View Story | 986 comments
Comments: Expand Shrink Hide (Always) | Indented Flat (Always)
I realize the discussion around the primary candidates has been a bit heated around here, but this is about a style of politics that harms all Democrats.
by John Kerry on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:28:08 PM PDT
watch Dodd and Feingold's backs now?
Telcom immmunity is not acceptable.
"But your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore"--Prine 4100+ dead Americans. Bring them home.
by Miss Blue on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:29:28 PM PDT
[ Parent ]
I just called Dood and Feingold to encourage them.
Liberties for Security deserves niether.....
by dakrle on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:41:53 PM PDT
Dodd and Feingold need help! As one of your long time constituents and consistent voters, I'd be very much pleased if you and Teddy would bring your bed-rolls to the Senate floor and camp out a while.
This FISA crime is bigger than the election.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." R. Zimmerman
by RUKind on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:46:00 PM PDT
Know the Facts about Barack Obama.
by Elise on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:54:42 PM PDT
I would agree. But that bill is way too important. The Constitution comes before politeness.
'Part of what makes America so beautiful is that there is no such thing as someone who looks like an American' - Barack Obama
by RichM on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:05:20 PM PDT
Then troll-rate me. I don't give a damn.
You are unbelievable.
by Miss Blue on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:17:38 PM PDT
There are shitloads of OT comments all over this diary. Why pick this one? Telecom amnesty is hugely important and timely.
"A person is as free as they believe themselves to be off." - Fortune cookie
by The Termite on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:28:30 PM PDT
first one I saw. Clicked the link to the tip jar and there was another...so I commented. I understand people are upset about FISA...I'd love to see people call their representatives, write them, fax them, email, etc.
by Elise on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:49:47 PM PDT
is IMO, considering the state of things, the wrong thing to do. What's more important right now? Defending negative campaign tactics, or standing up for our constitution? I'm glad that Kossacks are taking it upon themselves to ask Kerry to support Feingold and Dodd right now. We have a senior Senator here posting, if we can scream loud about FISA, we should!
Netroots Director for Oregon Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley
by sarahlane on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:36:18 PM PDT
I voted with Russ Feingold and Chris Dodd against the motion to proceed with this FISA bill back before recess – and if you remember the Alito fight, you know where I stand on the Constitutional rights of the American people.
by John Kerry on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:00:07 PM PDT
so insistent on giving Bush what he wants????
This is unacceptable for the Majority Leader.
"People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution. They don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." --J.R.
by michael1104 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:04:41 PM PDT
...The End of America? If not, it's a real page turner. Thanks for standing up for our civil rights. We desperately need powerful advocates for constitutional protections.
[RED/GLARE]
For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
--Mark Twain
by redglare on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:06:14 PM PDT
Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine
"They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality...and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening."
by Sagebrush Bob on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:15:49 PM PDT
Don't give up now - you guys need to explain to we Democrats why Reid is doing this.
Do you see how frustrated we are? We see our Senate leader playing kissy-face with the GOP, and it's beyond me what rational explanation there could be for it.
You want our votes and our money - then how about some transparency when it comes to crap like what Reid is pulling?
by Miss Blue on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:11:36 PM PDT
filibuster, I hope you will not only vote with Dodd and Feingold but actually participate in the filibuster for as long as it takes to kill this.
BTW please tell Senator Reid that I wish he would use these tactics on Republicans instead of Democrats. Would be nice if he used the same rules for each party. Republicans holds on bills are honored. Democratic holds are not. Republicans are not required to actually filibuster but Democrats are.
What a waste of a majority.
No courage = No $$$ for Dems
by MO Blue on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:13:39 PM PDT
I'll never vote for Reid again.
by Sagebrush Bob on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:17:00 PM PDT
... then perhaps he'd be adequate as a back-bencher
on the way to 60, don't see it's yet time to cut any vote for majority leader away ... but in leadership, i'm lookin' for a coup in the caucus
The next fantasy: Obama/Dean (please let it be)
by wystler on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:28:45 PM PDT
Having someone working against us from within the Democratic Party is far more harmful and dangerous than having on extra Republican.
by Sagebrush Bob on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:34:07 PM PDT
Typo... Having someone working against us from within the Democratic Party is far more harmful and dangerous than having one extra Republican.
by Sagebrush Bob on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:36:04 PM PDT
He aced Capitulation 101!
"We the People of the United States..." -U.S.Constitution
by elwior on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:36:18 PM PDT
Beyond capitulating, by pushing through retroactive immunity, he's actually aiding and abetting the Bush crime family.
by Sagebrush Bob on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:38:16 PM PDT
by pileta on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:21:47 PM PDT
Please call Barack and tell him that he can return the favor of your endorsement by coming back to Capitol Hill and fighting to see immunity does not pass!!!
by The Termite on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:29:30 PM PDT
with SC and then Super Tuesday coming up.
Neither HRC nor BHO will be cloture votes, so they do help to some degree. If the filibuster is still going on come Feb 6th, I'd like to see BOTH go help. Even though I strongly support John Edwards (who would potentially gain if Clinton and Obama came back to help), I think it is asking too much of them to abandon their campaigns at this very moment.
Instead, lets stand with Dodd, Feingold, Kennedy, and Kerry and do the right thing.
Happy little moron, Lucky little man.I wish I was a moron, MY GOD, Perhaps I am!-Spike Milligan
by polecat on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:15:06 PM PDT
You may have a few detractors on this site from time-to-time, but I have always been impressed by your leadership skills. Thank you for standing with Senators Dodd and Feingold on this one.
by pine on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:56:20 PM PDT
with Sen. Dodd, Feingold, et al?
"An entire credulous nation believed in Santa Claus, but Santa Claus was really the gasman." Gunter Grass
by rrheard on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:08:58 PM PDT
in December they had 10 - though some supporting a filibuster were campaigning. On a cloture vote their not voting is the same as a no vote to cloture, because the rule is they need 60 votes.
by karenc on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:35:08 PM PDT
They need 41 to defeat a cloture vote and being absent automatically is one of the 41 (e.g. Obama and Clinton).
Basically they need to prevent the cloture vote from taking place and prevent any business at all from taking place in the Senate.
And I think Chris Dodd is up to it. (Help him pay back his campaign debt, btw.)
by polecat on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:17:07 PM PDT
Do you share the outrage expressed by ABC News reporter Jake Tapper about the latest Clinton ad?
So now the Clinton campaign has taken it to the next level, taking it to the airwaves with their patently false twisting of Barack Obama's words. .... At this point, the Clintons obviously know and don't care that this is a blatantly false representation of what Obama said, which doesn't square with the video or transcript of what Obama said. This has been tirelessly fact-checked by us, the Washington Post, Factcheck.org, Politico, and Politifact. With unanimity, the charge has been established as false. And yet the Clintons continue to make it.
So now the Clinton campaign has taken it to the next level, taking it to the airwaves with their patently false twisting of Barack Obama's words. ....
At this point, the Clintons obviously know and don't care that this is a blatantly false representation of what Obama said, which doesn't square with the video or transcript of what Obama said.
This has been tirelessly fact-checked by us, the Washington Post, Factcheck.org, Politico, and Politifact.
With unanimity, the charge has been established as false.
And yet the Clintons continue to make it.
Join Me at Netroots Nation: The Next President and the Law
by Adam B on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:30:59 PM PDT
and I love Jake Tapper. They are both standing up to the Clinton in a way that other politicians and media have been loathe to do! Where is Al Gore?
John McCain votes against Children's Healthcare
by Hope08 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:34:38 PM PDT
it's not. Not about Clintons, its about the muslim smears, get off it.
by rigso on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:53:27 PM PDT
Sen Kerry's comments are specifically and exactly about the Clinton campaign. Please see this guardian article published today:
Kerry decries smear campaign against Obama Ewen MacAskill in Columbia, South Carolina Wednesday January 23, 2008 John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the 2004 presidential election, today made an extraordinary intervention on behalf of Barack Obama, accusing his opponents of stooping to "Swiftboat" smear tactics to destroy the black senator's presidential ambitions.
Kerry decries smear campaign against Obama Ewen MacAskill in Columbia, South Carolina Wednesday January 23, 2008
John Kerry, the Democratic candidate in the 2004 presidential election, today made an extraordinary intervention on behalf of Barack Obama, accusing his opponents of stooping to "Swiftboat" smear tactics to destroy the black senator's presidential ambitions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
The truth is that Bill Clinton is behaving a great deal like Lee Attwater or Karl Rove. The Clintons are indeed distorting Obama's record and words to insinuate that he supports Reagan era policies. It is really despicable, and Kerry is right to call them on it.
God, who gave man scabies, also gave him hands to scratch them.
by ivorybill on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:18:23 PM PDT
The quotes from Senator Kerry are taken from the letter above or the version of it sent out in a press release to media types.
The article's analysis which ties Sen. Kerry's quotes to comments and slurs coming from the Clinton campaign and their surrogates, is done by the reporter, not by Sen. Kerry.
That's not to say that slurs and innuendos made by Democratic candidates aren't wrong. They are and should be refuted vigorously.
Reality Window | dwahzon's village
by vbdietz on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:35:52 PM PDT
Kerry's comments relate to Muslim emails.
by rigso on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:41:03 PM PDT
I also read that article, and started to believe its slant, but I think they took something that wasn't there. He's talking about the e-mail smears.
John Kerry: "The rubber stamp Republicans have now become the Roadblock Republicans"
by beachmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:43:30 PM PDT
some instances, but those who compare them to Atwater and Rove have forgotten what Atwater and Rove attacks are like.
Kerry has said he will defend any Democrat who is swiftboated. THat will include Clinton and/or Edwards if either are on the ticket -- not that the smears from the right haven't started already -- and I take Senator Kerry at his word. He is acting to defend Obama but not only Obama.
People shouldn't confuse a little nastiness in the primaries with the deadly levels of lying attack that the Republicans hand out routinely.
For God's sake, people: not every diary is about Hillary CLinton.
Vote John McCain for a Hundred Year War!
by Fiona West on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:02:42 PM PDT
sort of life mission is to have their back against the smears. He did it in '06 for lots of Dem candidates, and he will gladly do it both for our presidential nominee and congressional Dem candidates across the country.
by beachmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:28:17 PM PDT
S.Carolina, an attack on Hillary Clinton. It alleges Hillary knew about and helped cover up Bill Clinton's rape of one woman, and that she hired someone to terrorize another woman, while carrying on her own affairs, including with Vince Foster. This is not a matter of taking a negative view of her own words. It's a matter of passing on slimy rumors and made up garbage to defame the character of Democrats. This is what the Rovian right has done over and over. They accuse Kerry of cowardice, Bill Clinton of murder, HIllary of lesbianism (gasp, horrors!), etc. They attack Obama's character and integrity, trying to make him out to be totally untrustworthy, through blatant lies.
And it's just beginning.
I think this response to the "secret Muslim" attacks on Obama is really important, no matter who our preferred candidate is. And that we should stand ready to respond to slanderous attacks by the right on any Democratic candidate.
by Fiona West on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:35:26 PM PDT
He's just being subtle. Look at the timing. This Muslim Bullshit's been out there forever.
by elwior on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:45:33 PM PDT
that constitute swiftboating. Anyone doing it can be seen to be attacked by it. That many Clinton people are saying it attacks the Clintons is interesting to me.
If the shoe fits wear it!
by karenc on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:39:07 PM PDT
Since at least 2004.
on strike.
by daria g on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:47:32 PM PDT
I been speading word of this blatent smear in various diaries today.
She is going to hurt her chances in the primaries if this keeps up.
Pimp your ride, KOS!
by DrMicro on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:53:47 PM PDT
action as a surrogate for Barack and not allow the Clintons to swiftboat him. Yours is voice that can get media attention. If you would go to CNN or MSNBC and state what we each know, what Ted Kennedy and Rahm Emmanuel are complaining about privately, I think it would have a significant impact.
Again thank you for coming out strongly in your support for Barack Obama.
by smartdemmg on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:56:17 PM PDT
The ad has Obama saying the Republicans were the party of ideas. Which, he did say. Now, some people interpret it one way, some another. But it is a matter of interpretation. If he didn't phrase it so vaguely to try and please everyone instead of clearly stating where he stood on the issue - by specifying what his new ideas are, we wouldn't be having this debate on how to interpret what he said.
by daria g on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:46:33 PM PDT
A Clinton supporter's lecturing people on the need to be clear in one's answers?
by Adam B on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:24:56 PM PDT
We have a winner. Yes.
by daria g on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 11:22:11 PM PDT
The ad is clipping out a couple of sentences. So, duh, it sounds vague. Of course he went on to explain it in that interview. He was talking about how the Republicans were able to capture a Majority by creating Reagan Dems. That idea.
This is whole bickering is dumb dumb dumb.
I can't wait til Barack is in the Oval Office.
A New Day is Dawning.
truth, kindness, endurance, Obama '08
by CupofTea on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:12:19 PM PDT
They were the party of ideas and they were bad ideas.
Clinton took the first part and cut out the second part.
Dishonest. Misleading. Shameless. And no sign of change.
Obama/McCaskill vs. McCain/Jindal? Call it a funny feeling.
by ShadowSD on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 07:05:49 AM PDT
for speaking out on this and for your support for Obama. (And thanks for introducing him to the rest of the world 4 years ago. :)
AAPI Wellesley grad in Austin for Obama! Travis County delegate, Pct. 277 - 3/29
by lirtydies on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:31:47 PM PDT
You are a national treasure. Fight for what you believe in, you make us proud.
Yes We Can.
by turnnoblindeye on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:33:56 PM PDT
to some of the supporters of the candidate you endorsed.
Like the ones calling Hillary Clinton Saten.
Like the ones spreading right-wing talking points about the Clintons.
Like the ones saying they will vote for a Republican before they would vote for the Democratic nominee if it is Hillary.
You realy should speak to them, although I doubt they'd listen to you any more than they listened to their candidate.
by scoff0165 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:34:24 PM PDT
"Time is for careful people, not passionate ones"
by roseeriter on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:45:48 PM PDT
about Obama through mailers and surrogates and ex Presidents.
John McCain defends Bush's Iraq strategy.
by recusancy on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:48:18 PM PDT
I just want to go on the record as having never referred to any of the candidates in this race as Saten.
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." - JFK
by Mike on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:52:11 PM PDT
by DrMicro on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:55:18 PM PDT
by karenc on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:40:55 PM PDT
How do you feel about the many people here that accuse Hillary and Bill Cinton of being behind ALL of the smears against Obama?
(BTW, I'm the one that called you a fake in my attempt to stick up for your name, when you posted here for the first time.)
It does not take many words to tell the truth. - Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
by Gabriele Droz on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:34:42 PM PDT
and I have never made that accusation. We know that the "Muslim meme" originated in 2004 from right wing media after Obama electrified the nation with his speech. There was that one scandal where a Clinton person forwarded that e-mail, but other than stray comments, there is no concerted effort to pin the Obama e-mail smears on Clinton.
by beachmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:47:39 PM PDT
Andrew Cuomo, Robert Johnson, etc... going after non issues.
by recusancy on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:50:56 PM PDT
Pretty shocking that he said that. Still, the actual creating of and sending e-mails? I thought that was the Right, although I guess we will never know for sure.
by beachmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:53:56 PM PDT
had to resign for spreading the "Obama's a Muslim" email in Iowa.
by Elise on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:56:25 PM PDT
she fired her. And a couple of others as well.
by Gabriele Droz on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:57:56 PM PDT
from repeating falsehoods now and just debate on the real issues. Then we'd be getting somewhere.
by Elise on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:59:49 PM PDT
more from her flunky's hit on Obama than from the magnanimous gesture of firing him for saying what she couldn't say. He was expendable; win the media cycle by any means necessary--including slime!
by bcorcoran on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:09:15 PM PDT
is a deliberate, calculated distortion. No real way to argue otherwise. She has every right to behave that way, because Obama needs to toughen up or lose. This is not a game for weaklings. So although I'm with Kerry on dislike for these tactics, I accept Hillary's right to slime Obama. In a sick sort of way, I even admire it. Bob Dole visited Bill Clinton in the Oval Office and brought up one particularly distorted attack Clinton had delivered on Dole's position on Social Security. Bill shrugged and said "you gotta do what you gotta do". Obama needs to learn how to deal with it. Hillary claims, improbably, that the Republicans have already used everything against her and there's nothing left to fling. I hope Obama takes the high road, but if he doesn't... I'm sure you won't object too loudly if David Axelrod comes up with some unpleasantness of his own.
by ivorybill on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:47:10 PM PDT
Meant it as a compliment - that's Kerrey - he had said the precise same thing, in a complimentary manner, at least twice in print many months prior to stating his support for a candidate.
by daria g on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:50:14 PM PDT
I said "the many people here". There are a lot of them here, wouldn't you agree?
by Gabriele Droz on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:59:59 PM PDT
In other words, nobody is writing a diary like that and it is making the Rec List. So, to me, that means it is not much of a problem. Stray comments are just that: stray comments. You seem very capable of swatting them away.
by beachmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:01:39 PM PDT
different. I respectfully disagree.
by Gabriele Droz on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:09:01 PM PDT
but the lack of backbone in our current Dem leadership also hurts the whole country. Please consider running for Senate Majority leader or push for someone like Feingold or Dodd to replace Reid.
by sarahlane on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:36:54 PM PDT
difference. Please help change the party leadership structure in the Senate.
Should she lose, even Senator Clinton would make an excellent Majority Leader. My regard for the present Majority Leader drops by the day.
Thank you for all of your efforts.
(I just wish you'd endorsed Edwards instead. But thanks anyway for your intellectual honesty. And, I bought AND READ your book.)
by polecat on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:20:12 PM PDT
makes me smile and laugh, how the world has changed hasn't it.
What were the skies like when you were young..
by soros on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:38:08 PM PDT
and I'm all for it. And I can imagine certain past politicians taking very quickly to it. Doncha think Teddy Roosevelt would have blogged? Woodrow Wilson, not so much.
Sometimes a .sig is just a .sig.
by rhubarb on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:08:03 PM PDT
by soros on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:37:03 PM PDT
say that I troll rated.
by karenc on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 03:46:03 PM PDT
Richard Nixon (on the beach--in wingtips):
I eat proteins. I eat a lot of cheese. Cottage cheese. I eat cottage cheese until it runs out my ears. And one thing I do that makes it not too bad is I put ketchup on it. I learned it from my grandmother.
by rhubarb on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:33:18 PM PDT
going back to the Vietnam war.
I have the utmost respect for Senator Kerry.
by polecat on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:21:09 PM PDT
to your principles through thick and thin. I cannot tell a lie that I think one of our own is engaged in swiftboating, too, and that just depresses me and saddens me beyond belief.
I do agree wholeheartedly that we need to stomp out all right wing smears wherever they pop up. I haven't received one of the smear e-mails about Obama yet, but if I do, I will use the fact check link you provided.
Thanks again for all you do.
by beachmom on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:43:27 PM PDT
you need to talk to your candidate too.
It is not one sided.
by Jjc2006 on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:44:46 PM PDT
And it is with bittersweet tears I say this, because I know you would have been the best President I ever had. And thanks for supporting Barack. I KNOW you have got his back.
by NYFM on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:45:14 PM PDT
by gettowork on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:37:43 PM PDT
by neworleanslady68 on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 04:37:23 AM PDT
President Obama.
by Rob Cole on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:45:23 PM PDT
earth tactics the Clintons are using but we really, really, really, need you to stand up with Dodd on FISA and telecom immunity.
McCain says overturn Roe v. Wade.
by peraspera on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:47:38 PM PDT
stop the B.S, Senator Kerry has more honor than that.
by rigso on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:57:31 PM PDT
they don't.
by rock the ground on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:17:49 PM PDT
bitter candidate partisans threaten to divide the party with their purity messages and wild accusations against the Clintons, I think it's great you endorsed Obama, not my candidate, but great nonetheless, but I think your voice supporting ALL democrats more forcefully could help to stop some of the silliness. Thanks!
by rigso on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:56:56 PM PDT
