Thoughtful post for once in GD about Kerry disillusionment

[Der Blaue Engel]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4831342

Anyone here want to respond? I feel too braindead to counter some of the misconceptions right now. I think all this thread needs is a little information.

[whometense]

1. I think

if I read the phrase "he rolled over" one more time I am going to say something I will later regret.

[jillan]

2. I posted. It is a good, honest discussion on Kerry.

There really hasn't been anything bad said - yet.

I think it's true, other than us here, there is a love/hate feeling towards him. Let everyone hash it out, I think good will come out of it. It's part of the healing process.

[TayTay]

3. I am disinclined to answer on this one

I like the idea that various and sundry non-combatants are airing their differences on Kerry. They do feel how they feel and it is ridiculous to try to convince someone that they didn't feel what they plainly did.

No, I'm not jumping off the wagon. But that thread is actually very hopeful. I think I espied, ahm, healing. This is a good thing and I have nothing to add.

[globalvillage]

4. I did.

I think the poster is sincere, and the thread is basically positive, but I'm tired of the 'blame game' (which is a phrase I swore I'd never use), and I think this audience is receptive.

[TayTay]

5. It was encouraging to see so many open to an '08 run.

I understand that Kerry didn't do everything they wanted him to do. (Nobody ever does everything you want them to do. Most of the time with good reason.) But, considering how hurt some people were and how fragile some people really are, it's nice to see the healing coming along. Makes me feel better.

I support Sen. Kerry down the line. But, there are those who don't and they have to find their own way back (with judiciously placed comments like yours acting as guide lines, of course.)

[globalvillage]

6. I just miss him, Tay Tay.

What can I say? I feel the need to defend.
One of these days, we'll meet up, and I can cry like a Pennsylvanian, and you can be stoic, like the good Masshole you are.
Sounds like a good time, don't you think?

[whometense]

7. You know,

I miss him all the time too. And he lives here. :hug:

[globalvillage]

8. I hardly know what to say.

Thanks for sharing?
I hate to be mushy. Pennsylvanians are really a lot tougher than that (although not as tough as New Englanders. I know lots of youze guys, and I avoid you in parking lots).
Soon, whome. We are only asking you to share for a few short years. By 2016, I think I'll be ready to let go.

[whometense]

11. Didn't mean to be mushy.

It's not Kerry-the-person I miss (it's hardly like I saw him on a daily basis before), as much as Kerry-the beacon-of-hope-for-a-brighter-future. That's what I miss. I miss the hope.

[TayTay]

12. I miss him too!

Geez, I got all weepy and wicked sentimental about it yesterday. What part of 'suck it up and move on' did you miss? That was me being all sentimental and stuff. Geez, I'm not that hard to read am I? (That's New Englander for: 'Geez, please give a major speech in Boston or thereabouts Sentah, cuz I like, want to see yuhz and stuff.")

Geez, I get all teary-eyed too ya know! I just render it in my native tongue, Bostonese. (Never let 'em see you weep.)

[globalvillage]

21. Damn. My freaking eyes are leaking.

Stop it, you two. I'm hurtin bad, here.
Sen Kerry told me (I know he was talking to me, 'cause the letter had my name on it) that we can only advance the values we share by having the courage of our convictions.
So quit your blubbering an let's get on with it.
Seesh.

I say we kick some ass. Sen Kerry seems to think it's time.

I'm ready.

[TayTay]

9. You are not alone. See these pics

My meager picking from Brown yesterday:




Okay, I am at the end of the line. It snakes forward, bends around the quad and in front of the buildings at the end and then back around on itself. The people directly in front of the camera are about 300 people in front of me. Been waiting in line for 2 hours. They didn't get in.

[TayTay]

10. Last pic

This line ends at Solomon Hall. Those first 50 or so people nearest the hall probably got in. The rest had to go home, me included.

A lot of people were missing Kerry.

[whometense]

14. Those are beautiful.

I love black and white photos. All those people waiting in line to see him. That makes me happy.

[jillan]

26. People waited 2 hours to see Kerry!

That makes me happy - that gives me hope!

[TayTay]

27. No, people waited two hours in line

and DIDN'T get in to see Kerry. That's how many people showed up. They could have used a hall that was twice the size of the one they did use. That's how many people showed up.

Not bad for September, eh!

[globalvillage]

13. Wow. B&W is so classic.

Great pix. Thanks.

[TayTay]

15. Thanks. The B&W was an accident

See, I loaned my new digital to my son. He thinks he's an auteur and decided that his friends would look just so, so cool in B&W. He neglected to put the camera back in color mode for me.

Now me, being an idiot, didn't know how to fix it until after I snapped these shots. Sigh! So, the B&W is nice and accidental.

[karynnj]

16. Gorgeous Pictures

of an idyllic campus

[TayTay]

17. Yeah. Did I mention it made me feel really old to go there?

There were a thousand college students, two old lefty freepers and a woman who was involved in something and knew the old lefty freepers but declined the offer to stand in line with them. She disappeared and, I think, spied someone she knew and made an 'arrangement' to get in. Sigh! I thought of offering some starving kid 50 bucks for his place in line, but then decided not to. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, Sigh!

Oh and thanks. We got 'Classic College Look 101' down pat in New England. Probably so beautiful it'll take your breathe away in about a month when the leaves turn. Looks like a friggin postcard, huh!

[WildEyedLiberal]

18. Lefty freepers seeing Kerry?

Lord, why?

[TayTay]

19. No, they didn't get in.

I'm sure they were last spoteed at Starbucks, complaining that no body takes them seriously.

[WildEyedLiberal]

20. But why would they even want to go?

Did you overhear them complaining about Kerry while in line?

[TayTay]

22. No, they were too busy talking about the adventures in the past

How they protested in the '60's (which is nice, I got nothing against that) and how they are 'politically connected' (snark) and how they bought their birkenstocks on sale. (Okay, I made that last part up, but really, it was coming.)

They wanted to see John Kerry speak. Just like I did. Cuz he is a good speaker and has something worth listening to. Even lefty freepers listen, it's the snark afterwards that's hard to put up with. But they want to hear John Kerry, International Man of Mystery. (Ahm, okay, maybe that's another guy, but it had that feel.)

[globalvillage]

23. I miss school.

It's only been 23 years. Seems like yesterday.
Sigh.
For any of you still in college, stay there.

[TayTay]

24. I'm just pushing all the buttons tonight, aren't I

Sorry. Just think of the bills and that should cure the nostalgia. It cost $40,000 a yar for Brown. Damn.

[globalvillage]

25. Yikes!

I'll keep my job in corporate america, thank you very much.
Funny, I went to a Kerry rally in Ohio with my daughter and her then boyfriend (now fiancee), and what impressed him most was Sen Kerry's plan for education. He was blown away.
Now he's just struggling like most kids his age.
Sad. I would have liked the tax break for my daughter's tuition, too. Best money I'll ever spend, regardless.