Need your help, DU friends - John Kerry link needed

[calimary]

Hi guys -

A friend just asked me what it was that Kerry had said, specifically, and when - when he told people still ticked about Selection 2000 to "get over it." We were too busy crying in our teacups, looking backward and not forward. Anybody got a link? I'd like to make sure I'm not hallucinating...

Please, and thank you, in advance.

[WilliamPitt]

1. Here

(snip)

With liberals and centrists vying for influence, the Democratic Party's nominee faces the challenge of herding cats and getting them to stop scratching each other.

As well, those in the party's left have developed an emotional, visceral and personal dislike of Bush. They mirror the right's Clinton-haters of the 1990s. Hatred is not, however, the stuff to win the White House against a well-liked incumbent.

"He (Kerry) is the one candidate in the race who can bring the Democratic Party together," Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in introducing Kerry to a Sunday gathering.

Kerry was tiptoeing on Sunday, but did go into how liberals shoot themselves in the foot.

Exhibit A, he said, was the enormous amount of effort and money Democrats had to spend in the Northwest in 2000 "to pull people back from the (Ralph) Nader precipice." Invested elsewhere, it might have won the day for Al Gore.

He is impatient with Democratic oratory about the "stolen" election. "Stop crying in your teacups," he told one audience. "It isn't going to change. Get over it."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/129019_joel02.html

[jpgray]

2. This started the original thread

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/129019_joel02.html

I still think people misread his intentions, but that's okay. When Dean said "misled the rpesident" I was screaming bloody murder too. I do still support Dean, and the context wasn't included in the article. I'm afraid it was the same case above, but you can decide that for yourself.

[WilliamPitt]

3. Yep

I wanted to scream when I heard it, but I am also having trouble remembering one Presidential candidate who was successful because he harped on one event from three years ago.

It's not Kerry's job to go rip-snorting around about Selection 2000, and if he does start talking about it, that means he's not talking about the economy, national defense, Iraq, etc.

Sucks, but there it is. If you're going to support the guy, this is what you have to accept.

[dajabr]

4. Will, I remember a woman...

A few months ago at one of those "Iraq War Town Hall Meetings" that a few decent politicians had the courage to put on. This one, I believe, was attended by Torrie Clark and was televised on C-SPAN. The forum was ending and she was getting pretty boisterous - kind of being "shooed" to the door by security.

She turned and yelled, "The war started the day GWB stole the election!"

And I got choked up and psyched up at the same time. In a simple way, it crystallized what I had been feeling all that time. The frustration, the anger, bitterness, despair, Gore, PNAC, Iraq... And yet, it was like a shot of adrenaline - hearing the root cause of all our misery laid bare through the words of an anonomous middle aged, average woman.

So, what is my point here? I guess what I'm trying to say is that, for me, the most tragic turn in our nation's direction in my lifetime in the areas of the economy, foreign policy, national security, Freedom, Justice, Peace, are, in my mind, the evil spawn of a stolen election in 2000.

Now, I balance this with the fact that the groundwork for this "turn" of events had been started long ago, but I can't undo what has been done. I can only strive to make sure that it ends here - or more accurately, in 2004.

To achieve that end, I can't support a Candidate in the Primaries that is entrenched in the "System." So, it's comments like Kerry's that worry me. You're right, it would not be politically wise to make Selection 2000 a big issue, but I'd at least like to take some comfort in knowing that he accepts it for what it was - a heinous crime against our nation's foundation.

That said, and if you've made it this far, I'd like to pose a question to you that I posed to DU about Dean some months ago:

What can you "live with" about Kerry? What would be a deal breaker (or maker)?

Obviously, you can probably guess what I think is wrong about him, and the point here is not to bash anyone. I'm just interested in what you've been wrestling with about the candidates. Is there one overriding issue that has been driving your decision process?

Thanks for giving me a space for this ramble - aren't you glad you posted to this topic?! :-)

[WilliamPitt]

5. A Kerry deal breaker

First of all, I will vote for whomever wins the nomination. Period.

If Kerry called for the invasion of Syria, he's fudge. If he backs off on reproductive rights, he's fudge. If he didn't give me the sense he could get the economy back online, he'd be fudge. There's a long list.

I am over the Iraq vote; he got lied to by the Director of the CIA. If I were sitting in his chair when he was told by the Director of the CIA that Iraq was building a nuclear bomb, I probably would have voted for war.

We're lucky. We don't have to make those kinds of decisions. Do I believe the Director of the CIA when he looks me in the eye and tells me some really scary shit? Or do I say he is a liar and risk being wrong to the tune of hundreds of thousands killed?

As for the rest of it, I have a dirty secret. I get all emotional over issues and writing and advocacy and what I believe in. I go onto a voting booth, or contemplate an election, I go cold as ice. All business. Win or go home.

I don't give a damn that he's part of the system. The part he has played in the System has done damned good things for myb state of Massachusetts over the years, for Vietnam Veterans, for the environment, for a hundred other things I care deeply about. If that makes me a sellout, then so be it.

[dajabr]

7. Appreciate the insight...

And your candor.

I know you'll support the Dem nominee - just as I will. Why are we all reflexively asserting this? I can't stand those "raise your hand" threads! Anyway, I just assume it unless someone tells me otherwise. I was talking about who I'd support in the Primary. The General is a different ball of wax.

About the CIA... Wasn't there testimony before the war started by Intelligence agencies saying that Iraq was not an imminent threat? wasn't Tenent on record saying this - or, have I gone completely loopy from lack of sleep?

I would never accuse anyone who suports one of our nine to be a sellout. Period.

[WilliamPitt]

8. LOL...I started the 'raise your hand' threads thing

Oops. :)

Tenet said a lot of stuff in public to cover his bets. He went into a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and used false information to spook the herd.

[calimary]

6. Thanks MUCH-MUCH-MUCH!

I appreciate this. I've now saved it, myself. A fellow Dem in the Dem-CAs isn't willing to put much stock in this having not seen any links. I can now provide one.

Thanks again!