Kerry Vows to Press on with Agenda in Senate

[tritsofme]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Kerry returned to the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, vowed to fight on in the Senate for the changes sought by supporters of his failed U.S. presidential bid and did not rule out another White House run.

"Fifty-four plus million Americans voted for health care, they voted for energy independence, they voted for unity in America, they voted for stem-cell research, they voted for protecting Social Security," the four-term senator from Massachusetts told reporters as he met with two top Democratic congressional leaders.

"We need to be unified," Kerry said in his first public comments since conceding defeat to President Bush in last Tuesday's election.

"We have a very clear agenda, and I'm going to be fighting for that agenda with all of the energy that I have and all of the passion I brought to the campaign," Kerry said.

Kerry did not rule out another White House bid, but joked about a comment by his brother, Cameron, in The Boston Globe on Tuesday that such a run is "conceivable."

<SNIP>
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6764432

[DELUSIONAL]

1. That's nice -- being in the minority party and not being

allowed to write energy legislation and other important legislation -- yep Kerry you are really going to be a whole lot of help.

Then you guy don't use the filibuster very often -- unless you fat cats think the legislation might effect you.

I am hoping that this is a show -- a chess move.

But I have the sick feeling that the foot soldiers (all liberals/progressives) are fighting on our own.

It is safer not to trust anything a politician says until we have proof and evidence from outside sources.

The twin problems the dems have --
1. We are ignored by the media.
2. We don't count the votes -- and the computers are NOT secure.

[OneBlueSky]

2. the problem, Senator, is that the only unity acceptable to Republicans. .

is the complete and total acceptance of their ultra right-wing agenda . . . they do not want to compromise . . . in fact, Rove and company want to destroy the Democratic Party once and for all, to make it totally irrelevant . . . and that's exactly what will happen unless we engage them on the theft of the 2004 election and fight with everything we have . . .

whether or not there are potentially enough votes in Ohio or wherever to swing the election your way is no longer relevant . . . the issue is far larger than you or your political career . . . the issue is whether this country remains a democracy or becomes a fascist dictatorship . . . yes, that's strong language . . . but it's also the truth . . . if the Republicans are not stopped now, in 2004, they will never be stopped . . .

you must engage this issue as you have never engaged any other . . . you must tell the American people about every single instance of voter suppression, exit polls that didn't match the vote only in districts with touchscreen voting, every instance of more votes being reported than there are voters, every instance of touchscreen machines reporting suspicious numbers -- in short, everything that was done to steal this election for the Republicans . . . you have to stand up and wave the flyer that told black voters that they'd be arrested if they voted and owed traffic tickets . . . and the notices on Planned Parenthood letterhead that urged votes for you so that gay marriage would be passed . . . and every other illegal, unethical and immoral action engaged in by the Republicans this year . . .

this, Senator, is the defining moment of your political career . . . if you do not rise to the occasion, the country we will see in the next four years will be unrecognizable . . . and your good intentions in the Senate will be nothing more than that . . . intentions . . . because they sure as hell won't let you accomplish anything . . .

[Carolab]

3. So true n/t

[LittleClarkie]

4. I think you underestimate

the Republicans who are NOT neo-cons and are not ultra-conservative.

Nearly 40 Conservative newspapers endorsed Kerry.

I wonder how sick the sane Republicans are getting of this shit.

Did Pat Buchanan say that the split in the party would happen WITH a Bush win or only if Bush lost?

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we've underestimated this man before. I shall wait and see what he does and how effective he is at doing it.

[Protagoras]

5. I actually think it might have been um...

more compelling, believable, presidential, noble, thoughtful, inspiring?

If Kerry had taken a week or two off to reflect on what occurred in the election before hopping comfortably back into his senate seat. I'm not talking about a year off like Gore...I just mean..hell something to make it look like the loss actually mattered to him.
It's almost as if he didn't lose anything. But a few billion dollars and the hopes and dreams of half of this country and most of the world.

[0rganism]

6. Oh brother. How the fuck is he going to press his Agenda now?

Senator Kerry is going to have to bone up on the art of the filibuster in order to stop the theo-cons from passing their own agenda, and here he is vowing and babbling about unification and maybe a 2008 campaign.

Newsflash, Senator: it would have been a lot easier for you to "press on with Agenda" from the whitehouse.

[flordehinojos]

7. kerry ought to just take a deep breath and let his adrenalin level go back

down to normal.

He is offering too little - too late.