Alterman renounces Kerry support (Follow-up to Will Pitt's "Trial")

[regnaD kciN]

This is actually a Daily Kos entry from late last year. I bring it up because many of you have read Will Pitt's "The Trial of John Kerry," in which Nation/MSNBC columnist Eric Alterman is shown as being impressed by Kerry's explanation of why he voted for IWR. Specifically, Will's account includes the following:

Alterman, for one, was sold. In his MSNBC blog report on the meeting, he wrote, “It was all on the record and yet, it was remarkably open, honest and unscripted. Let’s be blunt. Kerry was terrific. Once again, he demonstrated a thoughtfulness, knowledge base and value system that gives him everything, in my not-so-humble-opinion, he could need to be not just a good, but a great president.”

What many of you may not know is that there is more to the story -- a "sequel," if you will, occuring barely a few days later. To quote Kos's account:

Then the US caught Saddam, and Kerry couldn't stop gloating about how his vote had been the right thing, despite everything he had told Alterman.

To which Alterman responded:

Yes, to those of you who asked, I am feeling that Senator Kerry did saw off that limb onto which I had climbed for him vis-à-vis his vote for the war when he started bragging about it after Saddam's capture. The ultimate lesson here, I guess, comes from my old friend and mentor Izzy Stone. "Don't trust any politician. Period."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2003/12/20/15737/481

[krkaufman]

1. Ouch. Any links to the actual "gloating"?

*VERY* interesting info. I already thought Kerry's IWR vote was wrong, weak and showed poor judgement (considering 155 others saw through the Bush nonsense); and that his excuses of "broken promises" and "being misled" show a lack of integrity (others have stood-up for their vote); but I wasn't aware that he'd praised his vote as recently as December.

Hard to lose when you take both sides of an issue.

Anybody have a link to Kerry speeches praising his vote?

[Guaranteed]

4. I saw Kerry that morning talking with...Tom Brokaw, I believe?

and he was bringing up his IWR vote without even being asked about it. He was touting it.

[regnaD kciN]

2. And more from Alterman...

This is from his recent Nation column on "liberal hawks" who backed Bush and the IWR. Although it doesn't mention Kerry by name, it is hard to believe Alterman wasn't thinking of him, particularly given the Vietnam allusion. Besides, this is a great bit of writing, no matter who or what the target.

In light of Bush & Co.'s incompetent prewar planning, coupled with its arrogant unilateralist postwar mindset, it is awfully tempting for the disillusioned liberal hawks to contend that it did not give them the war they had been promised. (The founders of The New Republic made much the same argument about Wilson and World War I in 1919.) But as Weisberg points out, this escape hatch was nailed shut from the start. "This was elective surgery," he admits, "and we had a pretty good idea what the surgeon's limitations were. The choice wasn't between an invasion led by George W. Bush and an invasion led by a President who would make an eloquent case to the world and build a credible global coalition. The alternatives were Bush's flawed war or no war." If I might reach around to pat myself on the back, I offered this very reason for opposition as number seven in the eight reasons I gave in a prewar Slate symposium in February 2003. It read, "George Bush and the men surrounding him--Colin Powell excepted--are not honest men any more than Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan were. The nation is still paying the price for its misplaced trust in those leaders in matters of war and peace."

To place one's trust in the honesty and good will of Bush & Co. is a far more grievous error than liberals made in 1964, because we have been to this movie before. But here we are again, with a costly and divisive guerrilla war on our hands and a dishonest bunch of incompetents telling us everything is going swimmingly. America is truly Groundhog Day Nation: insisting on our right to ignore our own history and forever condemned to repeat it.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040216&s=alterman

[Guaranteed]

5. LOL ignoring history...some Dems can't even remember

what was happening just 10 months ago.

It's just too true. This garbage will never end until we get leadership with the courage to stand up to corporate warmongers.

[Guaranteed]

3. The morning after Saddam's capture I posted a

rather controversial thread entitled "Kerry is proud of his IWR vote"....I was lambasted for it by Kerry supporters.

But, yes, he was. He was, and is, proud of his IWR vote. And now it seems some DU'ers are.

Absolutely disgusting.

[markus]

6. That's why a vote for Kerry is a vote for the status quo

It is a vote for the DLC vision of a right-of-center nation united, Democrats and Republicans, in the service of industry. What's good for General Motors is what's good for America and all that tripe.

We will all vote for Kerry come November, but none of us has to be happy about it.

In fact, it is imperative that we elect a Democrat--and the nominee is likley to be Kerry--and continue to pressure him and the increasingly right-wing Congress through groups like MoveOn.org.

We cannot allow a Kerry presidency to compromise with the Delays and Frists in Congress. Triangulation with evil is evil.

[bigtree]

7. I suggest Prozac for Alterman's manic psychosis

This has been hashed and rehashed by John Kerry and others. He has explained the rational for his vote. If you ask him if he is glad that Saddam is captured he will say yes. So what? I'm happy Saddam is in jail. Aren't you? Dean is happy that Saddam is in jail. Everybody but Saddam is happy that he is in jail.

But as John has said repeatedly, there was a right way and a wrong way to do it. Bush did it the wrong way.

As for Alterman's psychosis, I would say don't trust any reporter or pundit. Read John Kerry's statements and make up your own mind.

Don't go flying around in circles just because a writer changes his mind.

[Merlin]

8. There's no doubt about it. We only get half a loaf from Kerry. BUT...

what's that old adage about half a loaf?...

He's apparently the guy who can get this horrible admin out of office. So we elect him, then ride his ass constantly to do the right thing.

[Raya]

9. OLD STORY. Alterman Does Not Say This NOW. ASK HIM.