AP: McCain returns to Senate, is welcomed by Kerry

[beachmom]

Wow. I would not have expected this so soon. But apparently, there does not appear to be any apparent animosity between the two Senators:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVuFRFC-5ZOEFzM3_a2nSNi0T0IgD94HM5J80

McCain returns to Senate, is welcomed by Kerry

By LAURIE KELLMAN – 13 hours ago

f WASHINGTON (AP) — The red-and-blue Senate trolley rolled up to the Capitol basement Tuesday, a lone senator in the front seat checking a piece of paper before slipping it back into his jacket pocket.

"Welcome back," Sen. McCain, someone called out.

"Thank you, good to see ya," came the well-practiced reply as he stepped to the ground.

Then, a more familiar greeting from another senator who had been riding in back.

"John, wait up," called Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., clapping a big hand on John McCain's shoulder. The pair conferred quietly as they rode up an escalator toward lunch with their colleagues.

Two failed presidential nominees, minus Secret Service detail or much suspense about their futures, back to the Senate — same as it ever was.

Both men plan to stick around for awhile.

McCain decided Tuesday night to set up a political action committee, a step toward running for a fifth Senate term in 2010, an aide told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been made public.

And next year, Kerry will chair the coveted Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Explicitly or not, Kerry's backslap marked McCain's induction into an unofficial bipartisan caucus of would-be commanders in chief who fell short of the big prize and landed, humbled somewhat, back where they started.

There is a rehash of their entire history. And then this:

During this year's election, Kerry emerged as one of McCain's harshest critics, rapping his friend as a flip-flopper on tax cuts and a cheerleader for President George W. Bush.

An early Kerry e-mail to 3 million people lashed McCain's "stunning failure of leadership" and ripped his campaign for "indefensible scare tactics, outrageous attacks and reprehensible campaign strategies."

But Kerry mostly criticized McCain's campaign — seldom his friend personally.

"He's lurching from one issue to another, from one place to another," Kerry said in a telephone interview earlier this year. "He's talked about having a steady hand on the tiller, but he's had anything but a steady hand."

That sounds harsh, but it's the type of thing often regarded in the Senate as a necessary evil of campaigning that's mostly for show. Kerry, noted his critics, was interested in a Cabinet post in the Obama administration all along.

By the look of the two senators on Tuesday, any strain appears to have eased.

No doubt, this is about business, too. I am sure that Kerry would like McCain to ally with Democrats when there is agreement. Still, I will give credit where credit is due to McCain, for apparently not holding any grudges. Of course, his military service was not smeared in the G.E. If you think about it, his loss was less painful for the following reasons:

1. It wasn't even close. Not only that, there was ample warning that it wasn't going to be close. McCain knew on Election Day that he was going to lose.

2. McCain was not smeared in ugly ways. Obama really stuck to the issues and temperament. Kerry furthered that agenda, but if you remember, there were times when Kerry spoke of McCain's heroism.

3. Obama has already reached out to McCain. They actually said on TV that the first time Kerry saw Bush was several months later when the Red Sox were invited to the WH. So really, the new administration is actually trying to make this transition LESS painful for Republicans by telling them they will have a seat at the table. That is the exact opposite of the Bush WH.

I hope that Kerry and McCain can work together on global climate change. I assume that McCain can wiggle his way out of some of the ludicrous stances he had during the campaign.



Edit: Oh, ignore the cabinet post crap. Whatever. That report was not true. And he was campaigning for Obama so that he would win. PERIOD.

[BlueIris]

1. Kerry is far too gracious a statesman to hold grudges (especially after his candidate won).

It's not in him.

[ginnyinWI]

2. This was posted on Huffpo, but the headline was "Losers Unite".

Which I didn't appreciate because there are huge differences in their campaigns.

Still, it shows Kerry in a good light--to be the classy gentleman that he is. Why can't all politicians be that way, instead of backbiting and petty as some are? I think Obama is going to lead the way to a better climate among Washington insiders. But Kerry won't need to be schooled--he's there already.

[karynnj]

4. I agree - there were huge differences

Bush ran the sleazy campaign and Kerry the classy one - and McCain ran a slezy campaign while Obama's was classy. Also, Kerry lost by a small percent of votes in one state - where his count was held down by suppresion.

This really is a nice story - and if you think of it - Kerry's frame of Senator vs Candidate McCain gives the answer to how e recovers. He becomes Senator McCain again. (In fact, he has an easier job than Kerry - the media will help, rather than hamper this effort.)

[beachmom]

6. A lot of the HuffPuff commenters complained about the headline, too.

The more I think about this, the more gracious this was of Kerry. How hard would it have been for Leibovich to write a mean nasty NYT article about how ALONE McCain was. This article tried to do that, but instead it had Kerry greeting him. So that he was not alone. Not only that, it let the snark spread around, so it wasn't just on McCain, but Kerry, too. God, McCain does not deserve a friend like John Kerry.

[JI7]

3. the red sox thing doesn't even count

if it was any other team outside his home state he wouldn't have been there.

another thing is that McCain made personal attacks on Kerry including saying things like he wasn't really his friend. Kerry's were all about the issues. it would make McCain come off as a horrible hypocrite if he held a grudge against Kerry .

[beachmom]

5. Exactly (about the Red Sox). Bush was basically never going to

speak to Kerry again, if he could help it. Now he wonders why his 2nd term was such a disaster.

I wish people could give me a link of where McCain said that about them not being friends. I just never heard or read that, and would like to see exactly what he said. I am not saying I don't trust you guys; just that I would like to see him saying it word for word.

[beachmom]

7. Another article on McCain coming back to the Senate. I really liked this line:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/19/AR2008111904207.html?hpid=topnews

Despite the solace that friends often try to provide, it can feel to a defeated nominee as if his life has ended. "I thought the world had died," said George McGovern, reflecting a few years ago on his 1972 landslide loss to Richard M. Nixon. For McGovern, the profound sadness did not lift for a year. "How long until I get over this?" a down Walter Mondale asked him in the wake of his own loss in 1984, to which McGovern wryly responded, "I'll let you know when I get there."

But there are success stories among failed presidential candidates: In the years that followed his landslide 1964 loss to Lyndon B. Johnson, Barry Goldwater became more popular than ever, heralded as a principled and quirky renegade. More recently, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) dived quickly back into his legislative work after his 2004 loss and won kudos in the recent campaign for his activities on behalf of Obama.

It's nice to see Kerry recognized for the good he has done, and even called a "success story". Not bad.

[YvonneCa]

8. Not bad at all. But...

...definitely long overdue.