Anyone see Alec Baldwin on Charlie Rose last night?

[blm]

Baldwin said that EVERY Democratic politician, analyst and operative he knows says that there is one guy ready to be president from day one - John Kerry.

[Catch22Dem]

1. Cool

I love Alec. I'm a Clark guy, but I don't disagree (entirely) with his statement.

[oasis]

2. My kinda guy. He praised the Clintons, Kerry and Dems in general. (eom)

[blm]

6. Haven't seen transcripts yet.

If you see them first, please post. It was a GREAT show. I know he is close to ALOT of DC Dems, including Carville and Clinton.

[KittyWampus]

3. Hey BLM, YOu Know I Won't Argue

I could put my personal hangups over Kerry aside and support him very easily and with good conscience.

[blm]

5. I know.

By now, I have a pretty good idea who values honor, service and integrity.

[flpoljunkie]

4. Thanks, Alec. Kerry is wowing them in Iowa acc'd to LATimes article...

"Thursday night, Kerry brought a crowd of 500 supporters to its feet with an exhortation to "stand with me" against everything from "corporate cheats who take the jobs overseas" to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. "Stand with me," Kerry shouted over a crescendo of applause, "and we will change America and reclaim our democracy."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-kerry10jan10,1,5049823.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Ha ha ... Take back our party

from Dean.

[moz4prez]

8. what? You don't want Dean to take back

a statement?

[blm]

15. You mean Dean the Detractor or Dean the Retractor?

Or Dean the Deregulator or Dean the Reregulator?

I can hardly keep up.

[MuseRider]

19. Good ones! n/t

[windansea]

9. he's right

Kerry is the most qualified...

he should have fought off Dean earlier :-(

[MuseRider]

10. That is good

and I hope he keeps saying it. I like Kerry and would be able to vote for him without feeling just awful about it like I will with others, in fact I could vote for him and even with my few reservations be very happy to cast that vote. He would be a wonderful president and a great help to our party.

[chimpymustgo]

11. It's interesting how Kerry and Edwards are #2 for a lot of voters.

I'd love to see us pick a qualified, non-polarizing candidate. As people take a second look coming down the wire, Kerry looks mighty good.

[MuseRider]

16. I have noticed some

definate trends amoung certain voters and their choices for #2 as well. If Kucinich was not in this representing my heart and soul I would be firmly in Kerry's camp. I do think he is going to do much better than it looks from here. He is a good man with a solid background who has certainly worked very hard for us. I can give him a bye on the IRW vote even though I do not want to. It seems entirely possible that because they are in the trenches that they were not as able to see things from outside and really, who of any of these members has ever had to deal with the likes of this maladministration? I don't know, he just seems very sincere in his explanation (totally a gut reaction on my part).

[blm]

20. Thankyou. That's a noble explanation of your feelings.

Integrity matters.

[MuseRider]

22. Integrity is perhaps

the only thing that really matters right now. I could vote for JL over HD simply because he says what he means and I know where he stands. That means a lot and you can work with people like that. Kerry has always had that and I have always liked him. I really hope to see him do well. I like him more and more.

[killbotfactory]

12. I'll take the former Vice President's advice over Baldwin's

But that's just me, I guess.

[blm]

13. He had something to say about Gore, too.

He said it's not that Gore really thinks Dean is best, but that he realized the money advantage is all Dean's.

That's just a paraphrase, but until there is a transcript, that was the gist of it.

[Terwilliger]

28. Oooo, so now...Gore's just a big-fat liar

Well, I'm glad I didn't vote for him then!

[blm]

33. I didn't say that.

Neither did Baldwin, as far as I heard. He just sounded like Gore was being practically motivated.

[sandnsea]

14. Thank you Alec

Man I'm glad everybody hasn't completely lost their minds.

Time to come on home Democrats. Put on the old slippers and cozy up to the fire with your best friend. He'll win and he'll put this country on the course every single one of us wants for the next century. Health care, education, clean environment, energy independence, renewed international relations, real help to 3rd world countries. Time to stop wandering around looking for greener grasses and come on home.

[Padraig18]

17. And his opinion means nothing more than mine.n/t

[blm]

18. He was stating what he's been told. It wasn't an opinion.

If you have a different opinion about Kerry's readiness for the office of presidency then please share it.

[Padraig18]

21. I do and I have already--- abundantly. n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

23. Apparently being physically younger, with less overall experience, with

no foreign policy experience, makes someone more ready to be president.
O.K................:shrug:

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

24. Alec Baldwin: Actor

:eyes:

[blm]

26. Union member.

Will be running for office in a few years.

;)

[ClarkGraham2004]

25. Remember when he said he would leave the US if Bush became prez?

[Raya]

27. Think that was someone else who in now living in Europe somewhere

[ClarkGraham2004]

29. No, it was Baldwin.

He went on SNL shortly after the election and made fun of himself about it.

[sandnsea]

30. A passionate Democrat

Who apparently also has some brains. Kerry is obviously the one to beat Bush and move this country in the direction Democrats want to go. Everybody has had their kicks raking him over the coals, now it's time to get serious and elect a Democrat to the White House again.

[nightperson]

31. What has abandoning Kerry done for us?

Bush is still ahead in the general election, has a 60% approval rating, Perle and Frum get an entire hour on Charlie Rose, Bush is allowed to let so many things like the Plame story drag on, etc.. While we've spent endless time pounding each other, Middle America hasn't really flooded the Clark or Dean campaigns. I'll support the eventual nominee, but I have yet to see why we abandoned such a strong candidate for the general election. I still just don't see what was the point. If you're having trouble, work harder, why experiment with the comparatively unknown!? I didn't think it was a good idea in the first place, and all I've seen us doing is endlessly subdividing the Democratic Party activists and political junkies, while so many Americans just haven't even bothered to pay attention. What's been the payoff of these recent months? An interesting collection of arguments and jokes? Has everyone worked out their demons yet? I really am still bewildered that Kerry is not the obvious choice, but I'm also a bit bewildered that many people can say this election is very serious, yet talk about the runs of Sharpton, Nader, etc. this late in the game. There's still a definite circus atmosphere . I keep muttering (mostly to myself) "Return To Sanity, Return To Kerry". Is this election really important to you? If it's about "personality", "excitement", whatever, well none of these new guys have been able to win over more than 1/3 of his own party! Time to go with the Teflon career and credentials, I say. We need someone that in the long run Middle America will be ashamed not to support instead of the obviously shady and incompetent Bush. Even if Kerry does not get the nomination (can you say "ideal VP choice"?), I think we have to ask these questions about "why has this all been so messy and spastic for us while so uninteresting to much of America?" before successfully moving forward. Thank you. Back to the regularly scheduled photoshopped pictures of Clark/Dean whoever plotting world destruction with Santa, Elvis, Jesus, Hitler and Sauron :nopity: :eyes: :shrug:.

[sandnsea]

32. I agree

My son's 18 year old friend was over last night. Bright kid, 1500 SAT's. Wanted me to help him get registered to vote so we printed his card and got it ready to go. Of course I teased him that he had to be registering Democratic before I'd help him!! Anyway, he was just baffled that Kerry isn't winning. Just cannot understand it. And asked me how to defend Howard Dean at school when people made fun of him. He wants to support all Democrats against Bush. Well, hell, I don't know. But it's pretty sad when 18 year olds can see it and the adults can't.

[nightperson]

39. Good example/metaphor.

Kerry need so little defending. I remember my obnoxious little Reaganite classmates making fun of Carter/Mondale. I didn't have killer comebacks. I wish I had felt as strongly then about Carter as I do about Kerry, but Carter didn't make it easy. Kerry makes discussions with "the person in the street" much easier. I'm busy and I don't need any additional exercise. The general election should have been wrapped up by now. "Kerry vs. Bush" is always a brief one-sided conversation. Kerry vs. (favorite "truly left" candidate of the week, fill in the blank) just goes on and on with no, uh, "resolution".

[blm]

45. You should flesh this point out

and make a thread.

You make a very important point and one that DNC spokespeople are concerned about as well. THEY are the ones who will be stuck defending Dean on TV every day for months. I don't envy them, because Dean is so indefensible to me and many others.

[Karmadillo]

40. Reminds me of the 17 year old who pointed out the chink in Dean's antiwar

armor.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/01/07/nh_voters_eyeing_two_non_deans/

<edit>

The only awkward moment for Dean came when Katheleen Belgard, a 17-year-old Concord High School student and Kerry supporter, asked how he could portray himself as so clearly antiwar when he had supported an alternative congressional resolution (known as Biden-Lugar) that would have given the president authority to wage war against Iraq after securing a UN Security Council resolution requiring disarmament or, failing that, upon his declaration that Iraq constituted a grave threat.

Dean replied that he had initially supported Biden-Lugar because "I think the president deserves the presumption of right on his side in foreign policy. I wanted to give this president as much leeway as we could." (Imagine what Dean would say if John Kerry or Dick Gephardt had made that statement.) But Dean also noted that he had made a speech on Sept. 21, 2002, setting out his opposition to the war. However, Dean was still expressing support for Biden-Lugar in early October; at about that time, the authors of the resolution decided not to press forward with it.

more...

[oasis]

41. Dean on Biden-Lugar: "to give this president as much leeway as we could"

Will Dean supporters question the Doctor's judgement since he also thought Bush would do the right thing?

[blm]

35. GREAT POST!!!!! BCCI trial starts Jan.13 in England.

Gee...what would BushInc. do to make sure John Kerry is OFF the national stage by then?

[Karmadillo]

38. Link to Guardian article discussing upcoming trial

I'm sure the US media would like to cover this, but I fear time will be eaten up by Michael Jackson, snipers, Kobe Bryant, mountain lions, or exceptional amounts of snowfall somewhere.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,11268,1120347,00.html

It has been a long road to Court 73. The BCCI mega-trial, which opens on Tuesday in London, is the culmination of more than a decade of delays, pre-trial hearings and legal tussles over secret documents.

Successive Governments have fought tooth and nail to prevent this case making it to the High Court. Now it is upon them, and no less a party than the Bank of England is in the dock.

This, it should be said, is not a criminal trial. Most of the real villains behind BCCI, which collapsed in 1991 with £7 billion of undeclared debts, were jailed long ago. But for the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, this case promises to be momentous.

It has been brought by BCCI's creditors, who claim the Bank of England turned a blind eye to fraud at the Middle Eastern finance house and exposed them to the world's biggest-ever banking con. The Bank was financial regulator at the time and BCCI's creditors are claiming up to £1bn in damages.

more...

[Karmadillo]

34. I think what he said was he'd leave if Bush were ELECTED President.

The conditions for action on his part have yet to be met.

[Clark4VotingRights]

36. Baldwin's great. A great guy.

Intrepid.

[Tatiana]

37. He speaks the truth.

Kerry is the most qualified candidate in the race. He's spent his life fighting for progressive, liberal and AMERICAN causes. It's a shame what's happened to his campaign. He was my #1 a year ago. It's amazing how short-sighted we can be. Kerry is the man who outed the disgusting Iran-Contra fiasco. He's always been a fighter for the truth.

***Sigh*** I still don't know why he isn't the frontrunner.

[shivaji]

42. I thought Baldwin moved to Canada...or did he

go back on his promise? Did he say he would definately leave if Bush steals the election again?

[oasis]

43. If Baldwin and Dean had a competition on honesty, which one would win?

[Stuckinthebush]

44. I agree...but it's a shame that he has crashed and burned so fast

Perhaps he can turn it around, but I doubt it.

It's too late.