The New Senate Small Biz Chair Speaks [Forbes]

[demdiva]

Ain't it great to have a democratic Congress where we can actually get something done???? As always, props to JK for moving quickly to get this done....

Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry may have trouble telling jokes, but he knows how to get down to serious business. Despite all the reshuffling in the halls of Congress, Kerry retained the top spot on the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, where he's been a member for the past 21 years.

At the top of Kerry's agenda: a bipartisan solution that would make health care more affordable to small business owners and create more oversight of the government's contracting procedures to ensure that small business contracts actually go to small business. Kerry is partnering on his initiatives with Republican senator Olympia Snowe.

"We'll engage the committee on right away," he says. Pledging bipartisanship, the Massachusetts senator says he will work to find a compromise that allows for more affordable coverage for the 27 million uninsured Americans who work for small businesses. Kerry acknowledged that health insurance pools, where small businesses could purchase insurance policies in groups, is the most likely near-term solution.

more at the link

http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/18/congress-small-business-taxes-ent-law-cx_mf_1120kerry.html?partner=links

[MBS]

1. I love the first sentence!

"Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry may have trouble telling jokes, but he knows how to get down to serious business" You betcha!

[Democrafty]

2. squee!!!!

I'm so excited for January!

[ProSense]

5. LOL! n/t

[karynnj]

3. That's a nice article

It does a nice job showing how well positioned Kerry is on health care for small businesses - his seat on Finance and his link to Kennedy should help.

[wisteria]

4. A real leader taking charge! I have goose bumps! n/t

[MH1]

6. Wow, great article!

Thanks for posting this!

[ginnyinWI]

7. I like their take on JK!

They quickly disposed of the joke thing as not important--as opposed to the people at FOX continuing to make a huge deal out of it.

Also, he retained his Chair of Small Business, "despite all the reshuffling"--rather than, "ha, ha, Kerry only got to be on Small Business", etc. like I read somewhere else.

Good for Forbes--NOT your typical leftwing rag, that magazine. A reputable business mag.

[TayTay]

8. The people who went HaHa are ignorant of the Senate

Kerry was in leadership positions years ago, before he had Ranking Member statis or a Chairmanship. You don't do both. Silly people.

[demdiva]

9. You know what I honestly think about the joke .....

The only people making a big deal out of it were never ever going to vote for him anyway

[karynnj]

10. I think if you look at "heyjohn" ,

it was clear that Kerry was going to be hit by something. The "Heyjohn" thing followed the Rove technique of hitting a Kerry strength. The CW (think the MSNBC thing on candidates) was that the work Kerry did fo 2006 would stand him in good stead - and Hillary might be hurt for soaking up lots of 2006 money for use in 2008. Kerry pretty successfully fought that off.

It clearly was the RW that took the botched joke and twisted it - and it looked like it was falling pretty flat until some Democrats latched onto it. My quess is, even if Kerry were perfect, the RW had nothing to counter Iraq and they would have used some twisted Kerry statement because Kerry was the real leader on Iraq.

The fact that it was a misstatement made it harder for Kerry - as Democratic opponents are spinning it into saying he is gaffe prone - and they add the same 2 errors from 2004. As others have said, gaffes of others will balance this one.

I realized with "Heyjohn" why Kerry is so easy to defend and why his own defense was so good - it was based on just telling the truth. The same was true on the SBVT and the charge that he didn't support the troops. Kerry simply had to state the truth - and list what he has done for decades.

This may also be why we are resented on DU and DKos - we just pull in facts. It's not so easy for some others.

[wisteria]

11. Yes, we have ammunition to fight back with. It is easy to defend the

truth, but much harder to defend a lie or a misrepresentation. people who support other candidates have very short memories or think others do when it comes to their candidates. It gets me how they ignore facts and truths about their own candidates, yet have all the RW spin available when Senator Kerry is mentioned.