So how long has JK talked about Tora Bora and missing OBL? Since the beginning.

[beachmom]

I knew I had read this somewhere but have finally found it. It is in a Men's Journal article of all places. Clearly, this is December 2001. The link is from another Kerry website archive. But I just like the article showing Kerry reacting in real time to the Tora Bora incident:

http://web.archive.org/web/20020910104925/www.johnkerry.com/site/PageServer?pagename=news_2002_0827a

Kerry reads the morning papers as quickly as he does everything else, meaning very quickly, muttering as he flips the pages ("Well, that's not good"), but this morning's grim headlines are stalling him: Colin Powell's Mideast peace mission appears to be floundering, the Boston priest scandal is unraveling, and, worst of all, the Post is reporting that U.S. forces somehow allowed Osama bin Laden to escape during the Tora Bora offensive in Afghanistan, something Kerry had been fearing. Kerry grabs his cell phone, dialing as he reads. "Did you see my story in the Post?" he says to a press aide on the other end. "Top of the fold, page one right." He reads bits of it aloud, sentence after sentence seeming to further stoke his anger; this was the worst-case scenario of a military strategy that Kerry had been quietly criticizing for months. "They let him go," he says. "It's disgraceful."

Swearing softly as we slow through a construction zone, Kerry tells me, by way of explanation, "I've been saying this privately for months now, and my staff at times has had to restrain me. They talk tough, but it's a risk-averse strategy. Bush gets daily briefings, for God's sake. He should be saying, 'Do we need more troops there, here, where? Do we need more firepower?' " He gazes out the car window as the Capitol comes into view. "Osama bin Laden got away," he says glumly. Pause. "You'd think they've learned some lessons in Vietnam."

At this point he wasn't even officially running for President.

[Noisy Democrat]

1. Wow, what a find

It kinda takes my breath away. Thanks for posting it.

[MBS]

9. what you said n/t

[Muttocracy]

2. wow. nt

[Luftmensch067]

3. Fascinating stuff!

The article as a whole is full of cool details (Yeats, risotto, JK dancing with the toddler) but it's also got a highly inconsistent take on the Senator (it does seem that journalists tend to lose their minds when confronted with the task of writing about JK!)

The section you quote is powerful stuff indeed and seeing JK in that time period is a revelation.

[karynnj]

7. I think that what he was trying to do was difficult

Kerry doesn't fit neatly into any template. He is brilliant with extremely broad interests - motor cycles and athletics and poetry and religion. He is far more vibrant than virtually anyone else. It is far easier to describe his work as a Senator - though that is a range of contrasts as well - from brave investigations to eloquent speeches to the competent detail of the fishery sub committee or the Finance committee.

His descriptions of things he actually saw are fascinating. We all could picture him dancing with the toddler and picture the toddler hugging him - less so the Senator being startled by it. The image of the nearly 60 year old Senator sliding down the banister is startling, but if you were told an unnamed US Senator did this, he would likely be one of the suspects in this group. The main image you get is a very alive intense person moving faster physically and mentally than those around him. His awareness of nature and the world around him comes through. As does a certain unrestrained character.

But, woven around what he observed is all the stereotypes we are familiar with - some adequately debunked - like the throwing the medals nonsense. Others, especially the way his marriage is described are added with no balance at all. It is completely insulting to the brilliant, beautiful, incredible Teresa Heinz, not to mention to Kerry. I wish the guy who said that he hoped we wouldn't look for Presidents based on bowling was right - he was in 2008. (He also exaggerates on Kerry's preference for sports where is alone - as he was on many team sports in college. That he still played occasion hockey and did cycle with others, likely puts him ahead of other Senators in number of group sports currently done. Also, he didn't windsurf alone.)

The odd thing is that he ends with the man drinking beer in the bar, who says this is not the Kerry he knew and that he must be running. This echoes all the things he quotes from sources like the Lowell Sun. My question is that he then says Kerry left. The reporter was still there. What would have been interesting is if he had asked the man at that point - the question he later wrote - did he really know the Senator. The answer, which I would bet was no, would have been interesting and would have changed how the story read. What is amazing to me is that nearly all first hand stories on the Senator are 180 degrees at odds with the stereotype, yet it still lives. This is one of the few articles that gives first hand observations intermingled with the stereotypes. I am surprised that he threw away the opportunity to ask the man the question he later writes.

[Inuca]

4. "swearing softly"

interesting combination of words :-)

[fedupinBushcountry]

6. Once a sailor

always a sailor. :-)

[karynnj]

5. That is interesting - I had seen it before when someone posted it long ago

but I had missed something in the part you quoted.

It's interesting to speculate to whom he was speaking "privately" for the months before that. That he speaks of his staff restraining him likely means it was at Senate meetings, formal or informal, or with Bush administration people. It also implies that others were becoming angry with him doing so - as otherwise the "staff restraining him" makes no sense. It also means that Kerry did work quietly on the inside and was arguing against the way they were trying to do it on the cheap and was ignored and rejected and people like Biden likely know this. It means Kerry was not just right in recognizing the moment when the Bush approach failed, he had clearly argued internally against it for months before when the policy could have been changed. (Other than invading Iraq, this may have been the biggest foreign policy error Bush made.)

The nicest thing about this little glimpse into Kerry processing news is that it happened almost randomly. This just happened to be the day the journalist was with him. (the annoying think is that Bob Kerrey, a Democrat and self described friend, actually disputed Kerry's Afghanistan comments in 2004.)

[ProSense]

8. Great find.

Fascinating article.

[LittleClarkie]

10. I remember that article. I found it when I was trying to get myself geared up

to campaign for him. I was very impressed. He was just about the only one saying that in the primaries, and I was glad when he brought it up again during the first debate.

[beachmom]

11. Actually, I should have given you a shout out in the OP.

I was searching the DU archives for something and found that article from one of your comments. You said it was one of your favorite articles about JK, and was a good way of getting to know him.

So, thank you, LC!

[LittleClarkie]

12. You're very welcome

That's kinda cool.