Letters to the Editor
Here’s a couple LTE’s that JK bloggers have had published recently…
In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Kerry’s decision
I am saddened to hear that Sen. John Kerry has decided not to take another shot at the presidency right now (“Kerry Passes on Presidential Run to Oppose War,” Jan. 25). His entrance into the race would have added the much-needed dimension of statesmanship and expertise into the debates on foreign policy and domestic issues.
I held out hope that perhaps this election, we would vote for a candidate on merit and experience and not whether we wanted to have a beer or dine with him. Sen. Kerry’s campaign in 2004 was a tough one as he took on a wartime president. It wasn’t the Swift Boat smears or the other minor things that led to his defeat; it was the fear card, played so well by our current administration. The public didn’t know Sen. Kerry well enough to “change horses in midstream.”
However, his decision not to run in what is shaping up to be a three-ring circus is probably the smartest thing to do right now. Now he doesn’t have to worry about omitting a word from a sentence. He has more important things to focus on like bringing our fighting men and women home from Iraq. This is a lofty goal, and he takes it on because he cares about America and our soldiers.
A great opportunity for America was lost in 2004 when Sen. Kerry lost his bid for the presidency, and we are out another chance to get it right—for now. The senator, however, is going to continue to fight to get it right for America.
—from Margaret in Greensburg
and here’s another that was just published in the Boston Globe:
February 4, 2007Once and for all, don’t blame Kerry
ELLEN GOODMAN’S gratuitous slap against John Kerry’s presidential candidacy (“Mitt’s turnaround,” Op-ed, Feb. 2) omitted two salient points. First, Senator Kerry faced difficult political odds in 2004. Second, Kerry would have made a very fine president.
A number of deluded and self-serving Democrats have chosen to blame Kerry, but not themselves, for the election outcome. But they neglect to mention that the 2004 election would have been tough for any Democratic nominee. Kerry ran an uphill battle against a sitting wartime president, with the additional political burden of a dysfunctional Democratic party and an inattentive electorate confused and cowed by fear. Even with these handicaps, he almost won. Kerry deserves our gratitude, not insults, for his valiant efforts.
They say that great leaders arise in times of crisis. But democracy adds a crucial condition: Citizens must recognize the leaders in their midst and lift them up. We had our chance in 2004 to put a first-rate president, a man with depth, courage, and integrity, into the White House, but we blew it. We, not Kerry, should be ashamed.
—from Mary Beth in Cambridge
Thanks Margaret and Mary Beth for speaking up.
Are there any other good LTE’s out there that we’ve missed? Have you written one that’s been published?
Please share it with us in the comments.
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This one is from Senator Byrd’s office following an oped in a Philly paper:
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/16624914.htm
(here is the link to the oped, that is really not worth reading: http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/16585467.htm - absolutely sickening)
I was happy that the Senator Byrd’s office answered.
These are wonderful letters, and I’m so glad they were printed. I’d also like to add my thanks to Senator Byrd’s and his office for standing up for JK.
Those were great letters. IMO-the DNC failed all of us in 2004 and then they scapegoated John Kerry.
When a private citizen has to create a war-room in her own livingroom because the DNC wasn’t there, that is a problem!
When effective campaign managers are moved out of their area and into areas where they just don’t fit in (ie—guys with earings generally don’t do well in nonprogressive areas), that is a problem.
When the DNC offices turn away volunteers as they did across this country, that is a problem.
I agree with those letters. There was nothing Jk should feel remorseful for, but the DNC should be quite ashamed of itself!
I haven’t had a letter written in the paper, but I would like to share with you my words from my blog, John Kerry for President 2008:
We are a tight group who support the Senator. We can see beyond the superficial critiques and understand the substance of the issues.
And we shall continue to stand by and watch his back!
I am sorry Senator Kerry will not be running for president in 2008. I believe he is the most qualified person in our government to lead our country into the future. I worked hard for him in 2004 and was prepared to do so in 2008. That said I can appreciate his sense of things and with all the folks preening and posturing to be prom king or queen maybe John can accomplish more “just” being a United States Senator and trying to hold back the tide of disasters the Bushies are hell bent on building. I remember John in front of congress during the Vietnam War and I have followed his career closely ever since. My warmest regards to him and his family and I appreciate his continued efforts to build a sane and safe world for future generations.
Posted by FrenchGirlFromMA | February 5, 2007 11:43 AM
Thanks for posting Sen. Byrd’s response. It’s perfect.
There is a great diary posted at Daily Kos about the media bias:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/5/143453/0122
I was livid about the NYT’s article linked at the above, that I had to fire this off to them:
Great letter Prosense. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Mr. Kerry is a good human being and it’s a tragedy he will not be President. On the other hand, we can expect many years of yeoman service from him.
In the United States Senate, Mr. Kerry has many decades of service ahead of him, if he so chooses, to influence important legislation, that will directly impact millions of lives.
May he join the senior Senator from Massachusetts as a former Presidential hopeful whose current incarnation has left, in my opinion, a deeper impact on America and its people.
Actually, I think the Philly Daily News piece is, in fact, a satirical echo of the NYT article—sadly, these days the media is so “yellow” that it’s hard to tell the satires from the actual bad journalism. You have to do your satire in really REALLY broad strokes.
That’s why I’m not 100% sure. It’s barely possible it might be another jerk. But the quotation attributed to Byrd is so over the top I’m guessing it’s satire.
Awesome letters!
To see media attacks on a wonderful person like Sen Kerry makes me wonder what some ‘journalists’ are trying to accomplish. Are they lazy, stupid or just plain vicious? Do they think people enjoy reading these vindictive distortions?
Personally, I don’t know anyone who would waste his time on the likes of Leibovich’s most recent drivel, but I’ll bet a whole lot of folks would be interested in the Kerry/Snowe climate change legislation or what the real discussion was at Davos or about tax credits for the military and small business.
Sad what’s happening to the fourth estate. It used to be such a noble profession, and these hacks have turned it into a contest to see who can produce the most vile assults.
Thank goodness for people like Margaret, Mary Beth, Pro Sense, Robert, and Senator Byrd (and most of the rest of the people who post here) who are willing to fight the good fight and hold the media accountable.
Kudos. You guys rock!
I decided to write here only because I heard about Senator Kerry’s choice to not run for President in 2008. While I respect his decision to stay out of the race, I have practiced astrology for many years, and this bothered me very much because his transits show me a very favorable picture for him. We astrologers study the movements of the planet Jupiter very, very closely. And this year, Jupiter favors Senator Kerry profoundly well, in fact more than any other sign.
It is the ruler of his Sun sign and entered his sign in December of last year. Whenever Jupiter enters any person’s 1st sector, they are blessed by Jupiter more strongly than the rest of us. Jupiter remains in only one sign per year. This year, 2007, it sits firmly in his Sun sign, and will remain there until December 18th, 2007. Senator Kerry will not see an astrological aspect this powerful and this lucky for another 12 years. If he were to run, this year would be the year to make his mark. Jupiter brings good luck, good health and an additional dose of success whenever it visits any astrological sign’s 1st sector.
All this would have helped him gather more funds as the year unfolds, gather more supporters and also assist him in placing himself in the very front of the line of potential candidates. I am sorry to see that he will not be able to reap the powerful rewards of Jupiter, which is favoring him more than the other candidates. This good luck will not come back for another 12 whole years. I wish he were running as this is the best year to do so successfully. It may be possible that the eclipse on March 3rd, 2007, which occurs in his career and professional sector may help to change his mind, as eclipses tend to cause very quick changes in a person’s life or outlook.
If he does not change his mind during this eclipse, then he may during the next eclipse this year, which occurs in the same sector on September 11th, 2007. He has two fabulous opportunities to change his mind this year and run. He is the most favored astrologically over all the other candidates.
In the end, whatever Senator Kerry has decided to do, I respect him and his decision. He is a great leader. Thank you.
It’s a sad state of affairs when so many people in the media are having so much harder a time accepting the Senator’s choosing to focus all his attention on his work in the Senate than the Senator himself is. He made his decision and he seems to be comfortable with it, so why can’t they?
Shallow scribblers find it tempting to mock the public figure of John Kerry because they realize he’s a much more honorable man than they themselves can hope to be. Beltway bloviators keep trying to portray him as a failed candidate because they realize that they’ve failed as pundits themselves.
Meanwhile, Senator Kerry just continues doing the work that the people of Massachusetts keep re-electing him to do. A lot of it’s not glamorous or ego-thrilling work, but it’s necessary and important and very few people can do it as well as he can.
So while members of the media are busy chasing their tails and foaming at the mouth, Senator Kerry is quietly, firmly, and steadfastly doing what needs to be done to keep this country on track. That says a great deal about the type of people they are, and the type of man he is—and the comparison is hardly flattering to those who would tear him down just to puff themselves up.
great comments, Otter: thank you.
Another LTE to The Boston Globe, submitted Feb. 5, 2007:
To the Editor of The Boston Globe:
What’s gotten into you, Ellen Goodman (“Mitt’s turnaround,” Op-ed, Feb. 2), with your Kerry bashing? Shrieking that Kerry’s candidacy for president would have killed the Democrats’ chances in ‘08, sounds more like the bile we sometimes get on the Web from immature bloggers, than analysis from a usually sensible, and sometimes even wise, journalist. And then you pile on the misinterpretation spread all over the mainstream media, that Kerry was choking over his Senate speech last week, because he had to give up his ambitions to be president.
Wrong. Even if you had listened to the speech with a deafened ear, you would have noticed that the bulk of it was devoted to Kerry’s objection to Bush’s war and to any war based on unforgivable mistakes in judgment from our president. Namely, for Kerry, Vietnam all over again. It’s at that point that he choked a little, explaining how he’s devoted his whole political life to trying to prevent that kind of war from happening again.
We Democrats, instead of stewing in our own discontents and insecurities, should think seriously about why it is we think our country would have trouble electing a man of Kerry’s intelligence, courage and wisdom—the closest man to the Founding Fathers we can get in these times, and the President we most need.
Tela Zasloff
Williamstown, MA
I was holding out hope that Sen. Kerry would seek another chance at the presidency until I heard the devastating news. Deeply saddened seems a bit of an understatement when I think that I may be working for someone else on the 2008 presidential campaign. I have not agreed more with someone on issues relating to the general public and on the war in Iraq than I did with Sen. Kerry.
I believe that Sen. Kerry understands domestic issues and foreign policy far better than anyone who is going to be running for the Democratic Party. No one shakes a stick to John Kerry’s service both as a Senator and soldier to this great nation. He has been nothing short of diligent when it comes to the troops and that has to count for something. I support Sen. Clinton and the other potential front runners for the 2008 democratic presidential spot. However, at this time, I feel that there are others who deservingly so have more experience in handling where our country should have never gone.
The 2004 presidential campaign for Kerry/Edwards was the most grueling thing that I have ever done which includes my own military service and being a single mother of two. The people who worked here in Wisconsin kept their focus to the bitter end for Senators Kerry/Edwards and I am proud to say that I am one of them. I sincerely hope that a democrat makes it to the White House in the 2008 elections and I’m very optimistic that we will. I wish Sen. Kerry all the best and if he changes his mind about the presidential run I will back him 100%.
Well, there are LTTE’s, and then there are LTTE’s.
And lest we somehow assume that conspicuous kool-aid consumption in America is a lost art these days…
I wanted to share with y’all a somewhat counter-intuitive LTTE I found in the local fishwrapper just this morning:
Well, I wouldn’t quite say that they have no complaints here myself, but hey. It certainly is a strange and wonderfully diverse country we live in, is it not?
Great responses to the latest round of attacks on Senator Kerry—attacks that often pop up in unexpected places (i.e. an RNC spokesperson, I believe, who, when responding to a certain recent quote from Sen. Biden, worked in a dig at Sen. Kerry). I guess we all knew that, whichever decision Sen. Kerry announced regarding the race for President, there would be a new round of jabs at him from the right as well as from the so-called “liberal media.”
Who the hell are these people mocking Sen. Kerry? He has more courage, maturity, depth, class and grace in his little finger than all of them have combined. And I think that, despite what they write or say publicly, they know that.
It’s also good to see people countering those who are attempting to rewrite history in regards to 2004. To say that Sen. Kerry “blew it” is outrageous. Even though the ultimate goal was not met, the margin does matter, and none of the detractors mention just how close it was. To say that another candidate would have done better is, in my view, ridiculous. As Sen. Kerry has said, he is proud of that campaign—and we’re proud of him for it. Remember the turnaround in Iowa, the convention speech, the debates… ? I sure do, and I’ll never forget them.
DanR—
Boy, do I ever agree with you! Especially these sentences: “He has more courage, maturity, depth, class and grace in his little finger than all of them have combined. And I think that, despite what the write or say publicly, they know that.” Oh, yeah.
Ditto on your last paragraph, about the campaign, too. I’ll never forget either.
VHK- I’m not one to believe in daily horoscopes as mine are wrong most of the time but Someone sent me a Chinese feng shui horoscope the other day and since the senator was born in Dec. 1943 I decided to check on his sign and it said something to the affect that the Goat/Ram/Sheep would do very well in 2007. Apparently 2006 wasn’t the best year for the Ram or Dog or just about anybody else. But I distinctly remember it saying that 2007 would be a good year for the ram.
So hey maybe you should reconsider senator. You could show those juveniles running what a real statesman acts like.
I’m glad to see folks defending the senator and hitting back at the media war machine.
If the media spent half as much time covering the misery a year after Katrina as they do sliming the senator maybe somebody would actually believe in them again?