"Kerry ready to do battle," Boston Globe column 01/26/07

[TayTay]

Wonderful column in today's Boston Globe.

BRIAN MCGRORY
Kerry ready to do battle
By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist | January 26, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/26/kerry_ready_to_do_battle/

SNIP

Kerry is, among many other things, a fairly fascinating guy. He can be as engaging one minute as he is infuriating the next. He is alternately solicitous and self-obsessed. He is undeniably smart, but his ambition often morphs into opportunism.

One thing is indisputable: He left the 2004 campaign a better politician and a man than he entered it. He was down for the count in Iowa, a whipping boy for the Washington elite, until he doggedly fought back.

Then he came, as he's prone to say, within a few victorious precincts in Ohio of unseating a wartime president overseeing a healthy economy. There is no shame in that.

"Trust me, I'm not complaining," Kerry said yesterday. "It's life. It's where we are."

It's not the White House, but where he is, the US Senate, fighting for change in Iraq, isn't such a bad place to be.

This is, in a way, what people have been wanting to say, in that maddening, 'we don't want to spoil anyone' and 'God forbid we should give you a compliment' way that is a New England speciality. Yeah, the good Senator has changed. We noticed. He is in indeed a better man and a better politician for what he has been through the last 4 years. Really, we noticed.

[TayTay]

1. More articles, more nice things said at home.

Kerry unfazed by prospects of Senate challenge
By Andrew Miga, Associated Press Writer | January 25, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/25/kerry_says_hes_eager_to_begin_2008_senate_re_election_bid/

"Sen. Kerry can expect an aggressive challenge in 2008 from Republicans in Massachusetts," said Brian Dodge, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party. "There's a great chance he could face a primary challenge, too."

Former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey are among the names some GOP operatives are touting.

Dodge, who declined to name any potential candidates, said the party recently began recruiting candidates for all of the 2008 races.

David Carney, a Republican consultant from New Hampshire who served as a White House political director for former President George H.W. Bush, said it is highly unlikely that Republicans could topple Kerry, particularly because the 2008 White House race would boost Democratic turnout in Massachusetts.

"Republicans in Massachusetts must be drinking leftover champagne from the inaugural they never had after losing the governor's race," said Carney. "This is, after all, a state that re-elects Ted Kennedy."

This is funny. The Republicans are thinking of running Andy Card, Bush's former Chief of Staff against John Kerry? In a state where Bush's approval rating is 25%? Or Kerry Healey, who just lost and lost embarrassingly to Deval Patrick? Sorry, I gotta go with the comments of the Republican from New Hampshire here. The Mass Repubs are smoking funny substances if they think this is true.

[TayTay]

2. These are quite nice stories, if you know how to read Bostonese

SCOT LEHIGH
For Kerry, a new mission
By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist | January 25, 2007

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/01/25/for_kerry_a_new_mission/

SNIP (Part about Teddy Kennedy deleted.)

There's a lesson there for Kerry. For most of his career, the knock on the state's junior senator has been that he was too cautious, always carefully calculating the angles as he looked ahead for a chance to run nationally. Long on ambition, he's seemed short on conviction.

That's rendered him a politician respected for his brains, but hardly loved. It's an imbalance that's kept him from having the kind of stature his talents might otherwise lend him.

Now his chance for a national future has passed. But his opportunity to have a real effect on the nation's future has not.

There's hardly an aspect of domestic policy where Kennedy's mark hasn't been felt over the last quarter century. Kerry, who said yesterday he will devote his energies to trying to end the war in Iraq, might well come to have the same kind of influence, particularly in foreign policy.

After long service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he knows many of the world's leaders and understands international issues and geopolitics in a way that few of his Senate contemporaries do.

Freed of the self-imposed need to consider every move, to weigh every consequence, to worry about how each and every remark might affect his future, he can become a senator who tells the hard truths this nation needs to hear. And if ever we needed an uncowed truth-teller on the international scene, the time is now.

We expect great things from Senator Kerry. We have always expected great things from Senator Kerry. (We are just difficult to please and very strict parental voters sometimes, sigh!) Massachusetts does know what it has in John Kerry. We know still. We expect great things from this obviously talented and intelligent man.

[TayTay]

4. Last one: Ah, The Lowell Sun. (Seriously, read this.)

Facing big odds, Kerry won't run
By MATT MURPHY, Sun Statehouse Bureau
Article Last Updated: 01/25/2007 11:36:35 AM EST

http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_5085442
SNIP

Since losing to Bush, Kerry has pursued a busy public schedule, touring the country and building his reputation for what looked like a sure second bid for the White House.

"But I've concluded that this isn't the time for me to mount a presidential campaign. It is the time to put my energy to work as part of the majority in the Senate and to do all I can to end this war and strengthen our security and our ability to fight the real war on terror."

His decision surprised few observers and politicians in Massachusetts, who said Kerry would have faced a steep climb if he chose to wage another presidential campaign.

"I think running for president is a personal decision, but I'm not surprised," Meehan said. "I've felt all along it's tough to run for president, to go through a two-year ordeal, lose a close race and come right back and run again in the next election."

Meehan, who said he likely would have run for Kerry's seat if it was vacant, pointed to the role Kerry played in the 2006 midterm elections, donating $14 million to more than 260 candidates from his campaign account to help Democrats take over Congress.

"I think he's going to be a national senator, the kind Massachusetts has become used to, and he's going to be a force, not just in the Senate but in the presidential race," Meehan said.

Ah, this is from the Lowell Sun, you know, the newspaper that first 'swiftboated' the good Senator all the way back in 1972. Ahm, that is one hell of a nice quote from Marty Meehan, my Congressman. Nice, nice quote indeed. The Lowell Sun, of all papers, being nice to Sen. Kerry. Not bad, not bad at all.

[karynnj]

27. This is actually the kindest nicest one I've seen

The quote by Shea - that he wouldn't have counted Kerry out was very very nice. They also discount the joke - which was given way too much prominance.

[wisteria]

7. This line I don't like. I hope it is wishful thinking. I want to see him try again for the

Presidency. The time is not right now, it is a three ring circus and he has some media hyped character misconceptions to correct.


"Now his chance for a national future has passed."

I can't accept that he is done running for President again.

[karynnj]

25. Their problem is that they see Kerry through some kind of prism

that distorts things.

The BG's biography takes a quote from the Morey Safer interview and truncates it in a way that absolutely distorted it's meaning. Kerry was answering that he wanted to be President but it was more important to do what he was doing to end the VN war which might make it impossible for him. They cut off last phrase making it sound like he wasn't sure he could do it. Kerry echoed that chice to fight to end a second immoral war to pursue a longshot (but possible) last chance at the Presidency this week.

In reality, here is a list of times he did things that could have completely ended his chances.
-Vietnam
-Contras
-BCCI
-POW/MIA
-Clean Elections
-Being against media consolidation
(None of these are things that were likely to make him the favorite of the powers that be.)

Given his talents and brilliance, had he been the cautious person described he likely would have been President, but he would not have been the man he is. In fact, had he avoided VN, which he very likely could have - I mean he knew people in the President's cabinet - he likely would have been President.

Let's think of the similar list for:
Bill Clinton - (inappropriate behavior with women, Obnoxious letter to military - but no righteous stands on anything)
Hillary - ......
Edwards - .....
Dean -........
Obama....
Bush.....

The double standard is incredible. The only thing I can think of is that they expect more of John Kerry, because they know he is more capable of it. He came to public view as an exceptional voice with extreme moral clarity. That strength and vision has been seen often in his career. But, because they know he has it in him - they demand it all the time and no one can be perfectly right all the time and Kerry never claimed to be a saint.

But - when were these same things asked of - say, Bill Clinton. He killed someone so mentally incapable that he saved the dessert from his last meal for "later" - to prove he was no soft on the death penalty. The nagging against Kerry seems like the parent unsatisfied with the B+ a brilliant student earned while content with the C- little Billy got - because nothing (of a moral nature) is expected of him.

[TayTay]

26. OMG,. yes, Ricky Ray Rector

http://www.answers.com/topic/ricky-ray-rector

That was one of the worst things Clinton ever did. That man would do anything, anything for public office. I think it still the same way. Anything.

[beachmom]

3. I still have trouble reconciling this "ambitious opportunism" talk

the Boston Globe always indulge in. Look. Any politician who thinks about running for president is ambitious. But why is he singled out? What I've seen on C-SPAN and in person doesn't back up what they're saying. I just see him being a public servant and a politician who does strategize how to do things (like ALL of them), but who very often will do things that DON'T help him with his ambitions. Like taking his name off a bill so that it will pass.

Don't get me wrong -- it was a good column, but I swear either THEY have a blind spot or it is ME who has a blind spot.

[TayTay]

8. They have a blind spot.

And it is so very difficult to explain. The Boston Globe, for one thing, is a strange newspaper. They have this attitude that they have the right to tell people what to do. This pisses off countless people because they are so condescending when they do this. (They do it to everyone, btw, which is why the Glob is so irritating. They can be oh so smug about people and oh so forgetful about human nature. They are the 'aloofs' that everybody keeps talking about. They are what they preach against.)

I speak fluent Bostonian. I can interpret here. These are raves. They are also, in their own way, very affectionate stories and are welcome home pieces. (Albeit stiff, awkward and somewhat cold pieces, but they are trying. That's the Glob for ya.)

Nothing would ever get done without ambitious people. Ambitious people build great architecture, strive to make great scientific discoveries and take enormous risks in order to bring some new thing into the world. It is perfectly okay to be ambitious in New England, but there is a 'however' attached to this. The cardinal virtue of this still Puritan inspired place is humility. One is not allowed to make too much of oneself or ones deeds. (Guys, come on, I have this trait. I can't take a compliment sometimes. I can't allow myself to be thanked sometimes because, heaven forbid, it might make my head swell up and I might start to feel all high and mighty. That's a big no-no in this region of the country. One must not make too much of oneself, for life is fleeting and so is fame. You do things because they are worth doing, not for recognition. Ahm, hello, Puritan background talking here.) This need for humility is tempered by that influx of an Irish sense of humor that is also a legacy of Boston's past. Humor levels all things. It is a prized thing in Boston. You can say bold things, ambitious things, as long as you remember to be self-deprecating.

Clearer? Sigh! Probably not. But for a city that is strict and that holds people to unbelievably high standards, this is a bit of a melt and some affection. In it's own awkward and 'aloof' way, the Glob is saying, nice job, sir. Welcome home.

[cadmium]

11. Yesterdays columns bothered me same way as beachm. Mixed bag

This political ambition narrative in the Boston media is like projection because it is how so many in the Boston media circles think. Kerry is different--he actually cares about the truth behind the issues. I know people close to one of Kerry's opponents and they did everything they could to spread the idea that Kerry is driven more by personal ambition etc etc --all the stuff we hear. To get access to political insiders you used to have to buy into these a-priori grudge messages and I am guessing it is still the same way today. Tay -- you must remember Jerry Williams. He was a radio talk host who wouldn't play the game. He was a big Kerry supporter and pretty much despised most of the other pols. He would support them when they promised to be different and then turn on them when they got corrupted by power. He rarely had a bad word to say about Kerry.

I havent read the Globe today but will be inerested to see what McGrory has to say. McGrory is a big Romney fan--his columns are a mixture of criticism and praise for Romney but he is an unabashed supporter on the radio.

[TayTay]

13. Yup. That's because Kerry was/is an outsider

And, in an odd way, he was/is an outsider to all the known factions. No, not a Brahmin (which really are extinct anyway you know,) nope, not one of the back-slapping ethnic guys, nope, not a blue-collar Dem, nope not really a Cambridge Lefty. (So who the hell is this guy and who has his back? Given that he had no natural constituency in this state, how the hell did he ever snag that Senate seat?)

A lot of people in Massachusetts saw what he was/is. That's why he wins elections. That's why he wins elections in the blue-collar places in Mass and in the liberal inner core of suburbs around Boston. He wins in New Bedford and Fall River and Boston and Springfield.

There are a lot of people who never forgave John Kerry for coming in and taking 'their seat' in the Senate. So, they said things about him. They are still saying things about him. But who wins the elections? (Ah, somebody in the damn state must be listening and aware.)

[MarjorieG]

21. Thanks for the memories.

Bostonians are very wierd, and just as you describe. You know I how enjoy my former accent, as you speak it, before I became a hopeless midwest muddle. Those words, Mary, merry, marry, that all sound alike. We even lived in Nebraska, home to telemarketers and the non-accent. Definitely freeing when I hear those sounds again.

But for this latest visit to those strange customs of flinty compliments, reticence and aloofness, many thanks. I don't know if its habit, lemmings following the herd, but I agree with all the comments about the preconceptions and narrative that color every move he makes. I think the media believes the wrong motives, and that's unfortunate.

Kerry is imperfect, and without psycho-babble about a man I do not know, seems socially adept at politics only by necessity. Teresa once described him as a wolf, probably lone wolf, when they met. Stories about the difference she's brought to him, and how he engages, lives less internally. I don't think he is wired to deal, just to deal, but lives by conviction. Not everything he has done is for the road to the presidency. Accommodations have to be made for legislation, others' opinions, always, and the Senate works by seeing all sides.

Clearly, running opened him up in many ways, and he feels responsible to all those people he met, voted for him, sharing their stories. He's a learner in all things. Many people don't want to understand the campaign realities, forgive him for the loss, and are not ready to try to understand. They weren't ready to have to process their anger, fears of losing again just now, despite knowing in their heads he's the most qualified. Maybe not understanding, as we do, just how perfect for the job, but know differently from how they feel. Too fresh a transition for many, and are relieved to be able to even say good things.

[ProSense]

16. I'm with you on this, but

I accept insights from Tay and Cadmium. Also, why is it bad for a politician to be politically astute in terms of timing and opportunity? They are praising him for making a wise decision based on such acumen, but only because it allows them to gloat. Others have not shown such good judgment.

[cadmium]

19. I agree totally prosense. n/t

[MarjorieG]

24. Wise when making decisions they prefer. Fair media?

[cadmium]

18. The paradox is that he is less purely

ambitious than the politicians that the Globe is used to fawning over. Boston media frankly sucks on this point. I mentioned it in a post to Tay that for years we had a radio host Jerry Williams in town that fought this crap tooth and nail. The newspapers ignored him or tried to diminish him. Sometimes he took infuriating position but he always called the media and pols to task for spin and lies. He really liked and admired John Kerry. Like Kerry, Jerry Williams was a unique truth-teller that kept the media on guard

[TayTay]

20. Yup. Sigh!

The parochialism that I have talked about creates an insularity for those in power and those who know people in power. This makes Massachusetts one of the hardest place in the country to break new people in in politics. (We are insular and protective of our turf.)

Again, this is why Kerry was so remarkable. There were damn few people in the established Dem hierarchy in the State who helped him. The Senator himself has said that he never had a mentor here, no Tip O'Neill to help him along, introduce him to his pals and get his back when he needed it. (Tom Menino, it is no secret, loathes Kerry. He always has. He did in 04, and that had implications for what happened in getting and running the DNC in Boston. Sigh!)

And yet, who holds that Senate seat?

Remember this Cadmium:

MENINO'S SUPPORT OF KERRY CALLED INEFFECTIVE BY SOME IN PARTY

Boston Globe, (11-01-1996)
By Geeta Anand, Globe Staff

Only four days remain before voters decide the race between US Sen. John F. Kerry and Gov. William F. Weld, but you wouldn't know it to drive around Boston. In this heavily Democratic city, there are few placard-waving Kerry supporters at rotaries and only a handful of house signs bearing Kerry's name.

Some state and city Democratic leaders are blaming Mayor Thomas M. Menino for a lack of organized support for Kerry's Senate campaign in Boston.

``The Menino people have been invisible on the Kerry campaign,'' said Councilor Peggy Davis-Mullen, a member of the Democratic State Committee. ``One would think Mayor Menino would be concerned about having a Democratic Congress.''

Menino said yesterday he longed for a Democratic Congress but was embroiled in a campaign battle of his own: to win voter approval to continue to appoint the Boston School Committee. But Menino said he and his supporters were helping Kerry by attending his rallies.

Davis-Mullen and several leading Democrats, however, said the mayor was being shortsighted by failing to offer Kerry more organizational support because a Democratic Congress would be more generous with aid to cities. And Menino aides said privately that while the School Committee campaign does require the full attention of the mayor's political organization, he would offer Kerry more support if he were more personally fond of Kerry and liked Weld less.

That 96 race was so illuminative of who was parochial and insular and who was not. A lot of Democratic Mayors had to eat humble pie when Kerry and not their back-slapping, hard-drinking buddy Bill Weld did not. A lot of people. Sigh!

[cadmium]

22. yes I remember that. Good find. I wish I had a copy of a Globe

interview with Menino. It was a feature puff-peice on Menino and they asked him the first word that came to mind when they said Mitt Romney. Menino said president. The next name they asked was John Kerry and he said senator. It took an out of state talk host (Imus) to provide any counter to the 7 day per week promotion of Bill Weld and dissing of John Kerry during that campaign.

[TayTay]

23. There are reasons beyond the usual wonk stuff why that was my favorite race ever

Partly it was because Kerry was abandoned by all these wise guys who thought that Weld would beat him up and that Weld had the base popularity to take Kerry out. Didn't happen.

Caveat: Sometimes I am not so nice. After that election, I sort of expected Kerry to let some of these traitorous Dem Mayors who had endorsed Weld to twist in the wind. But no, he went and listened to them, revamped his office, appointed some of them to positions and generally was really good and noble about it. Sigh! Couldn't they have eaten sh*t sandwiches for just a little while? For me? But no. That's John Kerry for ya. Sigh! Even when he had a chance to gloat, he didn't take it.

[beachmom]

5. Thanks -- Tay Tay -- I just updated the dailykos diary with an

excerpt from the Boston Globe article talking about that officer killed in Iraq. Go have a look.

[Mass]

6. I will not post the article here, but Howie Carr laughs at the idea that Kerry can be in danger in

08 and that the Republicans can mount a credible run against him.

[TayTay]

9. Because the Repubs have no one to run

And because Sen. Kerry has $13 million in the bank and because, with his emphasis squarely on ending the war, he will not have strong opposition from the left.

Ah, yeah, I laugh at it too!

[whometense]

10. Oh. My. God.

Check this one out: http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=179263

Capitol idea: Senator Schilling? Curt’s not so sure, but fans think he’s just the ticket
By Jesse Noyes
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Friday, January 26, 2007 - Updated: 07:39 AM EST

Curt Schilling seemed surprised yesterday by the sudden groundswell of local supporters hoping to draft him into national politics and a 2008 Senate run against John Kerry.

The Red Sox pitching hero didn’t flatly rule out the idea, either, though he didn’t sound like he was about to hit the campaign trail anytime soon.

“I couldn’t rule it out because it’s not something I ever thought about in a serious capacity,” Schilling told the Herald.

“I envision that I will probably be pretty busy in 2008,” he said. “But I’m flattered as hell to even make this phone call.”

The chatter around Schilling taking on Kerry in a senate race started on talk station WRKO-AM (680) yesterday, when a caller to the Todd Feinberg show suggested Schilling would be the best candidate for the job.

Bloody sock and all - the most public Bush-booster in the state?

[Mass]

12. It was the buzz this morning on one of the morning news as well.

I turned the TV off when I heard the title. Can you get more crazy that than.

[whometense]

14. More crazy? No.

Definitely not.

I don't get the whole sports-star-politician thing. I know they start out with a high name recognition factor, but good lord. Schilling is a great pitcher, but he's a public idiot. To even mention his name in the same sentence as Kerrys' is ridiculous. I guess it's a sign of how desperate they are to find a high profile MA republican.

[TayTay]

15. Right, with the mouth on that guy?

Seriously, this guy could not run. It's one of those things that sounds faintly plausible, but Schilling has no political skills at all. (Ever heard him talk? OMFG!)

[ProSense]

17. Thanks for posting this collection of articles. n/t