my open letter to John Kerry...

[Lerkfish]

Dear John Kerry: Thanks so much for your recent email....let me see if I understand you correctly:

What you are saying is: "I will continue to ask you to do all the work while I do nothing whatsoever, because there's nothing in it for me, really. I can't be president so I will expend no effort. However, here's some phone numbers so you can call the low level switchboards without getting through a phalanx of bureaucrats to reach people I actually come in contact with every day at work but refuse to carry the message to them while having a gin and tonic with them in the senate lounge.

So, instead of me representing YOU, as you might think my job would require, I"m going to stand back and let you represent YOURSELVES and throw yourself against the windmills of general access phone numbers, while I, in possession of these guy's private phone numbers on my cellphone speeddial, will continue to hoard the money you donated specifically to contest the election and save it for my next run at the office in 2008.

So, I don't have your back so much as I have the audacity to give you a phone number you could find yourself in a google search and tell you to sweat really, really, hard against the majority party who stole the election and somehow convince them to pay attention to you among the clamor of lobbyists from Diebold, Pfizer, Halliburton and Carlysle.

Good luck, and I won't even pay for your call. Do it on your own dime."

Do I have that right?

If so, here's my response: you're right. We SHOULD continue to work ourselves for election reform and protect the right of voters to see their voices get heard. And you're also right that we should no longer depend on YOU to do that for us, because that's obviously not going to happen. You're more concerned about your own political ambitions than "watching our backs".
I worked hard for your campaign, I donated, I talked you up, I put signs up in neighbor's yards, etc. But there were people that did a whole lot more than me, and in a way I"m glad that you are being such a wimp at this point because it reminds us that NO single candidate is more important that democracy itself. Protecting the right to vote fairly is more of a moral imperative than even unseating such a dangerous man as Bush.

I'm glad you being a coward and bowing out of the process at this point. I"m glad you're abandoning those who worked for you, and I"m glad you refused to stand up and support Boxer and Conyers. Because you aren't worthy to unlatch their sandals. They're working for US. You're still working for YOU.

I hope you enjoyed your 15 minutes, Sen. Kerry. Because I, for one, refuse to give you any more time. 

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. In my opinon people who call Kerry a coward have a lot of fucking gall

That is something I would expect to see on a rightwing site. It is vomitous to read it here.

Kerry did not have PROOF to overturn the election. He DID support the recount financially.

He did NOT stop Boxer from standing up like AL GORE DID WHEN IT COULD HAVE MADE A HUGE DIFFERENCE.

Unlike Gore, Kerry has not dropped out of the spotlight. He is over in Iraq largely UNPROTECTED unlike Bush who has gone there ONCE for a photo op and then slid out just like he did on 911.

Kerry has every reason NOT to challenge where he had no conclusive proof it would have changed the outcome. He is returning to the senate and certainly cannot take the lead on matters that are of import to all of us if he is left completely discredited.

This name calling bullshit has got to stop. Were any other candidates from the primaries in Ohio save for Kucinich who is from there?

[KC21304]

3. Thank You !

From the Du er formerly known as Kerryfan.

[Lerkfish]

5. well, what you would also see on a rightwing site

is someone demanding support for the candidate even when you disagree with them.

Even Kerry himself says the election is over.....so he's no longer the candidate...does that mean I STILL have fawn over him? NO.
I worked for him, but I"m sorely disappointed. I have a right to be. Others have even more right to be.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

9. I didn't demand support for anyone. Calling him a coward is over the line

I have no issue with your disappointment...only with your classless manner of expressing it. If you sent that letter...it is lower than low of you to have done that.

See..your free speech right is grand..but my free speech right isn't trumped by yours.

[propagandafreegal]

6. Why? Can't we look at Dems w/ a critical eye? ro.

Kerry has raised my suspicions by the lame campaign he ran and the jackrabbite way he conceded.

I'm a registered DEM AND a liberal and I don't like what I'm seeing. This board should be a haven for ALL Democrats not blind worship.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

10. Look with a critical eye all you want.

Inflammatory, classless insults are not a hallmark of critical thought. I guess that distinction is lost around here.

BTW...I hardly consider winning 3 debates and coming within 3 million votes lackluster.

[Lerkfish]

25. you're overlooking my critical thoughts, I suppose.

try reading the last paragraphs of my original post...where I say its more important that WE continue the fight WITHOUT Kerry, since he's not going to.

Honestly, I think you have a chip on your shoulder about me for using the word "coward". So be it. I think it is an adjective that fits in well: He PROMISED to fight for our votes....but where is he? So far, all you've done is make excuses for him to NOT KEEP that promise, instead of addressing why he would make a promise and not keep it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

28. No I've made several comments on why I felt he did what he could

And yes..I was forthright about your classless, cheap rhetoric. No chip on my shoulder. YOu made statements in a letter to him that only a complete tactless asshole who didn't wish to be taken seriously would make.

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[impeachthescoundrel]

8. I have read some Kerry bashing here

but I couldn't even finish that post. I know there are alot of bitter people but they need to channel their anger into positive action. Hell I'm bitter too. But I still haven't reached the point, nor will I ever, where I have to talk to the senator in such a disrespectful way.

Get your shit together Lerkfish.

[Lerkfish]

26. try finishing the post you admit you didn't finish.

then tell me to get my shit together.

[Botany]

11. Nothingshocksmeanymore.

This is not name calling. These are facts. This is not about Gore or the other
candidates it is about the fact that Kerry cut and ran. I worked my ass off for him
here in Ohio. I heard him say, "I will fight for every vote to be counted." Not,
"I will introduce a really tough bill when I return as a Senator because their is nothing
I can do about the republicans stealing an other election."

As for conclusive proof ..... I saw it first hand .... I heard it first hand. I have tried through every channel I know to get the information to the Ohio Democratic party
and to the Senator himself. I might as well have been teaching a dog how to speak
Korean.

To many of us 1/6/05 was a historic day. We got to see who would stand up for America and sadly we were let down. The Conyers report would have given anyone
who stood ample cover. It is time to quit playing nice with the devil and act like
he won't be the devil anymore.

If Kerry was there on 1/6/05 it would had lead off national news. But since he was
absent the fact that this election was stolen got relegated to the back burner and
"us crazy internet rumor folk."

Sorry, I feel used. No retreat ..... No surrender ..... sure.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Yes this IS about Gore and every other candidate

Kerry did what was legally POSSIBLE at the time to get votes counted. Barbara Boxer has said in NUMEROUS interviews since Thursday that all it took for the two hour debate to occur was for ONE senator and ONE congressperson to stand up.

IF Kerry were there on 1/6/05 it would have been all over national news but certainly NOT with the twist YOU or anyone else would have hoped for.

[Botany]

15. I disagree .....

If Kerry was there the media would have had to focus on Conyers report.

When a man says I will make sure that every vote is counted. To me that
also implies a certain obligation to stand up and make a stink that when some
people who had a chance did not get to vote or that they are not sure their vote got counted have a champion. Kerry put himself out as that champion. To me the U.S.
Senate floor on 1/6/04 was the perfect place for that champion to show up.

The conyers report is dynamite. And just the tip of the iceberg. Hell, all he needed
to do was read a few pages out load and the who sham would be exposed to a nation
that either doesn't care or know what happened to our democracy.

We can no longer play doormat to these thugs.

And so what if "they" tried to to paint it as sour grapes or a upset looser.
"They" stole the election from him, called him a traitor, slimed him, and
lied about him. You know it, I know it, and the American people could have
really got to know it if he had just stood up on 1/6/05.

When he said (and he knew that the mic would pick it up) "these are the biggest
group of liars and crooks ever" when talking about bush & Co. last year he knew
who he was dealing with. If our democracy is going to have a chance we have to
get a backbone and expose the corruption that is our current electoral system.

No, I had no doubt that anything done on 1/6/05 would have changed the fact
that bush will get Re kinged on the 20th but at least I want to follow the Quixotic
quest and ride up in front of him and let him know that we know he is not legit.

No hard feelings to you though.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

16. If Kerry had been there the report would have been framed as would the act

as sour grapes by a losing candidate and the report itself would have been discredited..

It isn't a question of "what will they think"..it is a question of compartmentalizing and I for one am glad the Dems are finally getting this...

On January 6 while OTHER Dems were giving speeches about voting rights, Kerry was in Iraq contrasting what a REAL leader who knew his ass from a hole in the ground would do..he then went to Syria to show people what DIPLOMACY looked like.

He STILL knows what he is dealing with...DU'ers keep thinking there is some magic story that will somehow make the pravda press turn on Bush and report honestly...I disagree..

again...I don't deny ANYONE their disappointment..and people will disagree about what Kerry could or should have done.

I don't deny you any of that and we can maturely agree to disagree where we do without flames...that is far different from someone having the gall to call him a coward...I won't tolerate that...where I see it, I will vociferously challenge it and will hit the alert. It's completely over the line.

Thanks.

[Botany]

18. Nothingshocksmeanymore.

Big ups to you to.

This why I feel as strongly about this topic. I wrote the following:

http://www.thousandreasons.org/opinion/010505.html

:kick:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. And you dealth with your concern in a very constructive manner

I know we don't know each other but I donated money though did NOT work my ass of this election for the first time in over 25 years as I ahd exhausted myself the year prior working on the recall.

This is a coup...it will NOT be handled via rhetoric and if you noticed, the rule of law seems to fall short for us as well..as it did during Bush V Gore...I don't believe Kerry deliberately sold out anyone...I think he simply knew it wouldn't change a thing...going to Iraq is most definitely a covert act ..I'm not saying he has any special secret plan..I AM saying he is doing his best to make our vote count by creating a visible contrast to Bush.

[Name removed]

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[XanaDUer]

21. What she said.

...

[daydreamer]

2. Did he give you a reply yet?

He was heroic young man. But look what heroism did to his career 30 years later. He was brave enough to fight the Nixon Whitehouse but was vilified as traitor in his run for presidency. So even I agree with your sentiment, I can also understand Kerry's position.

[Child_Of_Isis]

4. Good letter.

I could have written it and meant it. As long as I never had to hear his name again, nor see his face. Because when I do, I melt. Like an abused spouse, even though I feel shit on...I still love him. :shrug:

[marcologico]

7. Hey, you left out the first line!

"I originally supported another candidate, but. . ."

:nopity:

p.s. send it do Dean, in fact sell your car and send Dean the money while you're at it. He could use another 50 million bucks to blow on internet smear campaigns.

[NYCGirl]

13. Evil, evil Deaniac!! We Deaniacs are such convenient scapegoats.

Someone critical of your favorite candidate? Don't bother to wonder why — blame a Deaniac! It's fast and easy, and saves you all that messy introspection and analysis..

[marcologico]

20. That is an analysis.

As far as I can tell Dean has been running a back-channel smear campaign ever since he got creamed in the primaries, and frankly I think it stinks considering what was at stake in this election.

[NYCGirl]

23. Sure he has. You just keep telling yourself that. NT

[Lerkfish]

27. my sincere apologies to any Deaniacs smeared mistakenly...

I am not a Deaniac, though I thought he would have made a fine candidate.
I only worked for and contributed to Kerry.
I also don't think what I wrote was wrong, but I apologize to you if someone views my expressing disappointment as a "smear" and then applies to a group based on ignorance.

my words are my own and my feelings are my own. People may agree with me, but no one should be tarred and feathered for my words. The only person who should accept responsibility for what I say is myself, and I do.

The person who falsely accused Deaniacs owes them a HUGE apology.
However, he may continue to hate what I said as he so chooses. He does not owe me an apology.

I am expressing my disappointment at a man who made many promises left unaddressed. Perhaps it would be better if people addressed THAT issue rather than the words I chose to express that disappointment...

[Lerkfish]

22. I supported no other candidate.

I waited until the primary process was over before getting involved.

I liked Dean, and Kucinich, and Gephardt, and Clark, and Kerry. I wanted ANY of them to unseat the shrub.

so...not sure where that leaves you now with your assumption. *shrugs*

my understanding was this was a democratic website, not a Kerry website. I guess I'm wrong.

[marcologico]

31. Look I've seen these talking points splattered all over Dean's Moonie

websites so don't try to deny it. You're entitled to your Kerry-bashing opinions but don't try to pass them off as Democratic, because they aren't.

[Lerkfish]

34. you're delusional.

again, I apologize to others for your ignorance.

No need for me to deny your fantasies. I explained it, and I won't any further.

[marcologico]

37. Two words: Sour Grapes. Get over it, the primary ended 10 months ago. n/t

[MasonJar]

14. All that I can say is that John Kerry worked himself into a state of

complete exhaustion. He tried to run a campaign of ideas, but was up against the most vicious and irresponsible campaign in American history. The media took right over the lying, subversive, traitorous swift boat story, spreading it far and wide. However, the true AWOL Bush story became a Dan Rather debacle, in which the true guts of the accusation were never investigated. Kerry was up against a president who campaigned on taxpayer money for three years, who does not care about the means, who is obviously a compulsive liar and who was in charge of the media from the beginning. And yet the truth is that Kerry probably won. Why else is the media now saying Bush is at 49%? Why did the exit polls give Kerry a runaway victory? Kerry is a fine man and a patriot. He fought against Deibold and the gang. He won. We need to appreciate his service to our country. We need to continue to contrast it as often as possible with duffus. We need to encourage Kerry to lead the fight in the Senate for legitimate voting reform. Let's fight for 2006 IMMEDIATELY.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. Notice there hasn't been a single terror alert in over 9 weeks

[graywarrior]

38. I AM SICK OF KERRY BASHING!!!!!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

40. Apparently DU supports it

[proud patriot]

41. I'm locking this thread

reason :

Flamebait