In King, Kerry hears a soul mate

[Feanorcurufinwe]

About 1,800 baby boomers crowded the Paramount Theater, a restored baroque movie house, on Tuesday night to watch Carole King add a new lyric to "You've Got a Friend," her enduring schmaltz classic. "You just call out my name, John Kerry," crooned King, and the senator declared he felt goose bumps.

Kerry seemed far more genuinely starstruck swearing his fandom to King than to Moby, when the electronica star performed at a campaign fund-raiser in Boston last September. And Kerry, 60, embraced King, 61, as something more than a celebrity supporter: She's followed the same path as all of us, Kerry declared, "from civil rights to the Vietnam War to clean air . . . We even got Richard Nixon to sign the EPA, because we made it a voting issue."

<snip>

But while other age groups are known primarily for their needs -- college tuition, prescription drug benefits -- Kerry's slice of the baby boom actually was known for its commitments. The movements Kerry described were real and, at one time, seemed destined to change the world.

The World War II generation, through seven presidencies, poured its political wisdom into the Cold War and an international fight for political freedom. But the baby boomers, still roiled by the '60s, haven't distilled their experiences into a single philosophy.

Bill Clinton, though far less representative of his generation than Kerry, appointed himself a figure of generational change, but his transformations were of lifestyle only: He furthered the idea, so alienating to those of other ages, that social change was only about self-gratification.

Now, amid talk of war and quagmires and responsibilities to the world, events may be calling up a nobler spirit of '60s idealism.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/01/15/in_king_kerry_hears_a_soul_mate/

Wow, halfway-positive Kerry coverage from the Boston Globe -- the tide is definitely turning in Kerry's favor...

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Wow. The Globe warming up to Kerry

that's rockin' my world.

[bigtree]

2. My wife and I remember the time John Kerry

camped out at the Capitol with hundreds of veterans. Didn't realize it was him until it was recalled by the senator recently.

Goose bumps.

[blm]

6. He wasn't there the whole night.

Back then there were no cell phones (people forget that sometimes) and Kerry was one of the organizers and he stayed at his friend's home while they were working on the next day's activities.

Nixon's people took that story and spun it that Kerry was a "phony" for not camping out, as if he was shacking up with some girl, omitting the point he was working the phones organizing the event and NEEDED to be somewhere with a phone.

[JI7]

7. so that's where the right wing got it from

<Nixon's people took that story and spun it that Kerry was a "phony" for not camping out, as if he was shacking up with some girl, >

i keep hearing things similar to this from the right wing about kerry. i never believed it myself though.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. Environmentalist, musician speaks out for Kerry

Singer/songwriter and environmentalist Carole King came to Iowa State to talk about the environment, but instead focused on Sen. John Kerry. King spent most of her time Monday talking why Kerry should win the presidency.

"We have to keep our eyes on the prize. The prize is beating George W. Bush in November," King said.

<snip>
King has been pushing to pass the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act to protect an area of the Rockies near Montana and Idaho since the mid-1990s. King said it was worth the effort.

"Politics can be a very dirty, ugly business, but it is really America at its best," King said.
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/01/13/400362f657504

[sandnsea]

4. It's time for us to stand up

It's time for us to really put that great 60's vision into real action. I have waited so long and if we don't get behind John Kerry, it'll never happen. It'll just be more of the same old compromising, muddle of the road politics. Carole King has been an activist her whole life and she knows who really wants to make the genuine changes for the future of this country.

[JI7]

5. this is sooooooo nice

watching now and it's soooo sweet.