Did Anyone See Kerry on C-Span Tonight?

[welshTerrier2]

He really was great ...

"What this administration just does not understand is that the economy is about people and products ... not perks and privileges"

His healthcare plan is just plain old common sense ... he wants the government to pick-up the tab for 75% of catastrophic illnesses ... that takes the big ticket items out of the pool on which rates are based and should help to drive the cost of premiums down .. the beauty of this plan is that not even the insurance companies are likely to oppose it ... he cited that one of his objectives in developing this plan was that it could get passed by the Congress ...

In foreign policy, Kerry spoke articulately about the madness of bush's unilateral foreign policy ... he talked about his plan to restore the faith of other nations in the U.S. ... and he talked about how without strong alliances overseas, the nation was at risk ...

I'm a "proud undecided" in this campaign ... I thought Kerry was excellent ...

[pasadenaboy]

1. I didn't know he talked about anything other than

DEAN. DEAN! DEAN?

[KC21304]

2. If you don't pay attention, you never learn.

[welshTerrier2]

3. your post contributed nothing to the discussion

why not discuss Dean's issues relative to Kerry's ...

why not make an intelligent defense of Dean and explain why you support him ... why not even discuss the shortcomings of Kerry's positions ...

but no ... all you care to offer is vacuous criticism ... thanks so much for contributing to the discussion ...

[pasadenaboy]

5. Okay

If Kerry will say that he was wrong to vote for the Iraq resolution, and that the invasion was a mistake, I will consider him. People have tried to explain his position to me, but I never quite get it. This is my current understanding of his position:

1) He still would vote for the Iraq resolution. He isn't against the war, just thinks it wasn't handled properly.

2) he thinks W should have gotten a coalition.

If that is he viewpoint, I think he is wrong. He was wrong to vote for the resolution. He was wrong not to see what all of us here could see, that the administration was lying about the intelligence, and he is wrong to think there was any reason to invade Iraq, with or without a coalition.

that's my understanding of his position, If I am misunderstanding it, please correct me as you seem to understand him better than I do. thanks.

[welshTerrier2]

9. thanks

i hated kerry's vote on the IWR ... for many months, i argued vigorously against supporting any candidate who supported bush's war ... and i make no excuses for Kerry's vote ... it was wrong no matter how he explains it ...

in response to your 2 points, i agree that Kerry's position has been that the war was not handled properly and that he thinks his vote on IWR was right ... i wouldn't make light of Kerry's opposition to the way Bush used war as a first option ... I strongly agree with Kerry's criticism of bush on this and I commend his position on urging a diplomatic approach ... but I still feel strongly that his IWR vote was dead wrong ...

one of the things you left out of your analysis of Kerry's Iraq position was that Kerry voted against the continued funding of this madness ... I give him tons of credit for doing that ... what sane person could vote to hand bush $87 billion to continue this madness ?? Kerry could easily be labelled a flip-flopper or some have said he did it for political gain ... well, who knows ... all I know is that he did the absolute right thing when he voted against giving bush more money ...

so, as one of Kerry's harshest critics strictly because of his IWR vote, I'm prepared to forgive and forget ... Kerry, btw, has an almost identical voting record to Ted Kennedy ... for years, he's been one of the most liberal Senators ...

I have no argument with those who would dismiss him solely on his IWR vote ... I was prepared to do so myself ... but I think we're missing an opportunity to understand what Kerry brings to the table in a head-to-head with bush ... I think he's far more experienced in both foreign policy and intelligence (spy stuff not smarts) than Dean ... and I think his pro-veteran agenda is very appealing ... Dean's position on Iraq wasn't so great either, btw ... I introduced Dean's campaign workers to DU in the very early days of the campaign ... I almost endorsed Dean and was planning to work for him ... but some of his Iraq statements were awful and in the end I just couldn't support him ...

To the extent that Kerry or any of our candidates attack each other on anything but the issues, I think they do a disservice to the party and the cause ... and it's no better when DU'ers contribute to that sort of sniping either ... this is real business ... we've got to get democrats back into power ... and we'd better do it damned soon ...

we need to be behind all our candidates and we need to ensure that we get the best possible chance to beat bush ...

[quaker bill]

10. My thoughts exactly

Kerry seems to be saying that the war would be good if only we had a better manager. It is a completely lame concept. Immoral things do not become better through sound management.

According to Gephardt the Democratic leadership on the hill was meeting with Bush* every week. If these Democrats could not tell just how full of bovine excrement the build up to war was, they are not worthy of leadership. If they could tell and voted for this load bovine excrement anyway, what does that say?

[DrFunkenstein]

12. You May Disagree With The Vote Itself, But His Position=Dean's Position

When a questioner said Kerry implied that Gephardt had compromised too easily with the White House, Gephardt replied that the president had made it clear he would not accept a "two-step" process that required him to come back to Congress for authorization of force.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0221-03.htm

HOUSE MINORITY Leader Richard A. Gephardt acceded to the drums of war on Wednesday, agreeing to an overly broad resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to attack Iraq. In the process, Mr. Gephardt undermined efforts in the Senate to limit the war authority to disarmament, rather than regime change.

Mr. Gephardt -- who was joined by other centrist Democrats, including Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut -- claimed to have won important concessions from Mr. Bush, and waxed on about how "this should not be about politics." But the concessions he won were minor, and his actions appear to be driven by the political imperatives of the coming election.

A far better proposal by Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., would limit the war authorization to enforcement of the resolutions requiring the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.

Before Mr. Gephardt decided to cave in on the war resolution, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. had hoped to make the Biden-Lugar resolution the basis of a vote in the Senate. That now appears unlikely. Mr. Biden said Wednesday that he was a realist and knew that the new compromise, ballyhooed Wednesday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden, pretty much meant the end of his approach.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1003-01.htm

Kerry pushed hard for Biden-Lugar and DID NOT want Iraq "taken off the table" for expediency. He wanted it done RIGHT.

Dean also supported Biden-Lugar, after the fact.

[Pavlovs DiOgie]

14. You win the prize!

Excellent point, quaker bill. Kerry still hasn't found his way out of the hole he dug himself with trying to explain away his war vote.

[blm]

15. No...that the DIPLOMACY needed a better manager,

and definitely postSaddam needed a better plan.

btw....Dean wasn't that far off from Kerry, so why do you have a different standard in your complaints against Kerry?

Dean was for a different plan for use of force, but not against a war, per se.

[blm]

4. Cspan not working in my area today.

Sorry to say.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. BFEE, methinks.

[MessiahRp]

7. Head to C-SPAN.org

You can pull down streams there.

Rp

[loudnclear]

8. Heard him on the radio...he was magnificant!

The more each candidate has time to explain themselves the more I like each one. I could easily vote for Kerry after hearing him tonight.

[blm]

11. If you read his actual policies

and positions on all the issues, you'll find the most comprehensive, progressive agenda in modern political history.

They are all quite detailed, so it does take some time to read through. Hit the issues link and the speeches.

www.johnkerry.com

[DrFunkenstein]

13. See Any Kerry Event On C-Span Here

http://www.c-span.org/Search/basic.asp?BasicQueryText=john+kerry&SortBy=date

This latest one is not up yet, but you can see his statements right up to the day after 9/11.

[JI7]

16. caught it unexpectedly

i didn't know it was going to be on, but i think i caught most of it. it was a very good appearance. they usually are, i especially liked the parts where he talks directly to the people. where he answers their questions or just goes around and meets them and takes pictures. some of it is just entertaining like where he is fixing his pants and shirt to take the picture, or answering the questions from the student on books.