Why, oh Why Senator Kerry?

[Sandpiper]

You made a principled stand and voted against Condi for Secretary of State.

Why, oh, why couldn't you have done the same when it came to IWR?

Then Bushco could never have confused the public about where you stood when it came to the oil junta.

:(

[GumboYaYa]

1. The wind wasn't blowing that way when he held his finger up on

the IWR vote. Kerry is just trying to set himself up for a run in 2008. Many of us knew he was a bad choice this time and got steamrolled by the electability crowd. Hopefully, people won't fall for his game a second time.

IMO Kerry worries about what is best for Kerry first and the country second. Sometimes that works out for us; sometimes it doesn't.

[MercutioATC]

2. Sad, but true.

It's what I've said all along...

[DiverDave]

11. 2008??

after rolling over, he aint getting any support from me:mad:

[Redleg]

12. I just love reading GOP talking points at DU.

EOM

[GumboYaYa]

18. LMAO

One way to foreclose any real discussion is to marginalize comments you don't like as GOP talking points. Unfortunately, Senator Kerry has admitted that the impetus for voting against the $87.0 Billion supplement was the gains made by Howard Dean. People respect you more when you stand up for your convictions even when it may hurt you versus taking the step that helps you at the moment.

Dean stood out against the war when it wasn't popular to do so. Kery stood out against the war when it helped him win the Democratic primary and then backed away from that when he was trying to win the Presidency.

I held my nose and voted for him this time. Hell, I even donated money and volunteered time for the guy. Even if he is the Dems' nominee in 2008, he won't get my vote again, much less my support.

[Redleg]

21. Kerry supported the Iraq resolution because he wanted to put pressure

on Iraq to disclose and destroy its WMDs (if any). He hoped, perhaps naively, that Bush would allow the UN inspectors to do their jobs.

[GumboYaYa]

23. Whatever his motivation (and I suspect it had a little to do

with the political climate at the time), he was wrong. Wrong in a big bad way that has cost our nation greatly and will continue to cost it greatly. Even after it was blatantly obvious how wrong he was, he said he would do the same thing all over again.

Sorry, but I want someone with not only more guts (like the type it takes to say I was wrong), but also someone with better judgement than that, as my President.

I supported Kerry this time b/c he was not as bad as Bush. Next time I would like to be able to support somoneone b/c I think s/he is the best opportunity for our country.

Kerry had his chance to stand up against the Bush regime. Calling Condi on the carpet today is just shutting the barn door after the cows escaped.

[emulatorloo]

17. P.A.O.J.K.D.N.I.M.

Petty Attacks on John Kerry Don't Impress Me

Nor on other good Dems.

So sorry he was mean to Condi and won't go hide in a hole and self-flagellate.

:nopity:

[Just Me]

26. "self-flagellate" = appropriate word.

I'm with ya' on the PAOJKDIM! Seems a destructive means (and, apparently, a pattern) of venting anger to me.

:shrug:

[saltpoint]

3. Bush's extensive lying on Iraq and many other things --

-- is the hinge for me.

I'd like to see History visit Dubya and Dick a little early and hand them a series of setbacks -- on social security, their Middle East disaster, and so on.

This is Bush's war.

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

If it wasn't his IWR vote, it would have been something else. If the public was confused about where Kerry stood, it wasn't Kerry's fault.

[roguevalley]

5. how come it wouldn't be? I still smile when John Stewart holds his

head when JK speaks. :)

[burythehatchet]

7. "oh my god...

he's going to lose the Palestinian election"

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. I heard Kerry explain his IWR vote on several occasions

Granted I had to actually pay attention to other sources beyond the Corporate Paid Media, still it was out there for those who wanted to really know where Kerry stood.(This of course is not directed at you or any other DUer) I'm disappointed in Kerry for not fighting after the election and for conceding so fast ( I'll get over that eventually) beyond that, I think he was an excellent candidate and would have made an excellent President if the chimp had not stolen it yet again.

[Redleg]

13. You are right. Anybody who didn't understand Kerry's position

on the "Iraq War Resolution" is either misinformed or willfully ignorant. Kerry made it very clear what his position was.

[SammyWinstonJack]

27. Yes he did and he never departed from it.

He wasn't guilty of "flip flopping" I have great respect for Sen. Kerry. I admire him. I admit that I was disappointed that he conceded to the chimp without fighting (he did what he thought best I guess) and I am over that now.

[xpat]

9. It was Kerry's fault

Kerry's only quibble with Bush is HOW to carry out imperial policy. He was never a peace candidate and always and imperial candidate. If you think otherwise, your are fooling yourself.

He has never squarely fought for issues that interest average working people. He has fudged on health care, support for organized labor, Social Security, you name it.

In the 70s he was disgusted with a failed imperial war, but as far as I can tell he was never disgusted with the premise of imperial policy.

[Redleg]

14. It looks like your "average Americans" preferred Bush.

At least by a small margin. Let's not forget, this election was about the "war on terror" and nothing else.

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. In your opinion.

And I am not fooling myself with regard to Kerry's stance on anything.

[KharmaTrain]

10. Kerry Had Trouble Knowing Where He Stood

I agree with much of what's said above...Kerry looks out for Kerry first. While his questions were good, it was a sad performance...made me wish he'd taken the day off, I'm not ready to watch him speak for a while.

Whomever thinks Kerry has a chance in 2008 might as well print Dukakis signs as well. Lots of us felt Kerry was the best candidate to knock out this regime...he wasn't and ran a poor campaign. We overlooked his vocal gymnastics and parsing as we knew, and still do, that he would be a far superior President than the POS that's squatting there now.

Now, like Stewart, I cringe when I see the guy talk and have a difficult time taking what he says seriously. I'm rapidly getting tired of hearing the same old voices and talking heads saying the same old crap...digging us deeper in shit...where are the newer voices? Senator Boxer, while not a newcomer, was a refreshing change of pace.

I suspect we won't see a Democratic presidential candidate rise out of the Senate or even the House for a while...there's just too many ways for the GOOP spin machine to tar and feather votes that make a candidate with a long record appear to flip-flop. It worked on Gore and Kerry...while Junior, with little experience got the pass.

[loyalsister]

29. I think Kerry knew

The trouble is that it takes effort for the general public to understand the logic of it. I think it was a mistake to put a candidate up who took a position that requires detailed explanation on something that is so controversial.
Whether it was reasonable or not is not the issue. The problem with it is it takes effort to explain and understand. Most people don't want to spend a lot of time on those things. They want candidate's positions to be short and easy to digest.

[SammyWinstonJack]

30. I have never cringed when hearing Kerry speak.

In fact, I was/am inspired when I heard Kerry speak. My only disappointment with Kerry came when he conceded to the chimp without fighting. I am a life long Democrat and will remain so.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. have you considered that they really believed iraq was a threat?

and that they thought the president would try to negotiate for peace?

that voting for iwr is not all there is to kerry.

he had 30 years of dedicated work to his country before that?

[Redleg]

15. No- that would never occur to some of these simple minds here

who hate every fiber of John Kerry.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. i wonder why....i guess 1st most liberal doesnt cut it.....

[Redleg]

19. Over the long term Kerry wasn't the most liberal but he was among

the most liberal. I figure it this way: voters, including those at DU, have pretty damned short memories. The good that John Kerry did prior to the election campaign means nothing anymore- the only thing that matters to most is that he lost because he was a "flip-flopper."

[La Lioness Priyanka]

22. i dont think he was the most liberal either

but he was more liberal than the other likely candidates

[Telly Savalas]

24. Thinking the president would try to negotiate for peace is awfully naive

It was pretty clear that Bush had a giant boner for invading Iraq. Perhaps under a normal president voting for the IWR to put pressure on Iraq would have been a good idea, but under Bush it was simply signing off on a free pass to go to war.

That said, I agree that there's a lot more to Kerry than this one vote and it looks like he's poised to offer quality leadership to the Democrats in the Senate. Considering the challenges that are facing our party and our country, I'm baffled as to why the original poster feels it's necessary to revive old debates from last years primaries instead of focusing on the future.

[Hippo_Tron]

25. The threat part is my big question, Bush using diplomacy wasn't happening

War was inevitable. I don't know exactly what kind of intelligence that senators had access to and possibly it was some bullshit that George Tenet pieced together to sell the war to them. Who knows.

[Piperay]

20. It wasn't so much his vote on IWR

it was his explaination of it. Kerry didn't stress enough that he was LIED too and it was because of those lies that he voted on it the way he did. Kerry should have hammered the point again and again that it was all about the LIES.