oh richest senator in history

[CharlesGroce]

will thy represent me? Will thy see the peace movement as the last breath of democracy in the corporately holy land? Or will thy see this as a grand opportunity, to win, to be the best, most owed politician around? And what do we deserve?

What do the people that work at McDonald's and live day to day at the various motels in this country deserve? What about the people here in Richmond, KY serving overpriced steak to overweight locals at O'Charley's steakhouse for half of minimum wage plus tips (which amounts to minimum wage for those of you who believe that overweight people who pay for overpriced steak actually have the class to tip) deserve?

The executive cannot represent both corporate interests represented in the media and these people at the same time. It just cannot be.

Vote your heart. Always! Dennis Kucinich for President.

[Dookus]

1. yeah

good luck with that. DK just needs a few thousand more delegates.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Funny Jack Kennedy was pretty fucking rich and did alright by

the working class...and let's not forget what that spoiled bitch elitist FDR did...OK?

[JI7]

4. and lets not forget Nixon and Reagan who grew up poor

without much. they sure turned out to be advocates for the working people. hehe

[CharlesGroce]

5. uh

that was FDR that did well by the working class with the New Deal and all, saw the largest expansion of the middle class ever after his policies were enacted. I don't know what you're referring to, but I do know that JFK began the dismantling of the Progressive Tax Structure (all income over $400,000 was taxed at 94%). Be more specific if you'd like, I'm in my 20's and don't remember what either of these Democrats did.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Wrong Kennedy never could get his tax cuts passed

but he did create the housing act of 61 that put loads of federal funds into urban renewal and his term of course was followed by Johnson and the War on Poverty...medicare etc...my point being some of the greatest accomplishments for the poor in this country were advocated by the rich...unlike some working class presidents who gave only to the rich.

Being only in your 20's you've never lived through a truly liberal government..closest Clinton got was center right.....I think Kerry would be further to the left than any president in your lifetime...but he has to get into office first.

After the hard right turn this nation has taken...even a jolt to the center would be MILES from where we are now...it took the right 30 years to get here...it ain't gonna happen overnight for us.

OK?

[NMDemDist2]

3. lets get a few misconceptions cleared up OK?

Kerry is not rich, his family is not rich. His 2nd wife of less than 10 years is wealthy due to her first husand's family fortune.

Kerry is the only senator who has never taken pac money http://www.johnkerry.com/features/dlc/

Kerry is anti war and proved it in 1970 and will get us out of Bush's quagmire

nice try

[CharlesGroce]

6. Didn't he

go to a private school in Switzerland or some Scandinavian country? Where did you go to school? I went to school in Morehead, Kentucky.

Anyway, he actually IS the richest Senator in history. Though I have no link, you may look it up on your own if you desire.

[NMDemDist2]

7. yes he went to school in Switzerland because his dad was in the

foreign service and was stationed in Europe at the time. He also had an aunt on his mothers side who helped him with school costs.

He is NOT the richest senator! His wife is really rich (in trust for her children from Heinz) but Kerry's personal net worth isn't anything close to the highest in the Senate.

I repeat, nice try.

edit to add link http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3781.htm

[Nlighten1]

10. 1970 is not 2004

John Kerry appears to have forgotten his impassioned calls against war.

[NMDemDist2]

14. the more i listen to him, the more I think he is treading very carefully

not to "undermine" a sitting president who has troops in combat.

I think the debates will be very interesting as i expect him to take Bush seriously to task on the war

[Nlighten1]

19. If the president is undermining the troops...

John Kerry needs to undermine the President. Now is not the time for civilities.

[NMDemDist2]

21. looking at some of the other threads tonight

seems the military is starting to break ranks all by themselves. Kerry can just let Bush swing in the wind and get buffetted by more and more scandals and more Repubs and the military breaking ranks

Kerry can just sit back and then deliver the final blow in the debates.

I like the way this whole thing is playing out

[Bombtrack]

12. Actualy Kerry's mom was worth in high 7 figures in the 60's, which is rich

Which is why Kerry inherited over 10 million dollars from them.

Let's not kid our selves. The Forbes family are blue bloods. You think non rich people got into skull and bones.

[NMDemDist2]

13. yes his mom is a forbes, but from the "poor" side

there is no doubt Kerry was raised a "blue blood" but they didn't have the major money. I'd like to see a link for the "$10 million" figure, but even so it wasn't in Kerry's youth and if you see the link i posted above, where is the money now? the only income he reports is his goverment salary

if you really want to know more about kerry this is a pretty good article

http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/061503.shtml

and another one

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/02/opinion/main603542.shtml

[DAGDA56]

9. Others have brought up Kennedy and Roosevelt...

...the one thing, I believe Kerry has in common with them (at least as pertains to your post) is that he is probably too rich to be in anybody's pocket. Although he might like the steak lovers at Charlies to use Heinz, rather than A-1, steak sauce.

[mr715]

11. Uh...huh

Well...

Lets see...

Hes so rich that he must be in the pocket of the special interests? Wait... so is that why he doesnt accept PAC money? I see.

John Kerry is the most liberal Senator. He is more liberal on environmental and government reform issues than your man, Kucinich. I'll give you that Kucinich is more liberal on labor issues, but to claim that Kerry is anything but an advocate for the middle class is ridiculous.

Kerry is for repealing Bush's upper bracket tax cuts. That means he will be taxed more (or rather, his sexy wife will be). Kucinich is for repealing all of the tax cut.

One returns money to the middle class, one returns nothing. I want progressive tax, led by Kerry. Kerry is my man, and Kucinich is done.

[NMDemDist2]

15. LOL hubby says Teresa is sexy too "sultry" was the exact word i believe nt

[DAGDA56]

17. I've always preferred sultry to sexy...hubby's a man with an eye. nt

[fujiyama]

16. I'm sorry

but Kucinich has lost.

Kerry has the number of delegates necessary to be the democratic party's nomination for president in the 2004 election.

Now, I would urge people to vote for whomever they want to during the primaries, but at this point it's pretty much meaningless.

John Kerry has spent many years fighting for the middle class. Check his record out. It's probably the most liberal of those candidates that ran, next to Kucinich. The fact that he's wealthy matters very little.

[Lefty Pragmatist]

18. Red herring

Why does his wealth matter at all?

This is one of those litmus test leftovers from the bad old days of the late 70's, when we fell all over ourselves to win the "who is the most salt of the earth" award, and completely ignored that the country was more interested in policy than image. Result: letting the GOP redefine liberal as a dirty word.

Let the GOP try to bring up Kerry's wealth as a disconnect with the public. Given Bush and Cheney, I somehow don't see them playing that card. As for us, let the class red herring go and concentrate on the red meat of the issues. I don't give a damn whether Kerry is Croesus or fell off a turnip truck, as long as he articulates a center-left agenda and cleans house.

[no name no slogan]

20. Reason wealth matters: life experiences, and how he relates to voters

Yes, Kerry may be a liberal, but a person growing up with wealth has a MUCH different childhood than somebody who does not.

Was John Kerry ever in danger of losing his home? Did John Kerry ever go to bed hungry? Was John Kerry ever homeless? Was he ever on welfare?

Was John Kerry denied the opportunity to attend a top-ranked university because he didn't have "connections", or enough money to afford it? What jobs did Kerry work to put himself through college?

Of course, that may not matter to us on DU (who are, overwhelmingly, white, suburban and comfortably middle-class), but it certainly does to the 90% of the population who wants to vote for a president who they can relate to, and who can relate to them.

And that may very well be the key, since Kerry seems afraid to take a strong stand on several important issues. He's left to basing his whole current campaign on these "personality" and "likability" issues.

I've seen his "soft" ads over and over (I live in a supposed "swing state"), stressing his upbringing and his demeanor, and no matter how they try to soft-sell the man, he comes across as aloof and distant. Now, compare that to how Shrub has positioned himself as just another "ordinary guy" from Texas: he's eminently "likable" and is much more likely to be the candidate whom voters would "want to have a beer with".

If Kerry refuses to run a strong, change-oriented campaign that promises something markedly different from Bush, he's stuck to running on these soft "personability" issues. And if he does that, he'll face the same troubles that Al Gore faced in 2000.

[NMDemDist2]

22. Bush bought the ranch in 1999

kerry snowboards, bikes and buys underwear with his daughter. Seems pretty ok to me. Bush won't even go to his daughters graduation.

it won;t help Bush and everyone that sees Kerry speaks about how nice he is and how comfortable he is in his own skin, in addition to his thoughtful remarks on the issues

he's doin great i tell ya!

[MontecitoDem]

24. If you look at the Senate, the House, our Governors...

How many of them have the life experiences you claim are important. I say, get your head out of the clouds because now is not a time for dreaming - it is time for some pragmatism. Kerry's record on the environment alone should tell you that he is not in the pocket of any corporate interests.

I'm on DU and I grew up much less than middle-class. You are just flat wrong about this blue-blood bullshit. I think working people want someone who has a proven success record, who gives a shit about their circumstances, and who can get things done. All this "feel my pain" crap means nothing if you can't win, imo.

[no name no slogan]

25. Look further

to your state legislatures, local office officials, and candidates. You'll see a lot of very REAL people that are not rich, or millionaires, and have very REAL experiences. People like me, who grew up in a single-parent home where my mother worked 50+ hours a week as a typist, and where we were lucky to have enough $$ to pay the rent each month.

And please, save the patronizing "get your head out of the clouds" bullshit for somebody else. I'm 34 years old, and I've been working on campaigns at all levels since the 80s. I've seen my share of "dreamers" get elected, and "pragmatists" go down in flames, too, because they refused to take principled stands on the issues.

I am a proud "Wellstone Democrat", back when that term used to get you laughed at even at party functions. I busted my ass for Wellstone before he had the nomination, AND during the general election race, and afterwards, too. Meeting him in the late 80s when he ran the MN for Jackson '88 campaign changed my life. One of my greatest memories was sitting on the floor at the 1990 MN DFL convention as a Wellstone delegate, hearing Paul's acceptance speech.

I've seen many candidates with their "heads in the clouds" win because of two things: number one, they didn't "triangulate" to the "pragmatic" position by telling voters what the think they wanted to hear-- the STOOD UP for what they knew was RIGHT. I've seen this in state races, and congressional races, too.

Second, these candidates were NOT AFRAID of the Republicans "defining" them. They're not afraid of being called "liberals" or "unrealistic" or whatever the latest slur-du-jour the rightists and "realists" toss at them.

That was how Paul Wellstone got Republicans to vote for him. They may not have agreed with him on many issues, but they respected his courage and his conviction to stand up for what he believed in. He didn't pander to the voters by being "pragmatic" and saying whatever he think they wanted to hear: he said what he believed, and was respected because of it.

Paul was on his way to a third term, leading the "classic pragmatist" Norm Coleman (who was such a waffler he even switched parties to run against Paul) by 4-8% when his plane crashed.

And if you want to talk about Kerry's "corporate interests", it takes a hell of a lot more than being "pro-environment" to not be in the pocket of corporations. Hell, Nixon created the EPA and signed the Clean Water and Clean Air acts. You can't tell me he wasn't pro-corporation.

I'll save that argument for a better time-- I've got better things to deal with these days.

[MontecitoDem]

26. That's awesome that you are

so involved. Me too. We have organized our progressives here and are taking concrete steps to move our local candidates (and statewide and national ones too) ahead - voter registration, education and outreach projects. Mainly our efforts are focused on organizing our community by precinct - down at the neighbor to neighbor level. It's been incredible and it's just building.

I am 38. My parents both worked (my Dad worked three jobs actually) to support our family. But my upbringing doesn't define me, although of course it informs me. REAL people includes the whole range - poor and wealthy. You seem to limit REAL people to those of a particular economic bracket. I think Wellstone was amazing. I do not, however, agree that one must be a person "of the people" to be a good leader.

So to specifics - what DO you think of Kerry's environmental record? Any arguments with it?

It seems like you think I am arguing that Kerry shouldn't take principled stands? You can't really be saying that, so I'm not sure what your point really is. Can you enlighten me?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

27. Again FDR did not grow up in a shot gun shack and seemed to do alright

by the working class...Right now one of the biggest advocates for raising taxes on the wealthy also happens to be one of the wealthiest men in the world...Warren Buffet....

BTW Nixin DID NOT create the EPA..that is Republican fantasyland rewriting history....most of Nixon's environmental accomplishments were FORCED upon him by the great Democrats of the day such as Alan Cranston...

[ACK]

28. You are a class snob -- give me a break -- FDR and JFK rich and good

Nixon and Raygun grew up hard and guess what they were horrible polticians.

You are so full of crap trying to justify it too.

It is not just about money but about the heart. Ted Kennedy will never want for shit in his life but has fought the good fight his whole life.

If you have better things to deal with why do you spew this crap every time.

What kind of horsecrap never trust anyone under $200,000 crap is this?

[MontecitoDem]

23. Right on, lefty!

Well said.