Sometimes I wonder what Kerry is really thinking that he doesn't say

[LittleClarkie]

I know he respects Sy Hersh's work. And so I assume he knows what Hersh is going around saying re: Abu Ghraib and Iran and such.

He knows and feels more than he says, doesn't he. I wonder how much is hidden from view. Sometimes I wish I knew what he really thinks when he's really letting go on his emotions, you know?

[karynnj]

1. Maybe he's keeping a journal like he did years ago =

although if he is I bet we'll never see it. It largely because of the thoughts from those journals and letters quoted in Tour of Duty that we know how deeply he cared about what was happening around him in Vietnam. He had empathy for the Vietnamese. Maybe we'll get a hint of some of his feelings by listening to Teresa, who though very independent, is likely one of the few people he might confide in.

What I don't get is how a huge number of Americans can say that what happened at Abu Ghraib was not an absolute disgrace.

On Iran, we know the questions he asked Rice. I would bet he knew far more than he said as he prefaced one question with a comment about briefing as a Presidential candidate and saying he wasn't asking her to divulge secret information. It seemed like he was using the Hersh story almost as a way to question things he really knew. He clearly would not have done this if he agreed with the Bush Iran policy.

[LittleClarkie]

2. When I mentioned Hersh

the Rice questioning was one of the things I was thinking of that tells me that Kerry thinks and feels WAY more than we know.

[BlueIris]

3. There is so much I would love to post, but don't feel I can.

I hear you, though, LittleClarkie. Kerry is, in my estimation, keeping quite a lot very close to his chest. Let me just say though, that with everything he is obviously (to my mind, anyway) keeping under wraps, he still has all of my trust and respect. I believe that his actions are strategically sound, and represent the best approach he can responsibly take to opposing the Bush Administration at this time.

[rox63]

4. Kerry's got a lot of layers to him

I'm sure there's a lot that he doesn't say publicly. He knows how your words can be twisted and turned against you. But he's got a mighty big brain, and there's a lot going on under the surface.

[jillan]

5. I think Kerry has got to be a very depressed man.

He probably now knows there was fraud, and that he may have actually won. And at the same time, he is watching * screw this country over more and more, getting us deeper in debt, making the world hate us more, watching his supporters using their energy against all the negatives - knowing that if he was in office, what wonderful things we would be doing together. Watching more people lose jobs, more children without healthcare, controls on the environment being taken away.

All of the things he campaigned for, all of the things he believes in, all being trampled upon by this administration. He can yell, scream, but he can't really do what he wanted to, to make it stop, to reverse this path that we are on.

It must be tough to be in Kerry's shoes these days!

[MH1]

7. Depressed? I'm guessing mostly not.

Hey pirhana, I saw over on pinkflower21's Hello thread that you said "this new bit about him and the DSM isn't going to help matters much."

Which new bit? It seems to me he's on a path to doing something very good with the DSM. It just isn't happening rapid-fire quick like some people want. IMHO that is a good thing: I think the whole issue will take firmer hold with the public if it is a slow burn, or a drip, drip, drip kind of thing.

But did I miss some news??

Anyway as far as being "very depressed": I doubt it. From what I've seen, Kerry is very much a mission-oriented person. He's had a setback to the mission but there is still a job to be done and he knows he has to step up and do it. There isn't time for him to be depressed, and anyway he's too busy getting things done to be wallowing in any leftover shit from the election.

I've seen people faced with tough circumstances before. Some buckle; some rise above it. Kerry is in that latter group, I'm sure of it.

The other thing is that he can't be saying to himself "this is all my fault." And of course it isn't: its ours. Ours and an incompetent party machine that couldn't get the best presidential candidate we've seen in a long time elected. There's a certain amount of learning that Kerry needs to take from the experience, but if he were to blame himself completely (like some of the bashers seem to think he should), that would be just as wrong as saying he made no mistakes at all.

There's no reason for him to be depressed: he did his best. He put himself on the line in a very tough race and almost made it. There was an article just after the election that said one of his daughters told him, "I'm so proud my name is Kerry." Damn straight.

[jillan]

9. Maybe Pissed Off may have been a better word than depressed

But come on, either way, he has to be effected in some way to watch what is going on in the WH these days, knowing how he would have done it so much better. I recently saw him on the senate floor getting all pissed off and then he even said how he would have handled the situation differently. I am proud of him as well, even more so now than I was before the election. But to think that it doesn't bother him in some way just doesn't seem possible.

About the DSM and Kerry - it's all over the internet that he said he was going to say something and that he hasn't- yet. People are not as forgiving as us "Kerry die-hards' are. I'm not attacking him, if that's what you thought I meant. But he is getting attacked over it.

[Mass]

10. Who cares what they say about the DSM

Most people dont even know whether Kerry has spoken about it or not.

The Internet is a miscrocosm that does not reflect the real world, fortunately. For people in the real world, it is more important that Kerry fights on SS or CAFTA, than the fact that he did not say something on the DSM.

Sure, he is getting attacked over it, but those are the same people who will attack him when he says something for being opportunistic.

[sandnsea]

6. Me too

I have days when I just want to scream "John just let loose and blast the sob's." But then I think about WMD and proliferation and our dependence on oil and that the world depends on our economy, and so many things that are all connected and dependent on us providing some sort of stability. It must be an awesome burden to have to try to figure out how to maneuver through all of this madness and not make things worse in the long run. I just hope they all know how bad Bush really is.

[TayTay]

8. Well, he did say he is writing a book

Sen. Kerry is not going to publish a book with his interior thoughts and reflections in it. (As we saw in the journals that were quoted in Tour of Duty he is a very good writer, but those thoughts he keeps to himself.) He is going to write about policy, foreign policy and whatever strikes him as most important about domestic issues.

There is a lot of reason for optimism going forward. The presentation at the DNC last week about the election said that Kerry (and the Dems) rocked on domestic issues and that the message got through. The DNC polls showed something like 65-75% approval of core Dem domestic issues. The country just did not want to change Presidents in the middle of a war. The Dem message on Iraq and terrorism did not get through and it was a big problem. The Dems have to articulate a strong foreign policy that doesn't include pre-emptive war, but that still envisions a strong America. I should imagine that this is what his book will be on. (Cuz that's what the Dems need.)

Sen. Kerry, in a '96 debate, admitted that he is not the most emotional guy and that he keeps part of himself to himself. I don't think you can change that, it is part of who is he. (That debate always bothers me, as I only admit to 'owning' part of a person in the public life. I don't want to know a lot of the private stuff, it's ahm, private.)