So...

[partisan]

Did I miss anything today?

[whometense]

1. Nah.

:D

Same old same old.

[babylonsister]

2. Could I borrow your name, because that's how I feel today.

Phew!

[politicasista]

3. Does anyone know what happened?

I am confused. I read through some threads, but it sounds like everyone is after Kerry again and it doesn't sound good (almost like the Mary Cheney thing all over again) Or am I missing something? :shrug:

[babylonsister]

4. Kerry gave a speech in LA yesterday and mispoke a word. 24 hours

later after sending out press releases to the media, Snowjob and McCain were on the attack, claiming Kerry dishonored the soldiers. Everyone picked up on that. Kerry then released a press release and went on TV to discount the lies they were spreading.
Taken in context, his mess-up related to the blivet, not the soldiers, but the rethugs are spinning like crazy and getting everyone riled up, including some clowns on DU.
There's also been an inordinate amount of support for Kerry on DU, which is a good thing. I think the speech transcript and video are up in here. If you need anything else, let me know and I might be able to find it for you.

[politicasista]

5. Thanks

I guess I was agreeing with what Inuca said. I haven't heard the whole story until now, but it looks like Mary Cheney all over again. They are not just gaining on him, but are out to destroy him. I know everything was distorted, but if he runs again he is going to have to come out with a strong, forceful statement on this issue caus they will throw this right back in his face.

Am I missing something? I guess I am just afraid right now. :shrug:

[emulatorloo]

6. why don't you go watch Kerry's press conference.

can't get much stronger. . .

Text:
http://www.johnkerry.com/news/releases/release.html?id=34

Video:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=273x109711

[babylonsister]

8. emulatorloo, you and all the Kerry fans were terrific today

in defending his honor. My hat's off to everyone! :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

[politicasista]

11. Thanks I will

:hi:

[babylonsister]

7. I just heard a discussion on Hardball. Tweety said Kerry had to

come out swinging to protect his reputation, and I agree. Chuck Todd and Jonathan Alter were less than complimentary, saying Kerry was selfish for putting his needs above the party. :eyes:
Tweets said it was like chasing leaves in the wind with the internet, and everything caught on tape. If something happens now that isn't addressed immediately, it just grows. So Kerry learned a hard lesson, it seems.
I was afraid earlier, but not so much now. Kerry did great and brought the discussion back to the war, though it's hard to heard the conversation with the r/w shills out there.

[emulatorloo]

9. did Tweety show clips of the conference?

IMHO, tweety really respects Kerry, especially his commitment to the troops.

[babylonsister]

10. You mean Kerry's press conference? A little bit, but he's not over yet;

he's about to talk about Kerry some more after the break. And yes, I believe Tweety really does respect Kerry, and understands where he's coming from. Chalk one up for us, unless someone 'gets' to him.

[politicasista]

12. I am glad he did

I guess I was just afraid of what the long term consequences are, but I will go watch the video.

[Democrafty]

13. If we defend him NOW, that will affect the long-term consequences.

[politicasista]

14. I agree

but he is going to have to defend this statement even though it's distorted. There are even pundits and haters who say there goes 2006.

I am not blaming Kerry for this, it is just looking like Mary Cheney debate all over again. It just looks like he is losing support over this. :shrug:

[wisteria]

18. No, every time Kerry does something that stirs the pot, some

Dem's come out and predict doom. I think this will not be a problem in 08 because of the way he handled it today. He defended himself forcefully. What are they going to say, Senator please explain what you meant regarding your bad joke again.

[politicasista]

19. But how will it play out next Tuesday?

I am just wondering what the fallout over this will be? I know it's a non issue, but it overshadows the good that Kerry has done the past year or so.

[wisteria]

24. Some would like that to be the case, but I don't think this will have

a negative impact. If Dem's stick together and don't go negative on him, this could work big time in our favor. These RW tactics are what angered us in 04 and these smears will energize the base to get out an vote.

[politicasista]

30. I am so hopful yet cautious at the same time n/t

[wisteria]

16. I have head a couple others use that excuse against Kerry.

He was just thinking about himself. You know where this is being generated don't you? This would continue to be used against him and the Democrats if he apologized. Screw them, Kerry made the right move.

[wisteria]

15. His statement was forceful. Also, this proves that he can take the heat

and can dish it out. Sure, some of our own people are out to get him. The Republican's on the other hand were grasping at straws. Anything to change the subject.

[politicasista]

17. I guess I am disallusioned

with people saying he "gave the GOP the 06 election" and claiming to vote Democratic, but won't after his comments. It's not fair.

[Democrafty]

20. It's also not true.

It's any easy thing to say. It's an easy thing to lie about.

[politicasista]

22. True, but..

But look at the "Thanks Mr. Kerry" thread. People see that as a "dis" to the men and women in uniform, when it was obvious that he was dissing Bush and his illegal war.

[wisteria]

25. Well, we went through this with Altio too.

Anyway, only idiots or Kerry bashers would believe that he really attacked the troops. Come on.

[StoryTeller]

28. What I noticed...

And I'm assuming you were looking at the horrible comments on the JK blog--which are admittedly rather depressing. But I forced myself to read through them all, and I noticed this--

There were a whole slew of them that followed the same formula:

1) I/My son/My daughter/My husband, etc. have/has served in the military for X number of years.

2) Pull out credentials for how smart this person is and what this person has accomplished.

3) Express how outraged and disgusted you are with JK's vicious slam on the military.

4) Fling some personal slurs on his character or call him names like "disgusting human being" etc.

5) Demand an apology, resignation, public hanging, or other punishment while asserting that JK ought to be ashamed of himself

The details differed, but the format was the same. It made me think that somebody probably emailed a right-wing military email list with the twisted version of the facts and then encouraged them to go post on the blog--making these five points. These posts read a lot differently than some of the other ones and sounded coached. Or fabricated.

Trust me--I'm still living very much in a right-wing, conservative world. Email forwards work like this, and a majority of the time, the recipients never stop to even check out if it's true or not. The term "sheeple" is quite apt, especially in cases like this.

It's annoying, but I'm trying to remind myself that these are not people who were going to vote for a Dem anyway--no matter what they claim. The ones who care about it so much and are following this story are either too strongly Dem or too strongly Repub to be so easily swayed. And the ones in the middle are pretty much apathetic and probably have no idea what happened today and don't care anyway.

But it still stings to read such horrible things about "my" senator (even though I'm from Nebraska, I'd rather claim him that either of the two we've got). I think my softie heart is feeling a little sad for him, though I don't suppose there's any need for it. :(

[Island Blue]

31. Great observation Storyteller.

I got the impression that at the very least, there was something of a Trojan Horse effect going on (a couple of people making numerous comments under different names) but your theory is probably right on the money.

[Democrafty]

32. Republicans are not shy when it comes to using talking points.

The good news is, they're easy to spot.

[wisteria]

21. Who is saying that? This election is directly about the mismanaged

Iraq War and indirectly about the troops. Only unreasonable people or people who don't like Kerry would latch onto his comments and say they weren't voting for Democrats.
You know, Kerry isn't the only politician to every goof up a remark. They are making much out of nothing right now.

[Firespirit]

26. The first trolling technique in the book

Before the term "blog" even existed, people observed this behavior on online forums.

If this had been a Republican incident and you were going to troll a Republican board or blog, would you say you were a Democrat who disapproved of the comment? Of course not. They don't give a damn what Democrats have to say about them. You'd say you were a Republican, and perhaps that the kerfuffle had caused you to never ever ever vote Republican ever again in all eternity.

Take all such comments with a mound of salt. It's 95% likely that they're penned by lying Republican trolls.

Anyway, we're going to win this, and hopefully the candidates that JK took under his wing such as Webb and Duckworth will give him huge props. Webb will be something of a national celebrity if he wins, which is looking more likely now that he's broken 50%. He owes Kerry big, especially if he wins, and if Kerry gets even partial credit for winning that seat, this bullshit will be forgotten. The simple fact of it is that it was Kerry's patronage that won him the primary. The establishment Dems had written off the seat and were OK with running an election fraud company lobbyist--a man who said that electronic voting machines were perfectly secure--against Allen.

[politicasista]

29. Thanks for the advice

I hope we can pull this off cause I am sick of the negative attack ads on Harold Ford Jr.

[whometense]

23. I know what you mean -

I think my blood pressure must be through the roof.

[wildflowergardener]

27. I missed it

Hi. I just god back from a movie and had to turn off Air America cause they were bitching about what a terrible candidate John Kerry had been blah blah blah blah blah.

I read the Kos diary - it mentioned a transcript - is there a transcript of what John Kerry actually said that is causing this snafu?

Can I just say I really really hate it when Democrat's turn on their own (re the radio announcer and I'm sure many others). I'm so sick of it.

Thanks.

Meg

[whometense]

33. Recommend you listen to

Ed Schultz. http://audio.wegoted.com/podcasting/103106ShowOpen.mp3

It'll make you feel a lot better.

[wildflowergardener]

34. Thanks.

I listed to the beginning of that, then I have to leave for work.

Then in the Sam Sedar break I made the mistake of switching over to Alex Bennet for a moment, and while the person with him made the reasonable comment that no matter what anyone says the republicans will find a way to distort or twist around what they said - to which Alex replied

John Kerry lost the election for us in 2004, and now he's messing things up now. I'm so sick of this - no wonder I don't listen to his ratio show.

They didn't mind when Kerry was raising all that money for the democrat candidates, did they? Would they rather he not campaign for them and not have that money?

Alot of the other comments were much nicer though - I must have just happened upon a couple bad ones, unluckily.

Meg