John Kerry: He's happy

[karynnj]

Source: Newsday.com

Meanwhile...here's John Kerry's recent statement.

To his credit, he was the one who first goaded both to get this done, and told the FCC tto get involved, AND also called on binding arbitration to resolve this.

The Senator from Massachusetts and head of the telecommunications subcommittee is one major reason the Oscars are on Cablevision tonight...

“I’m pleased to see that common sense has been restored in these negotiations and that Disney and Cablevision have agreed not to make consumers the victims,” said Sen. Kerry. “Moving forward, however, we must assess the roots of these broadcast disputes and ensure that the rules of the road promote resolution rather than public conflict that strips consumers of the services the rely on. I will continue to fight to ensure the interests of consumers trump narrow interests.”



Read more: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv-zone-1.811968/john-kerry-he-s-happy-1.1798682

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As one of the people in the NJ Cablevision area which still did not have coverage as the Oscars began, it was welcome news that ABC relented (even though we still missed the beginning because we didn't know it)

Kerry is right that they need to change the rules of the road as these conflicts will otherwise continue to happen. It really is an interesting problem, where there is no obvious solution - and two sets of "villains" On one side, there are content providers, including the set of content providers, who in the past, gave their content for free on the public airways that they were allowed to use and were funded by the revenue from their ads. On the other side, there are the re-broadcasters - cable, FIOS, satellite and internet.

The current rules were written in the early 1990s, when both industries were very different than they are now.

In a way, the issues that Senator Kerry raised in a hearing on the Future of Journalism deals with a variation of the same issue. How to fairly compensate the providers of content (the newspapers) and the distributors - in that case including google news and the internet in general.

Although these issues may seem trivial compared to Afghanistan, healthcare, etc, how they are dealt with - or not dealt with - could impact the country we become.

[Arkana]

1. Kerry has quickly become one of the most hard-working, staunchly liberal

members of the Senate.

I'm so, so proud of him.

[zalinda]

2. And yet, he gave us Obama n/t

[Arkana]

3. Which makes me like him more.

[MH1]

4. Me too. :)

[karynnj]

5. He would have preferred being President himself had it been possible

The fact is that at the point he endorsed, the choices were pretty limited. In 2007, he and Teresa when asked on their book tour thought none of the 2008 possibilities were where they preferred on the environment. On foreign policy, Hillary Clinton was more hawkish than Obama - I assume Kerry had hoped that Obama would make a bigger break from the policies of the past. Kerry has been to the left of Obama/Clinton especially on South America (Honduras being the main example)

Edwards, of course, was completely out as Kerry had seen enough of his character in the 2004 general election to make it certain he would not support him. There is something telling that not one of the Kerry financial or stategy people, all with him in late 2006, went to the Edwards campaign.

On domestic policy, it is not clear that Hillary Clinton would have been more liberal - and it was likely that she would have had a tougher, not easier time passing things.

The irony is that if Kerry had not run in 2004, he likely would have been the best, most liberal, choice in 2008.

[ShortnFiery]

8. And voted for the Iraq War Resolution.

That's NOT liberal by any stretch of the imagination. I only regret that I didn't vote for Kucinich for President in 2004. He's just another shill for Corporate America. :thumbsdown:

[karynnj]

9. His votes last year placed him as the 6th most liberal Senator

He has said many times that he regrets that vote - and the fact is that he spoke out against invading in early 2003. As to a shill for corporate America, he was the author of Clean Elections, clean money with Paul Wellstone and has been an advocate against corporation's money giving them undo weight in legislation.

[No Elephants]

14. Good. With Scott Brown in the Massachusetts delegation, I wish Kerry could vote twice.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[karynnj]

18. Counterpunch is not a valid source

None of this is remotely true. Kerry was absolutely against the preemptive war doctrine - as any who read any of his comments on war knows. How many times did you hear "go to war only as a last resort" - it actually means something.

[ShortnFiery]

19. Yes, it's a FINE source. You just don't like the message. eom

[karynnj]

20. Actually it was not considered a valid source as they joined in on the SBVT lies

You can find Kerry's philosophy on war here - in a speech at Pepperdine University. http://www.pepperdine.edu/pr/releases/2006/september/kerry.htm

[No Elephants]

12. That was the origin of the infamous "He was for it before he was against it."

Kerry made the wrong vote on the war, morally and politically. He tried to correct course by voting against the funding, leaving a record of voting to send troops to fight overseas, but without money.

It was a very bad one-two punch, which got him the label "flip flopper." At the RNC convention, they gave those attending a free pair of flip flops, over that combo. (Remember this, in case the biggest flip flopper, Romney, gets the nomination next ime.)

Anyhoo, don't think Kerry's voted against a war funding bill since.

[karynnj]

16. No it wasn't - the source was his comment on the funding of the $87 billion

There was no flip flop. Kerry spoke in detail of how he voted for a version that he and Biden wrote, that Bush said he would veto, that paid for the funding by rolling back the tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. He then made a protest vote on the version that paid for it by adding it to the debt. Kerry was then asked again - why he voted against the funding - and he said he had just answered that - and then gave the unfortunate shorthand.

You are giving the REPUBLICAN lie version.

The fact is Kerry HAS voted against funding bills - in 2007, he was among the people who voted for various bills that included calling for a deadline - one of which passed and was then vetoed by Bush. The Congress then eliminated that provision and Kerry was among those who voted against it.

Even on the IWR vote, Kerry's position was the same in September 2002, when he wrote what was termed an anti-war oped, in his speech when he voted, when he spoke out as he said he would in fall and winter 2003 against rushing to war without exhausting diplomacy or attempting to resolve the issue via the inspections. His VOTE was wrong, his position never was - and didn't change.

[No Elephants]

11. He had him as keynote speaker, obviously a wise choice, but he considered running against him.

[karynnj]

17. That is stated pretty strangely

Kerry considered running again in 2005 and 2006 after a narrow loss and while leading the effort to get out of Iraq responsibly (Kerry/Feingold). It was not a case of considering whether to run against Obama or not.

[MH1]

6. Rec'd for your comments especially

I'll admit to being one who doesn't have much interest in the Oscars brouhaha, next to real issues that can't seem to get any traction (ahem, climate change anyone).

But you are right, the principles involved here actually are very important. Broadcast access is very important in a democracy.

[karynnj]

7. Thank you for your comment

I wrote the comment after debating whether to post this here or just in the JK group - fearing the attack that with 2 wars, healthcare, climate change etc why was JK doing this. Then realized that that committee has a real impact on our lives and, as chair, it was something he could, should and did take a position on. It was interesting that Cablevision in the looped message they had on yesterday said they agreed to binding arbitration.

I hope Kerry has some hearings and gets some potential ways these disputes can be handled before they become last minute denials of service.

[politicasista]

10. If any other favorite liberal or DU darling had done this,

this thread would have multiple replies and higher recs, but because it has the name "Kerry" in it, haters come out or it drops like a rock.

Not a big fan of The Oscars; too long and lack diversity, but can't fault him for trying though.

[Romulox]

13. John Kerry is the worst! nt