Falling out of Love and Falling in Line

[Tatiana]

I'll be voting for Kerry in this year's general election.

He's a good candidate. He's served his country, in uniform and out. He's a thousand times better than Bush.

So, I'll be voting for Kerry. But I won't be particularly enthused.

I've been thinking about a statement President Clinton made about this election. He said something along the lines of when choosing a candidate to vote for in the primaries, we fall in love, but come general election time, we need to fall in line.

I agree wholeheartedly. We have to be united if we are to defeat the evil that has taken over all three branches of government (as well as the "4th estate). But I have to admit, this whole process has left a bitter taste in my mouth. A little voice inside me keeps saying that we, as voters, picked the safest choice - not the best one.

Before someone tells me to quit whining and support Kerry, I do support him. But honestly, I'm not supporting Kerry the man, Kerry the candidate. I'm supporting The Man Who Will Get Rid of Bush. So many bombshells have dropped recently:

1) Iraq/Fallujah
2) 9-11 Commission, Condi will testify, Bush/Cheney will testify, some 10,000 pages of vital documents on terrorism during Clinton's administration withheld by the Bush administration when Clinton authorized the release of the papers
3) Jack Spadaro tells Bob Simon that the Bush administration covered up one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. (60 min. tonight)
4) Scathing NY Times editorial "The Mystery Deepens"
(snip)
Explaining the latest act of obstruction, Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, said on Thursday that some documents were duplicative, unrelated or "highly sensitive." The White House, he said, had given the commission "all the information they need." Mr. Bush's staff should not be making that judgment. The commission's 10 members can be trusted with sensitive material.

Moreover, given the repeated criticism of this administration's obsessive secrecy on other issues, it is astonishing that it would still withhold anything that did not pose an immediate and dire threat to national security. The American people would like to know that they have a government that freely gives information to legitimate investigations on matters of grave national interest, not one that fights each reasonable request until it is exposed and forced to submit. The White House is serving no public purpose by acting less interested than the rest of us in having this commission do its vital work. Its ham-handed behavior is also gravely damaging the entire concept of executive privilege.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/03/opinion/03SAT1.html?ex=1082022333&ei=1&en=b32cad0767018000
5) Eleanor Clift's equally scathing article in Newsweek basically saying Cheney's in charge and Bush really is too dumb to be president.

So many scandals, so little time. But there's only one thing.... where is the voice of our candidate during this time? Kerry is nowhere to be found. Yes, there is something to be said for staying above the fray and letting this administration shoot themselves in the foot. But the American people deserve to know what Kerry's thoughts are and what he will do to ensure we have a transparent government. I see him letting an opportunity pass him (and the Democratic party) by. The Bush administration is one of the most corrupt administrations in our nation's history. This is, indeed, "Worse than Watergate," as John Dean suggests.

I want to see leadership. I want to see a man who wants this Presidency, someone who is driven by a desire to attempt to right all the wrongs Bush has committed. I want to see the Kerry who fought back from underdog status in the primaries.

I'll vote for him regardless, but the rest of the country may not. Kerry would do well to pick one of the other primary candidates as his running mate. Someone needs to breathe a little fire and passion into this campaign ASAP.

[NMDemDist2]

1. You should really read Kerry's book, it may open your eyes (and heart)

He is a good man and a very smart man. After reading his book I emailed him urging him to run back in august of 2002. You can pick it up cheap on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684846144/qid=1081105818/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/102-4844012-2797769

[Tatiana]

2. I support Kerry.

Haven't read his book, though. But followed his invaluable service during Iran-Contra. I'm talking about NOW, however. He's not doing what he needs to do at this point in terms of his campaign and spelling out the reasons why he should be in the White House next year instead of Bush.

[JNelson6563]

4. book or no book, where the hell is he???

The invisible candidate. Ugh.

Julie

[Tatiana]

5. Exactly. We need a VISIBLE candidate. NOW. n/t

[WilliamPitt]

10. Never get in the way of a perfectly good train wreck

Amount of damage being done to Bush by all this: Lots

Amount of money Bush will have to spend to get out from under: Lots (they spent $42 million in March to little gain)

Amount Kerry has spent in the last two weeks by sitting back and letting proxies beat the shit out of Bush: Almost none

As we say in Boston, "Smaht."

[For PaisAn]

3. Falling in line

I too will vote for Kerry this November, we really have no choice, the other option is fatal. I don't necessarily agree that Kerry was the safest choice. Yes, on the surface he seems so but ultimately the safest choice would have been the candidate that had the best chance to beat Bush. I believe Kerry did/does not have the best chance for many reasons. We picked who the media wanted us to pick.

As for getting messages out, Kerry needs to take some lessons from Clinton or one of the other primary candidates. He is way too long-winded. Any message gets lost in blah, blah, blah. Unfortunate because his message is good.


"Someone needs to breathe a little fire and passion into this campaign ASAP." - that is certainly true!

[LWolf]

6. Yes.

Falling in line does not generate the hope, optimisim, fire, and passion that falling in love does. I think that's dangerous; he will need that fire to defeat Bush.

I've always known my vote was committed to the nominee, regardless. I do not want to tolerate another 4 years of *. Kerry was ranked # 2 or 3 on my list all along. He has disappointed me, though, with some of his votes and some of his statements on issues. I'm not feeling any enthusiasm or passion. He could change that with a strong, unwavering stance on a few issues:

*universal, single-payer health care;
*abolish all legislative mandates having anything to do with testing or test scores in public eduation;
*Social and economic justice at home before sending military abroad.

[Bill Todd]

7. Nicely stated - and if it works for you, great!

There are innumerable "We have to support Kerry because Bush is just so bad!" threads, and I wanted to respond to one where I could say something positive.

But some of us just aren't 'fall in line' kinds of people, I'm afraid.

If/when Kerry actually earns my vote, he'll likely be earning a lot of others as well - which will be a good thing if the election promises to be close (otherwise, he probably doesn't need to worry about people like me, and we can just content ourselves with making it clear to the party that if a close election ever does come around they'll have a problem). The difference between me and a lot of others of somewhat like mind is that I'm willing to give him some advance notice that he needs to, so that he won't find out on November 2nd after it's too late to do anything about it.

- bill

[Tatiana]

9. Point well-taken.

I know others with very similar viewpoints as yourself, hence my statement, "I'll vote for him regardless, but the rest of the country may not."

Bottom line is we want and NEED vast and drastic change. Kerry's asked for the job and now he needs to deliver.

[Cuban_Liberal]

8. He wasn't my 1st choice, either, but...

I truly believe that sen. Kerry is a good and fundamentally-decent man who wants to do the right thing. Furthermore, he's many thousands of orders of magnitude more preferable AND qualified to be POTUS than is that smirking, coked-up, frat boy alky who currently occupies the Oval Office.

To some degree, I will wonder 'what might have been', but I will work tirelessly to see that John F. Kerry is elected as POTUS, because it's the right thing to do. :)

[tedoll78]

11. I was never in love with Kerry..

but I think I can fall in love with his Supreme Court appointees.

Some perspective..
The average term on the U.S. Supreme Court's bench right now is approximately 19 years. Making the assumption that the victor of November's election will appoint at least two judges to the court, and assuming that the average term statistic holds, we're not just voting for a four-year presidential term - we're also voting for two 19-year Supreme Court terms.

While Kerry may disappoint in some areas, we can definitely see the difference between a John Paul Stephens and an Antonin Scalia.

So for now, I'm willing to act as though I'm in love with the man. :loveya: