The Note: Gary Hart to endorse Kerry this afternoon

[DJcairo]

He also holds a conference call to announce, ABC News' Ed O'Keefe has learned, former Senator Gary Hart's endorsement, which will also be Webcast this afternoon. He will attend a fundraiser tonight at Regional Food & Drink in D.C. along with Senator Kennedy and more than a dozen House members.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html

[justinb3]

1. Hart endorsement

OMG, you mean a lot of establishment Senators are going to endorse and support the leading establishment Senator?

That *IS* news!!!

-justinb

[blm]

3. THE leading expert on terrorism and international security.

Y'know, the Hart-Rudman report?

Ignore Gary Hart....that's what Bush and Cheney did, too.

[justinb3]

6. Hart-Rudman

Of course I do (re: HR). I'm not dissing either of Kerry or Hart (or Kennedy, for that matter). They're all pretty good guys, as far as I can tell, within certain limits.

What I'm saying is that it's hardly groundbreaking news, any more so, than say a Rubin endorsement of Clark is going to be. They're all members of different segments of the same crowd. Which corner ends up more crowded remains to be seen.

-justinb

[LuminousX]

30. THE leading expert?

No one else is as qualified as he is?

[blm]

39. Overall, yes, and didn't Clinton think so, too?

.

[LuminousX]

44. Not necessarily

I feel safe in saying Hart is not the top expert in foreign policy in the US today. Clinton choose a smart, well informed person who has had legislative experience who was also ameniable to Clinton's pov regarding the U.S.'s role in the world.

[blm]

45. heheh...nice volley

but, you know your guy would LOVE to have Hart on his team, as well as every other candidate.

[LuminousX]

46. Absolutely!

I never once claimed this wasn't a huge score for Kerry. My guy was going to Hart to get schooled on foreign policy. For Democrats there really are only a handful of people to go to for such things. Hart's support of Kerry makes me excited at maybe seeing Hart as Sec. of State or National Security Advisor.

[blm]

47. NSA, probably

but, if we're stuck with Homeland Security anyway, I'd trust a liberal like Hart in that position, too.

[el_gato]

2. No Surprise

CFR member supporting Kerry (another with close ties to the elite)

[clar]

4. Pay no atttention

to the scoffers and naysayers. This is a great and meaningful endorsement- and I say that as a Dean supporter.

[Hawkeye-X]

5. I'll be calling the good ex-Senator Hart

as he represents my state, and REMIND him that he shouldn't endorse people that has voted OPPOSITE of his views.

I'll also be encouraging him not to endorse anybody until the primary season start.

Hawkeye-X

[DJcairo]

7. You are a sore loser.

[XanaDUer]

8. Ditto.

Hart did the right thing: endorsed the candidate who he felt best capable of handling the leadership areas to which he has devoted his political career.

I guess that carries more weight than your 'phone call/contact to Hart.

[blm]

9. Why? Do you know more about these issues than Hart?

That's what Bush and Cheney said to the American people in early 2001. That turned out well for this nation, didn't it.

Is Hart expected to do what's BEST for the nation, or what YOU think is best for YOUR chosen candidate?

[Nicholas_J]

13. I am sure

Gary will be trembling his boots Hawk.

Lets see. lets see, what was it Hart said about Dean:

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, lacks crucial defense or foreign policy experience.

http://www.talkleft.com/archives/003105.html

The full text of the Denver Post article and the text whih precedes this article gives Harts report of a telephone Call from Dean in which Dean is asking him what to do on his first trip to Israel as Dean knew absolutely NOTHING about foreign affairs.

Even if he withheld his endorsement, it would, it would be totally outside professional scruple for him to give it to Dean with his knowledge and direct experience with Dean relating to foreign afairs and defense.

[CMT]

10. I posted this on the first thread which was locked as a dupe

on this issue, so I will say it here as well--I think this is a good endorsement for the Kerry campaign and they should be congratulated. Hart and Kerry go way back to the '72 campaign for McGovern and served together in the Senate. While I would expect this endorsement given their history together it is still one that the Kerry people should be proud of.

[newsguyatl]

11. so this is

the "major endorsement" ???

[blm]

14. If you think this is NOTHING, you need a perception adjustment.

Hart is the person that Clinton tapped on national security, and YOUR guy tried to tap to help him in the foreign policy arena.

Too bad for Dean that Hart doesn't think he has the chops to be president. If Hart had endorsed Dean, you'd all be crowing louder than a migrating flock of blackbirds.

[rabid_nerd]

53. I was thinking the same thing newsguyatl!

I just about snorted in laughter when I realized it was Hart...

[Northwind]

12. As I have said before

I will see you your Washington insider and raise you 450,000 average American citizens.

[revcarol]

15. Hart doesn't carry any weight with me.

Sure, he's for security measures against terrorism, but at the cost of our civil liberties.

So this endorsement does :thumbsdown: for me.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. Gary Hart rode the same wave in 1984 that Dean is on now

that would be the anti-establishment "youth" wave. So there's a little food for thought.

[Larkspur]

26. But Dean's wave is not based on "youth" alone

On the way back from the Boston rally, I met elderly ladies clutching their Howard Dean rally signs. None had ever donated to a candidate before Dean and they wore smiles on their faces when talking about Dean and the rally.

[Larkspur]

16. Hart trying to perform CPR on Kerry's campaign

but it won't work.

Dean has the momentum and 3 times what Kerry raised this quarter because Kerry dissed We the People.

The revolution won't just be against Bush but against all the Establishment Dems who think that We the People are sheep for them to shear.

[blm]

18. HAHAHA...Kerry likes to position his campaign to come from behind.

And if you were an astute observer of campaigns, you'd know that.

However, since you seem to rail against the "establishment" so much you support Dean, who the hell does Dean sound like in these two articles? I'll give you a hint...a former REPUBLICAN Governor of Texas.

http://timesargus.nybor.com/Archive/Articles/Article/23996

MONTPELIER - A leading environmentalist was asked to leave Gov. Howard Dean's council of environmental advisers after she criticized the governor's short-lived proposal for a coal-fired power plant in Vermont.

Elizabeth Courtney, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, was one of 20 members of the governor's environmental council, which meets about once every three months with the governor.

But after Courtney wrote a newspaper opinion piece faulting Dean for his brief advocacy of a coal plant, she learned she was no longer welcome on the council. David Rocchio, the governor's legal counsel, wrote her late last month to say she will be replaced on the council by VNRC's board chairman. The move came after she had written the governor on energy issues and showed his staff her draft newspaper piece, Courtney said.

"From the tone of your letter (to the governor), the content of your (newspaper) essay, and your rejection of the concerns we have raised with you in conversation, it appears that you do not seek a dialogue," Rocchio wrote to Courtney and to VNRC's board. "The governor sees little point in continuing to try to discuss these issues with you."

Meanwhile, another prominent environmentalist - Mark Sinclair, Vermont director of the Conservation Law Foundation - was also asked to step down from the council. Sinclair said it was not yet clear whether he was being removed to make way for another environmentalist, as he was told, or because he had criticized Dean's environmental policies.
>>>>>>>

http://timesargus.nybor.com/Legislature/Story/43125.html


Dean raises money from energy sources

February 27, 2002

By David Gram

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MONTPELIER — When Gov. Howard Dean wanted to raise money for a possible presidential bid, he followed the example of a former governor of Texas and called on his friends in the energy industry.

>>>>>>>
“Administration actions going back some years betray an inappropriate coziness with the utilities,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Service Research Group. “I am not prepared to say it’s a result of contributions given. But these contributions present the appearance of impropriety or appearance of influence that it probably would have been better to avoid.”

Dean’s close relationship with utility representatives dates back to the day he became governor in 1991. A lobbyist for Green Mountain Power and a GMP employee were among the first people Dean called in to help his transition.

A list of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers includes Green Mountain Power Corp.’s chairman, two company board members and a vice president, all of whom made donations to the Fund For A Healthy America. It also includes two longtime utility lobbyists.

Over the years, the governor has sided with the utilities on many of the most pressing issues, including the push for deregulation of the electric industry, and later backing away from that as a goal. Among other major decisions:

— After years of pushing for the companies to absorb the excess costs of their expensive contract with Hydro-Quebec, Dean’s Department of Public Service agreed to let ratepayers be billed for more than 90 percent of what those excess costs are expected to be in the coming years. The extra costs will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
>>>>>>>

[molly]

19. WHOA!!!!

not good news for the Dean camp!

[Larkspur]

24. The reason I rail against Establishment Dems, like Kerry, is

because they are arrogant and treat average citizens like sheep to be sheared. The reasons Kerry gives for voting for the 2002 Iraq War resolution are Byzantine. Shakespeare said, "Brevity is the soul of wit," and Kerry's argument for voting for the 2002 Iraq War demonstrates a witless soul or one who knows he made a mistake and can't admit it publicly.

Dean has encouraged his supporters to be participants in his campaign, and after meeting him personally, I find that Dean is excited about meeting average people and he treats us with respect. In many ways, Dean's campaign is a lot like Huey Long's, who was more socialist than FDR and Dean, but Long's campaign appealed to the common man and even though Long played the political payback game after winning election, the populist Dem never lied to the people and made sure that the people did get economic justice. In that sense, Dean is a populist Democrat and Kerry is a Democratic Dauphin.

[Nicholas_J]

32. Dean long and convoluted statements

About his support of Gingrich and other Republicans in 1995, and then his rejections of the Vermont Democrats suggestions to prevent cuts to health programs for the elderly in disabled in Vermont in 2002, while COMPLETELY supoting the Vermont Republican platform is just lacking in brevity.

And far more problematic for Dean.

And also indicative that his stance has not changed at all since 1995. And that he is just bullshtting for the sake of his campign at this point.

[Larkspur]

34. I recall that Gov Dean told the Vermont Legislature that it was

their responsibility to come up with the revenue to pay for those health programs. He was supporting an increase in cigarette taxes to pay for it and that was opposed by some in the Legislature. Dean gave them a choice, like he's giving us with Bush's tax cuts -- you either have the tax cut or no XYZ program. The legislature finally agreed to the tax increase and the health programs were kept.

Dean also axed programs that did no good and the money either went to balancing the budget or put into another program that worked. Extraneous or poorly created programs drain the government of much needed revenues. It's the job of all branches of government to keep an eye on waste and correct it.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

20. Gary Hart won New Hampshire in 1984.....by a LOT!

Gary Hart 37,702 37.3% (Senator Colorado)
Walter F. Mondale 18,173 27.9% (Fmr. VP- Minnesota)
John Glenn 12,088 12.0% (Sen. Ohio)
Jesse Jackson 5,311 5.3%
George McGovern 5,217 5.2% http://www.politicallibrary.org/Primary.htm

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. Gary Hart was not the only one screwed by the media in '88 - we all were

Just think how history might have unfolded differently if we had Gary Hart as President instead of Bush Sr.

http://www.tvrundown.com/polhart1.htm

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. Considering that Hart IS ALREADY an adviser to the Kerry campaign

this comes as absolutely no surprise.

That having been said, good for Kerry.

[blm]

23. Except NOW Hart will be able to appear on the news networks

and explain exactly WHY Kerry is the best choice for president, while others...ahem...are not. And he knows details about ALL of them and their foreign policy experience firsthand.

Enjoy.

[Larkspur]

25. If Kerry was the best candidate, he wouldn't neet Hart to speak for him

Kerry screwed up big time with his 2002 Iraq War vote and he's praying Hart can bail him out. It's a sign of desperation if Hart becomes Kerry's mouthpiece.

[blm]

27. BULL. You never said that about Gore, did you?

ALL candidates have reps on these shows as the campaign heats up. You KNOW it but, you can't handle the idea of your guy getting his real record exposed on national media. So you spin it against Kerry.

btw...Weren't YOU the one complaining that noone spoke up enough for Gore during his campaign just last year? Geez, Larkspur, if you're going to whine, be honest about it.

[LuminousX]

29. I'm not afraid

Bring out the 'Real Record' though I do question slightly Hart's role as the 'Keeper of the Real Record.' It will also be interesting to see if Hart does come out and lay Dean's views out on the table. For some reason I don't think he will. I don't think Kerry will ever really battle Dean on that issue accept to say that he has more experience.

BTW, I also don't think Hart is god's gift of foreign policy. I'm not quite sure where that meme was created. On the other hand, I do respect Hart, so thumb's up for Kerry.

[blm]

33. Clinton thought he was.

And the Hart-Rudman report was one of the most important overviews of the world situation in a half century. I'd say that if that report was implemented under President Gore then we would not have experienced a 9-11.

[LuminousX]

35. I fully agree

But if he comes out against Dean (not just FOR Kerry) I will be shocked and I will easily dismiss it because he is not the end all be all of foreign policy. He was merely one of the many capable people Clinton tapped because he was amenable to the Clinton administration and the administration's foreign policy goals.

At the end of the day, though, this is great news for Kerry. It will be interesting to see how the campaign capitalizes upon this event to build some interest in Kerry.

[Larkspur]

31. I wasn't whining, just stating a fact about Kerry's inability to talk

straight about his war vote.

As far as Gore, I was one among many who defended Gore against unjust attacks.

My attack on Kerry is justified. The Iraq War is morally wrong and Bush's campaign last year was using Iraq as a club to cow Democrats so as to take Congress and Kerry fell for the war talk and contributed to the Democrats defeat. The last thing I want is a Dem Presidential nominee, who is a sucker for obvious con games, a con that Al Gore warned about in his Sep 23, 2002 speech on Iraq.

[blm]

36. That's YOUR view. Kerry did what NEEDED to be done

Your criticism notwithstanding. Some lawmakers HAD to step up to the plate and curtail Bush where they could. You can't change the fact that Bush did NOT bomb Iran and Syria after Baghdad, as was his wont, and that he was forced to present evidence to the UN which now has put his credibility in the toilet today. Thanks to those who bothered to do what was NEEDED.

You may not like it, but there are plenty of Syrians and Iranians who would disagree with your view.

[Larkspur]

37. The 2002 Iraq War Resolution did nothing to force Bush to come back to

Congress and prove his case. It required him to go to the UN, which he did but he made a mockery out of that trip, just like he made a joke out of Congress and the Dems who supported his war.

Kerry voted against amendments that would have required Bush to come back to Congress and prove his case against Saddam prior to Bush launching the war.

Kerry and that war resolution had nothing to do with stopping Bush from invading Iran or Syria. Bush would have played the same con game if he needed Congress's approval and Kerry would have fallen for it as well. What stopped Bush from launching an invasion of Iran and Syria was our primary Allies opposition to Bush's war. The US shouldered most of the burden of that war and now the occupation.

Kerry demonstrated no profiles in courage over the current Iraq war. He deserves the scorn he gets from us.

[goobergunch]

28. This was the big endorsement?

I'm not saying it's not important, but I could swear Hart said he was supporting Kerry earlier.

[blm]

38. The author of the Hart-Rudman report

is HUGE in this post 9-11 election. The man could have run this year, himself.

He has spoken about Kerry as the best choice before, but this is the first time many people are grasping that it's official.

[goobergunch]

40. Don't get me wrong.

I agree that the Hart endorsement is important. It's just I think this is old news.

[blm]

41. It frees him up to do the TALK shows, goobergunch....

Dean is ahead mostly because of PUBLICITY that the media heaped upon him for months. Then Clark. That's what polls reflect. We'll now see that the real part of the campaign is about to begin where more of the issues and differences of the candidates will be defined.

Dean will have his spokespeople and Kerry will have his. They will still do some of their own appearances, but, spokespeople will prove invaluable. You aren't going to get better than Hart on foreign policy or national security. And I doubt Clinton or Gore will act as spokespeople until the general.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

42. It happened today, but you think it is 'old news'.

lol

[blm]

43. He saw it alluded to here a few times by me in the past.

No fault of his for thinking it was old news. Knowing goobergunch, he'll get up to speed right quick on how important Hart will be to this race.

[Jim Sagle]

48. Earth to Hart: "Hey liverspots, nobody gives a fuck!"

[blm]

49. That's what Bush said about the Hart-Rudman report.

Look, you agree with Bush on something. You must be so proud.

[George_Bonanza]

50. Big news

Gary Hart's name was circulating around on DU a lot, in a good light too. All I know was that his presidential bid a while ago was derailed because of photos of him and some model girl. Tsk tsk. Sounds like he could've been a grand president.

A big name like Hart endorsing a candidate is big news. Great for Kerry.

[arcos]

51. So, your thread a few days ago saying "Hart endorses Kerry"

was not true?

[blm]

52. That was on a television show...Hart was praising Kerry

and many of those newer to politics take that to mean an endorsement. Today was the formal one and all is square.