Posted on 01/29/2004 5:13:00 AM PST by FlyLow
John Kerry’s liberalness didn’t escape the attention of some network anchors and reporters, such as MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, CNN’s coverage team of Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, as well as CBS’s Dan Rather, though in an interview few saw, as each pressed him to respond to GOP talking points about his record. NBC’s Tom Brokaw alluded to Kerry’s liberal record at the end of a question, but on ABC’s Nightline Ted Koppel stuck to horse race and mood questions.
Koppel’s questions to Kerry: Whether he’s the presumptive nominee, is beating Bush the “central issue” to Democratic voters, “what are the pitfalls that lie ahead” for him in the primaries, how he would explain the U.S. primary process to an imaginary visitor from Mars, if the system is the best way to pick a President and, finally, is he “starting to enjoy” the campaign? Kerry, naturally, used each question as a prompt to spout off his standard liberal mantra.
Elsewhere, network reporters noticed Kerry’s liberal views and how the Bush team will make them an issue:
-- MSNBC, 8:50pm EST. The MRC’s Brad Wilmouth caught this query from Chris Matthews to Dee Dee Myers: “Will this big, tall, French-looking, Yankee-looking, Yankee-talking aristocrat who has this strong liberal voting record to the left of Teddy Kennedy sell on the road in America? Will he play in Peoria?”
-- CNN 10:15pm EST. Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield each posed a question to Kerry:
# Blitzer, after congratulating Kerry on his win: “As you already know, Senator Kerry, the Republicans, many Republicans are trying to brand you as nothing more than a Massachusetts liberal, a Democrat, a tax and spend liberal Democrat. How do you expect to project your message now outside of New Hampshire, outside of New England, outside of Iowa into the other states next week, South Carolina, Missouri, Arizona, these other contests that are coming up?” Kerry: “Well, we're doing very well in those places because Americans are tired of the labeling and the slogans. What they really want is leadership...”
# Woodruff: “Senator Kerry, it's Judy Woodruff. I want to join Wolf congratulating you on your fine showing tonight in New Hampshire. But I want to follow up what Wolf said. It's not just the label of Massachusetts liberal Senator Kerry. It's a 20-year voting record in the Senate. We already hear Republicans pointing to votes on taxes, on same sex marriage, defense spending and guns and on and on that Republicans are going to try to use to keep those so-called red states red.” Kerry: “Well, those are the things we need to fight about in our country and I look forward to that debate. You know I've been a hunter all my life and I'm a gun owner and I've never thought of going hunting with an AK-47. I believe in the Second Amendment...”
# Greenfield: “Senator Kerry, it's Jeff Greenfield. Bill Clinton became a two-term President by challenging Democrats on a lot of orthodoxies. What are you prepared to challenge the Democratic Party on?” Kerry: “Oh, there's a lot that as we go down the road, Jeff, if you look at some of the efforts I've made with respect to education reform. I've already done that. If you look at where I stepped out on the budget, I mean it was heresy back in 1985 for a Democrat to stand up and say we ought to be serious about the deficit. I had cartoons in the Boston Globe of me as this baby elephant latched on to a large elephant hooked up by our trunks. That was a tough choice back then. I've made plenty of tough choices and I will in the future and I think people who know me know I've never hesitated to take on powerful interests and take risks on behalf of our democracy and on behalf of our promises in this country.”
1985? Okay, what has he done in the last 19 years?
-- 10:30pm EST, Tom Brokaw with Kerry in an interview simulcast on MSNBC and CNBC, and maybe carried on NBC in some time zones, just not the EST: “Senator, some of the toughest attacks against you here in New Hampshire came from the second place finisher, Vermont Governor Howard Dean, saying you voted against Operation Desert Storm in 1991, you voted for this war against Iraq but then voted against the $87 billion. To be a devil’s advocate for just a moment, I can see the Republicans in the White House taking those Dean comments, packaging them for their own benefit, and saying this is just another weather vane liberal from Massachusetts.”
-- Dan Rather, in an interview with Kerry carried on CBS’s Up to the Minute overnight show, but possibly run in Western time zones since it was conducted during the 10pm EST hour when EST/CST CBS affiliates were airing a Judging Amy re-run: “Senator, you know what they say about you at the White House. They say, ‘Listen, he’s just a tall Dukakis. He’s another McGovern. He’s a Ted Kennedy disciple, he’s just another Northeastern liberal’ and they intend to run against you that way. Do you think you can win and, if so, how against that kind of characterization?”
just another weather vane liberalThanks for posting that, it's a great caption idea for a Kerry faux campaign poster. Or for whatever candidate gets the nomination. Kerry was the early favorite, then the short attention span crowd arrived and gave Dean his early push. Dean raised (reportedly) $40 million, but he just asked his campaign workers to go without pay for two weeks.
just another weather vane liberalThanks for posting that, it's a great caption idea for a Kerry faux campaign poster. Or for whatever candidate gets the nomination. Kerry was the early favorite, then the short attention span crowd arrived and gave Dean his early push. Dean raised (reportedly) $40 million, but he just asked his campaign workers to go without pay for two weeks.
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