John Kerry: An uptick in tweeting:

[beachmom]

http://twitter.com/JohnKerry

3 posts in the last 24 hours!! Check it out. Especially classy what he said about Hillary Clinton.

[karynnj]

1. That really is classy and very very smart

It is funny though that the resolution is far more to Kerry's liking than the State Department's given points where they reassured Republican Senators and took a weaker position than Obama, who took a weaker position than Kerry.

I think this is a huge win for the OAS. It is a win for the US, only in that it was a huge break from policies held for decades.

[wisteria]

2. As SOS, she would get the credit for this even thought it was the diplomats that made

this possible. Frankly, in all the reading I have done on Honduras, I can only remember Clinton's name mentioned once. Senator Kerry's name has been mentioned along with DeMint in regards to the DeMint trip and him hold up confirmation of diplomats to the region.

[karynnj]

4. Hillary was mentioned very often as she made many official statements

and spoke to others at an OAS meeting. The state department also put out a memo to some Republican Senators pulling back from rejecting the coup, but not supporting it either. Kerry wrote an op-ed that he got into the Miami Herald that was stronger than Obama and in line with the OAS and the world.

Some reports suggest that this may not be as resolved as HRC's announcement suggests, but I hope they are wrong.

[wisteria]

6. Ah, I wasn't aware that HRC announced this. And I am equally shocked that there

was so much involvement on her part in this. I really didn't find any mention of her in my readings.

[karynnj]

17. She or a state department spokesperson, Kelly, made all the official comments

The media did not consider it interesting until Kerry opted not to let SFRC fund DeMint's trip. That was a story they could easily understand, though it mostly interested the right, which has tried to portray Kerry as a bully. (The funny thing is that their negative stereotyping in the opposite direction in 2004 likely makes this very hard to do as does Kerry's very gentlemanly demeanor.)

As Secretary of State, HRC will be the person coordinating almost every foreign policy effort, though it is Obama who has final word on the policy. I think Kerry's tweet was great on many levels.

One, whether it was her preferred plan or not, she led the effort on the Obama policy and sent the diplomats in who met with success. This is her job and she did it well.

Two, a success of HRC is a success for Obama - and they both need one right now.


Three, HRC likely was not too happy with the "where's HRC" in the media on the Karzai negotiations, even though Kerry was the first to point out that she was very much involved. (As it was, her media allies did follow up with HRC fluff pieces and spin that she was the mastermind behind it all) An angry Clinton is not a plus. (With less certainty, I also think that Kerry's influence can be hurt if his name makes Clinton angry.)

Four , Credit given at the time something occurs almost always goes to the highest official person involved at the time it occurs. In scholarly books written after a Presidency, inside stories will give broader glimpses into who did what. But, the main person who will get blame or credit is the President. Any time worrying about getting credit, or worse claiming it, is wasted time and energy.

Five , the most important thing is the significance of what happened here. If the coup is ended and democracy returned, this is what Kerry wanted and I think serious foreign policy people following this know that he was a strong voice pushing Obama to turn from years of the US recognizing right wing coups. This is really a landmark change and assuming it succeeds and the US policy is really seen to have changed, one person who really pushed that was Kerry. (The right has blamed him all along for Obama's position here - dredging up their version of the what happened in the 1980s.) If this holds, I would bet that Kerry will be extremely proud of Obama for standing against the right on this. It is true the rest of the world was there, but the right won the PR war on this in the 1980s. It also will not be something where the media at large praises anyone. This is a bigger story on the right, which will likely condemn, not praise it.

Six, there already have been articles speaking of Kerry's positions fore shadowing Obama's decisions. The fact is that on Honduras, Iran (before and after the elections), and Afghanistan(pausing to redefine strategy), Kerry's positions have been pretty close to what Obama did. He has to feel great that he has real influence.

[beachmom]

11. Yeah, that is Al Giordano. I love Al, but he is often wrong. Look at this:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/30/honduras.president/index.html

Although Zelaya's return to the presidency is not guaranteed in the eight-point pact, several analysts say they expect the congress will approve the measure.

"If Micheletti came forward with a public announcement, the odds of this being approved by congress are pretty good. It's a done deal," said Kevin Casas-Zamora, a senior foreign policy fellow at the non-partisan Brookings Institution and a former vice president of Costa Rica. "It would be a horrible letdown if congress did not approve the agreement."

Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue policy institute, also believes "they'll go ahead and vote for it."

Said Larry Birns, director of the liberal Council on Hemispheric Affairs: "There seems to be no other way."

[wisteria]

3. I haven't explored the possibilities of Twitter yet. I suppose I should go check it out. n/t

[YvonneCa]

5. I just joined. Not to tweet...

...yet, though. :)

[wisteria]

7. I guess I will make an attempt also.

:P

[YvonneCa]

8. Wait 'til you see who...

...JK follows...;)

[Inuca]

10. Who? Who?

Please tell :-)

[YvonneCa]

19. Gore and Obama....

...which makes an interesting statement...;)

[beachmom]

15. Meh. He needs to follow more people. Plus how about the Boston Globe,

and other local stuff?

More fun is to see who is following him. Just saw that Sen. Specter is.

[YvonneCa]

18. I saw Specter...

...there. That's funny in itself.:7

[Inuca]

21. Didn't Specter

get into a mini-Tweeter fight with GRASSLEY last summer? The funny level in that reaches astronomical proportions.

[beachmom]

12. I'm on there. My goal was not really to tweet. 18 tweets later .....

http://twitter.com/beachmom12

I follow over a hundred people or news sources. I love it. Better than blogs.

[YvonneCa]

20. I saw you there,beachmom. Question...

...for you: How does the 'following' thing work?

[Inuca]

22. Check out the video here

http://help.twitter.com/portal I just started looking a bit into this, JK and beachmom may have converted me :-). I did not create an account yet, so no first hand anything, but based on the video the following thing seems straightforward.

[beachmom]

23. Well, just to make it easier, go to my page. Then look over at the

people I am following. It is not just what is shown on the page. Hit more to see the entire list which goes several pages. Throughout this, obviously make sure you are logged into your account. When you find someone you want to follow, just click the follow button which is up below their name on the left. Then you will be following them. When you look at Twitter, make sure you are logged in and at home: www.twitter.com. Then you will see what everyone is twittering. I follow news orgs (BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera English, NPR, CBS, etc.) but also some good twittering reporters like Chuck Todd and Jake Tapper (regardless of what you think of them, they are good "tweeters"), plus this AWESOME CBS radio guy, who makes you feel like you are there at the White House:

http://twitter.com/markknoller

[YvonneCa]

24. Thanks for the information, beachmom. I actually was...

...going to 'refine' :) my question yesterday, and then I got interrupted and never got the chance. What I'm debating myself about is whether to allow people to follow me...right now I'm requiring permission, but I don't know if that's the best way to go. I guess I'm just a little unsure of how things work, so I'm taking baby steps in doing this. :) Is it best to keep control of who follows you?

[beachmom]

25. Well I allow followers but I check every day. If I don't know who they

are or they are spam-like, I block them. 2 of the 3 "people" following me are orgs that clearly have a policy of following anyone who follows them.

[YvonneCa]

27. Thanks. That helps. I've pretty much been...

...blocking everyone, and I may continue that for a while until I see how things work.

[Inuca]

9. OMG, JK is tweeting?

Just curious: how many of you guys are on that thing? Maybe it's time that I give it a real look. Cannot stand the idea, but gained some respect for it during the Iranian protests. Maybe I should actually learn more about it and see whether my gut reaction dislike is justified or not.

[MonteLukast]

13. I started following JK on Twitter last summer...

Haven't tweeted him yet, but soon...

[beachmom]

14. I'm telling you, if you follow the right people/sources, it will replace

looking at blogs. Of course, it's all about the quality of the people you follow. But I feel like I am getting more intellectual reading from twitter than I ever did from most blogs. Plus I follow the tweets of my favorite blogs, so I am not missing out on anything. Plus I have added foreign policy bloggers who I didn't read all that often before I joined Twitter.

[fedupinBushcountry]

16. Love his avatar

[wisteria]

26. Yes, it is nice.n/t

[beachmom]

28. Hey, he twittered again, and it was picked up in the Hill:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/66295-kerry-chamber-climate-letter-may-be-nixon-to-china-moment

On his Twitter account, Kerry said:

US Chamber letter urges action on climate change, need to test whether this is a Nixon to China moment.

Twitter is good for John Kerry! You have to be short, and I think the above statement is a really punchy apt sentence that describes where it could all go.

Memo to Jon Stewart: John Kerry CAN be brief.

[beachmom]

29. Okay, for newbies on Twitter, here are a few of my lists:

National and International News:

http://twitter.com/#/list/beachmom12/news-only

Environmental and science writers (many following climate bill proceedings closely):

http://twitter.com/#/list/beachmom12/environmentscience

Pundits (a lot of these guys who opine on politics, foreign policy, and media/journalism):

http://twitter.com/#/list/beachmom12/pundit-chatter

I think you don't even have to follow these people yourself. Just click the list, and you can have it on your home page to look at.

On election night, Twitter beat cable and blogs by a long shot with real time good and intelligent commentary and breaking news.

[TayTay]

30. Anyone know if we can get a group together on Twitter?

My apologies for raising an issue I currently do not have time to investigate. (I am still heavily involved in my Mom's medical situation and I have limited time on the computer at present.)

Can we get a channel on Twitter? that might be a fun thing and very informative for us.

[beachmom]

31. Oh, I don't know. At the least we could come up with our own tag.

like #jkgrp for every tweet a person does. Then you search for that and will grab all those tweets.

I'll take a look.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope all is going better for you, your Mom, and your family.

Okay, I am thinking the "list" function is the easiest way to do this. I suppose I would create the list, which would be public. And I could add people as we go along. Everyone else would get my list. My only question is if the list would change for you, if I changed it on my end. I assume it would.

Okay, here it is:

http://twitter.com/beachmom12/john-kerry-group

That is our channel. Of course, I am apparently in charge of it. Which I really don't care about one way or the other. I can also change the name if people want it to be more cryptic.

What does everyone think?

If you are on Twitter, please PM me, and I will add you to the list. So far I am the only one tweeting on this list. The others need to speak up! :)

This is another possibility, but it involves joining yet another site:

http://twhanel.com/

[YvonneCa]

32. I think it's a great idea. Am I...

...correct that you added me (GT)? Do I need to do anything else? I'm still SO confused about Twitter. :)

[beachmom]

33. Nope, I added you.

[YvonneCa]

34. Thanks, beachmom. I really appreciate...

...you, BTW. :grouphug:

[Inuca]

35. I joined a few days ago

but I am still abroad and do not have the time to dig any deeper for now. My userID or whatever they call it is Inuca12. Is that all you need? Thanks for doing this beachmom.

[beachmom]

36. Oh, I saw you (you're following me: :)), and already added you.

Hope your trip is going well.

[Luftmensch067]

37. I'm following you now, too!

Thanks for setting this up!

[beachmom]

39. Cool. I added you to the list.

[Luftmensch067]

40. Thanks! n/t

[Inuca]

38. Thanks

Never stalked anyone before :-)