John Kerry to Deliver Supplies to New Orleans Area

[kerrygoddess]

John Kerry to Deliver Supplies to New Orleans Area
September 10th, 2005

Earlier, I posted the press release about the legislation that John Kerry sponsored on the Senate floor Friday that will help Small Businesses and others affected by Katrina by providing “some relief to them that’s immediate.”

And now here comes news that John Kerry has chartered a plane to bring supplies to the New Orleans area on Sunday and beyond…

Kerry set to deliver supplies
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | September 10, 2005

WASHINGTON — Senator John F. Kerry has chartered a plane to deliver supplies to the New Orleans area tomorrow and is accepting donations in Boston to make deliveries in the coming weeks.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, has coordinated local and national corporate donations that will be part of tomorrow’s delivery to a supply distribution center in Baton Rouge, La.

‘’This feels so much like the days after September 11th, when friends and neighbors refused to just sit there in front of their television sets watching the disaster; they just had to get up and give something of themselves,” Kerry said. ‘’The outpouring from Massachusetts has been incredible.”

Tomorrow’s shipment includes water, food, medical supplies, infant-care items, and cleaning supplies. Donations came from a range of individuals and businesses, including Children’s Hospital, the Roche Bros. supermarket chain, New Balance, Stop & Shop groceries, the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans, Polar Beverage, Partners Healthcare, Basic Marketing Service, Hallmark Health, BJ’s Wholesale, and Coca-Cola.

LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=493

[ModerateLee]

1. I knew it!

I just KNEW he had something planned to help everyone!!! Go, go JFK!

[MeDeMax]

2. keep it up John

we always believed in you.

[MaineDem]

3. Truly excellent!

Wait for the "he's too late" crowd though. :(

[zulchzulu]

4. That's very cool

I hope he makes some points about Bush's mishandling of the situation when he's down there.

[Imagevision]

63. Will Fema deny him acces to NO.??? forms aren't filled out?

[LittleClarkie]

64. Considering this was 4 days ago, I imagine he got in okay

or we would have heard otherwise.

[mtnsnake]

5. I'm glad he's going down there to help those poor people.

That's a nice gesture.

He can also help us when he's down there by calling Bush a liar and actually using the L word.

[TayTay]

6. Good, People get relief and Kerry sees whats going on

on the ground there. Usually Senators set up trips to go down and see what is up in the disaster areas and to interview the victims and the officials charged with getting help into the affected area. This way Kerry can deliver supplies donated by people in his home state and survey some of what is going on. He will get the info first hand from people who are in the thick of it right now. This should help when he does his day job of being a US senator and asking accountability questions and drafting relevent legislation.

[Toots]

7. Johnie come lately

I think this is all political. Big news release to showcase it. Al gore was there a week ago and would not talk to Media about it because he didn't want to politicize it. Where was Kerry a week ago? I like Kerry and voted for him but it is stuff like this that caused a lot of doubt about him. If he wants to send supplies that is fine and good. He should leave it at that. Him going there almost seems crass.

[Mass]

8. Last week, Kerry was in Iraq and sent a plane to MS

(as said by Trent Lott at least twice now).

And it is normal that he goes to see the situation by himself, for god's sake. He will have to act on it, as a senator.

Gore should be largely and loudly acclaimed for what it did. It was great and not at all political, I agree. But Kerry's role on that is different.

In addition, the Senate asked senators not to go there until now.

[Totally Committed]

11. Mass... do you know if he is planning on meeting with other Dems

while he is down there? I have heard from several people that Wes Clark is down there with his partner, James Lee Witt, and I have also heard Gore may be there again soon, too. Do you know if Kerry and the rest of the Dems are going to meet to sort of "summit" about what needs to be done or anything?

This could be a time when building coalitions against the Republicans is vital. Each of them has contacts that, if used simultaneously, could be used to really help the people and the Party.

TC

[Mass]

12. Dont know, I just read the Globe piece about that

Happy to see that Clark is over there too. I knew he was the type to talk AND act.

And I agree with the fact that they need to build coalitions, not act alone. I hope they will see the urgency of the situation and do that.

[Totally Committed]

15. I'm just thinking of the power, individually of

Gore, Clark, Kerry, and Witt... and that power could be multiplied exponentially if they could just coordinate a bit.

It could be so beneficial. Well, time will tell, I guess.

TC

[Toots]

13. I did not realize that the Senate had asked Senators not to go

That fact alone makes a big difference. I take back what i said on my other post. It was written in ignorance...

[AlGore-08.com]

29. I'm not bashing Kerry, but I don't see why that should matter

So what if the Senate, or the White House, or anybody told Senators not to go to storm affected areas? So what if a Senator is in DC, their home state, or out of the country? People with that much money, and that many connections, could at least try to could get supplies to the storm affected areas last week (when every news show was showing the thousands of people who were stranded at the Convention Center and talking about how these people had no food or water for days and none was coming). They could at least try to go to the area to help.

No matter where they were on the planet, they could have decided: What I am doing here is not as important as what's happening in the Gulf - - and then try like Hell to get down there. As an example, when 9/11 happened, both Gore and Clinton were out of the county. Gore was in Austria and Clinton was in Australia. Both men pulled every string they had to get back to the states, even though civilian airlines were not allowed to fly into the U.S. for several days. Gore ended up hitching a ride on a Canadian military flight, landing in Canada, renting a car there and driving across the border at Buffalo - - then driving all night to get to Clinton's house in New York.

And if they really cannot get to the storm areas to help personally, or if what they're doing is really more important than trying to save the lives of thousands of Americans who were dying from lack of food, water, shelter and medical supplies, they could have picked up the phone and say to their staff back in DC and their home state "Get X supplies to the hurricane victims, I'll pay for it myself." Or if they're one of the rare Senators who doesn't have enough personal wealth to buy a truckload of bottled water and send it to New Orleans, they have a rolodex full of major donors, many of whom would have paid for the supplies if the Senator (or the Senator's staff) organized the delivery.

It's hypocritical of us to bash Bush for sticking to his regularly scheduled events during that first week, but excusing our own Congressfolks for sticking to their own regularly scheduled events during that same time. Elected officials, like police officers, are supposed to lead in times of crisis. Yes, Bush is should be held to a higher standard, yes he should be held accountable, because he is much more responsible than the Congress. But it totally undermines the arguments for why Bush needs to be held accountable by claiming that Bush's "business as usual" response was a moral failure, but Democrat X's "business as usual" response was not. Every single member of Congress made a personal decision whether to go to the storm areas or not. No matter what the Senate said, some Senators tried to get to NOLA to help and failed, like Obama. Some managed to get there and did personally help out, like Frist.

And if y'all really think that, when 2008 rolls around, regular folks will accept "Democrat X was doing something more important somewhere else" will trump footage of Dr. Frist doing triage among the hurricane victims... or that regular folks will see what Frist was doing in a negative light... y'all need to wake up and take a long, deep smell of the coffee.

[Toots]

49. I agree but rules are also needed and need be obeyed

I can not fathom what the justification for such a rule as not going to help but I don't know all that much just very opiniated. I guess if Frist went to help then any other Senator that cared should have as well. I have heard of none that did except your post saying Frist was there. It just seems to me to be so very political at this stage of the game. Not that supplies are not still needed and welcomed just quite political and blatantly so.

[Mass]

55. Read my previous email - I have not changed my point.

I am just surprised on how Gore's supporters are defensive. This is not a competition. This is about helping people.

I dont think anybody is trying to say that what Gore did was not great. This is getting silly.

But the previous poster or you think it would have been useful to have 100 senators go there when they did not have any particular help to offer, this is foolish, and yes, this could have been seen as political operation.

Now is the time to go and see by themselves, so that they can know what help is necessary, and there is nothing wrong for Kerry to organize some help when he goes, rather than going with an empty plane. There is nothing exceptional here, but there is no reason to bash him like that.

[LittleClarkie]

54. Thanks toots.

I can believe they were told this, as I can imagine too many people milling around could get in the way. Even Gore had to fight to get into the disaster area. So I can imagine why the Senate told them not to go.

But now things are more settled.

[TayTay]

9. He was organizing relief efforts into the region

This was also released. He sent a planeful of supplies into Mississippi (you remember, one of the affected states) that got water, food and medical supplies into the hands of people who needed them. This happened the week of Aug 26th. It's what he talked to Trent Lott about during the off-week before the Senate returned. The newspapers said Kerry asked Lott, "what do you need and where do you need it?" Sorry if that offends you. Perhaps the recipients on the ground feel differently.

Part of the reason for the 'press release' was to notify citizens in the Senators home state that needed supplies that have been donated are getting to the people who need them. With all due respect, that's part of his job, to make sure this stuff gets to the people who need it. Occasionally, Senators communicate with people in their home states and let them know what they are doing. Makes the folks back home feel like they have Senators who are listening. Sorry if this sounds political to you, but representative government is often a two-way street.

This, btw, was not a press release. It was a story in the Senator's home town newspaper. The news about Kerry drafting legislation to help small business rebuild, to make sure that SBA loans are not misdirected to businesses that don't need them and the press release supporting the Democratic alternate that will bring Medicaid and social services help to the area, now that was a press release.

[OneTwentyoNine]

14. Uhhh,Kerry was about HALF way around the World last week...

It was only mentioned on DU a dozen times or more. Kind of hard to make a showing in NO when your in Iraq but it sounds like he was at least organizing while he was gone. Bush couldn't even do that and he was in the GD United States--actually RIGHT NEXT DOOR when he went back to Crawford.

[bee]

18. me too. my thoughts exactly.

Al Gore made them all look bad. Now this seems like political one-up-manship. Big news release... hey everyone... look what a good person I am. Come quick and bring all the media. Its so.... Geraldo.

[Mass]

19. No surprise coming from you

If he wanted to do that, be sure that he would have done a lot more than a few lines in the local section of the Globe.

BTW where are Sununu and Gregg?

[bee]

21. No surprise coming from ME?

What the hell is THAT suppose to mean... if you dont mind.
On what basis do you find it appropriate to insult me personally in that manner? Alas... I do not recall ever having encountered you before... and if I did... you should know that I dont carry animosity or judgements around with me from thread to thread.

edit to add: sununu & gregg? Probably somewhere spreading evil along with bradley & bass. Are you playing "my reps can beat up your reps"? My reps are terrible! I NEVER said otherwise. Jeez.

[ClassWarrior]

24. Playing "my reps can beat up your reps?"

Is that sorta like "The Blame Game??"

:rofl:

NGU.

[bee]

25. rock-em sock-em rep-bots. ;-) n/t

[Totally Committed]

26. CAN WE PLEASE ALL AGREE ON THIS:

Whatever Democrats are down there doing whatever they are doing, are providing help that is very needed?

I know to some this may seem like an attention-grabbing publicity stunt (yes, there was a press release) but... everyone has a different "style". I might also suggest that Kerry's trip is being covered far more publicly because he is an elected official. The reason Gore's trip is just now being covered, and Wes Clark's involvement has yet to be covered could be because they are NOT elected officials, but technically, private citizens.

The people down there need help... any help. So why are we, as Democrats, out to criticize anyone from our Party who shows up with a planeload of anything at this point? It's all good for the Party, but -- most importantly -- it's all good for the people.

I am no fan of Kerry's, but let's all save our differences on matters of policy. While people are suffering, who cares HOW they get relief? Who cares from whom they get that relief? Aren't you proud that it seems that relief on this massive scale seems to be coming overwhelmingly from our side? I am.

I am glad that people are being helped... finally. The Republicans have been either piss-poor at helping or largely absent where help was needed most. Democrats have been the ones chartering planes, renting boats, jumping in and rolling up their sleeves... I am proud of that. And, anyone reading here should be too.

TC

[ClassWarrior]

27. The ONLY reason "this may seem like an attention-grabbing"...

..."publicity stunt" is because there are trolls who want to make it "seem like an attention-grabbing publicity stunt."

I, for one, tend to trust the humanity and compassion of my fellow Progressives.

NGU.

[Totally Committed]

28. Here, here! n/t

TC

[kerrygoddess]

38. Good points.

Thanks.

[MaineDem]

20. So NOT Geraldo

Good grief!

[ClassWarrior]

23. Yeah, helping people always causes "a lot of doubt" about folks...

...sorta like that snarky Mother Teresa, or that publicity hog Mahatma Gandhi. Boy, did I question THEIR motives!!

:rofl:

NGU.

[IndianaGreen]

34. Al Gore rescued people from NO by chartering a jet

and he didn't put out a press release. A CNN reporter at NO airport mentioned the Gore mission when the jet landed.

Al Gore acted on pure instinct!

[greenbriar]

10. god I wish he were in the white house

he sooooo deserves to be there

[PresidentObama]

16. I don't care if your Hillary Clinton, Al Gore

Or John Kerry. Anyone who helps in the relief effort deserves to be patted on the back. Way to go Al Gore for being there, and helping out. I always liked Al, and always will. He's a real fighter. And way to go John Kerry. Just back from Iraq, and he's already jumping in to help the victims :) Thats the John Kerry I know.

[OneTwentyoNine]

17. The big difference in Gore,Kerry and other Dems that voluteer...

Is that they ACTUALLY care about these people. Bush and Cheney looked like someone had them tightly by the balls the times they were in Miss and LA.

Those two asses show up for photo-ops and then get the hell out. Dems show up to work and sweat....

[PresidentObama]

22. Agreed.

Democrats are out there helping out, and doing something.

Not just touring the area for photo opts.

[Dr Fate]

30. Compare this to Dennis Hastert- "Let's bulldoze the place."

It is clear who is on the right side.

[dogman]

32. Don't worry, Denny is getting his photo-ops too.

He is in the local paper, pictured loading supplies. Just like the bushy boys in Fla. loading water and Kindasleezy, not even knowing where to put the goods after the picture is taken. There isn't going to be any shortage of pictures of pols from both parties loading supplies. The fact that supplies will eventually reach those in need outweighs the political opportunism.

[Dr Fate]

33. We need to take him down on this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2079549&mesg_id=2079549

[kerrygoddess]

47. Yes it is...

Yes it is. The leader on the left is on the mark with this!

[bee]

31. just want to go on record as stating

that my earlier post #18 was an error of judgment and after contemplation, I have changed my point of view. I apologize for the unfair knee-jerk reaction. I had a foot-in-mouth moment, DU.
And Ill gladly admit I was wrong.

[Mass]

35. Sorry to have singled you out -

Stating one's error is so rare in this world.

Peace.

[bee]

36. Thank you Mass!

:hug:

[Totally Committed]

37. That showed real Class, bee!

:yourock:

TC

[bee]

39. Thank you TC !!

and to everyone who has forgiven me for sounding like an ass.
it means a lot.
:grouphug:

[LittleClarkie]

52. It takes guts to admit when you're wrong. Thanks!

There are times I wish for a delete button. How 'bout you? ;)

[Zhade]

40. Gore was faster. :-p

But ANY help is appreciated!

[politicasista]

41. Yes, peeps will try to turn it into a contest for sure.

[Mass]

42. Anyway, they will need help for a long time, unfortunately

and from a lot of people.

[Zhade]

44. That is all too true.

:(

[Zhade]

43. Note the " :-p " in my subject line.

It's teasing, not being part of the "anti-Kerry crowd". It's hardly showing disrespect, as you intimate.

Can't take a little teasing? Sounds like a personal problem.

[politicasista]

45. Aww My bad. Didn't know what that symbol stood for.

No, it's no personal problem. I always love good humor.

It's all good. :hi:

[Zhade]

46. Ah, then no harm no foul.

:)

[kerrygoddess]

48. From Alabama news

The Gadsden Times in AL, reports that “Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, also have donated about $250,000 to charities involved in the relief effort.”

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050910/APN/509100924&cachetime=5

[BamaLefty]

57. To An Area That Voted 80% Bush

Now, that my friends, takes some courage. Think about it, donating $250 K to the very people who kept him out of the Presidency. That is one great American!

John Kerry-- Alabama thanks you! :patriot:

[kerrygoddess]

50. Updates on Kerry delivering supplies to LA...

Kerry Recalls Talking of LA Coastal Flooding at ‘04 LA Campaign Event
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=517

Kerry Off to Gulf Coast with Mass. Donations
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=512

Kerry Takes a Moment to Speak with Striking North West Airline Workers
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=520

[mvd]

51. Great!

Thanks for noticing his good deed. :hi:

[LittleClarkie]

53. When I posted this on Kos over the weekend

Some of them said he only did it because Gore did and that the act creeped them out about Kerry.

What is so creepy about delivering aid, I ask you.

[kerrygoddess]

58. OY!

Got to love this guy! He's the Real Deal!

[LittleClarkie]

59. He looks tired again

I guess jet lag will do that to you. I almost wish he'd have actually taken a vacation instead of bopping around hither and yon. He needs to take care of himself, despite all that is going on.

[enough already]

56. If Kerry were to open up his homes to some of these people....

He'd win in a landslide in '08.

[bear425]

62. Aren't there a lot of rooms at the Crawford Pig Farm?

What 'bout that idea?

[HR_Pufnstuf]

60. How's he gonna arrive?

Snowboard, Windsurfer, Bike, or Motorcycle?





(sorry, couldnt resist..)

[kerrygoddess]

61. osmosis...

loaned airplane from UPS. Go figure.

[Dr Fate]

65. Ha ha! I heard that joke on Rush Limbaugh too!

Thanks for the Rush jokes-you guys are a real hoot.