BG coverage of the speech

[Mass]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/20/in_college_speech_kerry_upbraids_bush_administration/



At least they spoke of it, but of course, could not avoid snarky comments about Kerry "trying to keep a leadership position" on the party, competing with Edwards and Kennedy (?), and running for 08.

But at least, they saw the vision, which is more than some articles I have seen, including those quoted by KG.

In college speech, Kerry upbraids Bush administration
Tests waters for presidential run


- Nearly a year after losing the presidency to George W. Bush, Senator John F. Kerry yesterday condemned the Bush administration in sweeping terms, blaming the president personally for the failure to prepare for the catastrophe in Louisiana, dismissing Bush's recovery plan as a ''right-wing ideological experiment," and calling for a strong new commitment to combat poverty around the country.



Kerry, testing the waters for a second presidential run in what his staff billed as a major address, veered away from the statesmanlike approach he often took in last year's ''commander-in-chief" campaign, adopting a sharper tone. He sought to maintain a leadership role in the Democratic Party, urging the young to make Hurricane Katrina the start of a campaign to change national priorities.

''We have to get angry, and organize around that," he told the audience of about 800 students at Brown University, deviating from his prepared text.

Other Democrats are sounding similar notes. Kerry's speech competed for attention with an attack on the president's plans for New Orleans by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and another campaign-style speech by Kerry's 2004 running mate, former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who is gearing up for a presidential run.

Kerry, by contrast, called for a sweeping change of vision in the country, focused on elevating the poor, boosting economic competitiveness, and shifting away from an oil-dependent energy economy. Bush's tendency to deny problems, Kerry said, afflicts all areas of policy

[TayTay]

1. And I agree with him on the change in tone

and said so yesterday:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=273x42210#42248

[Mass]

2. Two articles on Kerry in the same Globe issue. -

Did the Globe remember we have a junior senator.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/20/a_reserve_officer_details_the_sacrifices_of_giving_up_his_civilian_life/

A reserve officer details the sacrifices of giving up his civilian life

By Adrienne P. Samuels, Globe Staff | September 20, 2005

Lieutenant Colonel Sam Poulten went from producing $7 million in sales, with commissions, as a partner in a real estate business to making $60,000 a year as a medical Army reservist in Iraq.

...

Poulten told his story yesterday at a hearing at Boston College, led by Senator John F. Kerry, on the negative impact of long-term deployments on the National Guard and reservists who own or work for small businesses.

Kerry, who sits on the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, plans to submit the testimony to the committee's official records in hopes of gaining support for a relief bill for reservists and their employers.

Kerry is challenging the Bush administration to do better by its soldiers.

At the hearing, Kerry heard ideas from military personnel about what would make life financially easier for reservists, including a simplified loan process.

The administration ''has abused these soldiers," Kerry said. ''They didn't sign up for interminable employment . . . Effectively, they have been made active duty."
...

[whometense]

4. My dkos tagline

is:

"I went to war for George W. Bush; I came home to vote for John Kerry." - Sam Poulton

[Mass]

3. Another good one from the Pawtucket Times.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15241822&BRD=1713&PAG=461&dept_id=24491&rfi=6

Did anybody see anything on TV?

[whometense]

5. I finally gave up looking.

They were talking about the speech (in a VERY positive way) on Morning Sedition.

They were particularly impressed with this section:

And the rush now to camouflage their misjudgments and inaction with money doesn’t mean they are suddenly listening. It's still politics as usual. The plan they’re designing for the Gulf Coast turns the region into a vast laboratory for right wing ideological experiments. They’re already talking about private school vouchers, abandonment of environmental regulations, abolition of wage standards, subsidies for big industries - and believe it or not yet another big round of tax cuts for the wealthiest among us!

The administration is recycling all their failed policies and shipping them to Louisiana. After four years of ideological excess, these Washington Republicans have a bad hangover -- and they can't think of anything to offer the Gulf Coast but the hair of the dog that bit them.

[Mass]

6. I watched local news for the first time in a long time. Nothing,

[whometense]

7. Providence Journal

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20050920_kerry20.dde179a.html

PROVIDENCE -- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, emerging agressively yesterday from a self-imposed hiatus on sharp personal criticism of President Bush, took out his stiletto and skewered Mr. Bush as "incompetent," out of touch with average Americans and responsible for the failures in the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

<snip>

Kerry received a hero's welcome from an overwhelmingly student audience at Brown, a liberal campus in navy-blue Rhode Island, where many students worked on his unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign against Mr. Bush. In a question-and-answer session after the speech, Kerry drew not one hostile query in 45 minutes.

In an interview, Kerry said yesterday's speech was a signal that he intends to become more partisan and speak out more forcefully against the Bush administration as the 2006 midterm election cycle begins in earnest.

<snip>

It was also an address that had obvious implications for the 2008 presidential race; Kerry says he is keeping open his option of seeking his party's nomination for the presidency again, but for now he is more focused on helping Democrats win House and Senate seats next year.

<snip>

Kerry was accompanied by his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, and his daughter, Vanessa Kerry, a Harvard University Medical student. Kerry's other daughter, Alexandra, is a Brown alumna, but she was not present yesterday.

Kerry said he refrained from harsh criticism of Mr. Bush for almost a year after his election loss because he did not want to be seen as a sore loser. "I wanted to get beyond the statute of limitations on sour grapes," he said in an interview.

But a summer of traveling the country and raising money for his political action committee have convinced him, he said in an interview, to speak out more forcefully.

As is often the case with Kerry, he appeared a bit wooden while reading his prepared speech, but become more animated and passionate as he stepped from behind the lectern to take questions from the students.

Kerry called Iraq a "low-grade civil war right now" but said the United States "just can't walk away." He said the mistakes made by Bush administration policies have put the president in a "box that is getting tighter and a hole that is getting deeper and that this administration is still digging."

Tracey Schmitt, press secretary for the Republican National Party, dismissed Kerry's criticism as "armchair quarterbacking," adding: "The American people have pulled together during a difficult time and Democrats' efforts to politicize this tragedy are unsavory at best."

When a reporter joked in an interview yesterday that Kerry was president of the "United Blue States of America," the senator declined to play along. "I'm not into dividing us by reds and blues. I think we've got to find a way to unite people."

[TayTay]

8. Now, consider the flip side

and don't hit me with brickbats. There are a lot of people who go out to 'defend' in GD. Consider what you will be definding against.

In response to another student, Kerry said history will judge the U.S. involvement in Iraq as "one of the most colossal misjudgments and misadventures" this nation has made.

Nonetheless, he told the group, "you can't just up and walk away. This is not Vietnam today -- it might become that, but it's not today." It is "a question mark," he said, whether Iraqi security forces can be trained and jihadists forced out of the country. "It means more troops. It means more political effort. It means bringing the Sunni (Muslims) together. It means getting the other Arab Sunni countries in the region involved more, but that is the only chance of not winding up with a debacle."

From the Pawtucket Times story metnioned above."

Becareful with this. The Senator did not back away from past words on Iraq. (yet and maybe not soon]

Also, the call to action at the end of the story begs the question: are you going to show for some of the protest events.

Don't hit me. These are legitimate questions. Be prepared.

[Mass]

9. I missed that

Too bad - I guess you cant be perfect.

So I imagine Kerry and Clark are still on the same position on that. I had hoped he had evolved.

This said, there is still no Senator and no responsible dem who has taken a different position.

What I dont like in a quote like that is that he does not elaborate and a call to more troops makes it look bad, even if he is probably talking about internationalizing the conflict. Except that, he is not that far off what most democatic officials are saying, except for Feingold calling for pulling troops out end of 06.

[TayTay]

10. He has evolved, but it is subtle

The criticism in the speech is very, very harsh and uses very strong language to condemn the actions taken by the Bush Admin from Day 1. The Bush Admin has screwed up everything. See this:

This is the Katrina administration.

It has consistently squandered time, tax dollars, political capital, and even risked American lives on sideshow adventures: A war of choice in Iraq against someone who had nothing to do with 9/11; a full scale presidential assault on Social Security when everyone knows the real crisis is in health care - Medicare and Medicaid. And that's before you get to willful denial on global warming; avoidance on competitiveness; complicity in the loss and refusal of health care to millions.

SNIP

Over the next weeks I will address some of these choices in detail - choices about national security, the war in Iraq, making our nation more competitive and committing to energy independence. But it boils down to this. I still believe America's destiny is to become a living testament to what free human beings can accomplish by acting in unity. That's easy to dismiss by those who seem to have forgotten we can do more together than just waging war.

Sen. Kerry is committed to keeping the region from falling into civil war. That part came across strongly. (And his support of vets and of issues that pertain to the well-being of Vets and their families is second to none.) I am looking forward to a more articulated view of what is going on in Iraq. I think it is becoming clearer and clearer that the present course is failing. ANd if I can see it, well... draw the inference. There is a huge gap in these words and it is not necessairly bad. I am very intrigued to hear the next speech.

I posted this because this is what the Lefty freepers will point out. Fore warned is fore armed.

[beachmom]

11. Kerry is right on Iraq

Just think of it from the Iraqis' point of view. That's what I always try to do, and what he said sounds like the truth. My pessimism about Iraq is because Bush is running that war, and he knows about as much about what's going on in Iraq, as he knew of what was happening at the Convention Center in New Orleans that first week after the hurricane. The difference was the MEDIA was there, and pictures don't lie. It's too dangerous for media to wander too far from the Green Zone in Iraq, so we don't have a clue of what's going on there. There is no doubt in my mind that there are "U.S. Coastguard" moments in Iraq (what I mean, is places where our troops are doing a great job and things are working as they should). But who knows how many "convention center" and "superdome" stories there are in Iraq, when you don't have the information. Lack of information is the only reason why things haven't changed in Iraq. Kerry would NOT have pulled out of Iraq had he been president. While I totally sympathize with the anti-war movement, there are no serious presidential contenders for '08 who are proposing withdrawing from Iraq. The stakes are too high to give up on such a vitally important region. Unfortunately, with the incompetent Bush in charge, that war may well be lost by '08. Here's hoping the "locals" i.e. the Iraqi government figure out that there will be no more help from the "Feds" and come up with their own solutions to the problems in their country.

[Mass]

12. I have still seen nobody proposing to pull out immediately.

The problem with a quote like that is that it is opened to all interpretations.

Like TayTay, I am hoping for a speech that will spell out his vision on this subject.

[karynnj]

16. Feingold on the Sunday talk shows said that he wants a

target withdrawal date of the end of 06 as long as political goals are met. So I'm not sure what that actually means. It does position Feingold to be the anti-war candidate.

[whometense]

13. I noticed both of those.

And thought, uh-oh. On the other hand, it would be easier in a lot of ways - and also inconsistent and pandering - to jump to GET OUT NOW from what he's been saying. He has too much integrity to take the easy/popular position. But I'm sure we'll be hearing the howls.

Listening to Stephanie Miller - she just mentioned Kerry's speech, and said,

Republican talking points? What they're left with? "Shut up." That's it, just "Shut up."

[karynnj]

14. You are right that this will be hard to defend in DU

Although none of the other Democrats mainstream enough to be President are calling for withdrawal, they will not be happy with this. Especially the "more troops". I think Kerry may have a real dilemma here because he seems to genuinely believe that leaving a terrorist state would be a long term disaster. After all, the reason he voted for the IWR was to put teeth behind getting inspectors in to assure that Saddam did not have the WMD that were suppose to exist. Now, everyone agrees Iraq is far more of a terrorist stronghold than it ever was.

The real problem is that there may be no good solutions. Do you think his comment that it's not Vietnam yet is a reference to his belief that in Vietnam we were continuing to fight when there was no chance of winning and where no matter how long we fought the end solution would be about the same? Implying that in Iraq, he feels that we can still positively impact the long term solution.

I do think these are legitimate questions and I think the answers are not what most on DU want to hear. I do think that some candidate will take the pull out now option (a la Gene McCarthy). From these comments, I don't think it will be Kerry. A combination of his concern that we do the right thing, his ability to see alternative paths (that as Senator, he can't implement), and an inate optimism may keep him from being the one to make that call. I don't think he would do it for political gain. The biggest problem is that in reality he can't change the way Bush is fighting the war - a guess of why he had long talks with Hagel and McCain might be to fight for a united bi-partisan alternative plan rather than what Bush is doing.

As to the protests, isn't the Drilling in the Artic thing today a protest rally? I don't think given the above, that he would join the Sheehan protest - because he disagrees with the call for immediate withdrawal. I doubt he could get the protesters to even listen to his reasons for his point of view - though it would show guts to try to explain them to that (very hostile) crowd. Even then I doubt he could sway many of them. He did speak to very radical crowds in the 60s urging them to stay in the system, but then he agreed with their goal.

I think I will avoid this on DU - other than to say he promised a more complete talk on Iraq in the upcoming weeks. I don't think it's possible to win the argument and I think it will just cause threads to grow into the 100s of posts. It may be easier to defend (or opt to disagree with the Senator) when we hear what he is actually thinking.

[whometense]

15. Did you notice this

from the Peter Canellos Globe article?

In an interview, Kerry said his sadness over the devastation wrought by Katrina, and his frustration after a recent trip to Iraq, in which he traveled home on a plane with the coffin of an American soldier, persuaded him to get back in the arena.

''The moment is here," he said, acknowledging that he had ''held back" for almost year, both to give Bush a chance to govern and avoid any impression of sour grapes. Now, he said, he realized it's ''time to go out and tell the truth."

That certainly gives some clues as to what he's thinking about Iraq. The image of him travelling back with the coffin...

[karynnj]

20. I saw the second sentence but not the first or the third

That really is an image. I wonder if he wrote the family a sympathy card - that had to be hard. Kerry saying it's "time to go out and tell the truth." is interesting. It's hard to think of anything more central to his life.

[TayTay]

21. Oh, and the Prez in '08 thing

You can see from those assembled that there won't be any more people who advocated for Kerry to play-down the anger and such. He is going with the Boston crowd (and it's way early for this) who argued in the past election for more spirited reponses to events and to lies from the Bushies and their surrogates.

[whometense]

22. Totally agree.

This is the John we know and love. A nice guy till you make him angry. And then - look out. As Little Clarkie often says, "You won't like him when he's angry..."

[TayTay]

25. OH, I couldn't agree more.

I love pissed off Kerry. I love even more the implied comment that he has been biding his time and giving Bush enough rope to hang himself with. And the implied idea that Sen. Kerry is going to do a *lot* more media and come out of his 'exile.' Love that a lot. We should be seeing a lot more of him on MSM shows.

[whometense]

26. CAN'T WAIT.

I love what you said about enough rope - I've been wondering for months if JK wasn't doing exactly that. Biding his time. :loveya:

[karynnj]

28. unless you're on his side

[TayTay]

17. Excellent points, but I perceive some wiggle room and change

More later. (I gotta work)

Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
Edmund Burke (Oldest quote in polisci. Yeesh, tayTay pulling out that old chestnut. But's it;s a goodie.)

[karynnj]

19. Nice quote and appropriate

[TayTay]

23. Remember Karynnj, you are playing their game

The lefty freepers will not accept any answer that is not the answer they want. At all. They have made up their minds and they are only looking for things that support what they already believe. There is no way to win or even exert much influence in a debate that begins with someone conceeding the point that Kerry didn't agree with everything the LFers want. It is their game and the rules are rigged in their favor.

However, Sen. Kerry's position is the main stream position, as Beachmom has pointed out. The American people are not seeing any progress in Iraq. They are beginning to think of this as the dreaded quagmire which means there will be no easy way to affect positive change over there. Sen. Kerry knows this. His next speech on Iraq should be extremely interesting as he lays out what he knows, what he saw and the obvious problems that he spoke about so well yesterday.

Think about some of this stuff:
The President of Iraq last week sees the US withdrawing 50,000 troops by the end of this year.
The British might just have reached a watershed moment yesterday with the bombing stuff by Brits dressed as ARabs (WTF?) and the trashing of an Iraqi jail in Basra in order to free those self-same Brits. This is political dynamite in the UK and might cause Blair to resign even sooner. (Very bad stuff this. Basra was rioting, and it was one of the quieter palces in Iraq.)
The current US regime is so odious to Arab nations that they can't be seen as politically cooperating with the US or they risk making their own people so angry that it threatens their stability.

There is a lot to think about. I do not want to prejudge what Kerry has to say because I want to see what he genuinely thinks. (After all, I do think he is wicked smaht. LOL) This is way beyond the simplicity of the withdrawal argument. Withdrawal is not that easy. (Even for me. I want the troops out, but I also want Iraq to be relatively stable. They may be mutually exclusive goals.)

[karynnj]

27. I hear you and you're right

I think I will simply avoid the Iraq threads.

[TayTay]

29. Not neccesarily. But there is a better way

We always respond to arguments and then have to defend against what we don't really believe in anyway. The better way is to reframe, state clearly what the position is, anticipate the follow-up arguments (really we can do this) and then tell those who differ that it's okay. (Unless you're me, in which case I always end up with, "Bite me.")

There is a poster out there who is pretending to give Kerry the benefit of the doubt but only until 10/15. Why should I give in to this arbitrary date from someone who I don't generally agree with anyway? And his argument is murky at best and simplistic.

I have to work, but I was thinking of doing a separate post later and calling it something innocuous so that any lurkers from GD in here would miss it. I still might. Beware of false pic threads, or pic threads with, ahm, embedded lists.

[whometense]

30. I know this is a stupid question,

but why October 15??

[TayTay]

31. I have no idea. The GD poster chose it

Maybe it's his mom's birthday or something. See what I mean. We are responding to queries that make no sense. These people have no right to expect that Kerry will conform to their worldview. And I have seen nothing of such sparkling intellect from them that indicates that Sen. Kerry should. (Who are they after all?)

[karynnj]

33. I saw the Oct 15 deadline

which I'm sure Mr. Kerry and the others will take with appropriate seriousness ... if informed of it at all. What I wonder is what he/she will do if a prominent Democrat calls for a pull out on Oct 16 - after all he/she said that wasn't good enough.

For some reason, I had assumed that poster was female but looked and saw there was no gender listed.

[sandnsea]

24. Clark's position is more gung-ho

So they can't very well bash Kerry and support Clark. Oh I know, they will anyway.

But this is where most of America still is, when you read into the polls. Only 35% or so want to bring ALL the troops home NOW, and one more time, NOBODY has a plan to do that anyway. Not Feingold or Woolsey or Kucinich or ANYBODY.

Another 35% or so want to bring some home, and I think that's more along the lines of thinking that it would help the Iraqi's to know we do plan on leaving. That it would help in the long term security. I would prefer he move towards that position, because our presence is arguably hurting more than helping.

[karynnj]

18. I think the vision is what sets it apart

even Clinton is not talking vision. The positive vision side is also deeply rooted in everything he's talked about this year. It's cool seeing some of the themes start small then blossom. What's strange is that there would be so much more support for Kerry and these ideas if he would have not run last year - but I think he needed to have run to have developed these things this year.

[beachmom]

32. The Lefty Freeper crowd are very similar to the Bush supporters,

sorry to say.

Here's a quote about Bush supporters from The Economist (sorry no link, I'm just typing here from the hard copy):

"The third safety net <for Bush> is partisanship: faithful Republicans and Democrats witnessed different catastrophes in the Gulf. Most Republicans still approve of Mr. Bush's performance. Indeed, the fact that one American in four "strongly approves" of his actions over Katrina suggests that nothing short of evidence of treason can turn diehard conservatives against this president -- if that."

I love the last line -- if that!!! Anyway, when I completely turned against the LF crowd was when they completely blew off the fact that Iraqis came out, risking their lives, to vote in January. And when I pointed this out at dailykos.com I was called a "dupe for BushCo". There is no sense in talking to ardent Bush supporters and, similarly, there is no sense in talking to the fanatical anti-war crowd. They've made up their minds and all evidence to the contrary will be dismissed. The difference is that we THINK, since these people voted for Kerry last November, that these people are reasonable. But they are not. Like ardent right winger neo-cons who only choose to read or search for GOOD NEWS coming from Iraq, and dismissing all bad news as liberal bias, the LF crowd will only choose to read or search for BAD NEWS from Iraq, dismissing all good news as corporate media bias.

Now you may be wondering what business I have as a Democrat to be reading that British right leaning rag, The Economist (and I may add that I read David Brooks (NYT), andrewsullivan.com, buzzmachine.com, and bullmooseblog.com, et al), it is because they have credibility, and what they have to say can't be batted away so easily (although I certainly don't always agree with these publications and often am ready to throw the magazine across the room). I criticize RW people for only drinking their own Kool Aid, but I'm not going to do the same thing, too. So I urge everyone to read the other side's POV, and then come up with good, rational reasons for why they're wrong, but also to acknowledge areas where they may have a point. Left and Right. I know that Kerry does this, and I think he sets a good example in setting a course of intellectual honesty, where sometimes you have to change course, and admit that you may have been wrong. One last quote from this football player I saw on 60 minutes last Sunday: he said "my loyalty is to the truth, not consistency". I think that is a good motto to live by, both in politics and in life.