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As the debate on Afghanistan comes to the fore, a well respected Democrat has urged Barack Obama to emulate the wartime courage and leadership of former President George W. Bush by implementing the 'surge' strategy recommended by Gen. Stanley McChrystal.Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Medal of Honor recipient of the Vietnam war, wrote an op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal Friday night that congratulated Obama on his Nobel Peace Prize but then went on to criticize Obama for being "naive" and apologizing for America too much. The news media has ignored this article by the former 9/11 Commission member...

Ties between White House, Sept 11 chief By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Sun Feb 3, 6:25 PM ET WASHINGTON - The Sept. 11 commission's executive director had closer ties with the White House than publicly disclosed and tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration's responsibility, a new book says. Philip Zelikow, a friend of then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, spoke with her several times during the 20-month investigation that closely examined her role in assessing the al-Qaida threat. He also exchanged frequent calls with the White House, including...

Despite his war wounds, can Bob Kerrey still kick Chris Matthews' butt? We might soon find out, because on this evening's Hardball Matthews lumped Kerrey into a group of Clinton sycophants he derided as "castratos" and a "eunuch chorus." Chris was kvetching about the way a variety of Hillary Clinton supporters including Kerrey have lined up to take shots at Barack Obama. The former Nebraska senator went out of his way, in endorsing Hillary yesterday, to draw attention to Obama's Muslim background. View video here.

Joe Scarborough: MSNBC's kind of Republican. The sort who not only tells Democrats they're "very badly" needed in Washington. Who not merely expresses the desire to write them a campaign check. But who even volunteers [tongue-in-cheek, one would hope] to do illegal check-bundling for them a la Norman Hsu. After recently putting in an embarrassingly sycophantish performance when interviewing Hillary Clinton, Scarborough was back ingratiating himself with another Dem today. Interviewing former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey on "Morning Joe," talk inevitably turned to the possibility of Kerrey seeking a Senate seat again. Scarborough waxed wildly enthusiastic.View video here. JOE SCARBOROUGH:...

A possible title bout between political heavyweights Mike Johanns and Bob Kerrey for the U.S. Senate has the makings of a marquee matchup. The clash of past champions would offer voters a choice between two distinctly different personalities, each with a lengthy public record to defend. It would be a fight with national implications: Democrats would view it as a chance to widen their Senate majority; Republicans would be forced to defend a seat in a red state. The only thing missing? The fighters themselves. Neither man has entered the ring, despite being heavily recruited by his party. Democrat Kerrey...

It is the kind of embarrassment that any school would want to avoid: an esteemed board member who has given generously of his time and money gets caught in a headline-grabbing scandal. And in the case of the New School in Greenwich Village, it turned out to have some national resonance: Norman Hsu, a major Democratic donor active in Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign and a New School trustee, was found to be a fugitive who had skipped out after a felony theft conviction in California 15 years ago. Compounding matters, he failed to show up for a court...

The political winds are picking up in Nebraska, but determining which direction they'll go has become a game of speculation swirling around the intentions of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel. The air of uncertainty began when Hagel, 60, promised to discuss his political future at an Omaha news conference in March, and many expected the second-term senator to announce a bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Instead, Hagel simply said he was leaving his options open, raising a number of questions and the possibility that he might not run for re-election. The lack of certainty foreshadowed a possible showdown that could...

Hagel to announce his future plans next Monday Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), who is up for re-election next year, will be making an announcement on his political future Monday morning at 11:00 EST in Omaha, Nebraska. Hagel hasn't announced what his decision will be, but he has hinted recently that he may be ready to step down. Washington Post columnist David Broder, after interviewing Hagel last week, wrote that "my guess is that he will say that 12 years of battling the institutional lethargy of Capitol Hill will be enough." Hagel has been one of the president’s harshest GOP critics...

Former senator Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) seems to be creeping ever closer to a Senate race in 2008, telling the board of trustees at the New School -- where he serves as president -- that a candidacy is a possibility.... Kerrey seems convinced that Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) has decided against running for a third term in 2008, creating an open seat and a golden opportunity for the Democrat's return to Washington. Kerrey has spoken with Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) about the possibility and would probably have the right of first refusal among Democrats; "I was flattered that...

Bill Clinton: Wall Street Journal Editorials Even More 'Irrational' Than Fox News Pundits By Tim Graham | August 8, 2007 - 09:07 ET While Hillary Clinton was assuring the union crowd last night that she knows how to battle the "right-wing machine," Huffington Post blogger Blake Fleetwood reports that Bill Clinton is still taking on the Clinton-challenging media machine. At a fundraiser closed to reporters (but not to bloggers?), the former president asserted "the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is even more right wing and irrational than most of the commentators on Fox News." He also asserted that...

May 23, 2007, 5:00 a.m. Preoccupied with Democracy in IraqLike Bush, Bob Kerrey is courageous, and confusing, on fighting radical Islam. By Andrew C. McCarthy Kudos to former Senator Bob Kerrey. The Nebraska Democrat has written a stirring opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, eloquently arguing that we must defeat al Qaeda in Iraq. Surely, it will win him no fans among the hard Left that today controls his party. Kerrey boldly holds the mirror up to the surrender lobby. “Iraq,� he writes, “has become the primary battleground against the same radical Islamists who declared war on the...

At this year's graduation celebration at The New School in New York, Iranian lawyer, human-rights activist and Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi delivered our commencement address. This brave woman, who has been imprisoned for her criticism of the Iranian government, had many good and wise things to say to our graduates, which earned their applause. But one applause line troubled me. Ms. Ebadi said: "democracy cannot be imposed with military force." What troubled me about this statement -- is that those who say such things seem to forget the good U.S. arms have done in imposing democracy on countries like Japan...

Former Clinton political hitman James Carville, who recently touted New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for a 2008 presidential run, is reportedly behind an advertising campaign attacking President Bush for his 1990 sale of Harken Energy stock as well as his ties to the oil industry in general. American Family Voices, a group described by the New York Times as "secretive," has paid to run a 30-second commercial on cable news programs in Washington, D.C., and in New York through Thursday. The ad blasts President Bush as "sly like a fox" for talking down his dealings with Harken Energy, which Democrats...

It’s the time of year when long-suffering tuition-poor parents get primped up and drive countless miles to stew in summer’s heat, sitting on excruciatingly uncomfortable folding wooden seats on damp fields, gnats biting at their ankles and ears. They do this for one reason: to see their offspring get their long-hoped-for diplomas. (After which the detritus collected over four or more years gets piled into the car with the offspring and returned home.)

NEW YORK -- Arizona Sen. John McCain received a cantankerous reception during his appearance at the New School commencement Friday, where dozens of faculty members and students turned their backs and raised signs in protest and a distinguished student speaker pointedly mocked him as he sat silently nearby. The historically liberal university has been roiled in controversy in recent weeks over the selection of McCain, a conservative Republican and likely 2008 presidential candidate, to deliver the commencement address. Some 1,200 students and faculty signed petitions asking the university president, former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, to rescind the invitation. Petitioners said...

...a beautiful prose poem to America, national service, and civil debate (congrats Mark Salter, as ever), and gets derided for it, of course. “I supported the war in Iraq.” Boos. Explains the war was not for cheap oil. A little heckling: “You're full of it!” Says he thought the “country's interest and values demanded” the war. Someone shouts: “Wrongly!” Someone else: “More poetry!” (A reference to lines from Yeats McCain had quoted earlier.) He says “whether [the war] was necessary or not...we all should shed a tear” for those who have sacrificed in it. Some hissing. Shouting. He eventually enters...

If hypocrisy and doublethink were Olympic events, New York’s academic community would be awash with gold medals. Two controversies this month have shown the extent to which noble and supposedly immutable concepts like free speech and opposition to censorship can be tweaked and twisted to suit political agendas. The New School’s president, Bob Kerrey, has invited Senator John McCain to address the university’s commencement ceremony on Friday. Some students are so angry about this that they have organized a petition to get the invite revoked. Senator McCain’s crime appears to be that he is a conservative. The protesters’ absurd rationale...

Not in D.C. Anymore For some students at the New School, in Manhattan, their institution and conservative politicians go together as well as Swiss cheese and peanut butter. Bob Kerrey, the institution’s president and a former Democratic governor and senator from Nebraska, announced this spring that U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican and past and possibly future presidential candidate, would be the commencement speaker at the New School. Kerrey said the senator’s acceptance “is a big honor for our graduates and their families.” But hundreds of students, staff and faculty members at the institution of about 9,000 students have...

For some students at the New School, in Manhattan, their institution and conservative politicians go together as well as Swiss cheese and peanut butter. Bob Kerrey, the institution’s president and a former Democratic governor and senator from Nebraska, announced this spring that U.S. Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican and past and possibly future presidential candidate, would be the commencement speaker at the New School. Kerrey said the senator’s acceptance “is a big honor for our graduates and their families.” But hundreds of students, staff and faculty members at the institution of about 9,000 students have signed paper and online...

CAIRO, Egypt - A former Democratic senator and 9/11 commissioner says a recently declassified Iraqi account of a 1995 meeting between Osama bin Laden and a senior Iraqi envoy presents a "significant set of facts," and shows a more detailed collaboration between Iraq and Al Qaeda. In an interview yesterday, the current president of the New School University, Bob Kerrey, was careful to say that new documents translated last night by ABC News did not prove Saddam Hussein played a role in any way in plotting the attacks of September 11, 2001. Nonetheless, the former senator from Nebraska said that...

9/11 Commissioner and Former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey: Iraq-al Qaeda Docs "Tie [Saddam] into a Circle that Meant to Damage the United States" From today's New York Sun: CAIRO, Egypt - A former Democratic senator and 9/11 commissioner says a recently declassified Iraqi account of a 1995 meeting between Osama bin Laden and a senior Iraqi envoy presents a "significant set of facts," and shows a more detailed collaboration between Iraq and Al Qaeda. In an interview yesterday, the current president of the New School University, Bob Kerrey, was careful to say that new documents translated last night by ABC...

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission), an independent, bipartisan commission created by congressional legislation...is chartered to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response to the attacks...

Bob Kerrey: No plans to run for NYC mayor 4/19/2005, 11:53 p.m. ET The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey said Tuesday he does not intend to run for mayor of New York City, ending a brief flirtation with the race. "I am not running for the mayor of New York City, nor do I intend to be a candidate," the Democrat said in a statement. He said he "seriously considered" running for mayor because he has deep concerns about the future of the city. He said he would continue to speak out on issues...

Thrown off balance by former United States Senator Bob Kerrey's musings about whether to run for mayor, New York politicians struggled yesterday to gauge his seriousness, while aides to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg expressed bewilderment with Mr. Kerrey's motives. Publicly at least, the Democratic candidates for mayor reacted with caution to Mr. Kerrey's comment on Saturday that he was disillusioned with Mr. Bloomberg and was considering getting into the race himself. Mr. Kerrey, a Democrat who is president of New School University, said he would make a final decision in the next few days. Aides to several candidates said privately...

Former United States Senator Bob Kerrey, the president of the New School University and a Democratic candidate for president in 1992, said yesterday that he was considering a run for mayor of New York City, declaring that Michael R. Bloomberg had failed to fight Washington Republican policies that Mr. Kerrey said endangered the city's finances and security. Mr. Kerrey, in an interview, also questioned why Mr. Bloomberg had invested so much energy in trying to build a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan. Mr. Kerrey said it would make more sense to put the stadium in another borough, and...

"Hell no, we won't go" is the wrong liberal approach on Social Security reform.The late Pat Moynihan used to joke when I asked him why liberals were so reluctant to consider changing Social Security so that it guaranteed wealth as well as income: "It's because they worry that wealth will turn Democrats into Republicans." Leaving aside that possible correlation, it will be a shame if liberal voices, values and ideas are not brought into the debate initiated by President Bush's Social Security reform proposal. To make certain the reforms are done correctly liberal thinking is urgently needed.There is no doubt...

Kerrey signs deal to remain president at New School University NEW YORK (AP) - Bob Kerrey, a former Nebraska senator and a member of the Sept. 11 Commission, said Thursday that he has signed on to remain as president of New School University through June 2011. "I like the city, I like the school and I'm not done," Kerrey said in an interview with The Associated Press at his office in lower Manhattan. He said he intends over the next six years to continue to improve the reputation of the liberal arts-based university. "We don't have precise figures, but we...

The White House used the front page of Monday's Washington Post to cashier a Cabinet member. A story headlined "Bush to Change Economic Team" said: "One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long." Obviously the office will need filling before "very long." The president should fill it with Alan Greenspan. He has headed the Federal Reserve System under four presidents — since August 1987. Now he is needed elsewhere. Having been in Washington most of the 30 years since he became chairman of President Gerald...

Vietnam veteran and major Kerry backer former Senator Bob Kerrey said Sunday that the presidential candidate should apologize to his fellow Vietnam veterans for accusing them of committing war crimes. Asked whether Kerry should "apologize" for his 1971 admission that he committed "the same kind of atrocities as thousands of other soldiers," the Nebraska Democrat told NBC's "Meet the Press", "I think he shou . . ," before stopping in mid-word. Vietnam veteran and major Kerry backer former Senator Bob Kerrey said Sunday that the presidential candidate should apologize to his fellow Vietnam veterans for accusing them of committing war...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Get this. Fox News yesterday had a segment. It was in the afternoon. The Kerry campaign, the John Kerry campaign, in angry response to the Bush campaign claim that Senator Kerry attended very few intelligence briefings. We talked about this yesterday, and we had the audio from Pat Roberts, the Republican chairman of the committee and he said, "Hey, if Senator Kerry will give us permission to release the attendance records of both the public and the closed hearings, we can settle this," because the Bush campaign is out there saying this guy doesn't care about intelligence,...

That was fast. And so predictable. Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey dove headfirst into the presidential campaign last week, joining three other John Kerry [related, bio] partisans in calling for Bush strategist Karl Rove's resignation. And he also had the gall to call the president a ``partisan political hack'' and a ``hypocrite'' on the ``Today Show,'' all the while claiming he was avoiding politics per agreement of the 9/11 Commission. ``The 9/11 Commission agreed not to use anything we've gotten off of the . . . report to bring into a political campaign,'' Kerrey said. That's splitting a hair nicely,...

Bob Kerrey said Fox News could quote him. So they did.

Major Garrett just reported on Fox News that Former Senator Bob Kerry's response to questions regarding allegations against Senator John Kerry, Bob Kerry said "*uck them!" and Bob Kerry said "and you can quote me on that!"

For nearly two weeks, Senator John F. Kerry had refrained from commenting directly on the crescendo of attacks on his Vietnam War record. The work was being left to campaign aides, who were scrambling to control the escalating damage being done by a television ad and a book that alleged that Kerry had lied about his combat service and did not deserve his medals. Then, Wednesday night, Kerry told his aides that he had to act. As he sat down inside his Louisburg Square home on Beacon Hill, Kerry scrawled two phrases on a yellow legal pad about his antagonists,...

This morning I e-mailed the Senate Historian's office and asked "Could you please send me a list of senators who have served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence over the last 15 years, including who has served as Chairman and Vice Chairman of that committee over those years?" I just received their response in the form of pdf file that included all select committee assignments from the 101st (1989-1990) through the 108th (2003-2004) Congresses. Bob Kerrey first shows up on the committee during the 103rd (1993-1994) Congress. He assumes the Vice Chairman position during the 104th (1995-1996) and continues...

WASHINGTON - In news releases and postings on John Kerry's campaign Web site as recently as last Friday, the Democratic presidential candidate is touted as the former vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Kerry was not vice chairman and the claim has now been removed from Kerry's Web site. According to the Senate Historical Office, Kerry never had the seniority to hold a leadership position on the committee -- though he was a member from 1993 until 2001. The Kerry campaign says the claim was an error, but did not explain who made the error or how...

Kerry Campaign Explains Bob Kerrey Mixup AP - 1 hour, 16 minutes ago John Kerry, Bob Kerrey. It's easy to get confused. At least that's how the Kerry campaign is explaining claims that Kerry — the Democratic presidential candidate — served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Oops. Make that Bob Kerrey — the former Democratic senator from Nebraska who did serve as the panel's vice chairman. (snip) It's difficult to take John Kerry's claims about his intelligence experience seriously when one of his credentials is completely made up," said Republican National Committee (news - web...

<p>It is not only John Kerry who puts out false information. On Kerry's website was info that was hurredly removed that claimed the candidate was the Vice Chair of the Intelligence Committee. Whoops. That was actually Bob Kerrey. In fact, John attended very few of the very important public or private meetings.</p>

John Kerry Confuses Himself With Bob Kerrey Of course John Kerry is afraid to run on his left-wing Senate record, but does that mean he should pose as a colleague? Imagine the screaming headlines and nationwide media ridicule if President Bush confused himself with another pol. But don't expect the New York Times and company to report this: Story Continues Below In trying to defend his horrendous record on intelligence "and spin their way out of his lousy committee attendance record," Kerry's campaign "claimed on its website Monday, 'John Kerry served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for 8...

Tonight on Fox News I heard something (while I was on the phone) about the Kerry campaign claiming that Johnny boy attended certain Intelligence Committee meetings or something, mistaking him in their claims for "Bob" Kerry, who actually attended those meetings. They looked really foolish, or so it seemed, but I did not catch it all. Can someone fill me in?

Fox News just had a news segment where the Kerry campaign, in angry response to Bush claims that Kerry attended few Intelligence briefings, said that Kerry had at one time been the Vice-Chairman of the Intelligence campaign. In response, the Bush people gleefully (Fox's word) returned fire by saying that it was BOB Kerrey, not JOHN Kerry who was Vice-Chairman of the Intelligence committee.

Sandy Who? Two weeks ago, Republicans were filled with glee, as Democrats fell all over themselves, trying to diminish the fact that Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser, Samuel Berger, better known as Sandy, was caught stuffing classified documents and national secrets down his drawers, in his jacket, in his socks, and in a leather portfolio, in order to steal them from the National Archives, and to later destroy some of them. (Berger returned some documents, but only after he was caught, and had “accidentally” destroyed the most important ones.) Note that Berger reportedly burgled the Archives on as many...

The former Navy personnel who are attempting to discredit Sen. John Kerry's record of service in Vietnam are doing so to argue that he is unqualified to be commander in chief. Most appear to be angry with him on account of his opposition to the Vietnam War, not his service in it. They have done a better job of damaging the reputation of the U.S. Navy than they have of damaging John Kerry.Moreover, they ignore what I consider to be the most important qualities any commander in chief must possess. If elected in November, John Kerry will make an exceptionally...

August 9, 2004 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The television ad that aroused the wrath of John McCain and journalist supporters of John Kerry just begins deconstruction of the Democratic presidential candidate's war record. "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," a 214-page critique of his performance in Vietnam and the antiwar movement, is off the presses ahead of schedule. I have read the book and found it is neither the political propaganda nor the urban legend that its detractors claim. It is a passionate but meticulously researched account of how Kerry went to war, what he did...

Ten candidates from across the country have been chosen to compete in Showtime Networks' unscripted and unprecedented reality series, AMERICAN CANDIDATE. The series focuses on six men and four women of various ages, backgrounds and political views, including Independents, Democrats, Republicans, Greens and Libertarians. AMERICAN CANDIDATE is hosted by Emmy® Award-winning talk show host Montel Williams. The 10-episode, one-hour program is created by Academy Award®-nominated and Emmy®-winning documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler ("The War Room," "American High," Showtime's FRESHMAN DIARIES) and executive produced by Cutler, Jay Roach (director of "Austin Powers in Goldmember," "Meet the Parents") and Tom Lassally ("Stay"). Week-by-week,...

9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey said Friday that he believed ex-President Bill Clinton when Clinton told the Commission he "misspoke" in a 2002 speech where he detailed an offer from Sudan to have Osama bin Laden extradited to the U.S. But Kerrey also admitted that if he or any of the other commissioners had challenged Clinton's account, it would have split the Commission along partisan lines and short-circuited efforts to keep their findings unanimous. Story Continues Below "He said that he misspoke so I believe him," Kerrey told WDAY North Dakota radio host Scott Hennen. "I choose to believe him on...

<p>Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey has always struck me as the Democrats' version of John McCain. It isn't merely their Vietnam War connection, though demonstrated courage is surely a factor. When called upon to be partisan, they'll play party hardball, but don't expect national committee talking points. Both men have the maverick's spine to openly speculate and frustrate, but they usually do so with a leader's disciplined goal of constructive critique.</p>

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) may have committed an intelligence failure of his own. The prominent member of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks walked out on a high-profile interview with President Bush to meet Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). He wanted to persuade the powerful chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to fund the New School University — the New York institution Kerrey runs. But the school may not get anything from Congress this year; Domenici, who met Kerrey briefly April 30, told The Hill he wasn’t even aware that his former colleague abandoned the president...

NEW YORK - The former police and fire chiefs who were lionized after the World Trade Center attack came under harsh criticism Tuesday from the Sept. 11 commission, with one member saying the departments' lack of cooperation was scandalous and "not worthy of the Boy Scouts." Former fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen and former police chief Bernard Kerik shot back with infuriated responses to John Lehman's questions, the strongest of a series of pointed statements from the panel. "I couldn't disagree with you more strongly," Von Essen replied. "I think it's outrageous that you make a statement like that." Outside...

I used to respect Bob Kerrey, but he has become a complete grandstanding jerk, pandering in the worst way.A few years ago, Fred Barnes wrote in the Weekly Standard that Kerrey was the "last respectable democrat".(Pre Zell Miller) So much for that.