Hello, I'm new here.

[pinkflower21]

Hi everyone, this is my first posting here. I just became a donor member. It took me a while to decide if I wanted to because I'm cash strapped right now. I've been lurking here forever. I just have to say that I'm 26 years old, live in Georgia, and I love John Kerry. All the commotion over what a fine piece of manmeat John Kerry is has me laughing though. Because I'm only 26, I don't think of him that way at all. Don't get me wrong, he's a very handsome man but I look up to him like you would a father figure. Alexandra and Vanessa are very lucky to have him as their dad.

I first became interested in politics I would say shortly after the 2000 election. I followed the 2000 election a little bit and I wanted Gore to win but I didn't make sure I followed it every nano second like I did in 2004. I have never been so inspired by a politician as I was John Kerry. I think the criticism of him sometimes has been that he's okay but he does not have the charisma of Bill Clinton. Well, who has the charisma of Bill Clinton. A politician like Bill Clinton only comes along once in many years as far as charisma is concerned. But, John Kerry has something Bill Clinton doesn't have and that is a higher set of moral values. Clinton is a good man in his heart and he's done great things and he has morals as well, not trying to dog on Clinton, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that John Kerry would never cheat on his wife. John just has a higher set of morals. Also, John has a great deal of charisma, does he have the most charisma of any politican ever, no, but he's a great orator, his speeches are wonderful. But, having said that about charisma, there are a lot of politicians that are a lot more charisma deficient than John Kerry, some that could really put you to sleep. Also, charisma isn't the number one thing anyway.

Another thought on John Kerry, he really hit it out of the ballpark in those debates. He put a whoopin down on George Bush that he's probably still trying to recover from. I remember how excited I was, especially after that first debate, I ran to DU and was reading messages like crazy and I was getting such a kick out of the talking heads having to eat their words. I felt for sure after those debates when JK won them all that he would win. I thought that because of past history and how most candidates that win the debate go on and win the presidency. I frankly was baffled when he lost. But, I soon realized why. No president has ever been replaced during war time in the history of this country, even if that president is completely incompetent, doesn't matter. That brings me some solace, not much, but some. How else can you explain all the poll numbers being in the dumps for GB now on everything except terrorism? All the numbers on the economy, Iraq numbers changing for the worse, social security are so low. The public felt that way before the election on all those issues, but terrorism trumped everything. I think the biggest misconceptions about Democrats are that we are antireligion and that we don't know how to defend the country. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I think Democrats need to step up and counter the Repuke propaganda machine on this. It's the biggest fraud ever how we are protrayed at times.

Anyway, I guess I will wrap up. I had a lot to say. :)
I plan on participating a lot in the forum. I am on the JohnKerry.com email list and I get all the updates from JK.
I'm so proud of how he's holding it down for all of us and I'm so proud that the future generation voted for Kerry 54% to 44% over Bush.

Stefanie

[MH1]

1. Welcome!!!!

I'm fairly new here too. I won't say much just now about me because it is way past my bedtime...just stopped in here real quick on the way to the off button on the computer. So I wanted to say hi, and welcome. Like I said I am fairly new here myself but I can tell you these are a very nice group of people. It's nice to hang out with people who value the kinds of qualities that make John Kerry great.

Looking forward to conversing with you in the future. And I'm proud of the future generation too:

:yourock:

[whometense]

2. Welcome.

We're honored to be the site of your very first post.

[elshiva]

3. Welcome, hon!

[jillan]

4. Hi Pinkflower21

Great first post!

I'm new to this forum as well, and even newer to this group.

It'll be great getting to know you better!!

And I agree, Kerry has a great deal of charisma. I could listen to him for hours;-)

[pinkflower21]

5. Thank you!

Thank you everybody! I've noticed there have been a lot of new members to this group recently. It's a growing group and that's great. By scrolling down and looking at the number of postings for all the DU groups, this is by far the most active group.

I would love it if JK were to go for it again in 2008. I'm not sure how realistic it is because it would be a first in history(not sure if I'm correct) that a candidate has run for president back to back, right? I would much prefer Kerry over Hilary. I like Hilary but the one thing that makes me not want her is all the Republicans predicting that it will be her. I just hate the Democrats doing what the Republicans expect us to do. Anyway, whoever is nominated in 2008 I will support of course but it would be wonderful if it were John Kerry. I know it's way to early to be discussing but I'd like to keep the dream alive. :)

[jillan]

6. I'm with you all of the way!

I can't think of anyone else I would want to be President than Kerry!
I think part of my obsession with him, is that I really studied him.
Everything I could read or watch. I became a political junkie in college when Ford was running against Carter! That tells you my age! But, I never wanted anyone to win as badly as I wanted Kerry to win.
I was impressed with him at the beginning, but I was looking at him as someone to beat *. Then, I began to realize who this man was, what a compassionate, brilliant (funny to say that now - after his report card came home!lol)man he is. And I still believe in him.

It is hard to still feel this way with all of the Kerry bashing going on all over the net. One of the other forums that I really enjoy is Randi Rhodes, but they just trash him there. I get so sick of listening to it. I pretty much stopped 'hanging out' there because of that. This new bit about him and the DSM isn't going to help matters much.

As far as Hillary goes, I just don't know about her. She hasn't done anything to win me over yet. I loved her as a first lady. But I'm waiting for her to show me what she's made of. They love her in NY, so there must be something there that I just haven't figured out yet.

[sandnsea]

7. Hi!

Welcome to the hidey hole. Sounds to me like you see JK a bit like my daughter does, "he's kinda hot, for an old guy." lol.

Funny how many people he inspired for all the negativity in the press and on DU.

[JI7]

8. this is great

one of the other newer members of this forum is from the South, in North Carolina and now someone from Georgia. it's good to have people from across the country and give updates and perspectives on how things are in their states. and of course it's nice to see JK has supporters from across the country.

[Island Blue]

9. Welcome aboard Pinfkflower

I'm new too and from the South. I live in NC but grew up in NC and SC. There are a couple of new members from VA too. I hope the veteran members don't mind this invasion of Southern Kerry fans!

[TayTay]

11. Mind? Hell this is great

One of the best things about a forum that truly has folks in it from across the country is that you get to air out ideas and see how they play elsewhere.

I always fear that I am too provincial in my thinking and can only see Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Then I get worried that I can't see the big picture cuz I don't have enough info. Hmmm, then I getupset cuz I don't have enough time to read and don't know anything worth the knowing. Sigh! Then I write funny posts because that's ridiculous navel-gazing. Whatever.

Anyway, All newbies are most Welcome. I am TayTay. I live in Northeastern Massachusetts and have been voting for John Kerry since he ran statewide for Lt. Gov in '82. (I cannot, for the life of me, remember who I voted for in that primary though. Too long ago.) I am a liife-long Democrat and I first got involved in politics when I was 16 and showed up to leaflet at events. My first NH primary was in '76 when I worked for a liberal Dem named Fred Harris from Oklahoma. (Not a mis-typing. There was a lib Dem from OK once.) I have worked on a lot of races and have stood out in the rain, snow and slush on many occasions at stand-outs for candidate up and down the ticket in elections. (Including holding a sign for my own hubbie who won!)

I really like John Kerry. I find him to be an honorable and thoughtful man who has been an excellent Senator and would make a fine president. There are a few people in this forum (and whome, Rox KG, you know who you are) who remember almost all of Senator Kerry's public life and have a pretty big storehouse of memories of the guy. I have always respected his abilities, but I have always found his sense of humor under-appreciated. Anyway, that's me. And again, to all newbies, welcome. Now have at it.

[JohnKleeb]

12. They better not mind

Stupid Yankees :D, god that is like the first time I have made a remark about Yankees that is degrading to them while not talking about the baseball team.

[rox63]

10. Welcome pinkflower21

Welcome to DU and to the John Kerry group! :hi: :toast:

[politicasista]

13. Welcome pinkflower21

From your neighbor(Tennessee) and across the way from Island Blue. :hi:

[fedupinBushcountry]

14. WELCOME

Glad to meet you. I live in Virginia but was born and raised in New York. But I do have relatives in Atlanta and Albany. Good to see another young supporter join the group, it shows how much John Kerry inspired not just us a little bit grayer crowd , but so many of the younger generation, who saw the younger John Kerry spirit underneath all that bountiful gray hair of his.

[saracat]

15. Welcome Stefanie!

What a wonderful and articulate first post! I look forward to hearing more from you!

[pinkflower21]

16. Southern lady

Yes, I am a southern lady. I sound it too. Good to see other southerners in the house. I feel I have to apologize on behalf of the region to the rest of the country though for getting the
idiot reelected.

I wish I could explain to everybody why the south insists on voting Republican in so many elections but I really do not understand it. All I've heard about it is that the south voted Democrat for the longest time until the 60s, then something happened and the region started going Republican big time.

Thanks so much saracat and others for the welcome. I can tell this is such a nice group. I've ventured into general discussion and it's a jungle out there. LOL.

[Island Blue]

17. "I feel I have to apologize on behalf of the region ...

for getting the idiot reelected." I hear where you're coming from Pinkflower! Do you think the others will buy it if we say it's because the heat down here has fried our collective brains? That's why Shrub and the Repukes don't want to do anything about global warming - they want to fry other people's brains too! :crazy:

[politicasista]

18. I know where you both are coming from

Sometimes I am ashamed to be from the south, but other times, I just laugh at their ignorance in thinking that Bush was actually one of them. :hi:

[TayTay]

20. I don't blame the South at all

I was hoping that good things would come if Kerry got elected Pres. Those anticipated good things would have happened in the South as well as all other regions of the country. Cuz the South has good people in it who try and live good lives. (You say there are morons there, hell we have morons up here as well, but in different proportions.)

We have work to do in the South. It may take 40 years to regain a rel Democratic base in the South. Well, no time like the present to get to work.

(btw, I hate red-state bashing. In order to get a Dem elected Pres, I think we are going to have to turn around some red-states. I sincerely doubt that insulting red-staters or pretending that blue-staters are somehow better is going to do the trick. It wouldn't for me.)

[JohnKleeb]

21. Thank You

I get pissed off at the superiority complex people have.

[TayTay]

22. It's so stupid and counter-productive

Good, hard-working people live everywhere. It is just wrong to paint everyone in the South as some sort of bad guy or as somehow stupid because they didn't vote for your guy. I understand the frustration when folks from the Southern States get mad at their own states for not 'going blue.' But we have to work with folks there, not piss them off by bad-mouthing them. (Doesn't that reinforce the image that Northerners are arrogant and don't listen? That's not good.)

[JohnKleeb]

23. Well blue states arent always northern but yes

See thats why I dont follow the line of hating the indivudal basic republican, sure I hate the leadership and strongly dislike most of the candidates they field. Its just stupid for me to think that jsut because one is a red stater, hes foolish and just because one is a blue stater, he must be a smart person.

[Island Blue]

24. I totally agree

I think part of the problem is that most Southerners (believe it or not) have terrible inferiority complexes. That comes from years and years of being portrayed as stupid and backwater on TV, in the movies and by folks pissed off because their candidate didn't win the '04 Presidential election. We are also the only region of the country that has ever been defeated on our home turf, and there are a lot of people who have never gotten over that. (Hey, it takes folks in some countries 1000s of years to get over stuff like that.) While neither of these things is a constant thought in our minds, it is part of who we are just like the immigrant experience is a big part of the identities of a lot of folks up North.

I do think that bad-mouthing is the wrong way to go. Southerners are more complicated than most folks give us credit for. We are not one dimensional caricatures. (I know ya'll know that.) I really wish I had an answer for what it would take to "turn us blue". It gets really, really frustrating sometimes.

[pinkflower21]

27. I didn't mean to imply

that the north should look down on the south or that we as Democrats shouldn't try to win over the red states. The comment I made about apologizing for the south was kind of made in a lighthearted way. I've lived in the south all my life. I know we have educated smart folks here. A lot of southerners vote for Democrats, just not enough. We have to do better than that. I agree with those that make the assessment that as Democrats, its our job to win over the voters we didn't get in the last election and we don't do that by talking down to people. I guess I've also just had relatives that would never vote for a Democrat no matter what, so that can be frustrating at times.

[TayTay]

28. I hear ya, we all have a lot of work to do

I just get so mad at the folks who put up rude comments and web sites that were derogatory to Southerners after the election. I thought it was very counter-productive. You don't win over voters by insulting them and telling them they are stupid. That makes no sense at all.

Aren't there poor people in the South? Senior Citizens on SSI who need that money to live on? People who are diabled and need SSI disability payments? Veterans who can't get proper medical care and are not being given what they were promised? Workers who are displaced because of the new global economy? Hell, those are our people. Granted they have been alienated from the Dem Party for now. But If Kerry had won, do you think he would have shut them out because they didn't vote for him? I don't think so. He knows that that is his natural constituency and he would have worked hard for them and not tried to further alienate them.

A child who goes to bed hungry is the same anywhere in the country. A parent that can't sleep and worries constantly about being able to pay the bills is the same everywhere. Compassion doesn't stop because of geography. I just hated that about these whining posters who are NOT you.

[pinkflower21]

31. I don't blame you!

I don't blame you for being mad about that. I would never ever put up websites derogatory towards Southerners, that's crazy. That's so counter-productive and against our own interests to do that. I have no doubt in my mind that Kerry would have worked for everyone if he had been elected. :)

[saracat]

19. You ain't kiddin'. GD is a very scary place these days!

But it always was a bit unfriendly to the Kerry supporters. Seems they want a scape goat and they have selected him. They mostly blame him for NOT being someone else, if you get my drift!
BTW, I don't blame the South that much. I don't think the Bastrd was elected! And it wouldn't matter how anyone voted. I think we were fouled and that is the truth. I think it becomes more obvious every day!

[BlueIris]

30. GD really is a horrifying rathole of pointless partisanship, misogyny,

sub-par thinking and disorganization. Not to mention Kerry-hate. GOD.

[wisteria]

25. I'll add my welcome too!

It's good to have you here.

[vinessa4freedom]

26. Welcome

I'm sorry my welcome is belated. :hi:

[BlueIris]

29. Welcome, and ITA about Kerry in the debates.

Probably the best part of the campaign for me--even better than the convention. I was so proud of our guy during those three nights.

[pinkflower21]

32. God he was good!

BlueIris, I knew he would be good, but I had no idea just how good he would be in those debates. He showed everyone just how smart he is. Everyone was saying there were problems with his campaign until those debates and that is when everything started to turn around for him. I really thought his great performances in those debates should have been enough to totally sway the tide but obviously not.

[karynnj]

33. Welcome

This group is really getting bigger. I loved the debates as well. I saw the first debates at a party at a neighbor's house. (I found there was a debate party in my town on the K/E blog, submitted my info by email and was called later that night be the hostess whose daughter once babysat for my kids)

All of us were in awe of how good Kerry was and shocked at how totally awful Bush was. After the first half hour, one person said something to the effect that this was so good even Rove couldn't spin it as a Bush win. In fact, most of us were as impressed that Kerry could keep a straight face during Bush's attempts at communication as we were with his flawless answers.

I still can't believe that there are intelligent people (and I know many) who voted for Bush after this debacle. the only thing I can guess is that for some reason they were voting for a continuation of the Bush policies rather than the man.

[Island Blue]

34. I was so nervous for our guy before the first debate ...

I had butterflies in my stomach all day long as if it were ME who was going to get up there and debate. Within the first five minutes though I settled completely down - Kerry was hitting the ball out of the park like it was batting practice. He was so cool, calm, collected and intelligent I knew it was going to be a fun night!

[beachmom]

35. Welcome Pinkflower21!

I used to live in Georgia in the Atlanta area. Plenty of libs live there, but alas, there are a lot of Repubs for a metro area, and Atlanta itself felt like an island from the rest of the state. Just went back there a couple of weeks ago -- I do love Atlanta!

I feel like I can offer many perspectives, because I'm a Yank by birth in Connecticut (Yankee Doodle is our state song for crying out loud), I've lived in Indiana and Wisconsin (a very conservative area in Neenah/Appleton), Atlanta, Georgia, and now Virginia (again, a very conservative area). But my husband is German (soon he'll be getting his U.S. citizenship and I've been helping him with his test!), and we lived in Germany for 7 months, and we often will have visitors from Germany. I understand Mass. because my home was 1/2 mile from the border with it. When I think about it, I have mostly lived in conservative areas so I suppose I know what it's like to feel like a fish out of water.

When I first moved to the South, I had some misconceptions about southerners and felt nervous about being a "yankee". Now I am so over that, and to be honest, some of my Northern friends strike me as provincial when they make sweeping remarks about southerners, that they are uneducated or stupid. Sorry, but I know plenty of idiots from New England (one of them was born in Greenwich, Conn. and is in the process of wrecking this great country and has plunged us into a new Vietnam . . . but I digress).

From the German perspective, I can tell you that they are not anti-American; only anti-*. I also am a fun dichotomy because although I'm a liberal in America, I'm leaning Conservative for Angela Merkel in the September election in Germany. They have 12% unemployment and Schoeder has failed. Time to go, buddy boy. It's not like the CDU is going to join in in the Iraq War or anything or kiss *'s butt too much.

Looking forward to many more thought provoking conversations!

[BlueIris]

36. I was nervous, too. Mainly because I felt the rules were so unfair.

I couldn't believe the Dems had allowed the Republicans and their supporters to slant everything so heavily for Bush. I was like, "yeah, our candidate is good, but is anyone good enough to perservere under those conditions?" To start watching Kerry actually over-perform that night, shattering all of my admittedly moderate expectations, was just so much fun for me.

[TayTay]

37. I was anticipating a good night because

I had seen Kerry debate before many times. (Well, ahm, Masshole, ya know!) But I was thrown by that news story that went out that said that the Kerry people were putting up a big fuss about the warning lights and talking trash about how Kerry was having trouble ending his remarks before the light went on. Turns out it was meant to be a fake-out to the *ies who were overconfident that * was going to put Kerry away that night. There was even talk that the *ies were so overconfident that they had been out pub-crawling in Miami the night before instead of pacing around and chewing off their fingernails like any decent political hack would have done. I remember when that story came across the AP wires and I was extremely puzzled by it. Kerry had worked with lights and timers before in debates in MA, what was up with that. I loved the fake-out.

Even James Fallows, who had done that remarkable anaylsis of debating styles Bush v. Kerry in The Atlantic, was amazed that * did as poorly as he did. Fallows had remarked in his pre-debate article that he had reviewed the '96 Kerry v. Weld debates and found that he liked the way Kerry's mind worked and found it a pleasure to watch and listen to him in debate. But * had actually been very good and completely on-message against Ann Richards in the Texas Gov's race debate and he had not caved when he debated Gore. (Fake expactations and the idiotic media game aside.) But Kerry just destroyed him. This proved that a) I have no sympathy whatsoever for Rethugs or I would have felt some stirring of sympathy for the Shrub and b) I have a taste for the jugular. Nice!