Sen. Kerry will appear on a couple of Sunday shows

[beachmom]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/08/weekend-tv-talk-shows29.html

The theme for most of the shows is "Remembering Ted Kennedy"

SUNDAY

CBS News Sunday Morning A tour of the first Frank Lloyd Wright home built in California. (N) 6 a.m. KCBS

Today Autism; pets. (N) 6 a.m. KNBC

Pacesetters 6 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America (N) 6 a.m. KABC

State of the Union With John King Remembering Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D.-Mass.); healthcare reform: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). 6 a.m. CNN


Reliable Sources Coverage of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy: Joe Klein, Time magazine; David Broder, the Washington Post; Tom Oliphant; Emily Rooney, WGBH. The economy: author Kurt Andersen, ("Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America"). 7 a.m. CNN

State of the Union With John King GOP strategist Mary Matalin; Democratic strategist James Carville. 8 a.m. CNN

Face the Nation Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's legacy: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.); Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah); Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.); Michael Eric Dyson, Georgetown University. (N) 7:30 a.m. KCBS

Meet the Press Remembering Sen. Edward M. Kennedy: Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.); Bob Shrum, former Kennedy speechwriter; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend; historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, moderator: David Gregory. (N) 8 a.m. KNBC

This Week With George Stephanopoulos Remembering Sen. Edward M. Kennedy; healthcare reform: Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah); Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). Panel: Republican strategist Liz Cheney; E.J. Dionne, Washington Post; Sam Donaldson; Gwen Ifill, PBS; George Will. (N) 8 a.m. KABC

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace Former Vice President Dick Cheney; Attorney General Eric Holder; remembering Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Panel: Bill Sammon; Mara Liasson; Bill Kristol; Juan Williams. (N) 8 a.m. KTTV

The Chris Matthews Show How television shaped politics; Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's legacy: Andrea Mitchell, NBC; Bill Plante, CBS; Howard Fineman, Newsweek; Michele Norris, NPR. (N) 9 a.m. KNBC

Fareed Zakaria GPS The G-20; Russia; the Middle East: former Secretary of State and Treasury James Baker. Radical Islam; terrorism; Afghanistan; Pakistan: Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair; author Fawaz Gerges ("Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy"); author Bernard-Henri Levy ("Left in Dark Times"); author Asra Nomani ("Standing Alone in Mecca"). 10 a.m. CNN

[TayTay]

1. He has done such a remarkable job this last few days

As a Mass citizen and voter, I honestly feel comforted by knowing that Sen. Kerry is there. I honestly do, aside from my past associations.

Senator Kerry is going to be challenged in coming days by the people here. They want something from him, now more than ever. They want to know that he loves being a US Senator, yes, but they want to know that he loves being a US Senator from Massachusetts. They need to know that. And he is well on his way to fully showing that. I have no doubts there, none at all.

[wisteria]

2. No doubt he will rise to the challenge. He was ready and willing to become President.

He loves this country and is willing to serve where he is needed most. I would hope that the good people of Mass would give him time to mourn and allow him the time to carve out his own way of getting things done without comparing him and expecting him to do things like Senator Kennedy. Mass. is lucky to have a great senator like Senator Kerry, I would hope they recognize this and afford him the respect he deserves. I will add that this country needs him too, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee as well, so as much as Mass would like to keep him to themselves, they will have to share him.

[TayTay]

5. It's not quite that harsh

Teddy was Teddy and a giant because of who he was and because he was the last Brother of a very famous family that put Massachusetts back on the national map. It is very hard to remember just how much of a backwater MA was in the 50's when the Kennedys really began their political ascent in the country. New England was in a terrible economic tailspin that begin around 1910 and had not really abated. (Time Magazine ran a cover article back then that featured the New England states with the tagline: The New Appalachia? The poverty was that bad.) We still had terrible unemployment rates, much worse than the rest of the country, into the 70's and the dawn of the "Massachusetts Miracle."

We don't need from John Kerry what we needed from Uncle Teddy. They are such different men and such different public figures. Yet, each can be respected for what he truly is. Each is truly a gifted Senator, but in different ways.

I have watched various "man on the street" interviews over the last few days that asked ordinary Mass folks about John Kerry and how they feel about him becoming the new Senior Senator from the Bay State. Most remarks were positive, though tinged with sadness because of the circumstances surrounding this. Most of these folks followed the tag line that they want to see him "step it up" in Washington and deliver for the people here.

This is a dual thing. It is very parochial in the sense that we are talking about taking care of Massachusetts in federal spending and grants. It also means being there for people when they need someone. Senator Kerry already does this. One of the good things about being in a campaign is listening to the people who want to tell you so badly why they are there for the person running. I heard from people last year as to why they were there for John Kerry. I know what he has done for so many people in this State. I also know that Kerry is not Teddy, he is more introspective, more unwilling to be public in doing a good deed and more reserved in his nature. Being reserved doesn't mean "without a heart," it means that it's hard to step up and take credit for something in public. He is more comfortable with a private talk with someone in need than a big public to-do.

John Kerry is not Teddy Kennedy. Teddy's compassion was born of some of the very sad circumstances of his life. He experienced such suffering and it made him empathetic to others when they were in need. All to the good.

But there is also power, incredible power, in being an advocate. If Teddy's best qualities were forged in suffering, then perhaps John Kerry's were formed from betrayal and that sense of righteous anger and mission that comes from pursuing truth and exposing wrongdoing. John Kerry saw war at it's most revolting, saw fellow soldiers betrayed and left to rot in poor VA facilities. I have read that before Vietnam, Kerry was contemplating a career in politics. After his experience of the waste and horror of war, he pursued that service, but almost certainly from a very different perspective.

I and so many others in Massachusetts are very proud to have this man as our Senator. We marvel, just marvel sometimes, at that courageous pursuit of what is right and are appalled at what it has cost this man. He is also our valued Senator. No, he is not Teddy. He is not a backslapping man who sings Irish songs and is the life of the party from the get-go. But there is nothing wrong with knowing that there is a real Avenging Angel out there, someone who damned right and well *knows* what it's like to be betrayed and understands that this must be fought.

This can be a time for John Kerry to truly shine for who he is, not for who he is not. Who he is is a wonderful US Senator. We know that here in MA. And we are very blessed to have him here, now, in this challenging time. Very blessed indeed.

[wisteria]

6. I hope the majority of Massachusetts folks feel as you do.

He will be just fine if they do. I know he has lived in Senator Kennedy's shadow for years and even though I can surmise he never wanted to become senior senator this way, this will be his time to lead and accomplish the things he has wanted to accomplish for Massachusetts and this country.

[TayTay]

13. No state, no district, no county is ever unanimous in it's feelings

and so it is in Massachusetts. Teddy had his detractors here as well. There was a lot of trouble brewing for Teddy in the early 1990's. That re-election fight with Mitt Romney was serious and it was a real challenge for Teddy to muster the forces to prevail in that race. There was a fatigue factor with Teddy and a deep desire that he quit his wanton ways and settle down.

I thought Sen. Kerry had a quite exceptional interview on MTP this morning. He specifically grappled with Teddy's humanity in that story about Teddy being afraid for his own safety in those early days. That took a very long time to work through, it was a part of Teddy's history, what built him as a person. He was, in a sense, lost for a part of his way in life. The Commonwealth and it's citizens got to see him find his way, we saw his re dedication to his causes and to living itself. The affection for Teddy is an affection for that Prodigal Son who comes home, who comes to himself, who is redeemed. (MA, home of the Red Sox, loves a good redemption story, btw.) That made him human and reachable. His achievements made him great, his humanity, his frailties made him loved. We knew him because we know ourselves and we so deeply pray that the faults within us are also forgiven and redeemed.

Massachusetts has seen a different side of John Kerry this weekend. This Senator showed us his grief, his heartfelt grief at the loss of his colleague. This stoic, brave man who takes pain within and bears it stoically, broke a bit. Not all, not in some hideously fake way, but he broke a bit and his heart and his pain and his love for another was exposed. That cannot be faked or exploited or used in some campaign. That was a genuine look inside a complicated man. We saw that he grieved as we grieved. I cannot for the life of me think that this will not connect him more to his voters. That is not political, it is personal. It is ever so human, this taking of the bitter with the sweet as the mix of life.

No one wants a weepy, sentimental, fake-y person advocating for them. We don't want John Kerry to become some counselor surrogate on an Oprah style show. That's not who that man is and we know that. We stone cold know that. But it is okay to see these amazing glimpses, these "Kerry moments." My mother used the phrase, "still waters run deep" to describe people who are calm on the outside and deeply passionate and moving on the inside. The occasional look inside those seemingly still waters is okay. They do indeed run deep, methinks.

“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!'” -- Robert Browning.

One more Robert Browning quote, this one was actually my "quote" from my high school yearbook, "“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?”" For Teddy. And now, for John.

[wisteria]

16. Very nice words and comments. "Still waters run deep", that is a good way to describe Senator Kerry.

We know the senator to be compassionate and caring and human in his sadness, I remember when I heard him speak of his father's death at a Lance Armstrong event a couple of years ago, and how moving that was. Now, perhaps as the Senior Senator, people will get to know him on a whole new level.

[ObamaKerryDem]

20. Great insights in this thread, TayTay..

..and really interesting, and might I add moving, to get them directly from an MA constituent like yourself. Though these are obviously hard circumstances, in the loss of the tremendous political presence and more importantly and personally in Senator Kerry's case-- friend-- that was Senator Kennedy, I am sure Senator Kerry will make those of you in MA--and those of us who support him across the country--proud. He, in my estimation at least, already has. :)

[Inuca]

7. Thanks for the analysis

very interesting. A silly question: is there any significance in the senior/junior senator distinction? I don't mean in the special Kennedy/Kerry case, but in general? My understanding is that there isn't any (and some senior senators are very junior in terms of years in the Senate),

[TayTay]

12. As used in recent days, in MA, it has a meaning

In the Senate it does have some meaning, but it is in the formality of the Senate. (Those pesky rules again.) This involves protocol on how bills are introduced, how names are listed on bills and so forth. If you have ever seen a press release, the Senior Senator from a State is listed first when something is done, monies released, etc. So it has a small formal function, yes.

In MA, the designation was used affectionately by all, including John Kerry, to honor Teddy for his years of service and his deep connection to the people of this Commonwealth, a connection much on display this past weekend.

[Blaukraut]

3. He will do us proud as Senior Senator, our John

I feel like I need to call him that now instead of Senator Kerry. It just seems the proper way to address him from here on out.

[ProSense]

4. It'll be interesting to hear his views, especially

about moving forward. I just watch an interview, posted here. I'm sure JK is motivated to get health care done, and done right, for Senator Kennedy.

[Luftmensch067]

8. Watching This Week now

JK and Orrin Hatch. I wish George Stephanopoulos didn't remind me so much of a jackal.

JK is doing a good job, considering that Hatch is trying to sabotage the discussion whenever he's given an opening (which is often.) He's keeping an eye on the ball, as always.

[fedupinBushcountry]

9. Just watched MTP

I have to say David Gregory was very respectful and JK and Chris Dodd were very good and still very emotional, brought me to tears again. :cry:

[Luftmensch067]

10. Oh, good - that's on in half an hour here!

Thanks -- now I'm really looking forward to it!

[Inuca]

14. I think that JK's voice broke at some point

during the MTP interview, I do not remember what the context was.

[MBS]

15. now on the MSNBC website

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32616888#32616888

Just at the beginning now. . Maria Shriver is really great, consistently wise. . looking forward to JK and Dodd. .

[wisteria]

17. This was an exceptionally good interview with Senator Kerry. I saw him on

"This Week" prior to this interview, and I think this one surpasses the other in many ways,it gives us more incite into Senator Kennedy, and Senator Kerry is very forthright and honest in his comments on going forward.

[fedupinBushcountry]

11. Anyone who has Liz Cheney

on a roundtable can not be trusted. JK did good, Hatch is such an ass, he will not honor Teddy, he is all hat and no cattle. Sheesh!!!

[wisteria]

18. I saw that. She is such a conniving little liar for anything Republican.

At least this seems to indicate that she won't be running for any office as some have suggested she should do. Can you imagine? Frankly, I can't imagine even Republicans finding her likable.

[Inuca]

19. They found her daddy likable enough

she is better looking