Andrew Sullivan quoted Kerry from my e-mail to him!!!!!

[beachmom]

Sully's been in England for a couple of weeks, so I sent him a nice e-mail, complimenting his lovely village in Sussex he comes from, and then told him that Kerry had given a brilliant speech. I gave him links, but also used the excerpts that BLM had posted on GD. Well, Sully liked it, and used it for his quote of the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/2006/04/quote_for_the_d_14.html

Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Quote for the Day

"The true defeatists today are not those who call for recognizing the facts on the ground in Iraq. The true defeatists are those who believe America is so weak that it must sacrifice its principles to the pursuit of illusory power.

The true pessimists today are not those who know that America can handle the truth about the Administration's boastful claim of 'Mission Accomplished' in Iraq. The true pessimists are those who cannot accept that America's power and prestige depend on our credibility at home and around the world. The true pessimists are those who do not understand that fidelity to our principles is as critical to national security as our military power itself.

And the most dangerous defeatists, the most dispiriting pessimists, are those who invoke September 11th to argue that our traditional values are a luxury we can no longer afford," - John Kerry, last Saturday, uttering the words he never found when it mattered. I guess the 2004 focus-groups told him to stay silent. But better late then never.

I would put his snark in only a mid range -- worse has been said on DU and dKos about JK or Joe Klein for that matter. And . . . his blog is a high traffic blog on the Time magazine website. So that goes for everyone -- e-mail media/pundits/bloggers who you think might like what he said in that speech. You never know where you're going to find allies who will give props to our fine senator.

[beachmom]

1. Ouch -- just checked my in box -- he wrote back to me

What he said was a little meaner than above. Obviously, he believes Joe Klein about the focus groups. What is up with those focus groups? Why does Kerry say he knows nothing about the focus groups while Klein's sources say it did happen. I know Kerry wouldn't tell a lie. Were focus groups done behind his back, or was that completely made up by backstabbing Dem strategists? Inquiring minds would like to know

(Andrew Sullivan and Joe Klein both work for Time)

[karynnj]

7. Wouldn't a logical possibility be that

Shrum or Cahill did hire people to do focus groups. I think that is the norm for politics. The point is those things are in the background and may suggest that one way of saying something is better than another. Here, even if there was a focus group, Kerry disregarded it, as he did Clinton's advice on gay rights.

The point on Abu Ghraib is that Kerry did bring it up - and someone posted many links to news accounts. (Not blaming just the low level people echoes the same thing in 1971.) I actually though at the time of the campaign that Kerry was in a unigue place. By speaking as he did often of following international law (including the Geneva Accords) and of how Bush had destroyed our image in the world, anyone would connect the comments to the 1971 comments. John Kerry of all people didn't need to say "I will never condone torture", because as Klein admitted he had said this his entire adult life.

It bothers me that Klein who really doesn't hold Bush's feet to the fire made such a charge without even doing something as simple as checking the NYT 2003/2004 index for articles. This is lousy research. The comment that Snuffy used was beyond the pale - Kerry's bravery in speaking up in 1971 and again in the 80s go well beyond anything Klein ever did - and he was an appologist for this war. Maybe he hates it that Kerry is a better, stronger, more moral man than he will ever be.

[wisteria]

2. I would say to Sullivan, Senator Kerry's words on Saturday still do

matter- even more now then in 2004 when there was still much hope for Iraq.

[benny05]

3. Yep

Good discourse on Sat at FH!

[kerrygoddess]

4. And he linked

to the Dem Daily! Thanks Beachmom!

[beachmom]

5. Oh yeah!! Your blog is the best for speech links, so that's what I used.

Hey I hope you get a lot of hits as a result.

Anyway, when I wrote my first post, I was taking credit for his post but I didn't know 100% for sure, until I saw that he wrote me a thank you back. He still really blames Kerry for the torture -- "complicit" was what he said a few months back, and he hasn't changed his mind unfortunately. Oh well, it was a great quote, and people who normally wouldn't know that he gave a great speech will now know that he did.

[kerrygoddess]

6. It's awesome that he posted because of your email!

Absolutely awesome. Just goes to show we need to keep those emails and LTTE's going!

I don't know why some people do the "blame" thing. One of my readers sent me an email interchange she had today with another blogger who has a blame issue too.