Please reread the Kerry letter!

[saracat]

" Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors."

The key word is "FORMAL". The only reason to use that choice of word would be to differentiate "formal protest", from "protest". I have always been against parsing Kerry's words to make a desired outcome. In this case, however, he is very clear what he is saying. I do not understand why people are angry. The rest of his letter is clear as well. He is asking you to call Repug leaders regarding election fraud. Think about what he is saying, and WHY he isn't here today.

The letter you should be wondering about is the alleged Cam Kerry letter. It is interesting because it is the exact reverse of what Cam originally stated. Check it out. And the timing is suspicious as it is negative. The timing on the John Kerry letter is appropriate to the day as it is a direction to take action. Another anomaly was an earlier post allegedly from the website that contained the same letter minus the word "formal". I cannot locate that letter on the site( I was probably looking at a cached site!) but the lack of FORMAL made all the difference. JMHO.

[Pachamama]

1. Here's the article from Cam Kerry...You think this is all a red herring?

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/01/06/counting_every_vote/

Note this statement by Cam -

"Only the discovery of wholesale fraud might change the outcome."

:eyes:

[saracat]

5. Something isn't right about it.

"I wish it weren't so, but the final facts look like the picture on the morning of Nov. 3 when my brother, John Kerry, ended his campaign for president"
Again. Word choice. FINAL.
That bothers me. It doesn't sound like Cam and it doesn't match his brothe's letter."Cam" goes in in great detail about what they knew that night and basically how they "lost". But Cam knew all of this election night and then he was one who didn't want to concede! This makes NO sense to me. Something is wrong.

[Pachamama]

7. Or - maybe something is right...???

That is what I meant by a red herring...or maybe I should say a "ruse" (sp?)

I was so pissed and upset at Kerry when I read his "letter"...how could this be...and then I read Cam's letter/editorial...I thought...hmmm...something is up...I then watched Kerry's "video message again...and why is he in Iraq, tommorrow of all days?

[saracat]

9. Dunno. Maybe FINAL is the red herring and the "wholesale fraud is correct'

But I really don't want to read into anything. I just know Kerry is not "formally" protesting.

[stirringstill]

17. In case it rains

I don't see the disconnect. Looking at the tea leaves provided by the brothers Kerry, it seems Cam's word choice of "final facts" simply means that as things stand the vote count put forward by the Ohio BOE hasn't radically changed since election night. I think his strange word choice and detailing of the lawyers present when deciding to concede is trying to highlight that J. Kerry was not alone in arriving at the decision to concede and that the vote count in Ohio IS "final," meaning they can not change the numbers given the facts. Since we're parsing words, FACTs does not mean honest, clean, or fair. The fact is the vote difference is over 100,000, a margin which may or may not be real but which exists and which isn't going to go away given Blackwell and the courts will make sure that it doesn't. They will not count the remaining 94,000 ballots with no vote recorded and they will not do a fair recount and the machines will not be inspected. Hell, they can't even get a response out Blackwell to simple questions. B/C learned from 2000 and gamed the system so that the legal options for K/E would be insufficient to successfully challenge head-on. I think the Cam Kerry letter seems odd because it is trying to communicate to multiple different audiences and think it is important since it is the most MSM visible communication from the Kerry camp regarding the potential storm coming later today. Given it is unclear at this point how things are going to go down and how it will be spun, this letter is an umbrella of sorts. The last several lines of C. Kerry's letter suggest this will be a protracted battle which may be fought most effectively after Republicans feel safe about the 2004 election being over.

[LoZoccolo]

2. Maybe some people here would only be satisfied...

...if John Kerry grew out dreadlocks like Zack de la Rocha and started jumping around belting out their favorite Rage Against The Machine songs.

[Mojambo]

3. That's amazing

You just described the ONLY circumstance under which I would consider voting for him in 2008!

[WildEyedLiberal]

4. Oh. My. God.

*laughing*

"'Cause I'm calm like a BOMB, motherfuckers!"

[ntwkgirl]

6. 3 million - either way

He did just tell 3 million people that the election is suspicious and a how-to guide on how to do something about it, including a bulit-in monitor for him to check out the progress.

Just a thought.

I'm pissed at him for running and I told him so. "Better Luck Next Time" is neither an appropriate nor an acceptable response to election fraud.

[saracat]

8. Look at what you posted!

He isn't running from anything!And 2004 isn't finished! Or do you mean 2008? If so , I see no reason for him NOT to run for reelection! LOL!

[thjay]

10. the letter was calculated for something

I'm not exactly sure what. I'm trying to remain optimistic that Kerry is smarter than me and he has a game plan I can't figure out.

Why send the letter at all if your not interested in contesting the election? Why tell 3 million people to contact their Senators then report back if you did so? He's smart enough to know that the letter would piss most of us off. Maybe that was the motive. Get us all mad as hell so we WILL call our Senators and write letters and share them with everyone we know.

I remain hopeful. Tomorrow will be a good day.

[saracat]

11. Yes it will

:)

[zann725]

12. His email really ticked me off. But there IS something odd about it...

Why did he direct us back to his OLD video from mid-November? Was there a message in there that we missed? Kind of like a treasure map? He DID say in that video that he was 'going to need all of us."

AGHH! I just hope his email and conversation to Senators today did NOT discourage them from standing-up tomorrow. Then all our hard work would be in vane.

[LittleClarkie]

13. Well, most of DU anyway

Maybe not all three million. Out of the 56 million, surely has three million solid supporters. I'm just sayin'.

[rucky]

14. If he just says what he means...

we wouldn't have to try and decode everything. And don't tell me that won't work in politics, because neither has the alternative.

This has always upset me about Kerry. JMHO.

[Peace Patriot]

15. Fraudulence vs. invalid election. Politics. Reading entrails.

See my post about fraudulence vs. invalid election:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x245518

I end it with some thoughts on the very political nature of Congress' certification of presidential Electors, and the possiblity that some Republicans may not want to go down with the Bush Titanic.

Some of John K's and Cam's statements are patently absurd (Cam, that you have to prove fraud to change the outcome of the election--simply not true. If it's non-transparent with fishy results, it is invalid, and Congress can bloody well change the outcome. And JK, his 10,000 lawyers didn't find sufficient evidence to change the outcome. Give me a break. How much did we pay these guys?)

Anyway, I do see what you're saying about K's letter. Contact the Republicans? Very interesting. "Formal" protest. Hm-m-m. Is K going to be out in the streets with all us crazy marching ....

IS KERRY GOING TO COME INTO DC WITH JESSE JACKSON?????

[orleans]

16. face it boys and girls--he doesn't want to be president

he got out of dodge just in time (he's in Jordan, by the way--not Iraq)

so when the shit hits the fan during the electoral vote protest he can say he didn't start the trouble--why, he wasn't even in the country when it all happened. (thereby making a stab at keeping in the good graces of the moderate dems so they vote for him again in four years)

well, lot-tee-fucking-dotty
what a bunch of smoke and mirror crap

anyone notice cam said "Next time the electoral votes are tallied, every American citizen should be able to know that his or vote has counted."
get it? NEXT TIME! NOT THIS TIME. NEXT TIME we should know our votes have counted. next time.
screw that!

and john flew the coup so he wouldn't have to stand up and and fight on january 6th.
yeah, i know he stood up and fought back in the '70's but that was then and people change--obviously--he sure as hell isn't standing up for us now. (apparently my vote isn't enough incentive for him, and neither are my parent's votes, or my children's votes. and neither are yours!)

mad? you bet i'm mad!
and disgusted by these people in power who are too fearful of losing their power that they choose not to DO THE RIGHT THING

[T Town Jake]

18. I certainly hope there is some kind of protest today by..

..Democratic Senators, just for the irritation factor it will cause the other side, if nothing else. Have no problem with that.

But Jeeze Louise...are we really reduced to parsing adjectives from a letter like some Fundy Thumper scouring over a single sentence of Holy Writ for "clues" to the True Meaning of It All? :eyes:

Makes us look ridiculous, IMHO. The letter meant what it said - the Senator spoke clearly and in plain English, not with Egyptian Hieroglyphics chock-full of "hidden" clues.

[T Town Jake]

19. *Kick* for an answer...

...from the OP - which of yet has been unforthcoming.

:kick:

[La Femme]

20. Cam Kerry Letter

"SO NOW the votes in Ohio have been recounted, and it's time for Congress to tally the Electoral College."

..... and we know how accurate the Ohio recount was.

[Vinca]

21. There are no secret messages

in the Kerry letter or anywhere else. If Senator Kerry planned on a true contesting of the election, he would say so in words that would be easily understood. I got yesterday's letter as well and it struck me as a chummy, "feel good" note intended to keep me as a loyal Kerry voter in 2008. NOT!

[T Town Jake]

22. *Kick* YET again...

...for an answer I'm still quite interested in hearing...