Ellen Goodman Opposes Kerry Presidential Bid

This is Ellen Goodman. She doesn't think Senator Kerry should be President. She states:

"All of this leads me to blurt out: "Stop Him Before He Kills (the Democrats' Chances) Again."

But who will stop you Ms. Goodman? Your irresponsible op-ed piece does nothing except add to the character assassination of Senator Kerry.

Ms. Goodman goes on to quote Joe Klein in "Politics Lost":

"the pollster-consultant industrial complex" of focus groups and strategists and market-tested messages for the current state of politics. But he also says, damningly, that in 2004, "Kerry proved weak, indecisive and, yes, aloof."

I am sorry Ms. Goodman. But that was not the John Kerry I observed in the 2004 campaign.

I saw a Senator with a firm grasp of the facts who dominated and held his own on every Presidential debate facing a President who was stumbling and could not find the right words or the right information to speak.

Ms. Goodman continues her criticism:

"What the Democrats need this time out is not a messenger honed to squeak on the margin of undecideds, but a vision of what's gone wrong in the country and how to right it."

I beg to differ. Senator Kerry speaks truth in the face of lies. Nobody else is addressing the Iraq War, providing this nation with a plan, and speaking out with the clarity of Kerry.

At Faneuil Hall, he spoke:

"Presidents and politicians may worry about losing face or losing votes or losing their legacy; it is time to think about young Americans and innocent civilians who are losing their lives," Kerry said, to a thunderous standing ovation.

You may think of Senator Kerry as a failed politician. Someone who let down the Democrats. Or maybe didn't fight mean or hard enough against the smears of the Republicans.

But I view Kerry as a Statesman who tried very hard to keep to the high road in campaigning. Who faced never-ending lies and smears and kept up the fight.

Senator Kerry understands what it means to be a soldier in the midst of a failed foreign policy. He understands dissent. He understands patriotism. Nobody needs to give him lessons in anything.

There will be many among us who have formulaic ideas about what kind of candidate the Democratic Party should nominate. There are those who believe we should be looking for a Governor of a Red State. That we should avoid a Senator because he/she has too long a record of votes that can be distorted. That we need to balance a ticket and avoid another Massachusetts candidate.

It is ironic that the last great American President that we had in this nation was another Senator from Massachusetts with the initials JFK.

America needs Senator Kerry now more than at any time in the history of this Republic! If you choose to support another candidate for President Ms. Goodman, go ahead and speak kindly of her. But do not join in the mud and smears that Republicans have launched at Senator Kerry.

America can do better than that.

James Boyce says it best on the Huffington Post:

"Trust me, you might not believe that Al Gore and John Kerry know much, and you have every right to be angry at them for losing and you have every right to disagree with my premise, not to mention that the fact that I fully admit I would support and work with John Kerry first in 2008 and if he doesn't run, I'm going to try and convince Al Gore to run - but please, take it from someone who survived, barely, the 2004 election, these two men who lost everything -- they know how to win."

And John Kerry will provide the leadership and experience as the Democrat's first choice. Not anyone's second choice as you have proclaimed.

We got your back John!

Bob