article on Setti Warren (JK aide) running for Mayor of Newton MA

[MBS]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/06/16/navigating_newtons_political_waters/

Nice picture of Setti (home from Iraq on leave to see new baby Abigail). Hard-copy newspaper has picture of Setti with his wife and baby.

Kerry-relevant excerpts:

. . .
A Wicked Local blog item about Warren's upcoming meet-and-greet with voters sparked a fierce online debate about when Warren should start taking stands on the issues, whether serving in the military implies support for the war, and why he would go to war at all, given his employer. Warren has been working as the deputy state director for US Senator John F. Kerry, whose conflicted feelings about his service in the Vietnam War and about the US involvement in Iraq dogged his 2004 presidential campaign.

. . . .

Warren, 37, was class president in each of his four years at Newton North and was tapped by former mayor Theodore Mann to help quell tensions among students after a racially tinged fight in 1987. In later years, he worked on President Clinton's advance team and served as a liaison to governmental agencies for a Clinton cabinet secretary before serving as director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for New England in 2000. He was national trip director for Kerry's 2004 campaign, where he met his wife, Tassy, on the advance staff. The senator was in their wedding party. The couple lives in the house he grew up in, between City Hall and Newton North.

[beachmom]

1. I can't figure out why they are giving him a hard time. The election

is over a year away. He is in Iraq. I understand why he put his name out there, but clearly he has to follow the rules given by the DoD, so I kind of find his rival, not knowing anything else about him, a bit of a jerk:

Though his exploratory committee filed papers to start raising money for him last November, Warren does not plan to formally announce his candidacy until he returns from service in October - more than a year before the mayoral election.

"The bottom line for me is, when I'm in Iraq, I want to focus on the mission at hand," he said. "But I plan on getting back here and I am going to literally knock on every door in the city."

Mike Striar, who lost a challenge to Cohen in 2005, has been prodding Warren online to begin answering questions - on the issues and the war - straight away. "He is pretty much a blank slate as a candidate and that's one of the reasons I posed the Iraq question," Striar said in an interview.

Warren said there would be plenty of time to introduce himself to voters and catch up on a campaign.

I mean, what the hell? Is this Striar dude a complete ignoramous when it comes to military matters? Warren has no choice but to not let on his position at this time. He'll be back in October. I can't imagine people being turned off by him serving in Iraq. This is not 1969. Everyone knows that simply serving in the military and in Iraq in no shape or form suggests how they feel about the war one way or the other. It is about service to one's country as well as being a professional.

May Setti Warren come home safely in October.

[TayTay]

2. Ah, MA is sort of proprietary when it comes to pols

LOL! It has come up as a topic in this group before. Ah, Sen. Kerry is not the only one who responds to somewhat insecure voters. ("Do you really love us? Just us? Really? Cuz, I've had my heart broken before and I really can't go through that again so if you intend on wooing me and abandoning me I need to know cuz then I can get a cat instead or something.")

Ah, no, that doesn't make any sense. But it really is a partial attitude of some people I know. LOL!

[beachmom]

3. So ... residents of Newton are thinking:

You love the Iraqis more than you love us!! Damn you, and COME HOME and talk to us about ... US! Or we'll pick someone else, you fair weather friend!

[MBS]

4. yeah, I think it's really dumb, too!

Hopefully, they'll come to their senses by the time of the election.

[TayTay]

5. Ah, well, ahm, in so many words, gee, maybe, sort of

You are on to something. It could be that some feel that way.

(Ah, the whole state needs to go on valium sometimes.)