JK Holding Another Town Hall, in Newburyport, MA, this Saturday, 5-21-11

[ObamaKerryDem]

I don't think it's on the Senate site yet, but it was announced on Facebook yesterday:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148741065193967#!/event.php?eid=148741065193967

I think I will go. I know, I know I was just at the last one--and the one before that! lol--but it'll be my last event for awhile (I'm going back to AZ for the summer on Tuesday). Plus it's not far from where I am so hey why not? :) I love that he is doing so many of these, all over the state, about three years out from another re-election campaign. Meanwhile Brown is where..again?

Anyhow just wanted to give you all a head's up on this in case anyone here wants to go and just in general! Will try to do a full report with pics once again..can't wait! :)

[Blaukraut]

1. I put down maybe, but we'll probably attend

It's a decent time, and close to home.

[ObamaKerryDem]

3. Cool!

Did I meet you at Symphony Hall in December? Either way, hope to see you there on Saturday! Should be a great discussion, especially with JK newly arrived from his obviously very productive trip to Afghanistan/Pakistan. Lots to talk about and having been to two of these before, each one tends to be different based on the location and what is going on in politics/the world at the time. Though he makes a few short remarks at the beginning, there doesn't seem to be any really planned "stump speech"..he really does base it almost soley on the questioning, the crowd in the particular community, etc. It's mostly off the top of his head. He is really amazing in this setting. :) Probably why there wasn't a townhall style debate in '04 (or was there? I know there were only 2 debates then, vs. the 3 in 2008 between Obama and McCain). Though Bush got owned in both of them, regardless. :evilgrin: It wasn't the debates that decided that race, that is for sure!

[karynnj]

6. There were three debates

Miami, St Louis and Arizona - I think. The St Louis one was a "pseudo" town hall. Kerry really did win all of them, but the media tried to spin the last two as closer to ties. (In the third Kerry used the Bush quote that he "didn't really care" if they got OBL - and Bush claimed he was exaggerating. Had the media covered that with the intensity of their negative coverage of Kerry saying that Cheney's out 30 plus year old daughter, whose job was gay outreach for Coors and who worked to support all the anti-gay resolutions, was gay - as part of an answer saying that she and other gays were what God meant them to be, that one would have been as big a win as the first.

The debates converted the race from a blow out to one where they had to suppress the vote.

[ObamaKerryDem]

13. Oh yeah that one! But there wasn't one..

With them sitting down like with Obama and McCain though right?

100% agree with you on the media spin on that debate. Imagine if the roles had been reversed or if this had been '12 and Obama had said something like that about it (in some alternative universe of course) or another foreign policy matter? "Liberal media" my...:)

[karynnj]

2. Coverage in what seems to be the local paper that it will happen

http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x2069372623/Sen-Kerry-to-visit-for-town-meeting

[ObamaKerryDem]

4. Good to see they are paying attention..

..and before the official press release too! :) Wonder if the Globe will show and if so, report more than just on like 20 minutes of it this time..

[Mass]

5. Newburyport is fitting, as it is where Brown said he would support the Ryan plan

Kerry will be able to make clear that there is a difference between the "people" senator and our Senior senator. I tend to forget Brown is our senator too, so this morning, when I received an email from CREDO saying to call our senator because he voted against the oil tax bill, I wondered what they were smokimg, and it took me a while to remember we had another senator.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-05-17/news/29552907_1_budget-plan-budget-bill-medicare
Exact quote, from the link below

“The leaders will bring forward budget, and I will vote for it, and it will fail,’’ he said in his speech, which was reported in the Newburyport Daily News. “Then the president will bring forward his budget, and it will fail.’’

Of course, he is now busy to walk this back both on the Globe and on radio
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/05/18/brown_hedges_on_medicare_overhaul/

“We need to move Washington away from spending money it doesn’t have,’’ Brown said in a statement. “Now that the president and the House have submitted their budgets, I look forward to working in the Senate on a bipartisan plan that makes the tough choices that will help get our fiscal house in order.’’

then later in the day
http://bluemassgroup.com/2011/05/scott-brown-update-yeah-he-really-is-that-bad/#comments

SENATOR SCOTT BROWN ON THE JIM & MARGERY SHOW, 96.9 BOSTON TALKS: “NO, I CAN’T SUPPORT IT AND I’VE MADE THAT VERY CLEAR.” (5-18-11)

WTKK-FM

contact: Ann Wog 617-822-6850 [e-mail]
http://www.969bostontalks.com

May 18, 2011

Senator Scott Brown on The Jim & Margery Show, 96.9 Boston Talks
Senator Brown Refutes Claims of Support for GOP Plan to Privatize Medicare

Boston, MA (May 18, 2011): Speaking to Jim Braude and guest host Lauren Beckham-Falcone, Senator Scott Brown said this morning on 96.9 Boston Talks that he does not support a Republican proposal for the privatization of Medicare, written by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

“No I can’t support it and I’ve made that very clear. But what I did say also is that I applaud the direction that it’s taking us in terms of reducing spending because we’re in a financial emergency and you need to move Washington away from basically spending money it doesn’t have.”

Brown also said, “I guess it’s political. Everyone’s in campaign mode. I’m in problem-solving mode. I’m going to look at each and every opportunity. A lot of the proposals in the Ryan budget are not my proposals; I’ve made that very clear.”

When asked directly by Beckham-Falcone whether the report in The Boston Globe was wrong, Brown replied, “We sent a statement out on that first story and they didn’t even run the statement so the fact that they don’t even run a response to what I say, it’s unfortunate.”

The Jim & Margery Show is heard mornings from 6-10am on 96.9 Boston Talks.

[karynnj]

9. Odd question does blaming the local media for things that really were your fault ever work?

Here he had multiple statements that spoke well of the Ryan plan and he had some incoherent ones. As to "problem solving" mode, there are many politicians usually in problem solving mode - and he is not one of them. His entire strategy seems to be say nothing but that he studying the issue until he has to - and then measure the damage voting each way in his MA support and his Republican support. All making his positions look like a dizzy mess.

The fact is that just last week, he essentially leaked info to Glen Johnson - then tried to claim that it wasn't him. Not adult behavior - in fact, not acceptable as a juvenile either.

[karynnj]

14. Now he is complaining that union ad pushing him not to vote Ryan bill is false

A health care workers union is launching a radio ad faulting U.S. Sen. Scott Brown for saying he supports a Republican budget that would turn Medicare into a voucher system.

The union, 1199SEIU, said it hopes to persuade Brown to vote against the budget.

Brown’s position has evolved in recent days.
<snip>
His spokesman says it’s not surprising that special interest groups opposed to Brown would run “misleading and untrue attacks.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/union-radio-ad-faults-us-sen-brown-on-medicare-stand-his-aide-calls-attacks-misleading/2011/05/19/AFORTO7G_story.html


That's two cases where unpopular Brown votes (or positions) have been called "misleading and untrue."

In this case, Newt Gingrich has nothing on Brown in terms of unmitigated chutzpah.

[Mass]

18. Latest clarification. When he said he would vote for it, he meant he would vote on it, but not

necessarily for it.

http://www.newburyportnews.com/local/x423433737/Brown-clarifies-budget-remarks

But Brown staffers, wary of political fallout from his comments, were quick to follow up on his remarks, clarifying that the senator has yet to decide how he will vote on the matter. They said Brown meant to say he would vote "on" the bill, but not necessarily "for" it.

"He was making the point that political games are being played in Washington, but was not saying how he would vote on the bill, which, as you know, has not come up for a vote in the Senate and is not scheduled to anytime soon," Brown spokesman Colin Reed said.

The bill is expected to be voted on by the end of the month.

[Blaukraut]

19. With contortions like this, Brown should be in a circus n/t

[ProSense]

7. Wow, busy day. Also on the schedule:

Kerry to Deliver Commencement Address at Tufts’ Fletcher School

The town hal announcement is also on his Senate site

[YvonneCa]

8. Guess he is not worried about...

...the rapture. :7

[ObamaKerryDem]

11. LOL! :D n/t

[ProSense]

12. .

:rofl:

[MBS]

21. : )

Have you been following Doonesbury this week? Pretty funny.

[YvonneCa]

22. No, but I will check it out...

...now. :hi:

[ObamaKerryDem]

10. Looks like he has a jam packed day tomorrow too!

http://kerry.senate.gov/press/release/?id=a4c82116-6bed-499b-afc2-89d5609001f8

Lucky Attleboro folks getting to have lunch with him and all!
:D lol

I must say that I continue to be amazed by how often he is here and how many public events he does, 3 years out from another potential reelection campaign. I lived in AZ 17 years and didn't see Kyl or McCain once though to be fair I didn't really try lol But it seems JK is here very often for someone of his stature. If he were only concerned with suceeding Hillary as SOS as the media seems to love as a meme I kind of doubt he'd be doing all this when not campaigning..but either way I think it's great!:)

[Luftmensch067]

15. And I noticed

That he was only 20 minutes late for the 9:30 AM SFRC hearing on Tuesday. Can you imagine when he must have gotten in from the Middle East? I sure hope he can sleep on planes!!!

[karynnj]

17. Listening now - Lugar mentioned that Kerry landed from the trip at 6:30

It sure sounds like he must have slept on the plane - as he was his usual coherent self in the committee. He also had to leave near the middle for a Finance hearing.

[karynnj]

20. The Finance hearing was on infastructure spending -

Good, but really really tired - and it shows. He is not happy that the Republicans won't fund anything.

[karynnj]

16. I susspect that he would be out there even if Obama told him the SOS was a done deal

with him and Kerry knew confirmation would be a gimme (which I think is the case) and if he was 100% certain Obama wins re-election.

People are really hurting and they need to know that their government hears them and is listening. As he has noted in politics everything can change in a very short time. I seriously doubt that he thinks in 2014, there will be people (other than ones who would vote for him in the blink of an eye) who will remember that he did 5 town halls in 2011.

I have seen Lautenberg twice, but once was when he was out of office after he first retired - that was at an event with the county Democrats designed to drum up support for Menendez. I have never seen Menendez, though there were some campaign stops I could have gone to, but which were not convenient.

In your case, you have another measure - when has the Senator up in one year had a town hall? He seems a lot less busy in the Senate.

[karynnj]

23. Here's coverage of his talk in Tauton - very very strong words again

How many politicians have the guts to say that if we don't commit to upgrade our infrastructure we will not be a first rate power? (He was actually even stronger at Tuesday's Finance committee hearing - we are spending less than than 2% of GDP on infrastructure - China is spending 9% and Europe 5% - he ducked in about 2/3rds of the way in the hearing (absenting himself from the SFRC hearing that he returned to - still coherent in both after arriving from Af/Pak at 6:30 am!)

On the Ryan budget, no problem getting a definitive position from this MA Senator - and the same one he has held since Ryan put out his monstrosity. "reckless and dangerous" Beyond that he says:

Kerry sharply criticized the Ryan budget proposal, saying its steep cuts would break the government’s social compact with America and would lead to further turmoil. It targets cuts to social programs for middle-class Americans, he said, without eliminating tax breaks for big oil companies or investing in economy-boosting sectors such as energy technology or infrastructure.

"“This is a no B.S. conversation,” he said. “This is about real choices. I want to balance the budget, but I want to do it smart, the way we did it in the 1990s … We’ve got a knee-jerk, extremist, irrational, anarchical group of people out there whose idea of compromise is ‘do it my way.’”

Read more: http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/business_news/x1796494589/Sen-John-Kerry-talks-budget-infrastructure-policy-at-economic-meeting-in-Taunton#ixzz1N0P7cmOZ

Incidentally, I found an easy to read analysis ( http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/04/americas_budget ) with lots of detail on many of the other bad things in the Ryan bill.
It really shows that the Republicans offer their basic agenda as the solution to every problem. How could it ever make sense to eliminate the estate tax and the tax on capital gains because we have a deficit! (I looked at some right wing sites to see if they tried and they are arguing "double taxation" which is beyond ludicrous - only the GAIN in either case is taxed for capital gains and then at a preferred rate. On the estate tax, the impact is really on the person(s) who inherit the estate - and seeing that they are getting millions, it is really hard to feel sorry for the fact that they should pay a tax - when the first dollar made by a single parent at a minimum wage job incurs payroll taxes.