ABC News: Kerry "pretty much feeling" what it takes to run again

[Human Torch]

September 27, 2006 8:23 AM

ABC's Teddy Davis reports: During a learning class held at C-SPAN's studios on Tuesday, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said he's "pretty much feeling" what you need to feel to run for President.

Since losing the 2004 presidential election, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has been actively laying the groundwork to run again. These comments put him rhetorically one step closer.

KERRY: ". . . You just gotta make the judgment. You also have to make the judgment, which I’m pretty much feeling, I'm saying that I have something to say, I have some unfinished business from the last round, I don't like what they did, I don't like how they framed it, and I don't like what they're doing for the country today, and I think we can do better. . . "

The class is now online at and will re-air Friday at 10:00 a.m. ET on C-SPAN-3. You can watch it here: Link Scroll to the last two minutes.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2006/09/kerry_pretty_mu.html

[TayTay]

1. That was a good program on C-Span

I hope other Dems go on it and take questions in that format. I think the schools and students got a lot out of it, Kerry seemed to enjoy sharing stories and answering questions and it was really a good program.

Dems should do more things like this.

[wake.up.america]

5. All I have to say is he better run a better campaign than last time.

And the Demos better have a better grip on the the election process.

How can anyone allow a complete moron to win an election for the Presidency of the United States?

[iconocrastic]

11. Did he say anything about what the people want ...

or was it mostly about his feelings about himself?

[LiberalEsto]

2. Can't he ever be less wordy & vague?

"Pretty much feeling." Fer crying out loud, couldn't he have said "leaning toward" or simply "thinking about"?

Gore or Feingold are much better candidates IMHO.

[TayTay]

4. Because he was in a classroom with students who asked him

about the process of deciding. The comments were appropriate to an informal classroom setting, though they wouldn't be at a press conference.

I understand that the need for some people to bash Dems is all powerful and hard to override, but the setting and circumstances under which something is said do matter.

Go see the C-Span event. This happens within the last five minutes. It was an informal talk and this phrase fit that discussion.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. The swift boat deal will happen again & he can't stop it.

I would hate to see the Dems have to go through all of that again. There are better choices than Kerry from a campaign perspective.

[TayTay]

7. That's why he's put up money, time and effort

to stop it this year and in the next few years when it happens to other Vets, Like Patrick Murhpy who is running for Congress.

All Democrats will be smeared. We don't run robots we run human beings. There isn't a person on the planet whom the Rethugs can't smear. We learn to fight back.

[The_Casual_Observer]

14. The Vietnam testimony thing is sort of like Chappaquiddick

no matter how much he does he can't escape it & they can find another way to sell it. Don't get me wrong, I walked the precinct & manned the phones for Kerry, but I wouldn't want to see all that happen again. There are better fights.

[TayTay]

15. But it's not up to you

If Kerry wants to run, then he can run. He has supporters, he has money and he has the will to run.

So, he can run. Let the voters sort it all out.

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. That's true, but I suspect there are a lot of folks like me that

won't support him like we did last time either.

[TayTay]

18. Most people didn't vote for him in Iowa

He won with 38% of the vote. That's how the process works. That means 62% didn't vote for him. The 38% was what propelled him to the nomination.

That is pretty much the norm for a primary.

[RangerSmith]

39. I know of one for sure. ... nt

[blm]

46. Alot of you DIDN'T support him - many kept spreading lies and never even

bothered to know the extraordinary positive record and character of the man - one that NO OTHER LAWMAKER in modern hiostory has accrued.

Even as the nominee - there are many to this day who call the man who submitted the only public financing of campaigns legislation a 'corporatist". The man with the best senate record on the environment and the longest a johnny come lately. The one with the best record against corruption in government is called an establishment insider. The man who has helped to end three wars and puts up doable withdrawal plans for Iraq gets called a warmonger.


And then they say they held their nose and voted for him ONCE, as if their nose worked harder for this country and its democracy than John Kerry did and does.

[The_Casual_Observer]

47. I don't know about you, but my son & I went door to door for months.

And did phone banking before the election. I have every right to say I wouldn't do it again for the guy.
How dare you say that I didn't support him.

[blm]

50. I used the general you - because I was talking about many here.

I don't care if someone doesn't support Kerry for a primary - I care if they choose to attack him with untruths while they do it.

[Le Taz Hot]

40. No, we'll let

600+ mostly-caucasions Iowans decide FOR us, just to make sure those pesky Californians and New Yorkers don't have any input. I'm sure he has his midnight to 3:30 am callers all ready to go (for his opponents) this time and let's not forget comparing his opponents (only "Dean Dean Dean") to Saddam Hussein. But he was "electable." Remember? The man lost to the WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY. Tell me, what exactly has changed? We need new blood and Feingold is it. ANYBODY but more sad DLC-backed retreads.

[ProSense]

19. Wow! That's a way to fight the Repubs!

Give up!

How on earth is The Vietnam testimony like Chappaquiddick? What an odd comparison!

Speak truth to power! That's sort of like Iraq!

[ProSense]

22. This entire program was awesome!

This is what a progressive Democrat should sound like!

[The_Casual_Observer]

26. Sure, choose a candidate with tons of baggage & fight like hell

to stave off Pre-packaged made to order attacks the whole time. Choose a candidate who lost once already based on this stuff. That's a brilliant progressive strategy alright.

You see a difference between Chappaquiddick & the swift boat stuff?

[TayTay]

27. Yes I do

But as long as we have Democrats who agree with Republicans to smear our people, it will always be harder. That's too bad.

[blm]

51. He didn't lose - Dem votes were suppressed, voter rolls purged, machines

rigged all over the country so Bush could stay in power.

If Kerry was the bad candidate you are trying to claim, they wouldn't have had to bother.

And the swifts are NOT going to escape as you want to believe. They have been researched to the nth degree and every detail is in place.

[blm]

23. Except THIS time there are hundreds of vets ready to speak out against the

swiftlies in their OWN BOOK that has every document necessary to shoot down every lie. They have ven gathered every inch of available filmstrip that proves visually that the swifts lied.

And some of those vets were FORMER swifts who turned because they were LIED TO about the intent of the group. And ready to talk to the media about it.

And there are now vet organizations in place to counter lies told about ANY vet running for office. And they are working on Novemebr elections and have been for months now.

Big difference.

[The_Casual_Observer]

29. He had the most compelling tribute imaginable at the Dem convention

and it made no difference at at, probably made it worse. They need to spend their efforts finding a better candidate, not trying to fend off bogus attacks.

[blm]

32. The media gave Kerry 3 hours - most people didn't SEE the rest.

And 1 of those hours went to Clinton and one went to Edwards. By the media's decision.

Clinton had NINE hours on every network to introduce himself in 92.

Bush had all the thousands of hours of heroic adulation post 9-11 from every network - and Kerry STILL won - so BushInc had to work 24/7 to suppress Dem votes, purge voter rolls and rig machines to stay in office.

[zulchzulu]

43. Name ANY candidate and I'll give you a Swiftboating attack story

They can't use the Swiftboaters in 2008...all of their lies have been firmly debunked. But if you name a candidate who you think is better, I can show you a Swiftboat excuse they will use on him/her.

Name your candidate.

[The_Casual_Observer]

44. Eliot Spitzer.

Kerry's Vietnam testimony will haunt his ass forever. It was the basis of the attack. It's what those guys were talking about on the swift-boat commercial when they called him a liar, they were talking about the remarks he made about war crimes. Kerry couldn't deny it. Those swift-boat guys had thought it all out carefully. It was all bullshit, but it was bullshit that was surefire.

Best to just avoid that whole thing again.

[zulchzulu]

55. Is Eliot Spitzer running for President?

That's a first.

As for Kerry's testimony, his words surely would ring very true today as they did then....

"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam. How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

That would be an issue against him with a very unpopular war that would be in its seventh year? Um...maybe you think so...

As for Spitzer and a story to swiftboat him:
http://www.johnfaso2006.com/content/page/id/13

It's a stupid story, but one of many that the Repugs would use against Eliot in negative ads. Add that the public doesn't know ratshit from dog turds when it comes to swiftboated stories...they just watch the negative ads like lemmings...

[The_Casual_Observer]

59. I don't know, you tell me who is running for president.

Spitzer was off the top of my head & you couldn't find anything. Kerry isn't a practical choice & you know it.

[bluestateguy]

6. He'll drop out before Iowa and New Hampshire

He has no grass roots support in the party.

[TayTay]

8. I beg to differ on that one

He was in South Carolina last month for a speech. They expected under 400 and actually ended up turning away 250 people. (The hostess ran out of food.)

He actually has a lot of grassroots support, it's just that people here don't want to admit it.

[blm]

35. HAHAH - so some want you to think. Just as they tried that lie before.

There are peole with a vested interest in keeping Kerry out of the oval office. They hate anti-corruption, open government Democrats.

They also don't want to give credence to the lection fraud issue, because then it would be apparent to the public that Kerry won, and not only won, but won with the most votes ever cast for ANY presidential candidate.

[zulchzulu]

42. Are you a bettin' man?

I'll bet you $5000 he gets much further than Super Tuesday... wanna bet?

[Le Taz Hot]

54. Of course he will

The DLC and corporate whore have deemed he will be the candidate and he'll be the candidate. And he'll lose because he'll have even LESS support than he had in 2004.

[zulchzulu]

56. How's life on your planet these days?

So you think the DLC makes people vote for candidates? Do people vote like robotic automatons for candidates that are given to them in secret ingredients in their lattes?

Yeah...I've seen this tripe before...

[sandrakae]

9. I want him to run.

I don't care about all the BS people are saying that he can't connect with regular poeple. It is bull. I truly beleive he would be e very good President. He is so so smart and has a lot of foreign policy experience. I DESERVE A PRESIDENT LIKE JOHN KERRY.

[MrCoffee]

10. "I don't like what they did, I don't like how they framed it"

:grr::grr::grr:
*THE* guy in a position to do something about it when it was happening doesn't like what they did?
:banghead::banghead::banghead:

i will not waste my energy on John Kerry again.

[TayTay]

12. Goodie for you.

That's why they have primaries.

[MrCoffee]

13. yes it is.

looking forward to it.

[Sugarcoated]

16. He doesn't stand a chance.

[Blaukraut]

20. if that's what you think

Prepare to be surprised. :-)

[TayTay]

21. That's what they said the last time

And it worked out all right. You never know until the people vote, and even then.....

[Imagevision]

24. With Kerry, swiftboatee's can merely use 2004 commercials...

Kerry, been there done that.

[ProSense]

28. If detractors are counting on that to be an obstacle,

they're in for a rude awakening. Better find another point to attack!

[TayTay]

30. No, they can't

There are now organizations in place to protect Veterans from the Rethug smear campaigns. Ask Patrick Murphy, ask the VoteVets.org folks. These people are benefitting from what was learned in '04. They know more and are trying to be ahead of the game in fighting back for people like Jim Webb in Virginia and so forth.

BTW, there isn't a candidate alive who doesn't have baggage, whether they know it or not.

[Mz Pip]

25. And I'm "pretty much feeling"

like I won't be supporting him in the primaries. If Kerry ends up being our candidate again, I'll support him, but he won't getr my primary vote.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[MrCoffee]

31. i totally agree.

[elocs]

34. I agree also.

I would support Kerry if he somehow becomes the Democratic candidate, but I would not support him in the primaries. After 2004, it is hard to envision many Democrats being wildly enthusiastic about John Kerry as their presidential candidate in 2008.

[VOX]

38. I'm there, too...

I like Kerry, but I just don't think he's the strongest candidate at the moment. 2007-08 may be different, and I'll support him like crazy should he be the nominee -- but right now, there are some very worthy candidates to support in the upcoming primaries.

[Imagevision]

33. I'm with Oprah's "favorite"

[wakeme2008]

36. Gore had backbone, you sir have none...

No $$ or vote for this rerun Skull and Boner loser.

[TayTay]

37. Ah, in some circumstances he did

a lot more so since he is not holding elective office now and doesn't have to decide anything. I found Gore to be a moderate and that he didn't really stand for much when he was Vice President.

You say tomatoe and I say tomatoh. I like Kerry and find him to be much more of a fighter than Gore ever was.

[wakeme2008]

53. Edwards was the fighter... Kerry was the wimp..

Sorry my POV

[zulchzulu]

58. Perhaps you could provide some evidence to your claim

I personally thought Edwards was a pretty lousy VP candidate. He pulled a Lieberman "nice guy" wimpfest with Cheney in the debate and he was practically invisible during the campaign. I watched...did you?

Prove me wrong...

[blm]

45. Took guts to call for dirty song hearings when Kerry exposed IranContra

illegal wars in Central America, and BCCI. But then, Gore supported Reagan-Bush policies for the most part back then.

And took real guts as VP to coverup CIA drugrunning stories and trashing the reporters while Kerry was working to get it investigated.

Let Gore now step up and show he now believes in OPEN GOVERNMENT and is willing to write the book that told the REAL stories that Bill didn't touch - and then I'll agree he has guts.

[zulchzulu]

52. Remember the V Chip

How about the opening scene in Fahrenheit 911... hey, I like Al...I just like John better.

[Q]

41. I'd vote for Gore before I would Kerry...

It's not that Kerry wouldn't be a good president. I won't vote for him because he follows the dictates of the 'new' Democrats. The fact that Al From called him a great representative of the 'third way' and the New Democrats tells me he would follow their agenda once in office. Last time...he catered too much to 'big business'..promising them that he wouldn't be a 'redistributionist' Democrat. In other words...he would join with the Neocons and Neodems in dismantling what remains of the 'new deal' and replace it with the Neodems version of trickle down economics.

No thanks. Thank God he won't make it through the primaries. And here's hoping he doesn't use the New Dem's smear machine against those Dems who run against him.

[AtomicKitten]

48. You need a helmet, kevlar and a cup to run.

But I think any Democrat with the nachos to throw their hat in the ring knows that, particularly Gore, Kerry, and Clinton. Dems may not have the blood lust of the GOP, but they are smarter and learn by experience. And they've seen the GOP Wrecking Machine in action and have studied it. I have every confidence that we smarter Dems will put up a candidate that won't be afraid to kick the GOP right in the nuts this time around as they so deserve.

[Snivi Yllom]

49. 2 words. HELLS. NO.

Kerry was a bad candidate who does not deserve a second shot. Gore deserves a second shot before Kerry. Edwards would be far superior to Kerry as well.

[snowbear]

57. HELL *&$@$ NO .. although I still respect the DU Kerryites here!

The handful of very dedicated "Kerry still" supporters here are awesome..

But for the next presidential run.. we need a clean slate and a brand new start!

[politicasista]

60. I would rather listen to the candidates first before making judgements

JMHO.