Kerry - The Eternal Optimist

[sandnsea]

Pamela just posted about a new Time piece on JK. I haven't read it yet, thought I'd share it with you guys. As always, links in link below, it's just easier.

"Although the article in the new issue of Time about John Kerry could not manage to do with out a touch of snark, it’s a good read. Among notes of interest were the acknowledgment that he is using his email list “of more than 3 million supporters to promote causes he championed as a candidate” and that “Kerry plans to write a book on his views on national security.”

Here are a couple quips from the article, The Eternal Optimist:

Besides stumping and writing, Kerry is hoping to curry favor within the party by donating some of the $14 million left over from his campaign fund. He offered a vote of confidence to former rival Howard Dean, giving the national party $1 million when Dean took over as chairman. He donated $250,000 to the recount effort of Christine Gregoire, who eventually won a very close Governor's race in Washington. Venturing into local politics, he will probably endorse Antonio Villaraigosa in a runoff election for mayor in L.A., choosing a loyal supporter over incumbent James Hahn. "He gets to travel and gets to pick up IOUs," says former party chairman Steve Grossman, a Boston fund raiser who served as Dean's campaign chairman.

Kerry is also embracing the Senate with new fervor. Derided as an absentee Senator by Bush and other critics in 2004, Kerry seems almost everywhere on Capitol Hill these days, introducing bills to expand health care to all children, enlarge the military by 40,000 troops and rewrite election laws to allow any citizen to register to vote on Election Day. "I'm in a position to be more effective on these issues," he says.

A closing note on this… I have always seen John Kerry as an optimist, which is one the reasons I feel so strongly about continuing to support his work in the Senate. Sandy posted a great piece yesterday about a column from Michael Ventura in the Austin Chronicle. In the column, Ventura talks about hope and the fact that we are the hope. I always felt that John Kerry knew that when he told us “Hope Is On The Way” and “The Change Starts Here.” We are the change and the hope.

We must all find the strength to foster that eternal optimism that serves John Kerry so well and embrace our own optimism. With out optimism and faith there is no hope.

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=603

[JohnKleeb]

1. I am liking this

Go Kerry!, keep it up man.

[politicasista]

2. Be nice if the Dems could keep the Hillary talk hush hush

I don't hear the GOP propping up nominations. BTW, I smell some Kerry bashing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1678645

I posted there before it got worse, but I will ignore it. :nopity:

[LittleClarkie]

3. I hate that absentee Senator crap

he was only missing in the Senate because he was campaigning. And they based his "most liberal Senator" ranking on a year when he missed votes because, again, he was campaigning. How about looking at a career as a whole.

The "embracing the Senate with new fervor" comment was alittle annoying therefore, as if he wasn't around and now he's making a big show of being around. HE WAS CAMPAIGNING. It's an election thing.

They could balance it out with some talk about Vacation Boy at least.

[Dr Ron]

4. Sure was nonsense

Even Frisk said the arguments against Kerry for being absent were nonsense.

For whatever it is worth, Kerry's overall ranking (rather than the single year ranking) was 11th most liberal Senator.

[Hans Delbrook]

7. That struck me too!

Kerry's never done anything halfway. I've been watching the man since the early 90's - he's all about fervor and determination. You get the feeling that these folks writing about him (now and during the campaign) either held a grudge against him from the past or knew nothing real about him prior to '92.

[TayTay]

5. He is pretty liberal

He has always been pretty liberal. He has strayed from the true path (of liberalism) only a few times. (Ok, the welfare vote in '96, but he was running against Weld who was hitting him over the head with it. And I got over it a long time ago. Really I did. Honest.)

The absent Senator thing is bogus. He probably had an arrangement to match votes with somebody. I know that in committee he can vote by proxy. That is pure bullshit. I felt well served by my esteemed Junior Senator last year. Screw the people who didn't elect him as Senator. What do they know anyway? (They are not from MA? What's it to them anyway?)

And I think John Kerry is very optimistic. If I knew what he knew after 35+ years of battling the US government over human rights, law, scandal, war and public policy, I'd be in the nuthouse. That he is still there doing his job is a real tribute to him. (And I am a sucker for that "We are the can-do people" line that he used last year. I really liked that one.)

[TayTay]

6. And one other thing

Since when has Kerry ever quit on anything? I mean really, if he was going to call it quits and retire to a nice cushy teaching appointment at Hahvid, he would have done so years ago. He is a patient man. And I really, really like his plan for getting grassroots involved in the electoral process again.

Check this out: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/3/22/141758/780

I agree. Nice interview.

[sandnsea]

8. My favorite thing about him

One of the things that I really got was that when he makes a commitment, he just doesn't stop. He served in Vietnam, he found out what it was about, and tried to end it. But he didn't stop, he fought for alot of the Vietnam Vet programs we have and still didn't stop. He fought to find out about the POW/MIA's and bring home remains. He didn't forget the Vietnamese people either, and fought to normalize relations so that country wouldn't turn into another N Korea. That is impressive commitment and perseverance.

Dukakis has a plan for every precinct to have a captain and several block captains. So every Democrat in the country gets contacted on a regular basis. I think that's the exact way to go and is the best way to get around the media too.

Do they do that in Mass? We have precinct captains, but we're not organized down to the block or multi-block level.