Eileen Mcnamara (Boston Globe): "Kerry's Style A Real Turnoff"

<snip>

EILEEN MCNAMARA
Kerry's style a real turnoff
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist, 12/14/2003

If Charlie Murphy needs help in Washington, the state representative from Burlington calls congressman John Tierney. Lexington Representative Jay Kaufman calls congressman Edward J. Markey. Cambridge City Councilor Ken Reeves takes his troubles straight to the office of Massachusetts' senior senator, Edward M. Kennedy.

The man none of them call on Capitol Hill is Senator John F. Kerry, the state's Democratic presidential hopeful. "Why bother? You'd be lucky to have anyone on his staff call you back," says Murphy, who traveled with a group of Massachusetts elected officials to New Hampshire yesterday to campaign for Howard Dean.

Murphy and his colleagues say their support for Dean has more to do with the former Vermont governor's strength as a candidate than Kerry's weakness, but it is clear that among many local officials in Massachusetts the state's junior senator is reaping what he sowed.

Imperious, arrogant, and indifferent are a few of the milder adjectives some use to describe their increasingly rare dealings with Kerry. Anecdotes abound about being shut out of his campaign announcement and then invited at the last minute when it looked like he might not fill Faneuil Hall. Especially irritating to many is that after his hard-fought reelection victory over William F. Weld, Kerry acknowledged that he had not been sufficiently responsive to local officials and vowed to change. "Ha," scoffed Reeves, a former Cambridge mayor who has held elective office for 16 years. "Nothing changed."

more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2003/12/14/kerrys_style_a_real_turnoff/

like this post

my name is not Eileen Mcnamara.

i didn't write the column

seems to me to be newsworthy.

sorry if the truth hurts

you don't like him either. What's newsworthy about that?

No need to quote those with the opposite view.

"Kerry bad, good. Tripe.

no?

there is a SHOCKER!

yup. me. working the phones right there in his Boston reelection office.

ME

get it?

i suggest you do some homework before spouting trash out of you uninformed mouth next time.

you clearly have it in for the guy now or you wouldn't post such a smear from the globe.

You are spreading hateful invectives from people who don't like Kerry:

"says Murphy, who traveled with a group of Massachusetts elected officials to New Hampshire yesterday to campaign for Howard Dean.

i don't "have it in for Kerry" at all and would most certainly pull the lever for him should he be the nominee

it happens to be a front page story in today's City section. it is relevant because it explains (had you bothered to read it) why some local law makers are supporting Dean up north.

it isn't an op-ed piece

its so sad that the intelligence level here on DU has dropped so dramatically

sad.

Nonsense.

BTW, enough with the personal insults.

not pro
not against

an observation and a NEWS STORY!

get a grip (and a thicker skin)

and can dish it out with the worst. This post is an insult to Kerry, as are the gratuitous comments of the article's participants.

That's what I observe from the article. No news there. Just another candidate slam.

on edit: apology accecpted for your earlier accusation of me "having it in for Kerry" :eyes:

as you put it.

wait, you must mean that NO "article" from ANY publication can/should be posted here stating ANYTHING remotely negative about ANY candidate right?

or are there certain ones that its ok?

I haven't.

now, i just looked through it but a SWEAR i didn't see that name!

hhmmmmmmmm

BigTree just probably missed that thread.

yeah, i am SURE that is it :eyes:

I was asking if he/she's against that article too ! Also, arguing that the Globe does not just bash Kerry...

Kerry's aloof? Dean is electable up North? Or payback for some smear on Dean?

I can't figure why you would make the point of posting this article except to make the point that Kerry's aloof. Was it just a, "by the way, he're's a tidbit from the campaign" type of post?

You made your point. Some see Kerry as aloof. What did I miss? Do you agree with the assessment or not? If so, you are willfully perpetuating a biased slam against Kerry. I think the article is a cheap shot. I think your posting of it perpetuates that cheap shot.

and make up lies about him/her

yeah, THAT is so much better :eyes:

would we be having this discussion of this were a story on Sharpton? Kucinich? Dean?

methinks not.

thanks again for the apology :eyes:

I can hear your request for an apology now.

I regret my statement that you are against Kerry. I can't begin to know your mind. It was wrong and I regret it. I will draw a finer line in the future. Thank you.

that was big of you

It makes me feel small.

http://search.boston.com/dailyglobe2/344/metro/Co_opting_a_crusade+.shtml

Co-opting a crusade

By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist, 12/10/2003

Maybe Donna Brazile and the rest of the Democratic quote machine are right, and the endorsement by Al Gore is an immunizing shot in the arm for Howard Dean. Why, then, does it feel more like a self-inflicted shot to the head? How many true believers will bolt the bus to make room for Al Gore and all his baggage? Why, when a Web-linked network of the freshly politicized was poised to deliver Iowa and New Hampshire, would Howard Dean choose this moment to embrace the political establishment he has been running against?

<> This is not the first chink in Dean's populist armor, of course. Those small checks cannot erase the fact that the former Vermont governor chose to spit in the eye of campaign finance reformers in order to spend as much money as he deemed necessary to win. Gore's endorsement has to force supporters who forgave him that serious lapse in judgment to ask what other accommodations Dean will be willing to make to secure the Democratic nomination.

It was hard to choose yesterday which man was the more disingenuous at the endorsement announcement in Harlem.

Gore: ''We need to remake the Democratic Party; we need to remake America. We need to take it back on behalf of the people of this country.'' Take it back from whom, Mr. Vice President? Weren't you the Democrats' standard bearer in 2000? Wasn't it the centrist political philosophy of Clinton, Gore, and the Democratic Leadership Council that spawned the insurgent Dean campaign in the first place?

Dean: ''I thank Al Gore for his extraordinary leadership in this party in the last couple of years.'' What leadership was that exactly, Dr. Dean? The mushy kind that you have been decrying on the campaign stump for months, the kind that rendered Democrats indistinguishable from Republicans?


<> Not Howard Dean. He tells his young volunteers: ''You are not the foot soldiers of my campaign. You're driving my campaign.'' Yesterday, I swear I heard the sound of that bus backfiring.

Being in Boston, I know many people who know him. And their stories are in agreement with this assessment. Now, I don't plan to spend a lot of time with Kerry, if he become Prez, so it is largely irrelevant for me, personally.

He must be doing something right.

over at the Globe?

He'd be double him in the polls. I think his bout with cancer really slowed in down out of the gate and he's never been able to build ANY momentum.

He's running a 20th century campaign in the 21st century.

That is all you need to know to understand this op-Ed.

Part and parcel of the Bush propaganda machine:

Bush was elected.

Bush didn't help ENRON.

Bush didn't profit from inside info at HARKEN.

Bush didn't know nothing about Osama before 9-11.

John Kerry is aloof.

in fact, the head of the group praised Kerry for turning around mid-flight to come back when there was a huge fire and firemen were killed.
Now, this wasn't yesterday. But apparently, they feel he cares about them to this day.

THAT would be news.

something that was posted here very fast by the various Kerry buddies in MA...

The Boston Globe is brutal on Kerry. Funny he got 80% of the vote last time if he's such a rotten guy.

:)

Just look at the guy when he speaks... Look at his face... Does he ever move a muscle besides his mouth ? Does he look like somebody with any emotion or empathy ? I'm just saying that I'm NOT surprised at all.

I find him very empathetic and appealing. Not just in what he says but in how he expresses himself. And, he has a record of accomplishments to match his rhetoric. All in all, a good candidate.

"My husband is serving the the US Marine Corps and was injured in Iraq last April. Upon returning to the States and his duty station in California, he received substandard medical care at the base hospital. When he wasn't being taken care of on this end, as a Massachusetts resident, I contacted Senator Kerry's office, never really expecting much to come out of it. To my amazement, not only did I receive a reply, I was contacted, repeatedly, by the office to see how they could help, and an investigation was launched into my husband's care. Not only did his care improve, but we continued to be followed up on by the Senator's office. At the beginning of our troubles, I wrote letters to so many government offices I can't even keep track. Not only was Senator Kerry the only one to respond, he acted on our behalf to improve the quality of care my husband, an injured war veteran received, showing me, first hand, that he is a man of his word who truly does care about the military community. This country could really use a man like him in the White House."

http://forum.johnkerry.com//index.php?showtopic=1151

story. Or that it is the norm.

Not by the campaign on their site. I'm sure it is verifiable. Why would the campaign make up a story like that and then bury it his forum? Wouldn't they plaster it all over the site?

Besides, kerry has a long history of helping Vets who come to him. he has been doing it for years. There is even a documentary by a woman who was researching her father, where Kerry helped a woman getting info on her father's death in Vietnam. He has been doing it for years. This story is one of many,

Kerry is a very humble man, so these stories often go unheard.

unofficially... Look, it would only make sense that he is good for Veterans and the like... Just saying that I'm not ready to buy anything that pops up on his blog site...

http://forum.johnkerry.com//index.php?showforum=17 Another vet for Kerry. You can contact him through the forum if you think he's lying. But I warn you, accusing this guy of spreading propaganda probably wouldn't be the brightest move someone could make. Plenty of other vets at the Kerry site you can contact.

"As an Independent, who was recently a Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, I would vote for only TWO Democratic candidates, and I support only ONE - John Kerry.

If fact, as a member and volunteer Veterans for Kerry, and moderator of the Fighting for America's Veterans section of the official John Kerry Town Meeting, this retired Air Force Major can assure you that America's 26+million Veterans, their families and friends - a formidable voting bloc - WILL NOT vote for any Democratic candidate EXCEPT John Kerry or Wesley Clark, especially the likes of who they perceive as doves like Dennis Kucinich or Howard Dean.

Given Kerry's extensive record Fighting for America's Veterans, plus his EXPERIENCE with Foreign Affairs, not-to-mention his Wartime combat experience, HE is the only candidate who can BEAT Bush a somewhat POPULAR Wartime President. Unfortunately, as Ms. Ivins mentioned, General Clark lacks Kerry's experience, though he has the combat experience to make a fine Commander-In-Chief.

Most significantly, as combat Veterans, John Kerry and Wesley Clark are the only TWO Democratic candidates who have earned and will get the respect of our Troops NOW fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as their Commander-In-Chief. A respect and trust not earned by other candidates nor their former Commander-In-Chief for his draft dodging during Vietnam.

In fact, John Kerry and Wesley Clark stand the best chance of capturing the military vote in addition to the Veterans vote which was one of the deciding factors against Al Gore in 2000. If the Democratic party can overcome the perception in the military that they tried to prevent the military absentee ballots in Florida.

For those Democrats who still tout that the Republicans stole the election in Florida in 2000, look at it this way. If Gore had gotten the Veteran vote plus military vote or those blocs had decided not to vote rather than vote for Bush in 2000, Gore would have won the election unconditionally and Florida wouldn't have been a question mark.

Kerry and Clark find themselves in a position to do just that IF one of them got the nomination. Veterans for Kerry and Veterans for Clark will ensure one of them gets it. My money is on John Kerry of course.

Howard Dean lacks neither the combat experience nor foreign policy experience of John Kerry or Wesley Clark. In fact, the Bush/Cheney campaign will use Dean's medical disqualification from Vietnam while he went skiing for a year against him, and they will do it effectively. Bush at least served in the Air National Guard during Vietnam.

Now is not the time to nominate someone who requires on the job training as our Commander-In-Chief or Bush will be assured a second term.

Ms. Ivins claims that liberals and Independents will determine who wins the primaries. She is partially right BUT tends to forget that the SWING VOTE is also made up of centrist semi-Conservatives who will not vote for a candidate who went skiing instead of serving during Vietnam, regardless of excuse, and requires on the job training as Commander-In-Chief, even if we can get them to vote Democrat.

It is this swing vote of moderate liberals, moderate conservatives fed up with the direction Bush is taking the Republican party, especially Veterans who have traditionally voted conservative, that will be the bottom line during the primaries and will decide who BEATS THE BUSH.

Lastly, many undecided Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000 are registering as Democrats in order to help determine who will run against Bush. Media experts and armchair political pundits who like to express polls to decide elections need to do a poll of America's 26+million Veterans, plus families and friends of Veterans, and they will see that what I say is TRUE.

Kerry is OUR MAN in 2004. He is one of US."

I'm a Dean supporter, but let me say that these sorts of articles are cheap, easy, and lazy. I wish we had more enterprise journalism.

These grumblings are not unique to Kerry. Many senators in many states have the same reputation. For example, in New York, Al D'Amato was the guy you called to get a Social Security check that went missing or a pot hole fixed. Daniel Patrick Moynihan was the guy you called to get the EPA's research office to spend six years studying ozone depletion.

That's not good or bad. We need "big picture" senators and "strong constituent services" senators. We need both.

Bottom line? I would be quite happy if John Kerry were the Democratic nominee -- recent lousy campaign notwithstanding. I just prefer another candidate, that's all. And, since I do like John Kerry, I'm going to defend him against cheap shots.