Who believes it's now or never for Kerry

[genius]

Kerry needs to focus on 2004 rather than 2008. If he wants the Presidency, he won it and needs to take it now. If not, he'll never get my vote or my support again. The issue is not whether a person who does his best should stay in the fight in the four years. I've read that release from Cameron Kerry and am very concerned by the catering to Bush. I've waited four months for Kerry to acknowledge his win. Even if he's out of the country, we can still turn this thing around with enough publicity and support from the public. However, Kerry needs to get on the voters' side if he wants us on his.

[FreepFryer]

1. This is like the 10th post I've read putting Kerry between a rock and

a hard case. Why all the Kerry-itis?

This is a manipulative thread, which essentially boils down to "which of you hate him for X and which of you hate him for Y".

This is NOT AN EITHER-OR!

HE IS NOT VOTING. HE HAS SAID SO.

THAT DOES NOT MEAN HE ISN'T FIGHTING.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Makes no difference to me

whether he fights or not. I actively worked to get him elected because I believed him to be the most electable alternative to Bush, not because he was everything I dreamed of in a presidential candidate. I am enough of a realist to admit that there is never going to be an electable candidate that I can fully support.

I am not particularly disturbed by his failure to contest the election, or to jump on the fraud bandwagon. There were significant problems, which need to be addressed and corrected so that next time there are no lingering doubts. The five most significant (in Ohio) being pollworkers (ignorantly) directing voters to voting booths for the wrong precinct causing untraceable misvotes, uneven distribution of voting booths causing some voters to wait hours while others had no or only brief waits, the failure to follow recount procedures (non-random selection of precincts to count, and the failure to hand count when the 3% didn't match), the partisan activities by the Secretary of State, and the failure to hand verify the 93,000 ballots in Cuyahoga County in which no presidential vote appeared to be cast. The chances of establishing that the impact of these problems would reverse the election are not very high, from a legal standpoint. Whether it Kerry should lead the battle, or can be more effective in the Senate if he is perceived as staying above the fray is a political judgment call.

What I am deeply disturbed by is the fact that he seems completely oblivious to the deep disrespect his premature concession showed to volunteers who made huge personal sacrifices to get out the vote in Ohio and other close states, and to the thousands of voters who made the effort to vote for the first (or first time in a long time) by provisional ballot, whose ballots were not even counted yet when Kerry conceded.

Kerry's e-mail yesterday said, "No American citizen should wake up the morning after the election and worry their vote wasn't counted." Those provisional voters not only worried that their votes weren't counted, they KNEW their votes had not been counted but that Kerry had determined them to be worthless. I find it very difficult to tolerate that slap in the face in view of the hypocrisy that he is now paying lip service to counting every vote but (under the extreme conditions of this election) failed honor this ideal when he had a low political cost option to do so by merely waiting to concede until each vote had been counted. Although that was also a political judgment call, the political cost to wait would have been low and the personal cost of that concession to individual voters (and volunteers who worked to get those voters to the polls) was far too high.

Unless Kerry has a grand awakening as to the impact of his concession it is highly unlikely I will support him in another run for president. Someone who elects political expedience over compassion is not my idea of someone I want governing this country.

[LittleClarkie]

9. aka: ye ol' push poll

So.. did you stop beating your wife?

He's not fighting to be president. He's fighting to fix the vote.

He never said he was trying to overturn the election. He did say he would fight for election reform. Very consistent, really. The trick is to not look for hidden messages. It is what it is and that's all that it is. Not enough for some. But enough for others.

I vote for choice 1.5, the invisible choice between the rock and the hard place.

[elshiva]

2. I can't vote for either choice....

because I want him to try for 2004, but I won't give up on him in 2008.
My Slogan for 2008 is ARD--Any Real Democrat.

[FreepFryer]

3. Exactly. That is why this poll is ill-advised and counter-productive.

[imenja]

4. It's never, regardless

He can have a nice long career in the Senate, but he'll never be President.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[fnottr]

6. If he's the 2008 nominee

the of course I'll vote for him, but at this point I doubt I'd pull for him in the primaries.

[Senator]

7. The question is "toast in the primaries if he turns tail now," right?

Of course should he get the nomination, we'll carry him over like a sack of cement, like we did this time.

It's whether of not he makes it through the primaries.

Not likely.

It's my guess that if any "objector" tommorrow decides to run in 2008, they'll be the clear front-runner. Immediately. They'll draw support from the "real" Dem base like Dean did because he talked about the stolen election of 2000.

Failing that, Dean would beat Kerry in 2008.

Failing that, another Dean will emerge.

The only shot Kerry has if he doesn't turn the boat into the enemy right now is if only fellow cowards throw their hats in with him.


______

www.thedeanpeople.org

[LittleClarkie]

10. He's not a coward

He's just not doing exactly what you want exactly when you want it.

And whether or not he gets the primary vote will depend on

1. Who runs too
2. Who the Republicans look like they're fielding
3. Who the base is and whether they feel as you do.

I suspect many here are NOT the base.

Whether or not he gets the nom will also depend on what he does for the next few years or so, not just on tomorrow.

I still want President Kerry. I will support him with everything I've got when the time comes. If it doesn't happen, then I will support whoever we field, even if it's bleepin' Hillary, who is NOT my first choice at the mo'.

[njbuddy]

11. My 2 cents

I would not vote for him in the primary, but if he won the nomination I would still vote democratic.

[LittleClarkie]

13. Why does Edwards always look like he's smoking an invisible cigar

You wanna know something? I was paging through the Newsweek I bought right after Kerry picked Edwards, before I was really supporting him. I'd forgotten I had it really.

I came upon the picture of Edwards with his son... and burst into tears.

That guy gets to me somehow.

[RunningFromCongress]

12. I thought, and still think he's the best man for the job..even in 08

He may not be the best "likeable guy" but he's the best man for the job. We made the mistake of picking the "likeable guy" for VP and didn't get the home state. It's time America voted for Candidates again not for "whom they think would pull over and change a tire"

[LittleClarkie]

14. I too think he's one of the more qualified people we could pick

But 08 is a long ways away. We will see what the Dems do in the meanwhile.