John Kerry's Kos post today.

[yodermon]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/24/114745/908

Let’s be really clear about the Iraq vote coming down the pike in Congress this week.

I’m voting no on this bill. I’m tired of the false choices of Republicans and all the recycled spin of old battles and the political calculations that do nothing for our troops who bear the real costs of this war. Bottom line: we support the troops by getting the policy right, and this bill doesn’t do that. I’ve said it again and again and I’m not about to stop: we need a deadline to force Iraqis to stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, not watered down benchmarks and blank check waivers for this President. We support the troops by funding the right mission, not with a White House that opposes a pay raise for our brave men and women in uniform. Do we need to bring out the hand puppets and make the case again?

(snip)

{his update within the comments:}

Well, first of all, let’s be clear – I wanted this bill defeated. I’m not sugarcoating that, if I tried you’d call me on it, deservedly so. My “no” vote speaks for itself.

As for where we go from here, it's not really a secret plan. We force votes on Iraq again and again and again. We pressure them every chance we can get. And I think these Republicans who stand with George Bush’s rotten policy will squirm. That’s why I launched the Roadblock Republicans campaign that a ton of you made a success. Look, the pundits and the horserace crowd can spin this vote as good for the GOP, then again when Russ and I got 11 votes for a deadline a year ago they thought we were handing the GOP a “wedge” issue in 2006 – and look how that turned out, it helped give us a Democratic Senate elected on changing course in Iraq. I think the Republicans are scared as hell because they can’t defend this policy. So we need to move forward with bills that are different from a supplemental, where the political calculus is different for some Senators. For example, we could continue to educate people on the awful record of the GOP on actually supporting our troops (groups like VoteVets are doing wonderful work there), then make sure to include troop readiness language in bills. And we use the pressure of one bill to set up the stage for the other, such as using the supplemental to get so many Republicans to go on record saying September was a deadline for success for them. They can’t wiggle out from this mess come then.

Political pressure can come in a variety of forms, of course. And it takes time to build it up around one specific course of action, even on an issue with such wide support as a new course in Iraq. We come out of this supplemental fight with a lot of suburban GOP districts swinging our way. We have a number of groups organizing in key Senate states, such as the AAEI's campaign with USAction, that have been running ads and building field operations. All of this is slowly taking its toll -- if we continue to build it, they will crack. As an old friend of mine used to say, nothing focuses the mind of a politician like the prospect of defeat at the polls.

[BobRossi]

1. Just got his email

Hope others step forward.

[Blue_In_AK]

2. My president. n/t