JK's statement on tonight's election

[fedupinBushcountry]

KERRY ON TUESDAY’S SPECIAL ELECTION IN MASSACHUSETTS



BOSTON – Senator John Kerry today released the following statement regarding Tuesday’s special election in Massachusetts.



“In Massachusetts, we fight like hell in political campaigns, we debate our differences, and the day after an election we go to work for the state we love. That's what we need to do now.

“I congratulate Scott Brown on his victory, and know that at this critical time our entire congressional delegation will do what's best for Massachusetts.

“Martha Coakley cares deeply about our state, and while we share in her disappointment we are all proud that she broke a glass ceiling in the politics of our party.She returns to the work of being an outstanding Attorney General for the Commonwealth.

“Tonight’s results will be analyzed and overanalyzed by the punditry. I hope as a Party we don't succumb to the temptation to form a circular firing squad. It does no one any good. One lesson Ted Kennedy and I both learned from defeat is, you just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, chart a course forward, and get back in the fight.

“I didn't need any reminders, but this election encapsulated what was clear in 2006 and 2008 and remains clear today: Americans are angry. They're mad at Washington and they're mad at Wall Street. They've seen millions of jobs lost and been left no choice but to bail out those responsible. They're tired of insurance companies that charge exorbitant premiums but don't deliver decent coverage when they need it. They're fed up with sending billions of dollars a day overseas for foreign oil. They hate knowing that they pay taxes while powerful interests evade taxes and hide money overseas in Cayman Island bank accounts. And they expect all of us, Democrat or Republican, to fight for them. That's what I will keep doing in the Senate and will work with everyone who shares those goals."



###

edited: to highlight that he gets it, he will always be my favorite politician even though I can't vote for him.

[Luftmensch067]

1. Excellent statement

I'm so glad he's still in there, willing and able to fight the good fight with/for us!

[ProSense]

2. He's still the best. n/t

[sandrakae]

3. I love you John Kerry, BUTT

If Martha Coakley cared about your state she would have done her Effing job and ran a campaign. She expected you and everybody else to do her job. Thanks to her we can kiss health care goodbye. She failed Massachusetts. She failed Ted Kennedy. She failed you, because you worked so hard for her and she failed the rest of the country. Because of her we are stuck with this.

[Inuca]

13. Not my type AT ALL

but you must admit he looks good (first time I saw this). And idiotic as it is, I am sure it played a role.

What drives me NUTS about all this is not that he is an R, not that that health care is in serious jeopardy (well... that drives me nuts as well), but that he is an IDIOT. The first time I heard him speak wsa last night, his acceptance speech, and God was that an eye opener. He may not be quite there, but it seems to me that he is in the Palin category (and I obviously do not mean this as a compliment, and no, it has nothing to do with his looks).

[Noisy Democrat]

4. Wow, JK really said it

Awesome statement.

[fedupinBushcountry]

5. BTW

what my Senator had to say about tonight: Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) congratulated Brown on his win and delivered a zinger:

"In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated."

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!

[wisteria]

8. Yeah, Ugh, he seems to be running scared. He did not have to make this public.

I am disapointed in him. I guess that this is another vote we can not count on regarding health care.

[Inuca]

14. I don't know....

It does not have to be that he is scared. Not much of a Webb fan, but I doubt he scares too easily.It may a kind (the weird kind) of statement of principle. Much as I hate to admit it, but it seems to me too that using whatever congressional tricks to push HCR to a final vote now before the cringig moment when that a.. hole takes his seat would just be wrong and seen as such by many. As to what will happen with HCR under the circumstances... I'll be damned if I have the faintest.

[wisteria]

18. An interesting idea has been floating around. Slice the HCR bill into smaller bills

and promote and introduce those that have more bipartician support. I think I understand what Webb is saying and I agree. There is too much confusion out here about the HCR bill and craming something through could have major repercussions for the party. And, also,we may face some oppositon from other Dem's now.

[karynnj]

10. So says the DU and Daily Kos favorite

That is the least fair and the least prudent thing that could be done. He is saying that 59 Senators are not enough. This statement actually helps if the House is willing to act - it really does say we HAVE to do what no one wanted PASS THE SENATE BILL as is, get Obama to sign it - then modify it under reconciliation in a separate bill. Jim Webb wants to kill the bill.

[wisteria]

6. Yeah, he gets it. And, he mentioned that glass ceiling that Martha broke.

That was an issue that was not brought up enough in this campaign.

I have so much respect for this man. The winning party ridicules him and threatens him classless remarks, but he remains gracious and looks ahead to ensure Massachusetts has the best representation possible. A real class act. Maybe so of this will rub off on Brown and he can pass it along to his little classless daughter.

[wisteria]

7. Please post this in GD, it is great. n/t

[karynnj]

28. Well if Miss Brown returns to American Idol, we can all vote her down

or vote for all her opponents however it works. Side note - in reading Coakley's concession where she said Mr Brown, you have two lovey daughters - my mind immediately jumped to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv8k0VI9tBc

[karynnj]

9. Wonderful statement

and like you, he is my favorite politician and I can't vote for him either.

That last paragraph really needs to be taken to heart. It is really hard to believe that some do not see him as a populist. This is a statement of an honest, true populist, who really does want things cleaned up.

[Mass]

11. I think that his advice will be largely ignored. The idea seems to be:

Coakley's fault and nothing else.
They will lose 2010 if they continue like that.

[karynnj]

15. I agree that they will likely not hear this - and nothing here is all that different

than things Kerry said in 2008. I remember his very genuine anger at the greed that caused the banking crisis and him being the first national politician speaking of the foreclosure crisis - and speaking of it in human terms, the people losing their homes and dreams, the towns losing their stability. (Though DU would never recognize it, there was no sincere politician speaking in more populist terms than Kerry in various last half of 2008 speeches and town halls.

One thing he explicitly mentions here is the Cayman Islands, last fall Kerry and Baucus introduced a bill that would deal with this. From the 2008 hearing in the Finance committee when this issue was discussed, it was clear that Kerry was the force behind dealing with this - as a matter of fairness. (if you want Mr Smith goes to Washington type populism, that was Kerry in that hearing starting at about 55:30 - at about 58 minutes in he speaks of the average person in the US pays the difference. Jack Blum is incredible in this hearing on everything including the idea that we should not recognize phony layers created by sham companies that really don't exist. Kerry also spoke of addressing this at a town hall in late 2008. ( http://www.johnkerry.com/multimedia/entry/john_kerry_on_tax_policy_from_a_town_hall_at_leslie_university_cambridge_ma/ ) The entire hearing is fascinating.

Here is the bill. Baucus is the lead sponsor and it is his committee. This is a bill that really should be a political win. This is basic fairness and it will raise tax revenues. This is a no brainer. I trust that Kerry is genuinely pushing this and I hope Baucus is. I can't think of anything that would be a simple bill to pass that would put us on the right side of this anger.


S.1934
Title: A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent the avoidance of tax on income from assets held abroad, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Baucus, Max (introduced 10/27/2009) Cosponsors (2)
Related Bills: H.R.3933, H.R.4213
Latest Major Action: 10/27/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. COSPONSORS(2), ALPHABETICAL : (Sort: by date)


Sen Kerry, John F. - 10/27/2009
Sen Shaheen, Jeanne - 10/27/2009

[MonteLukast]

16. I'll bet JK is *so* ashamed of his state right now.

I share your royal pissed-off-ness, JK. And I thank you for doing whatever you could.

Not blaming Coakley. Not joining in the hand-wringing and chest-beating. Not on your life.

[karynnj]

17. I don't think he is ashamed of his state - not at all

If there is one think that comes through in that statement it is that he loves Massachusetts and will do everything he can to work for the state and the nation. (In his 2008 victory speech, he emotionally said "I love this state".)

Here Kerry is not blaming the voters, even the ones who voted for Brown. The blame is assigned to DC, corporate interests, people who hide their gains in the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes.

Kerry did do everything he could - from trying to raise money (several times - likely hurt by her complacency), writing GOTV letters, and acting on her behalf to question the behavior of the angry tea partiers- a generous thing for a senior Democrat to do, making at least 5 appearances in the state that should have helped - one at the beginning, one explaining what health care provided MA, and the 3 this last week. (When you consider that he was in DC voting nearly every day until December 24, he gave an important speech in Copenhagen, and he had major surgery in that 1 1/2 month period, it is hard to understand how Kerry managed at least 6 MA appearances (the one on Haiti added) to Coakley's pathetic 19.) That is likely why - even on DU and DK I haven't seen anyone blame Kerry.

[Inuca]

20. "Kerry did do everything he could "

and seems he did not even get an acknowledgment in her concession speech. Just saying...

[ObamaKerryDem]

23. I was thinking that exact same thing, watching it!

That irritated me, I must say. But then again, I'm honestly irritated with Martha Coakley right now in general. I'm sorry, I know other factors worked into it as well, but she did drop the ball here...

[Mass]

24. I did not even bother listening to it, but the excerpt I heard drove me mad,

Starting by her: "we can’t win them all,".

This really put me in a bad mood. She is right, but you can try.

[ObamaKerryDem]

25. Exactly. And I frankly think she didn't try hard enough..:(

[karynnj]

30. I hadn't watched or read it until you said this

That really was tacky, as he was there and Obama, Clinton and Vicki weren't. It's not like she had to say anything other than "Thank you, John". I seriously doubt that the best thing for his recovery was doing 3 rallies and showing up at the end. He went far beyond anything she was entitled to.

I wonder if she was one of the angry Hillary people who were so nasty to him last year. There was a story posted - relative to Obama coming here for her, that she had not gone to the MA fundraising heal the party Obama birthday party and she voted for Hillary after Hillary freed her delegates.

I would bet that Kerry likely is a big enough guy that he ignored this slight. His comment on her was extremely generous, which was likely the right thing to do especially as any hopes she had of being in Congress is gone and her reputation has been smeared.

[MH1]

29. what has been frustrating me

is that obvious things like this bill you posted, seem to have been ignored while so much time and energy has been squandered on the health care "reform" bill.

I wish the Congress (both houses) would learn to pass simple bills like this one, and preventing insurers from denying coverage for preexisting conditions, and many others. Stop with the thousand pagers already! Get some quick hits! but for whatever reason they just obstinately refuse to do that.

[Inuca]

12. Makes me feel good to read this

selfish, I know, but I needed something to make me feel good this morning.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

19. I really feel sorry for John Kerry tonight

After working for two decades together with his beloved friend and colleague for the best interests of Massachusetts, he now has to work with this preening, self-righteous, arrogant jerk who will put his own political self-interest above the interests of the state. At least Teddy mostly got to work with liberal republicans who would now most likely be Democrats as his senate colleagues

Nevertheless a classy statement, as per usual and and I'd expect nothing less, from a great Senator. May these three years go by quickly and may Kerry be given a progressive Democrat to work with again as soon as possible

[ObamaKerryDem]

22. Me too. He looked so dissapointed last night. :(

And after he gave so much, even after a major surgery (he was on crutches at the rally last night)....I think he may have worked harder than the candidate herself, at least overall, but I digress...:(

He's pretty much the only (REAL) Senator in Massachusetts now, as I'm sure he'll be doing all the real work while Mr. Centerfold bathes in the adoration of the MSM and the slobbering, gloating Right. *sighs* But I predict he (Brown) will be out in 2012, as I think he's pretty much between a rock and a hard place politically now. If he goes more to the left, he will piss off his "base" and stand the chance of getting 'primaried' and if he goes to the right (as they will expect him to do), more voters in Mass. will see that he's not this more liberal to Independent type Republican like he sold himself as, the mask will come off as his Senate votes come in. Plus the fact that '12 will be an actual, full season election (not to mention with Obama on the ballot again, who remains really popular there, from all indications) AND we will have learned the campaining lessons this has taught us... So this majorly sucks but I think it's temporary. I think Brown has little to go but down from here...

[wisteria]

27. Great comments. n/t

[ObamaKerryDem]

21. Classy and right on point, as is the Senator's style.

At least Massachusetts still has one great Senator left. :)And no one can say that he didn't do his part in this campaign. No offense to anyone, but if Coakley had been more like Kerry, this never would've happened..*sigh*

" he will always be my favorite politician even though I can't vote for him."--I feel the exact same way. I'd vote for him again in a heartbeat! :D

[MBS]

26. generous, gracious, and constructive as usual

. . extra impressive when ones realizes that Sen. Kerry is actually going to have to work with this man (and I use the term loosely) as part of the MA congressional delegation :puke::puke: :scared: :scared:

My deepest sympathy to the Senior Senator from Massachusetts. It was always going to be a step down from Teddy to ANYone else, but to THIS abyss. . ..just awful.

So sorry, JK. As they say, we feel your pain :-(