"McCain Called John Kerry 'Mr. Secretary'" by Elspeth Reeve at the Atlantic Wire

[applegrove]

McCain Called John Kerry 'Mr. Secretary'

by Elspeth Reeve at the Atlantic Wire

"SNIP........................................


At a press conference late Monday morning, Sen. John McCain called Sen. John Kerry "Mr. Secretary," which was either wishful thinking or a Freudian slip. McCain has been leading the PR campaign against President Obama's possible nomination of Susan Rice to be Secretary of State, and Republicans have been praising Kerry as an excellent second choice. Kerry, who tried to get McCain to be his running mate in 2004, turned "beet red," according to Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin. Kerry responded, "Thank you very much Mr. President... This is what happens when two losers get together."


.......................................SNIP"

[SunSeeker]

1. Kerry almost lost us the election by prepping Obama on that first debate. nt

[wisteria]

2. He preped him for all three. Obama lost the first debate- all on his own.

How come you caught the lies that came out after the debate, but not the rebuke from Obama's campaign right after that?

[cecilfirefox]

4. How dare you slander the greatest American alive!!!! nt

[wisteria]

5. Are you serious? I like our President, I think he is a geat President,

but he is not perfect, and yes, he was responsible for his debate performance.

[SunSeeker]

6. Obama himself said he was "too polite" in that first debate. Where did he get that strategy from?

Could it have been John "No Need to Address the Swiftboaters" Kerry? Good thing Obama went back to being himself in debate 2 and 3.

I'm still pissed at the pathetic campaign Kerry ran against Bush.

[JI7]

7. Axelrod was the one who stopped Kerry when he started getting Tougher during the Prep

because their strategy was for the President to appear to be above it and appear presidential.

it didn't work and they changed strategy. if the problem was kerry they wouldn't have had him prep for the other 2 debates.

also Obama didn't prep much for the first one.

[SunSeeker]

8. Axelrod told Kerry to tone it down? That makes no sense.

Especially if "their strategy was for the President to appear to be above it all." Above what? A placid Kerry? And the way Ax looked crestfallen after that first debate in the press room, it sure didn't seem like he just saw his strategy carried out.

But hey, I wasn't in the debate prep room, were you? I'm just going by what Kerry has done (actually, not done) in the past.

And if Axelrod was the problem, Obama didn't get rid of him either, so that theory is not too good. I could see why Obama would want to keep Kerry standing in for Stench. He does have that whole stiff, lip-licking creepy rich guy thing down. Next best thing to having Mittens there in person.

Either way, I don't want Kerry leaving his Senate post. It's the one thing he does well and we don't need a seat we have to suddenly defend and spend money on. Obama should not repeat the mistake of plucking Janet Napolitano out of Arizona for Homeland Security, only to give us Governor Jan Brewer. Whatever good Natolitano has done in DC will never make up for the damage Brewer has done in AZ.

[JI7]

9. there were articles on this

as for what kerry has done in his past , are you serious ?

and comparing Massachusettes to Arizona ?

[SunSeeker]

10. Link(s)? And yes, I'm serious about what a crappy campaign Kerry ran against Bush.

And Massachusetts is not impregnable. Brown is waiting in the wings and we can't afford to lose a Senate seat to the Repukes--or waste money trying to keep it Dem.

[JI7]

11. Kerry's loss to Bush was a lot closer than Scott Brown's loss in this Senate race

and Kerry beat Bush easily in all 3 debates.

<"Kerry was great," he added.

Indeed, accounts of the debate prep have Kerry doing an energetic and varied job of pressing the president on substance and tactics.

And by all accounts, he did get under Obama's skin when he played the Interrupting Romney in debate prep. "The president was pissed," said a member of the debate-prep team. "He doesn't like to be confronted, and Kerry was in his face.">


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-fineman/obama-debate-prep_b_1949212.html

[SunSeeker]

12. Scott Brown is still a viable candidate.

Brown can still get back in the Senate. He's got a lot of cash and Wall Street behind him. He won't be going up against a very popular Elizabeth Warren next time. It is just not worth the risk.

Nothing in that HuffPo article says Ax told Kerry to tone it down. On the contrary, it says Ax basically complimented Kerry for getting under Obama's skin. Obama getting "pissed" or letting Romney "get under his skin" wasn't the problem in the first debate. Romney didn't attack Obama as much as lie his ass off, suddenly claiming he was a moderate. The first debate was horrendous because Obama did not firmly call Romney out on his lies. As Obama admitted, he was just too polite. Just like when Kerry didn't call Bush out on his lies while being swiftboated.

I think the reason Ax looked so devastated in the spin room after the first debate was that he realized Obama prepared for a Romney attack, which never happened. Instead, they got Moderate Mitt, and his blatant lies and 180-degree flip flop on taxes on the rich. And Kerry is infamously unable to respond to blatant lies, so I'm guessing his debate prep sucked in that regard.

Beating Bush in a debate is not exactly a huge achievement. Worse, even though he won on points, Kerry just couldn't get a big enough majority of Americans behind him so that the Ohio shenanigans didn't matter. Kerry just doesn't have a whole lot of charisma or likeability, something a Secretary of State could use.

[JI7]

13. you ignore many things, elizabeth warren was not always popular, she was behing Brown

it was when Brown exposed himself with Scalia support, the racism and other crap that she started to beat him. Scott Brown did not get beat by someone who is popular .

as for Kerry's race against Bush he did call out bush on many things concerning issues that matter. the race was about a lot more than the swift boat crap. the bin laden , 9-11 stuff was what hurt more. and his comments about a global test in the debate. he did call Bush out on all his crap concerning iraq. what would be more comparable to swift boat attacks would be the birther crap.

as for charisma neither hillary clinton or susan rice are seen as being charismatic. but i do see that you just don't want kerry as sos no matter what.

it's interesting the way you bash kerry who has not failed as badly as scott brown yet you seem to think scott brown is some great thing.

[SunSeeker]

14. I'm not ignoring anything. Warren was ahead before Brown's Scalia bomb.

It is simply not true that "Scott Brown did not get beat by a very popular candidate." She was behind before she announced her candidacy, but once she started campaigning and people got to know her, her rise was steady and unstoppable. We, and in particular Massachusetts Dems, love her and she was ahead before Brown "exposed himself with Scalia support" at their debates. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/elizabeth-warren-scott-brown_n_1889660.html

She was even ahead before the tomahawk chop crap. That is why he did that crap. He was desperate because he was losing. And it backfired big time and the existing gap got even wider. I didn't say Scott Brown was "some great thing," just that he is a viable candidate...because he has gobs of cash. He is a lying asshat like most Repukes. Unfortunately, a good chunk of our electorate falls for those lies. And Brown's got the cash to spread it pretty thick.

IMHO, I think Kerry should stay in his Senate seat. Although I think Kerry would be a competent sos, it is simply not worth risking that seat for whatever good Kerry could do as sos. There are plenty of other candidates for sos that could do just as good a job without risking a Dem senate seat. Most notably, Susan Rice. I bet you could think of a few names too.

[emulatorloo]

3. Bullshit. Actually, no, that's fucking bullshit

[politicasista]

15. Thank you for sticking up for the Senator

and others too.

[KittyWampus]

16. Kerry tried to get McCain to be his running mate > BULLSHIT. Lot's of people liked clucking about it

Sorry but Reeve has zero credibility if that's part of her story.