welovejohnkerry

Kerrying On, Somewhere Else

2006-06-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

Dear everyone,

As much as we We Love John Kerry gals love Blogger, Blogger doesn't always seem to love us. So this week, we've decided to say goodbye to our current platform and reconvene at our own site:

http://www.welovejohnkerry.com

The regularly scheduled squee will continue, but in a more permanent location.

Please update your bookmarks, your blogroll, and/or your friends at the NSA.

And, because it's Friday, please enjoy one more picture of John Kerry in a tie:

Thank you and Kerry On,
The We Love John Kerry Dot Commers

Okay, I have a lot to do today,

2006-06-21T12:50:00.000-04:00

and I'm feeling kind of prickly because, thanks to The New York Times, I have to come over here and make a short list of crap that I don't think I should have to take from some chick who is half the writer I am.

So, without further ado:

A Short List of Crap that I Don't Think I Should Have to Take from Kate Zernicke (Who Is Half the Writer I Am):

1. This hit piece about the Kerry-Feingold-Boxer amendment.

Okay, I know it's not a popular position to take, but, you guys: WE'RE AT WAR. And just because we never get to see any of it, doesn't mean there isn't blood and coffins and a GIANT UNWINNABLE MESS - and that much, at least is sinking in. A majority of Americans now appear to want to leave Iraq.

So what does John Kerry do? He works with other members of his party - popular, capable, principled members like Russ Feingold and Barbara Boxer - to present legislation that's never going to pass, but will at least provide an alternative point of view to the administration's "Stay the Bloody Hopeless Course Till We Get That Oil" Serenade. WHAT A BASTARD.

Last week, I started a PAC to help curtail the efforts of one John Kerry from putting country before party and generally trying to make the world a better place. The Times might have joined up, but, no, people are dying. Better to trivialize that fact as publicly as possible, right?

The Times has always been snarky on the subject of John Kerry, so I'm not going to deconstruct Kate Zernicke's lousy reporting and give it the skewering it deserves. I will just remind the average voter - particularly, the average Democratic voter - that we really ought to step back from the poison and anger and plain old gossip-mongering that fuels pieces like the one in question every now and again, and try to look at them with some perspective. If John Kerry stops the war in Iraq - which he won't - this year, yes, it will have a political impact. Yes, he will look better than a lot of '08 candidates. Because he's principled.

Suggesting John Kerry should abandon his principles on Iraq is wrongheaded. Acting as if John Kerry gaining political capital is THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD is just as wrongheaded. Progressive politics aren't supposed to be about what stands our leaders should be allowed to take, when it's their "turn," but what kind of leadership Americans require and deserve.

Don'tcha Wish Your President Was Hot Like Me?*

2006-06-21T10:37:00.000-04:00

*With a grateful nod to the Pussycat Dolls...

Happy Solstice, everyone, and have a great summer! We feel this photo pretty much says it all. No matter what idiocies are thrown at him from both the Right and the Left, and MSM hacks of every stripe, this question remains eternal!

Happy Father's Day!

2006-06-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

John Kerry is a great dad. I know this because I have a great dad. My dad is not perfect and neither am I, but I love him and I know he loves me. Who wants perfection when you can have that?

That's the feeling I get every time I see John Kerry with his daughters. Their lives have not been idealized or airbrushed, but they have triumphed over any difficulty through love. They tease each other, they laugh together, they are there in the hard times to support each other. They have a genuine bond, the kind of connection that it is just not possible to fake and that shows in every smile or hug.

We see them mostly in public situations, but their love and pride in each other is plain to see, even in the camera's glare. These two smart, beautiful, decent women Vanessa and Alexandra Kerry, each made heartfelt, affectionate speeches about their dad at the Democratic National Convention, testifying to their love for him as a father as well as affirming their belief in him as a principled public servant who should be president.

It is clear to any observer that his daughters have been John Kerry's greatest pride and joy since the day they were born. Whenever he mentions them, he is, just for a moment, not the vital, inspired politician; he is any fond, proud father.

I honor John Kerry and the late Julia Thorne Kerry for dedicating themselves to the happiness of their daughters even as they were navigating the difficult waters at the end of a marriage and I honor John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry for blending their two families and being loving parents to his daughters and her sons.

I also honor John Kerry this Father's Day for something I feel, though I cannot know it for sure. It appears to me that he and his daughters have let their relationships evolve and grow with time. In early photos (thank you, George Butler!) he appears as the strong, protective father supplying playfulness or comfort as needed. As adults, not only do his daughters repay that protectiveness and support with their own loyalty and presence, but I sense that he has allowed himself to learn from their wisdom as they learned from his.

I recognize that quality of openness and respect in my own father as my sister and I have grown into that role with him and I honor every father who has the humility and grace to grow into equality with his children as they grow up.

Happy Father's Day to my dad, Alexandra and Vanessa's dad, and dads everywhere!

It's Cocktail Hour Here at We Love John Kerry!

2006-06-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

Today the Washington Post printed some fun gossip. Are you ready? John Kerry can eat a lot.

BFD. I am roughly pocket-sized, but I know my way around a bread basket. I think the WaPo approached this story from an entirely boring angle. And since when is the Road to Gluttony paved with radicchio?

The fact that JK and THK like to have cocktails on Thursday, however, is fantastic. I know Democratic drinking is just the sort of thing the RW blogosphere likes to poke fun at, but I find it really delightful and sort of college.

Or maybe it's just a normal, grown-up sort of thing to do. I wouldn't know.

And is it tiresomely obvious for Kerry fangirl to argue for the superiority of the Frenchified mojito, or "momo," over the Cuban version? For aesthtics alone, I adore the momo, and, have always felt that, if you're going to drink, for heaven's sake, you might as well try to be stylish about it.

And so, should you want a beverage as you peruse your blogroll this summery saturday night, here is a recipe for the Very Lovely French Momo:

Start with 6 large mint leaves - chopped a bit if you're a lazy muddler like me - and 2 teaspoons sugar or 1 tablespoon simple syrup. Lightly muddle with a bit of soda water in a mixing glass or shaker. Add 1.5 oz. light rum and the juice of one lime. Shake over ice. Strain into your highball over yet more ice. Add half an ounce of Chambord and let it sink to the bottom. Admire the loveliness of your cocktail. Enjoy, and remember - don't drink and vote!

John Kerry Rocks! Something Must Be Done! And Quick!

2006-06-15T18:33:00.000-04:00

According to an email I read yesterday from John Kerry's press office, on Wednesday, "the Office of the Secretary of Defense distributed a 74-page' debate prep book' to arm Republicans with material to help them defend the Bush Administration's Iraq policies in the Congressional debate on Iraq."

I'm trying to be more bipartisan lately, since, after all, admiration for a particular Senator's hair and height does not a political ethos make, so instead of greeting the news of the How to Fight Dems Right Off Their Precious, Peacenik Moral High Ground Manual with a hearty, "OMG WTF??? RUMMY, YOU A$$CLOWN," I tried to have some sympathy for the other side.

And lo and behold, I have a lot of sympathy - at least, for the poor interns who had to type, copy, and distribute that crap.

I also tried to have some sympathy for the poor Republican Senators (all a$$hat, no a$$cattle) who are feeling the pressure of that looming amendment to set a timetable in Iraq. Note to Republican Senators/future emperors: Rome wasn't built in a day. Squelching principled dissent is hard work!

You can read about the kerfuffle at the Democratic Daily, and if you want something visual (that's really TOO abysmal), you can check out JK's reaction to yesterday's phony debate by watching our video. Following that, don't miss the Dynamic Dems take on the sad situation.

So, if you're paying attention (or letting us pay attention for you) one thing has become clear: John Kerry is becoming a real problem. He will not shut up. He will not go away. He will not stop being an excellent, impassioned writer. And normally, for all this, I would cheer him on like a good groupie, but in the interest of bipartisanship, I have to remember that John Kerry's principled stances are pissing off both the right and the left, and I need to be a good citizen and DO something about this mad genius with his Senate resolutions and his Vineyard Vines Ties!

Which brings me to the point of this blog entry: to announce my intent to establish a new 527: The Fear Of John Kerry Political Action Committee. Not to be confused with the Friends of John Kerry PAC, which is just turning out to be a big enabler in the pernicious process of John Kerry SPEAKING and the American people LISTENING.

The mission of Fear of John Kerry is simple. I wish to provide Kerry-Fearers on the right and left with the following:

Smelling salts for those pesky vapors that seem to occur when John Kerry out-fundraises, oh, EVERYONE. Again.

A ginormous cane with which Harry Reid or his designee may yank John Kerry off the Senate floor any time he is speaking with too much intelligence, common sense, and/or moral authority.

Hackers to reduce the size of his email list.

Studio time for the right to record its hit song, "The Terror, Terror, 9-11 Cut and Run Serenade"

And, for every potential voter, a "John Kerry Irrelevance Kit," which includes: ear plugs for his tv and radio appearances, scissors for cutting his op-eds from newspapers, a pair of dark glasses to dull his dazzling smile, a picture of him windsurfing to remind us of his one great crime against humanity, and a lifetime subscription to The New Republic.

I hope you will all join me. We need to act fast, because John Kerry may save us if we let him. Can't have that.

Nail-biter in Virginia

2006-06-13T19:54:00.000-04:00

The polls closed in Virginia a bit over an hour ago, and Kerry lovers are on tenterhooks, pins and needles, or the edges of our seats, depending on personal preference. The lead in the Democratic primary keeps going back and forth between Miller and Webb. Why do we care so much? Merely because John Kerry endorsed Jim Webb? Well, yes, but it wasn't merely an endorsement. (Nor was it the fact that none of us were thrilled with Miller's condescending dismissal of Kerry's endorsement of Webb.) It was one of those jaw-dropping and then heartwarming endorsements, the kind that makes you sit up and take notice and then become emotionally invested in the outcome. See, back when JK testified before the Senate in 1971, Jim Webb was one of the people who was not at all happy about it. He made that clear in a column he wrote back in 2004: He did condemn the Swift Boat Liars, it's true, and we want to give credit where it's due for that -- but he also criticized JK for that testimony. Then there was the fact that, according to reports, he refused to shake JK's hand for 20 years because of his Senate testimony. He went on to vote for JK in the election, which helps, but still, there's only so much Kerry-dissing we can take.

Bottom line, when the Miller/Webb contest started heating up, a lot of Kerrycrats were not happy about Webb -- to put it mildly. Some of us snarked about Webb in public discussion threads. One thing you can say about Kerrycrats, we're loyal to our man. And then we heard that JK and Jim Webb had had a couple of long, heart-to-heart conversations and settled their differences, and that JK had agreed to endorse Webb. And why is that totally cool? Because finding the common ground, overcoming differences and focusing on getting the job done is what John Kerry is all about. John Kerry doesn't hold grudges; he holds a set of ideals. He isn't about living in the past, but about working for the future. If anyone could sit down with someone who refused to shake his hand for decades and help find enough common ground so that the two would end up feeling proud to campaign together, it's John Kerry. Obviously, Jim Webb is quite impressive too for being big enough to set aside differences and focus on what needs to be done, but around here, we're a wee bit partial to Kerry.

So there's a lot to be excited about. Pundits say that JK's endorsement may well be the factor that puts it over the top for Webb. I like to think that the Universe responds to positive efforts, at least sometimes, and JK's determination to build bridges and work things out with people would surely qualify as something that merits a positive response.

You can follow the action here: Virginia election results Click frequently for updates and curse or squee as appropriate; I've already crossed myself at least twice.

Or go to the DailyKos diary where it's being liveblogged. You can almost smell the adrenaline.

UPDATE: Webb won!!!! The final DKos post is here. Looking at the results, now it seems as if Webb won it in a walk. But for a while there it was going up and down, with Miller a few points ahead of Webb and then the lead switching back and forth. *whew*

Out and About in the Kerryverse: Democrafty interviews DynamicDems

2006-06-06T22:22:00.000-04:00

Like all bloggers, we at We Love John Kerry should probably get out more. But we've also discovered that it's tough to maintain a website from, say, a nightclub or a restaurant or the seat of one's bicycle. And while it would be a wonderful thing to connect with more Kerry loyalists in my community, I'm reminded of the time a few weeks ago that I saw a truck parked outside the Safeway with a "Lobstermen for Kerry."

I declared that I was going to hang around and make out with the owner of the truck, just based on his good taste in car decor. But my husband was there, and he had something to say about that - namely, that there was a vast universe of difference between parking next to a truck that reads "Lobstermen for Kerry," and parking with a guy who might handle lobsters all day. And so it was back home to the blogosphere for me.

But because we don't call her "Kerryvisonary" for nothing, with all this in mind, KV came up with the idea of getting Out and About in the Kerryverse - asking people not unlike us to stop blogging for our favorite Senator long enough to tell us a little bit about why they devote their keystrokes to democracy, justice, and really nice hair instead of, say, writing Harry Potter fanfiction.

For our first outing in the Kerryverse, we decided to talk with the creator of the Dynamic Dems website. We've been linking to her blog for months now, because we love her insights, but she's also got a lot more going on, including a line of politically-themed merchandise that's really creative - where else are those of you who actually make it to your rendezvous with the Lobstermen for Kerry going to get the proper undergarments?

So we hope you enjoy what our guest has to say, and if you'd like us to venture out into the Kerryverse and meet someone in particular, please drop us a line!

wljk: Tell us a little bit about your site. What does the name mean? What made you decide to start the site, and what are you hoping to do with it? And is that Batman?

DynamicDems: Sure is. Dynamic Dems is a take off on Dynamic Duo and the parody, ironically, was created during the primary. Something in the senator's vocal style and in his general manner reminded me of Batman: serious, honest and straight, but with a wry sense of humor. Watching Kerry and Edwards during the primary debates, something just clicked. John Edwards' upbeat message and his youthful good looks just cried "Boy Wonder." I also depicted Bush as the Joker and Cheney as the Penguin.

John Kerry still reminds me of Batman: a combination of the Adam West and the Michael Keaton characterizations. My site's tag line, "Never give up and Never Give In," was also inspired by the parody. The "Batman" TV series always ended on a cliffhanger with the heroes (having lost the current battle) about to be destroyed by the villains, while the voiceover asked, "Is it curtains for our Duo?" It never was, of course. Their loss was always a temporary setback. They always came back fighting. They never gave up, and in the end they won. But the show, as silly as it was in some respects, provided a powerful message: it's never just one battle. The fight against injustice is a constant struggle.

The focus of my site is on this fight for justice and fairness. The site is
Kerry-friendly and I never link to any (sites) that aren't.

wljk: What made you decide to start designing DD gear? Have you always been a stuff-maker, or were you more recently inspired?

DynamicDems: I've always been into painting and drawing, but the online Kerry shop came about because I was angry about the nasty, anti-Kerry merchandise that started appearing in 2004. This was my way of contributing a more positive message, of letting people know that there was (and still is) a lot of support for John Kerry.

wljk: What quality do you admire most in John Kerry?

DynamicDems: His unwavering commitment to justice! John Kerry's the consummate advocate. He embodies compassion, integrity and leadership and his fight for justice and fairness is nonstop. He's fought for us for over 35 years. I'm both humbled and inspired by his determination and by the integrity he has shown over the years. He isn't just Atlas balancing the world on his shoulders, he's bench-pressing it above his head. Now, that's commitment!

wljk: We noticed that you sometimes use the term "Kerrycrat" on your site and blog. What is your definition of a Kerrycrat?

DynamicDems: Kerrycrat is a political camp identifier, but I think it has come to mean much more. At least it has for me. Sure, it's about promoting John Kerry's positive agenda for our country but it is also about leadership and inspiration. We're bound together by shared values and by an optimistic outlook. Since the election, the term has taken on a deeper meaning because Kerrycrats have stood strong and unwavering in our dedication. To be a Kerrycrat, means we're in it for the duration. I feel the term is a badge of honor. To borrow from an old expression: when the going gets tough, the Kerrycrats get going.

wljk: How would you like to see Kerrycrats unite and how do you see their mission, now and in the future?

DynamicDems: Now: the Kerrycrat mission is exactly the same as Senator Kerry's: take back our country by promoting progressive candidates at all levels of government. For the future, I'd like to see Kerrycrats become the beginnings of a movement, a wave of grassroots support for a positive and pro-active agenda, promoting what Senator Kerry (and hopefully President Kerry) stands for. I'd like to see Kerrycrats at the forefront of heralding in what future generations will call "The Kerry Era."

wljk: Would you like to see John Kerry run for president again in 2008? Pretend you're a strategist and tell us what do you think a central theme of his campaign should be.

DynamicDems: Yes! John Kerry is the most qualified to lead the fight and he's the most qualified to lead our country. The last election forged the steel that he's always had at his core. Contrary to popular rhetoric, his campaign did very well in a nearly impossible situation. It was a damn good showing first time out, especially for someone who came from the back of the pack. I think he'll be more than ready for what they hit him with next time. I honestly don't see anyone else there who would be able to withstand the heat as well as Senator Kerry can.

For a central theme, I'm partial to something on the idea of, "Together we can make it right." The Senator should continue to frame his language in terms that the average American can relate to. He's been doing a great job of this lately, and new terms will be needed to market a 2008 campaign. The senator needs to co-opt the language of the debate early on. Bush didn't know squat about the issues but he said the same things over and over and over again until Americans internalized his words and start humming his tune like a song on the radio.

wljk: And, finally, just for the purposes of this blog: Do you love John Kerry?

DynamicDems: Absolutely! Doesn't everybody?

Tie Day: BREAKING NEWS EDITION

2006-06-02T23:53:00.000-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen:

JOHN KERRY APPEARS TO HAVE GOTTEN A NEW TIE.

Exhibit A:

Did he pick up an Equestrian? An orange Nantucket Isle and Whale? Anyone with information on John Kerry's new tie should contact Democrafty with The Scoop ASAP.

Until larger pictures or more information can confirm the newness of the tie in question, congratulations to Senator Kennedy on his nomination to the Senate. Judging by this pic alone, Massachusetts is really a gorgeous state.

"Our valiant soldiers have done their job."

2006-06-02T15:37:00.000-04:00

A month ago, I posted an entry calling for support for John Kerry's plan to withdraw from Iraq.

Today, John Kerry himself issued a similar call. If you don't receive emails from the Senator ~~SIGN UP, ALREADY!~~ the text is up at the Democratic Daily.

I'll call my Senators again, and maybe I'll even have a chance to bug them about it in person when I visit the Capitol in a couple of weeks, but in the spirit of Making Art, Not War, I whipped out the old gluestick and cut up some junk mail and supported SJ Res 36 the best way I knew how: I did crafts.

These are the collages that are going to my Senators' offices today. And they weren't something I specifically designed because I'm naive enough to think a strategically placed Hello Kitty sticker can stop the war, but because I operate under the belief that we're all responsible for finding a way to make citizenship fit into our lives in a way that makes sense to us.

I like John Kerry and I like crafts. So I made a blog and some legislative-themed collages.

Did you do something today for Democracy? Peace? Justice? Leave us a comment about it.

Saturday Evening Squee

2006-05-20T20:26:00.000-04:00

I got up at 7 today for the live webcast of Senator Kerry's speech at Kenyon today.

And it was so freaking worth it, I don't even know where to begin. So I won't.

Hopefully, in the near future, we or Kenyon or the Senator's office will be able to hook you up with some video in the near future. Until then, you'll have to read the transcript. It's not quite the same, but I promise: you'll laugh. You'll cry. You may take a baseball bat to a Diebold voting machine. (But you didn't get that idea from me.)

Also, remember my big basket o' kittens comment from yesterday? Don't squee too much; we have reading to do.

Class of 2006 -- fellow survivors of November 2, 2004,

I'm happy to be here at this beautiful school, which had my admiration long before that night when the country wondered whether I would win - and whether you would vote.

Your website has a profile of a very smart math major in the class of 2006. Joe Neilson. He said that once, after a statistics course here, he realized "the probability of any event in our lives is about zero." "I probably spent a week," Joe said, "annoying my friends by saying: "What are the odds?" Well Joe, what were the odds that we'd be linked by those long hours - not that I keep track - 560 days ago? Like everyone that night, I admired the tenacity of Kenyon students. But what you did went far beyond tenacity.

My wife, Teresa, is honored by the degree you grant her, today. But she's also here to honor you because when you grow up in a dictatorship as she did, when you don't get a chance to vote until you're thirty-one, when you see your father voting for the first time in his seventies, you know what a privilege it is to cast a ballot.

Through that long night, we in Massachusetts watched you in Gambier. We were honored. We were inspired. We were determined not to concede until our team had checked every possibility. If you could stay up all night to vote, we could certainly stay up that next day to make sure your vote would count. In the end, we couldn't close the gap. We would have given anything to have fulfilled your hopes.

And I also thank those who cast a ballot for my opponent. I wish all Republicans had been just like you at Kenyon - informed, willing to stand up for your views -- and only 10 percent of the vote. Actually, all of you, through your patience, and good humor showed Americans that politics matters to young people. And so I really do thank every student here.

I especially want to thank someone who isn't a student. Because at the meeting Hayes was kind enough to mention - and I did take notes -- the alums made it clear how much they'd been influenced by great friends, great teachers. Or a great coach.

I know what it's like to be on a team before an important game. I know how crucial that last practice can be. For the field hockey team, that November 2nd was the last day before the Oberlin game. Winning meant getting into the league championship - and from there to the NCAAs. So I can understand why players were upset after hours waiting in line at the polling place that afternoon. When Maggie Hill called her coach to ask if she should come back to practice - you'd expect the coach to say 'you better believe it.'

This coach had a different reaction. "I'll cancel practice," she said, "and I'm sending the whole team to vote." In that one moment she became a hero to me, and an example to many. It takes a special coach to know there are more important things than a big game. We should all express our gratitude to Robin Cash. Her values are the values of Kenyon.

By the way, for parents who may not remember - Kenyon played brilliantly - and won that Oberlin game 3-zip.

Now, it's not as if seeing brilliance here at Kenyon is a surprise. Like everybody, I know that when you look at a resume and see a Kenyon degree, you think, "Smart. Committed. Good writer." And maybe, "Likes to see a lot of stars at night."

But there's more. The Kenyon alums I met with were so eloquent about what it meant to be here, where all your friends live, study, and play along a one mile path in a town surrounded by cornfields. One said, "I came here on a cold, rainy October, but after my interview I saw professors having coffee at the deli, and heard everybody so excited about the Tom Stoppard play they were putting on - I fell in love with
the place." Someone else said, "Intelligent conversation permeates the whole campus." Another said -- and I don't think he was kidding -- "Nobody gets drunk at Commencement."

We talked until I got dragged into an intelligence briefing from the White House. Believe me, I learned more at the Kenyon meeting.

What they said sounded very familiar. And important. Because there are other places where you can find a small community - where the bonds you forge will never dissolve. You can find it on a tiny boat in the rivers of Vietnam's Mekong Delta. You can even find it in the Senate -- sometimes.

Someone described to me what it's like walking into Gund for dinner after your girlfriend breaks up with you. You see every single person staring to make sure you're all right. I thought, "Sounds like walking into the Democratic Caucus after that first New Hampshire poll."

The fact is, the Kenyon grads in Washington didn't agree on everything. But they agreed that Kenyon is a place where you have the luxury of examining an idea not for whether it sounds good but for whether it is good.

Actually, one Kenyon parent told me something that bothered him. His son took Quest for Justice his first semester here. That's not what bothered him. But, the class met early in the morning, and his son made every class. After years of pushing his kid to get out of bed, the father wanted to know, "What changed?" His son said, "Dad, I could disappoint you. But not Professor Baumann."

And that brings up one of the things I want to talk about. For the Election Day event that united us was a disappointment. There's no way around it. Even as we flew in over Columbus this morning, I was looking down at the Ohio landscape, thinking: we came so close. So what. You cannot go through life without disappointment. No team, no politician, no writer, no scientist - no one avoids defeat.

The question is: what do you do next?

It's simple: you pick yourself up and keep on fighting. Losing a battle doesn't mean you've lost the war. Whether it's a term paper, an experiment or a race for President, you will learn from experience, and experience breeds success.

That's important, because frankly there are so many things to fight for. By that, I don't just mean the things we fight over in the halls of Congress. Kenyon produces graduates that produce our literature and drama -- like E.L. Doctorow did with The March, 54 years after leaving Gambier. Or Allison Janney did on West Wing - the first show ever to portray politics with something approaching the complexity it deserves. Your challenge is to produce and perform the rich imaginative works that move and illuminate your time.

Kenyon has vastly expanded its science programs. And your challenge is to fight in laboratories against enemies like the tiny HIV virus that has created the most devastating epidemic in human history - killing more people every two hours than there are in this graduating class.

At a time when we read about the high-tech jobs of a globalized world, your challenge is to find a way to educate the millions of Americans who can't get those jobs because they can't read well enough to understand how to get online.

And now, we are engaged in a misguided war. Like the war of my generation, it began with an official deception. It's a war that in addition to the human cost - the tragedy of tens of thousands of Iraqis and Americans dead and wounded - will cost a trillion dollars. Enough to endow 10,000 Kenyons. Money that could fight poverty, disease, and hunger. And so, your challenge is also to find a way to reclaim America's conscience. I have no doubt you will.

For one thing you have great role models. Like your parents, sitting out there under the trees. You may laugh looking at the old photos of your dad in a ponytail, and your mom in bellbottoms and that crazy, tie-dyed shirt. But their generation too faced the task of ending a war. And they did.

And went on to invent Earth Day, march against racism, bring women into the workplace and become the first generation to usher in an acceptance for all people regardless of race, religion, gender or sexuality.

They honored democracy by making government face issues of conscience - and I ask you to applaud them for making the world better BEFORE they made it better by making you what you are!

And of course, in addition to those sitting behind you -- you have great role models sitting among you. Students from this class who had a dream, took a chance, and have already achieved great things.

I know, because sitting here is a student who dreamed of being published, and felt ambitious enough to send a poem he'd written for class to the Chatauqua Literary Journal. And so Sam Anderson became a published poet at the age of 21.

I know, because sitting here is a student who, watched a cousin struggle with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, dreamed of finding a way to help - and designed a project that involved her with the leading DMD researcher in the world. Now Amy Aloe's been invited to work in his ground-breaking lab.

I know, because sitting here is a student who dreamed of returning to the country of her birth, the country that shaped a part of my life. And in Vietnam, Nhu Truong could examine not just issues, but the more difficult job of examining herself..

They all took a chance. If you ever despair of making a difference you'll have Kenyon people to remind you of what's possible if you take that chance.

And not just from the class of '06.

One of the alums mentioned that every week, a group of them meet to talk about issues. They don't think alike about every idea, he said. But they share a passion for ideas they learned here. Another asked me to tell those of you suspicious of government, that "it's made up of a lot of people like us, trying to make things better."

The group included one alum who's well known here - and getting well known in Washington. But a while back he was just a nervous 24-year old, sitting silently in a meeting with a new Secretary of State. Until he got up the nerve to raise his hand and make a point. "Who's that young, red-haired kid?" Condoleeza Rice said afterward, to an aide. "Keep your eye on him." No, she didn't mean he was a security risk. He'd said something that, as a Washington Post reporter put it,
"crystallized her thoughts about foreign policy." And now Chris Brose, Kenyon 2002, travels everywhere with Secretary Rice, not just crafting her speeches but talking about policy. I wish the policies were a little different, but he's making a mark. He's making a difference.

You know, during World War II, my father was flying planes in the Army Air Corps. While he was away on duty, my mother was volunteering to care for the sick and wounded. She sent him a letter about it. "You have no idea of the ways in which one can be useful right now," she wrote. "There's something for everyone to do." She was right about her time. And what she wrote is right about yours too.

In a few minutes you will walk across this stage for your diploma. You'll line up on the steps of Rosse Hall to sing for the last time. You'll turn in your hoods, go back and finish packing. Maybe sell that ratty sofa to somebody from the class of 2007. And then you'll watch the cars pull away.

I know you've heard too many times the old saying that commencement is not an end but a beginning. The truth is, it's both. It is a day to feel sad about leaving Gambier. It's a day to feel eager about what lies ahead.

Because you have a special mission. Those who worked to end a war long ago, now ask you to help end a war today. Those who worked to end poverty ask you to finish what we have left undone. We ask you to take a chance. We ask you to work for change. Promise yourselves, promise your parents, promise your teachers that you will use what you have learned. Don't doubt for an instant that you can. Only doubt those
pessimists who say you can't. For all along the way, I promise, that while you leave the campus, Kenyon will never leave you.

You will be linked by the experiences vividly brought to life today by Hayes Wong, who experienced them with you.

As you fight for justice in this world, you will be linked by the insights you all had in courses like Quest for Justice. You will be linked to classmates whose success you predict will take the world by storm - and to some whose success takes you by surprise. You will be linked by the times you sat on a bench in Middle Path and argued about politics with people whose views you opposed - and learned you could
disagree and still be friends. At some point you'll see that this small campus that changed you has already produced enormous change in the world.

But much more is urgently needed.

Remember that the bedrock of America's greatest advances-the foundation of all we take for granted today -- was formed not by cheering on things as they were, but by taking them on and demanding change. No wonder Thomas Jefferson himself said that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism."

So if you're not satisfied with the dialogue today, if you feel your issues are being ignored, speak out, act out, and make your issues the voting issues of our nation.

You might say, "who's he kidding? We can't do that." Well, I remember when you couldn't even mention environmental issues without a snicker. But then in the '70s people got tired of seeing the Cuyahoga River catch on fire from all the pollution. So one day millions of Americans marched. Politicians had no choice but to take notice. Twelve Congressmen were dubbed the Dirty Dozen, and soon after seven were
kicked out of office. The floodgates were opened. We got the Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water. We created the EPA. The quality of life improved because concerned citizens made their issues matter in elections.

So it's up to you now to take up the challenge of your times if you want to restore a politics of big ideas, not small-minded attacks.

Make no mistake -- you'll meet resistance. You'll find plenty of people who think you should just keep your mouths shut or that by speaking out you're somehow less than patriotic. But that's not really new either. When we protested the war in Vietnam some would weigh in against us saying: "My country right or wrong." Our response was simple: "Yes, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right and when wrong, make it right."

Graduates of the Class of 2006, you know how to make it right -- and you will see that it came from what you learned here: from a class so compelling you were awake at the crack of dawn to learn... from that night Teresa and I will never forget when you waited patiently till 4:15 at a polling place in Gambier ... or from a coach who knew that her mission was to teach you how to win on and off the field.

Congratulations - and God Bless.

-John Kerry, Kenyon College, May 20, 2006

Tie Day: Tassel Edition

2006-05-19T01:34:00.000-04:00

It's graduation season, which means lots of things, and if you're reading this, you probably know what all or most of them are.

If you liked John Kerry's speech at Emerson University, you're in luck, because this weekend, he's giving another one. You can watch it live during the Kenyon College webcast, this Saturday (tomorrow!) 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST, which means PDT disco dollies like myself have to decide whether to stay up all night tonight so as not to miss the ceremony, or show up to graduation with a hangover.

You know, just like college.

I know I'll be tempted to sleep through the whole thing, especially since we're already have video of the Senator giving a commencement speech on our very own webspace, BUT! I will endure the aural assault of the Hello Kitty alarm clock and make myself some coffee, because JK will not be the only incredibly amazing person whose picture we like to border gratuitously in Photoshop getting stuff conferred on himself.

Oh, no. Kenyon is doing us one better than Emerson. Not only is Kenyon using their commencement address to - and I believe this is a Senate term - Bring the Tall and Handsome, but, this weekend, Kenyon will truly show the world what to get the couple who has everything:

HIS AND HERS HONORARY DOCTORATES.

Yes, it's true. From the Senator's office:
"The College will confer honorary degrees on Senator Kerry; Teresa Heinz Kerry, chairman of the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies; and Diane Ackerman, author of nonfiction works including An Alchemy of Mind and A Natural History of the Senses, as well as collections of poetry and several children's nature books."

Is it sad that I am CAPS-LOCK-EXCITED about this? I can't help it. It's adorable! And I realize "adorable" is a relative term, but for a recovering career student like myself, this is practically a big basket of kittens.

Poor Diane Ackerman. I hope she enjoys her accolades enough so as not to feel like the third wheel.

And I hope nobody minds if I don't talk about ties today. It's just not been that kind of week.

"Senator Kerry, this couldn't possibly be you, could it?"

2006-05-17T17:27:00.000-04:00

So asked a more-than-a-little starstruck Stephanie Millerthis morning, when our favorite Senator called in to her show.

You'll want to download the mp3 she's been good enough to provide, as the ~~lovefest~~ interview only gets ~~cuter~~ more informative from there.

The most essential moments of the interview - and I say this because it's important politically and historically, not because you shouldn't listen to the whole thing in all its senatorial splendor - are Senator Kerry's extensive comments on voter fraud and the Ohio recounts.

So check it out, pass it on, let us know what you think, and, if you listen in public on your iPod, try not to squee too loudly - I'm warning you; it's a struggle.

Big Oil, Brian, Clay and Dave

2006-05-17T16:41:00.000-04:00

Out in California, where we're represented so nicely by two immensely qualified Senators, we don't get a lot of love from east coast legislators. But since John Kerry is sort of a Senator to the world, we can count on him to chime in every now and again to help us vote for folks who support our Democratic values.

Yesterday in my inbox I found an email from my favorite out-of-state Senator, encouraging support of pro-environmental Democratic candidates. Here are the highlights for those of you in the other 49:

We know that the last thing we need in Congress is more Republican energy company lobbyists. So, let's say no to Brian Bilbray. And let's say goodbye to Clay Shaw and Dave Reichert. They're a couple of Republican congressmen with absurdly bad environmental voting records and connections to big oil that would make Dick Cheney blush, and their Democratic opponents are closing in on them every day. If we give these pro-environment Democrats the immediate help they need, we can win three of the most environmentally critical elections in the country....

Every day I become more hopeful that, thanks to you, our hard-driving efforts to deliver unprecedented levels of grassroots support to key Democratic candidates can turn the tide in 2006.

I'm tired of being forced to spend so much of our time just trying to stop bad things from happening in Washington.

If we can take back Congress in November, we can stop anti-environment Republicans from threatening the Arctic Refuge, selling off our national forests, weakening environmental standards, and we can finally do right by our national security by putting America on a path to genuine energy independence.

You and I both know that the best way to protect our environment is to throw ourselves heart and soul into winning these elections.

Think we can't do it? Think again. I believe in this cause with all my heart and gut. I know it's not easy, but I remember when you couldn't even mention environmental issues without a snicker. But then in the 1970's people got tired of seeing the Cuyahoga River catch on fire from all the chemicals. So one day millions of Americans marched. Politicians had no choice but to take notice. Twelve Congressmen were dubbed the Dirty Dozen, and soon after seven were kicked out of office. The floodgates were opened. We got the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. We created the EPA. The quality of life improved because concerned citizens made their issues matter in elections.

We need to do this all over again.

Now, lovely as that was, I'm just going to be honest and say that my favorite part of the whole email was the subject line: "Big Oil, Brian, Clay and Dave."

You had better believe that if I didn't have this blog to help keep up, "Big Oil, Brian, Clay and Dave" would be half a folk song by now - perhaps quite a good one. By November 7, it could be the biggest hit written on the autoharp since "Ring of Fire."

But, since we can't take back Congress with hit songs, I will refrain from launching my music career, and instead encourage everyone to head over to Keeping America's Promise to see how you can help create an environmentally friendly Congress in 2006.

JK at Emerson College: Video!

2006-05-16T17:23:00.000-04:00

Graduating seniors at Emerson College yesterday were treated to that special blend of mouth-watering hunkiness and soul-stirring patriotism that only John Kerry can provide. JK, looking resplendent in formal robes and towering over everyone else on the stage (of course), delivered a call to idealism and action. None of the Emerson girls threw panties -- I suppose they're too serious-minded for that, alas -- but several looked as if they wanted to.

For those who were unable to attend this august occasion or catch the live webstream yesterday, we have a WeLoveJohnKerry exclusive: video! The file is a bit large (almost 60MB), so it'll take a few moments to download, but that's the price we pay for decent resolution. (I should warn you that they broadcast the audio at very low volume, but the audio track is there, I swear. Just crank your speakers up to hear that lovely baritone voice.)

Click to download the video.

Oh, and let me take this opportunity to introduce myself: I'm DreamingofKerry (DK for short). I'm a fanatical JK supporter (but then, aren't we all?), and I'm very happy to be joining Democrafty and Kerryvisionary to help bring you the latest in Kerry-squee. I chose the name DreamingofKerry because to me, it alludes to what being a Kerry fangirl is all about: daring to dream that the patriotic ideals JK talks about will carry the day, that our country will get back on the right track, that our long national nightmare will come to an end and we can once again dream of a bright future. Naturally this includes high hopes for another Kerry run in 2008, but I'm an impatient sort -- I want Kerry's vision to become our national vision, and his dream to become our reality, *right now*. So I'm DreamingofKerry, and I'm very glad to have the opportunity to participate in this lovely blog.

Letting those flowers bloom.

2006-05-15T15:54:00.000-04:00

In terms of comments, the Huffington Posters are not much for spreading the Kerry Love that has brought us so much excitement, comfort, and - oh look! A blog of our very own. But when it comes to coming around, those HuffPo bloggers really have been doing their part to remind us that the junior Senator from Massachusetts is still somebody to squee over.

(Or, if you subscribe to that silly notion that nobody in the whole history of the world EVER thought a President Kerry would be a good idea, he is now somebody to squee over. Whatever works for you.)

RJ Eskow address the concerns of his fellow HuffPo bloggers head on - and may I say, very effectively! - right here:

Would it be better for the Democrats and their core principles if Kerry held back and let Gore or Feingold carry the flag? I don't think so. Why not let them compete with each other for the honor? Why not see who can be most effective at delivering the party's message - its real message of justice and fairness - effectively?

Let a hundred flowers bloom, as another political player used to say. Is Kerry the candidate to back? I don't know. I like Gore a lot, and Feingold's taking a lot of good positions. But I also like what I see coming out of Massachusetts lately.

Eskow's point isn't just a good one because I'm an unabashed Kerry lover. It's like BIg Eddie says: you have to focus on the issues. Focusing on something like "electability" may be pragmatic, but is it really a reflection of our true values? When you step back and follow the issues, John Kerry looks better and better. I know this, because I follow the issues, and they led me to, well, unabashed Kerry love.

New Kerry? Old Kerry? Either way, we heart him.

2006-05-11T17:12:00.000-04:00

John Kerry has been kicking the requisite ass this week, and we have tried our best to blog apace. Today, however, Senator Superhero is WAY the heck ahead of us. Try to bear with us.

First of all, I love the sight of a Kerry op-ed in my morning paper. The Senator writes:

Imagine telling women in 49 states that their insurance no longer has to cover mammogram screenings for breast cancer. Or taking away coverage of diabetes supplies from 5.7 million Americans living with the disease. Or dropping mental health parity protections in 39 states.

That's exactly what could happen if Republican leaders in Congress get their way. And that's just the risk for the Americans lucky enough to have health care coverage. For those Americans without coverage, the message is even worse. Read more...

Unfortunately, the Mercury News did not see fit to provide a picture along with the good Senator's op-ed. But who am I to look a gift horse in so massive a mouth? Especially when we have a Photobucket account for such things. See:

And that's not even from today. I'm just posting it because I like it.

In a piece called "The New Kerry" over at The Nation, Ari Berman is starting to sound like KV and me. Now, I maintain that there's no new Kerry, only new Kerry fans, but what do I know? Thank you for your insights, Ari. It's so good of you to join us.

And Taylor Marsh may have a little crush. Welcome, Taylor, to the club.

Also today, some lucky students at American University got to see the Senator in the flesh. No pics or video of the remarks are available yet, but, as always, text is available at the Democratic Daily, as is an mp3 for your listening pleasure.

Fangirls who feel like throwing virtual panties today will want to head over to Daily Kos, where the Senator posted earlier, and has even responded to a smattering of comments. Good times.

And finally, I watched all five seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and became a big fan of star/auteur Larry David, but never a fangirl. Could his lending his voice - quite literally - to a new book by Greg Palast on how Kerry won the presidency in '04 account for my change of heart? Get the podcast here.

"There is no more pressing need than improving health care for our children."

2006-05-11T00:33:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week, I posted a press release from Senator Kerry's office regarding S. 1955, the Health Insurance Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act.

Today, Senator Kerry spoke on the Senate floor regarding the same legislation.

He appeared in a most fetching blue (Nantucket Isle and Whale?) tie and that striped shirt that photographs so beautifully, but really looks even better on the C-SPAN 2 live feed.

Not that you asked.

A full transcript of all 40 or so minutes of REALLY GOOD fashion (oh, and super important rhetoric!) is available at The Democratic Daily. My favorite bits are pasted here:

We need to chart real progress against America’s health care crisis.

We need to finally pass a bill on stem cell research and to fully fund all research initiatives at the National Institutes of Health.

We need to take up real legislation to get at the heart of racial and ethnic health disparities.

We need to make it legal to import affordable prescription drugs from Canada.

We need to put medical decisions back in the hands of doctors, nurses, and patients -not insurance company bureaucrats.

We need to address our nursing shortage by fully funding all programs under the Nurse Reinvestment Act we fought so hard to enact.

We need mental health parity.

We need to address our growing childhood obesity epidemic.

We need to reauthorize the State Child Health Insurance Program.

And we need to give families and small businesses access to the same private health insurance that members of Congress give themselves. It’s time we stood up and made it clear that every family’s health care is just as important as a politician’s in Washington....

Typically, the great thing about our democracy is that if we have a better idea, we are theoretically allowed to offer that alternative on the Senate floor and engage in a debate on the merits of each approach. That’s what is so fundamentally frustrating about this week’s discussion – that differing approaches are not allowed to see the light of day....

There are a multitude of other ideas on how we can go about providing access to more affordable health care for small businesses – ideas that will provide them coverage without harming everyone else. Ideas that will help small businesses maintain their current coverage – because I hear all the time from small business owners who are doing the right thing and providing coverage but are so crunched on price they fear having to drop their policies altogether....

In my time as Ranking Member on the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Senator Snowe and I have worked hard to find a compromise that would meet the needs of small businesses. We have held hearings on this issue, and have heard from countless small business owners on how this problem can be fixed....

In 2004, I presented America with a plan that would provide every American with the same health insurance enjoyed by members of Congress. Since that time, Senators Richard Durbin and Blanche Lincoln have taken that idea and turned it into a bill that creates the Small Employers Health Benefits Program. I am a proud cosponsor. Under S.2510, small businesses could join a national pool and take advantage of the same federal administrative functions and bargaining power that is enjoyed by eight million Federal employees across the nation. Most importantly, S.2510 protects every state mandate currently on the books....

Americans know we need to do better. They know there is no more pressing need than improving health care for our children. That is why nearly 25 national organizations representing over 20 million Americans have endorsed my Kids First plan to do just that.When I first I sent an email telling supporters about KidsFirst, within days over 20,000 parents phoned in recordings of why the KidsFirst health plan is important to their families. I want to read a few of them for you:
Jennifer from Central Islip, N.Y. called in and said, “I have a child who is on medication…that costs me $250 or more a month. I have children who can’t go to the dentist. You know, it’s the worst feeling in the world, as a mother, to know that in order to afford health care; you’re not going to be able to afford the home you live in.” Jordan from Reading, PA called in and said, “Nalani…my three-year old…was born with cataracts…Eventually chances are she will be blind. Unfortunately, times are really hard in my house and we don’t have health insurance and I can’t afford to give her the surgery that will fix the problem that she has. I just can’t imagine growing up knowing that there was a way that you could have been helped. But because nobody thought you were important enough and because your parents didn’t have enough money for health insurance…you went blind.”

With calls like this, you must wonder how it is that Congress continues to turn a blind eye.

If you haven't yet figured out why we love John Kerry, ~~you are almost certainly a lost cause!~~ look at the remarks in full, or start paying some attention to what he does on the Senate floor, and think about the fact that every time he speaks, you can tell EXACTLY what kind of person he is.

How many people can you say that about, while meaning it in a good way?

Mary Cheney adds insult to "injury"

2006-05-10T15:53:00.000-04:00

I'm going to level with you. I'm in a bit of a mood today.

It seems that David Wade is none too happy with Mary Cheney today, and neither are we.

And I can't speak from Mary Cheney's perspective. I've never been in her position. I'm not saying I "get it."

But maybe I do. I mean, I'm female. I write for a blog called "We Love John Kerry." And I have never written to any Congressperson opposing anti-gay legislation without mentioning that I am happily married and wouldn't deny that experience to ANY couple.

So the jig is up: I'm heterosexual. And having put that out there doesn't make anybody's mom a bitch. If John Edwards tells somebody I'm straight, it doesn't compel me to swear at him.

And I know all things are not equal, and that sometimes people like Mary Cheney have a tougher time of it than I do. But that doesn't make her the gatekeeper of tolerance in this country. And it doesn't make tolerance a buffet. We cannot sidle up to it and choose the item that says the word "lesbian" is an insult, while not acknowledging the "good" folks behind the Defense of Marriage Act. It is no more acceptable than making patriotism a partisan issue. It is no more acceptable than treating a Senate record, or Naval records, or any part of the public record as something that is up for political debate.

Granted, it's all protected under the Bill of Rights. So much the better. I'm not going to challenge Mary Cheney's right to say John Kerry injured and exploited her, even if it is a huge case of the pot calling the kettle black.

But I'm not going to lie. When I think about Mary's dad, and about the President of the United States sending thousands of American kids, most younger than I am, to fight and possibly die defending Mary Cheney's right to her crappy, crazy, ridiculously partisan logic...

well, it puts me in a bit of a mood.

"When right, keep it right and when wrong, make it right"

2006-05-09T19:55:00.000-04:00

So says our superhero senator to all who believe in blind nationalism and who suggest that those in power are always right, simply because they are in power.

His mission is to "make it right" and he pursues that mission with inexhaustible resolve.

This last Saturday, he was at Grinnell College, delivering a speech that took the best of his April 22 Faneuil Hall call to honor and combined it with the Ten Point Plan he unveiled in New Hampshire in March. Time Magazine considered him worth quoting (and they thoughtfully included a picture as eloquent as his words...)

The Grinnell speech was one of a series he is making on college campuses across the country.

This Thursday, April 11, he will be at American University in Washington, D.C., speaking at 1 p.m. in the Kay Spiritual Life Center, 4400 Massachusetts Ave., NW
CONTACT: April Boyd, 202-224-4159

Yesterday, our energetic hero was in Nashua, speaking at the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire convention and examining the latest in firefighter bootwear.

Kerry told the firefighters that he had problems with the President's nominee to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA because Hayden is "one of the main supporters representing Donald Rumsfeld who helped to put in place the programs of spying on Americans and has been one of the biggest defenders of it."

The Senator is asking us to take back our government, to "make it right." How fortunate we are that he is answering his own challenge with such vigor and conviction!

"Gosh, this is making for strange bedfellows!"

2006-05-09T19:41:00.000-04:00

Since today is apparently strange bedfellows day, I thought we could keep on with the "Fun with Fox News" for one more entry.

Ed Schultz had this to say on Rupert Murdoch's slated fundraiser for Senator Hillary Clinton, transcribed by me in orange to match Big Eddie's hair:

"Could you imagine John McCain or Bill Frist going over and having a fundraiser with MoveOn.org? I can't even get that out without laughing! I mean, this is the ultimate in forgiveness. This brings possible redemption to a new level. The big story - and there's going to be more talk about this, because a lot of folks on the left, a lot of folks who are liberal Dems who are wondering what the party is all about [are] saying, "You know, Hillary's too far to the center, in fact, she's been going to the right."

In case you hadn't heard, Rupert Murdoch, who is the owner of - well, the media mogul, I mean, he owns Fox - he's going to throw a fundraiser for Hillary. And I know how this is going to be received by some Americans out there who are trying to figure this whole political thing out right now. Gosh, this is making for strange bedfellows! I think this is going to alienate as many people as it's going to recruit...

This is where I draw the line. I have no love for Fox, and I know lefties don't, either... I'll never forget what Fox did to John Kerry and the Democrats in '04. I mean, it was a prime time constant bashing eight months out from the election - absolutely relentless. And now look where the country is! I think they influenced a lot of people in the middle of the road. And I think that that kind of media ownership, and that kind of driven agenda, and that kind of a mission is partly responsible for where the hell we are right now!

... Hillary, you don't need Rupert Murdoch."

Click here to listen to the rest of Big Eddie's podcast on this issue.

The Ick Factor

2006-05-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

Here at the We Love John Kerry blog, we sometimes operate under the belief that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who want John Kerry and know it, and those who want John Kerry and don't know it.

The theory pretty much originates with Rush Limbaugh. If Rush Limbaugh isn't obsessed with Kerry, then I sure as heck am not, either.

Floating in that gray area between Column A (a crush so huge and embarrassing that it has it own blog) and Column B (hating that election-losing bastard so much you've saved every picture you can find of him windsurfing, kiteboarding or swimming to your hard drive JUST so you can make fun of him every other day) is, according to today's Boston Herald...

oh, this is hard to type.

Bill O'Reilly.

O'Reilly told the Herald: “If he is more specific and does engage the folks, he’s got a good shot. He’s got a lot of experience. He’s got respect abroad. I think he’s a smart guy. We need some strong leadership in this country.”

If a stopped clock weren't correct twice a day, I wouldn't even post this here. But when you think about it, even a first-class douchebag like O'Reilly is a citizen who is entitled to crave strong leadership as much as anyone else.

So, Bill O'Reilly, if you are reading this, I hope you're enjoying our moment of solidarity as as much as I am.

Or rather, was. Because now it's over.

JK and Small Business: The Lovefest Continues

2006-05-08T17:39:00.000-04:00

Senate Majority Leader Bill "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor" Frist has officially dubbed this week Health Week.

I hate to be so partisan, but, as far as I'm concerned when Senator Frist gets excited enough about something to give it a cute name, it probably means bad news for somebody. In this case, according to a press release from this afternoon, small businesses may face yet another hurdle in providing health care for employees.

Here's the low-down from JK's office:

Senator John Kerry (D- Mass.), top Democrat on the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, vowed today to oppose Republican legislation that will preempt state benefit and rating mandates. The Small Business Marketplace Modernization and Affordability Act (S. 1955), approved by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee last month on a party line vote, is expected to be brought up by the full Senate as early as tomorrow.

"Affordable health care should be a right for all Americans, not a privilege for the elected and the connected. But in our eagerness to fix the problem, we cannot let America's hard working entrepreneurs, our small business owners, be used as a political pawn to move legislation that will put health care beyond the reach of the very people who need it most," said Kerry, who put forward ideas in 2004 that are now included in the Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act (S. 2510). Kerry is a leading cosponsor of the legislation and does not support S. 1955 sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).

S. 1955 proposes sweeping changes to the insurance market that go beyond helping small groups, including placing a ceiling on which benefits have to be covered by any insurance plan. This would likely result in lower premiums for healthy workers and soaring premiums for those most in need of health care coverage.

"No one should be fooled by this wolf in sheep's clothing; striking down decades of consumer advocacy protections at the state level will prove to be a boon for the insurance industry, not small businesses and not the American people. Congress can and must act to make affordable health care accessible to small businesses and all Americans, and we have a real opportunity to cross partisan lines and get the job done," said Kerry.

In addition, the bill would establish new association health plans, which could be sold by business and trade associations to their member businesses. These health plans could erode important consumer protections by circumventing state benefits and rating mandates. The unintended consequence would be insurers that cherry pick healthy workers effectively pricing those most in need of health insurance out of the market.

"Under S. 1955, insurers would be free to discriminate, with virtually no restrictions, according to health, age, gender and more. That means that rates for many small business plans would increase, not decrease. If every small business is charged differently depending upon the age and health of their employees, every employer bargains alone, risk isn't shared, and there is no benefit to being part of a purchasing pool," said John Arensmeyer, Founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, a national small business advocacy group. "Moreover, in many states, valuable state benefit and service requirements such as preventive care, maternity and independent review procedures, would be eviscerated by the proposed legislation, weakening the ability of small businesses to offer meaningful health care to their employees."

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, since 2000, the number of small firms with less than 200 employees offering health coverage has declined from 68 percent to 59 percent while 98 percent of large employers provide health care.

Hundreds of small business and health advocacy organizations along with 39 state attorneys general have made their sentiments on the Republican health care plan clear.

"This bill will push consumers into barebones health insurance plans that contravene existing state laws guaranteeing coverage for such crucial services as cervical, prostate, and colorectal cancer screenings, as well as mammograms, mental health, and well-child care," said Ron Pollack, Executive Director for Families USA. "Anyone wishing to retain decent health coverage consistent with existing state laws, instead of barebones policies, will wind up with much higher premiums than they pay today."

In contrast, Kerry supports creating a national purchasing pool for small businesses that helps them get lower costs by establishing the Office of Personnel Management as the agency responsible for negotiating rates with insurers, which is included in the Small Employers Health Benefits Program Act. This bill would provide real relief for businesses with fewer than 100 employees, protect important state benefit mandates, stabilize premiums for small business owners, and establish subsidies to encourage participation.

Kerry is also advocating to help small businesses with the cost of health care premiums by giving those with less than 50 employees a refundable tax credit.

Tie Day: Reading is sexy edition

2006-05-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

Reading is sexy, and there's a t-shirt to prove it.

Exhibit A: This pic from Friday, of John Kerry with Douglas Brinkley's new book,
The Great Deluge : Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast tucked under his arm. (And Douglas Brinkley tucked nowhere, but wearing a fetching necktie. He must have known it was Tie Day.)

The book doesn't come out until Tuesday, but since JK was the subject of another Brinkley book, I guess I can't begrudge him his advanced copy.

(Truth be told, I can't begrudge him much of anything when he's wearing that graph paper shirt. Also - and it might seem totally obsessive to fangirl somebody's biographer, but I always forget how cute Douglas Brinkley is. For his part, let me say that writing is sexy, too.)

If you want to be sexy on your own before The Great Deluge hits the shelves, there's always Senator Kennedy's new book, which actually cost me $10 more at my local bookstore than it does on Amazon, but that's okay, because Kerry fans support small businesses!
And for free online, Bob's thoughts on The Imperial Presidency make for good, thought-provoking, start-the-week-off-ready-to-fight-evil reading.

"We regard men as infinitely precious and possessed of unfulfilled capacities for reason, freedom, and love.

2006-05-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

In affirming these principles we are aware of countering perhaps the dominant conceptions of man in the twentieth century: that he is a thing to be manipulated, and that he is inherently incapable of directing his own affairs. We oppose the depersonalization that reduces human beings to the status of things -- if anything, the brutalities of the twentieth century teach that means and ends are intimately related, that vague appeals to 'posterity' cannot justify the mutilations of the present. We oppose, too, the doctrine of human incompetence because it rests essentially on the modern fact that men have been 'competently' manipulated into incompetence -- we see little reason why men cannot meet with increasing skill the complexities and responsibilities of their situation, if society is organized not for minority, but for majority, participation in decision-making."

Don't laugh, but when I first read that passage of The Port Huron Statement, I immediately began dreaming of stitching at least some of it into a sampler.

And when I first learned that the primary author of the document had long been thought to be one Tom Hayden, I'll admit I was a little bit smitten. At least intellectually. He may not have been a gay, dead, French structuralist philosopher like Roland Barthes, but he sure could write.

I remember wanting so badly to join the Students for a Democratic Society and protest the war in loafers and pearls. Some of my classmates in grad school even thought about starting a chapter of the revived organization, but two things stopped us: we had to graduate. And then we had to do what we could to help make John Kerry President of the United States.

Two years have gone by since I got my MA, and in that time, I am sorry to say, the Port Huron Statement has become even more relevant. I still haven't joined SDS, but I do blog in loafers and pearls... for whatever that's worth.

Tom Hayden blogs, too, and all this is really to say that I CAN'T say how much kinship and gratitude I felt tonight when I saw that Tom Hayden had posted a rebuttal to George Packer's mischaracterization of John Kerry's Iraq withdrawal plan - the same plan for which I am encouraging endorsements.

Hayden writes at the HuffPo: "[Packer] cleverly alters Kerry's proposal by leaving out the international summit Kerry has proposed to address peacekeeping, reconstruction and other issues concerning the transition to a post-war period. Kerry thus is categorized as an uncaring advocate of 'out now', unlike Packer who at least cares about the killing he seems to support forever."

You may have to read the whole post to get the quote above. If not, I hope you'll read the whole post, because it's a heck of a lot better than anything I've got here.

So I'll leave you to that, except for this: We don't JUST love John Kerry - although, to tell the truth, just that takes up more than a little of my day. We also regard men as infinitely precious and possessed of unfulfilled capacities for reason, freedom, and love.

Rights and Obligations

2006-05-02T15:51:00.000-04:00

Today I came unglued (haha) from C-SPAN 2 around lunch time, or, in my left-coast case, breakfast time, when the Senate was adjourned for the Republican party lunch.

Now, I don't know what mad genius at Encore decided to broadcast Mr. Smith Goes to Washington while the majority party Senators were secretly plotting to invade Greenland or whatever it is they do, but it sure got me thinking.

As Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said in the chamber yesterday, "Today, our country marks an unfortunate anniversary - the three year anniversary of President Bush donning a flight suit to declare "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.

President Bush's dramatic landing on the aircraft carrier the Abraham Lincoln will be marked historically as a public relations stunt gone horribly wrong."

Since yesterday morning, Senator Reid's sentiments have been echoed by a number of his Democratic colleagues, including Senators Kennedy, Boxer, Lautenberg and Durbin, whose statement was entered into the Congressional Record, and whose words articulate the feelings of many Americans:

"I have been both inspired and shaken by the broken bodies but unbroken spirits of soldiers, Marines and corpsmen returning from this war. The cost of flawed leadership continues to be paid in blood. The willingness of our forces to shoulder such a load should make it a sacred obligation for civilian and military leaders to get our defense policy right. They must be absolutely sure that the commitment is for a cause as honorable as the sacrifice."

Now, I don't want to disagree with the statements of these excellent public servants, particularly not when I think they're largely correct, but I did wish they'd followed the example of Senator Feingold, former Senators Cleland and Hart, and others in endorsing John Kerry's Iraq Resolution.

In an email dated yesterday, Monday, May 1, 2006 - a day the Senate Minority Leader has appropriately labeled "a sad anniversary of a sorry public relations stunt" - former Senator Bob Kerrey wrote, "Half of the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall are the names of Americans who died after the policy makers knew our nation was on the wrong course, after both political parties called for expeditious withdrawal. And yet the war dragged on for five more years."

Call me difficult to please, but, much as Senator Kerrey's email was great to read, it's still bugging me that most of the endorsements are coming from former Senators. Other than Mr. Feingold of Wisconsin, the actual Senators who work for us and decide how to spend our tax dollars have been silent on John Kerry's efforts to end the war in Iraq.

I think we should do something about that.

Blame Frank Capra, the Boy Rangers, or the Republican caucus for going to lunch today. But really, I think we should do something.

So I urge you to call, write, or fax your Democratic Senators and ask them to speak out against the war and support Senator Kerry's resolution to provide a strategy for successfully empowering a new unity government in Iraq.

Find their contact info here. Use crayons, colored paper, whatever you think will get their attention. Make a collage if you feel like it. Heck, make a collage if you DON'T feel like it - you'll probably be glad you did. No one person can stop this war, and very few have stepped up to even move the debate in that direction.

Senator Kerry has taken a real leadership role in proposing legislative solutions. Let's ask our other elected officials to join him in that role. Rock and roll.

Our Priorities, Ourselves

2006-04-30T17:45:00.000-04:00

Today people all over the country attended rallies to protest the genocide in Darfur. Kudos to everybody who took the time to participate in an event today.

It would be really unseemly for me to post about how John Kerry was speaking out against the crisis even before the Save Darfur Coalition was founded, but I can't speak to my own interest in the region without referring to the first time I remember anyone speaking out about Darfur: a little over a year ago on April 21, 2005.

I was glued to C-SPAN 2, waiting to see if the Senate was going to erupt into the nuclear option, when I saw Senator Kerry make these remarks.

The threat of the nuclear option was never realized, and I think we're the better for it, but the speech John Kerry gave that day still sticks out in my mind because of passages like this one:

"It's not up to any one of us to tell another colleague what to believe as a matter of faith. But I can tell you what I believe: When tens of thousands of innocent souls have perished in Darfur-when 11 million children are without health insurance-when our colossal debt subjects our economic future to the whims of Asian bankers-no one can tell me that faith demands this Senate spend its time arguing over a handful of judges. No one with those priorities can use my faith to intimidate me."

When John Kerry ran for president in 2004, I remember feeling really fortunate that I could vote for someone who shared so many of my priorities. Unfortunately, Republican hegemony prevails in the White House, the courts, and in both houses of Congress, and priorities of all three branches of government are, sadly, missing the moral component Senator Kerry spoke of last April.

I sincerely hope that every American who is so passionately committed to ending the suffering in Darfur will remember to register and vote in the midterm elections this November. The progressive, compassionate citizens of the world can make a difference in global diplomacy if we do our part to band together to elect the government we deserve.

2006-04-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

Today the Boston Globe printed an obituary of Julia Thorne, who passed away yesterday at the age of 61.

The bloggers at We Love John Kerry will always remember Ms. Thorne with deep gratitude for her important writing in the field of clinical depression, and for sharing her wonderful daughters with the world.

Our thoughts and prayers of are with the Thorne and Kerry families.

HOT off the presses: A totally frivolous guide to John Kerry in the media.

2006-04-26T18:41:00.000-04:00

Since keeping up with media coverage of Senator Kerry in any serious way tends to take up more patience and hard work than I can usually manage, I decided to keep up with media coverage of Senator Kerry in a completely non-serious way. I hope you will enjoy. And if you learn something, don't blame me!

Sunday: C-SPAN aired John Kerry's major speech from the day before on patriotism, dissent, and the war in Iraq. What you need to know is that it's a total barn burner, not least of all because the Senator + good lighting = instant palpitations.

The Senator also appeared on This Week with the formerly cute George Stephanopolous. (Sorry, George, but now that I've seen you across the table from the subject of this blog, you just don't impress me anymore.) What you need to know is that this pic is okay, but the video is a must see.

Monday: John Kerry called in to the Ed Schultz Show to show off his general radness. What you need to know is that discussion of good environmental policy gets his heart "soaring." HOW CUTE IS THAT??? If you have iTunes, try to get all available clips of Ed's 4/26 show. They include, in addition to a nice interview with Senator Dorgan, an ex-conservative caller who hopes one John Kerry will run for president again, so he can vote correctly next time around.

Speaking of conservatives, ex- and otherwise, on Monday, Philip Seymour Hoffman look-alike and Bill and Ben Nelson mixer-upper Hugh Hewitt claimed on The Colbert Report that Kerry, Dean, and Pelosi are the leaders of Democratic Party. (Yes, the remark was disdainful, but when my aim is frivolity, I'll take what I can get.) What you need to remember is that Senator Kerry is not an official member of the party leadership. He's just a regular old Senator who kicks booty out of the goodness of his soaring, grammar-geek heart.

Tuesday: John Kerry appeared on NPR's Talk of the Nation. What you need to know is that, in a moment of intense, Rummy-induced frustration, the Senator demands, "Who's kidding who? I mean, whom???" I promise you will sigh mellifluously. Le geek, c'est chic, non?

Wednesday: James Boyce blogged on the HuffPo. He hasn't yet posted the words "I love John Kerry," but what you need to know is that, I bet with some prodding...

Coverage of the rest of the week will follow when the rest of the week gets here. In the mean time, make sure you look at all the videos and download all the audio clips. You never know when I'll get REALLY crazy and administer a quiz.

Peace!

"It reached the country as the country hasn’t been reached"

2006-04-20T12:53:00.000-04:00

Lots of Kerrycrats are going stark-raving crazy anticipating Senator Kerry's address at Faneuil Hall Saturday. And who can blame them? It's starting to look like C-SPAN is going to air the speech Sunday, somewhere in the programming vicinity of American Politics and Road to the White House. (I am naturally hoping for RttWH, what with my penchant for the symbolic and sentimental, but as long as I get to see what goes down, I'd even settle for Tonight from Washington.

In the interest of getting properly psyched, I checked out the 1971 interview that Diane of Tough Enough was kind enough to recommend. I thought it would be cool to use the internet to spend some time looking at what people my age used to do before they started spending all their time on the internet, so I watched it with great curiosity.

Apart from being completely blown away by seeing John Kerry before he was, you know, JOHN KERRY (he was, now that I bring it up, sort of a Beatle look-alike with a little bit of a William Daniels accent), I couldn't believe how much of what was said could be applied to Iraq today. And so it's worth pointing out that, while I spend a lot of time lauding Senator Kerry's experience and his legislative record (and I don't think I'm wrong to do so) I was reminded that, from the very beginning of his public life, there's been an emotional maturity that's given him an authority to evaluate whether or not the government's policies were reflecting the moral priorities of our nation.

And even if you're not a Kerry fan (and if you're not, I am beginning to lose my patience with you), even if you're not a Democrat, this video is refreshing just because it comes from a time when an interviewee could finish a sentence, and not have Chris Matthews or Katie Couric jumping in after ever third word with hard-hitting questions about why what he ordered for lunch makes him a total flip-flopper.

The interviewer is Betty Groebli, and the program was called Viewpoints. It aired November 6, 1971, and, according to The Washington Times, "Mrs. Groebli, who is retired and lives in her native Santa Barbara, Calif., doesn't remember much about the chat, except Mr. Kerry's stature. 'He is so big. I think he makes a point when he meets women of sitting down right away so as not to intimidate them,' she said."

Aw.

Again, you can watch the interview here, or, since I couldn't find a full transcript of the interview anywhere online, I typed one up below. Just call me "Democrazy."

The Kerry comments, if not immediately obvious, are signified by that little JK's head bullet point that I am WAY too proud of.

So, without further coment from me, Betty Groebli, John Kerry on Viewpoints, November 6, 1971, transcribed from video.

Groebli: You’re looking at a picture of a veteran who is throwing his medal away. This is one of the photographs included in a new book by our guest, John Kerry, former lieutenant. The book is called The New Soldier: Vietnam Veterans Against the War, by John Kerry and David Thorne and George Butler. Will you explain this picture, please?

Well that, Betty, is a picture of one of the many veterans who came to Washington last April and decided that the last resort that they had to try and wake the country up and tell it what was happening in Vietnam, as well as what was happening back home to men who were Veterans, was to renounce the symbols which this country gives, which supposedly reinforces all the things they had done, and that was the medals themselves. And so they decided to give them back to their country, and –

Groebli: How many did you give back, John?

I gave back – I can’t remember. Six, seven, eight, nine medals.

Groebli: Well, you were awarded the Bronze Star, a Silver Star, and three Purple Hearts.

Well, and above that. I gave back my others.

Groebli: Do you think this did any good?

I think it did, yes. I think it did. A lot of people are shocked by it. A lot of people feel that it was the wrong thing to do, in terms of showing respect for those things and everything, but I think it basically, it reached the country as the country hasn’t been reached in terms of telling them that veterans who came back were against the war, that they were not all that they were made up to be – that is, the Vice President and the President had said they didn’t consider themselves the best men of America. They didn’t like what they’d done, and they didn’t like what was being done in America’s name, and it was terribly important that America come to understand that there were these men who were part of the so-called establishment or structure who were also against the war, and, as such, I think it was a very important stepping-off point for bringing a lot of other people to the level of disgust which they felt inside of them, but they didn’t know how to show.

Groebli: Has anyone called you a hypocrite? Because one wonders when you - as a lieutenant in the navy serving in Vietnam - when you had a moment of truth.

I’ve been called a lot worse than a hypocrite. Sure they have. Of course they have. And they do call me worse things, for a lot of other reasons. But as far as when I learned, we just all come into our consciousness at a different stage, and I unfortunately was one of those – I mean, I joined the Navy in 1965, before the first draft cards had been burned - and my consciousness just didn’t really come around, full-scale, until I got to Vietnam. But once it did, there was a consistent effort on the part of myself and the other people who were opposed to it to oppose it right there in Vietnam: to continually raise it as a point of discussion with our commanders, and to fight it, and to fight the policy from there to when we came back and got out.

Groebli: Was there any question about you being dishonorably discharged?

Oh, no. No. That has never been a question.

Groebli: I’d like to quote something from your book and have you comment on it. You say, “The country doesn’t realize it yet, but it has created a monster in the form of thousands of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence."

Well, I think that’s very true, Betty. The point is that men were taught how to kill. You are made into a killing machine if you are an infantryman or a Marine – the grunts of the war. And you have to be depersonalized to a point that you are willing to pull triggers against other people and see them blown away. And that’s what killing is. That’s what war is. It’s settling political differences by killing other people, and I don’t think it’s a natural part of man to that; I just don’t believe that. So you have to teach them how to do it, and in that sense, thousands of men are sent to Vietnam, have gone through the training, have been through that depersonalization process and come back with an intense sense of bitterness about it. And for a lot of these guys, particularly – and these are the most significant numbers of people who saw combat in Vietnam – your minority groups, they come back to a country that isn’t realizing the promises that have been made to them for years and years, for chances for jobs, for equal housing, for pay, for anything. And the one thing they have been taught to do, as one of them said very well, he said this at hearings before Congress, he said, “You know, I learned how to do two things in the Army. One was to be an accountant, and I can’t get a job as an accountant in this country, and the other thing I was taught how to do was kill.” And I think that all of these men have an intense capacity for violence. Now, on the other hand, thank God, for some reason they also come back as very gentle people, in a sense, because they have seen so much violence, and that has done another thing to them: it’s turned them away from any desire to see more. And I think The New Soldier is really trying to say that. It’s trying to point out what caused those changes, what they have as hopes for the future and how they want to realize them, but most realistically, it has pointed out how they are just meeting a wall, a barrier of frustration which can make them turn toward that violence…

Groebli: John, when people ask you, “Why can’t the war be stopped?” what do you say?

Well, I say it can be. There’s no excuse for it not being stopped. The only reason that it hasn’t been stopped is that the president and the people who hold the keys to stopping it just still see an important something to be won in Vietnam. It’s not a question of their wanting just to get out. They see it as being important to our commitments in the world, to the question of American security. And they are committed to a non-communist government, which is the old policy of containment, the extension of John Foster Dulles’ theory that got us in there, the containment of communism. And they’re still playing that game, and that’s why we’re not out, in the last analysis.

Groebli: What is your reaction when you hear the body count at night on the news.

I get sick. Like a lot of other Americans. I cannot believe that America’s conscience is at the point where it is willing to accept a body count that says "only so many men have been killed." I think that everybody in America really believes that one man is too many in Vietnam now. And I, I –

Groebli: But isn’t there another factor here? The credibility of assuming that someone has actually counted the bodies? Isn’t this a repugnant –

Well, of course it is, but you see, it’s repugnant but it’s hard to summon all the indignancy [sic] to express it at this point because it’s no more repugnant than all of those statistics that say we’re still winning the war. It’s just one more computer aspect of this war which says, “we’re doing this, we’re doing that,” which reduces the war to statistics. And as someone once said very poignantly, statistics don’t bleed. And that’s the problem, is that we’ve become accustomed to listening to it in terms of statistics, and of course it’s repugnant.

Groebli: Now, you’re working with these “statistics” that are in the VA hospitals, and I’d like you to tell us some of your impressions.

Well, my impressions are very hard to convey because…

Groebli: Maybe you can tell us about one person.

It’s difficult to convey an image of somebody who’s lying in a bed, who, who can’t move, who has to be fed, who isn’t aware of what’s going on around him, or somebody on drugs. Drugs is one of the ones – I’ll tell you about a guy; his name is Joey, I don’t need to say his last name, but he’s been – he came back from Vietnam, got back in 1965. He’s been a hardcore heroin addict for six years.

Groebli: Over there as well as here?

Over there as well as here.

Groebli: Started over there?

Started over there, he was shipped to Japan. They then shipped him back here and they discharged him. He walked out of El Toro Marine base with nothing, except the desire to have more drugs. Only in this country, it costs a lot more. So he’s robbed stores, he’s robbed private homes, he’s sold stuff, he’s been all around the country, ripping off places in order to pay for his habit. He’s been on it for six years. He’s OD’d – he’s taken an overdose – on heroin seventeen times. He’s taken an overdose of barbiturates six times. He’s cut up his girlfriend with a knife when he was on the stuff once. He’s been in a room with another girl who OD’d and died, and he left that place and went out to a phone booth and called the police and told them the girl was there, and they went and got her. He’s, you know, now he’s off it. But he’s not off it for good, because there is no cure, you see. And this is the terrible thing. We have, there’s a veteran who literally has given up his life to be with Joey, to walk around with him, to take every day to see that he doesn’t go out and get on it again. But it’s like alcoholism; it’s that kind of disease. You are never really cured, and you always have the chance to go back on it. Well, that’s just one of them. There, there’s 6000 – Joey tells me himself there’s 6000 of them that he estimates, anywhere between 6000 and 10,000 on the streets of Boston. There are anywhere between, he says, about 20 to 30 thousand in New York, and I think the statistics of the city confirm that. They are all over this country.

Groebli: John Kerry, are you going to attempt to see anyone in this administration while you’re here, or have you in the past?

I have. I’ve called and asked for an appointment to see Mr. Kissinger, and I – it’s my own fault I haven’t followed up on it; I haven’t had time yet. I do want to see people at this point, yes, because something has got to be done. They have got to get the money, and they’ve got to appropriate it. And they’ve got to take a different attitude about it.

Groebli: Appropriate money for what?

Appropriate money for drug centers that are not necessarily going to be within the context of the VA. They’ve got to have more methadone maintenance programs, but they’ve also got to have more therapeutic communities wherein people can seek help. They’ve got to have an outreach program that’s going to reach these thousands of veterans and let them know there’s something that can help them.

Groebli: Will you please let me know, personally, what happens when you see someone?

I certainly will.

Groebli: Thank you very much. Our guest, again, former lieutenant John Kerry and his book, The New Soldier. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Betty, very much.

The Once and Future 44th?

2006-04-18T15:26:00.000-04:00

WaPo blogger Chris Cillizza rocked the boat and made my day today when he posted a case for another Kerry campaign for the presidency in 2008. I'm hardly here to deconstruct his argument, since I agree with so much of it, and if I started added my two cents to his comments, that might snowball into a detailed discussion of the 20 or 30 ways the Senator's cute hair alone can save the world if we just get off our high horses and let it. And that would be a bit much. Suffice it to say Chris Cillizza has pleased this Kerrycrat, and probably many others.

The comments, though, were a tough slog. And we're used to that. There are good days and bad days in the career of a politician, and as I can often be heard saying to KV, when you love John Kerry, his bad days are bad, but his good days are worse. There's nothing like a big helping of that now-famous strength, principle, and conviction to elicit lots of keystrokes to the effect of:

John Kerry is too smart, but also he is a big dumb idiot!
John Kerry can't be reduced to sound bytes, except for all those really good sound bytes I'm willfully ignoring to make my point!
John Kerry's wife is a disaster. Doesn't she know Americans hate strong women? Why can't he be married to somebody who isn't a cultural lightning rod? Hillary (or Condi) '08!
John Kerry never should have conceded that election. I could never vote for somebody like that again. Gore '08!

I could go on, but I'm already feeling bad about dissing Hillary Clinton and Al Gore - two people I really do admire - so before I say something I'll REALLY regret, let me make my point. I'm here, blogging for John Kerry and making merciless fun of his detractors because John Kerry is not in the business of tearing people down. Instead of blaming others for problems within the party, he came up with ten solutions. Instead of blaming his colleagues for the mess in Iraq, he's proposed multiple strategies for exiting a stable Iraq.

I don't say any of this to echo Cillizza's case for Kerry for president, or to make a case for Kerry for Senate, Kerry for Governer, or Kerry for Postmaster General. I'm not endorsing a campaign... yet. I say it because even he is a French, elitist, windsurfing Skull-and-Bones gigolo, (and he's none of those things, except for a windsurfer, which is as good an excuse as any to put one of those pics up) I can't think of anybody in politics who unabashedly asks people to reach within themselves and become the best citizens they can possibly be. I say it because whether or not somebody loves John Kerry makes absolutely no difference to me, but whether or not somebody is a good citizen makes a world of difference to everybody.

Sorry, Senator. We love you more.

2006-04-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

I got back from vacation just as the Senators were leaving for theirs. Lucky for me, while my idea of a vacation involves flying to Florida, maxing out my credit card on Lilly Pulitzer and umbrella drinks, and rereading a very select cache of news magazine back-issues, one Mr. Kerry of Massachusetts likes to spend his time off Meeting the Press, organizing small business expos (the lovefest continues!) and stumping for his colleagues.

The Senator also, from what I understand, issued and invitation to his constituents to join him at Faneuil Hall this weekend "for a discussion of what is
happening to our democracy when dissent - the right of patriotic people to
speak out - is under assault." Click for more info, or to RSVP.

I would love to attend this event (and report back on the Senator's choice of tie), but, as always, I will be thousands and thousands of miles away, but word on the street (or Democratic Underground) is that, if we all ask REALLY nicely, C-SPAN will send cameras and air the event!

Here's the low-down on where to threaten, cajole, and/or plead from c-span.org:

PROGRAMMING QUESTIONS & SUGGESTIONS
Viewer Services: Questions about our schedule, how to buy videotapes, and for any other general comments about C-SPAN - viewer@c-span.org

Suggest Events: Submit a public event that you think C-SPAN should cover - events@c-span.org

You can also call C-SPAN at (202) 737-3220.

Remember, the public event in question will be John Kerry's speech at Faneuil Hall 10:30 AM Saturday morning on April 22nd, and not, like, the Viking Obstacle Course show. There were already cameras there. (I know, because I watched that when I should have been reviewing The New War. Sorry, everybody.)

Finally, as a co-founder of a blog dedicated to loving John Kerry, I'd be remiss if I didn't link to his declaration of love for the bloggers.

It's tough to type and swoon, so I'll leave you with a picture of JK poised for hugging, taken by the very talented JW Walthall. You can see more amazing shots here.)

Tie Day: Vacation Edition

2006-03-31T02:09:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow, because, I, like the Senators, feel entitled to a fortnight of vacation this spring. Unfortunately, it is not the plane pictured here, but you can't have everything. In honor of my departure, I chose a very special vacation-related tie.

The Tie: An alternating, repeating pattern of a cartoonish aerial view of Nantucket Island, location of one of JK's vacation homes, and a frolicking cartoon whale. It's called "Nantucket Isle and Whale."

The color: Blue. It comes in many colors, but, as you can see, the Senator likes it in light blue. Let the swooning begin.

The designer: Vineyard Vines. Who else?

Shown here during: The press stakeout outside the White House, following the signing legislation to put a Rosa Parks statue in the Capital. Also seen on Face the Nation.

Ranking: I can't imagine that I'll ever figure out how to rank these. Personally, I have no feeling about Nantucket, having never been there, so I'm ambivalent about that aspect of the design. I do, however, appreciate the non-threatening depiction of one of the world's largest mammals. I can tell you, though, if real whales splish-splash so close to actual Nantucket, I am NEVER going there on vacation. Speaking of which...

Stupid Democrafty Nickname for Future Reference: ...thanks to this post, I'll always think of this as the Vacation Tie. Not that anyone would wear a tie on vacation. I just find the imagery symbolic.

If you see John Kerry wearing this tie: Hmm, not sure. My instinct is to instruct everyone to state that they're not only fine with those pics of the Senator windsurfing, but those pictures were fine. As in, you know, um, foxy. But since that might be uncomfortable for, oh, ANYONE, you could always serenade him with "Vacation" by the GoGos. That would hardly be annoying at all!

What we think Tim Gunn would say about this one: Vineyard Vines AGAIN? To which I would say, "Screw you, Tim Gunn." Harsh words, I know, for America's favorite professor/reality tv star, but geez, Tim. I mean, if it ain't broke...

Feeding the Fandom: Peanut Butter and Jelly

2006-03-30T14:23:00.000-05:00

There's so much to love about the work week. The endless news cycle. Live coverage of the Senate proceedings. The Colbert Report and The Ed Schultz Show. But as the work week ends, certain things do become a bit tired - and I'm not talking about Senate aides.

If you're a brown bagger - and why wouldn't you be? - you know how tough it is to keep your midday meal exciting and nutritious. But if you're a Kerry fan - and why wouldn't you be? - you need to keep your strength up for long stretches of bird-doggin'. And, if you're a Kerry fan, you probably already know that all it takes for JK to rock the Senate, or the campaign trail, is a near-endless supply of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I am not a regular eater of the PB&J, but then, I'm also not in elementary school, so there you have it. But if the magic combination of Lent-friendly protein, sugar, and carbs are what provide the Senator with his endless energy, it may be worth some reconsideration. And since we at the We Love John Kerry blog are nothing if not thorough, and because you already know how a bill becomes a law, here are some easy instructions for how a few ingredients become the Official We Love John Kerry sandwich:

1. If you are having any impure thoughts after reading "Kerry Sandwich," remember this is a family blog. Get your mind out of the gutter.

2. Procure two pieces of bread. Whole wheat will do, but flax is lovely - and yes, you will probably have to keep a supply with you. I personally like this kind. A little toasting will get rid of the sponginess, but then, if you are traveling the country by bus, you may not have access to a toaster. (There are reasons I don't run for office.)

3. Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread. JK apparently likes Skippy, THK likes peanut power butter, and Democrafty likes Trader Joe's Organic, though nobody asked the latter.

4. Spread jam on the other slice. See if you can get some of THK's 1987 vintage. Or make your own with some berries. Homemade jam is awesome.

5. Put the two slices of bread together.

6. See if you can get Marvin to come over and lick the knife. Use the same knife to cut the sandwich down the middle. No fancy triangles needed.

7. Serve without celery.

8. See if you can get the Senator to show it off.

Tie Day: Skate-Lacing Edition

2006-03-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

It's hockey season, and we at the We Love John Kerry Blog... well, we couldn't care less. No offense to hockey fans or players, but between football, crafts, and trying to restore the art of bird-doggin' to its original splendor, I just don't have too much time to follow, say, the Bruins.

BUT Senator Kerry likes hockey, and we like Senator Kerry, so in the interest of being a good sport, today's tie doesn't feature a Windsor knot. It's not even a noun! It is, instead, John Kerry tying his skate laces...
...and, honestly, there's not much to say about that. He's obviously pretty good at it.

In other hockey news, do you remember when the Senator played hockey with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith?
It seems that Mr. Tyler will be undergoing surgery and unable to tour for a while. That's really too bad, because, above and beyond the obvious reasons, it looks like he'll have to it looks like he'll miss the panel discussion with Senator Kerry and others entitled, "Ascension into Rock Goddery: How to Deal with the Incessant Bird-Doggers."

Yes, the panel discussion is a complete fabrication. But now that I've made it up, I'm dying to make it happen. That's almost the kind of thing that'd be worth hiring a lobbyist for.

Bird-Doggin': How You Can Help

2006-03-23T15:41:00.000-05:00

When somebody passed me a link to a site devoted to Bird-Dogging John Kerry, I was effing ESTATIC. Finally, I thought, there are throngs of Kerrymaniacs throwing their panties and screaming "SHOW US YOUR TIE! SHOW US YOUR TIE!" when the Senator walks by. Finally, fangirls who ~~live too far away~~ are too ladylike for such shenanigans have a voice!

Not so, it would seem. Apparently, the bird-doggers in question like to hang out near his office, claim he's pro-war (he's not), and hope that Greens and Libertarians will form an alliance and take over the world or something.

So, you know, that's fine, because this is America, and we have laws to protect protest, no matter how puzzling and dork-like.

But may I just say that, where I come from, bird-doggin' - apologies to the Green/Libertarian alliance, but the final "g" should be, if not left off all together, silent - is NOT about politics, except in cases in which the bird-dogger thinks politics are a turn on. Which they are.

Ladies of Boston, I'm disappointed in you. Where ARE you? You're clearly not yelling yourselves hoarse over Johnny Damon anymore, and that Junior Senator of yours isn't getting any shorter. Just saying.

(Although, if you do end up hanging around the Kerry offices, undergarments in hand, for the love of God, don't tell them I sent you. If I get in trouble for bird-doggin' Senators, I want to at least BE there.)

This Just In: THK Apparently Stops Kids from Killing Themselves

2006-03-22T14:35:00.000-05:00

No surprise, really - have you ever seen her with those Kids for Kerry members? They freaking LOVE her.

In all seriousness, Teresa Heinz Kerry will receive the Aaron T. Beck Award for Excellence in the Field of Suicide Prevention at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) Aaron T. Beck Awards Dinner in a couple of weeks, and we are just delighted.

On a personal note, I may no longer be part of that all-too-troubled adolescent demographic, but since I certainly know how to act as though I were, I feel compelled to admit that THK (along with her husband, of course) is certainly on the Short List of Folks Who Stop Democrafty from Doing Herself In. I don't know if it's her pretty hair, her unique approach to political life, or her radical and clearly subversive agenda of helping people and trying to make their lives better, but she's doing something right, because every time I think of this sentiment from the Kerry/Heinz Kerry holiday card - "We have great hope for our country knowing you are there" - I am tempted to send one along that reads, "I refrain from gargling Windex because you are there."

Not being any sort of foundation unto myself, I can't present anybody with an award for making me want to live to blog another day - at least, not without seeming stalkerish and annoying - so I'll leave it at this: life is full of sadness and pain. I blog here because it's actually pretty rare to see somebody doing something about it. So, till next time, do me a favor: spread some love, and lay off the Windex.

Tie Day: Same Guy, Same Ties, Different Color Commentator

2006-03-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

This week: THE FISH! (no, not the green tie for St. Patrick's Day -- we are nothing if not subtle!)

I can't even think of matching Democrafty's breezy, informed charm when it comes to ties, so this week's Tie Day entry will be a change of pace!

I was thinking of writing just a tie-ku and letting the pictures (courtesy of Democrafty's imaging skill!) speak for themselves, but my charming fellow blogger reminded me that a limerick would be HIGHLY appropriate to St. Paddy's Day and even suggested, of all things, a clerihew!

This is definitely one of my favorites among the Senator's ties, and I called dibs on it as soon as Democrafty suggested Tie Day. The only explanation I can find for wearing a tie with fish on it is that it is meant as a gesture of homage and support for one of Massachusetts' traditional industries...! Anyway, I love it and it makes me smile whenever I see it.

Tie doggerel forthwith:

TIE-KU
Why fish, Senator?
Could it be a tribute to
Your state's schrod quota?

Clerihew, or should that be Kerryhew?
John Kerry
Seldom sedentary
His ichthyocentric tie
Makes him the cynosure of every eye

Limerick
A senator hailing from Boston
Wore a tie with fishies embossed on
Although it might seem
A whimsical theme
How dreary should he a madras don!

ANWR and Crafts.

2006-03-15T18:27:00.000-05:00

Okay, Democrats. We have two urgent things we must discuss.

Thing the first: Call your Senators and tell them to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and take real action toward achieving energy independence. Do it now, and if you need a reason why, just remember that sustainability, increased efficiency, and a reduction in emissions ARE possible. Here are five good, workable ideas from Senator Kerry himself (and I'll put them all in red to match the tie he wore today:

1. INCENTIVIZING RENEWABLE ENERGY
More than 20 states have implemented market-based Renewable Energy Portfolio programs that require utilities to gradually increase the portion of electricity produced from renewable resources such as wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar energy. We should build on that success at the national level. Tell your Senators to enact a nationwide Renewable Portfolio Standard so that 20% of our energy comes from renewable sources by 2020. A study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that implementing this policy would save $26.6 billion and that commercial and industrial customers would be the biggest winners.

2. PROMOTING BIO-ENERGY
We have the ability to transform our transportation sector from one that fuels our addiction to one that drives us toward a sustainable future. The President should build on that demand and fuel new production opportunities by supporting a mandate that agriculture will provide 20% of the total energy consumed in the United States by 2020.

3. INVESTING IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY
In addition to developing new sources of energy, we must make better use of available energy. New technological advances in appliances, energy grid systems, and buildings can boost productivity, create jobs, improve the reliability and safety of the energy infrastructure, and make dramatic inroads in reducing air pollution. Congress should enact energy efficiency measures to decrease energy use by 20% by 2020.

4. PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUPER-EFFICIENT VEHICLES
The government should provide an aggressive set of tax incentives and grants for consumers and for industries that are retooling plants to promote the manufacturing and purchase of hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of gas and electric power to sharply increase efficiency. Twenty percent of all passenger cars and trucks on the road should be high-efficiency, low emissions hybrids by 2020.

5. SETTING AMERICA FREE FROM MIDDLE EAST OIL
Today, America spends more than $500,000 per minute on foreign oil or $30 million per hour. We paid more than $42 billion for Persian Gulf imports alone in 2005. It is bad enough that these dollars will not help grow our domestic economy -- it is even worse when you consider their impact on our national security. Congress should act to eliminate America's oil imports from the Middle East by 2020.

Thing the second: Can someone tell me this: does THK knit, or was she speaking hypothetically when quoted in the New York Daily News today? I read somewhere that she makes really good scones, so I can't rule out the possibility that she's also a stitcher - or would be, if she weren't busy with politics.

I almost hope she's not, to be honest. For one thing, she already exists in my head at maximum levels of cool, so if I found out she did crafts, my mind would be officially blown. For another, I have a very nice, West Coast, crafts-and-snacks existence, and yet I might feel compelled to move cross-country to our nation's capital JUST in hopes of joining that Stitch 'n' Bitch.

Oh, crap. That reminds me. I lied, I need to bring up three things. Thing the third is Senator Kerry's involvement in the Democratic Small Business Health Care Bill. Sometimes I get so caught up in my comfortable crafts-and-snacks existence that I forget the only reason I, a small business owner, have health insurance is that I'm married.

Uncool.

So, redundant as it might seem for somebody posting to the We Love John Kerry blog to say, "Well done, Senator!" I still have to say: Well done, Senator! May you be rewarded with scones of all varieties and as many scarves as your neck desires.

Ten (More!) Reasons to Love John Kerry

2006-03-14T01:11:00.000-05:00

This weekend, Senator Kerry was in New Hampshire to raise some election-year dough for Nashua and Hillsborough County Democrats, and we were... well, not. But we were watching on C-SPAN, and I even did a little transcribing. I'm not including the whole speech here - you can check it out for yourself on the C-SPAN website - but just a few points from our Man With The Plan:

So I’ve had enough of the talk. I’ve had enough of the hand-wringing. It’s time to go out there and just put it squarely on the table for people. And for those people who say, “Gee, we don’t have a plan,” or “They don’t have a plan” or something, here’s a little ten point plan for you, pretty quick.

Here’s number one: Obey the law, and protect civil rights in this country.

Number two: Tell the truth, and tell it to Americans all the time.

Number three: Number three, fire the incompetents.

Number four: Chase the money lenders and changers from the temple of democracy and reclaim it for the grassroots of this nation.

Number five: Bring our troops home from a stable Iraq - which we can do – as fast as possible.

[Number six:] Find Osama Bin Laden and protect the ports and other facilities of the United States of America.

[Number seven:] Stop stabilizing big oil, and stop blaming the American people for being addicted to oil when it’s this administration that is addicted to oil. And we need to commit ourselves to alternative and renewable fuels.

[Number eight:] Make access to healthcare affordable for all Americans, not as a matter of privilege and ability to pay, but as a matter of right for being an American citizen.

[Number nine:] Reduce the deficit, which is, after all, a conservative thing to do, and rather the difference from this radical group that are doubling it, tripling it, adding to the deficit in trade and adding to our children’s debt while they make irresponsible choices about the future and we must define and respect work over wealth. That’s an important principle for this country.

[Number ten:] And finally, fight for American jobs, jobs here in America that are high value-added jobs that will open up the doors to the future.

These are the things we’re fighting for. And as Democrats, I’m proud to go out anywhere in this country, anytime - red state, blue state, purple state - and talk to the people in this nation and connect those dots so people in this nation understand it is time to say we’re fed up with the incompetence, we’re tired of the lies, we want to lead this nation to the greatness it deserves. We understand how to get there. We have a plan to get there. We’re going to get there. That’s our duty and our obligation, and we can’t WAIT for 2006 to make it happen!

Tie Day: Flags and Stars Edition

2006-03-10T14:04:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been a busy week for Senator Kerry, and, as usual, I can't keep up, but I'll take a few moments away from my frenzy of Making Stuff to pay tribute to other people who Make Stuff - in this case, the people who make the Senator's unconscionably attractive neckties.

Happy Tie Day to All!

The Tie: See figure at left.

The color: Red. Red = power tie in Washington, and is not a fangirl favorite generally speaking, but I happen to love JK in red. Every time he wore a red tie to a debate with President Bush, I always figured he'd won a coin flip or something, because who would voluntarily wear a blue tie to a national debate? And while JK looks great in red, THK looks really great in red, and I do think that if you're going to be in public life, it's fairly important to be able to be photographed with your spouse in outfits that coordinate without making you look like the Osmonds, or like you're on your way to a Junior League Brunch, or like you married your cousin or something. Where was I going with this? Oh, yes: the tie is red, and red is very, very good.

The pattern: Again, flags. To be more specific, the designers have named this print "Flags and Stars," which pretty much says it all.

The designer: Vineyard Vines. VV is just the kind of small Massachusetts business the Senator loves to support, so we'll be talking about a lot of their designs in the coming weeks. With their whimsical and infintely cartoony patterns, VV sort of strikes me as Lilly Pulitzer for Yankee males, and that suits me fine. JK hardly needs to be seen in anything so in-your-face-fruit-punchy as Lilly, whereas I would never wear the watered-down VV seahorses when I could dress up in full-on Palm Beach technicolor insanity.

Shown here during: The Senator wears this tie all the time, including on the cover of the November 2004 issue of Rolling Stone. I did wonder for a long time whether the Senator might have chosen something less, well, twee for his RS photoshoot, but that didn't stop me from framing the magazine and hanging it over my desk. It's also been spotted on former President Clinton and NYC mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani. It's not particularly expensive, which is good news for those of you considering running for office or being an ex-office-holder in New York, because it appears to be the required uniform.

Ranking: Hmm. Still no ranking system for the ties, but John Kerry totally looks better in it than all those other guys who own it. So there you go.
Stupid Democrafty Nickname for Future Reference: I think I'll skip this one this week. I mean, it's Flags and Stars. Although, now I kind of think of it as "Twee Flags and Stars" in my head, so let's just say that either will be correct.

If you see John Kerry wearing this tie: You're probably also ogling back issues of Rolling Stone.

What we think Tim Gunn would say about this one:Due to the tie's prominence in NY politics, unfortunately, Tim would probably offer a highly critical, "Where have I seen this before?"

Thank goodness it's Tie Day!!

2006-03-03T14:03:00.000-05:00

For those of you who come to blogs for the politics, but end up staying for the fashion, (we know you're out there!) KV and I are proud to declare Fridays Tie Days, effective immediately and ending whenever we decide we're sick of talking about John Kerry's ties. Or, I guess, whenever John Kerry stops wearing ties, which is frankly too upsetting a thought to even contemplate.

The Tie: See fig. 1

The color: Orange. Not quite Hermes orange, but similarly striking. What's interesting about that is, although orange happens to be my least favorite color, this is probably my favorite of all the Senator's ties. I think it's gorgeous, professional, and perfect for John Kerry.

The pattern: A zoom (fig. 2) reveals a pleasing but subtle pattern of what appear to be American flags. Note the obvious but non-obnoxious patriotism in the design.

The designer: This one is a puzzler. I alluded to Hermes, but a closer look rules out the possibility that this tie is Hermes. The flags are somewhat reminiscent of the Vineyard Vines ties the Senator frequently wears, but the pattern is too loose to be VV. Nor does this tie appear in the VV catalogue. And that's really neither here nor there - although, in the interest of research, if anyone has any information, I invite you to leave us a comment.

Shown here during: a January 18, 2006 meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Baghdad. Much to our chagrin, photographs of the Senator wearing the tie in question before or since that date have not revealed themselves. Let's hope he didn't get it for Christmas, wear it to Iraq, and get ink all over it or something.

Ranking: I really feel like we should have had some system by which we could rank the Senator's ties, but that never occurred to anybody. So I'll just rank this as my #1 favorite Kerry tie, because that's what it is. Also,
let's give it a stupid Democrafty nickname for future reference.

Stupid Democrafty Nickname for Future Reference: Orange Crush.

If you see John Kerry wearing this tie: Low five! (fig. 3)

What we think Tim Gunn would say about this one: "Senator! You made it work!"

John Kerry Is an Awesome Writer: DKos Edition

2006-03-01T14:39:00.000-05:00

I don't, as a rule, spend time over at Daily Kos. Quite a lot of good, progressive discussion does happen there, but when Senator Kerry does something good - and if you pay attention, you know that happens a LOT - the Kossacks tend to rally with sass en masse to the tune of "I am so sick of John Kerry and his annoying world-saving agenda. Why can't he stop kicking ass and retire from the Senate and go windsurf somewhere?"

At which point, a bunch of Kerrycrats attempt to defend the Senator's actions, at which point a bunch of guys who can't get dates jump all over the Kerrycrats for being "hung up" on the Senator (as if there were ANYTHING wrong with that!) and so on and so forth until somebody does some internet equivalent to throwing a drink in somebody's face (personally, I prefer pointing out spelling errors, followed by a truly mature assertion that the offending parties aren't old enough to vote) and swear never to return to the wretched website again.

Welcome to the blogosphere/world of modern citizenship.

So this is the point at which, if you don't love John Kerry, you stop reading this entry, because you really don't want to know how I was persuaded to visit DKos after swearing off it about 60 times. You really do not want to know about the squeeing, screaming, jumping-up-and-down frenzy that exploded when JK fans, myself included, heard or read that the senator had posted at DKos. You really do not want to witness as I get all freaking weepy and launch into an impassioned-but-clever discussion of how John Kerry wandering into hostile territory and asking for support of the Alito filibuster is the political equivalent of Victor Laszlo leading the customers at Rick's in a rousing drown-out of "Die Wacht am Rhein" with "La Marseillaise," and anyone who doubts the validity of that analogy is not only entitled to his or her opinion, but also invited and encouraged to SEE ME IN HELL.

In short, John Kerry posted to Kos, and it was a BIG DEAL. It's happened a few times now, and while no less thrilling, it's not a big surprise. Today, for example, when the Senator posted a diary on the Fighting Democrats, (you can read it here) I was able to read the text with a minimum of heart-pounding and no impulse to throw undergarments at the monitor. And this was a good thing, because it reminded me of something we don't talk about often enough: John Kerry is an awesome writer!

Check it out:

To hear the Administration and their Republican allies talk, anyone who has a different view than George Bush is lacking in patriotism and doesn't support the troops. Remember freshman GOP Congresswoman Jean Schmidt who invoked our troops in smearing Jack Murtha? I wonder what Jean Schmidt would have to say confronted by the informed and expert opinions of soldiers home from Iraq -- whatever they believe. The Republicans might just be forced to debate the merits of the issue! Talk about throwing a wrench into the partisan smear machine these Republicans rely on to stifle debate. That's why I want people like Jean Schmidt to have to stand face to face on the floor of Congress and be forced to debate a veteran who's been there. It will elevate the dialogue in our country, it will change the voices in the conversation.

That's what this is all about. Imagine if the voices of today's veterans weren't just reflected on the front page of Stars and Stripes, but in votes and voices on the floor of Congress. That's what I'm committed to getting done.

Active voice! Sarcasm! And, oh my God, is that a zeugma?

I could go on, but I should probably be seeing what I can do to help the Fighting Dems. And so should you! So, more on Kerry's communication skills later. Rock and roll, indeed.

JK + Small Biz = TLF

2006-02-17T14:00:00.000-05:00

For real, and they are so cute together.

Brangelina? LAME. Bennifer 2? LAMER. Filliam H. Muffman? LAMEST!!!* But the little-to-moderately publicized celebrity romance between Senator John Kerry and Small Business is officially as hot as the sun!

Being a busy, bedraggled, and ridiculously underpaid owner of a small business myself, I don't have a lot of time to pay attention to celebrity news, so I can't really speak to when and where the Senator and the Small Business Community began their affair. But it was really only a matter of time before I realized they make one heck of a gorgeous couple.

Just last week, Inc. Magazine alluded to the steamy relationship in the provocatively titled feature, "Who loves you in DC", accompanied by an attractive slideshow. Yes, entrepreneurs, it's true: a good-looking politician is doing a good job of looking out for us. Be still my crafty heart!

And for the rest of you who don't have time to keep up with the saucy bits of the Senate-related news cycle, the We Love John Kerry blog is bringing the headlines to you.

The Can't-Misses:

Marriage in the future for Kerry and Small Biz? What about venture capital for women and minorities?

Kerry on Bush not funding Katrina Small Biz Relief: "He's clearly jealous of our love"

The State of Their Union: Can Kerry and Small Biz survive Bush's lack of goals and initiative?

Enjoy!

*The author apologizes for bending the truth on this one. While still significantly more lame than JK + Small Biz, Democrafty actually thinks that Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy are, both separately and as a couple, really, really cool.

A Haiku for Valentine's Day

2006-02-14T00:04:00.000-05:00

John Forbes Kerry, Superhero!

2006-02-13T13:03:00.000-05:00

Because he fights tirelessly for Truth, Justice and the missing-in-action American Way.

Because he will not back down in the face of lies, cowardly ridicule or monumental corruption, but keeps coming back to fight another day, stronger than before.

Because he believes the future will be brighter and kindles the light of hope to lead us out of the shadows of fear.

Because of this (and all the calls to action like it that he has been issuing for the past year):

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 13:58:36 -0500
From: John Kerry
Subject: Evidence mounts against Cheney

In the last 24 hours, we've seen troubling reports that Dick Cheney directed "Scooter" Libby to release classified information to discredit critics of the war in Iraq...we've heard hard-to-ignore accusations from a former top CIA official that the White House "cherry picked" intelligence to make the case for war...and we've received stunning evidence that the president sat on his hands and did nothing for 12 hours after the White House had been informed that the levees broke in New Orleans.

Enough is enough.

Yesterday, we launched our nine-month Break Their Grip on Power campaign and thousands of people from all across the nation have already acted. Add your voice to our efforts right now.

Let's expose the culture of corruption that has engulfed the Republican Congress and the culture of incompetence that has swallowed up the White House. Let's get the focus back on solving the enormous challenges the people of this country are facing because of lack of leadership from Washington.

Contribute Today to Break Their Grip on Power.

Every step of the way in 2006, we'll support Democratic candidates - giving them the help they need to break the Republicans' grip on power.

And, when the Republicans and their henchmen launch their vicious attacks on our candidates, we'll fight back with force and redouble our support for any candidate they target.

That's what it's going to take to win - nine months of relentless effort. And it has to start now. Let's go to work.

Sincerely,
John Kerry

For all these reasons, and so many more, I submit that John Kerry is a SUPERHERO! And I can prove it:

Fear not, citizens, he will use his Super!Acumen, his Super!Courage and his Super!Honesty to save our nation from Evil!

Kids love Kerry!

2006-02-08T16:58:00.000-05:00

Occasionally, while Kerrying on with my typical busy schedule of work, play, keeping house, harassing the government and idealizing the junior senator from Massachusetts all out of proportion, I am convinced that, when it comes to the last, I could not be more smitten. And then I think of all the pictures of him with children.

Astounding not only in cuteness, but in number, they remind me that when I voted in 2004, it wasn't just for an astute and competent politician, but a really great person. Since I've never gotten over my childhood terror of really big people, to see a gaggle of sproggen climbing all over the Senator Goes-On-Forever (D-MA) resonates like crazy deep within my tiny, skittish core. And not being one to leave well enough alone, I wonder why that magnetism exists (apart from the obvious fact that kids are smart - smart enough to want a human jungle gym in the White House.)

I'm probably too well-educated to make the argument that kids like John Kerry because he is so totally Harry Potter, but I'm going to do it anyway. Because he's so totally Harry Potter!

Check out this JK Rowling quote I read in TIME a few summers back, (6/23/2003, Vol. 161 Issue 25, p60, to be exact):

"'I admire bravery above almost every other characteristic... Bravery is a very glamorous virtue, but I'm talking bravery in all sorts of places." It is, as Rowling attests from the first chapter of the first book, the virtue that cannot be faked: you either walk into the woods full of giant spiders, or you don't. Stand up to bullies, or hide from them. Hang on to hope, or surrender to fear."

I read that before I even knew much about who Kerry was - although I'm pretty sure I'd made up my mind by then to support the guy who'd been smart enough to marry Teresa Heinz - and before I'd ever seen anybody in public life who'd exhibited as much bravery as the fictional Boy Who Lived. But now, after watching John Kerry fight really tough political battles on so many fronts, this quote affects me more than ever. And I see that kids love Kerry because he has virtues that can't be faked - much like the pictures that I find so inspiring.

Dear Mr. Kerry...

2006-02-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, we saw a heroic effort made by our own heroic... well, hero to stop the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, using nothing but his wits, his cell phone, and perhaps the most delightfully-named Senate procedure, the filibuster.

That effort failed. Go ahead and ask me if I still love him. In fact, as sucky as Monday turned out to be for women, people of color, the working class, the middle class, children, men, people not of color, dogs, snowmen, and turtles, I have never been more proud of the Junior Senator from Massachusetts. Or, for that matter, his senior colleague. At the very least, the ice-and-fire, 1-2 punch of their January 30 floor remarks was some of the best television I've seen in a long time. And if I live to be a hundred, I still don't think I'll ever forget how hard they fought for us that day.

Alito may be a done deal, but as anybody who's actually engaged in enough human contact to have learned something about it knows, when somebody sticks his neck out for you, you say "thank you."

Etiquette dictates that you do so in black or dark blue ink, on plain white or ecru paper, folded once, and that you do so within two weeks of receiving the gift or favor. How hard is that?

To best relay my gratitude to Senators Kennedy and Kerry, I even treated myself to some new paper. Only I'm going to pretend that my stationer has bad lighting, because, for this effort, I purchased some Crane and Co. notecards in pale pink instead of ecru. Oops! It was actually pretty difficult to resist something in a bolder shade, or seasonal cards with charming seasonal Valentine motifs, but I don't really want to carry on TOO much in the vein of, you know, Dear Mr. Kerry, I am writing this to you, and I hope that you will read it 'cause it's true: My heart beats like a hammer, and I stutter and I stammer every time I see you talk on C-SPAN 2...

But that's just me.

All this to say that if you as a citizen opposed the Alito nomination, please, please, PLEASE write to thank the Senators who voted against the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Samuel Alito, or at least the two who worked hardest to make a filibuster happen:

Edward M. Kennedy
317 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4543
Web Form: kennedy.senate.gov/contact.html

John F. Kerry
304 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2742
Web Form: kerry.senate.gov/v3/contact/email.html

Axis of EVOO

2006-02-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

This morning, John Kerry sat down with the perennially annoying Katie Couric to give his rebuttal to last night's State of the Union address.

After checking several blogs, both liberal and conservative, I learned that somebody got schooled. What nobody can seem to agree on is whether Kerry schooled Couric, or Couric schooled Kerry. I know what my opinion is, but that has more to do with my bias toward John Kerry as a paragon of manliness and character, and my bias against Katie Couric as a hack and a harpy, than with what really happened. (If you ask me, I think Couric was, in fact, the schooled party. But nobody did ask me, so go ahead and judge for yourself.)

What it did settle, once and for all, was that I can now, with complete conviction, argue that Katie Couric is more painful to watch than Rachael Ray of the Food Network.

I was undecided on this matter for a while. But after watching KC make an actual, honest-to-goodness Pouty Face at Kerry, when he asserted that the media hasn't been hard enough on the current administration, I started wondering: Would Rachael Ray, irritatingly exuberant celebrity chef, get along better with the Senator than The Today Show's petulant girl reporter?

The answer is an unqualified YES. I can just imagine her inviting him on her show to help whip up a DELICIOUS 30-minute version of the official Senate Bean Soup, so grateful to finally have somebody to respond to her incessant chatter. And what color is YOUR spoonula, Senator?

The Senator would then reply that he thought he had a spoonula at home, but that it was Teresa's, and probably red in color, thus unleashing a deluge of ketchup questions from Ms. Ray, and about which the Senator would be an awfully good sport, if non-committal. He might even retaliate with a comment on RR's dependence on foreign EVOO.

(I said I loved him, okay? I never said I loved him because he wasn't a huge nerd.)

I don't know what protocol dictates when it comes to US Senators wearing aprons on TV. My guess is that Rachael would make him wear one anyway, and I am not going to claim that I wouldn't enjoy that. I'm not going to claim that Rachael wouldn't, either.

But most importantly, RR would be unable to resist asking the good Senator about certain other high-profile government officials, and the Senator would grin and lavish glowing praise on each and every one - sometimes sincerely, and sometimes not. And Rachael, in turn, would rhapsodize over the AWESOMENESS of Alton Brown and the fact that Paula Deen ROCKS. And then she would make a deliciously fatal mistake:

"But the time I was on Katie Couric's show..."

And she would freeze, for just a second, and so would John Kerry. And then somebody would say, "Yeah..." and then somebody else would say "Yeah..." and almost immediately, the subject would change. Possibly to cooking for the USO.

But nobody would ever forget the Night that John Kerry and Rachael Ray Threw Down the Gauntlet and Totally Dissed Katie Couric without Really Saying a Word.

I know I never will.

What is it about John Kerry?: Poll

2006-01-31T18:37:00.000-05:00

What is it about the lean, eloquent senator that gets people so riled up? Tight-lipped neocon and disgruntled liberal blogger alike, there are no halfway opinions about Kerry. What makes them maddest? Let's figure this out democratically!

Top Ten Reasons the Kerry Filibuster of the Alito Nomination is as Hot as the Sun*

2006-01-30T03:34:00.000-05:00

*whether it succeeds or not!

10. Pissed off John Kerry = gorgeous John Kerry!

9. Who else in Washington has the power to make Bill Frist, the Bush GOP spin machine, and the mainstream media administration lapdogs gnash their teeth in such petulant frustration?

8. Kerry's performance in his Senate floor speech on Friday proves that Mr. Smith is STILL in Washington.

7. Multitasking leading a filibuster with attendance among the American contingent at the World Economic Conference in Davos swathes this particular filibuster in a glamourous air of International Intrigue.

5. For those of us who didn't get to see him run his boat up onshore and charge the enemy, this is the next best thing.

4. John Kerry is ready for his closeup! See the video at http://kerry.senate.gov

3. He took up this fight when NO ONE ELSE would. What's hotter than that?

2. A fired up liberal base is tying up the phone lines of Senators who have been very, very naughty. (But if they want anything extra, they'd better vote against
cloture!)

1. This is what he meant when he said he would never stop fighting for us.

What is the future? (political poetry from the Senate Floor)

2006-01-29T15:44:00.000-05:00

I know it is an uphill battle.
I have heard many of my colleagues.
I hear the arguments:
Reserve your gunpowder for the future.

What is the future
if it changes so dramatically at this moment in time?
What happens to those people who count on us to stand up and protect them
now, not later, not at some future time?

This is the choice for the Court now.
I reject those notions that there ought to somehow be some political calculus about the future.
This impact is going to be now.
This choice is now.

-- Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, speaking in the Senate on why the Alito nomination must be filibustered and why Judge Alito must not be confirmed to the Supreme Court, January 27, 2006

I'm Democrafty.

2006-01-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

I'm a crafty Democrat, and I love John Kerry. I love him because I love integrity, accountability, and impossibly large hands. I love John Kerry because he is the silver-headed beacon of justice who tried so hard to save us from George Bush, Condoleezza Rice, John Bolton, John Roberts, and now, Samuel Alito. I love John Kerry because I love C-SPAN, the network that makes it so easy to ignore the spin and watch, in real time, who's really working for me. I love John Kerry because he restored my patriotism, my sense of citizenship, and my love for the Red Power Tie. I love John Kerry, because, like Garry South said, he "didn't have to marry a frumpy librarian from Midland, Texas, to feel like somebody." I love John Kerry because, if he were president, I know he could bring dignity to the office - and he really WOULD be Baberaham Lincoln!

I love John Kerry because I just do.

I love John Kerry, and so does Kerryvisionary. And this is our blog.

Welcome to our blog!

2006-01-25T18:45:00.000-05:00

Hi! I'm Kerryvisionary, but you can call me KV if you don't like typing that many letters... My friend Democrafty and I decided to create this blog to celebrate the John Kerry we grew to admire and love during the 2004 presidential election and have learned to appreciate even more ever since.

This blog will probably not contain a lot of serious political talk, though it will welcome the personal stories and participation of people (maybe you?) who have been inspired and motivated to engage in serious political thought and activism by John Kerry.

What we will emphasize here is our respect and affection for John Kerry, the politician and the person, and our love and respect for his wife, Teresa and his blended family, Vanessa, Alex, John, Chris and Andre.

We plan to have fun here, to indulge in some serious hero worship and (true to our name) share our love for this great man.