That Kerry Endorsement

[ProSense]

That Kerry Endorsement

Posted by Karen Tumulty

The Washington Post sees former Democratic nominee John Kerry's endorsement of Barack Obama as a setback for his 2004 running mate John Edwards. But a source close to Kerry tells me that the person who had been working hardest to get it was Hillary Clinton--to the point where her husband had personally lobbied Kerry's brother Cam and his former brother-in-law David Thorne.

Kerry has never been particularly close to the Clintons. He thought they could have done far more to help him in 2004, and hasn't forgotten that Hillary Clinton was one of the first to criticize him over what he called a "botched joke" about U.S. troops in Iraq in 2006. (This, of course, was when Kerry was still considered a contender to be running against Clinton in 2008.) It helped, too, that Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is supporting Obama, and that much of Kerry's fundraising network has already migrated to the Obama campaign.

link

[Colobo]

1. Good to know.

[Anouka]

14. Why did Bill grovel for it, and why did Kerry withhold it? n/t

[Bicoastal]

2. That's RIGHT--I remember.

Of course he wouldn't go to Hillary--she really gave him hell for that.

[sandnsea]

3. To knock him out of contention

This is who the Clintons are.

[TheDonkey]

4. Yea I remember when Clinton tore into him

as she started to prop herself up for the 08 run. HRC was pretty icy on the trail too knowing that she's have to wait longer if President Kerry was in office for 8 years.

[politicallore]

5. And you would want his support... why???

I am sorry, but all this does is hurt edwards.... and shows what kind of person kerry is....

Incredibly stupid
I do not support edwards by the way... he would be my least fav. dem candidate

[ProSense]

6. That doesn't make any sense! n/t

[2008]

7. This doesn't hurt Edwards. What would really hurt Edwards would be if Kerry...

...changed his mind and decided to endorse Edwards.

"I was for Obama before I was against him."

Probably the only real mistake of John's political career was accepting the VP position in 2004.

[cali]

10. Well, JE's political career is a very brief one

but I can name LOTS of mistakes: Co-sponsoring a war resolution with Lieberman, voting for bankruptcy reform, voting for Yucca Mountain, voting for the China trade legislation, supporting his IWR vote and the war for 3 years, etc, etc.

[Dawgs]

15. Or the worst mistake of Kerry's was picking a VP that couldn't help win one state.

[jasmine621]

8. So, do you agree that the troop joke was good judgement and sound

thinking and an ok thing to do? I don't agree with the invasion and occupation of Iraq but I resent taking swipes at our men and women in uniform as a joke. Minorities should have been really upset about what could have easily been taken as a swipe at them. All of our judgements were off about Kerry. He was not the fighter we had hoped for. And many of us here complained so before. Hillary hate is truly blinding.

[Inuca]

11. IT WAS NOT A TROOP JOKE!!!!

It was a not very good BUSH joke and he dropped a damn' pronoun when he said it. How many times has this been mentioned here and everywhere else? Pathetic.....

Apologies to everyone else for the screaming, but sometimes it is just too much to see the same inanities repeated over and over and over again.

[MH1]

12. Bought the RW spin, have you?

It was a joke about Bush - read it (or better yet watch or listen to it) in context, it is very clearly about Bush, even with pronoun ("get us stuck in Iraq") missing.

[Lucinda]

9. Funny...I remember Bill campaigning for Kerry right after surgery.

I don't know how much more Kerry expected from Bill under the circumstances.

[ProSense]

13. Here's what I remember

In the middle of Kerry's campaign against Bush:

"I have repeatedly defended President Bush against the left on Iraq, even though I think he should have waited until the U.N. inspections were over," Clinton said in a Time magazine interview that will hit newsstands Monday, a day before the publication of his book "My Life."

Clinton, who was interviewed Thursday, said he did not believe that Bush went to war in Iraq over oil or for imperialist reasons but out of a genuine belief that large quantities of weapons of mass destruction remained unaccounted for.

link

2006:

Hillary Clinton Joins In

[Barack_America]

30. Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Can't expect a guy to give you much after you stab him in the back like that!

[politicasista]

16. He didn't expect alot, he know Bill had surgery n/t

[Bread and Circus]

17. The Kerry endorsement is a huge blow to Hillary...

and I think he meant it as that. I'm pretty sure he knew that Edwards was already out for the most part.

[phillyliberal]

18. good

I am glad he didn't forget where the Clintons were when he was running.

[kelligesq]

19. NYT: Kerry Gives Obama " Kiss of Death"

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:R_VFR6DLc4cJ:theca...

New York Times Politics Blog
January 10, 2008, 6:51 pm
Blogtalk: The Obama-Kerry Alliance
By Ariel Alexovich

Boy, that John Kerry is one unpopular guy.
Based on what we’ve read online today, there are heaps of vindictive Democrats out there who still harbor a grudge toward Senator Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, for not locking up the presidency in 2004. That’s not to mention the folks of both parties who consider him an out-of-touch liberal — and a man whose endorsement of Barack Obama today might be, to borrow the words of at least half a dozen contributors to The Caucus, a “kiss of death.”
-snip-
Even those who like John Kerry are confused, if not downright angry, that he chose to throw his weight behind Mr. Obama, a relative newbie to the Senate.

-more- at URL above

[ProSense]

20. Barack & Sen. John Kerry Rally for Change in Charleston, SC

Barack & Sen. John Kerry Rally for Change in Charleston, SC

New York Times


"Endorsing Obama, Kerry calls him leader of 'Wisdom, Instinct and Vision'"

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Senator John Kerry embraced the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama on Thursday, praising him as the only Democrat in the race who can inspire a movement to dislodge Washington partisanship and create a new image around the world.

“Who better than Barack Obama to bring new credibility to America’s role in the world and help restore our moral authority?” Mr. Kerry said, speaking at a large rally here. “Who better than Barack Obama to turn a new page in American politics, so that Democrats, independents and Republicans alike can look to the leadership that unites to find common ground?”

...“Since the birth of our nation, change has been won by young presidents and young leaders who have shown that experience is defined not by time in Washington or years in office, but by wisdom, instinct and vision,” Mr. Kerry said of Mr. Obama, who is 46.


Washington Post


..."Martin Luther King said the time is always right to do what is right," Kerry said at a morning rally attended by several thousand people, "and I am here in South Carolina because this is the right time to share with you, to make sure that we know, that I have the confidence that Barack Obama can be, will be and should be the next president."

..."Mile by mile on the long march of this campaign, the cynics have questioned whether this young leader from Illinois is ready. But you know what, the cynics may have spoken, but it is the people that will decide," he said. Kerry added: "When we choose a president we are electing judgment and character, not years on this Earth."


Charleston Post and Courier


...Kerry's appearance provided a surprise twist to Obama's packed rally at the College of Charleston's Cistern, which drew thousands of people, making it the largest political rally in Charleston in recent memory. Hundreds also stood outside along the iron fence.

..."It is the moral compass that I see and that I believe you see in Barack Obama that gives me confidence he will steer our country in the right direction. He was, after all, right about the war in Iraq from the beginning," Kerry said...

Kerry said Obama, now a U.S. Senator, promises a new brand of bipartisan politics that would bring citizens together to do great things. "I see Americans by the millions turned off from our democracy itself," Kerry said. "To them, politics has become a dirty word, and we've all seen too much of a politics that sells out the conscience of our country just to win an election."
Las Vegas Review-Journal


Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., believes Sen. Barack Obama has what Nevada voters are looking for.

..."Nevada is a state that cares a lot about moving the country forward," he said. With the state's rapid development, infrastructure and energy needs, voters here are looking for a candidate who promises to overhaul the system, he said.

"Nevada wants change. The whole country wants change," Kerry said in a phone interview on his way back to Boston from South Carolina, where he announced his support for Obama Thursday. "I haven't met anybody who doesn't think things can't be better. People are fed up with Washington, and Barack Obama represents change."

..."Barack Obama is not just glossy words," he said, listing among Obama's accomplishments ethics reform in Congress and children's health care in Illinois.

"He knows how to get these things done," Kerry said. "He's also smart enough to see pretty quickly that the place is broken. Some people are trying to reduce his rhetoric, but what great leader has not inspired?"


Los Angeles Times


...Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won what was easily the day's top prize -- the backing of Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the party's 2004 nominee. Kerry announced his support during a surprise appearance with Obama in South Carolina, where Democrats cast primary ballots Jan. 26.

...Some African American women who attended Obama's rally said they felt torn between the Democratic front-runners, but had decided to choose youth over experience.

Irma Greene, 78, said Obama reminded her of John F. Kennedy. "President Kennedy was young, and this young man needs a chance," said Greene. "We love Hillary, but we need Obama now."


link

:)

[ProSense]

21. Kick! n/t

[Adelante]

22. k&r

:kick:

[Adelante]

23. That link does not lead to the article

Do you have a correct URL?

[Essene]

24. It's a setback for Obama.

Obama's risk right now is to suddenly look like Mr Establishment with all these losers behind him and big special interests as well.

And by loser i mean that Kerry is literally seen as the loser from 2004. Kerry isn't the party's love child and shouldnt be held up by anybody wanting to win. He's a negative connotation. Period.

[ProSense]

25. Stop wishing! Kerry endorsed Obama. Bam! n/t

[LittleClarkie]

28. It's not like the endorsement took Obama by surprise

He wanted it as well.

That an establishment person went with him might make Obama look establishment, I suppose.

But it also counters the argument that Camp Hillary has been making that he's too young. If an experienced man like Kerry thinks Obama has the experience and the ability to be president, then that's saying something.

[politicasista]

29. I welcome any Democrat to help Obama

If this was someone OTHER than Kerry or anyone BUT Kerry, you would probably sing a different tune and there would be 10 times less snark than there has been the last few days.

[indimuse]

26. that the person who had been working hardest to get it was Hillary Clinton

Hence.... Hillary Clinton working hardest! :hi:

[ProSense]

27. Kick! n/t

[mtnsnake]

31. What about the paragraph that says Kerry's own performance in 2004 devalued his own stock?

This one, from the same article:

What's Kerry's endorsement worth? The significance of these things with voters tend to be overplayed, and Kerry's own performance in 2004 has devalued his stock with the Democratic Party. But it does lend some establishment cred to the Obama operation. And Kerry still has the remnants of an organization in the primary states, as well as an enormous e-mail list.

I don't think Kerry's endorsement of Obama is that huge a setback for Edwards, or for Hillary either, even if she did hope for it. If anything it was payback, not a setback for Edwards, and I doubt that Edwards is all that concerned over it, nor would he have expected to get it.

[Major Hogwash]

32. Not only that, but neither Bill nor Hillary spoke up for Kerry when he was being swiftboated.

So, even if somehow she gets the Dem nomination, I won't be defending her from all the attacks that the Republicans will make on her in November.

Not after all the comments she made this past weekend.