In Defense of Bob Kerrey

[cali]

Do I agree with him on Iraq? Hell, no. But important as Iraq is, there are other issues that come into play.

The claim that Kerrey is war mongerer is undermined by his courageous vote AGAINST the Gulf War. There weren't many dems who voted against it.

Kerrey received a 100 percent rating as recently as 1998 from the League of Conservation voters.

His labor record pretty strong, although he did vote for NAFTA.

He is pro-choice. Voted NO on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
Voted NO on disallowing overseas military abortions. (May 1999)

He voted against DOMA.

Is he Ted Kennedy or Pat Leahy? No. Is he (perhaps) running in MA or VT? No.

Is he more liberal than Hagel? Yes.

Is he more liberal than Nelson? Yes.

Is he more liberal than any repuke who might run? Hell, yes.

[beachmom]

1. K & R. Great summary.n/t

[MADem]

2. My goodness!!! Succinct, factual, pragmatic, mature and nuanced!!!!!

How long before the torch and pitchfork crowd show up?

[cali]

3. Thank you for the kind words, MADem

I prefer to call them the content challenged accusation crowd, and it looks like when they don't have a response, they ignore a post.

[MADem]

7. I know what you mean!! NT

[pscot]

4. I'm prepared to cut some slack for the guy who said

"Santorum? Isn't that Latin for asshole?"

[PatSeg]

18. He didn't????

Gotta love him!!!

[Pirate Smile]

5. The good, the bad and the ugly from Kos:

NE-Sen: Hagel is out

by kos
Mon Sep 10, 2007 at 10:35:33 AM PDT

It's official.

Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a thorn in his own party's side when it comes to Iraq, announced Monday he would retire from the Senate and not seek any elected office in 2008.

"I said after I was elected in 1996 that 12 years in the Senate would probably be enough, and it is," Hagel said.

It's now Democrat Bob Kerrey's seat to lose. And while we run the threat of having another Lieberdem in the Senate, Kerrey is actually a pretty solid Democrat aside from the war and social security.

Below I have Kerrey's 1998 interest group ratings. In parenthesis, I'm including Ben Nelson's 2004 numbers for comparison purposes. (Nelson replaced Kerrey in the Senate.)

Americans for Democratic Action (liberal group)
95 (65)

ACLU
86 (33)

AFSCME (labor union)
100 (86)

League of Conservation Voters (environment)
100 (67)

Concord Coalition (fiscal conservatives, pro-balanced budget)
86 (81)

National Taxpayers Union (conservative anti-tax group)
22 (34)

Chamber of Commerce (conservative pro-big business group)
56 (81)

American Conservative Union
0 (52)

Christian Coalition
0 (83)

Kerrey was one of a very small group of senators to vote against Clinton's welfare reform bill, voted against the anti-gay "Defense of Marriage Act", voted against a flag burning amendment, and his Supreme Court judgment was excellent -- he voted for David Souter and against Clarence Thomas.

All of that, from a Senator from Nebraska.

If Kerrey can avoid the impulse to attack the party from within (the main reason he is a borderline Lieberdem), he would be far better -- issues wise -- than our current Nebraska Democratic senator.

Race tracker wiki: NE-Sen
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/9/10/132821/629

[Warren Stupidity]

6. yeah who cares about that Iraq thing.

We need somebody to replace Lieberman.

[cali]

9. LOL!

You addressed absolutely zilch. Thanks for living down to the content free accusation theory.

No one said Iraq didn't matter. It's an important factor. What I said was: It's not the only factor.

And if he's such a Lieberman clone how do you account for his being one of the few votes AGAINST the first Gulf War?

[Progressive Friend]

8. I'd vote for him if he runs

Considering that Hagel is not seeking another term, Kerrey might have a chance of winning. The top GOP candidate is a nutcase.

[TwilightGardener]

10. Kerrey's campaign slogan should be: "Hey Dems: Where else ya gonna go?"

'Cause that's really where we're at in this race. That said, it would be nice to have a guy of his stature to replace Hagel, since Hagel is pretty prominent himself--Nebraskans have been fairly lucky to have some impressive Senators in our history. Jon Bruning? Ack.

[Omaha Steve]

11. From a Nebraskan

K & R!!!

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Very well stated

You know you'll be attacked for it, right?

[cali]

13. You may not have noticed (no reason you should)

but I get attacked a fair amount- and it almost always makes me laugh.

[question everything]

14. Glad to offer the 5th recommendation

Sometimes I think that we are no different from the freepers. We see the world in black and white. If someone is not "pure" (by whose definition, by the way?) then s/he is a DINO and other descriptions.

What is important is the Supreme Court. Nothing else matters. This is why we need to capture the White House with our nominee - whoever s/he is - and we need a strong majority in the Senate to oppose all others if we lose the White House, again.

Wouldn't it be ironic that these "purists," who would stay home because their candidates lost, will be the ones to help establish Bush's "legacy" - a court full of Scalias and Thomases?

[cali]

15. Thank you. I think that frequently

though I don't entirely agree that nothing but the SC matters. It's vital, for sure, but there are lots of issues of pressing concern.

[Stinky The Clown]

16. We're almost there ......

Nino, Slappy, Roberts, Alito ....... just need one more ......

But ya ...... gotta have that purity and all.

[mzmolly]

17. Adding my own

HELL YES! :toast:

[cali]

19. kick for balance n/t