Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Democrats have misgivings as Kerry tests waters for '08
Philadelphia Daily News ^ | 3/20/05 | By Dick Polman

Posted on 03/20/2005 6:29:03 AM PST by bitt

Some backers won't count him out. Others don't want a "shopworn" candidate.

WASHINGTON - John Kerry had come so close; on election night, before the dream died, his chief strategist had even said, "Let me be the first to call you Mr. President." Yet there he was on Inauguration Day, a mere spectator wearing a wan smile in the cold wind.

And when President Bush took the oath of office, Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa seated beside Kerry, placed his gloved right hand on the vanquished candidate's spine. He rubbed up and down, repeatedly. And as Bush intoned, "... so help me God," Harkin finished with a pair of gentle pats.

Those gestures spoke volumes about Kerry's sense of loss. And Kerry would not have the luxury of recuperating in private. He couldn't grow a beard and vanish, as Al Gore did; he couldn't go to Hawaii and teach college, as Mike Dukakis finally did. No, Kerry had to go back to his day job - becoming the first losing presidential candidate to return to the Senate since George McGovern in 1973.

But unlike McGovern, who stayed low-profile after a landslide defeat, John Kerry is already working hard on a resurrection. In a rudderless, leaderless Democratic Party, he is determined to fill the vacuum.

And don't be shocked if he launches another presidential candidacy in 2008, despite the fact that no U.S. senator has ever run, lost, and won a subsequent nomination. History notwithstanding, however, it may not be easy for Kerry to simply walk away, not after winning 59 million votes - although there are plenty of Democrats who wish that he would.

There he was Thursday, for example, in a Washington hotel, with that familiar ramrod posture, and the familiar portentous voice projecting...

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; kerry; kerry2008; unfit
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-123 next last
To: bitt
The word in Washington is that Kerry will sign the form(180) soon

Kerry will only sign if there is still a way to restrict certain documents. Otherwise, he would have signed for '04. His doc contain something he doesn't want to public to know. Otherwise, he would not have danced around the issue with 'releasing all the documents in his position' nuances. Russert knows this. Russert knew it in April 04 when he asked and Kerry nuanced; Russert knew it in early 05 when he asked again, and Kerry nuanced again.

Without 'revision' Kerry won't (and probably politically can't afford to) allow the full documents to be released.
101 posted on 03/20/2005 10:00:10 AM PST by TomGuy (America: Best friend or worst enemy. Choose wisely.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: beyond the sea
"I guess I need a different chair.......... or less tension ......... or fewer threads."

Change the height level of your monitor. It works. I went through a similar thing years ago and it mystified the doctor. Someone else told me to change my monitor and the problem went away almost immediately.

102 posted on 03/20/2005 10:00:52 AM PST by Radix (How does one get get rid of of Tag Line Line hiccups?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 89 | View Replies]

To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
He had one chance and he blew it. He's more of a loser than was let on publicly. He is roundly hated and Rich is finding someone less asocial.


103 posted on 03/20/2005 10:05:09 AM PST by Lady Jag (Honor and dignityh)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy
"Without 'revision' Kerry won't (and probably politically can't afford to) allow the full documents to be released."

Whoever in the US Senate that gave Hanoi Kerry
a Top Secret Clearance HAS seen all his military records.

The FBI, since 9/11, does non military clearances.

His most recent one who have been when he ran against President Bush.

NO ONE gets a Top Secret Clearance WITHOUT agreeing to have all your records released.

Does the DC crowd think "We the People" are stupid?
104 posted on 03/20/2005 10:17:13 AM PST by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub (Be wary of the "Move On " FReepers. They want to give Hanoi Kerry a free pass? mmmm WHY?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: cajungirl
Change the height level of your monitor. It works. I went through a similar thing years ago and it mystified the doctor. Someone else told me to change my monitor and the problem went away almost immediately.

I got this advice on my neck and back spasm problems at the computer. Thought you may want to see this.

105 posted on 03/20/2005 10:33:14 AM PST by beyond the sea (Colonial Script........... or nationalize The Federal Bank..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: bitt

Well .. let the jerk run - who cares - the SBV's said that if he chooses to run again - THEY WILL RETURN AGAIN TO DEFEAT HIM.

But .. I don't know what MA rules are regarding him running for the Senate and the Pres at the same time. Some states do not allow it.

If he chooses to run for Senate - Jerome Corsi is planning to run against him. If he chooses to run for Pres - he's have to get past the Soros/Hillary cabal.


106 posted on 03/20/2005 11:18:54 AM PST by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: beyond the sea

interesting ....did you move the monitor higher or lower? forward or back? or just change monitors?


107 posted on 03/20/2005 11:21:32 AM PST by bitt (RUSSERT: So they should sign Form 180s for themselves as well? KERRY: You Bet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: CyberAnt

presently the rules in MA say he can't run for both positions at the same time...but of course the legislature would just change the rules...


108 posted on 03/20/2005 11:22:53 AM PST by bitt (RUSSERT: So they should sign Form 180s for themselves as well? KERRY: You Bet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 106 | View Replies]

To: freddiedavis
The Democrats spent Bush's first term complaining that Gore had "won" the popular vote, since he had a plurality (but not a majority) of the votes as tallied. The people who are grousing now about Kerry losing Ohio are not bothered that Bush had an absolute majority of the popular vote and that his margin in 2004 was five or six times the size that of Gore's margin in 2000.

There have been other elections which could have gone the other way if a small number of votes had switched, such as 1916 (a couple of thousand votes switched in California, and Hughes would have defeated Wilson in the electoral college).

109 posted on 03/20/2005 11:23:24 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: bitt

Do they have the state legislative numbers to do that ..??

I don't follow MA news.

I know Daschle had to drop out of Pres run because his state did not allow him to run for both. I don't know what their state legislative make-up is either.

I'm guessing Kerry will stick with the senate run - figuring he can bluff his way through that - but I think he's underestimating Corsi's ability to taint him.


110 posted on 03/20/2005 11:43:18 AM PST by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 108 | View Replies]

To: bitt
if only 60,000 Ohioans had switched votes

Of course, if only 60,000 voters had voted for Bush instead of Kerry in a handfull of Kerry states, then Bush would have won by an electoral college landslide.

111 posted on 03/20/2005 11:55:38 AM PST by kennedy ("Why would I listen to losers?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub

Hang the traitor. Only then can we move on, to the next traitor.


112 posted on 03/20/2005 12:01:00 PM PST by BykrBayb (5 minutes of prayer for Terri, every day at 11 am EDT, until she's safe. http://www.terrisfight.org)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 91 | View Replies]

To: floridavoter2
Where does this 60,000 Ohioans number come from? Bush took the state by about 118,000, right?

If 60,000 Bush voters had instead voted for Kerry, then Kerry would have won by 2,000 votes. If those voters had simply not voted, then Kerry would have still lost by 58,000 votes. Imagining voters switching votes both substracts from Bush's total and adds to Kerry's total.

They like to say it that way, because "if only 60,000 voters had switched votes" sounds like a lot less than "we lost by 120,000 votes."

113 posted on 03/20/2005 12:02:41 PM PST by kennedy ("Why would I listen to losers?")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: CyberAnt

they have a DOMINANT position in the legislature, so much so, that when they were confronted with the possibility that, if Kerry had won the presidency, the Republican governor could appoint an interim Senator, well then they just convened and changed the rules.


114 posted on 03/20/2005 12:03:24 PM PST by bitt (RUSSERT: So they should sign Form 180s for themselves as well? KERRY: You Bet)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 110 | View Replies]

To: bitt

Yeah, I remember that!


115 posted on 03/20/2005 12:34:10 PM PST by CyberAnt (President Bush: "America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 114 | View Replies]

To: bitt

116 posted on 03/20/2005 12:36:20 PM PST by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bitt
...But the remark that most galls his party critics is his contention that he'd be president today if only 60,000 Ohioans had switched votes - as he put it the other day, "half the people in a football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on a Saturday."

And whenever somebody says that, I just say, well, if much less people than that in other states--6000 in WI OR 4,000 in NH had voted "the other way," OH wouldn't matter. So there, hah.

And what's with this crap anyway? Why would these people have not voted or voted for Kerry? It would be just like our side saying if 60,000 of those Kerry voters voted for Bush, voted for somebody else, or didn't vote at all, then Bush would have won OH by much more. This "what if" bullcrap can go on forever in so many ways and cut both ways . . . but I guess if you're the loser you have to find some way to console yourself.

117 posted on 03/20/2005 3:33:40 PM PST by gop_gene
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bitt
he'd be president today if only 60,000 Ohioans had switched votes - as he put it the other day, "half the people in a football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on a Saturday." In the words of Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina party chairman, "Hey, what if Napoleon had had B-52s? Then we'd all be speaking French....

What if Kerry apologized to the American people for his Congressional testimony in 1971 and told the truth about his Vietnam service (and apologized again)?

He probably would be President today.

Of course John Kerry admitting error--that could never happen in this universe. :-(
118 posted on 03/20/2005 3:40:43 PM PST by cgbg (Fire the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund with no money in it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: krb
Reagan came back, too.

I hate to break it to you but Kerry obviously is no Reagan, in the conviction, charisma and personability department. Also, while Reagan did fail before, that was only in the primaries. To find someone that embodies what Kerry wants to happen in '08, one has to go all the way back to Nixon--a candidate who, like Kerry, actually made it thru' the primaries to get the nomination, lost, and came back to again win the primaries hence the nomination, and went on to win the presidency.

All this happens assuming Kerry wins the nomination again, and I wouldn't bet one plug nickel on that happening next time.

119 posted on 03/20/2005 3:43:30 PM PST by gop_gene
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: bitt
his chief strategist had even said,

The guys name is Bob Shrum, god, I hate laziness, where the hell is the editor?

120 posted on 03/20/2005 5:46:37 PM PST by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120121-123 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson