Has Kerry Been A Great Senator?

[PresidentObama]

Despite "losing" the 2004 election, and pissing a lot of you off because of that can you admit he's been a great Democratic Senator? With all this recent talk about whether or not he'll have a primary fight, I want to get DU's majority opinion. For the most part even those whom are opposed to him ever running again as a Presidential candidate have said he's been a wonderful Senator for our party.

So how do you feel? Has Senator Kerry done a great job in his over twenty years of service to our country?

I'm voting yes, BTW!! Not only because I admire him, and respect his life story. But because he's been a very great United States Senator. I would like President Kerry a lot better, but Senator Kerry is just fine with this Kerrycrat ;)

If you vote, please tell us why!!

PLEASE DON'T TURN THIS INTO A BATTLE OVER HIS TIME AS OUR PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE. I WANT TO HEAR YOUR OPINIONS ON HIS TIME IN THE SENATE. PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS ASIDE PLEASE!!

[Missy M]

1. He has done a great job....

and I admire him as a Senator, veteran and person.

[PresidentObama]

3. Thank you. Just like the woman in your avatar, Kerry's done a great job IMO. n/t

[Adelante]

2. Yes!

I have disagreed here and there on some few things, but his lifetime of contributions in national service cannot be overstated, imo.

:patriot:

[ElizabethDC]

4. Absolutely! n/t

[William769]

5. Of course he's been a great Senator.

[Monkeyman]

6. Brother John has been a great Senator and a good Brother

[PresidentObama]

7. Interesting, yet expected numbers thus far.

[fedupinBushcountry]

8. Absolutely

I wish I had him as my Senator.

[politicasista]

10. Yep, he and Uncle Ted would be an improvement over Alexander and Corker anyday n/t

[Island Blue]

17. I wish I had him as BOTH of my Senators.

I'm willing to make a two for one trade. I'm generous that way. ;)

[ProSense]

9. One of the best ever! The problem is

most Senators will never match Kerry's record. Not one of the current candidates will ever come close. Senator Kerry is responsible for authoring and contributing to some of the most important pieces of legislation passed or pending. Also, given the makeup of Congress, a progressive Democrat is going to have a long uphill battle to get legislation passed.

Senator Kerry continues to fightto get sensible progressive legislation passed rather than offer up watered down ones just to score points. I wish some of those racing to get legislation like the bankruptcy bill passed (score!) would do the country a favor and slow down, stop weakening good bills and supporting bad one.

[blm]

14. You favor him legislatively, I applaud his record exposing govt. corruption and

pursuing open government issues.

There isn't a lawmaker in DC who comes close to Kerry's record investigating and exposing serious government corruption - though, at some point soon, I hope and expect Henry Waxman to join him on the top of that heap.

[MannyGoldstein]

11. Fair At Best

The two most important votes of the last decade were permanent 'free' trade with China and the IWR.

He voted the wrong way on both.

Not good.

[Alexander]

12. A wonderful Senator who rooted out corruption and stood for liberal causes.

As a result, I thanked him when I met him at one of his campaign rallies in 2003.

I hope he fends off the primary challenge and maybe even gets a Cabinet post in the next Democratic administration. I've always thought of him as a good Secretary of State, if not president.

[Adelante]

21. I would love him as AG

He'd kick ass.

[rox63]

13. He is a great Senator

I've been proud to be his constituent and to vote for him since the 80's.

[beachmom]

15. Fantastic senator. One of the best.

He's why I'm still here fighting. He's been a big inspiration to me.

[elocs]

16. Define what exactly is meant by "great". I think he may be great.

The only thing your poll will show about the DU opinion about Kerry are those who bother to read your thread and those who bother to vote. Out of over 100,000 registered users at DU, exactly how do you determine a majority opinion about whether Kerry is a great senator or not?

[primative1]

18. I voted good ..

and coming from me that IS a compliment.
My gripe with his first many years was all the time he spent recovering Vietnam (mia) issues. I guess it was personal to him. Thats one of the reasons I went so ballistic when he got labeled as uncaring of the troops, I mean were they kidding? If anything he went too far.
Since 04 he has been spot on IMO.
Now that his ambitions are behind him he is on his way to being a great senator.

[karynnj]

30. Oddly the best account I read of the MIA/POW stuff

was McCain's book. He did a completely amazing job, especially when you realize it was frought with potential political landmines and he had McCain, Kerrey and Smith to keep under control. That may have been tougher than the negotiations with the Vietnamese. McCain was incredably impressed that Kerry got them to agree to unannounced trips. I was impressed that he worked out the agreement to get the Vietnamese to put in an intense effort to repatriate American remains. It bothered me when Dean never mentioned that Kerry was responsible for this when Dean spoke of his brother returning.

(A few months ago a long term SFRC staffer who worked on this retired from the Senate - in listening to Kerry speak of things she did, I learned that she assisted Kerry and Vallery(sp?)in drafting the treaty that Clinton later siged with the Vietnamese.)

Kerry also brokered the tribunal that will be used soon to examine the Pol Pot years in Cambodia. All these things were immensely important but as Kerry took 14 trips to Vietnam, it likely seemed at times that you had only one Senator.

[last_texas_dem]

19. He seems like he does a great job to me

If MA is as fed up with Kerry as some DUers seem to think, I wonder if MA would be willing to send him down here to TX and we could send Cornyn up there?

[Forkboy]

20. Heh....no deal.

:D

[PresidentObama]

22. It would be interesting to hear one of the five people who voted no.

Please stop hiding behind the curtain, and share why you feel this way. Something tells me, even though I said to put the Presidential politics aside, you're just judging him as the nominee in 2004--and not his career in the Senate!! Because we all know Kerry has done a lot for MA and for the United States, and saying otherwise is borderline crazy.

[NCarolinawoman]

23. I consider him great just on his environmental votes alone.

Not just his votes, but he has been a true leader on these issues. Down here in North Carolina we were hearing about this for years.

:patriot:

[PresidentObama]

24. Absolutely. Have you read his book? If so, wasn't it wonderful?

Kerry's passion on the environment is phenomenal. Him and Al Gore are truly two leaders we should all be very proud of!!

[NCarolinawoman]

25. Well, I purchased it as a present for someone.

Now I have to figure out how to look through it without leaving thumb prints, bent pages, etc. heh heh.

Probably have to buy my own copy.......:)

[PresidentObama]

27. Before I bought it, I started to read it in the bookstore.

I got so into it, I was about 40 pages into it when I realized I was reading the book before I even bought it. So I paid for it, and went over to the coffee place next door and read probably 30 more pages. It's a very good read. I would suggest you buy another copy ;)

[LWolf]

26. Other.

He's been ok. Some of his work has been good; some not. Like most politicians. I don't think it's been "great."

The IWR, and subsequent excuses, stick in my craw. If he were truly "great," if his work rose to that level, he'd be able to recognize and oppose things like this when it counted, not after the fact.

[Blue_In_AK]

28. John Kerry has been a phenomenal senator...

I wish he were mine. :cry:

[burrowowl]

29. Investigation of BCCI for one, etc. eom

[TankLV]

31. I choose "other": NO.

Not the worst, but far from great by a long shot...

competant.
decent.
good.

but great - hardly...

I don't know if anybody would merit that adjective...and I know of NO repukes who could even approach the feet of that list, let alone be on it...