Just thinking outloud here on John Kerry --

[saltpoint]

--

I listened to Dubya's comments on the radio news from Europe, words that someone else wrote for him and put in his mouth, and I could not help but be very homesick for a President Kerry, who would have been able to write his own speech, deliver it with conviction from the heart and the mind, and then follow-up in French with the Belgium president and his contingent group.

That's the opportunity red voters squaundered in November when they turned our two Johns away in favor of a brainless pseudo-cowboy.

Just bellyaching, folks. Hi to all.

[LittleClarkie]

1. That's cool, and I hear ya

I think that's why pictures of him were so hard for some folks to look at right after the election. We were in mourning for what could have been.

When someone tells me "You guys should have gotten a stronger candidate" there are two things I feel like saying back:
1. He was not a weak candidate, just arguably not the strongest campaigner

2. That the friend saying this to me should get his/her head out of their butt and take a good look at their president. I'm convinced about half the folk who voted for him did so lazily, in that they really weren't paying all that much attention.

[saltpoint]

2. a strong hug right back atcha, LittleClarkie.

Thanks for saying it and for saying it so well.

[JI7]

3. he is a very strong campaigner

which is why he did so well in iowa and new hampshire . even when the media and others declared his campaign over.

i watched him regularly and there was something about him which stood out among other candidates and i remember even when the polls didn't show it yet, the atmosphere and just the overall feeling was positive.

[saltpoint]

6. Yes, you're right. I caught him the last couple of days --

-- of the campaign in Tampa and he was exhausted but still energetic, somehow.

Senator Nelson introduced him, along with our Democratic Senate Candidate, Betty Castor, and Kerry spoke very, very well. Like a public servant and not like a certain corporate-bought cowboy we could all think of.

The Goo-Goo Dolls played to open the evening and there was a large crowd. I felt sure it was going to be a Democratic year.

[JI7]

9. Kerry actually did win over the undecideds in the end

and he won the independent and moderate votes also.

but i think everyone was just surprised at how well the Republicans got their turnout. usually the turnout has more democrats in percentage terms than republicans. but republicans were able to equal the republican turnout numbers with democratic numbers for the first time in 2004.

i read how in many places the Kerry campaign not only reached their goals of turnout but exceeded them by huge amounts.

we can't underestimate the republicans next time. this includes the 2005 and 2006 elections before we even think about 2008.

[saltpoint]

11. right on all counts, and I'm definitely with you.

Let's swamp them at the polls.

[TayTay]

13. The problem was with women

Specifically married women. Kerry won the single women's vote 62% to 36%. (I think, or it was damned close to this.) But he lost the vote of married women. (The famous security Moms in '04.) It is perfectly possible to get these women back in the fold. We need to stress some of the traditional Dem issues that are of paramount importance to women. Social Security is a winner for Dems in appeling to women, as is healthcare and stressing social services.

It well could be that 2004 was an anomoly in the political timeline. Without the mega-isue of 9/11, Kerry woud have won. His issues were more in line with what the country wants, but those issues have to be articulated and put forth more stridently and more passionately. I really think that the Dems have a great chance to pick up seats in both chambers of Congress in '06 and a great chance to pick up the WH in '08. We shall see.

[JI7]

16. it was the russian school hostage thing and other fear mongering

by the republicans.

the things that concern married women are different than for single women many times. single women are more likely to need financial and other assistance while married women tend to be better off or financially secure . i remember when the republicans started pushing the russian school hostage thing and i think it was targeted towards married women.

and in the republican fear mongering there was also a thing where they tried to get people to think that if they voted for Kerry and there is another terrorist attack then those who voted for Kerry would be to blame.

this is why the Kerry campaign should have brought up his work as a prosecutor and going after rapists and the mob. and setting up support centers for women who have been raped. and his getting more cops on the streets and his going after those who fund terrorists.

this is another case where people not knowing Kerry made it easier for attacks to stick or question Kerry .

[TayTay]

17. Absolutely agree

I was at a convention in boston when the Hostage taking in Russia happened. It was so horrifying and scary precisely because it was taking place in Russian suburbia. The Dems never offered up a counter for this, never sent anyone out to analyze the situation.

I also agree that the Kerry campaign failed in getting out the word about the Senators deep, long and serious committment to women and women's issues. He has an outstanding record on this, just outstanding. Why that wasn't put out there is just beyond me. Talk about stepping on your own best issurs. arrrggggh!

[politicasista]

4. I feel ya Old Crusoe

Smirky is the laughing stock of the world at our expense. :nopity:

[saltpoint]

7. politicasista you rock. Even if that smilie is --

-- playing fiddle, YOU rock!

Thanks for the great vibe.

[elshiva]

5. It's so sad from the point of view of an informed queer person

like me who knows that the Johns had such a great history with gay rights , but Dubya and his administration still disses us so.

[saltpoint]

8. One criticism of Kerry and Edwards was that they --

-- "didn't support gay marriage," and true enough, that was their position as far as it went.

But in a year when there were so many anti-gay initiatives on several states' ballots, it would have been political suicide for them to state their support for it. I know from my spider-sense that neither of these two families is anti-people and so how could they be anti-gay/lesbian? They aren't, plain and simple. But this was a Rove event with all those gay amendment ballot initiatives and unfortunately, our side had to play the cards they were dealt.

In a better world, no one would put any anti-people initiatives on any ballot.

[elshiva]

10. Anti-gay marriage, but pro-civil union, get it straight!

They can not tell churches who to marry, they were not candidates to be bishops, but president and vice president. Civil law, not church law. I did not think that K/E were anti-gay civil union, they wanted gays to have all the civil rights heterosexuals do. Both Kerry and Edwards voted down FMA. Kerry voted down DOMA (Edwards wasn't in the Senate yet for DOMA) and he called DOMA "gay-bashing for political purposes." Kerry was very sensitive to the problems of gay discrimination in this society.
I like how you put it as "anti-people" because that's how it is.

[saltpoint]

12. You're right, elshiva. I should have made the -

-- distinction.

Good tidings to you.

[elshiva]

18. Thank you, Old Crusoe.

And Good tidings to you.

[ginnyinWI]

15. here in Wisconsin there is a gay marriage amendment

coming down the pike. We have a Dem governor and a Repub-dominated legislature. Well, they were supposed to get the amendment banning same-sex marriage on the ballot for April. The Repubs delayed and delayed passing it through, because they'd rather have it on the ballot for the November election. Senator Herb Kohl is up for reelection, as is our Dem Gov. Jim Doyle, and Atty. Gen. Peg Lautenschlager (there's a Wisconsin German name for ya). We are a light blue state, and they think that if they can increase voter turnout a bit, they'll score.

So anyway, they've taken a page from Rove's handbook and decided to bundle this amendment up with the seats of these Dems in the November election. Cute, huh.

More WI news: I was at the Dem party meeting for my county last week. The guy who ran against Sensenbrenner was there, Bryan Kennedy. He is running again in 2006 to try to take that seat away, and feels that if he can just raise enough money he can do it. But he said that there are some early signs that Sensenbrenner might step down and not run again,anyway, which would give us an open seat! That would be wonderful. I'd so love to get that fat cat off our backs. Like Kennedy said, Sensenbrenner represents nobody but himself.
Now if we can just do this all over the country, we can take back the Hill!

[ginnyinWI]

14. yeah it hits me like that too

from time to time. The "if only" feelings. In my heart I believe that Europe doesn't blame us as Americans for the election (well maybe half of us), but is mourning along with us. But we and they have gotta deal with it somehow. I hate the media for not standing up for fair journalism. I hate Rove. I hate the big-money interests. I'm disappointed in the Democratic Party for not being a better opposition party since 2000. But I'm never disappointed in John Kerry, because I know he did everything in his power. Life is just like that sometimes. You do your very best but you still don't quite make it happen. Well, I think he actually did, but the powers-that-be stole it away again.