Vennochi's at it again.

[whometense]

What is wrong with the woman??? Possibly schizophrenia?? I wonder if Kerry's refusal to go away quietly has driven her around the bend?

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/03/kisses_in_the_heartland_kicks_at_home

...In Massachusetts, Democrats groan and roll their eyes with every statement from camp Kerry indicating another presidential run. In Iowa, Yepsen wrote, ``the crowd . . . didn't seem dismissive. With polls showing Kerry already running in third place among likely caucusgoers in Iowa, nobody else should be. . . . Kerry is hoping his party will give him one more chance, and the first people who could help give it to him are in Iowa."...

Then there's this:

...Kerry's too-long healthcare speech in Boston was delivered to a friendly audience that included the last of the true Kerry believers -- brother Cam Kerry, fund-raiser Bob Crowe, and a small army of young Kerry operatives sporting ``JK" pins on their shirt collars. But, just as Yepsen observed in Iowa, Kerry's presentation in Faneuil Hall was sharper, the content was less wonkish, and the speech included some pretty good lines, which Kerry spoke with humor and style. Given his new antiwar message, it is conceivable that Kerry could stage another comeback in the heartland...

...No wonder politicians long to hit the road, far from home.

Yah think?

Elias is on it, and has a really good post up here: http://www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com/http://chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com/2006/08/according-to-joanie-vennochi.html

According to Joanie Vennochi
"In Massachusetts, Democrats groan and roll their eyes with every statement from camp Kerry indicating another presidential run."

Ummmm....what Humble Elias wants to know is, just who are these democrats that Spiteful Joanie is so sure of?

Haven't heard a whole lot on the local democratic circuit with respects to a Kerry '08 run most everyone here is focused on the governor's race. Kerry's "Imperial Guard" has for the moment dispersed into the camps of various gubernatorial candidates. To the extent that JK needs to keep the loyalty of that die hard cohort, he'll play some sort of a role in the fall campaign to be sure. Assist in giving his Spartans a democratic governor, and they in turn will do right by him IF Kerry gets into the big race in '08.

Thats as much as I've heard so far.

As for who is "rolling their eyes" for Joanie's merriment..who can say?

[WildEyedLiberal]

1. That's it. I'm stealing Kerry and bringing him back to Illinois with me.

See, we in the heartland love and appreciate him. We are not dismissive of him as Joan Vennochi and the circle-jerking 101st Massachusetts Keyboard Regiment over at Blue Mass Group are.

:P

I read this editorial today and had several thoughts:

1) Did she miss the 600 people in Fanueil Hall cheering JK on? Or does he have a cadre of 600 "young Kerry operatives sporting JK pins" ready to provide a fake crowd boost? As a proud young Kerry operative, I can report that we numbered no more than 15.

Maybe the other 585 were tourists on loan from.... Iowa! Yeah! That must be it!

2) Hey, Joan: maybe - just maybe, now - if Kerry still draws loud, enthusiastic crowds in other parts of the country and there is an obvious base of support for him outside the groaning, eye-rolling Mass Dems that you seem so intimate with, well, maybe that means that all your commentary on him is a big load of horseshit. Just maybe. Maybe you ought to take a closer look at who is groaning and rolling their eyes at the anticipation of another Kerry run. Why, you wouldn't be referring to press whores like yourself, Howie Carr, and Jon Keller, would you, Joan? What are you doing worrying about Kerry's future plans, anyway? Isn't it time for Mitt's daily blow job?

3) The fact that she actually gave him some credit for having appeal in the heartland and begrudgingly granted that his speech was sharp, on-point, and well-received kind of stunned me. But if she wants to reduce Kerry's base of support to the heartland, well, that's okay by me I suppose. I'm headed back home to the rolling farmland of the Prairie State in two weeks and I'd be more than happy to bring JK with me, to a land where he will be cherished and loved. }(

[karynnj]

2. But she had the column after the election

that said that no one she knew voted for Kerry or something like that. If that's true, and he did get over 60% of the vote shouldn't she realize that her aquaintances aren't a good representative sample of MA residents. As to blue MA, if it comes down to Hillary, Edwards, Warner, Bayh, and Kerry - one of them is much closer to their views. (this is true even if you throw in Gore - but they like DU may have forgotten his career long positions.)

[TayTay]

3. The more things change, the more they, ahm, don't

I wrote this last year when the Boston Globe had a hissy fit over whether or not John Kerry had picked up back-sliding notions about marriage equality in heathen places, like Pennsylvania and Louisiana. (PA only because he had, at one time, co-sponsored a religious liberty bill with Evil Ricky that could, if you looked at it myopically and without due regard for what it actually said, be construed as, heavens, not very liberal. Honestly John, must you talk to these people? Isn't that Romney's job? Sigh!)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=26578&mesg_id=26590

Not much has changed.

Herewith a guide to the massively disgruntled in Massachusetts.

LiberalLand gets no respect and immediately distrusts anyone who gets elected because that is damn near proof enough that they have sold out. If they haven't sold out, then how did they get elected? Riddle me this Batman, how can any self-respecting liberal want to work from within the system, especially if that system is full of other elected politicians from places that are not really very liberal? (Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. Welcome to my world.) LiberalLand is about 20% or so of Massachusetts. They have actually affected great change over the years in the Commonwealth and are responsible for a lot of the great moments in State history and are definitely responsible for Massachusetts having a national reputation as a 'pain in the arse' state. I deeply love LiberalLand, at the same time that I get deeply frustrated with LiberalLand.

Sen. Kerry lives, at least part of the time, in LiberalLand. However, as he is a successful politician who has been in power for decades, he is not to be trusted, unless there is no alternative. (In which case, we support him, but demand that the reservations go in the official record so that if anything goes wrong we can say, I told you so.) Kerry has championed gay rights, civil rights, the environment, clean elections, good judicial appointments, and a severe view of when the military should be used in war over his long career. While most states would say that is a pretty good progressive record, he has failed to achieve liberal perfection and therefore must have sold out somewhere along the line even if we can't quite put our finger on when it was. (After Iran-Contra, but before the welfare vote. Somewhere in 1994-5, right around the time he got married. OMG, you don't think.... nah, maybe, gee, he mellowed?????)

The grass is always greener over the neighbors lawn. There is always a better liberal, a progressive Messiah over the next horizon. Once we find this person, we will use them to seize power and implement Utopia forthwith. In which case, we will immediately be the first to announce that we are not to be trusted because we will be the powerful and will shortly there after implode.

Such is LiberalLand in the great Commonwealth of MAssachusetts.

The Massachusetts State Motto is "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" which is Latin for: "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty." Yeah, it's like that. (I love that motto, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless you live here.)

[kerrygoddess]

4. Question

Who was there from out of state? And also at the other Faneuil Hall speeches?

[TayTay]

5. It was largely an in-state thing.

The only noticeable out-of-state people were from Washington DC and worked in the Senate office. (Which, of course, doesn't count.) In-state people included Rep Jimmy McGovern, a bunch of State House pols, Phil Johnston and his bunch from the Mass State Democratic Party (they had the most reserved seats) and Massacushetts liberals favorite punching bag, former Speaker Tom Finneran. (Gutsy move by the Senator in giving him a nod from the Stage. Libs in MA hate him, with a deep abiding and unending hatred: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/09/finnerans_gathering_storm/

We the People showed up too! About 5-85 pols and special guests and then just We the People filling up the rest of the seats.

[kerrygoddess]

6. Anyone notice if

the viper Joan was actually there? WEL said about 600 peeps there - right? I've got a post ready to rip - just need a few last details.

[TayTay]

7. She probably was.

I haven't talked to her in a long time. She lives in the town I used to live in in Mass and she was present to moderate local selectment/school committee debates. I wasn't looking for her and there were 600 or so people there, but I bet she showed up.

Hey, Joanie is mellowing. This is a good sign. She has gone from 'Un uh, no way, never, not without a gun to my head' to 'ahm, well, maybe, sort of kind of, if I'm not having bad PMS that day and if I get free coffee.' This is progress!!!!!!!!

[TayTay]

8. Whome, I forgot to tell you

Humble Elias at the Chimes is right.

The 'Imperial Guard' has dispersed through out the realm of Massachusetts and is busy working for other candidates for Gov. Should the taller Sen and the older Sen from Mass make a nice present to the Dem Gov nominee they will be loved and adored far and wide, from Springfield to Gloucester. (How many times I gotta say it: nothing says lovin like a check.)

Imperial Guard, LOL! I thought it was the College of Cardinals.

[whometense]

9. I loved his description -

thought it sounded just right! ;-)

He is, to me, in some ways the perfect MA liberal - snarky, funny, but loyal as hell, and he sees things absolutely straight.

It's no surprise that he's a Kerry guy. Or maybe, I should add, a Kerry appreciator.

I went over to Blue Mass Group yesterday to refute, and I swear to god I had no idea what any of thoses bozos were talking about. Do they even know their own minds? The one that suggested "Lamont"-ing Kerry was just so clueless that words failed me.

In exactly the same way that "liberals" mouth RW talking points against Kerry they've bought into the crap that the insurrection against Lieberman is "netroots" fueled. They don't even get why Lieberman is losing.

[TayTay]

10. This topic has come up before

Thank Gawd for the funny, snarky people, or we would have descended into hell long ago, never to be heard from again. These people think it's oh so easy to just run for the Senate in Mass. After all, the liberals will just field a candidate and everyone will agree, they are the most liberal prince or princess in all the land and elect them by acclimation. (Now that's funny!)

The Good Commonwealth of Massachusetts (God save it, cuz nobody else can) does not just elect liberals to the Senate. They look for very specific people who will r-e-p-r-e-s-e-n-t Massachusetts to the federal government. The candidate, the one not named Kennedy, has to be smart, even wicked smaht, classy, articulate, able to think through problems and be, at least theoretically, able to run for President some day and do us proud. (In my lifetime alone, 3 guys named Kennedy have run for the Presidency, yeah I'm claiming RFK, Dukakis, Tsongas, and Kerry. Romney isn't from MAssachusetts. He is a vampire who has taken up temporary residence in order to suck blood from the residents and practice lies and deceit on us. I do not claim him. He's a blow-in. BTW, all but one Mass person who ran for Prez was a Senator. One made it. There is also a work in progress, LOL!)

I have a soft spot for the funny, snarky, wicked smaht Dems of Mass. The humorless bastids can all bite me.