Will the Real John Kerry Please Stand Up?

[rodbarnett]

Watching Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign break down and then later surge has come as a big surprise. For over four years, Kerry has made it known that he desired the Oval Office and his place in history.

As someone who has watched Kerry over the years, seen him in other races, and observed him lose all spine when the tough votes came along, his surge is a big surprise. For 18 years, Kerry has done very little he can point to by way of accomplishment.

When he first came to the senate, Kerry was a champion of campaign finance reform, refusing political action committee money and only accepting $250 donations. Then he changed his mind and started taking big money - even forming his own presidential slush fund PAC. Kerry paints himself as a champion of the environment but what has he actually done for the environment? Just voting against drilling in ANWR isn't enough.

For the most part, Kerry has had a safe seat in the Senate. Politicians who have safe seats are the ones who are supposed to be the visionaries. They can afford to take chances as big thinkers and float the new ideas. Despite the opportunity to forward meaningful legislation and really affect people's lives in a positive way, Kerry hasn't done the job.



<snip>

In the end, voters may ignore Kerry’s real record and vote for him because the national press corps believes he is “electable.” But voters would be smart to take a second look and sharply analyze Kerry’s true record because when all is said and done, they may not like what they see.


<more>
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0219-11.htm

comment : a good read from a respectable progressive source

[jpgray]

1. LOL, it's just a WEE bit biased

Check this out:

When he first came to the senate, Kerry was a champion of campaign finance reform, refusing political action committee money and only accepting $250 donations. Then he changed his mind and started taking big money - even forming his own presidential slush fund PAC.

Kerry never took PAC money in his Senate races. That's eighteen years of PAC-free campaigning, yet this article tries to imply he changed his mind about avoiding this money rather quickly. Laughably, the only evidence it cites is his presidential PAC that was started only months ago. By obfuscating these facts, it doesn't lend much credibility to the rest of the assertions.

edit: Also this person totally ignores his key leadership on Kyoto and low-emission cars--some very important environmental issues that he was a clear leader on. This guy needs to get his facts in hand next time. :)

[yowzayowzayowza]

3. and the lead in the Iran/Contra investigation.

Minor details.

[sangh0]

5. And if it's really "big money" why is Kerry one of the lowest

takers of corporate donations in the Senate?

They also forget about how Kerry was THE FIRST to introduce an equal rights bill for homosexuals in the Senate and was the only Senator up for re-election who voted against DOMA.

[jpgray]

6. Yes, another ignored fact--one of only fourteen senators against DOMA (nt)

[flpoljunkie]

2. Who do you support? John Kerry's PIRG rating 94% vs. John Edward's 74%

John Edward's talks the populist game, but his Senate votes do not jive with his rhetoric. Both Kerry and Kucinich have far better records on consumer issues, environmental issues, and good government issues, like public financing of campaigns.

Some of Edward's Senate votes:

l. Voted to send waste to Yucca Mountain, 7/9/02 (environmentally unsound)

2. Voted for the Energy Act of 2003, 7/31/03 (incredible giveaway to energy companies)

3. Voted against increasing reliance on renewable energy, 3/14/02

4. Voted to subsidize insurance to nuclear plants (billions of our taxpayer dollars)

5. Voted for the egregious bankruptcy bill of 3/15/01 (giveaway to banks and credit card companies)

6. Voted for fast track final passage, 5/23/02

7. Voted for the China Trade Deal, 9/19/00 (where most US jobs have since gone)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. voting against drilling in ANWR isn't enough.

True. It isn't. Kerry has done so much for the environment over his long career that he took most of the major environmental endorsements this campaign as well securing that of the League of Conservation Voters' who endorsed a candidate before New Hampshire for the first time ever.

You don't have to waste time reading the whole article after reading that.
It isn't just biased- it is out to lunch biased.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

7. Right Anthony...if you live in Mass, then to claim his seat was safe

is to have been brain dead during his campaign for re-election with Weld.

I hardly consider it credible to ignore that battle. The writer lost me with that statement.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. More about the impartial progressive author

Schinella has done this before. In 1992, he worked on Jerry Brown's presidential campaign. In 1994, he was a campus coordinator for Ted Kennedy's re-election race. Last year, he tried to get Ralph Nader on the presidential ballot for the Green Party, a campaign that was especially disappointing for Schinella: too many factions, too tough a battle. "After that, I said I'd never work on another campaign for free again, unless it's my own," he says.

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/features/97/08/21/ANTHONY_SCHINELLA.html

http://www.msys.net/cress/basic/tp2000.htm

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:TF9SXn9L7p8J:www.votenader.com/state/NewHampshire/+Anthony+Schinella&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[sangh0]

9. HA! Busted!

Another smear piece exposed

[buckeye1]

10. Common dreams is....

GangGreen jive. So pure,so impotent. Kerry wins,Nadir whines.