Message from Teresa Heinz Kerry

[dwahzon]

Some of us who worked as moderators on the Kerry-Edwards blog at johnkerry.com have stayed in touch with John and Teresa. Teresa sent this message to us yesterday and asked us to share with others in the blogosphere.


From Teresa:

A year ago today, many of us were hoping that we would begin to change the course that America was on by electing my husband President of the United States. While we fell short of that goal, I wanted to use this occasion to thank you again.

Words alone cannot express my sincere gratitude for everything you did for John and me. Our campaign was fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of people like you all across America. Your hope and tenacity reaffirmed my belief in this great country of ours.

As I campaigned across the country, I learned so much from each and every person I met. My life was, and forever will be, enriched with the knowledge, resolve and affection that I gained through that experience. And that journey could not have begun or continued without you and others like you--Americans who believe in a better America and a better world.

Your generosity, principle and faith are qualities that I will always cherish, and I will never forget how hard you worked for John and for our country.

Thank you for being part of our lives, and remember, our journey continues. Let's continue to be the saints and keep marching on.

With warm personal regards,

Teresa a/k/a Mamma T.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Thanks

I've been wondering what Mamma T has been up to.

BTW: Welcome to DU :hi: I hope you continue to keep us posted.

[dwahzon]

7. You're welcome.

I lurk here a lot more than I post. There's only so much time in a day and I put a great deal of effort into what goes on at the <a href="http://www.democracycellproject.net">Democracy Cell Project</a>. There are a couple DCP people who are also more active DU contributors and I count on them to highlight DU threads.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi dwahzon!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[annabanana]

2. Always nice to hear from this wonderful lady..

I wish it was her wineing and dining the Royals. (I'll bet they do too.)

[Mass]

3. Thank you for posting this.

[jsamuel]

4. johnkerry.com is where I started, Thanks for mod'n!

[CottonBear]

5. Thanks for posting the kind message from Mamma T!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[dwahzon]

8. Thanks

for the welcome!

[blm]

6. Mamma T is dead right.....we should stay the saints while the Repubs sink

from their own muddy tactics.

Katrina opened eyes and ears to truths that could not be spun even by a complicit media.

Republicans should be treated now like that line from the Wizard of Oz, good witch to bad witch - Begone...Your powers are no good here.

[jus_the_facts]

9. "Let's continue to be the saints...."

.....don't recall them being considered for *sainthood* recently?! Heh.

[Blue Diadem]

10. Thank you for posting Teresa's message.

I miss that blog..spent many evenings there.

Welcome to DU, dwahzon. :hi:

[mod mom]

11. Now is the time for the Kerry's to come forward and truly discuss the

election. John Kerry won. John Conyers and the House Judiciary Legal staff has the evidence. We need our president to step forward and not allow more damage including ANOTHER FAUX PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION TO THE SUPREME COURT THAT WILL SCREW FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AMERICAN!

[MelissaB]

12. I love this woman! Here is a walk down memory lane.

In The Northwest: Teresa Heinz Kerry hasn't lost her outspoken way

By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST



What made Teresa Heinz Kerry so refreshing to some voters, and threatening to others on the 2004 campaign trail, is summed up when THK talks about her speech to last year's Democratic convention:

"Nobody told me what to do," she told a Saturday fund-raiser here.

The implicit afterword: Nobody better try.

...snip

COUNTING THE VOTES: Heinz Kerry is openly skeptical about results from November's election, particularly in sections of the country where optical scanners were used to record votes.

"Two brothers own 80 percent of the machines used in the United States," Heinz Kerry said. She identified both as "hard-right" Republicans. She argued that it is "very easy to hack into the mother machines."

"We in the United States are not a banana republic," added Heinz Kerry. She argued that Democrats should insist on "accountability and transparency" in how votes are tabulated.

"I fear for '06," she said. "I don't trust it the way it is right now."

More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/214744_joel07.html

Teresa Heinz Kerry - Hacking the "Mother Machine"?

by Thom Hartmann

"Two brothers own 80 percent of the machines used in the United States," Teresa Heinz Kerry told a group of Seattle guests at a March 7, 2005 lunch for Representative Adam Smith, according to reporter Joel Connelly in an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Connelly noted Heinz Kerry added that it is "very easy to hack into the mother machines."

The two brothers Mrs. Kerry is referencing are, according to voting machine expert (and founder of www.BanVotingMachines.org) Lynn Landes, in an article for the Online Journal, Bob Urosevich, president of Diebold Election Systems, and Todd Urosevich, who was vice president for customer support of Chuck Hagel's old company, now known as ES&S.

Presumably the "mother machines" Teresa was talking about are the "central tabulator" computers, like the Windows-based Diebold central tabulator PC that Howard Dean hacked into and untraceably changed an election on - in 90 seconds - live on the "Topic A With Tina Brown" CNBC TV show late last year.

As Dean noted while hacking the Diebold machine on national television, "In 1998, only 7% of all U.S. counties used electronic voting machines." But, Dean noted of the 2004 race, "in the next presidential election, roughly 1 in 3 of us will use one."

More: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0310-32.htm

[MadJohnShaft]

13. They were so mean to her in the press during the election

I thought Teresa was great at the convention - she reminds me of many of my wife's russian brassy aging women relatives that are amusing at parties and holidays.

[ray of light]

14. The propaganda networks did their best to smear anyone with a "D"

in front of their name.

She's so genuine and both of them are so caring.

Both could have hid away after the election was stolen, but they're both still out here with us fighting these corrupt evil people and the media who helps them.

[second edition]

15. What a nice woman to continue to remember

those that gave their support to John Kerry and herself and graciously thank them for this support even a year later. I would of loved to seen her as First Lady,smart, outspoken and caring.

[blm]

17. I'll never forget when she told gays scorned by their families that they

would have a mama in the WH - a Mamma T who would be there for them.

Knowing how cruel families can be to their own members for any perceived differences, it really pulled at my heartstrings.

[CottonBear]

21. My now deceased brother-in-law shunned his gay son

and he died without speaking to him. The gay son was not invited to the funeral or even mentioned during the service or in the obituary. It was very sad and disturbing.

To make things even more tragic, a younger son had pre-deceased the father, so the gay son was the only living child. The family only acknowledged the dead son and the two step-children and would not even allow the ex-wife of my brother-in-law to attend either. It was just awful. :cry: The gay son lives (lived?) in New Orleans. I hope he's OK. We don't know how to contact him. Mr. CB hasn't seen in since before he came out years ago. :(

Did I mention that my in-laws are Republican, Catholics who live in the New Orleans suburbs? Don't you just love those Christian family values?
:sarcasm:

[blm]

28. Oh, how awful.

You must have had the same reaction to Teresa's words that I had......especially since you know exactly what she meant.

[Marnieworld]

16. im goingt to go have some ketchup right now!

I love her. Thanks for posting this.

[BamaBecky]

18. thanks

[mzmolly]

20. Thank YOU Teresa.

a/k/a Mamma T. :hi:

[cry baby]

22. I LOVE HER!!!! Her spirit and courage should be an inspiration

to all of us...I know she is an inspiration to me.

On edit: Thank you for much for delivering the message and welcome to DU!

[dwahzon]

27. Thanks

for the welcome and you're very welcome. Please pass this link onto anyone that you know worked on the campaign. She really wanted to reach out and touch everyone without it being an official press piece kind of thing.

[jillan]

23. Thanks so much for posting this.

I will always smile when I think of the time she responded to * supporters that were chanting 4 more years with

Four more years of Hell!

and was she ever right.

Former K/E forum member here as well. Thank you for being a moderator there. Those were some of the most exciting days on that forum. And those days changed me forever.

[Javaman]

24. Such Class. Ahhh, what could have been...

breaks my heart.

[politicasista]

25. A nice lady. Thanks Momma T.

I still get mad at how the media villifed her and her family. They would have been a cool, caring first family.:patriot:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

26. Thank you for sharing this with us.

It's good to read her words again.

[Gronk Groks]

29. Welcome to DU dwahzon...

...may John and Teresa Kerry proceed saintly along.

Me, I'm a mud slogging ground pounder that thinks this mis-administration needs to be taken down, gutted and hung up to dry as a warning to the future fascists everywhere.

Saintly? Don't think so...

[4_TN_TITANS]

30. Another K/E blog junkie....

The K/E blog is how I found DU. That was such an emotional and hope filled time.....

[Lisa]

31. Not only does she send out thank-yous, but she does it again 1 year later

Wow! She even makes my mom look like a slacker!

[OnionPatch]

32. I just loved her

I think I liked her better than John, heh heh. She was real.

[Snotcicles]

33. Me too. n/t

[Greeby]

34. Mamma T?

You releasing a rap album, Teresa? ;)

[KC21304]

35. Thanks dwahzon, and thank you Mamma T and John.

What a lady. I still cannot believe that 50% of the people in America voted for this phony named Bush.

[Straight Shooter]

36. And people dared to say that she would not be a worthy First Lady.

Simply because she had the intelligence, the experience, and the insight to speak for herself.

Can you just imagine her and John Kerry meeting with Chavez now? What a delight that would be, what strides we would make. I seriously doubt there would be demonstrations against them. There would be "showers of flowers" for Mamma T.

I don't think I'll ever forgive the bushies for all that they have taken from us.

[sweetheart]

37. good on to her

But geez, i'd rather she spoke to the stolen election. Instead we're
all buddies in this all, and i'm supposed to care if john kerry wants
to bring some american soldiers home for the holidays... missing the
point i'm afraid.

Theresa heinz kerry, please help us, not just as an independently
wealthy gobetween greasing political tracks, but as an actor yourself.
You have great feminine class, and would that public service be
something more vital than lost first lady, but feminist, person in a
position to get heard.

But the charade of empire is excused in the demopublican vichy state,
smiles and DLC neoimperial grins for the camera. Then every one back
to the pirate ships to pilliage the fringe of empire.

Many warm regards,
-s

[rosesaylavee]

38. Your welcome Teresa

and what a joy it would have been to have you as first lady. You are intelligent, funny, and an original thinker. John Kerry is lucky to have you as his partner.

rosesaylavee

:hug: