Hey, did anyone see the Senate vote last night?

[TayTay]

(yesh, yeah, it's geeky as hell to sit and watch the Senate vote. But, ahm, I did.)

Anyway, I saw John Kerry laughing and talking with Chris Dodd. (Had his big hands on Chris' shoulder at one point.) Guess the kerfluffle of the weekend didn't really bother either one of them.

[jillan]

1. TayTay, you are not alone. I am a major Geek.

First thing I do when I wake up is put on Cspan 2.
I hate it now because of the daylight savings time, it comes on an hour later, usually when I leave for work. grrr. And you should have seen the funny looks I got when at work we were all talking about our favorite tv shows, and I said CSpan...and went on and on about what was going on in the senate. lol. We're in good company tho, Randi Rhodes is another CSpan addict. She makes comments like - How can people not think it is exciting? It's the most exciting tv there is.

To answer your question, nope, I missed that. Kerry's smooth. My personal thoughts from what I can tell, he isn't one to hold a grudge and is quick to smooth things over. Maybe their conversation went something like this:
K: Hey Chris, did you read DU over the weekend?
D: Yeah - you and I were the main topic of conversation.
K: Those people at DU were really after me, thank goodness for my Kerry Group. They really take good care of me.

[beachmom]

2. Okay, you guys here's my theory about JK and this forum

Has anyone seen that movie "Soapdish" with Sally Field, Whoopie Goldberg, Robert Downey, Jr. ,et al? In it Sally Field plays a long time soap opera actress, and sometimes it can be very humiliating for her. So when she's down, Whoopi's character will say, "is it about time for another trip to the mall?". Then they go over the bridge to NJ and a typical suburban mall. Whoopie pretends to be a fan, and is loud saying "oh, aren't you so and so, can I have your autograph?" Other people notice and fawn all over her, asking for her autograph. And Sally Field's character feels better surrounded by the love of her fans.

Here's how this forum can work for JK. It's been a bad week, he got some bad press, his state approval ratings are down, his phone banks have been inundated with lefty freeper calls, and he lost a vote an one of his amendments. So a close family member or friend says to him, "isn't it about time for another visit to the JK forum?". So he logs on for 15 minutes reading all of our fawning posts . . . and then he feels better. Of course, better yet, he does one of those local events somewhere around the country and gets to see real people who still love him, and want to shake his hand! But if that's not possible, a trip to our forum is efficient and he's bound to find something nice.

In the movie "Soapdish" it was a put down, but in real life, it's just nice to once in a while go where you are loved and welcome, when you have such a difficult career. What got me thinking about this was I was taking a look at that Newsweek Election 2004 book, which while being full of snark and unfair assumptions, has some revealing moments. At the end, when they interviewed JK he found a note at his door written by a school aged child that said "John Kerry you're the greatest", and he showed it to the reporters, wondering why the pundits disliked him so much. Our forum is just one big "John Kerry you're the greatest" space on the internet, and I hope we can offer solace not just to fellow supporters but to the man himself!

[_dynamicdems]

5. Very nice thoughts!

He says he doesn't waste a single day feeling bad, but I'm sure there are moments when even Senator Kerry gets discouraged.

He's fighting for us: the least we can do is keep up the support.

[ginnyinWI]

3. I don't think it was enough to even attract notice

It was a big deal here, but I doubt the politicians get any ruffled feathers over stuff like this, if they were even made aware of it. It didn't even make the MSM as far as I'm aware. And you don't last in politics very long if you are constantly worried about public opinion and let it push you around.

[_dynamicdems]

4. I saw part of it...

Did you see Kerry carrying that red folder? It made me curious. Red hot top secret documents or just a...menu?

[frogmarch]

6. I read somewhere

that the walls of Kerry's office are painted Chinese red with a laquer coating, and are covered with old nautical prints.

I'll try to find the source.

Okay, here it is:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?021202fa_fact1


Maybe the color of the folder just means he likes red...?

(You guys are REALLY geeky! I love it! :) )

[_dynamicdems]

8. I love that article.

It was good to read it again.

[TayTay]

9. I often put C-Span on when I get home

I can listen and see if anything is going on. That kind of makes sense. (There might be Dems speaking and they might make sense. Sen. Sweetie (Durbin) often makes speeches around the time I get home and I love to listen to him. He's such a, ahm, sweetie!)

What I can't figure out is why the votes are interesting. I mean really, you are listening to someone read off names and then you have to wait around and see how it came out. This is not 'Must See TV.' Then why do I find it interesting? (Really, I like the votes. I don't know why.) You can pick up curious info from watching the Senators in their natural habitat conversing and joking around and see who is hanging out with whom and such. (And I never realized how much of a hand-talker Sen. Kerry is until I really watched him in the Senate. I don't think he'd be able to talk if you tied his hands to his side. I know so many people, myself included, like that. Big hand gestures or I can't speak.)

I love C-Span. I wish I could find that 'C-Span Junkie' song from a few years ago. I remember when someone came on C-Span many years ago and played it for Brian Lamb. I could never tell if he liked it or not.

BTW, the Senator's family has a lot of ties to China. Go way back. I think he has some serious furniture in there that looks like the heirloom stuff I've seen in the Essex Museum in Salem. Gorgeous stuff, btw.

[karynnj]

10. I love watching too - which my kids think is totally weird

I know what you mean about talking with his hands - but it's big movements with hands and his arms. It was scary when he had the crutches - it always looked like people standing near him were in danger of accidently getting hit. (but he's obviously more co-ordinated.

His office sounds gorgeous. A classy, beautiful office for a great senator.

[karynnj]

7. Well they've only known each other at least since

Kerry entered the Senate in 1984 and they sit near each other on the SFRC - I have a feeling that Dodd knows what Kerry would or would not say.

It's great you saw this yesterday though.