Go for it, Mr. Kerry!

There can be no excuse for Dems backing down on this issue, not with so much at stake, not with the clear signal voters sent them last November.

Conciliatory go-along-to-get-along “politics as usual” is not acceptable. If we wanted people in Congress who would be surrender monkeys to the Bush cabal on these crucial issues, we would have settled for the ones we already had.

Those who fail to show a backbone on this issue now had better plan on looking for new jobs when their current terms are up. The voters are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it any more.

Thank you for standing up for all of us, Mr. Kerry!

After the November elections, in response to people who demanded impeachment John Dean replied that the first job was to end the Iraq war. I thought then and infinitely more so now that the quickest way to end the war is to impeach Bush and Cheney and bring justice to all the other criminals in their administration. They deceived congress and the public to start an illegal war of aggression and at the very least did nothing to prevent the attacks of 9/11/2001. Let’s stop dancing around the real solution and take back our country.

I propose the following slogan for the most recently elected POTUS:
Re-elect John Kerry in 2008!

The unfortunate part is the 22’nd amendment is pretty clear, JFK can only serve one term: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice”. Maybe “Re-elect Al Gore in 2012!”

(Could add in the fine print at the bottom of the poster: ‘This time he is going to serve come hell or a bunch of rabid Republicans.’)

That reminds me, Michael, there’s a pickup truck I frequently see in my neighborhood—it’s obviously a working tradesperson’s vehicle, the paint’s faded and the bed’s scarred and there are toolboxes bolted to the sides—and up in the corners of the rear window are weather-worn Marine Corps and N.R.A. emblems and a sticker that says “Charlton Heston Is My President”—but on the back tailgate there are also stickers reading “Bush Must Go” and “The Road to Hell is Paved with Republicans”—and, somehow, whenever I see that truck driving by, it gives me renewed hope that all is not lost after all…

Thank goodness there are a few Democrats with enough backbone to stand up to Bush. Too bad that there aren’t more that will vote no and defeat this bill.

Thank you, John Kerry for not folding. 

How dare the Democrats take my vote to end this despicable war and throw it my face.  I, who voted believing they would listen to the majority of Americans who voted the same as I did.  I am sick with disgust at these ball-less Democrats and I am sorry I have come to believe this.

Forget the baloney about how they are going to be watching the president come September when he needs more money and blah, blah, blah.  Spit and splatter, that’s all the Democrats can muster up.

They lied, they caved, they didn’t conquer.  Blood on their hands and they still walk away without washing.

The Democrats do need to worry about 2008!

Senator Kerry,

I have never been so proud to have voted for you for President and worked for your campaign as I was when I received your email saying you were voting ‘no’ on the Iraq supplemental.

Your clear, concise analysis of our options once again demonstrate why you should be sitting in the Oval office rather than King George.

Thank you for voting as the American people have asked the Congress to vote.

As my senator, I must thank you for pledging to vote no on this very weak compromise funding bill. You are representing my feelings toward this bill and toward the Democratic leadership with your vote.

It seems so unreal. Bush has reached record-low approval ratings, he is probably the most unpopular wartime president in American history, and the Democrats cave in to his demands now? It doesn’t make any sense.

The talk about how this compromise will prevent Bush from criticizing the Congressional Democrats over the Memorial Day recess is absurd. Bush is incredibly unpopular, he lost his bully pulpit a long time ago. The Democrats have that pulpit, and they should use it. Pelosi and Reid should go to the microphones everyday and say simply that they passed a bill that fully funded the troops and provided a way to stabilize Iraq but Bush vetoed it. It’s Bush’s fault that they’re not being funded, not the Democrats.

Thank you, John Kerry, for proving you are not as spineless and cowardly as Pelosi and Reid and Hoyer seem to be. I’m not sure if you can get this funding bill defeated, but it’s necessary to avoid the backlash from the voters who the Democrats promised to that they would not hand Bush a blank check like the Republicans did. While this funding bill is not a total blank check, it still leaves Bush and the Iraqi government unaccountable.

Keep up the good fight, Senator. We need your courage to lead the party and the effort to end the war.

I’m with you Senator.  Don’t give in.  Oppose the insanity.  Never give up.  Ethically and morally, it’s not our right to continue funding the collossal missteps of this President.

Our President is an addict, which some would call a ‘dry drunk’.  His drug of choice is Iraq and unfortunately there is a contingent of Americans who continue to enable him and his illogical policies.

This country must recognize the source of the problem and address it immediately - an addicted, ‘dry drunk’ President - otherwise, he’ll take us all down with him - ‘rock bottom’.

Dear Senator Kerry: Thank you for keeping on.

While the democrats are busy serving the American people, the republicans are busy planning the next great rig. Your bid for the presidency was rigged, by a joke on Mr. Bush, successfully turned against you. The republicans are cutting and running everyday, but their fingers are pointing at democrats. Here are a series of “cut and run”, or in this case, “cut and stay”:

Why did Mr. President attack Iraq?

• To rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction. WOMD were not found.

What next did he do to stay in Iraq?

• He change course to ridding Iraq of a dictator. He did and took over the dictating in Iraq. The Iraqis are worse off than in the days of the Sadam dictatorship. They are dying in more numbers than before.

What next did he do to stay in Iraq?

• He changed course to bringing a United States styled democracy to Iraq. To rid Iraq of Islamic fundamentalists. Elections were held, and who won? The Islamic fundamentalists did. The Iraqi Prime Minister is himself a hard line fundamentalist. Democracy failed and Mr. Bush cut and ran, so did the republican congress.

What next did he do to stay in Iraq?

• He changed tactics to ridding Iraq of terrorists. We must defeat the terrorist in Iraq or we will never be save anywhere. Since that stand, the number of terrorists in Iraq has increased and is continuing to increase. Our troops cannot stop Iraqis from killing fellow Iraqis. United State soldiers are in harms way, dying everyday for a course that has since become evident as the “greastest deception” by a commander-in-chief in the 21st. century. Another cut and run…

What next did he do to stay in Iraq?

• He complained or rather acknowledged (what he had refused all along) that there were insufficient US troops in Iraq. We need more troops to secure our victory.  Let us have a surge. We can go on cataloguing the changing stance of the president, for they are so many and come in more colors than a chameleon can create and more are coming. These are all great strategies for rigging our democratic processes.

It is therefore evident that staying the course is a series of failed courses, cutting and running, and blaming democrats. Blaming democrats is probably the only constant in the Bush styled “staying the course” oxymoron. The Bush administration, has never stayed the course on any issue, unless one that fails and is hurting other people. These other people are the “have less and have not”, the majority voices.  He is out to please his “associates, his constituency…the haves and the have mores.”

Senators, like you, must stay alert and expose every trick, aimed at deceiving the people. If you do not do that, dictators around the world, such as the President of Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Venezuela, will cite, as examples, the acts of this administration, for justifying their dictatorship.
The United States is losing its moral authority in a world, where it is the only super power.

Thanks

Konfor masanje

JK on CSPAN2;
This bill is not worthy of our soldiers’ sacrifice.

Yes, we need money for readiness for troops, yes, money for vets is good, vets deserve it, but vet support in bill is far cry from what they need. Katrina money is also good.
Anybody wanting to misconstrue vote; let me be clear - I’m for all the money for Katrina, Vets, troops readiness, but the heart of the bill is what I oppose.

Nobody in this body doesn’t know that president is going to come out again and claim there is progress, when there isn’t any.
We’ve become a recruitment tool for Al Qeda out of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Al Qeda now in Iraq.

Patriotism of dissenters questioned.
I have no fear about casting a vote against this bill.
I promise my colleagues; we will be back here in September with same debate and WH will not have moved in strategy.

Senator Kerry,

Thank you for your vote. But as others have said, one no vote isn’t enough. Please do everything you can to make your colleagues understand that this bill betrays the promises they made in the midterm elections. Use the filibuster if you have to. Urge your colleagues in the House to remove Reid, Emmanuel and Pelosi from positions of responsibility.

As liberal who lives in a red state, I have always felt powerless during elections. I hoped that the 2006 election would be different, but I now regret having made a donation to the DCCC, the first political contribution I ever made, at age 40. It’s clear that my money didn’t give the dems the spine to stand up to the president.

If this bill passes, the Democrats who voted for it must accept moral responsibility for all the ensuing deaths in Iraq. Please use whatever influence you have to give the rest of your party the courage to do what’s right. Thank you for your help.

So thanks to the Dem party, there will be a lot of greiving parents whose only memories of their loved ones will be neatly folded flags and 21 empty shell cases.

Since this war was created and implemented, most of us Canadians have been quietly watching what our neighbours to the South of us have had to deal with from their politicians, news media and of course, the rest of the world the exception being England.

In Canada, we have healthcare paid for, and yes, we whine about the fact that sometimes we wait a little longer for certain procedures, but nevertheless they are supplied to us at NO COST to us. We have a five party political system. We find it fair and easy to deal with mostly because Canadians never blatantly believe anything our government TELLS us. We make them prove it!

I’m saddened by your news media. Absolutely anything that happens in America is so over produced and screened to death - over and over again for sometimes weeks at a time. If I were you guys, I’d be switching to a documentary like ‘How to beat Global Warming’ and start taking the issue a little more seriously than just putting the plastics with the plastics and the loose garbage with the loose garbage on recycling day. 

Maybe if you’d get the gun laws straight then your kids wouldn’t be shooting each other up quite so much and they’d actually survive their bouts of depression from eating too much crap from MacDonalds and Harveys and start losing a little weight and get healthy.

Doesn’t it sound like a dream?

How about bringing the boys and girls home who have suddenly learned that the Iraq War really doesn’t have anything to do with ‘Fighting Terrorism’ and saving the U.S. from elimination.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your boys and girls of war, and yes, boys and girls, could come home in one piece, both mentally and physically and receive the honours that they deserve, not from fighting for the U.S. but for believing a bunch of snivelling Republican idiots who the rest of the world looked at and laughed at!

Sorry guys. Just had to say it. I feel for all of you who have suddenly become aware of the important issues like peace, global warming and brotherhood.  Come to Canada. It’s clean, healthy, happier and safe!

Peace to all of you.

C

Senator Kerry,

Today was a difficult day. Despite your relentless efforts, our Democratic Majority Senate failed to unify around the message that the American people believe:  This war is wrong. It was a mistake made by President Bush. His policy of pre-emptive war is NOT the way to lead in the world, nor is it the way to fight a true battle against terrorism.

I truly believe that the only way the world will ever give us another ‘chance’ to lead is if Bush and all his followers are publicly vanquished. They need to be removed from the world stage in a loud, public and purposeful way by a strong leader who is unafraid to stand tall…no matter the personal consequences. Our country must regain its moral compass to lead.

And…just for the record…I always thought the best leader to do this would be you or Al Gore.  :) 

Thank you for fighting for our country…in all the many ways you have done so during your entire life. I have faith in your experience and judgment and I am confident that your leadership will win in the end.

So sorry about only gathering thirteen others to stand with you defying this awful compromise funding bill. After so much progress, we’re now back at June 2006, with just over a dozen senators standing up to the president and to a rubber-stamp congress. The bill is not a total blank check, but it allows Bush to waive the Iraqi government’s benchmarks, so it’s meaningless. It seems like, after a year, we’re right back where we started from. I’m depressed, I’m sure you are, but we can’t give up the fight. We need to keep going, into the summer, into the fall, into the winter, until all the troops have returned home. Please, Senator Kerry, you’re a powerful figure in Washington, use your influence to keep the Democrats in line and on the offensive against Bush. The lives of Iraqis and Americans depend on it.

Sir,

Your rhetoric and actions continue to impress me. You are a man of courage and conviction. Please continue to fight for truth, justice, etc.

On another note, we know that you won in 2004. There is ample proof, for those who would see it, that Bush and cohorts stole that election - not just Ohio, but other states and the popular vote. The truth will come out. Perhaps you are not in a position to lead the demand for impeachment, but impeachment must come.

Stay well and know that there are those post-Katrina who support you.

Hooray for John Kerry!!!  I still say that IF YOU REALLY SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, YOU WOULD BRING THEM HOME TO THE ARMS OF THEIR FAMILIES, not send them off to die for people who hate us.  Those brave men who have had their lives stolen under the guise of sacrifice truly paid the ultimate price for the Bush War.  Their families will be paying that price forever.  We cannot win someone else’s Civil War; truth is, we are no longer at war with anyone over there, and are now just occupying and dying.  The Republicans come up with the most preposperous excuses ever heard for continuing this habit.  It just makes them look pretty stupid.

Senator, I know how many of of appreciate your standing up to George W. Bush, but I, still, wonder Why, if this war is so (bleep) important to America’s “destiny”, then WHY aren’t Mr. Bush’s own daughters serving?  Why haven’t the young adult family members, of the Bush, Cheney, Gates, and Rice, families been recruited for military service?  Do these young people NOT consider themselves Americans?  Why is it that only the American blue, and white, collar families continue to shed blood, on the sands of Iraq?  If the Iraqi people have come to HATE Americans, thanks to Mr. Bush, WHY do we continue to invade a nation, whose main rallying cry, now is “DEATH TO AMERICA”?  Would the invasion end sooner if politicians family members were required to be “drafted”, and to serve in front line combat units?  Would Mr. Bush be so adamant about “As long as it takes”, if HIS OWN DAUGHTERS might be in the next home-bound caskets?  Why not make this “war” ultra-personal, for the politicians, by requiring all supporters, of this disaster, to send their family members to military recruitment centers, IMMEDIATELY, to sign up, complete basic training, then to be deployed to Iraq?  NO DEFERMENTS WILL BE ALLOWED.  Why not????

With this vote, Senator Kerry is doing what he always does..fighting for what is right. I have been a staunch supporter and a huge fan of Senator Kerry since I first learned about him and his work during the 2004 Presidential campaign. Once again, Senator Kerry has made me proud to support him.

Please stand up and filibuster this bill.

Please use the power you have as a Senator—spend it all in that one act if you have to— with the knowledge that what you’re doing is no less than what many of the rest of us are doing with what power we have in our lives.

We are America. We might not be tomorrow, next month, next year,  if someone doesn’t stand up and say, “Stop, NOW.”

For the little it is worth, I was one of your earliest supporters.  I’ve left the political arena and am back working on other fronts. I understand that we are all creating, speaking, and attempting to elevate the discourse within the boundaries we’ve set for ourselves and what I’m asking you to do is step outside your boundary and stand for the many; but please, do it anyway.

Go, Johnny, Go.  Let it be a beautiful day.

I’m a long-time political junkie who has campaigned for Democrats since RFK’s run for the White House.

In 2002 I called your office numerous times to ask you to vote “no” on the IWR.

In 2003, I joined the fledging “Poets Against The War” and wrote, spoke and stood for peace on the streets of my town.

In 2003 I joined johnkerry.com and campaigned for you in the heart of rural red.  I wrote stories and editorials that supported your flatform and ideals.  I advocated a focus on the environment as the center of your campaign, and chided you when I felt your efforts in that area lacked what was necessary at the time.

In 2004 I attended the Boston Convention, on my own dime, as a volunteer and covered the convention, on my own dime, for the newspaper I worked for, producing several full-page stories,  pictures and editorials in an overwhelming conservative newspaper in an overwhelming conservative part of the country. I also worked another job part-time and was a volunteer moderator for your blog. 

In 2005, my husband spoke out against the war and this administration and lost the job of his dreams for his speech.

In 2005, a week after Katrina hit, I quit my dream job as a reporter because I could no longer, in good conscience, support a newpaper that advocated private money, and only private money, was needed to rebuilding our levees, our cities, and the Gulf Coast.

I stood up, stood out and walked away from the job I’d wanted since I was in grade school.  My husband stood up, stood out and was let go of a job he’s worked for since he completed his post-doc.

So again, I come to you and ask you to listen to me.  I was right in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.  I’m right in 2007.  Stand up and filibuster this bill.

I won’t ask you do another thing, I promise you that.  Because at this point, I don’t know that there is a politican left in this country who is truly willing to do what is right for the people of this country, at the time it is necessary to do so.

Namaste,  Senator Kerry.  My best to you and Teresa.

Otter,

While I am happy to see your superb writing skills utilized, and while I certainly understand counterpoint arguments as well as timing (which was actually my point above), this blog is listed under John Kerry’s name, and my comments were to him, and him alone.

To quote Stephen Stills, “For What It’s Worth.”  @;-)
I’ll step back into the world of the arts, now. Peace, brother.

Violet,

No worries, no issue, no confrontation.  I have no desire to engage in point counter point, which was my point to Otter, above.  (As well as to compliment him on his writing, as I compliment you.)  I’m no longer involved in the political theatre.  I wish everyone who still is much peace, strength, fortitude, perserverence and success, however.

I merely came here to post a comment to John Kerry,  and only John Kerry, something I’ve been doing for years as I pointed out above, but something I won’t be doing much of in the future, due to choices I’ve made about my own work.  I do wish the Senator and his wife well.  I hold them both in great esteem.

Namaste,  @;-)

Kerry:
Why bother if you guys are just going to back down. If I remember correctly from my H.S. government class, you guys are the “board of directors” and Bush/Cheeney are un-combat background CEO/VP.  How about impeachment?
The GOP spent millions of dollars going after Pres. Clinton for his activities, now we must look at them. The GOP wasted millions of dollars that could have been used for children, jobs, elderly, security, etc.  Where are our priorities? 
We put you guys in the Senate/House for a reason. Please do your job accordingly to the majority of the USA citizens. 
What the American people should do is go to an independent and get us on a economically sound and military sound footing.  Maybe at that time boths sides will take notice.  As Americans we have power, it is called VOTE AT THE POLLS.  I guess, We need to learn how to use it.