Nice coverage of Kerry's German Youth Connection town hall in the BG (AP article)

[karynnj]

He sounds like he is in his element - and again speaking of his days as a 12 year old biking to East Berlin.

As has happened in this group, his tie was noticed.

Kerry also took the opportunity to plug a New England clothing line after one audience member complimented him on his pink tie. A graduate of the noted St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire and Yale University, Kerry extolled the sartorial virtues of Vineyard Vines, a Connecticut purveyor of — in its own description — ‘‘preppy’’ clothes that has a pink whale for a logo.

‘‘I don’t own any stock in the company,’’ he said to laughter.



< snip - He also spoke of the value of freedom of speech - even when stupid:>

Kerry urged Germans to be tolerant of all points of view and noted that in America ‘‘you have a right to be stupid.’’ He said tolerance of unpopular, offensive or otherwise objectionable views was a virtue and ‘‘something worth fighting for.’’

http://bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/02/26/john-kerry-pushes-trans-atlantic-free-trade-germany/cr3medzQpYmbCdwYmMXRwI/story.htmlthe WP notes they are inspired by Martha's Vineyard, though headquartered in CT - http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/as-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-still-a-champion-of-massachusetts/2013/02/26/f35039e2-802c-11e2-a350-49866afab584_story.html (The article speaks of him still a booster of MA)


One of the other identical articles had a link to this nice article on his Senate farewell speech - sorry if it was already posted:
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Peter-Fenn/2013/01/31/john-kerrys-stirring-senate-farewell-address

[ProSense]

1. Thanks. I was trying to find his remarks. I just

listened to his press conference with the UK Foreign Secretary. He address Syria and the recent reports out of Afghanistan. Good stuff.

http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/02/205156.htm

[Mass]

2. A few reporters clearly illustrate his comment on "the right to be stupid".

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/02/john-kerry-proudly-defends-americans-right-be-stupid/62530/

Which is worse is that these people get paid "to be stupid".

I think there is something with some of these blog columns for newspapers (Al Kamen, a couple of the bloggers on the Atlantic, ...). I am starting to wonder how they got their jobs.

(That and kazakhstan, you' ve got to wonder why some people write about foreign affairs).

[YvonneCa]

6. "...these people get paid to be stupid"...

...is how he should push back on this, if necessary. GREAT words, Mass.

[Mass]

3. And a couple of articles about what Kerry can be expected to do and why?

Why some of these articles seem to linger on the obvious "Kerry is not Clinton", they are interesting to read.

FP has a good one despite the provocative title.

Time has one too: http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/26/kerry-walks-softly-out-of-the-gate/

and here is one from france24
http://www.france24.com/en/20130226-after-rock-star-clinton-how-will-kerry-measure-0

[karynnj]

5. It is really weird that they had so many stories dealing with how he was not Clinton

It is funny how many of them just do not get Kerry - or Clinton, for that matter.

Even when not mentioning Clinton, there are strange things like Matt Viser pointing out Kerry went up the stairs to board the plane without turning back to wave. Yet, had he waved, I suspect that would be commented on as if it were a problem as well.

I remember well the hoopla of the early Clinton trips - with the hyped articles on how valuable her star power was and the deliberate ignoring of the faux pas that did - as they would for anyone - happened.

One article spoke of how Hillary had used social media and suggested that this was not something Kerry was likely to do -- ignoring that he had used all these things well as Senator. It looks from the links that his London press conference and other events went very well. The German event with young people seemed to go as well as similar meetings he had with young people in Massachusetts. If the media were honest, this is something Kerry does as well - if not better than Clinton.

I really liked reading the transcript of his comments at the embassy. ( http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/02/205183.htm ) What struck me is how well he really did understand their lives because of his own youth.)

I also thought many strange in making it seem a bad thing that they thought Kerry would tackle big issues and that his models were people like George Marshall, not Hillary Clinton. That they make this comment as they imply, but often do not say, that HRC was not one of the greatest SoS seems odd. He is a very different person, with different skills and a different history.

The good thing is that NONE of the meaningless criticisms have much to do with Kerry doing his job. One thing that is probably true is that if Kerry were to have 4 years similar to Clinton's, the media would be pretty negative and say he did not live up to his expectations. Yet, given the praise for HRC, what does this mean?

[Mass]

7. yes, and the media love this angle

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/02/26/the-john-kerry-school-of-foreign-policy/

Alex Wagner had a whole segment on that.

Andrea Mitchell was horrible and totally dismissive, actually missing what Kerry said about Syria to imply he talked about weapons, and that Obama would not follow.

A lot of what Kerry will be able to do will depend of Obama and what he wants to do, but I find extremely irritating the dismissive reactions the media have, but what is new.

(BTW, on a different side, the media seem to be just as dismissive with Markey, so I guess this goes with this MA senate seat).

[ProSense]

4. Here's a good clip

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/kerry-in-america-you-have-right-to-be