Letter to Kerry

[strandinthewind]

Dodging bullets, I jumo in to say there are some posts about Jerry's record in the Nader thread.

[jwd]

Here's an interesting article that show's Kerry's stand on certain issues....or does it?


http://politics.slate.msn.com/id/209...ontinueArticle




Joe

[jwd]

Another opinion:

http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/17337.htm

THE REAL KERRY

By HOWIE CARR
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February 5, 2004 -- BOSTON

ONE of the surest ways to get the phones ringing on any Massachusetts talk-radio show is to ask people to call in and tell their John Kerry stories. The phone lines are soon filled, and most of the stories have a common theme: our junior senator pulling rank on one of his constituents, breaking in line, demanding to pay less (or nothing) or ducking out before the bill arrives.

The tales often have one other common thread. Most end with Sen. Kerry inquiring of the lesser mortal: "Do you know who I am?"

And now he's running for president as a populist. His first wife came from a Philadelphia Main Line family worth $300 million. His second wife is a pickle-and-ketchup heiress.

Kerry lives in a mansion on Beacon Hill on which he has borrowed $6 million to finance his campaign. A fire hydrant that prevented him and his wife from parking their SUV in front of their tony digs was removed by the city of Boston at his behest.

The Kerrys ski at a spa the widow Heinz owns in Aspen, and they summer on Nantucket in a sprawling seaside "cottage" on Hurlbert Avenue, which is so well-appointed that at a recent fund-raiser, they imported porta-toilets onto the front lawn so the donors wouldn't use the inside bathrooms. (They later claimed the decision was made on septic, not social, considerations).

It's a wonderful life these days for John Kerry. He sails Nantucket Sound in "the Scaramouche," a 42-foot Hinckley powerboat. Martha Stewart has a similar boat; the no-frills model reportedly starts at $695,000. Sen. Kerry bought it new, for cash.



Every Tuesday night, the local politicians here that Kerry elbowed out of his way on his march to the top watch, fascinated, as he claims victory in more primaries and denounces the special interests, the "millionaires" and "the overprivileged."

"His initials are JFK," longtime state Senate President William M. Bulger used to muse on St. Patrick's Day, "Just for Kerry. He's only Irish every sixth year." And now it turns out that he's not Irish at all.

But in the parochial world of Bay State politics, he was never really seen as Irish, even when he was claiming to be (although now, of course, he says that any references to his alleged Hibernian heritage were mistakenly put into the Congressional Record by an aide who apparently didn't know that on his paternal side he is, in fact, part-Jewish).

Kerry is, in fact, a Brahmin - his mother was a Forbes, from one of Massachusetts' oldest WASP families. The ancestor who wed Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter was marrying down.

At the risk of engaging in ethnic stereotyping, Yankees have a reputation for, shall we say, frugality. And Kerry tosses around quarters like they were manhole covers. In 1993, for instance, living on a senator's salary of about $100,000, he managed to give a total of $135 to charity.

Yet that same year, he was somehow able to scrape together $8,600 for a brand-new, imported Italian motorcycle, a Ducati Paso 907 IE. He kept it for years, until he decided to run for president, at which time he traded it in for a Harley-Davidson like the one he rode onto "The Tonight Show" set a couple of months ago as Jay Leno applauded his fellow Bay Stater.

Of course, in 1993 he was between his first and second heiresses - a time he now calls "the wandering years," although an equally apt description might be "the freeloading years."

For some of the time, he was, for all practical purposes, homeless. His friends allowed him into a real-estate deal in which he flipped a condo for quick resale, netting a $21,000 profit on a cash investment of exactly nothing. For months he rode around in a new car supplied by a shady local Buick dealer. When the dealer's ties to a congressman who was later indicted for racketeering were exposed, Kerry quickly explained that the non-payment was a mere oversight, and wrote out a check.

In the Senate, his record of his constituent services has been lackluster, and most of his colleagues, despite their public support, are hard-pressed to list an accomplishment. Just last fall, a Boston TV reporter ambushed three congressmen with the question, name something John Kerry has accomplished in Congress. After a few nervous giggles, two could think of nothing, and a third mentioned a baseball field, and then misidentified Kerry as "Sen. Kennedy."

Many of his constituents see him in person only when he is cutting them in line - at an airport, a clam shack or the Registry of Motor Vehicles. One talk-show caller a few weeks back recalled standing behind a police barricade in 2002 as the Rolling Stones played the Orpheum Theater, a short limousine ride from Kerry's Louisburg Square mansion.

The caller, Jay, said he began heckling Kerry and his wife as they attempted to enter the theater. Finally, he said, the senator turned to him and asked him the eternal question.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah," said Jay. "You're a gold-digger."

John Kerry. First he looks at the purse.

Howie Carr, a Boston Herald columnist and syndicated talk-radio host, has been covering John Kerry for 25 years.




Joe

[Johnny Stew]

I'm not a big Kerry fan, but I've said it before and i'll say it again... we desperately need the current bozo out of office.

He's been no good for our country, and another four years isn't going to make it better -- only worse.
Even our republicans on the board haven't really pointed to anything substantial that Bush has done to benefit them either.

I'm not voting against Bush because of party affiliation... I'm voting against the man, because he's been absolutely ineffectual on everything other than his Anti-Terrorism Crusade (and even that hasn't been as successful as they like to make it sound).

So even though John Kerry isn't perfect, he can't help but be better than Dubya.

[Johnny Stew]

The caller, Jay, said he began heckling Kerry and his wife as they attempted to enter the theater.

Ahh, a heckler... yeah, like I'd give regard to anything that guy had to say about someone.

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by jwd
And just what is the truth? I'm sure I'll find all the unbiased and objective information I need at the gospel of St. John Kerry. Thanks for your open dialogue.


Joe

Well you ain't gonna find it on the right wing veterans blog you posted or at the New York Post either. My guess is that you're not looking for unbiased information at all.

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by jwd
Another opinion:

."

Many of his constituents see him in person only when he is cutting them in line - at an airport, a clam shack or the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Joe

When was the last time you saw Bush in person?

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by Johnny Stew
I'm not a big Kerry fan, but I've said it before and i'll say it again... we desperately need the current bozo out of office.

He's been no good for our country, and another four years isn't going to make it better -- only worse.
Even our republicans on the board haven't really pointed to anything substantial that Bush has done to benefit them either.

I'm not voting against Bush because of party affiliation... I'm voting against the man, because he's been absolutely ineffectual on everything other than his Anti-Terrorism Crusade (and even that hasn't been as successful as they like to make it sound).

So even though John Kerry isn't perfect, he can't help but be better than Dubya.

A ham sandwich would be better than Dubya.

[jwd]

Johnny Stew:

Even our republicans on the board haven't really pointed to anything substantial that Bush has done to benefit them either.

I'm not voting against Bush because of party affiliation... I'm voting against the man, because he's been absolutely ineffectual on everything other than his Anti-Terrorism Crusade (and even that hasn't been as successful as they like to make it sound).

His war on terror IS the most important thing. As commander in chief his main responsibility is defense of the country. Everything else is secondary imo. We haven't been attacked again, Hussein is out of power with the chance of a democracy in the Middle East very much a reality, Khadafi is giving up his weapons of mass destruction, and we are in negotiations with North Korea multi-laterally. Afghanistan is a liberated country with the taliban scattered. I think those are pretty good marks. Anyone can spin it any way they want, but those are the facts.


Joe

[jwd]

Johnny Stew:


quote:
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The caller, Jay, said he began heckling Kerry and his wife as they attempted to enter the theater.
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Ahh, a heckler... yeah, like I'd give regard to anything that guy had to say about someone.

Yea.....but presented in the context of the opinion, I think he had a valid point.



Joe

[gldstwmn]

Originally posted by jwd
His war on terror IS the most important thing. As commander in chief his main responsibility is defense of the country. Everything else is secondary imo.
Joe

Who was in charge during the greatest security failure in the history of the United States?

[jwd]

gldstwmn:

Who was in charge during the greatest security failure in the history of the United States?

Another inherited failure of your beloved Clinton. That's the way I see it. Bush was in office less than 9 months when that happened. Blaming it on him is ludicrous.


Joe

[GypsySorcerer]

Originally posted by jwd
Another inherited failure of your beloved Clinton. That's the way I see it. Bush was in office less than 9 months when that happened. Blaming it on him is ludicrous.


Joe

Who was in charge during the greatest security failure in the history of the United States?

I blame neither Bush nor Clinton for 9/11. Let's face it, no one TRULY saw it coming. But to blame Bush because he was in charge is ridiculous. Lest we forget that Clinton was offered Bin Laden. So THEORETICALLY we could blame him for not having Bin Laden locked up right now. gldstwmn, please tell me how Bush being in charge had anything to do with the greatest security failure in the history of the U.S.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally posted by jwd
His war on terror IS the most important thing. As commander in chief his main responsibility is defense of the country. Everything else is secondary imo. We haven't been attacked again, Hussein is out of power with the chance of a democracy in the Middle East very much a reality, Khadafi is giving up his weapons of mass destruction, and we are in negotiations with North Korea multi-laterally. Afghanistan is a liberated country with the taliban scattered. I think those are pretty good marks. Anyone can spin it any way they want, but those are the facts.

But, Joe, it's a completely different ball-game since 9/11.
Anyone in the White House now would have to be "tough on terrorism." There's no choice.

I still don't feel that the Bush Administration has been as effective as they claim.
We're pretty much always in peace negotiations with some country somewhere... that doesn't mean anything will necessarily come from it. So you can cross that off the list of accomplishments.

And nothing changes the fact that the mastermind behind 9/11 is still free, and nothing changes the fact that his al-Qaida organization continues plotting more attacks against our country, to this day (2.5 years after the terror attacks).

The guy they did manage to catch had no weapons of mass destruction (and apparently hasn't had them since 1994 - when Clinton was in office), and didn't play a part in the attacks that cost us thousands of lives (the event that sparked the whole "War On Terrorism" in the first place).

So again, I feel that anyone in office now would have to be tough in regards to National Security... but we need someone who will be effective in additional areas as well. And Bush isn't that guy.
Period.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally posted by jwd
Another inherited failure of your beloved Clinton. That's the way I see it. Bush was in office less than 9 months when that happened. Blaming it on him is ludicrous.

It doesn't really accomplish anything to point fingers, true... but it's not an entirely baseless indictment either.
It's been proven that the Bush Administration had plenty enough information to know that an attack was imminent. And someone please correct me if i'm wrong, because I hate unknowingly spreading misinformation, but I believe the Bush Adminstration also had intelligence that specifically pointed to certain dates when attacks were most probable.

That he was "only" in office for 9 months is not an excuse. They had information, and they didn't act on it.
What they've done since is like closing the barn-door after the horse ran away.