Why John Kerry Still Matters
I very much wanted to have something pithy to say tonight.
The election opens in just a matter of hours and I felt I needed to move on from The Simpsons to dealing with the awesome challenge we face in the upcoming days.
I am saddened by the silencing of Senator Kerry after his mis-statement and then his mauling by Republican partisans.
America needs his wisdom, his experience, and yes his courage at the helm. Maybe he does need a little work on delivery of his jokes, but I can live with that. Lord knows, we have lived with more and survived. I pray that after the election, we will hear once again Senator Kerry speaking for all of us for all of the things that matter.
At election time we often hear about how important it is for us to go out and vote. This time, I cannot think of anything more important for any of us who are concerned with the future of this Republic.
We have at our helm a President who scoffs at Congress, ignoring the will of our elected representatives, and who revises laws with 'signing statement' that makes him more of a King than an elected representative. And yet our Congress remains silent.
He disregards the courts, making a mockery of the FISA courts, set up by Congress, to monitor the actions of the President. He just goes and orders wiretaps anyhow. Even if FISA can keep this secret. Even if FISA can allow retroactive approval as long as it is done within 72 hours. And the Congress remains silent. Even further, they modify the law to accommodate his usurpation of power. Shame on them.
We have a President that believes he is able to define what torture is. And then does it. And a Vice-President who believes water-boarding is just a "little dunk". And then lies about it. And what does Congress do? Do they challenge this Administration that views the Geneva Conventions as "quaint"? No. They roll over, lick his feet, and change the law to accommodate his mad grab for power. They allow the suspension of Habeas Corpus, allow for torture, allow for evidence obtained by torture to be allowed in military courts, and allow the denial of evidence review by those who are accused of being "enemy combatants." Shame on them.
We have a "stay the course" President who believes like John Wayne, that victory is the only way. Even when we hear that our actions are increasing and not diminishing terror. A President who failed us when 9/11 occurred, an Administration which was deaf to the calls for action by Richard Clarke, and a President who sat for seven minutes staring at a children's book when the Towers were struck. Shame on them.
And if we fail at this important hour, to change the people who have failed us. If we fall prey to calls for greed instead of sacrifice, hate instead of tolerance, and fear instead of confidence, well then shame on us.
Senator Kerry, we need your voice! We do not cut and run on our support for you! You have worked to support our troops in the very best way possible, getting them out of harms way when being there is accomplishing nothing!
Keep on coming John! We have got your back! And we are going to be voting with our heart and soul for the future of this great Nation!
Bob
The election opens in just a matter of hours and I felt I needed to move on from The Simpsons to dealing with the awesome challenge we face in the upcoming days.
I am saddened by the silencing of Senator Kerry after his mis-statement and then his mauling by Republican partisans.
America needs his wisdom, his experience, and yes his courage at the helm. Maybe he does need a little work on delivery of his jokes, but I can live with that. Lord knows, we have lived with more and survived. I pray that after the election, we will hear once again Senator Kerry speaking for all of us for all of the things that matter.
At election time we often hear about how important it is for us to go out and vote. This time, I cannot think of anything more important for any of us who are concerned with the future of this Republic.
We have at our helm a President who scoffs at Congress, ignoring the will of our elected representatives, and who revises laws with 'signing statement' that makes him more of a King than an elected representative. And yet our Congress remains silent.
He disregards the courts, making a mockery of the FISA courts, set up by Congress, to monitor the actions of the President. He just goes and orders wiretaps anyhow. Even if FISA can keep this secret. Even if FISA can allow retroactive approval as long as it is done within 72 hours. And the Congress remains silent. Even further, they modify the law to accommodate his usurpation of power. Shame on them.
We have a President that believes he is able to define what torture is. And then does it. And a Vice-President who believes water-boarding is just a "little dunk". And then lies about it. And what does Congress do? Do they challenge this Administration that views the Geneva Conventions as "quaint"? No. They roll over, lick his feet, and change the law to accommodate his mad grab for power. They allow the suspension of Habeas Corpus, allow for torture, allow for evidence obtained by torture to be allowed in military courts, and allow the denial of evidence review by those who are accused of being "enemy combatants." Shame on them.
We have a "stay the course" President who believes like John Wayne, that victory is the only way. Even when we hear that our actions are increasing and not diminishing terror. A President who failed us when 9/11 occurred, an Administration which was deaf to the calls for action by Richard Clarke, and a President who sat for seven minutes staring at a children's book when the Towers were struck. Shame on them.
And if we fail at this important hour, to change the people who have failed us. If we fall prey to calls for greed instead of sacrifice, hate instead of tolerance, and fear instead of confidence, well then shame on us.
Senator Kerry, we need your voice! We do not cut and run on our support for you! You have worked to support our troops in the very best way possible, getting them out of harms way when being there is accomplishing nothing!
Keep on coming John! We have got your back! And we are going to be voting with our heart and soul for the future of this great Nation!
Bob
posted by BobsAdvice at 10:53 PM
9 Comments:
Alright, Buddy, lets get something straight. John Kerry is an idiot. Yes, you heard me. An idiot. An utter moron. Now, I agree with you and probably everyone in the country when you say George Bush has let us down... but you're comments sound almost too one sided... almost like the extreamists killing our soldiers and Iraquies every day. George Bush is not a king, and it's your congressmen YOU selected that are letting him do what he's doing. The constitution provides a very sophistocated system of checks and balances and it's NOT only the president's fault if things go wrong. Theres 100 other pions that we elected that decide if what the president does is leagal. Now, just by reading your article, althogh you did not mention them, I am going to guess you are for gay marriage, abortions, and live embryo stem cell research. This is because you have clearly made it evident that you are a liberal nutjob. Around 50% of americans are democrats, and 50% are republican (I'll ignore the independants for now). Now, what on earth makes you think that A) 50% of the population is wrong in every aspect and B) Members of you're own party are wrong in all aspects. It can't be. NOW... here you are saying how we should forgive John Kerry. Well, if you had any common sense you would respond in the same way you did with Bush. You would say "Well, Bush certainnly messed things up...". Kerry has now said a very stupid comment, and, if you're afraid of the truth you'll find out that smarty pants over here in massachusetts didn't apologize the first time he found out what he said was taken badly and only said sorry after because he just ruined his chances of presidential election. If you were anything what you claim to be, you would take Kerry for what he is through what he has done and realized that he's flawed too. You do this in the same way people defend their crime/scandel ridden Hollywood stars... the only reason is because they like them. If you can't take Kerry for what he is, than you can't take Bush for what he is, and, thus, your liberal minded, completely offtrack way of thinking has got you into what most democrats (it's usually democrats, not republicans, that do this) have dug themselves into. I'm not even a Republican. Argue that poor mislead fool.
Dear Homer,
Thank you for your comment. I suspect that my comments sound very much one-sided. That is because they are my opinions. I am not trying to give both sides of every argument, but I am willing to hear those alternative views. In this blog, I am writing about what I believe. You are not required to agree.
You talk about the Constitution. I cannot agree more with you that the checks and balances should come from the 100 Senators and the 435 House members. But it hasn't. And mostly that is because those Congressmen and Congresswomen are of the same political party and have not questioned the transgressions of this President. I am very concerned about this President's disregard of FISA Courts prescribed by Congress, and his attempts to diminish the role of the legislative branch by his use of signing statements.
And yes I favor the rights of marriage for every American regardless of their sexual orientation. And yes, I believe that women should have the right to an abortion; otherwise, we may be back to the back-alley abortionist and women will suffer. And yes, I support embryonic stem cell research.
And I am sorry that you have to digress into the gutter with your name-calling...saying I am a "liberal nutjob". You may choose to disagree, but I would prefer to discuss issues and not engage in childish exchange of names.
Where did I say that 50% of Americans are wrong in "every aspect"? I didn't.
I do not think we should forgive John Kerry. Let me make that clear as well. I don't think he did anything that needs to be forgiven.
But I appreciate the time you took to write. I look forward to your comments in the future; just go a little lighter on the name-calling will you? Or is that some sort of Conservative "family value"?
Bob
"Maybe he does need a little work on delivery of his jokes, but I can live with that."
First you need to change "his jokes" to "his every public statement"...and then you need to take into account how long he's had to work on it.
While he'd make a fine President (relatively...) - he hasn't put forth any specific ideas that make him a better candidate than many of the other potential Democrats. And his persona just comes off as incredibly cold and forced, except maybe among to the .01% who run blogs drafting him to run again.
Admit it, this site is run by Republicans.
Anonymous,
The Republican line was cute, but unfortunately, if it were run by Republicans it would be slicker, and more professional. I am the only one behind this blog and I am a good Democrat.
I honestly believe that Senator Kerry has the experience and skill to be an outstanding President. I find his platform to be close to my own political views and have made this blog my own little effort to advance his career.
It is more likely you are a Republican. After all, if you were a Democrat, you wouldn't choose to be anonymous.
If a different Democrat does get the nomination in 2008, you will find me working for that candidate as well. I am interested in supporting the issues that Democrats support, but first have found Kerry to be the individual I believe best suited for the White House.
Let's talk about things, Bob. Now, I you obviously know that the insults I threw around were merely for dramatic effect. They wern't my points. My points, however, surrounded the partisanship of this country. It's divided... right down the middle.
Why, you ask? It's plain and simple and it's for the same reason that we have the electoral college. People are stupid. Now, granted, for you to write on this very in depth John Kerry web site, you obviously must agree with, well, probably all the things he does. The problem does not lie there. The problem is that anything John Kerry says, the Democrats take as though God said it... oh... woops... Democrats don't listen to God.
The point I'm trying to make is that people will vote for their party no matter what they know about the person. I live in Massachusetts. I'll tell you, its a whole different world up here (unless you live here too). I had talked to many people before the past elections and asked them why they wanted to vote for Kerry. I couldn't get a straight answer. Even in the debates, John Kerry made alot of evasive answers to questions. The man IS NOT a saint, which you seem to think.
He changes his opinion about things and then blames others for making the decision he once made (Iraq?). It was an ignorant comment, and he wouldn't have said it if he didn't actually mean it. A polititian of his stature and experience should know better. Even though I know he's an idiot, I didn't expect that from him. It was uneducated.
The fact is though, people are told what they are to believe. I remember when I was younger, my little brother came home from school saying that his teacher told him the democrats were the best party and democratic ideas were correct. He was a little kid, so, obviously, he listened to his teacher. Now, here we are, adults, and our polititians, the ones who should know more than us about things, are telling us what we shouold believe in. If your a Democrat, you can be against gay marriage and abortions and the like. The only thing is, many tend to just side with their party on everything.
The people who follow John Kerry are mindless drones who believe anything he says. "Let's go to war!", "Never Mind". And the people agree.
I just hope the Dems don't do what the Republicans in congress. But they will.
Homer,
Thanks for calming down a bit. Forget that bit about Democrats don't believe in God. We have a wide range of people who call themselves Democrats ranging from religious individuals like Ford from Tennessee to more agnostic or atheistic members. We don't have a litmus test on religious views.
It is useless to continue with generalities. I do not agree with everything that Kerry or the Democrats advocate. However, I feel quite comfortable with his approach on a vast majority of issues. I certainly am not a mindless drone as you seem to suggest.
I also hope that Democrats are quite different than Republicans have been in Congress. If you wish to discuss issues, let's look at them one by one. I cannot respond to your baseless name-calling about Kerry supporters because I simply speak for myself and not every supporter. Just as I am sure you speak just for yourself, (or maybe you and Homer Simpson at a max), and don't believe that you come from a group of mindless drones either.
Bob
I'll make this short because it is late.
Number one, my user name is homer cubed because I run a review site on the show, enough said?
Obviously, your right about my generalizing and I too know that I do it, but I do it on perpose.
My exaggeration aside, does my arguement hold not just a little bit of truth? Is our country uneducated about who it's voting for? We're talking about the america where people can be swayed by TV ads on who they vote president. Don't you think, just a little bit... outside of yourself, that a vast majority of people pick their stance on something because of what their party stands for?
There's no healthy medium for anything. Your either against everything or your not. Why wasn't Joe Lieberman nominated by the Democrats? He could have won, to tell you the truth, and I would have voted for him. The thing is, it's all or nothing.
I'm not going to get into specific issues, because I don't have the time to look them all up individually and give an opinion on them and then be able to counter your arguements on them. However, what I do know is the general philosophy of things. Republicans always choose a war halk and Democrats always choose... people like you! Why didn't Meyhose (I know I just murdered his name) win the Mass. Governor election? If he had picked a side, maybe. What everyone in congress (and yes, including the republicans) are forgetting is that for every arguement the country is split down the middle on, there's half a country that gets ignored when an extreamist idea goes through. Take abortion for instance. Now, I'm not going to argue if it's right or wrong, but I'm going to say that no matter what the supreame court says, half of the country is going to be steamed at the decision. Granted, this is an issue thats just kind of yes or no, but in other situations, none that I'm going to bother to think of, sorry, the parties have to comprimise. Illeagal immigration for an example. We shouldn't export them all out, but we shouldn't give them all licenses, citizenship, free money, and college scholerships (just because they're illeagal). But that's how it's been. No one agrees, and no one cares what the other side says.
For this I commend Kerry, believe it or not. He flip flops around, but at least he's thinking. He realizes when something is a bad idea and decides to switch. Problem is, it's not the case for everything.
Just leave a comment and answer this: Does my arguement hold any truth?
Homer,
I am not sure what your latest argument is about. Patrick won for the Massachusetts governor race.
There are indeed many sides to arguments. It is indeed important to attempt to compromise to bring in the widest range of support on issues.
Regarding Joe Lieberman, the sentiment in Connecticut was against the war in Iraq. Senator Lieberman represented the "stay the course" status quo. It didn't have any traction in Connecticut and Lamont won the primary among Democrats. However, in the final election, Republicans supported Lieberman over their own candidate as they believed he was the most viable imho. Thus, as more of a centrist, Lieberman pulled more votes from both sides of the spectrum.
I am not sure if I agree or not with what you write but I appreciate the time you spent writing and participating here on the website.
As you realize, the truth about issues, and the truth about candidates lies far from what the opponents of those issues and those people purport. John Kerry is not an indecisive flip-flopper as some of his conservative critics assert. He has changed his mind almost as much as President Bush who one week is fully behind the Defense Secretary and the next week sends him out the door.
Senator Kerry supports the troops in ways far more genuine than bumper sticker patriots. Being gung-ho about war is not the same as supporting our soldiers. It is actually more of an expression of belligerence in foreign policy or nationalism gone amuck. To criticize atrocities or to condemn illegal actions is the right and patriotic thing to do. And Senator Kerry has spoken time and time again when our nation's activities demanded it.
Thanks again for writing!
Bob
Here's my point: John Kerry is way too far to one side of many issues. The next president needs to be someone in the middle, that can please both sides... not someone that only benefits what half of America wants.
You saw the election-- almost 50-50. That means 50% of Americans were dissatisfied with the result. We need a president that MANY can agree with. Someone like Joe Lieberman, like you just pointed out, is liked by the Republicans and many Democrats. This is because he is very neutral, as compared to the other candidates who were very polar on everything.
The next president cannot be John Kerry because what we need now is agreement, not another one sided adventure that leaves half the country ripping their hair out.
Thankyou for replying to my comments. I appreciate your consideration.
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