Pre-blogging the Kerry Imus talk-

Imus is talking to Jon Meachum of Newsweek, mentioning he will have the Senator on. Meachum says that one question he would like to ask is how it feels to come so close - a few votes in Ohio and he would now be in his third year as President and then have the whole party immediately turn on you. He mentioned the decision not to run was likely freeing.

Imus said that he doesn’t pretend to know the Senator, but he is a great guy in private but it didn’t translate on TV -  (which it sure did for me - but maybe that suggests the media filtered things athrough something like a fun house mirror.)

Meachum spoke of how “How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake has been through his mind a lot recently.

And in Iraq, the violence is only getting worse.  There is nothing our troops can do to bring this to an end.
Set a deadline, begin the diplomacy, and bring our troops home!

This morning’s news from Baghdad

BAGHDAD - Thunderous explosions and dense black smoke swirled through the centre of Baghdad today when at least one car bomb blew up in an underground parking garage.

The explosion set off dozens of secondary explosions, killing at least 59 people, police said. A second bombing nearby killed at least nine.

The blasts shattered the city centre on the first anniversary, according to the Muslim lunar calendar, of the bombing last year of the important Shiite Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, north of the capital. That attack by al-Qaeda in Iraq militants set off the torrent of sectarian bloodletting that has turned Baghdad and much of central Iraq into a battleground.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/world.aspx?ID=BD4A383430

Hey IB.  Too bad you can’t listen.  We’ll do our best play-by-play for you.
:-)

Kerry: “Hey, if the Dixie Chicks can come back and win five Grammies last night, there’s hope.”

How does JK feel about Dems who lose elections being ostracised by the party?
It comes with the territory, he doesn’t worry about it.  Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
If the Dixie Chicks can come back and win five Grammys, there’s hope!
He’s talking about the wedding now.

On the ‘08 candidates:
The Senator says what he cares about is that there’s a clarity about what the candidates are saying on the issues. 
Now talking about the ‘surge’.  Imus doesn’t see what it will do to help anything.

Asked Meachum’s questioned about how you deal with things - Gore too.

Kerry said Gore did superbly , laid out everything on global warning, up for oscar. Says it comes with the territory -and mentioned the Dixie Chicks winning 5 grammies.

Kerry mentioned Howard Ford was at Chris Heinz’s wedding (with a girl friend).

Priority 1 - leave Iraq.
Asked about surge Kerry said it won’t work. Kerry said there is a lack of armored humvees - that Kerry is angry about. Kerry mentioned attracting attacks in Vietnam. and they got nothing done - and that this is the same.

Imus said no reasonable person thinks surge will work, is this a last shot. Kerry said it is mixed with hope too. Kerry mentioned V. Nasr’s book on Iraq.

Finally getting past all the irrelevant Imus-driven banter and onto the issues. Good. Kerry talking about this morning’s newspaper stories on how the incoming troops have no Humvees, not enough basic equipment, etc—says it really makes him angry to read stuff like that, comparing it to how it was when he was sent upriver, now emphasizing that the political solution is the only one that has a prayer of happening, because the fundamentals behind the war planners’ last-hope approach are completely lacking.

Kerry wants Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. to be brought before Congress to testify as to where Feith got his orders to cook the intelligence. Good for him.

Explaining the IWR vote now, emphasizing his belief in Powell’s trustworthiness and noting that he believed Powell’s statements indicated that the Bush 41 crowd had come to the fore and were doing things sanely even back then. Later found out those statements were false.

Need an intelligent policy that doesn’t expose troops to IEDs, doesn’t puts them in Iraqi homes. Have to set a date.

Mentions setadeadline.com

Imus continues to divert Kerry into random Obamarama trivialities. Who the heck cares whether Obama quits smoking or not, Don? Sheesh.

John McCain is one of the architects of this surge.

Here’s a link to the Vali Nasr book.  JK must be reading an early copy or something published elsewhere.

http://www.amazon.com/Shia-Revival-Conflicts-within-Future/dp/0393329682/sr=1-1/qid=1171284259/ref=sr_1_1/103-0530995-0230226?ie=UTF8&s=books

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future (Paperback)

JK says John McCain is one of the architects of the surge. 
Imus backing away from his McCain love? 
Oh, please!  If Sen K can stop the Iman-McCain love affair, that will be a real accomplishment.

Imus insisting JK hates Edwards and won’t support him.
I think Sen K dodged that pretty well, lol.  Imus just loves to stir up conflict.

Yea, can’t be against the surge and for McCain.

Well, unlike the ‘This Week’ show and, presumably, this afternoon’s radio & podcast interviews, this appearance wasn’t really intended to do much of substance—it did give Kerry a chance to sound warm and human and at ease to we-the-sheeple, so in that regard it probably did some good one way or another.

After JK hung up, they commented on how relaxed he sounded.

Dianne, I agree.  It was a fun interview, but still, the important issues were discussed.  Your point about Imus asking the questions no one else will ask is significant and I think, very true.  The informality of the show gives people a chance to see JK in a different setting. 

The Senator made his points and I think he might even have Imus rethinking the McCain support.  One can only hope.  Seriously, how can one think the surge is a bad idea, and still support McCain?

Comeon, I-man.  Think about it.

Hard to watch TV and post. All around got the points in, and liked the longer explanation of IWR, set a deadline (yea), McCain and surge, but appreciated putting one more reason for the loss with the Clintons.

Politics are political. Candidates for the next go around are always self-serving, like Richardson not allowing a recount.

He enjoys the Imus banter, and GV correct, that was diplomacy. He’s very nimble in getting points across in interviews.

Bringing in Runsfeld and Cheney to testify about pre-war intel would indeeed be nice.

Good day, all.

On the Vali Nasr book, the link above is for the paperback edition which is not yet published and will ship on April 23, 2007.

Here’s the link to the hardcover version of the book which is available now.

And here’s ALA Booklist’s review of the book:

*Starred Review* About 15 percent of Muslims worldwide are Shia. In Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Bahrain, Shia constitute a majority or plurality of the populace, and areas of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (in the latter, the oil fields) host Shia majorities. Iran’s Islamic Revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini, which rushed Islam to the forefront of non-Islamic consciousness internationally, was a Shia phenomenon. Iranian Middle East researcher Nasr, who teaches, consults, and writes in the U.S., says that Khomeini was rather a maverick who discountenanced the quietism, ritualism, and celebratoriness of mainstream Shia. If that is a revelation to Westerners, so, probably, are Nasr’s arguments that the Shia have been persecuted and oppressed by the Sunni majority ever since the divergence of the two Islamic strains more than 1,300 years ago, and that Islamic terrorism from well before 9/11 to the current insurgency in post-Saddam Iraq is a tactic of intransigent Sunnism. Nasr never pontificates or accuses, always choosing to show both sides’ reasons for even the most heinous actions. He never so much as hints at what many readers must infer from his presentation—that the U.S. should think again and again and again before attacking Iran. So enlightening and perspective altering that no one concerned about the Middle East should miss reading it. Ray Olson

 

Imus said “setadate.com” huh? Oh boy, I did that myself once. Blush.

Actually, it was Kerry who said that.  I hope his aides heard and will remind him not to make the same mistake (an easy enough one to make, for sure) on Ed Schultz later today.  Don’t want to frustrate potential signees. :-)

Posted by mbk | February 12, 2007 9:31 AM

Agree 100%. It’s time to roll up the sleeves and start doing our jobs as citizens.

Well, one of the most important things that we as citizens can wake up and start doing our jobs at again is to preserve and protect the Constitution (you know, that pesky ol’ dusty document that the current administration keeps trying to systematically dismantle because is so goshdarn inconvenient for them to live up to).

And one of the most immediate ways that we can start preserving and protecting all those inconvenient truths we hold to be self-evident is to follow the suggestions of the Backbone Campaign for the upcoming anniversary of that most important document, as presented here:

http://www.wethepeoplemarch4th.org/

MARCH FORTH!
A National Day of Dialogue, Action & Celebration

“We the People” as the authors of the progressive story that is America, will gather under the mandate to “create a more perfect union” and chart an aspirational course towards greater justice, domestic tranquility, the common defense, and liberty for all.

March 4, 1789, was the day that the US Constitution went into effect.  Today, March forth, a fortunate pun is also a call to action. In a time of polarization, abandonment of founding principles, and the apparent inability of elected officials to address the most dire crisis of our time “We the People” must MarchForth!

Our Country is a work in progress.  The Constitution that establishes the foundation of our nation requires continual vigilance by “We The People” in order to insure that it is defended to serve present and future generations. March 4th is a day to reaffirm our vigilance and our commitment to actively guiding the course of our nation. It is a day to celebrate what unites us, enter into dialogue on our disagreements, and design actions to further the desires we hold in common.  March 4th is a day to gather together to consciously address the common goal of creating, on behalf of our children, “a more perfect union.”

And as if we actually required any more personalized reasons to do what needs to be done, well, this is also the perfect opportunity to heed the call that the late great gadfly Molly Ivins made to us in her final column:

“We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there. ... We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, ‘Stop it, now!’”

So what better way to honor Molly’s memory, preserve and protect the Constitution, and bring all our collective pressure to bear on the current administration to Set A Deadline and bring our brave boys and girls back home, all at the same time?

Grab your pots and pans, gang, and let’s all go March Forth For Molly this year!