress will rise to the occasion and present meaningful solutions to this crisis” of global climate change, the former vice president told members of Congress. “This is the greatest country on the face of this earth, and the hopes for freedom and the viability and efficacy of self-government rests with the legislative branch of our government in this day and time.”

“America is the natural leader of the world, and our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it’s a challenge to the moral imagination to see and feel and understand that the entire relationship between humanity and our planet has been radically altered.”

After quadrupling our world’s population in less than a century, “our technologies are thousands of times more powerful than any our grandparents had at their disposal…and the side effects of what we’re doing sometimes now outstrip the development of extra wisdom to make sure we handle these new powers in a way that doesn’t do unintended harm.”

A folksy as well as fluent presenter of scientific fact, he made the case for an immediate freeze on greenhouse gas emissions and tougher fuel economy standards.

She also recounts how at least two Republican representatives demonstrated their antagonism for the entertainment or exasperation (take your pick) of all. She followed it up with this comment from Maryland Republican Roscoe Bartlett who said his wife often reminded him of the important connection between conservatism and actual conserving: “I think it’s probably possible to be a conservative without appearing to be an idiot.”

For a much more colorful and somewhat (ok, a lot) more irreverent review of what Al Gore had to say in front of the House Committee today, check out David Roberts’ posts (House and Senate) over at the Gristmill blog.

 

UPDATE: View the House committee hearing here (realplayer required)

View the Senate committee hearing here (realplayer required)

 

On the road with JK … well, actually it was just a walk for JK today. He joined with others at the Climate Change Action Day rally in front of the Capitol today. We have a report of the action courtesy of Richard Bell of the Post Carbon Institute and pictures courtesy of JK blogging community member globalvillage. Enjoy!

 

The fight in Congress this week to stop global warming got off  to a sunny start this morning on the west front of the Capitol, with Alaska Natives, youth activists, and members of Congress all pounding away at one theme:  the time to act is now.

The event, part of Climate Crisis Action Day, was started by the Alaska Wilderness League, with sponsors and supporters from all of the usual suspects (Audubon, NRDC Action Fund, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, Defenders of Wildlife), and some not so likely suspects, like sponsor Harris Lithographics Incorporated, a 100% wind powered union printing shop that was the first printer in the U.S. to earn Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont kicked off the proceedings in his usual rabble-rousing style, saying the country had “come together” to win World War II, had “come together” to fulfill President Kennedy’s call to put a man (sic) on the moon in 10 years, and that it was time to “come together” now and stop global warming. Sanders mentioned his sponsorship, with Senator Barbara Boxer, of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act that calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050.

After a very cute 3rd grader and a teenager crusading for keeping car tire pressures up, Senator John Kerry talked about how far behind the rest of the world the Bush administration had fallen in fighting global warming, citing recent conversations with some of the CEOs of the country’s largest electric utilities who told him they wanted a cap on carbon emissions. 

As for all the dozens of CO2-spewing coal plants now on the drawing boards, Kerry drew a line in the sand: “Every plant must sequester.” Kerry also mentioned all the mayors and local governments that were stepping up to the plate. <!-more-> Rep. Ed Markey, whom Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently appointed to head a special House committee on global warming, noted that 1 year go, all the experts said there was no chance of action on global warming. After the election on November 7, the experts said something might happen. And today, Markey virtually guaranteed that “something will happen.”

Markey called for specific mandates, including a 10 mpg increase in fuel economy for the entire fleet of vehicles, the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, and a mandatory cap-and-trade system. And he said he would never allow the Republicans to use the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as “a gas station to drill for oil to send to California to run SUVS.” Markey is introducing a bill to permanently ban drilling in ANWR for all time.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations, welcomed the crowd, and said he had this day introduced the Safe Climate Act with more co-sponsors than any other piece of climate legislation.

TV and radio host Tony Dean, whose “Tony Dean Outdoors” show is aimed at fishers and hunters, talked about how he and his neighbors in South Dakota were seeing the effects of global warming first hand. In an interview afterwards, Dean emphasized his work on getting outdoorspeople together with environmentalist to fight for the values they had in common. He cited research that showed that if global warming proceeds, the prairie potholes that are the breeding grounds for as much as 50% of the country’s ducks will dry up, and hunters will have nothing left to hunt.

California has been leading the nation, and the world, in tackling global warming, and the state was well-represented at the rally. Senator Barbara Boxer spoke of her own legislation (with Sanders, see above). And California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (and two other members of the Assembly) appeared to talk about A.B. 32, the state’s breakthrough climate change legislation.

Some of the most moving testimony came from representatives of Native American tribes in Alaska. Mayor Stanley Tocktoo of Shishmaref, Alaska talked about how his village needed federal help to relocate inland from the onrushing sea. In colder days, spring and autumn ice protected the coastline of his village from the pounding of major storms. But none the ice does not appear until much later, and disappears earlier, leaving the shore exposed to severe erosion. One storm moved the coastline back 125 feet. Tocktoo pointed out that the picture of the polar bear that formed the backdrop for the stage was taken within a mile of his village. The rally ended with calls for the crowd to head on over to the House and Senate office buildings to lobby their members of Congress, together with a reminder that on Wednesday, March 21, former vice president Al Gore would be testifying before the House in the morning, and then before Senator Boxer’s committee in the afternoon.

 

  Thanks Richard and globalvillage for a terrific account of what happened at the rally!

 

JK responded after the President’s speech concerning the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq:

“Patience is not a strategy. As we enter the fifth year of war in Iraq with American soldiers policing a civil war between Iraqis, it is clear we need a new policy and change must come from Congress,” said Kerry. “Nearly every prediction this Administration has made about Iraq has been wrong. Wrong about the costs, wrong about how long it would take, wrong about the strain it would place on our military. Now the Administration is wrong to ignore our generals who tell us that there is no military solution to the civil war in Iraq. Unless this Administration is willing to accept more and more years of war in Iraq with no end in sight, we need a regional, diplomatic strategy for peace and a deadline for redeployment to pressure Iraqis to solve their differences.”

It’s hard to believe that we are entering our 5th year in Iraq. BarbinMD wrote a diary today entitled “4 Years” that really hit home with me. It made JK’s point in a very poignant manner. It is not possible to excerpt it meaningfully. Please read for yourself. <!-more->   And last we have a selection from JK blogging community member Joseph Rampulla. Joe painted this the day after the invasion started.

 

Artist: Joseph Rampulla

 

JK’s coming up on Hardball with Chris Matthews in about 5 minutes.

Join us for liveblogging below!

 

Tomorrow is Climate Crisis Action Day and a bunch of organizations are joining together for a rally in DC at which JK will be one of the speakers. Go here for a press release with specifics about the event tomorrow. JK should be on some time between 11 am and 1 pm. Go here to see who’s organizing and sponsoring the event. If you’re in the DC Metro area and you’re free you may want to stop by.

On Wednesday, Al Gore will be testifying before both Senate and House committees on climate change and the environment.

In the morning, he’ll appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, chaired by Rep. Dingell. The Committee website schedule notes:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2007 Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality will hold a joint hearing with the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment of the Committee on Science and Technology entitled “Perspectives on Climate Change.” 9:30 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building Witnesses: Former Vice President Al Gore and Dr. Bjørn Lomborg, Adjunct Professor, Copenhagen Consensus Center, Copenhagen Business School

In the afternoon, he’ll appear before the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, chaired by Sen. Boxer. The Committee website schedule notes:

FULL COMMITTEE: Vice President Al Gore’s Perspective on Global Warming Wednesday, March 21, 2007 02:30 PM

SD-106 Dirksen Senate Office Building – SD-106

JK will be speaking at the University of Florida in a Townhall Forum on Friday. The initial notice is here. Because there was heavy demand per this blog post, they made arrangements for advance ticket distribution.

Because of an overwhelming response, ” there will be advance tickets available for students and the general public. UF students and faculty with a valid Gator-1 identification card will be able to pickup tickets beginning on Tuesday, March 20 at the Phillips Center for Performing Arts during business hours, 12 p.m.- 6 p.m. The general public will be able to pick up tickets beginning on Wednesday, March 21. Tickets are free of charge and will be issued on a first come, first serve basis. Only one ticket per person will be issued.

Doors will open at 2 p.m. for students with issued tickets and 2:30 p.m. for the general public with issued tickets. Tickets are for general seating in the University Auditorium.”

The event is Friday, March 23, 2007.

The environment and climate change will be a major focus for JK. So if you’re in the area… check it out.

UPDATE: JK and THK will be doing an interview about the book, “This Moment on Earth”, with Imus this Friday, 3/23/07 from 7:29 – 7:50 am eastern

 

JK is going to be on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace today. For many of us that comes on at 10 am eastern, so be here ready to live blog then.

What’s the subject? Fox News puts it this way:

Four years after the Iraq war began the country watches to see whether the U.S. troop surge in Iraq will work. The Senate Republicans have just defeated the Democratic plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by March 31, 2008, but the debate over withdrawal could begin again during debate on the Iraq supplemental spending bill. We’ll talk about the next push to create a deadline for withdrawal with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Need to check the schedule for your local Fox affiliate? Click here for airtimes.

And if you haven’t finished your cup of coffee (as I hadn’t when I first looked), you’re looking for the local Fox affiliate station, not the Fox News cable station.

See you at 10 am eastern!

UPDATE: The transcript is now available here  

JK’s statement on the strengthened FOIA bill with the blogger provisions has gathered some attention in the blogosphere:

Susan H at BelowBoston.com posted: “John Kerry goes to bat for bloggers re: FOIA” – (hattip to IanDB1 at DemUnderground)

David Sirota noted it at Sirotablog: “Kerry Pushes Strengthened FOIA Power for Citizens”

Ron Chusid at Liberal Values noted it in “Kerry Calls For Extending FOIA to Support Bloggers”

Alice Marshall at Presto Vivace Blog put it this way: “John Kerry: FOIA should cover bloggers”

Diane at ToughEnough.org noted JK’s FOIA move with this comment:

“One of the benefits of not running for president is that you can do things like this, and not have to consider who you might be pissing off in the process.”

Jerome Armstrong highlighted it on myDD for us: “Kerry Sponsors Senate bill giving bloggers FOIA powers”

Cliff Schecter spotted it on mydd and put it on his blog: “Very Cool & Big News!!”

Left of Ohio picked it up from myDD: “John Kerry Want’s FOIA Powers For Bloggers”

There were other items on the blogs besides JK and the FOIA. <!-more-> Beachmom had a highly-rated diary at dailykos titled “(Update) Swift Boat Financier appointed Ambassador to Belgium. Watch Kerry grill him.” Lots of interesting conversation and comments on that one. Plus links to video of the “grilling” in case you missed it the first time around.

Joe Kozlowski of “For What Its Worth” points out the follow-up post on the Fox nomination hearing by MaryAnn Akers in The Sleuth column of the Washington Post with the title, “Kerry isn’t giving up”. PS:  I like Joe’s tagline on his website: “Boredom is a self-inflicted wound!” So true, Joe, so true.

ProSense started a vigorous discussion at Dem Underground with the post: “Kerry calls for thorough investigation of New Bedford immigration raid”

The 92nd Street Y blog did a roundup of blog posts (and borrowed a couple pics from the jk blog) about JK and Teresa’s book event at the Y on Monday evening.

Big Roy of The Imus Show Blog pulled an audio clip of JK on the Imus show on 3-16-2007: “Senator Kerry: I Was At Building 18 Weeks Before Washington Post Story”

Josh Holland of Alternet pointed out the dichotomy between the way MSM reacts to Bush and the way they reacted to JK in the post, “Cenk Uygur: Osama’s still being forgotten by this administration!”

The Wichita Eagle Editorial Board blog made somewhat the same point in a post titled, “Public not buying Iraq-terrorism link”.

A new poll found that 51 percent of Americans see no link between the war in Iraq and the broader anti-terror effort. I disagree slightly—though not the way that President Bush argues.

I think Iraq is a frontline fight against terrorism, but that it became one because of our invasion and botched occupation. As columnist John Young wrote on Tuesday’s Opinion pages, "What we did in Iraq was create a cataclysmic vacuum that has drawn blood-oath jihadists like flies to a carcass."

I also think John Kerry was correct that international police work and shared intelligence should be the focus of the war on terror, not invading countries that had no meaningful ties to al-Qaida.

We agree on that!

Kos defended JK in the process of pointing out Maureen Dowd’s issues and defending Barack Obama – he based his post on Eric Boehlert’s work at Media Matters in which Eric completely defends JK.

Reaching way back for these entries (and this shows how long it’s been since I’ve done a regular JK on the blogs—there have been a couple special editions)...

Bob Geiger on The Huffington Post wrote about JK and Feingold speaking out about Afghanistan

Just as the United States Senate was dominated last week with the fight to raise the Federal Minimum Wage, the next few days will see a heated battle over what sentiments - if any - the Senate should formally express in opposition to George W. Bush’s plan to escalate the Iraq war.

While that issue will dominate the woefully single-threaded media on Capitol Hill, a Senate resolution proposed by John Kerry (D-MA) is also very relevant to America’s national security and should at least get some mention as it waits in the wings.

A couple of weeks ago, Kerry introduced S. RES. 34, which calls on the White House to start focusing on something vaguely related to the attacks of September 11 and beef up ”...the efforts of the United States to defeat the Taliban and terrorist networks in Afghanistan.”

Last but not least, Beachmom posted a comment in a diary on dailykos which had information I’ve not seen anywhere else. Her comment contained a lengthy account from a friend of hers in Europe who watched JK at the World Economic Forum in Davos live. Beachmom noted that her friend said that she was very impressed with JK and that “it was weird how the AP only took his Bush critique remarks and left out all of his very thoughtful remarks which impressed everyone there.” Check out the comment for the more detailed report.

 

In a speech delivered to the New England Newspaper Association this afternoon, JK spoke out about a strengthened FOIA which includes support for bloggers.

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John Kerry today announced his support for a legislative initiative designed to assist the freedom of the press. The bill would make the federal Freedom of Information Act more powerful, primarily by making it harder for the Administration to deny or delay the release of information. It does that by requiring that an agency respond to FOIA requests within 20 business days and establishes a publicly available tracking system for requests.

In addition, the legislation would help bloggers, because it would prevent agencies from denying them a waiver on fees just because they are independent or not affiliated with any institutional news organization. In the past, the need to pay fees for FOIA requests discouraged many bloggers or independent journalists from pursuing FOIA requests.

“There is no greater or more important watchdog today than our free press and we should all do everything we can to strengthen the ability of dedicated reporters to do their job,” Kerry said today. “Recent news reports on Walter Reed, the Big Dig, or even the US Attorney firings have reminded us just how important the press’s oversight is to our system of governance. In cases like those, exposure meant the difference between life and death. I am proud to sponsor this bill and look forward to voting on it when it comes before the full Senate.”

Thanks, JK!

 

As JK noted in his statement yesterday, progress has been made.

“This is an important step forward. Last summer, Senator Feingold and I offered a plan to set a one year deadline to bring our troops home from Iraq, and 13 senators voted for it. Today, 48 senators supported this approach. This debate isn’t over and none of us will rest until the war is over and our troops are home. I applaud those who had the courage to cast their vote for this plan.”

He also re-emphasized what he has said many times before:

“We must set a deadline to force Iraqis to compromise and bring our troops home from Iraq; and today’s vote represents a strong step forward toward achieving that goal,” Senator Kerry said. “Iraqis have only responded to deadlines, and a deadline for troop redeployment will force Iraqis to take responsibility for their own country and bring our brave men and women home. This plan would have finally forced President Bush to realize that more of the same is not a plan, and that the American people are ready for this war to end.”

Yet many are disappointed that the resolution didn’t pass. Many have expressed equally pointed criticism about the process in the House. I found myself thinking about an insight that JK has offered before but offered again in his response to JakeTapper of ABC News:

“These things take time,” Kerry said. “Things have to percolate. That’s the nature of legislation.”

<!-more-> They do take time but are the advocates of ending the war right now any less right in what they demand?

Richard Bell made a comment in a discussion elsewhere which I think pertains.

What is the role of activists in the legislative process? How does their role differ from what legislators actually do?

These questions frame a never-ending source of confusion and misunderstanding, which is not surprising given the paradox at the heart of this activist/legislator relationship. How often are activists disappointed that some legislator failed to fight as hard as they had expected? And how often do you hear of legislators who are frustrated by their interactions with activist communities? (And note that this phenomenon is not partisan.)

It is the nature of activists to be pure of heart and purpose. They know what they want, and they will accept no compromise. I would argue that as activists, it is their duty and their responsibility to be as aggressive and bull-headed as possible in pushing their goals.

It was not for nothing that Frederick Douglass, one of the keenest activist minds in the country’s history, famously observed:

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

I’ve heard that quote a million times. This time I did a little research, and discovered the much richer material from which this quote was abstracted. Here’s the complete text:

“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.”

“This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North, and held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages, and make no resistance, either moral or physical. Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others.”

Looking at this relationship from the legislator’s side, it is the nature of legislators to compromise. The legislator’s heart is torn between holding out for the ideal, and taking any step forward, however incremental that step may seem. There are times when doing nothing may be the best that can be done. But the legislative process is decisively tilted in the direction of getting all parties to stop talking past each other and identify whatever common ground can be found.

...In the end, I do not believe that there is any happy meeting place between deeply committed activists and their legislative representatives. If activists believe that their cause is just and absolute, then compromising is anathema. By the same token, legislators who are leaning in the activists’ direction will struggle to understand why activists are not happy with half a loaf, or two-thirds of a loaf.

The answer to this paradox is mutual understanding of the different roles they play, not changing the roles. Legislators should not be hurt or angered when people whom they think of as supporters continue to demand more than the legislative process of compromising can deliver in the moment. Activist pressure is absolutely essential if the proffered compromises are not to become even weaker, much less empowering the legislators to go back to the table once again and push for more.

At the same time, activists should understand that even the best legislators are hemmed in by the legislative process, and that taking a stand that removes the legislator from the table may produce worse results because of the absence of that voice.

For those who have been frustrated by the slowness of the response to what many perceived as a mandate delivered by the November 2006 election to change course and end the Iraq war, I must offer up JK’s insight based on his many years of experience and his understanding that though his name may not be on the Iraq War plan, nevertheless his contributions are significant and all part of the process. You don’t just make one attempt and then quit and go home. You keep on trying.

There’s one other piece to the legislative process that I want to introduce and that is that there are other priorities. There isn’t a single right priority and all the others are wrong. Rick Albertson wrote a long piece titled “Joe & Jane Citizen – Lessons on Budgeting” that illustrated this point beautifully. There are many issues, many needs that must be addressed.

Climate change is an extremely critical one as is the availability of health care. For those who are focused on a single issue, as overwhelmingly right and true as it may be, there are many priorities to be balanced. In Rick’s example, it’s a balancing act to keep the bills paid, the kids clothed and in school, to meet everyone’s needs and some of their wants with limited resources. “Everything’s a compromise. The devil is in the details. And it’s never that simple. Not in the real world, anyway.”

But we don’t quit, ala JK. We keep moving the ball down the field whether we get credit for it or not.

And what’s the take-away? What do you need to do?

Awhile back in “JK on the blogs – 11 – Special Veterans edition”, I included a dailykos diary entry which contained this story about JK:

Garrett Reppenhagen is a member of Iraq Vets Against the War and Veterans for America (formerly Vietnam Veterans Against the War). He is working on several fronts, but one of the most important is the work he is doing to find a retreat and treatment center for homeless vets. He is seeking federal and state funds to build the center.

....

Garrett met with Sen. John Kerry, who told him “Look, I’ve had 500 people here in my office this week. The other 499 were here for other reasons than the war.”

To the extent that setting a deadline and withdrawing our troops from harm’s way in a situation which they cannot bring to a successful close through military action, is a priority, it should be a visible priority in terms of communication.

There is a gap right now. Perhaps we can help JK advance that ball a little further down the field by letting the other 52 Senators know what our priorities are… provide consistent, persistent communication from those in their home states. Let them know that you support SetADeadline.com and the action plan recommended by the Senate Democrats—as Jake Tapper put it:

Dems’ Iraq Plan Looks Similar to John Kerry’s; Similar Plan to Senator’s Proposal in October 2005

 

One final note: Pamela Leavey at The Democratic Daily had a couple of points on the 48 senators and their vote which you may find of interest.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -

UPDATE: JK is going to be on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace this week. Check your local listings for the time.

 

[Editor’s note: Another member of the JK blogging community, mbk, has a report with pictures of last Monday evening’s launch of JK and THK’s new book, “This Moment on Earth”. No pictures were allowed during Charlie Rose’s interview with JK and THK but mbk did get some nice shots from the book-signing that occurred afterward. Enjoy!]

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

March 12, 2007

This Moment in Manhattan by mbk

On a balmy March evening, five stalwart Kerry supporters from three different states converged on the lively 92nd St Y on the Upper East Side to see Charlie Rose interview John and Teresa Kerry on the occasion of their new book, This Moment on Earth.

At the last minute (and thanks to Violet for arranging this), the publisher included us in a pre-lecture reception at the Y, offering us a brief glimpse of a selection of guests from the worlds of publishing and local New York journalism, as well as the Kerrys themselves, at close hand. We also are pretty sure that we saw Chris Heinz there, as well.

Then to our seats for the main event. The auditorium was nearly full, including Kerry supporters, environmentalists, and New Yorkers of all stripes. Watching live from other locations were synagogue congregations in Palm Springs, California, and Naples, Florida, and members of a community center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Please note: As Karynnnj has already provided a lovely overview of the interview, I will now offer the nitty-gritty detail. Since I did not (and, in fact, was not allowed) to tape the proceedings, the quotes below are not necessarily exact; they represent instead my very best attempt to record the Kerrys’ remarks as accurately as I could with pen and paper. The words outside the quotation marks represent my paraphrasing and extrapolation from those remarks. I’ve highlighted my favorite JK and THK quotes in bold, and I’ve placed my own reactions to their words in italics. <!-more-> THE ENVIRONMENT JK : “Feedback is nature’s way of telling us what’s happening”, and the data from that feedback, on temperature and carbon dioxide levels of the oceans and the atmosphere, tell us that something is seriously, urgently, wrong. “We have only one choice”, said Sen. Kerry, and that is to reduce greenhouse gases. We have to become carbon neutral, and to do so quickly, as we now have only a small temperature cushion and a tiny window of time to change our ways. It is “staggering to me”, said Sen. Kerry, that our president has done so little.

And it’s not just George Bush’s fault; “Congress still doesn’t’ have the will” to push through the major, urgent change that is needed. All of us, said Kerry, need to energize the grass roots, and to make this a voting issue in 2008. But it’s not enough, he said, for a candidate merely to be against global warming, and to mouth all the words. The candidates need to have an actual track record, and we need to ask them, “What are you actually going to do about it?”

Charlie Rose asked, “If there is not political will, there must be opposition. What is the nature of that political opposition?” Teresa took the ball this time around, saying that the problem is not only opposition, but lack of awareness. “When people see bad news”, she said, “ they have two reactions: either to (a) do something or (b) to hide.  Oh, yes. In my opinion, our country has been in hiding since 1980, and it hasn’t worked. It’s high time we try approach (a).

Teresa also fingered as members of the opposition the “people who don’t like science. . you know who they are”. Big smile from Teresa’s spouse at that point, and laughter throughout the hall.

The ball next passed to the smiling spouse. In response to a question about China’s environmental problems, Sen. Kerry stressed the importance of getting China and India “on board now, not 2 or 3 years from now.” Alluding to the erosion of our moral authority , Sen. Kerry continued, “We need to challenge them, but we also have to challenge ourselves. It is hard to take them on when we don’t have clean hands.”

Sen. Kerry then went on to detail possible routes to carbon neutrality: a cap on use of carbon, the (disgracefully delayed) development of alternate renewable energy sources, such as geothermal and solar. In response to specific questions, Sen. Kerry acknowledged that nuclear energy would also be part of a “mosaic” of strategies, but also stressed that nuclear energy is not “the vision of the future.”

“What about biofuels”, Charlie Rose asked. “Is ethanol next?” THK this time: “No. Ethanol is great, but it’s not a great answer”. Teresa noted that use of ethanol would necessitate rain forest deforestation in Brazil, and come at the expense of food crops in China.

(Bravo to John and Teresa Kerry: always connecting the dots. A good model for the rest of us. Time to wake up and start thinking, everyone).

FOREIGN POLICY The conversation next shifted to the Middle East and foreign policy. Sen. Kerry noted that many leaders – King Abdullah, Mubarak, Kofi Annan – “are all looking for a larger diplomacy than we have offered.” Answering Charlie Rose’s question about the effect of the “surge” on the area, JK answered, “ Anyone who believes that patrols will solve the problem has not learned the lessons of Vietnam or Bosnia.”

“After 22 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and as the son of a Foreign Service officer, I care passionately about how our country is viewed:  it’s a tragedy what’s happened” to our reputation in the world. Citing the disastrous effects of our “message of indifference and arrogance”, Sen. Kerry then went on to recount the determination of central American Indians to keep Bush out of their sacred places; the growing crises in Lebanon, North Korea, Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, concluding, “This is not a foreign policy that’s working.” Later, JK noted parenthetically that many of the new (and disgracefully tardy) diplomatic approaches of the Bush administration in Iran and North Korea were exactly the strategies proposed by Kerry in the 2004 presidential race.

POLITICS (reluctantly) Next, THK’s turn, replying to Rose’s question about the Democratic primaries and the 2008 election. “I don’t think that people have [any more] patience with the status quo. Candidates should be clear and honest; if they don’t know something, they should say, ‘I don’t know’”.

After Rose pressed Sen. Kerry repeatedly on the 2004 presidential race, he reluctantly replied, “We were in the shadow of 9/11”, which proved to have a major effect on the collective American psyche, capsulized by the electorate’s apparent response to the Osama bin Laden tape related the Friday before the election. “We were winning on Thursday”, he said, and then the tape appeared on Friday. .

In response to Charlie Rose’s question about whether John Kerry’s race would become a “case study” for American presidential campaigns, Teresa Kerry replied, “If all John Kerry is is a case study, I am sorry for America.” God bless this woman.

Pressed further by Rose to state what she wants the world and the US to know about John Kerry, Teresa replied, “The world already knows. As for the US, that the campaign wasn’t perfect, but that he poured his guts out, that he was hard-working, and joyful.” She also noted that no sitting wartime president that ran for reelection has ever lost an election in the entire history of the United States, and ended with, “The loss isn’t so much ours. . there are worse personal losses. But the loss was bad for the country, and for the world.”

Rose to Sen. Kerry:  “What’s your biggest fear of the future – nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists?”

JK: Yes, that’s an issue, but it’s part of a larger one: “that we’re not summoning the political leadership and will to do the things that are in our grasp.” Teresa then chimed in – ”because of arrogance, ignorance, or indifference – none of which can be forgiven at a time like this.” Oh, you bet. The Kerrys, right on every issue.

After discussing the creative and innovative philanthropic projects of the Heinz Foundation, many of which focus on environmental and women’s issues, Rose turned once again to politics, especially to issues affecting the middle class. JK discussed the folly of the permanent tax cut, which results in a “loss to [economic] choices we would have” to help the middle class. “Instead, my colleagues chose to give the money to people earning more than 1 million dollars a year. It is obscene”, he continued, “and is contrary to all the principles we believe in.”

I detected pain in the voice of John Kerry, the foreign policy expert par excellence, when he said that the next president (which he predicts will be a Democrat) “will have an unbelievable opportunity to reach out to the world in a unique way, and to carve out a reputation on a par with” presidents such as FDR and others, if he or she works to repair the damage of the current administration to our reputation in the world. It’s a painful subject for many of us, too, alas . . .

A CHALLENGE FOR ALL OF US Near the end, Rose asked Sen. Kerry what it was like to have the “two top Democratic candidates” as colleagues in the Senate. THK immediately put up four fingers. (Great woman). JK then put it in words, noting that Sen. Biden and Sen. Dodd are also worthy, able candidates, and deserve to be heard. “I’ve been there when people aren’t listening. . . I want all the candidates to have the chance to be heard” in this election: “they each have something important to say.”

John Kerry, right yet again. Note to the media and to fellow citizens: There are two parts to this prescription. . First, that all the candidates have the chance to make their case. Second, that we LISTEN.

It’s high time that we break our 27-yearold habit of passivity , indifference, cynicism, and fear-driven choices, and start to work to get our country back. After years of neglect and destruction, the tasks are overwhelming. No single person, not even a good president, can save our country alone. But we can, if w eall resolve to work together to do the job. Once again, Sen. Kerry put it best:

“The challenge is frightening”, said Sen. Kerry, “but the choices are exciting.”

Time to get to work, everyone.

PS. By the way, I went home by Amtrak and subway: 200 miles, public transportation all the way. I like to think the Kerrys would approve.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

MBK, you’ve done a terrific job in bring the evening to life for those who couldn’t attend. Thanks so much.