The DC Democratic political machine at work

[Mass]

Of course, all the DC consultants that Kerry has probably ignored during the last months spew their venom. No big surprise here.

Two names only, and no surprise in any of them: Crowley from TNR and Lockaert. Guess who they support.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2623018&page=1

"John Kerry is not a very good politician," said Joe Lockhart, a senior adviser to Kerry during his presidential campaign. "Politicians who succeed and do well have great internal instincts and have a great ear for what works and what doesn't. John Kerry has neither. He's not a funny guy. He's not a natural guy. He is not someone who can pick up on the nuances of a daily political battle."

Lockhart says that Kerry, "like a lot of highly educated people," has trouble coming to terms with the fact that "something as important as electing a president or electing a Congress can turn on something so trivial, like a word left out of a joke."

"They take themselves and the process so seriously they have trouble dealing with the rest of the system, dealing with it in such a trivial, half-assed way," Lockhart said. "That's the reality of the situation. Does it make him somehow less of a person? No, I think it makes him more of a person. Does it make him a good politician? No, it doesn't make him a good politician."

That said, Lockhart added, "John Kerry is a good man, and that's why he has gotten as far as he has in politics. So when he says he was telling a joke, everyone should believe him."

"The Swift Boat attacks reshaped John Kerry's view of politics," Lockhart said. "I think he thought that politics was a cerebral business, where if you made an honest, just case, people would believe you, and he found out that politics is an emotion-based business where facts and fiction often get mixed up and good fiction often trumps good facts."

Since then, Kerry has been determined not to let that ever happen again, not to be "Swift Boat"-ed.

"He has since that campaign kind of been like a guy in the weight room, training and building up his muscles, spoiling for the next fight," Crowley said. "It explains why when there's a faint whiff of something similar in the air, he wants to go out and get it right. But the problem is I think now he's overreacting. He's overcompensating."

[Inuca]

1. Painful

I will have to get back to this later, have to run now, I just read the first page or so... painful also because I think it contains some sad truths, like Lockhard's statement that he is not a good politician for reasons that make him a better man.

[Firespirit]

2. It will blow over.

I understand the need to inform the group of this ugly stuff, but it will blow over. Right now it's just depressing to people. This will be entirely out of the news by the election, and will only come up again in two possible contexts: (1) Republicans attempted to create an issue out of nothing, and failed, or (2) JK has just made "that" announcement and it's mentioned and then laid to rest.

[TayTay]

5. I think you inform the group of the ugliness of modern politics

and you show them just how bad it can get. It's true, if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

However, you also remind people to remember why they came here (this being the JK group after all) in the first place.

That much is also very real and hasn't changed. There will be good days and bad days. That is the way it is. It doesn't change the record.

This is a setback and very sad. However, it is also a tempest in a teapot about what even the NYTimes called a minor gaffe. Remember, the Repubs did this because they have nothing to run on in this election cycle and were desperate to turn the channel away from Foley, corruption, Bush and Iraq.

The Dems who fell for this think they have picked up an advantage. I beg to differ. They have not and whatever lesson they think they learned is wrong.

Take your lumps. Sit it out for a week or so. Then go back. After all, electing a new Congress is the easy part.

[wisteria]

3. Nasty, and done to make him look weak and knock him out.

Gee, he is a good guy but, a politician absolutely not. A really liked the comments about how long it took him to come out about the Swift Boat attacks- weeks?
Lochheart abandoned him even before the election was over. This is a man of no integrity either. I think they are trying to do to him now, what they normally do to candidates right after the election. What they don't get though, is that Kerry has an appeal and generates loyally in people that they will lose if they continue to try and crush him.

I think this piece was done on Hillary's behalf. Actually though, it does play to him being an outsider and an honest guy. Too traits that we could use for someone running for President.

[MBS]

4. I'm not sure which thread to use. .

but I just wanted to say that
1. I'm APPALLED by McCain and Hillary and, as Mark Barett (The Premise, already cited by someone on one of these threads) said, the statements revealed quite a lot about who they are. If there is any justice in the world, their statements should not help their political futures. Both of them looked terrible on TV when they made their respective statements.

2. I'm on the road right now, so, stuck in a motel room last night, I watched CNN, etc, etc, more than was good for my health. So I ALSO got to watch the so-called "Democratic" talking heads (editor of Salon, Mickey Kaus from Slate, etc), whom I found to be just as appalling in their own way as are Ann Coulter and others from the Dark Side.

I used to say that liberals were often silly, but rarely (unlike Republicans) mean. I now revise my definition. Republicans are mean to everyone (Dems, the poor, other countries, other races, etc) but Republicans. Democrats are mean only to each other. I am really really sick of this intra-party cannibalism.

3. Like others in this group , I'm giving an extra donation today to KAP, and also will send 3 donations to 3 individual races I particularly care about, and will do it by telephone , so I can tell the people in question that I'm doing it in Sen. Kerry's name. I can't afford this, but , on the other hand, I can't afford not to.

[TayTay]

6. Mickey Kaus hates Kerry

He has always hated Kerry and he will use any opportunity to bash the man. That's who Kaus is. It is not worth your time to read or follow that guy, he is mostly just a bag of bile.

He was put on tv to 'rub it in,' which is something I am sure he took great joy in. This is one of the highlights of his life, he gets to kick someone when they are down. That is the kind of man he is. I choose not to associate with those types, they only dampen my soul.

[wisteria]

7. I didn't know his background, but it was obvious he was drooling

while bashing Kerry. This was on the Paula Zahn segment with Colter too. It was so bad I turned it off and wrote the station. Zahn was just in her glory, two people attacking Kerry and her just feeding them the questions to do the bashing. Frankly, I have never witnessed something so vile as that on TV.
I suppose she had to make up for the previous segment which had two Conservatives on- one being Sullivan- saying that Kerry was wronged and one even saying that he did not need to make an apology.

[Firespirit]

9. Regarding Hillary and McCain

People like that have no honor and no courage. All that they showed about themselves is that they do not have what it takes to be president. McCain stabbed a friend in the back, and Hillary betrayed her colleague. And for what? Because they were afraid of the White House and Tony Snow.

They are unfit ever to be President of the United States if they would buckle under to a bully and betray a friend so easily.

[Democrafty]

11. TV's been rough.

1. Hear, hear. The thing is, though, this is EXACTLY what I expect from them. I hope lots of folks take notice.

2. I was also disgusted by the Dem appearances on Scarborough last night. (Althoug, Joe has had JK's back lately - ????) But then I went to Salon.com, and Tim Grieve, of Salon's War Room, has been much more supportive of JK than his colleage, who was about to dance with glee because all this apparently means JK can't run in '08. Whatever.

[ProSense]

8. They believe saying this over and over makes it so!

The audience laughed loud (and it's not the first time):

http://video.johnkerry.com/video/flash/103006_ca.html

Screw Joe Lockhart, he's saying the same crap Repubs have said about Kerry for decades:

April 12, 2004 | Traitor. Two-faced. Aloof. Elitist. Sixties radical. Tax-and-spend liberal. Spoiled aristocrat. These are the familiar charges leveled against Sen. John Kerry. But they weren't invented by the Bush campaign. They're the same charges he has had to endure as long as he has run for office in Massachusetts. And in every race but one, his first, he took on his critics and won.

Not affable, to borrow Tay's words, bite me:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/11/23/as_foreman_kerry_wins_praise_from_fellow_jurors

[karynnj]

10. Joe Lockhart, You mean the Joe Lockhart who returned calls

to the guy who gave Rather the documents. Only Cleland stopping any connection kept this from being a scandal that involved Kerry's campaign. The one who in the comments on Carville etc seemed to spend part of his time in the Kerry campaign trying to get himself future jobs? Maybe he should see that becoming more like Kerry would be good.

His comments are not that bad. If natural means that you would sacrifice your soul on a daily basis, I guess he's not natural. But a look at the Butler pictures, you see a man close to his family and friends.

In fact, I like these comments. You have Lockhart saying - Kerry is not a good politician - he can't tell jokes and can't play political games - he actually thinks about real issue. In spite of being a bad politician he got this far - nearly President is pretty far - because he is a good man.

If this were a novel, I think Lockhart would be an unreliable narrator - where you read this and learn that Kerry is a good, honest serious statesman. (This may be better politics than Lockhart thinks - it may be the type of CLEAN leader needed after Bush.)

As to Crowley - did he over-react? He got his story out and changed the conversation to Iraq from novels. Would less have worked? Who know? and if it didn't - wouldn't Crowley be first in line to say that Kerry hadn't learned.