While the Boston media muse, the London Times notes Kerry's effort to help students

[Mass]

Somehow, Joan Vennochi has decided to write about Hillary Clinton's women supporters, for some obscure reason and some meeting they had with Patrick, Kerry, and Kennedy. As often with her, an empty column, where she tries to tell us that she is a Democratic supporter :rofl:. The beginning and end of the column gives us a good idea of the entire column, where no cliché is too good for her.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/04/17/still_no_satisfaction_for_clintons_sisterhood/

Still, no satisfaction for Clinton's sisterhood
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Joan Vennochi
Globe Columnist / April 17, 2008

DEVAL PATRICK brought his cool. John Kerry brought his angst. Ted Kennedy brought his wife.

...

Kennedy, Kerry, and Patrick are mistaken if they believe all their female supporters can be counted on to stay there.

In the same time, the Times of London has an article about Kerry's efforts to help students get loans.

John Kerry, the former US Presidential runner, yesterday sought to force through emergency federal funding for student loans after Citigroup said that it was withdrawing from lending to some American universities.

The move by Citigroup to reduce its exposure to the $85 billion-a-year student loans market represents the fourth bank in a month to withdraw. Last month HSBC said it was no longer planning to offer loans to American students.

Yesterday Senator Kerry proposed legislation called the Emergency Student Loan Liquidity Market Act. It is understood that Mr Kerry is in talks to have the proposals addressed in the short term so that students can benefit from new funding arrangements in time for the new academic year, which starts in August.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3761053.ece

After the awful show yesterday on ABC (no other name than a show, certainly not a decent political debate by any means, largely because of the moderators), it shows once again the real issue with our media.

[karynnj]

1. Nice contrast there

The Vennochi article is pretty slanted. Neither Kerry, Kennedy, Patrick or Obama are responsible for the mess that is FL and MI. It was obvious when this was set into motion in 2007, that it could be a problem. I assume that Dean and others anticipated that the election would end in a conclusive HRC victory on SuperTuesday. This would let Dean have his strong stand against the 2 state committees and allow HRC to magnanimously agree to seat the delegates. In retrospect, ALL the candidates at that time should have agreed and done exactly the same thing - as sort of happened in FL.

Vennochi also ignores that the popular vote has no real meaning in a mix of primaries and caucuses. The idea that there was a (national) popular vote statistic that was meaningful was floated by the Clintons only after HRC was losing. Would Vennochi have been impressed if in August 2004, Kerry announced that he could win the popular vote and the Supreme Court should then award him the Presidency if he succeeded - even if he lost the electoral college vote - because it overweights those states -mostly red - where no one lives? What would she say if he then scheduled huge appearances with Springstein etc in Central Park in NYC and the Boston Commons in Boston, etc. It would be easier to get out the huge urban vote in many blue states, where he was never seen in 2004. I suspect that Vennochi would be the first to call him a lunatic or worse and ask where he gets off thinking he can change the rules. It is also disingenuous to add MI with a zero for Obama. The fact that doing this STILL leads to Obama being ahead shows how lame the argument is.

Vennochi may be right that Kerry, who is the only one up for re-election, will have to work harder to court these women. We've seen women on this board who have attributed his endorsement to sexism. He has said why he endorsed and I think part of the problem is there are likely - in reality 2 lists - he gave the reasons that Obama would be a good choice. As a good Democrat, he refrained from giving the second list as it would be the baggage that HRC and Bill Clinton carry. That baggage is now far more visible and if she keeps fighting, becomes progressively more obvious. By the time people have to vote - even in the primary, either Obama will be the candidate and the party will be coming together behind him or he will be doing what he always said he would - working for HRC to win the general election. That and the fact that his own record on women is long and impeccable should pull Democratic women back behind him. Also, he should be able to reach some of them with THK and Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry. I doubt a person afraid of strong women could have raised those girls or married THK - who would likely not be interested in a man who did not treat her as an intellectual equal.

[ladym55]

2. JK is most definitely not sexist

I really think folks need to stop drinking the bad koolaid. I'm bothered that anytime someone doesn't support Clinton, he is sexist or she is betraying women. Excuse me? JK had very good reasons for supporting Obama. I remember reading his message on Obama when he made his endorsement because I was still undecided. As time has unfolded, I've understood fully why JK made his decision. Obama reminds me of Kerry in many ways, including the classy factor.

It is very sad that news for us is all about creating fake controversy. Kerry's work for student loans is very important and affects the lives of American citizens. I was reading the lead article in our local paper last Sunday ... college educations are no longer affordable for many families in Ohio where I live. I know that story can be repeated all across the country.

Writers like Vennochi would do her readers a favor if she focused on the issues that affected them rather than spinning in the land of the silly.