Kerry 's calling in to Rachel Maddow's show

[whometense]

this morning.

She just announced it - right now

[Island Blue]

1. Has he been on yet?

I just heard her say Max Cleland was going to be on, but haven't heard anything about JK yet.

[Luftmensch067]

2. Just heard her say he's BEEN on -- here's the link for download

I'm assuming this will be available later today...hope so!

http://airamericaplace.com/archive.php?mode=show&id=17

Did anyone hear him? How was it?!!?

[whometense]

3. I heard the whole thing.

It was great. They talked about his trip out west last summer, election reform, republican corruption, Iraq (and his upcoming trip). And he gave the best answer I've heard him give yet about whether or not he's running in 2008 - an impassioned plea for people to get to work on 2006 and forget about 2008 for now. He said the best way to tackle every single hot button issue is to put as many dems in office as possible in 2006. Basically, without doing that (hard) work, talking about the rest of it is just an exercise in talking.

On a side note - sorry, TayTay - on Washington Journal this morning Chuck Todd said that Ed Gillespie is heading George Allen's PAC. And that of all potential repuke 2008 contenders, Allen has given the most $$$$ to Iowa repuke candidates. Dumber than a sack of hammers is running. We can only hope the people are fed up with idiots by then.

[TayTay]

4. Wow, where have I heard that before.

Second point first. Okay, I know this is not good for America, but can you even imagine a debate between Sen. Kerry and Sen. Allen? OMG! I don't want Barfbag anywhere near any lever of power whatsoever as I think he is a danger to the Republic, but can you even imagine? I am not surprised he is running. He is just the type of guy the Rethugs like to run, dumb and malleable. He will probably do well.

Sen. Kerry, as usual, is completely right. Horse before cart, 2006 before 2008. We must get one of the branches of Congress back, preferably both. But that is going to be extremely difficult. (I can see the Senate going 49-51, Dem to Repub, but with the impending doom of the filibuster, that is not good enough. Getting those two extra seats is going to be murder.) We have to work 100% harder than in 2004 and that race exhausted people. Hey, I'm dead serious about going to PA to help in whatever way is necessary. I'll answer phones, stuff envelopes, ring doorbells, stand with signs, whatever is necessary to retire Santorum. Cuz, damn it, I believe. I think we should coordinate with MH and GV and start making some serious plans for that. Folks who live in or near some other races should make plans to show up in Missouri, Rhode Island, etc.

Eyes on the prize. Everything else is a distraction.

[blm]

5. Can you recount the specifics re election reform and corruption?

.

[TayTay]

6. The archive of the show should be up some time soon

I missed the interview. (Well, I herd some of it, but the AAR station signal near me is apparently solar powered and we didn't really have any sun this morning, so I only caught this faintly. It was more like a promo for an interview and an interview for me.)

http://airamericaplace.com/archive.php?mode=show&id=17

Check here later on today. Sen. KErry was on about 12- 15 minutes into the show (or so.)

[rox63]

11. I heard part of the interview driving to work this morning

But I have the same solar-powered AAR signal as TayTay. So I can lose the signal depending on whether I take a right or a left, or whether I'm at the top or bottom of a hill.

What I heard was fantastic. I'm looking forward to hearing the whole thing once it's online.

[whometense]

16. IT'S ACTUALLY UP RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Audio here: http://www.airamericaplace.com/upload/aarm010606.mp3

[rox63]

17. I'll have to listen from home

I'm stuck at work, and on the phone most of the time. I'm currently on a customer conference call with about a dozen other people. Just try getting a word in edgewise on one of those free-for-alls. :eyes:

[whometense]

8. He didn't much want to talk about 2004 -

he said he was only interested in looking ahead. Given that at this point it's highly unlikely anything will reverse the results of 2004, that's probably the only reasonable approach to take.

He talked some about the incredibly high level of congressional corruption ("the highest I've seen in all my years in DC"), which segued into why we have to work our asses off for dems in 2006.

To my ears, he's also been doing some subtle nudging about the level of general democratic party disorganization in the past few elections - backing up what we've been saying about a person can't run for president alone. I get the feeling (and maybe I'm reading too much into his words) he is pointing out that his campaign is taking a lot of flak for things that weren't its fault. He defended his campaign in a pretty spirited way in Boston last month, and I happen to think he's right about this, and that the party let him down in a big way.

[blm]

10. Exposing the machines is about 2006 and 2008. That has to become priority

number one.

I think Kerry doesn't trust that he'll have back up when he speaks about the machines.

I think we need to change that perception.

[TayTay]

12. I think there are more plans afoot

I was genuinely surprised how many people last night went, 'That's right' and had those knowing little chuckles when a comments about the election being stolen came up. This is seeping slowly out into the general public. Bush being an all-around jerk and trying to amass all power to himself is having unintended consequences for him. LOL! People are now starting to believe that if he did the NSA things and such, maybe he was not above stealing an election in his quest for absolute power.

[blm]

14. Then a timely push on that open door is exactly what's needed.

.

[ProSense]

15. If it involved

spying on Democratic advisers (or their spouses), the leap will not be hard to make.

[whometense]

13. I think you're 100% right.

He is saying as much as he can say without being labeled a tinfoil hatter - and clearly he is not at all confident he will get any backup from other dems, who are all clawing away to gain their own inch of political advantage.

What completely baffles me is why any of them thinks they would fare any better than Kerry did? A corrupted voting system is a corrupted voting system. If any dem want to win they should all be sceaming in unison on this. Until they are willing to sign on, it's not surprising that Kerry is measuring his words.

[sandnsea]

28. I had an idea on that

We need 15 seats to take back the House. I would imagine there's 30-40 highly competitive seats. In addition to traditional campaigning, shouldn't we also be targeting the election officials in the counties in those districts?? Making sure there are lots of LTTE's on whatever kind of system they use, educating voters, getting a DUer in every county, etc. :shrug:

[ProSense]

7. Thanks for the recap.

Everyone should be trumpeting this along with JK: Take back Congress, first priority.

[whometense]

9. Just FYI

I heard her say on the show today that it's been taking them about 11 hours to get the audio archive up - so that would mean we shouldn't expect to see it there until about 8:00 tonight.

[whometense]

18. By the way,

Cleland was wonderful too!!! :loveya: He was on near the end of the show.

[politicasista]

19. Thanks for the recap everyone

I'll listen later too. :hi:

[globalvillage]

20. I didn't hear Sen Kerry

but I did catch Max, and heard him mention JK a couple times (in the context of war hero).

I *heart* Max.

:loveya:

edit - just finished listening to Sen Kerry.

I *heart* him more.

:loveya: :loveya:

[MH1]

21. Just listened. Wow.

He sounded great. So relaxed. And as always, his comments were right on target. I especially liked hearing him talk about his summer trip.

:loveya:

[ProSense]

22. I listened

This is very reassuring stuff. Rachel sure broke down the Iraq dilemma. Kerry's responses were excellent.

[rox63]

23. I finally caught the whole thing

Kerry's been a busy guy again today. Up at the crack of dawn for radio interviews, then in the afternoon he's off to save children from abuse.
Whatta guy... :loveya:

[Island Blue]

24. Let me add my share of floaty hearts!

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: The conversation seemed so effortless. I love it when he talks like this - like he's sitting down and having a conversation with your average Joe. For the life of me, I don't understand why everyone doesn't see in JK what all of us do. (And bless his heart, he's so patient when folks ask him about '08.)

[blm]

25. Haven't been able to listen, yet. Did Kerry call in or sit in with her?

.

[Island Blue]

26. He called in.

When you have a chance to listen, it's pretty much right at the beginning of the show.

[TayTay]

27. Great interview. That was wonderful.

Rachael Maddow is very smart and I loved her questions. I loved how she started out with the personal story about driving in Montana and Idaho. That was just a great and warm anecdote.

I wish Sen. Kerry would call Stephanie Miller. I just think they would hit it off. And she has the funniest 'voice guy' in radio. Ms. Miller is a riot and it would be a different kind of interview, that's for sure. (She is such a fun flirt. I wonder how that would go over.)