Sharing the Goal of Winning
Thanks to friends, both known and unknown, Republicans and Democrats, who’ve been stepping up for John Kerry and fighting back against the Republican efforts to question Kerry’s support of our troops.
New York Times columnist Tom Friedman, got it exactly right in his column today:
Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, “They must think I’m stupid.” Because they surely do.They think that they can get you to overlook all of the Bush team’s real and deadly insults to the U.S. military over the past six years by hyping and exaggerating Mr. Kerry’s mangled gibe at the president.
Here’s a sample of comments from Democrats and Republicans that echo Friedman’s conclusions.
Andrew Sullivan, conservative columnist and blogger
“I know it’s politics. I’m not naive. But it’s also revealing about someone’s character that he could authorize and exploit such a thing. Most fair-minded people will have to concede that, in retrospect, this was a very, very, very low blow. It hadn’t sunk in for me till last night how low. In retrospect, this incident says much more about Bush than about Kerry. I’ll bet I’m not the only one mulling that over this morning.”<!SOURCE: Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish Blog DATE: November 2, 2006
U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, leading in late polls over Republican Sen. Mike DeWine, warned Democrats on Wednesday against GOP scare tactics and deflected the controversy surrounding a comment about Iraq by 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.“Of course, they (Republicans) are using it as a rallying call because they want to change the subject. John Kerry stumbled on a joke, it didn’t come out right,” Brown said in an interview. “The people who should apologize are George Bush and Mike DeWine for sending our troops into battle without body armor and without examining the cooked intelligence.”
SOURCE: Associated Press Cincinnati, Dan Sewell DATE: November 1, 2006
Congressman Charlie Rangel, Democrat of New York:
Rangel: It was a bad joke, but clearly anyone would know that a guy that has been in combat would never do anything to insult the brave men and women that are there. It was the President, who knew he made a big mistake, that took it to polarize the armed forces, and I think that was a cheap shot by the president of the United States. SOURCE: Charlie Rangel interview on MSNBC DATE: November 2, 2006Bill O’Reilly, Conservative Pundit and Host of The O’Reilly Factor:
“Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor (10/31) said, “I don’t believe that John Kerry meant to demean any American military member, I just don’t, and I think that fair-minded people know that would be political suicide for the senator and he wouldn’t do it…” SOURCE: The Frontrunner DATE: November 1, 2006
U.S. Senator Jack Reed, Democrat, Rhode Island:
MSNBC interviewer: Does that, as some critics would say, bespeak a mindset that John Kerry has about the troops themselves?REED: I don’t think it bespeaks that mindset. I think what people should also recognize, that Senator Kerry is a combat veteran, was decorated. He has been there, on the front lines. He’s seen his comrades serve and sacrifice.
And I think, in his heart of hearts, he understands what young soldiers and Marines and sailors and Air Force men and women are doing in Iraq and across the globe. He was quite clear, he misspoke.
SOURCE: U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) Is Interviewed on MSNBC DATE: November 2, 2006
Congressman Dave Obey, Democrat, Wisconsin:
U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wis., defended critical remarks U.S. Sen. John Kerry made about President Bush’s policy on the Iraq war, saying Kerry “correctly described the buffoonery that accompanied the president’s mishaps.”Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. U.S. Senate Candidate of Tennessee:Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran, has incredible respect for the country and the armed forces, Obey said at a Democratic Party rally attended by about 150 people.
“He was talking about the idiocy of the policies pursued by the guy in the big White House,” Obey said. “I ask you, when was George Bush right about anything with respect to Iraq, and when was Dick Cheney right about anything?”
SOURCE: Associated Press, Chippewa Falls Wisconsin DATE: November 2, 2006
FORD: I’m a Christian, and I think everybody deserves a second chance. He made clear what his intent was, which was to challenge the policy we have on the ground in Iraq, which I think is widely believed to be not working in many quarters. We all share the same goal of winning. [...]….I take a person at their word. You know, when Vice President Cheney mistakenly shot his friend while they were out hunting, he said he was sorry and didn’t mean to do it. I believed him.
SOURCE: Representative Ford is Interviewed on Fox News’ “Hannity & Colmes” DATE: November 1, 2006
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[url=“http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/03/1431228”]KYLE SNYDER: Yeah, no problem. I had joined the military October 22, 2003, and I had originally joined for, basically, the verbal promises that were given to me at the time then, too. I was 19 years old. I wanted all of the things that this recruiter was promising me. I wanted military benefits. I wanted the $5,000 sign-on bonus. I wanted college. I wanted to continue my education. I had a fiancee at the time. We were planning on having a child. How am I going to take care of this child if I have one? So, for many reasons, but mainly the materialistic benefits that the military recruiters had promised, had persuaded me to sign the contract.
And it’s basically the same thing that’s happening now. They can verbally promise anything, but once you are in their custody, they can do anything that they want with you, which is completely the opposite of what a lot of these military officials are verbally promising, so—[/url]
So, tricking un-college educated US citizen into joining the military with false promises and lies about going to Iraq is okay, but telling the world that this happens when you’re not one of them, just one of the ones drafted for Vietnam, is apparently the worst thing in the world. My fellow Republican extremists, you sicken me.
From Previous Thread:
I don’t know how many in JK’s “inner circle” read this blog, but I have an idea with a suggstion: What I haven’t been hearing today - and maybe I have missed it - is the bipartisan outrage about Bushco’s gross political pandering at the expense of our safety (nuclear bomb secrets). I certainly think this is one topic that all Dems (and especially with John Kerry in the lead) should pounce on. This is a chance for him to make a statement and point out how much danger our President has put us in. Undoubtedly, there will be right wingers who will accuse him of opportunism, but they wont be able to deny the facts. Don’t shy away from this gift. Opportunities like this don’t come everyday (well maybe they do when we are talking about Bush’s incompetence). Bush tried to scare us about a mushroom cloud from Iraq. How about the one that Bush let happen because of his political pandering?
Other than the HufPo and NYT, are there any other major media outlets covering this? Has it made it to CNN/MSNBC/FOX? If not, why (stupid question…..ignore it)?
Posted by Nicholas Botto | November 3, 2006 3:12 PM
There are a lot of tricks that recruiters use. Watching Goldie Hawn get tricked by a recruiter may be funny during peace time, but not when you have a regime in office that lies their way to start a war and carries forth with a propaganda campaign.
My heart feels for all the soldiers sold a bag of rotten lies by Bush and by their recruiters. And it hurts worse when I think about the depleted uranium being used on the civilians and the soldiers as well.
My post at the bottom of the previous thread would have been more on topic here than there as I reposted today’s blog entry at Liberal Values on attacks on Kerry this week. The post is also available at Liberal Values:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=542
Below it on the blog are posts with more from Tom Friedman’s column, more from Andrew Sullivan, and comments from others.
This is what happens when you have a President who intentionally divides instead of unites and carries that policy thoughout any of his party’s campaigns.
http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/03/obnoxious/
Been working the 12+ hour shifts the past two days so no time to comment.
As far as the botched war and responsibility. I haven’t seen enough emphasis on Rumsfeld squashing the State Departments report “The Future of Iraq”. Thirteen books of post war reconstruction information and ideas put together over a full year by over 200 specialists and experts including Iraqis from almost every sector which was sent to Rumsfeld with a list of 75 Arabic speaking specialists willing to go to Iraq when Sadam’s government was brought down.
Rummy did not give this to Jay Garner, took people who were competent off Garner’s staff and replaced them with GOP ideologists who had no experience in the areas they were assigned. Garner was replaced almost immediately with Bremer who continued the ideological blindness with the support of Bush and his Cabinet for a year - essentially destroying the window of opportunity to rebuild Iraq, as well as setting it up for the chaos, further death, destruction and destabilization that has occurred.
“Imperial Palace, Life in the Emerald City” is an excellent review of that year and the unbelievably idiotic mistakes that were foisted on the Iraqi people. It is no wonder they don’t want to trust us or our soldiers now.
Also not any comments of the many stockpiles of conventional ammo, explosives and weapons that were not secured by Rummy during the invasion - despite repeated warnings to do so. Of the 2800 + dead and 113,000 + wounded, I will always wonder how many were hit by some of the booty from those looted stockpiles.
The silence of some Democratic leaders and the foolish remarks by others only leads me to say: Through members like you, our enemies get inside the party and threaten our progress far more than Kerry’s misquoted and blown out of proportion comment. Hillary, of all people, ouught to know that the fight is with ‘the vast Right Wing conspiracy’ which includes far too much of the MSM. Any candidate for the WH in ‘08 is going to face these attacks.
I know from teaching thousands of patients over three decades in nursing, it is possible to fine tune your comments when you are speaking one on one or to a small group. Public comments are difficult to fit into a one size fits all message. What matters more than anything is that the message fits the speaker.
To say that I am amused when people try to put things into Senator Kerry’s mouth, or take them out, is quite an understatement.
I would encourage the Senator to keep on speaking from his MIND and his HEART. His speechwriters and editors need to help in the basic message construction and editing for clarity, without destroying Senator Kerry’s unique style, wit and comprehensive answer. It’s harder for the GOP to do this kind of BS when there are other comments before and after that belie the accusations.
Time to MoveON to Tuesday, GOTV and election protection.
Point of information. My own county and apparently many others around the country are short of election judges. Probably due in part to the increased complexity of the process with the voting machines. Check in your area to see if there is a shortage and what you might do about it. It is too late to add more so the options are finding out what precincts are getting heavy traffic and going there with support items - water, food, official literature, sample ballots, whatever might be in short supply or needed to keep people from leaving - lawn chairs, whatever.
The headline in the Allentown Morning Call all over the country:
Apparently people can’t get too worked up over a botched joke, when they have to deal with a botched war in Iraq, botched national finances, a botched economy, and botched ethics in DC.
In 1992 it was “It’s the economy stupid” but now it’s, “It’s the economy, the botched war, and the corruption, the torture, the illegal wiretaps, the Katrina foreign policy, (etc) stupid…”
I am hoping that more and more pundits see the light and get on TV to tell the world what a bunch of crap this whole thing was.
I was in the Army for 7 years. I went to Iraq. When I was there I hated every minute of it. Looking back on it now, i’m glad I went those people need our help. Most of the people complaining about the war have never been in the miltary and don’t understand the honor of protecting your country. I do believe John Kerry cares about our troops in Iraq. He went to Vietnam and doesn’t want any harm done to our troops he just wants them home. As do many americans.
There’s another politcal satire cartoon on the “joke” here - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4638
Justin -
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your service, Justin, and your kind words.
Here’s another column by Molly Ivins, who understands very well George Bush:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1102-26.htm
If Kerry had been given as many breaks for misspeaking as George W. Bush has, he’d be a professor of grammar by now. And this all shows what the Bush regime has: attacks on Kerry, Clinton, Kennedy, Pelosi, liberals! ... but not any actual policies to help it.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news&id=4721556
Posted by Justin | November 3, 2006 5:02 PM
Justin,
Thank you for your service. We honor you and all your fellow compatriots who have kept the promise to our country and served.
But just as you have served us, we try to serve you. We fight for all of you, even when we say we want the war to end. It is because we so greatly value you and your service that we want to make sure you are never sent to war because of lies and that when we go to war the people who ‘manage’ the war are held accountable. We also want to make sure that we honor the job you do by taking care of you while your gone.
We do this by fighting for better equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan. We do this by fighting for your families who are left behind so that you will know that we’re taking care of them and provided for their needs and your childrens’ lives. We do this by fighting for the Veteran’s benefits you deserve when you return and by fighting for jobs and healthcare too. So that when you return from war, you can get a job to feed your family and have a roof over your head.
Thank you for your service Justin. I know it’s been said a million times by a million people, but we all support the troops. Some (like us) feel that if we see a better way, we MUST dissent. THAT is the war that we must fight to preserve this country. But never have we not respected our men and women in uniform; for them, it is a REAL war. We are humbled by your service to your country.
Ginny in CO: I agree about the (deafening) silence of many Democrats.
The story as a whole beautifully encapsulates the reason the Bushes and the Republicans in Congress must be thrown out: they distort and mislead about *anything*, with absolutely no shame and no honor. Then the media blows the Republican pitch up like a mushroom cloud.
Democrats could have stood immediately with Kerry to focus on Bush’s lies, misleadership, and distortions. It would have focused everything on Bush and Iraq—like a charm. Instead, many played the “please don’t hurt us” card, and maybe some were glad for Kerry to get bowled over.
I’ll admit it’s easier to give up for a few days than to fight the entire corporate conglomerate media, but I hope *Senator Kerry* realizes that most of *us* are proud of him for standing up to the storm, and we’ll remember who kept silent when the attacks started.
“If I were a U.S. soldier in Iraq, I would rather have President Bush send me adequate armament and more troops than have him send an apology from John Kerry.”
http://www.oregonlive.com/letters/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1162517111270710.xml&coll=7
Justin,
I am just as sick at the botched reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq as I am at the botched war itself. Everybody deserved better, from the troops to the citizens of those countries who do deserve hope and opportunity… and peace. Thanks for your service and I know, like John Kerry, you still know how to fight for your country. Thanks for helping turn it around.
I don’t care *which* side of the political fence(s) you’re on. You still need to click on this link and watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orlDffk29aI
and it’s not in character for me to say that sort of thing,
Otter
Nov 1, 2006 Bush says Rumsfeld stays.
Nov 3, 2006 Military Times says Rumsfeld goes.
Bye Rummy.
Let’s hand it to them…another national security breach.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/3/194522/180
And another John Kerry was right!
Republicans on the House Armed Services shut down the accountability office behind closed doors.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/11/03/the-little-bit-of-oversight-in-iraq-is-now-gone/
Watch the clip.
Senator Kerry’s lawyers should be aware of the non-stop libelous attacks on him by the talking heads at Fox News over the course of the last few days.
Yes, we all know that Fox News is a 24 hour infomercial for the Republican Party, but they went way way over the line in smearing the Senator this week. Hannity had the so called Swift Boat people on the other night going ballastic on him, Brit Hume slandering him non-stop, the idiots at Fox & Friends completely just making things up about him, it just goes on and on.
I know the Senator is not in a position to fight back right now until the election is over, but he really needs to give Fox the smackdown as soon as he is able to. It was very ugly and upsetting to watch the way they libeled him this week, and continue to do so. This is even beyond the pale for what Fox News is known for.
Media reports and polls say this swift boat 2 did not hurt our chances, and only brought more focus on Iraq.
I do think the Dems became energized by John Kerry standing tall. It’s as automatic to his DNA as his height.
Some of the media were generally impressed by the Senator’s “hitting back hard,” quoting Olbermann. Creating more defense than chiding.
The “botch” fed into the old GOP talking point of inartful, and not enough know about your wonderfully effective deliveries this year, but that will change.
Too few actually know what was said and meant, but Bush having to take responsibility seems to be at critical mass.
Have I said thank you enough, Senator?
well the Republican message machine got jazzed up to use you as the fall guy again. You also learned a valuable lesson about where the Democratic knives may be coming in the future. While all the pundits are ready to stick a fork in you as if you are done for 2008 in November of 2006, please remember the election has not really started.
Please do not make a decision until at least March of 2007. In the meantime respond to the attacks with actions, not words. For example, for Veteran’s Day or Thanksgiving participate in a building project in Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, or rural Lousiana (areas affected by Katrina) by helping a veteran rebuild. This emphasizes the record of Bush versus you as well as the Democratic field of candidates.
I just found this diary written by a soldier stationed in Iraq. He was not bothered by the botched joke, and writes about the state of military recruitment and how the whole episode should be used as an opportunity to discuss this issue:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/3/153249/306
Kudos to Ned Lamont for handling the question much better than some others. I hope the good people of CT make the right choice on Tuesday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPzxI_xFpc
fed up,
I like those points/ideas. I agree that the media and democrats eyeing 2008 are after Kerry. I hope this hasn’t put an end to 08 for him cause he would make a good president, I think waiting until next year to decide wouldn’t hurt.
I think the Veterans Day plans are good as well. I hope the senator will think about them. It could help mend the fences and keep his support that may have been lost.
He should also personally meet with the troops. They would appreciate someone that served and is looking out for them.
fed up,
Hi I am fedup too.
I’ll be glad when the election is over with and he comes out swinging. hatever he decides to do I’ll have his back.
I would just like to commend Senator Kerry for laying an awesome smackdown on the Rethugs and in particular Tony snow, Rush and bush.
I would also like to tell the cowardly dems who took the senator’s money and stabbed him in the back to grow a spine.
I wasn’t suprised but it sickens the stomach just the same. The media is as much to blame and they need to get a smack down to.
When some of the wing nuts who always bash Senator Kerry stand up and say he didn’t insult the troops what is the excuse of those dems that stood with Bush and Rove?
Senator, I pray you run in 08 because if you don’t I won’t vote.
You have to come out now and if not now then November 8th and continue what you started, which is a fight for a better America.
You stood up when no one else in your party would and you hit harder than Bill Clinton ever did and I say bravo, keep it up and remember no surrender that is what you have said a many of day.
Please take to the airways and if you have to go on O’rielly’s show and other shows to present your case.
Take the fight to the heart of the enemy.
You are a fighter and so are we.
Posted by Cin’s sis | November 4, 2006 2:25 AM
Right on, Cin’s Sis!! I’m with you !!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
GOP Zeroing In on Senate Races
With House seemingly a lost cause, Republicans view Va., Mo. and Tenn. as key to holding power.
–Charles Babington and Jonathan Weisman
snip-
“Analysts yesterday gave a slight advantage to Republican nominee Bob Corker in Tennessee—largely because he is not an incumbent—and to Democrat James Webb in Virginia, because Sen. George Allen (R) has failed to lock up his reelection in this anti-GOP environment. The final, crucial card could fall in Missouri, they said, where Sen. James M. Talent (R) and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill have been neck and neck for weeks, unable to break away despite massive spending on positive and negative TV ads and jockeying over a contentious ballot initiative.”
snip-
(The ballot issue in MO is re: stem cell research, this election’s version of gay marriage. The research, in another great example of distortion of the facts, is being sold as pro-cloning. Even though ex-Senator John Danforth (Rep), has strongly endorsed the initiative, stem cell research v the false claim that it constitutes “cloning” is still the issue. Well that, and Dems being soft on terrorists, as Bush highlighted here yesterday. :-
Info via WaPo on the three states and races:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/56/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/19/
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/18/
Websites for Ford, Webb and McCaskill
http://www.house.gov/ford/
http://www.webbforsenate.com/home.php
http://www.claireonline.com/
Latest Rasmusssen poll for Ford puts him eight points down. Swiftboating Kerry on Fox News was political suicide. Dems have to stop letting Rove think for them.
Posted by Peter Baldwin | November 4, 2006 12:00 PM
Peter, Do you have the results? I haven’t seen them.
Also, I actually am quite surprised to hear that he’s dropped. I know I was quite angry at a few of those Dems who played into Rove’s hands.
I totally agree with you. the time for Dems to stand up against Rove’s unethical tactics was a long time ago. I believe there might be a backlash against Hillary too.
I know there were a few Dems who cancelled events with John (at least according to the news there was). I hope those people develope more spine themselves.
As Kerry said, “He learned hard and deep…”
I guess anyone else out there hasn’t quite gotten the lesson yet.
Tia,
Pollster.com is a great resource. You can search Ford in the search box or there is a box on the right with the latest polls, where you can click on the state for the polling history.
When you get to the history put the cursor on the rightmost blue dot to get the most recent poll result.
Generic results are unprecedented (dailykos) and intent to vote is much higher for the Dems (68%, I think).
I got tingles up my spine when I saw Ned Lamont’s Youtube response to a reporter’s question about Kerry. He was ready and turned the tables bigtime.
Posted by peterbaldwin | November 4, 2006 12:36 PM
Thanks for the link, Peter.
I checked out some of the other races while I was there. It’s amazing if you compare the maps to the 2004 maps. I guess in 2004 people just hadn’t had enough pain yet to appreciate the things Kerry/Edwards could do.
Hindsight is 20-20.
From Newsweek today: “Despite round-the-clock coverage of John Kerry’s Iraq gaffe this week and non-stop rallies in which the President paints Democrats as weak-on-terror tax lovers, the political momentum has returned to the Democrats.”
Another way of saying it is: Swiftboating Kerry by the Republican chickenhawks and the complicit media has backfired for the Republicans, stopping recent Republican momentum in its tracks. Americans are rallying behind Kerry, encouraged by his set-the-record-straight remarks about the mess in Iraq.
President Bush, feverishly running around campaigning instead of tending to the unfolding crisis in Iraq, makes him look like a desperate commander-in-chief who is AWOL.
The vicious, cruel, and unwarranted attacks made against Senator Kerry this week brought to my mind a quote I had seen once on a motivational poster. The quote, by Kent Keith, was featured on a sign hanging in one of Mother Teresa’s mission homes in Calcutta. I thought it appropriate and fitting:
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind.
Think big anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you might get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
Thank YOU, Senator Kerry, for all that you have given for your beloved country - even if your sacrifice and service has earned you scorn from petty and wicked people. Please know that there are many of us who recognize the good you do and will not stand silent in the face of injustice. The good that you do overshadows the backstabbing cowardice of those who would tear you down.
No retreat, no surrender. We have your back, Senator - now and forever.
Rachael:
That was an awesome post; I think we all needed that shot in the arm.
Earlier today I was thinking about events in the Senator’s life from 1970 until current events. There has ALWAYS been a John O’Niell, a Richard Nixon, a Robert Perry etc. who has made it their job to disintegrate JK’s standing in politics; it is an ongoing crusade for the very worst faction of the GOP. They must set aside a million bux a year just to keep the man from taking the country by storm.
It’s been going on for 30 years, and yet here he still stands, taking everything they can dish out. The Nixon White House couldn’t stop him, Vietnam Idiots FOR the WAR couldn’t; and the swiftboaters only slowed him down. I can honestly say that he is the most resilient person that I have ever read about in modern American history. He also has some really dedicated people working for him both professionally and on a voluteer basis. If anyone can put this behind him and set out on the road again, it’s John Kerry. I think we’d all understand if he said “enough is enough”, but I don’t think he’s ever given up on anything in his life, and his best moments have ALWAYS been when people thought he was down for the count. Rock on Senator, we’ve ALWAYS got your back!
Justin,
Thank you for your service to your country. May God bless you and your family.
I don’t agree with the reason we were sent over to Iraq, but we do need to finish what we started. I have had friends die over there and I don’t want to think that they died for nothing. We have helped the Iraqi people alot. Why should we turn our backs when we are needed to help them? Doesn’t the United States help those who need it?
Justin - nobody who dies wearing the uniform of his country has died in vain. I think everyone agrees on this.
To answer your other questions, check out this speech JK gave in May:
http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/speech.html?id=2
Justin, your friends didn’t die for nothing. They died serving their country, and that’s both honorable beyond words and unfortunately, a great tragedy. Let me ask you, though, do you think more should die, do you think more friends and families should suffer such a loss, so those at home can feel better about why we sent them? I’m pretty certain you don’t.
No one blames the troops. Senator Kerry, more than anyone, understands and respects their service. He’s suffered the same loss.
It’s Mr. Bush’s failed policies that are the cause of all this pain.
Regarding the Iraqis, how we are “helping them a lot”? Iraq is now in the midst of a civil war, hundreds of thousands have died, and there is no end in sight. Is that helping? We could have helped them by assisting in a political solution. The troops can’t do that. It’s not their job. And the situation in Iraq is most certainly not their fault.
No one is suggesting we desert the people of Iraq, Justin. If you read the Kerry/Feingold plan, it doesn’t suggest any abandonment of Iraq. It calls for ‘over the horizon’ troop presence and a Middle East summit in addition to some continued military presence. Their plan is also not immediate withdrawl. When it was proposed, the timeline was a year.
I’m sorry for your loss, Justin, and hope to God you don’t suffer more.
Justin,
Thank you for your service. This is an especially tough time to be in the military. And I am sorry for the friends you have lost. I can understand you want something positive that we can point to for their sacrifice. But I read today that Bechtel is pulling out of Iraq without finishing the job, and in fact on average Baghdad residents have about 6 hours of electricity a day. Yet we’ve occupied that country for three and a half years! And we can’t even keep the lights on in the capitol city? If this is all the progress we’ve made - for the majority of the country - in three and a half years, what does this say about our capability to ever “finish the job”? Is 6 hours a day of electricity even “progress” at all?
I’m sure that at the street level, in many places some good has been done, and in some perhaps a great deal of good. But on the whole, is the populace better off?
My feeling is that we’ve broken it, and it would be great if we could follow Colin Powells point and accept that we “bought it” - but Iraq isn’t a possession that you buy in a store. And I think it may be “broken” beyond repair, and the more we try to fix it, the worse we break it. Maybe the Iraqis are better off if we step out of the way and let them solve their problems themselves?
And, I absolutely agree with Democrafty’s point. No one who has died in service to their country has ever died in vain.
IMPORTANT: upload the video of your Pasadena speech to YouTube.com. There are no transcripts of what you actually said available, only the out-of-context BS clips.
David:
Here is a link to the as-prepared remarks, the as-delivered version of the noted portion, and the video of the speech:
http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/speech.html?id=18
If the poll is accurate about Ford then he has no one to blame but himself.
Think about it? If you are a voter in TN and you hear the nasty remarks Ford made in the beginning about Senator Kerry then you here some conservative pundits who bash the senator regularly say they don’t believe the whitehouse spin and that the senator would never insult the troops you would have to ask yourself the following question:
Would you vote for someone who bashed a member of his own party, a veteran in the military, and this person raised a boat load of money?
I didn’t think so.
That is why Ford may be down in the polls along with the racist ads. He didn’t show the fortitude to stand on his own and fight for his own.
I really do want the dems to win the November 7th election but I’m not going to stand by and watch them bash Senator Kerry just so they can look good to some supposedly undecided voters.
This episode showed who the senator can count on and who the dem voters can count on.
I still recommend the senator go on the offensive on this and get his story out there. If he doesn’t the perception may stick and he have worked to hard for the bushwhackers and some weak-knee democrats to throw him under the bus.
I think it was the day after the failed joke that I heard some comments from Mr. Kerry on the radio. Mr. Kerry seemed angry at Pres. Bush’s comments, his words did not sound like they were prepared by the speech writers and spin doctors. At least I hope they weren’t. It’s not very often that a politician sounds really genuine, really himself (or herself). I wish we had more of that - we need some openness and honesty around here. We’re tired of hearing over-engineered comments that sound like they come from the writers and the handlers, not from the candidates themselves.
Mr. Kerry said mainly that he was not going to apologize to Pres. Bush, and was tired of being grilled by the GOP every whipstitch (obviously paraphrased). Good for him!! We’re tired of that, too. Tired enough to change parties.
-An average Jane in Ohio
Posted by catdavis | November 5, 2006 2:22 PM
Hi Cat—
I’m like you—tired of politicians who promote fake emotions and fake humanity. John Kerry clearly put his heart forward and it shows.
I think his heartfelt words reached many people who just thought of him as some “politician’ instead of a person who really cares.
He’s spent his life being part of the ‘band of brothers’ and his whole time in Congress he’s fought to improve their services.
So I’m glad that you came here and posted that. I know there was a time when I felt alone in my view points. But after seeing him stand up against this nonsense made me realize I’m so much more proud to support him than I ever was to support any other candidate before this.
Together all of us can make a difference. I really believe it. I hope there are lots of wonderful average Jane’s like you in Ohio. We need a blue Ohio.