A closer look at Kerry's Senate record

[JaneQPublic]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/politics/campaign/25RECO.html?ex=1076063458&ei=1&en=630fb2c5c17016ce

Here's a summary of points raised in the above NYT article addressing the political vulnerabilities found in Kerry's Senate career:

*** At the end of the cold war, Kerry advocated scaling back the CIA, but after 9/11, he complained about a lack of intelligence capability.

*** In the `80's, he opposed the death penalty for terrorists who killed Americans abroad, but he now supports the death penalty for terrorist acts.

*** In the `90's, he joined with GOP senators to sponsor proposals to end tenure for public school teachers and allow direct grants to religion-based charities.

*** In `97, he voted to require elderly people with higher incomes to pay a larger share of Medicare premiums.

*** He gave praised the `94 Republican takeover of Congress, saying he was "delighted with seeing an institutional shake-up because I think we need one."

*** He voiced doubts in a closed-door senate meeting about the wisdom of trying to raise the minimum wage.

*** His aides and fellow senators say he is more interested in high-profile investigations, like BCCI and Noriega, leaving the nuts and bolts work on health and education to Sen. Kennedy.

*** He has few major bills to his name.

*** He voted for the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, and IWR, only to criticize all three once he became a presidential candidate.

[blm]

1. Kerry wanted money OUT of the high tech end of spying and put into PEOPLE

on the ground HUMAN intelligence. It's cheaper and more effective.

There will be variances in stances as circumstances change. Cold war, post Cold war, pre 9-11 to post 9-11.

Kerry has strong reponses to all of these.

Check out his FOX transcript from yesterday, much of it was covered.


btw...Somehow people want to say it's a BAD thing that Kerry spent so much time investigating BCCI, IranContra and CIA drugrunning? HAHAHAH
...Kerry will GLADLY have that battle with them.

Name ONE person who exposed more government corruption than John Kerry.

[mikeysnot]

2. Skull & Bones

isn't he? That is enough for me, not to vote for him...

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

15. his family started S&B

he's more than just your average member.

[cthrumatrix]

29. i don't want another "secret society" leader in the WH...thank you

[bigtree]

30. skull& bones

:eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes::eyes:

[jonnyblitz]

3. he praised the '94 takeover of congress by GOP?

damn. :wow: that must be out of context. I can't imagine anybody on our side praising that fucking nightmare event.

[dusty64]

5. Eek!

I would certainly hope that quote was taken out of context.

[blm]

6. The context was that Kerry (and Gore) were mad at the WAY

the admin. was making its decisions. There was an internal battle going on where those with the legislative experience in DC were pulling for welfare reform FIRST before healthcare.

They felt that the public would accept healthcare ONLY after welfare reform was passed. They understood the way the GOP fights those battles rhetorically and in Congress. They wanted universal healthcare...they just knew if it lost that it would be disappeared as an issue for many years. They were right.

Kerry's point back then was that would be what it takes for the Clinton administration to see their approach at the time wasn't working. Gore was actually on the side of those who better understood the legislative dilemma.

[JaneQPublic]

8. So, you're saying Kerry has more legislative experience that Kennedy?

Read the transcript in Post #7.

[blm]

14. I've seen it plenty of times. The AGENDA wasn't properly executed.

I agree. They would have had a better chance to pass healthcare if they took the argument away from the Republicans about welfare FIRST.

Kerry understood that as a strategy. He wasn't against healthcare, but had different ideas on how it was possible to get there.

Kennedy wanted to push it through rioght off. That didn't work, did it?

Funny, Kennedy believes Kerry is the best man to be president, but you don't heed THAT word.

[JaneQPublic]

7. Yes, Kerry said Dems articulated "a very poor agenda"

This from a transcript from MTP:

http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=6225

MR. RUSSERT: But there's a lot of discussion in the '90s about you trying to cast off some of the orthodoxy of the Democratic Party, being described as a New Democrat. What caught a lot of people's attention was the 1994 election, when the Republicans won both houses of Congress, Newt Gingrich became speaker of the House, and this is what you told the Boston Herald: "Sen. John F. Kerry broke from Democratic Party ranks, saying he was 'delighted' by the GOP election purge and laying the blame on the doorstep of President Clinton and arrogant House leaders. ...'I want this change. I'm delighted with seeing an institutional shakeup because I think we need one,' Kerry said in a Herald interview. 'The Democrats have articulated in the last two years a very poor agenda. It's hard for me to believe that some of these guys could have been as either arrogant or obtuse as to not know where the American people were coming from.' Kerry deliberately set himself apart from Kennedy...He said Kennedy and Clinton's insistence on pushing health care reform was a major cause of the Democratic Party's problems at the polls. When told his calls for 'change' did not match Kennedy's re-election rhetoric, Kerry smiled and said: 'I'm amazed people didn't pick up on it.'"

MR. RUSSERT: You were clearly separating yourself from Clinton and from Kennedy on the issue of health care...

SEN. KERRY: I was upset, Tim.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

16. well, the Dems in Congress were so utterly corrupt

at that point, I can almost see where he was coming from. Sad but true.

[girl gone mad]

4. I have a real problem with..

his IWR and PATRIOT act votes, and I see him as a waffler. Has he been consistent in standing up for Democratic values? I feel he haas a history of being too quick to compromise.

[edzontar]

10. I have to agree. Kerry is a fence-sitter with conservative tendencies...

His actions re-public school teachers and reported views on the minimum wage should, if true, disqualify him from consideration as the dP standard bearer.

But given his late Iowa surge and Dean's recent recent struggles, we may be stuck with him....which will probably doom us in the fall.

[Zynx]

9. Other than his overplayed investigatory work, it is not an impressive

record.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

17. all of his "investigations" went nowhere

he's completely ineffective, assuming he actually meant anything aside a coverup.

[blm]

23. Really? BCCI wasn't closed? Bush1 didn't have to pardon his cronies?

NOONE knows anything about BCCI, IranContra and CIA drugrunning because Kerry covered it up? How were all those books written, then?

Uh...there's no logic in your statement.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

35. Kerry was so effective, Bush Jr. is in the White House

Kerry is so effective, the Bushes were able to destroy Clinton, steal an election, and Kerry helped them start a war. Kerry is so effective that basically NO ONE in the US has any idea about BCCI and Iran/Contra and CIA drug smuggling.

Kerry was SO EFFECTIVE that even half the people on DU dismiss it all as a conspiracy theory. Kerry is so effective that he hasn't breathed a word in 10 years. Kerry is so effective that Gary Webb is still banished out of the journalism business, with no backup from Kerry.

Oh, yeah, and of course Kerry stopped all the drug dealing right? By the way, has Kerry said anything about all the heroin coming out of Afgahnistan now that the puppet government is in place? No? He's supposed to be a leader right?

Kerry's busy playing hockey and doing photo-ops on his motorcycle.

[isbister]

11. Can we do bush's record as President next?

or would we need another web site for that?

[Zynx]

12. That's hardly the point.

[isbister]

33. Its exactly my point

Cooking up a handful of items from thirty something years of public life is nothing. Of course he's going to have things he's voted for that you or I might disagree with over that period of time, of course he has things he'd probably do differently but think about it...all the time he's spent in the public eye and someone can dig up a dozen or two shaky things about him? It says more about what Kerry's done than it does what he hasn't if that's all they got. I can choke a horse with the list of bush's attack on the environment, in 2003, alone (alright maybe not choke a horse but it is a veery long list).

[Cheswick2.0]

13. These two

*** In the `90's, he joined with GOP senators to sponsor proposals to end tenure for public school teachers and allow direct grants to religion-based charities.

*** He voted for the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, and IWR, only to criticize all three once he became a presidential candidate.



make it impossible for me to vote for him.

[Zynx]

18. I dare some one to name one time where he had good foresight.

I dare you. A leader has to have good foresight.

[blm]

22. First one to advocate for gays in the Senate.

Hee saw irregularities and investigated and exposed BCCI, IranContra and CIA drugrunning. He had the whole Dem and GOP powerstructures against him during that time, and yet he pushed through ANYWAY.

First one to connect terror money to international governments. He wrote a book about it in 1997, The New War.

Worked on Kyoto Protocol for 10 years with other world leaders.

Why don't you go to his site and learn more...
www.johnkerry.com

[isbister]

19. Which section of the Patriot Act do you hate the most?

Sec. 1012. Limitation on issuance of hazmat licenses really ticks me off.

I don't like these much either I don't know how any American can support the government (sicko's) doing anything like these (to name a few):

Sec. 209. Seizure of voice-mail messages pursuant to warrants.
Sec. 222. Assistance to law enforcement agencies.
Sec. 362. Establishment of highly secure network.
Sec. 363. Increase in civil and criminal penalties for money laundering. (Grrr... this one....)

Sec. 414. Visa integrity and security.
Sec. 427. No benefits to terrorists or family members of terrorists. (This is just unamerican!)

Sec. 611. Expedited payment for public safety officers involved in the prevention, investigation, rescue, or recovery efforts related to a terrorist attack.
Sec. 613. Public safety officers benefit program payment increase.
Sec. 621. Crime victims fund.
Sec. 622. Crime victim compensation.
Sec. 623. Crime victim assistance.
Sec. 624. Victims of terrorism.
Sec. 907. National Virtual Translation Center.
Sec. 1001. Review of the department of justice.
Sec. 1005. First responders assistance act.
Sec. 1008. Feasibility study on use of biometric identifier scanning system with access to the fbi integrated automated fingerprint identification system at overseas consular posts and points of entry to the United States.

Sec. 1010. Temporary authority to contract with local and State governments for performance of security functions at United States military installations.

Sec. 1014. Grant program for State and local domestic preparedness support.(Nazis!)

It's laws like these that will ruin America!

[isbister]

20. #1

At the end of the cold war, Kerry advocated scaling back the CIA, but after 9/11, he complained about a lack of intelligence capability.

As he explains it... He believed the Intel community was way too enamored with the high tech of spying, spending too much money on it, and advocated getting more Intel on the ground.

[isbister]

21. #2

In the `80's, he opposed the death penalty for terrorists who killed Americans abroad, but he now supports the death penalty for terrorist acts.

In twenty years he changed his stance on killing murderers as opposed to jailing them for the rest of their lives... let's bring him out back and beat the crap out of him!

It is quite possible that his work in Congress (and the attacks on American soil) helped persuade him to change his opinion?

[isbister]

24. #3

In the `90's, he joined with GOP senators to sponsor proposals to end tenure for public school teachers and allow direct grants to religion-based charities.

Well, he has been one that has wanted to shake up the education sytem for a long time. He's not a big fan of just passing kids through the system without them learning anything, especially how to read.

"direct grants to religion-based charities" for early childhood education?

[isbister]

25. #4

In `97, he voted to require elderly people with higher incomes to pay a larger share of Medicare premiums.

Those with higher incomes pay a little more. That is just plain unamerican. ;-)

[isbister]

26. #5

He gave praised the `94 Republican takeover of Congress, saying he was "delighted with seeing an institutional shake-up because I think we need one."

We need another shakeup in my opinion... starting at the top.

Is that a Senate record thing or is it a statement? I think its a statement, an opinion.

[isbister]

27. #6

He voiced doubts in a closed-door senate meeting about the wisdom of trying to raise the minimum wage.

He voiced doubts in a closed-door senate meeting. He voiced doubts. In a closed-door senate meeting. A senator, voicing doubts about something in a closed door meeting. And Teddy K gave him crap for it too...don't forget that.

[isbister]

28. 8's silly and 7

seems to have been addressed by others above

[bigtree]

32. Good job isbister

If anyone is truly concerned with the John Kerry's response to the issues raised above please visit http://johnkerry.com and click on issues.

More:

On January 22, 2002 Kerry became one of the first Democrats to present an alternative to the Bush administration's energy plan. Delivering a major policy addresss, "Energy Security is American Security," he stated, "If we enact the entire Bush energy plan we will find ourselves twenty years from now more dependent on foreign oil than we are today." Kerry called for a "national Strategic Energy Initiative," including increasing the amount of electricity from alternative and renewable sources to 20% by 2020, improving Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, reinvesting in public transportation, and tax incentives for efficiency improvements.

Kerry was a leading opponent of efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "It will never pass the Senate," he said in an August 1, 2001 statement. "You don't have to destroy a wildlife refuge to meet the energy needs of America," he told attendees of the California Democratic Party convention in February 2002. When the energy bill came up in early March, Kerry and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) produced a bipartisan proposal to increase fuel efficiency standards. The amendment would have required automakers to achieve an average of 36 mpg for their combined passenger car and light truck fleets by model year 2015, however, on March 13 the Senate voted in favor of a weaker amendment sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Kit Bond (R-MO). Debate on the energy bill continued, and on April 18 Sens. Kerry, Lieberman, and other opponents of drilling in ANWR succeeded in putting a halt to the Administration's proposal as a cloture motion fell 14 votes short of the 60 required (S.Amdt.3132--46 to 54 vote).

...And Small Business Relief
From his position as chair of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerry sought to provide emergency economic relief for small businesses in the wake of the September 11 attacks. By mid-December, the Kerry-Bond American Small Business Relief and Recovery Act, S.1499, had gained the backing of 63 Senators. However, the Administration opposed the bill and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) blocked its consideration. For a time Kerry even resorted to placing a hold on all non-judicial executive nominations, but he was unable to advance the bill. Kerry and Bond managed to include some provisions in a defense bill. Finally, they achieved a compromise with the White House, and on March 22, 2002 S.1499 passed the Senate by unanimous consent. The estimated cost of the bill according to the CBO is $300 million.

Kerry has also been concerned about the shortage of professional nurses. In 2001, he introduced several versions of a Nurse Reinvestment Act (S.706 and S.1597), and a bill (S.1864) eventually did pass the Senate and was signed into law in August 2002.
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/kerry.html


Kerry said he has been responsible for laws to pay for 100,000 police officers and support fishery and environmental laws and small-business aid programs. He also pointed to his advocacy of democracy in the Philippines and the end of the Marcos regime there.

And he spoke of the investigations from earlier in his career - his probe of the Nicaraguan Contra armies, international money laundering and American prisoners of war in Vietnam. He also led the effort to normalize relations with Vietnam, where he was wounded in combat as a Navy officer.

Aides point out that while many of Kerry's initiatives have not passed Congress intact, they have been included as amendments to bills that made it into law.

But if recent political history is any indication, other academics said, legislative accomplishments don't mean much in a presidential race. "Most voters only have a vague idea of what senators do," said John Pitney, government professor at California's Claremont McKenna College. "If you look at the senators who've run for president, most don't have a legislative record."
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_2627.shtml




Massive amount of bills sponsored and many more co-sponsored by John Kerry (scroll down the page to John Kerry when it opens):

107th Congress:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdbrwsr/d107/sponlst.html?/d107/splst.html#sK

108th Congress:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdbrwsr/d108/sponlst.html?/d108/splst.html#sK


Readers will be able to find out more about Sen. Kerry and his vision in a couple of books. He has penned A Call to Service: My Vision for a Better America (Viking Press, October 9, 2003), and helped historian Douglas Brinkley with material for Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War (Viking Press, January 6, 2004) which is scheduled to be published less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

Readings and Resources
Todd S. Purdum. "Storied Past, Golden Resume, but Mixed Reviews for Kerry." November 30, 2003. .

Calvin Woodward. "An ambition to lead powers Kerry through maelstrom of war and jarring career turns." Associated Press. October 9, 2003. (1,850 words)

Boston Globe's seven-part "John Kerry: Candidate in the Making" series:
John Aloysius Farrell. "At the center of power, seeking the summit." June 21, 2003.
John Aloysius Farrell. "With probes, making his mark." June 20, 2003.
Brian C. Mooney. "Taking one prize, then a bigger one." June 19, 2003.
Brian C. Mooney. "First campaign ends in defeat." June 18, 2003.
Michael Kranish. "With antiwar role, high visibility." June 17, 2003.
Michael Kranish. "Heroism, and growing concern about war." June 16, 2003.
Michael Kranish. "A privileged youth, a taste for risk." June 15, 2003.

Mark Z. Barabak. "John F. Kerry: The Massachusetts Senator, A Decorated Veteran, Mixes Strong Liberal Credentials With Pro-War Stands on Iraq." Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2003. .

Laura Blumenfeld. "Hunter, Dreamer, Realist: Complexity Infuses Senator's Ambition." Washington Post, June 1, 2003. .

David Nather. "Kerry's Complex Record and His Pursuit of the Presidency." CQ Weekly, April 26, 2003. <"The Road Up Pennsylvania Avenue" series>

Julia Reed. "A Man in Full." Vogue, March 2003.

Adam Nagourney. "Antiwar Veteran Eager for Battle." New York Times, December 9, 2002, page A22. . (1,936 words)

Joe Klein. "The Long War of John Kerry." The New Yorker, December 2, 2002.

Jonathan Miles. "A Lighter Side of John Kerry." Men's Journal, August 2002.

Sally Jacobs. "The importance of being not so earnest." Boston Globe, May 1, 2002, page D1.

Paul Alexander. "John Kerry: Ready for His Close Up." Rolling Stone, April 11, 2002.

C-SPAN's "American Politics" ran a profile (about 56 minutes long, taped in Nov. 2001) of Sen. Kerry on Feb. 17, 2002.

[isbister]

36. Thanks

Your details are much better but maybe I was able to make a point :-)

PS - I'm not a nurse, but am a big fan of the Nurse Reinvestment Act

[isbister]

31. #9

He voted for the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, and IWR, only to criticize all three once he became a presidential candidate.

Please see above for the Patriot Act

No Child Left Behind - wouldn't be all that bad if Kerry made his proposed changes and funded it when he becomes President. The idea of setting standards for children in our schools isn't so bad, it might help us climb up the industrialized world's education list. Rubber stamping kids through the system wasn't working (how do you think bush got so many votes?)

IWR - Read what he said from the Senate Floor when he voted for it. Before he voted for it he promised he'd criticize bush if bush did not proceed wisely.

[Snivi Yllom]

34. not all those things are bad

But some are really bad, like IWR.

[isbister]

37. IWR

Here it is:

http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/iraq/text/1010res.htm

Which condition, did Congress require of the President before their authorization of force was granted, bugs you the most?:

Bonus Question: What part of the resolution did bush break and what part did Kerry break?