Kerry's sterling environmental record

[ginnyinWI]

Here's a site to bookmark and save for the next time you need to convince anyone that Kerry is a true liberal Dem. It's the Sierra Club's votewatch page, in which they give him a perfect record! You can also look up any other Congresscritters you want.

http://whistler.sierraclub.org/votewatch/votesByLegislator.do?lid=S0421

[JohnKleeb]

1. Something I learned is that Kerry was one of the few

candidates to get an endorsement by them in the primaries, really speaks volumes about his record on the environment, I think Kerry's one of the best environmentalists the senate has had.

[MH1]

2. Thanks, this is excellent.

Lots of people reference the LCV scorecard but they count a missed vote as a bad vote, so JK got hammered in 2003 and 2004.

This is better because you can go back every year through 1999, and there are no red X's at all; even though there are alot of blank spaces while he was campaigning, but most normal people understand that situation.

[JohnKleeb]

3. That explains why, I wonderedabout that

[sandnsea]

5. LCV endorsed him in the primaries

The only time they've ever done it, as I recall. It took them a while, and it seems like they might have finally been shamed into it. Sort of, what are we doing, this guy has been right besides us for twenty years, kind of endorsement.

[JohnKleeb]

7. It was after Iowa if I recall

Kerry was the best candidate on environmental issues in the primaries, I dont care what anyone says but he was, anyone ever seen the picture of him and Paul Wellstone celebrating the defeat of drilling in the arctic refuge, its a great picture, makes ya sad knowing that Paul is gone, in a way kinda funny too, since you got the 6'4 Kerry hugging as I recall the barely over 5'0 Wellstone. I miss Wellstone, he and Kerry would be fighting the good fight together.

[sandnsea]

12. Ya' know

It would have been a very different race if Paul had been alive. He would have rallied the lefties like nobody's business. He'd have shot down that hold your nose stuff in 2 seconds flat. Too bad he's gone in so many ways.

[MH1]

15. LCV did a lot of campaigning for Kerry in PA

Tha's one reason steam starts coming out my ears when lefty freeper types point to his low LCV scores for 2003 and 2004, and try to claim he's not good on the envrionment.

Other Kerry LCV facts:

In 1996 LCV listed Kerry as one of their Environmental Champions.

This page mentions his lifetime LCV score is 92% but I can't find that in any of the logical places on his individual page.

[ginnyinWI]

4. endorsement for president

They committed to Kerry early-- May 11, 2004:

SIERRA CLUB ENDORSES KERRY FOR PRESIDENT

Says Kerry Will Protect America's Health and Heritage

SAN FRANCISCO - The Sierra Club - the nation's oldest, largest and most influential environmental group - today endorsed Senator John Kerry for President of the United States, citing his outstanding leadership in safe-guarding America's air, water and public lands.

"John Kerry will provide the environmental leadership that has been sorely missing in the Bush White House," said Sierra Club President Larry Fahn. "His commitment to environmental progress stands in stark contrast to the Bush administration's all-out assault on the environment and its record of putting polluting corporations before the American public's health and safety.

"John Kerry has spent his entire career promoting real solutions aimed at ensuring that America's air, water, and natural resources are protected for future generations."

snip

"John Kerry's record on the environment is impressive by any measure and reveals a sincere personal passion for the issue," Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said. "He understands that there is a better way than the Bush administration's alliance with corporate polluters. With Kerry as President, we could be sure that America's health and heritage are protected."

more: http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2004-05-11.asp

[sandnsea]

6. And LCV in March

It was a big deal to get the endorsement, and of course it was a big deal because of what some tried to turn it into.

http://www.hillnews.com/news/031104/kerry.aspx

[TayTay]

8. Well, in Clinton's doorstopper of a book

He praised Kerry for being the leader in the Senate on Environmental issues and on High Technology.

One of the saddest things of having to endure 15 years (and counting) of Repub (&Rethug) Governors in MA is watching a state that was once a leader in the environmental movement go backwards in the area of environemtnal protections. I think that is one reason was Kerry is pushing so hard for a Dem Gov next time.

[JohnKleeb]

9. Who are you guys likely to get

as your nominee?

[Mass]

10. Let's hope this is the last Republican Governor we have

I do not know who will be the nominee (seems to be Reilly right now, but I keep hearing rumors of Joe Kennedy preparing a run (not necessarily from informed people). Does it seem anything serious?).

[TayTay]

14. Ahm, not to be mean or anything

But Joe is not, ahm, the brightest crayon in the box. He has a lot of goodwill from his years as a Congressman. (And he's a Kennedy.) His divorce is behind him and he did a lot of good work with Citizen's Energy. (A semi-public company that brings heating oil to low income people at affordable rates.) But Joe is dithering and dithering and the window is closing.

[sandnsea]

11. 15 years???

ALL Pubs? How's come? Montana only had to endure 12 years before they wised up. (Not that you're not wise, it's a joke..)

[TayTay]

13. Is my bad mood tonight showing that much?

Oh dear. We had Bill Weld in '90 because the conservative Dem nominee, John Silber was gruff and mean with Natalie Jacobson on camera. (Natalie is the Holy Mother of Boston TV. Nobody messes with NAtalie.) Silber may have also been temperamentally unsuitable to be Gov, but I digress.

So then we had two terms, (well 1 1/2 really) of Big Red, or Bill Weld. He was a libertarian Rethug. He got overwhelmingly re-elected in '94 by beating the living bejeebers out of his wife's second cousin Mark Roosevelt. (74-26% Ouch!) Then Weld got bored with drinking with his Beacon Hill cronies up at the State House and decided to try for a real job. So he took on Kerry for the Senate. He thought he had a lock on a nice Senate seat, but the good and true citizens of the Commonwealth decided to stick with the guy who actually showed up more than one day a week at work. (Sigh!) So, in the battle of the Blue-Bloods (or Brahmins) Weld got beat. (Yeah!) He then wandered off and decided to enter a hopeless fight in the Senate to be appointed Bill Clinton's Ambassador to Mexico. (Jesse Helms hated him, so he had no chance to pass committee.) Kerry tried to help him out, cuz Kerry is a class act.

Exit Weld, enter Celluci, who is actually from Massachusetts. (Weld is from New York.) Celucci was a non-entity who did no harm and managed to win a term as Gov on his own due to extreme ineptitude on the part of the MA Dem Party. (Which is unorganized and couldn't find it's own ass with both hands and a flashlight.) Celluci lasted until 2001 when he was appointed Ambassador to Canada. (He got a better offer.) Jane Swift then became Gov. Ms. Swift was like 7 months pregnant with twins and became the first sitting Governor in the history of the United States to give birth to twins while in office. That appears to be her only significant contribution to history.

Mitt Romney, who ran a nearly credible race for the Senate in '94 against Teddy Kennedy at first promised Ms. Swift that he would NOT challenge her in the Rethug primary. Rethug promises being what they are, he promptly challenged her after his success at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics made him look, albeit temporarily, like a winner. The Ma Dems nominated Shannon O'Brien and then proceeded to implode and not back her and fight amongst themselves. (Specialty of the house.) So now we have Mittens who is infintely worse than a hot poke in the eye. (And he insults us. We hates him, precious, yes we do. He wants the Ring for himself and it will be a cold day in hell before that two-faced, lying, disloyal bastard wins the Rethug coronation for Pres, precious. Not if we haves something to say about it.)

I think the good citizens of MA might elect a Dem Gov next time. This is because: We have two decent candidates (and one guy with no friggin chance in hell.) The Dem Party has been severely warned by everyone inside of and outside of the State that they have to get their act together and stop the infighting. And the MA Dem Party is going all macho and consolidating power into the State Committee in hopes of keeping all those whiny bastards with their heads stuck up their ass out of the process. (Which will definitely piss off the liberals. Hell hath no fury like a pissed off MA Liberal, let me tell ya.) There are forces at work in MA behind the scenes to pick and fortify a Dem candidate for Gov. And make him bullet proof. (No women are running, so it's a him.) And the Powers That Be in MA Dem circles are real interested in making friggin sure that not even the MA Dem Party will screw this one up.

Any questions. And yes, I do know who is backing whom, but I'm not telling.