DU Users Salute the honorable JOHN KERRY for the war vote

[Divine Discontent]

LET'S GET THE WORD OUT TO EACH OTHER AND THE CASUAL WEB SURFER AND THE TROLLS TO TELL THEIR TROLL FRIENDS - WE ARE A THRILLED UNIFIED PARTY AND WE WILL WIN COME NOVEMBER!

Our Democratic candidate for president in 2004 has been admirable in the fight against this illegal occupation. He has forced the Republicans in the Senate, where he works tirelessly, to choose the side of continued failure and deceipt upon the 40% or so of the American population who somehow stands behind Mr. *ush on this matter still.

We are pro-troops coming home safe and sound. We are American citizens who have had enough of the lies. We are very pleased at the Democratic effort at bringing this war to the forefront. Karl Rove is the coward for not going to John & Jack's faces and saying his slander. Why? Because he knows he's full of shit!


WE SALUTE YOU JOHN, AND ALL THE SENATORS & REPRESENTATIVES WHO HAVE SIDED WITH YOU.


VICTORY '06 - TAKIN' BACK THE HOUSE!



www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <--- Top Anti-Bush, Pro-Dem 06 08 stickers & shirts!

[Divine Discontent]

1. GO JOHN!

[zulchzulu]

2. Don't forget Russ and Barbara...as well as the ones who voted for it

Feingold and Boxer were part of the deal too. Let's give them credit as well!

[Divine Discontent]

4. and it's great to see that

Senator Wyden, and both NJ senators voted for a timetable also!

The ferver of anti-occupation sentiment and saying no Bush's failed leadership is growing -

We gotta volunteer our time, and keep pressing when it gets close - and we'll have some great victories to celebrate!

[JI7]

3. exactly, we need to call the Republicans who voted against the bills

as supporting failure and disaster. don't let them get us into a debate over Democratic disagreements. we just need to point out we all agree on the need for change .

it's the Republicans who want to continue with failure.

[Divine Discontent]

5. I let two repub senators know..... if everyone calls two or writes two

then we'll let them lose their confidence... Dewine has to be shaking a bit, Sherrod Brown is giving him a run already in Ohio... Dewine's not the worst senator, by far, but he's too much in line with Bush on the war and anti-gay (that msnbc story made me sick with his little short comments about gays, like he wanted to say more but knows it'd be all over the news)

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

14. JUST PICK UP THE PHONE

AND CALL THEM. TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT! OVER AND OVER. TIE UP THE THE LINES! THIS IS AN OLD TACTIC, BUT IT REALLY WORKS. PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW.

[politicasista]

6. Cool idea

Glad we are focusing on the big picture too. :kick:

[Divine Discontent]

9. T/Y very much, and again,t hanks to the Senators! n/t

[politicasista]

23. No problem

:hi:

[globalvillage]

7. Thank you Senator Kerry and Senator Feingold

for leading the effort. I've written all 13 with my thanks.

:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), co-sponsor
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT)
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), co-sponsor
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

[nosmokes]

8. is rhis the same john kerry that said he'd vote to give bush authorisation

again, even knowing that there weren't any WMDs and saddam was no threat? sorry, but the dems better find another general to line - up behind, one that doesn't equivocate on every damn question he's asked. spmebody who will actually risk offending some people.

[Divine Discontent]

10. he kicked GEORGE BUSH'S ASS

in the debates. He wasn't weak at all, and the debates truly are the thing most Americans watch. Bush looked weak. The only thing that got Bush in was the Osama tape they put out with a week to go, and the scandals in Ohio.

I understand he's not perfect. But let's be ONE unified group for once? Wanna try again? He's spoken a hell of a lot about this issue lately, and needs our support!

[TayTay]

13. Actually, no it's not the same guy

It's the guy who didn't listen to the Dem strategists and fought to keep Samuel Alito off the Supreme Court and took a great deal of grief for it in the papers. It's the same guy who voted against Condiliar Rice becoming Sec of State because her ineptitute and incompetence led to this misbegotten war.

It's a guy who has shown real courage in these efforts and who has, in return, been demeaned by his own Democratic caucus and by the Republicans who have been desperate to try and discredit Kerry and the causes he has worked for.

No, it's a different guy. Someone who stood up to the Bush Administration and their Republican enablers in Congress this week and tried to do the right thing and the moral thing.

Sorry that action isn't good enough for you.

[Divine Discontent]

20. that was BLISTERING! good on you! thanks! n/t

[politicasista]

22. I agree n/t

[nosmokes]

35. a day late and a dollar short is still

too late and an occupation and a war in iraq for oil and dick cheney's cronies. c'mon, if kerry had the balls he told us had (and i put in hours and hours working to get the dude elected) we'd be in pretty much the same situation we are now. he didn't even have the guts to challenge the stolen vote, even though he had 5o mil to do it with. kerry, bah.

[Laurab]

38. Too late to try to get us OUT of this mess?

Should Kerry stop fighting against the occupation just because he disappointed you by not fighting an election he had no PROOF to fight with?

Gosh, why doesn't he just shut up and let the U.S. continue down the road to hell in silence like most of the rest of them?

I don't think so, I'm quite proud of him, and Russ Feingold, and Barbara Boxer, and the senators who voted with them.

HE isn't the one who got us into this mess, but he's doing a lot to try to get us out. I think I want him to keep working on it.

[Vektor]

40. I wish I could nominate a single post for greatest.

Because what you just said here is ABSOLUTELY IT in a nutshell.

Thanks, LauraB for "getting it."

[Divine Discontent]

42. you laura and littleclarkie

are what I said yesterday about how impressed I am with the dialogue in this - it's so hard to keep things in perspective and look at the big picture, but with du friends like you all :hug: we're gonna pull this out!

[Vektor]

44. Thanks -

I just try to look at the big picture, you know? We could either nitpick about what Kerry did or did not do years ago, and how bitter we are about perceived slights from the Senator, or focus on the here and now, and what we can do to help our men and women still out there on the battlefield. Seems a no-brainer doesn't it? It's like, what do you want to do? Beat a dead horse, or bring some soldiers home alive? Focus on the future, or wallow in self pity, agonizing over the past?

I guess it all boils down to the question of, "Do you want to think about only yourself, or do you want to help others?"

Thanks for getting it, as well.

[Laurab]

45. Thank YOU, Vektor

it really DOES get tiring after awhile, doesn't it? Reading the same old "too little, too late" over and over. I almost don't even want to respond anymore, but I sometimes just can't help myself.....

It is, as little Clarkie said, unfair, and it's doubtful that Kerry, Feingold or Boxer are posturing for politics sake, because I think they're all real patriots, who want what is best for this country. They've all done things that didn't help them politically, but were the right thing to do, so if it DOES help them, I'm all for that, too.

I know there are very few voices speaking for ME in the Democratic leadership, so I really appreciate it when they do. The fact that it's Kerry (and Feingold, too), stepping out in front, makes me happy because I love both of them - because they CARE!

[LittleClarkie]

41. Indeed, that would be like saying he shouldn't have spoken up in 1971

because he wasn't part of the anti war movement in the 60's.

As long as there are soldiers in the field, it's not too late.

And I'm afraid my patience is short with those who can't even come up with a way to express themselves on the issue without pat phrases like "too little too late" or "a day late and a dollar short." It always looks to me like those folks are in "cut and paste" mode.

If only the elections mattered, and nothing in between, then I suppose. But there is life to be lived between 2004 and 2008, or even 2006 for that matter.

I do wish the man's actions weren't continually judged according to a "He's running in 2008" filter. It's distorting, and others who might also be running in 2008 aren't subjected to the same scrutiny. It doesn't seem fair.

[Vektor]

34. Heh heh...

Clearly, he's offended you.

Wish granted! ;-)

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. Kicked and Recommended

[k j]

12. Also kicked and recommended

[wisteria]

15. Great post. Victory in 06 and thank you John Kerry and the brave

13 for doing the right thing.

[Blaukraut]

16. Thank you, Senators Kerry, Feingold, Boxer et al ! n/t

[blm]

36. Leahy stood proud as sponsor, too.

We know it takes alot to put your name on anything against BushInc.

[Old and In the Way]

17. These are our real Democratic leaders in Congress....the rest

are too scared to stand up to the Republican machine.

[ginnyinWI]

18. they are our Winter Soldiers. n/t

[Divine Discontent]

19. ooh! I like that!!!! n/t

[saltpoint]

21. The questionable election of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney over

the likely disenfranchised Kerry-Edwards ticket in 2004 represents more than just a personal disappointment for me. It represents a lost opportunity for the nation.

We would have been in better hands. Clearer minds would have been the order of the day. Warmer hearts would have forged more humane policies.

We would not be confusing older Americans about prescription drugs. We would not be raiding warehouses in Miami. We would not be tapping phones or rifling through people's bank accounts.

We would have been given the opportunity to listen to evolved public servants direct us in the genuinely urgent matters confronting us as a people, as a nation.

And our allies would have been eager to help.

[Divine Discontent]

24. good feelings and kind words

seem to bring out the best in the DU community! that was a great read, thank you!

[saltpoint]

26. themartyred, I think the thanks goes to you for your OP and your

ability here to set a tone of affirmation.

I think at heart we like being Democrats and progressives together.

I appreciate it very much & also love that photo of Senator Kerry.

[understandinglife]

25. K&R.

Peace.

[Brigid]

27. Thank you, John Kerry!

Another national treasure. :patriot:

[Divine Discontent]

28. Kick for the early morning crowd, good night America! n/t

[_dynamicdems]

29. Thank you, Senator Kerry , Feingold, Boxer.

And thank you to all the noble senators who voted to take a stand.


In honor of our 13 heroes:

The Present Crisis by James Russell Lowell

WHEN a deed is done for Freedom, through the broad earth's aching breast
Runs a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling on from east to west,
And the slave, where'er he cowers, feels the soul within him climb
To the awful verge of manhood, as the energy sublime
Of a century bursts full-blossomed on the thorny stem of Time.

Through the walls of hut and palace shoots the instantaneous throe,
When the travail of the Ages wrings earth's systems to and fro;
At the birth of each new Era, with a recognizing start,
Nation wildly looks at a nation, standing with mute lips apart,
And glad Truth's yet mightier man-child leaps beneath the Future's heart.

So the Evil's triumph sendeth, with a terror and a chill,
Under continent to continent, the sense of coming ill,
And the slave, where'er he cowers, feels his sympathies with God
In hot tear-drops ebbing earthward, to be drunk up by the sod,
Till a corpse crawls round unburied, delving in the nobler clod.

For mankind are one in sprit, and an instinct bears along,
Round the earth's electric circle, the swift flash of right or wrong;
Whether conscious or unconscious, yet Humanity's vast frame
Through its ocean-sundered fibres feels the gush of joy or shame;-
In the gain or loss of one race all the rest have equal claim.

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,
And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.

Hast thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand,
Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land?
Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet 't is Truth alone is strong,
And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng
Troops of beautiful, tall angels, to enshield her from all wrong.

Backward look across the ages and the beacon-moments see,
That, like peaks of some sunk continent, jut through Oblivion's sea;
Not an ear in court or market for the low foreboding cry
Of those Crises, God's stern winnowers, from whose feet earth's chaff must fly;
Never shows the choice momentous till the judgement hath passed by.

Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,-
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

We see dimly in the Present what is small and what is great,
Slow of faith how weak an arm may turn this iron helm of fate,
But the soul is still oracular; amid the market's din,
List the ominous stern whisper from the Delphic cave within,-
"They enslave their children's children who make compromise with sin."

Slavery, the earth-born Cyclops, fellest of the giant brood,
Sons of brutish Force and Darkness, who have drenched the earth with blood,
Famished in his self-made desert, blinded by our purer day,
Gropes in yet unblasted regions for his miserable prey;-
Shall we guide his gory fingers where our helpless children play?

Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 't is prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside,
Doubting in his abject sprit, till his Lord is crucified,
And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.

Count me o'er the earth's chosen heroes,- they were souls that stood alone,
While the men they agonized for hurled the contumelious stone,
Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline
To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine,
By one man's plain truth to manhood and to God's supreme design.

By the light of burning heretics Christ's bleeding feet I track,
Toiling up new Calvaries ever with the cross that turns not back,
And these mounts of anguish number how each generation learned
One new word of that grand Credo which in prophet-hearts hath burned
Since the first man stood God-conquered with his face to heaven upturned.

For Humanity sweeps onward: where today the martyr stands,
On the morrow, crouches Judas with the silver in his hands;
Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling fagots burn,
While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return
To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn.

'Tis as easy to be heroes as to sit the idle slaves
Of a legendary virtue carved upon our father's graves,
Worshippers of light ancestral make the present light a crime;-
Was the Mayflower launched by cowards, steered by men behind their time?
Turn those tracks toward Past or Future, that make Plymouth Rock sublime?

They were men of present valor, stalwart old iconoclasts,
Unconvinced by axe or gibbet that all virtue was the Past's;
But we make their truth our falsehood, thinking that hath made us free,
Hoarding it in mouldy parchments, while our tender spirits flee
The rude grasp of that great Impulse which drove them across the sea.

They have rights who dare maintain them; we are traitors to our sires,
Smothering in their holy ashes Freedom's new-lit altar-fires;
Shall we make their creed our jailer? Shall we, in our haste to slay,
From the tombs of the old prophets steal the funeral lamps away
To light up the martry-fagots round the prophet of today?

New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;
Lo, before us gleam her campfires? We ourselves must Pilgrims be,
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea,
Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key.

[ProSense]

30. Excellent! Thanks! Thank you Senator Kerry!

THANK YOU!

Senator Kerry
:patriot:

Senator Feingold
:patriot:

Senator Boxer
:patriot:

Senator Leahy
:patriot:

Senator Akaka
:patriot:

Senator Durbin
:patriot:

Senator Inouye
:patriot:

Senator Harkin
:patriot:

Senator Wyden
:patriot:

Senator Lautenberg
:patriot:

Senator Menendez
:patriot:

Senator Kennedy
:patriot:

Senator Jeffords
:patriot:

[1776Forever]

43. Right on! Stand with our leaders when they lead us in our true values!

Let's stand up and be counted! We have to start taking this to the head of the class and be there for our leaders when they lead us with our true values!

Thank you Senator Kerry and all who stand and be counted!!! I am with you!:kick:

[blm]

31. Contrary to conventional wisdom - withdrawal vote was a WIN for Democrats.

McLaughlin Group even said so.

Thanks to Kerry, Feingold.... and Murtha.

[flpoljunkie]

46. McLaughlin Group even said so? Hot damn! Thanks for posting it, blm!

[cmd]

32. I'm with you, n/t

[Vektor]

33. Thank you, John Kerry, and all Dems who stood up for this amendment.

A kick in the ass to all those who support the continued occupation.

[politicasista]

37. Kicking for the late crowd

Thanks again to those 13 patriots that want to bring our soldiers home. :kick: :patriot:

[Divine Discontent]

39. I'm SO proud to be a Democrat right now! you all are awesome! n/t