Edwards and Kerry

[karynnj]

Reading the whole article it seems they are trying hard to find a story. What would they expect the aides to say? I would expect both would consider it too early to decide. I'm surprised though that when they talk about whether Edwards would defer to Kerry, they don't ask if Kerry would commit to picking Edwards again if he won the nomination.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/16/politics/16dems.html?

[JI7]

1. look who wrote it

Adam Nagourney

[karynnj]

2. Hadn't noticed that

He has not changed. The NYT also has a weird Kristoff op-ed, where in one small editorial he pumps up Hillary, then dismisses her chances, slams Dean as not religious (says he might talk about the twelveth commandment) and says, unlike Clinton, who can work with Lott and Brownback, Kerry is not liked in the Senate.

http://nytimes.com/2005/03/16/opinion/16kris.html?hp

[whometense]

3. I really believe columnists like Kristof

are a big part of the problem. They feign concern for the dems' prospects, all the while slamming them.

BTW, before reading this column I didn't have the faintest image of Hillary as a religious person. Am I alone in this impression??

And, oh my god, WHAT are we to make of a statement like this??? (emphasis added is mine)

Senator John Kerry never seemed much liked by his colleagues, while other senators seem to like Mrs. Clinton. Perhaps it's that, according to New York magazine, she surprises other senators by popping up during meetings and asking: Anybody want a coffee?

SEEM to like?? What kind of garbage is that? And now they like Hillary because she's a frikkin' WAITRESS????

Ok, I'll calm down now. But this is just utter crap. Nagourney too. Trying to write about presidential politics with absolutely nothing but the thinnest hint of gossip to write about.

[karynnj]

4. I remember a NYT magazine article

(Cover story) in 1993, that mainly dealt with her religious background. She was influenced by a Methodist high school youth group leader on social issues. (But she was still a conservative Republican till college) I hate this obsession with potential candidates personal religious background.

Although absolutely inappropriate, I bet if Hillary, Kerry and Bush were given a monitored test on the Bible, Hillary and Kerry would do better than Bush. (although the sentence might be true if you replaced Bible with any word other than baseball)

At least watching C-SPAN since the election, Kerry seems reasonably well liked, although Sen. Stevens seems seriously angry at him.

[whometense]

5. Watching c-span now,

and there seems to be a LOT of personal repuke enmity towards JK. George Allen, and Gregg are trying to take him apart right now on the senate floor, and it appears quite personal.

[TayTay]

6. It is always personal

The REthugs usually bluster at Dems that unless they play ball and do what the Rethugs want or they will play a price at the ballot box. The REthugs are pissed beyond all call at Kerry for sending out his e-mail and alerting the Dem base that the ANWR vote is going to happen. He is not cowering in the corner as the Rethug script says he should be. So they are trashing Kerry on a personal basis.

Remember, not one, not even one, Rethug Senator went to the Daschle retirement party. They have no intention of making nice with Dems. Dems should reciprocate. (And when they do the REthugs sounds like whiny little babies. Oh no, you can't do that you meanie.)

[whometense]

7. Oh, man,

Stevens is at Kerry again. WTF was that? Was he threatening Kerry???

[karynnj]

8. Did you understand what he meant about Kerry?

Kerry made less personal comments than Stevens did yesterday. Also, is it normal for a grown up Senator to wear a HULK tie to the Senate - is he losing his mind.

[whometense]

9. No, I didn't understand it.

It sounded like he was threatening him with some unspecified retaliation, but I didn't get what that might be.

Is he wearing an Incredible Hulk tie?????

[karynnj]

10. Stevens impact statement is not believable

Also, why is it relevent what Scoop Jackson and Paul Tsongus did in 1980 are WA and MA Senators committed forever by some strange logic.

[whometense]

12. Good question.

If these people had any sense of shame whatsoever...

[rox63]

11. Pic of Stevens' Incredible Hulk tie here

[whometense]

13. Man.

Is that a reference to his public wigout from yesterday, by any chance? If I were him I don't know if I'd be advertising it.

[karynnj]

14. Especially because the wigout accused Kerry of what?

Sending out an email, to people who VOLUNTARILY put their name on a list to get such emails, with information on a bill before the Senate. Sounds suspiciously like democracy. Kerry should be ashamed that he thought communicating with people who want to hear from him and to be activists in a participatory democracy is consistent with American values.

Pretty hypocritical seeing that the Republicans used tax money to send fake news to the mass media and control most of the media.

[whometense]

16. heh. n/t

[politicasista]

15. Why do these people portray Kerry as unlikeable?

Did he say something bad about these people a while back? The more I hear about this, the more it sounds like they want him to back down in 2008. Are they scared or what?

[whometense]

17. It's been like that for

Kerry's entire career. It's always been true that he gets elected by the people, who "get" him, while the journalists go on and on about how no one likes him.

It's a mystery to me - except that he's not a backslapper (media types like being flattered??), and which real people don't give a damn about.

[karynnj]

18. I guess we get what we deserve

If the press prefers backslappers who say what they think people want to hear, then we shouldn't be surprised when they have no core values. It is frustrating that if you gave the press a list of characteristics and asked what they wanted in a President, the result would likely describe Kerry better than most politicians.

On the various Democratic boards, after the election there were many discussions which criticized Kerry - but even in some of the most negative posts criticizing him many many people felt the need to say that he was a good man, moral, honest, clean, having integrity, brilliant, articulate etc. In fact, I can't think of anyone else so consistently assigned these values, which were not disputed even though the over all content was negative.

The difference between the press and the people as a whole may be that the media is used to politicians who flatter the reporters into thinking that they consider them part of a special in group, while the people don't expect that.