john kerry

Elections 2012

Mitt Unfit?

Ann Romney is back on the trail for Mitt and she gave a rather bleak assessment to a Nevada radio station this week of what problems might face a President Romney:

Ann Romney's biggest concern if her husband becomes president would be his ability to maintain his "mental well-being," she said in an interview Thursday with KTVN in Reno, Nev.

Asked what her primary worry would be should her husband succeed in defeating President Obama on Nov. 6, Mrs. Romney replied, "You know, I think my biggest concern, obviously, would just be for his mental well-being."

I've been closely following politics since 1988 and this has to be one of the weirdest statements I have ever heard from a potential first lady or even surrogate.

And if Ann if concerned about her husband's "mental well-being", then perhaps she should consult one former President about it. Here's George Bush in a debate against John Kerry in 2004. In this video, Bush tells everyone 11 times how hard it is to be President.

So do we really want a President who might have a breakdown? It's not like we are talking about being the boss of a big company, where you can easily fire people who are against you. We are talking about the President of the United States, where you will have close to half of the country upset with you and replacing administration officials becomes a big deal, not only with the media but also with the Senate.

Elections 2012

Romney's Latest Tax Defense Rivals Schoolyard Tactics

"I know you are, but what am I". Remember that one from grade school? Well that little jab might seem rather mature compared to Mitt Romney's latest defense about not releasing more of his tax returns. Here's what he told Fox and Friends:

“John McCain ran for president and released two years of tax returns,” Romney explained. “John Kerry ran for president. You know, his wife, who has hundreds of millions of dollars, she never released her tax returns. Somehow this wasn’t an issue.”

And neither did Cindy McCain, but has the left brought that up? No. And what happened to wives being off limits? I guess that is out of the question now.

But way to go Mitt. You have now shown you are the biggest child to entire presidential politics in a lifetime, if ever. Only you can sink to new lows like this. I'm just glad you're finally showing America what kind of man you really are.

Science

Public Option Support Growing In The Senate

Following up on yesterday’s post, the number of senators singing the letter to urge Harry Reid to put the public option back in play is now growing. Here’s where the list stands:

Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Michael Bennet (D-Col.)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Al Franken (D-Minn.)
Pat Leahy (D-VT)
Roland Burris (D-Ill.)
John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).

These senators have not yet signed on but signaled strong support for the public option:

Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)

This is an awesome momentum, with 14 senators now showing strong support for the public option. That’s almost 1/4 of the Democratic caucus, and the number seems to out shadow the number of blue dogs now. You better start listening Harry.

National Security

John Kerry Pushes For A Smarter Cuba Policy

In an op-ed today, John Kerry takes on the useless embargo we have against Cuba:

For nearly 20 years after the fall of Saigon, the Vietnam War took a less bloody but equally hostile form. The United States and Vietnam had no diplomatic relations. Vietnamese assets were frozen. Trade was embargoed. But in 1995 the United States normalized relations with Vietnam. The Cold War had ended, and we even signed a trade deal with a country where 58,000 Americans had given their lives.

The result? A Vietnam that is less isolated, more market-oriented, and, yes, freer — though it has miles to go.

Yet when it comes to a small impoverished island 90 miles off the coast of Florida, we cling to a policy that has manifestly failed for nearly 50 years.

While our Cuba policy has largely stood still, reality has changed dramatically. Today, the Cuban "threat" is a faint shadow, change is afoot in the Cuban leadership, and — importantly — Cuban-Americans increasingly seek broad, far-reaching interaction across the Florida Straits.

We need a Cuba policy that looks forward, brings our strengths to bear, and builds on what works to help the Cuban people shape their country's future.

Democracy in Cuba rightly remains an American policy goal. But for 47 years, our embargo in the name of democracy has produced no democracy at all. Too often, our rhetoric and policies have actually furnished the Castro regime with an all-purpose excuse to draw attention away from its many shortcomings. We have played to Fidel Castro's strengths, not ours.

Read on

When Voting Machines Fail

Similar to lever voting machines, the electrom...

Image via Wikipedia

Who could have imagined something like this?

The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus - tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines.

I believe these type of problems are things the left has warned about for years, and when we yelled and screamed about them the right decided to paint us as some conspiracy theorists. Well guess who is joining the chorus now? Yup – the right. You got wingnuts here and here talking about the “stolen election”.

BREAKING: Palin Resigning As Governor At The End Of The Month

There are mixed reports on this, but CNN and FOX are both reporting that she is leaving office at the end of the month. The reason is that Palin feels she can be “more effective outside of government”. Not really sure how that would play into a 2012 run. Not only that, but the timing is very curious. A Friday afternoon dump on a holiday weekend. I got a feeling there is more there than meets the eye.

UPDATE:

There’s a lot of speculation (and wishing) from the right that she is doing this so she can run for President in 2012. Let’s think about that for a minute. Governor is the only major office she has held and is quitting that to run for President. Now you can say that “well Obama quit to become President”, yet Obama remained in office as a Senator and ran his campaign. So did John McCain, John Kerry, Bill Clinton. The list goes on. If this is truly her motive then I would chalk it up there with John McCain “suspending” his campaign last year.

How Stupid They Are

The Republicans and their little followers just can’t seem to comprehend that “Global Warming” actually means climate change:

Al Gore is scheduled before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday morning to once again testify on the 'urgent need' to combat global warming.
But Mother Nature seems ready to freeze the proceedings.

A 'Winter Storm Watch' has been posted for the nation's capitol and there is a potential for significant snow... sleet... or ice accumulations.

"I can't imagine the Democrats would want to showcase Mr. Gore and his new findings on global warming as a winter storm rages outside," a Republican lawmaker emailed the DRUDGE REPORT. "And if the ice really piles up, it will not be safe to travel."

A spokesman for Sen. John Kerry, who chairs the committee, was not immediately available to comment on contingency plans.

Global warming advocates have suggested this year's wild winter spells are proof of climate change.

Ecuador could get a foot of snow and the right would sit there and say “see the climate is fine – no global warming”. True these are the same people that thing the TV series 24 is a documentary.

How The Malkins Killed The Party

Latinos is the fastest growing part of our population, so their vote is going to continue to grow in significance. That hasn’t mattered to the Michelle Malkins, Rush Limbaughs and Tom Tancredos of the world. They continue their demonizing of the Hispanic community through illegal immigration. Well it looks like some Republicans are worried about that and wondering what they can do to secure hope for their own survival:

Barack Obama won about two-thirds of the Hispanic vote this year, up from the 53 percent that John Kerry won in 2004.

And the Republicans are very, very worried about the Hispanic vote. They see the African-American vote as largely gone, but the Hispanic vote was a possibility in future elections. If only Republicans knew how to appeal to Hispanic voters.

(h/t Cesca)

The Hispanic support is what helped George Bush win. He is very popular with the Hispanic community, mostly because of his ties to Mexico. George Bush was also not a hawk on immigration, and that pissed off the voices of hate from the Republican Party.

Now I Have Heard It All

The talk on Morning Joe is about what a great speech John Kerry delivered last night, in which I must agree. It was one of the best speeches of the convention and one he should have done four years ago. The problem is that none of the networks covered this great speech.

So who is the Morning Joe crew blaming for that?

They are blaming the DNC. They are saying how the DNC should have forced the cameras to carry that speech. Well they did on CSPAN! But since when are the news makers supposed to force the media to carry the news? The media dropped the ball by not carrying this speech, but they come from the George W. Bush school of accountability and end up blaming everyone else for their failings.

Oh and if Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan watched the network that employs them, they would have noticed the cameras were on. MSNBC showed about 30 seconds of the speech while it was going on, but were to interested in hearing their own voices.

Great Speeches Last Night

First up we have the awesome speech delivered by Bill Clinton:

After that, John Kerry gave a more powerful speech than he did during his entire campaign in 2004. If he would have been like this in 2004, then we would be heading into his second term.

And the headliner of the night - Joe Biden. Biden is so good at giving speeches from the heart. Some people say he isn't the greatest speech writer, but they all agree on his passion. That passion was shown last night in full force.

Being Shot Down And Captured Is NOT A Qualification For POTUS

Wesley Clark was on Dan Abrams last night standing behind his statement that John McCain being shot down and held prisoner is not a qualification for being President. Good for him. The right is in a frenzy over Clark's statement of truth regarding McCain.

John McCain bases everything in his run on his experience in the military. As MissLaura reminds us at DKos, McCain even tried to link his time as a POW to healthcare. In other words - McCain exploits what happened to him.

What I find most ironic is some of the people complaining the loudest about Clark's statement are some of the same people who jumped on the swift boating bandwagon against John Kerry, and a few who questioned Clark's service to our nation. Let's stop acting like Clark is a nobody. He was shot up pretty badly in Vietnam. Does he use that as a resume builder? No. He uses the fact that he stayed in the military and moved on to become one of the top leaders as a resume builder. Funny how being a general and the commander of NATO doesn't qualify someone to be President, but being shot down and captured does.

If McCain wants to set the record straight and use his military experience as his main qualification for being President then it's time for him to release his military service record. Include in it how many planes he actually lost. Let the people judge on facts, not on assumption or rumors. If McCain doesn't want to do that then we have every right to question his military service and we should. We also should question the mental health of someone who was held prisoner for five years. I'm sure McCain has some hidden issues from his time as a POW and the American people need to be certain those won't interfere with his job as Commander in Chief.

Vicki Iseman, John McCain And The Swiftboating Of John Kerry

Marcy has dug up some interesting history and raises some very good questions about a possible connection in the 2004 election.

John Kerry Gives His Support

And it goes to........Barack Obama!

Why Didn't O'Reilly Get Tazed?

When a college student tried to ask Senator John Kerry a question we ended up with the new phrase "don't taze me bro!", so why when is it that Bill O'Reilly can forcibly try to ask a Senator a question, which even gets the Secret Service involved, and we didn't see his dumb ass shaking on the ground to the tune of 50,000 volts?

Amato has much more on this, including O'Reilly's previous attacks against Obama.

The Republicans - Out To Protect One

Yesterday the Republicans filibustered the Webb amendment, which would have given our troops equal time home as in combat. This was a certain show that the Republicans do not support our troops. So today they are supporting the troop. Senate is getting ready to take up debate on a Republican resolution condemning Move On over the Petraeus ad.

A few things come to mind on this resolution.

First off, we saw numerous attacks against John Kerry in 2004 when the Swift Boaters went into action. The same thing happened to Max Cleland. Two Vietnam heroes had their service trashed by Republicans, who had the greed of power. Luckily Barbara Boxer is putting in a resolution to also condemn those ads.

One thing I don't think is being discussed is what this means. This resolution is the same thing as a censure resolution against Bush. Now when those resolutions get discussed, the Republicans take to the airwaves talking about what "a waste of time" they are. So just like the filibuster, the Republicans were against toothless resolutions before they were for them.

While speaking of condemning people, how about the American people condemning Senate? In the latest Reuters poll, that is exactly what has happened. Congress has an approval rating of 11%. Now the GOP will be quick to say "yeah - no one wants the Democrats in charge". Well nothing could be further from the truth. In all recent polling, America prefers the Democrats controlling Congress over Republicans. Considering that, one can safely say that the low approval rating is easily attributed to the obstructionist attitude of the Republicans. You get die-hard Republicans that will give a low approval rating because they aren't in charge. You also get Democrats that will give a low approval rating because of the action of Republicans.