Campaigning for another lets Kerry be Kerry

[Forkboy]

CARLISLE, Pa. - When speakers address the Cumberland County Democratic Party at its red-brick headquarters, they stand before a daunting pantheon lined with framed portraits of party heroes, including Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and various combinations of Roosevelts and Kennedys.

On Sunday afternoon, John F. Kerry entered through a back door, rushing past a lesser shrine to his own failed presidential aspirations: an 8-by-10 photo of him and John Edwards as they accepted their party's 2004 nomination, taped to a wall, unframed. Kerry mounted a chair, his pompadour nearly brushing the low ceiling, and launched into what he calls his stump speech to 150 or so activists at the party's steak-sandwich fund-raiser.

Kerry was making a case for Barack Obama, traveling the 2008 campaign trail as though a continuation of 2004, bearing cautionary tales and lessons learned, relieved of a burden of self-consciousness. Campaigning for a colleague may have finally let Kerry be Kerry.

"I'm very liberated about it," Kerry said last weekend as he toured Pennsylvania - the 13th state he has visited on Obama's behalf - in a white minivan. "What happens happens. I'm not worried about things. I know who I am."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/04/08/campaigning_for_another_lets_kerry_be_kerry/

[flor de jasmim]

1. Perfect header - and spot on, I think

I have also found Kerry to be more engaging on behalf of Obama than for himself. I was big supporter of Kerry/Edwards in 2004 but felt that Kerry was not naturally comfortable in the large crowds.

[karynnj]

7. I wouldn't say that - he was fantastic even at 27 doing so

I think it might be that it's far easier to speak either of issues - as he did in 1971 and in many of his policy speeches. I have seen him speak twice at Faneuil hall on Real Security and Dissent in 2006 - he was phenomenal. I also saw some one of the book events - where he was very good.

I think two things are going on - first, he was very good in September and October, but you could only see it if you were lucky enough to be in a swing state or you are a CSPAN addict and second, he is a pretty modest guy, an unusual trait in a politician - he seems far more comfortable praising someone else rather than bragging about himself. That's not a bad trait. What he may have needed in 2004 was his own "Kerrys" who could do for him what he does so well for Obama. I think only Kennedy and Cleland really did this.

[politicasista]

2. K&R

:kick:

[AtomicKitten]

3. Kerry has been a wonderful advocate for Obama, and I am very grateful.

[PresidentObama]

8. Yes he has. I believe John Kerry is his best advocate besides Michelle n/t

[knixphan]

32. ditto!

[politicasista]

37. ditto here too! n/t

[Firespirit]

4. Off to the Greatest.

[Coexist]

5. knr for Kerry

[cbayer]

6. Let me get this straight.

Voting for IWR makes you a war-mongering POS unfit to wash your toilets....

unless you are John Kerry. Then it's cool.

[PresidentObama]

9. John Kerry is the last thing from a war monger n/t

[cbayer]

11. So voting for IWR does not make one a war mongerer.

I just wanted to make sure we are clear on that.

[PresidentObama]

12. You're preaching to the wrong choir. I'm very anti-war but I defend the IWR voters all the time.

They were wrong, yes.

But Bush rushed to war. Bush is the war monger.

Not John Kerry. Or John Edwards. Or Hillary Clinton.

[cbayer]

16. I agree with you.

I was just making a point about the ongoing smear that Clinton is a war monger because she voted for IWR.

Neither of the candidates is going to get us out of Iraq fast enough for me, but neither is a war monger.

[karynnj]

30. I wouldn't say that she is a war monger

More than the IWR, what I hold against her and Bill is that in 2006, they didn't want the Democrats to have a prosed exit plan because it could hurt politically. They fought tooth and nail against Kerry and Feingold bringing up their amendment and vilified Kerry for doing so. I am more comfortable with people who said that when a policy is wrong you have to fight to change it. HRC moved to her current position well after most of the country did.

[cbayer]

33. Yes, that bothers me as well.

However, neither of our current candidates have proposed an acceptable exit strategy. Despite this, one is being portrayed as a war monger and the other as a peace advocate. This portrayal is based on one vote that only one of them was in a position to make and another that one of the candidates took no position on.

At this point, I would rather have Kerry.

[PresidentObama]

35. "I would rather have Kerry." AMEN!!

[karynnj]

36. I had hoped since Nov 2004, that it would be Kerry, but that's not possible

He is the one I would be most certain would do the things he's advocated since 2004.

[Firespirit]

23. Bingo.

It never ceases to amaze me how DU can call Bush lawless and dictatorial, and yet somehow blame Congress for the war because of that vote (a law which Bush broke by running out the inspectors). At the time of the IWR I lived in the Southeast. If I'd been a Democratic Senator representing my then-state, I am sure I would have voted for it because of the hostile climate and the fact that Bush WAS and IS lawless, so it didn't matter if Congress approved. Why sacrifice a seat, and with it a career, over a vote that was meaningless for practical purposes? I don't do martyrdom.

[babylonsister]

10. Kerry admitted to his mistake years ago; there's the difference.

Has Clinton really ever done that except obliquely?

[cbayer]

14. I believe that she has.

We hear what we want to. I feel they (Clinton and Kerry) have both taken responsibility for their actions and that Obama has expressed that he is not sure how he would have voted. I know that you disagree with me.

In retrospect, most everyone who voted for it has expressed regret in one way or another. It is clear that both candidates want to get us out, though neither has a clear or coherent plan for doing so. Neither is going to do it fast enough for me.

My point - Clinton is not a war monger. Not now, not ever.

[PresidentObama]

17. She is NOT a war monger, correct. But she should apologize for her vote.

[cbayer]

28. She has said that if she knew then what she knows now

she would have voted differently.

That satisfies me, although I realize it does not satisfy others.

However, it is consistent. She voted (as did Kerry) based on mis-information and outright lies. To say that she should have voted differently based on that same information would be inconsistent. I apologize for having been so badly mis-led?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. Yeah, but nobody believes her.

She's a very phony person.

"My point - Clinton is not a war monger. Not now, not ever"

Then why'd she vote for K-L?

[PresidentObama]

22. K-L was absolutely, 100% political.

I don't think that makes her a war monger.

Just an opportunist. Remember when John Edwards hit away at her campaign advisor saying that was her shifting from primary mode to general election mode?

"Primary mode and General Election mode? How about tell the truth mode! How about we say the same thing in the Primaries that we do in the General Election?" - John Edwards

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. You're splitting hairs.

Very disingenuous.

[cbayer]

26. If not just political

can you explain to me why Obama did not vote at all?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. If Hillary Clinton is willing to completely sell out her principles for 100% politics...

why should anybody believe she sincerely regrets voting for the war?

[cbayer]

29. So Obama's not voting at all was a principled act?

Let's face it. These two are both political animals and many of their actions (or inactions) are politically based with an eye to the future. Neither has done anything to get us out of this war and neither has a clear or coherent plan to do so. Certainly neither has a plan that suits me or is more appealing than the other.

Neither is a war monger, but they are not peaceniks either.

[karynnj]

13. No - wrong on both counts

Kerry himself has taken responsibility for and said the vote was wrong thousands of times. In fact, he has been criticized far more often than Edwards, a co-sponsor, Biden, Dodd or others like Rockefeller.

The fact is that of all those who voted for it - all speaking of inspections, diplomacy etc - only one that I know of spoke out when it became apparent that Bush was breaking with his promise that was Kerry. He was labeled anti-war through at least the first half of 2003. Not to mention his 2004 plan would already have had us out - with withdrawal starting in summer 2005. He was the author of what is currently the Democratic plan.

[cbayer]

24. You make an excellent point and I accept it.

He has more aggressively taken a position of regret and action to reverse than just about anyone.

It was not intention to smear Kerry but to contest the notion that one vote does not a war monger make. It has to be seen in context. The only thing that matters NOW is the plan to reverse this terrible mistake. Neither candidate has a plan that satisfies my desire to get out of Iraq.

[Zhade]

15. No, it's not cool with Kerry either.

But, at least he's not a proven pathological liar like clinton.

[cbayer]

31. If you would tone down your rhetoric a bit

I might be interested in having a conversation with you. Not that you would want to have one, but you did respond to me.

[NJSecularist]

18. Kerry: "That was the worst vote I ever made".

When has Hillary ever said that?

Kerry can toke solace in the fact that another well-deserving political candidate also didn't win due to GOP cheating. (Al Gore)

[PresidentObama]

20. Yeah and when you're in the Senate for twenty years, "worst vote" carries some weight.

I respect John Kerry for admitting he was wrong, and being a vocal voice against the war!

[NJSecularist]

21. Amen. Kerry admitted he was wrong. It takes a good man (or women) to admit you are wrong. n/t

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

34. Hey, Kerry, what's in your wallet? (My 04 campaign checks.)

I'm sorry, I'm not quite over that. When Barcak's president I will be.

[Cha]

38. This is a great article about Kerry in PA..thanks, Forkboy.

Kerry is an honorable man and wasn't surprised that he endorsed Obama.