Constructively Critical of Kerry,

A Dubious Hawk
by Ruth Conniff

Why does Kerry seem intent on convincing voters that he's not so different from Bush?

http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10312
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Taking on the War President
Robert Scheer, AlterNet

Former war hero and protester John Kerry has to stop angling for position and confront Bush directly on the war.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18521
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Kerry's Foreign Policy Trap
Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet

The Democratic candidate appears to be trying to out-Bush Bush on foreign policy, and his positions have the centrist Democratic Leadership Council's stamp all over them.

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18520
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In Defense Of Liberalism
by Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite was anchor of CBS Evening News for 19 years.

Dear Senator Kerry,

In the interests of your campaign and your party's desire to unseat George W. Bush, you have some explaining to do. During the primary campaign, your Democratic opponents accused you of flip-flopping on several important issues, such as your vote in favor of the Iraq War resolution.

Certainly your sensitivity to nuance, your ability to see shades of gray where George Bush sees only black and white, explains some of your difficulty. Shades of gray don't do well in political campaigns, where primary colors are the rule. And your long and distinguished service in the Senate has no doubt led to genuine changes in some positions. But the denial that you are a liberal is almost impossible to reconcile.
..more..

http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10137

certainty.

I think that with his Hardball appearance I think the man is taking a much more proactive stance in his statements and the statements of his proxies.

Some examples:

“We know that the president and the White House exaggerated material that they were given purposefully, even though they were told otherwise,” Kerry said in an interview on MSNBC-TV’s “Hardball.”

“We know they gave misinformation, and yet the president says he’s never made a mistake,” he said, referring to Bush’s statement during a news conference this month that he could not remember a major misstep he had made during his administration.

He accused Bush and his advisers of having gone to war in Iraq simply “because they could.”

“I think it comes down to this larger ideological, neocon concept of fundamental change in the region,” he said. But “they misjudged exactly what the reaction would be and what they could get away with.”

“I think the president has made some colossal mistakes," Kerry said, “not the least of which is taking our nation to war in a way that was rushed, that pushed our allies away from us, that is costing the American people billions of dollars more than it ought, that is putting our young soldiers at greater risk they they ought to be, without a plan to win the peace. And he broke his promise to go to war as a last resort.”


I say this not trying to diminish what you said just saying that maybe he is getting part of some of the points you are making.

+

of all this 'constructive criticism' is to hopefully get Kerry's ear and appeal to him. Perhaps it is having some effect.
It's the Democratic way.
I think Kerry is decent man and I want him to win.

That is why I made sure to be as forcefull as I was in my last sentence.

I admire constructive criticism. Good articles all. I have read most of them before but they are all good points.

kerry made that you refer to.
it's awkward and sounds like washington double speak -- combine that with his votes on the patriot act and the war and kerry comes out looking like a weaker candidate than he should given bush's record on the war, energy prices, the economy in general.
he should, one might think, be farther ahead in the polls right now.

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How helpful and constructive. I just don't understand why the left uses the talking points of the right to bash Kerry. It would be much more helpful to listen to the man and write what he says. If I could do it, I would think these highly paid writers could.

or did you just feel compelled to post some anti-Kerry links?

What's the 'constructive' part of these attempts to turn voters away from Kerry, in your view?

"groupies" would follow me over here. But, since there's already one here, I will say what I've said before. This election is so critical that we folks out here can't stand back and just shut up about it. We did that with Gore...kept quiet and didn't offer advice. His DNC/DLC handlers didn't do well by Gore. They allowed the attacks on him by the RW and Media to go on unanswered.

Those of us who don't want this to ever happen again, will keep giving advice and prodding and poking hoping his Campaign Staff here's us.

That's what "real" Democracy is about. At least what I learned in independent reading and what I was taught in school.

Your links prove that many "true/patriotic Dems" are asking questions and urgin Kerry to be more vocal. I cited Buzzflash and Salon. I could add the "Nation" and other sites who all are urging Kerry to be more agressive in differentiating himself from the Chimp.

in fact, someone here made a credible argument that one of Gore's biggest mistakes was he listened to it too much, and that Kerry is better able to ignore the second-guessing.

For the record, I think it is absolutely moronic to think that you can have some kind of effect on the Kerry campaign by attacking Kerry for not being aggressive enough, or for whatever subjective criticism you care to make.



People who spend their energy in this election year criticising Kerry instead of criticising Bush are either ignorant of how elections are won, or, they are pursuing an agenda that is not compatible with mine -- and my agenda is to defeat Bush.

that discussed the fact that staffers read these forums. I think it's important to discuss our concerns. These articles address many of my concerns and I hope Kerry's people can begin to pay heed to the fact that many people do not want a better "war president" but a strong alternative vision. These articles express sentiments that are held by many liberals and they are just a few that are being carried by all the top liberal news pages. If all you can see is "anti-Kerry" then you have lost the ability to have open discussion of real issues that are important to voters. There are some of us who feel that Kerry needs to address these things in order to win.

Besides calling for 'discussion', do you have something to say?

Let's hear it.

that I believe Kerry needs to come right out and challenge the whole basis of this war and the neo-con PNAC policies which pushed it. I want to hear him address the PNAC and it's policies and expose the fact that they are rotten to the core. I don't want to hear him trying to outdo Bush at Bush's game. I want him to attack the game and expose it. repeat, I strongly believe he needs to attack the game and expose it!
IMO, he should be relentlessly pointing out how Bush's policies are fostering terrorism and turning moderates into radicals in the ME, that Bush's "war on terror" is endangering all Americans and undermining peace and stability in the world.
I want to hear him attacking these things with lazer-like single mindedness and force and not 'beating around the bush', so to speak! Very breifly, that is my opinion.

BTW, I also post positve points about Kerry here also. I've made made many an impassioned case for people to support Kerry for his environmental policies. I have also defended him against the RW attacks on his military record and 'patriotism'.
One more point, I spend 95% of my time here attacking Bush and his criminal cabal for there is nothing on this earth that I loath as much as these people.

Kerry is "trying to outdo Bush at Bush's game. " ?? :wtf:

He looked much better in that jacket than in a suit. I know the weather is getting warmer, but he needs to find a substitute for that jacket.

Did you even leave commentary or is dropping anti-kerry links good enough to get your negative opinion across.

Robert Scheer and Walter Cronkite are in tha same catagory as Rush then I really can't help you.

I just got done penning a few paragraphs about constructive criticism in another thread, and here I find the same issue. And the same general responses.

I too want Kerry to win. I hope he's paying attention. Pretending that there are not issues that Kerry needs to work on is not a constructive attitude on the part of his campaign or his supporters. He could put a lot of positive energy to work by addressing the concerns.

I was trying to find out info on what exactly he did in the war but it seems his website is kinda vague and everything else is too. He was in the navy on a PT-like boat but what else did he do? There are always so many lies floating around in election years but I'm curious about what he really did. The Right is trying to downplay it but the Left is also trying to make it seem more than it may be. I am in the middle and how our troops are treated is important to me. Bush seems to respect them a lot. Agree or disagree with Iraq...and as sad as the dead are, this is nothing compared to say vietnam or WW2. But Bush shows respect for them. I'm confused on Kerry. I'm still trying to find where I'll sit in November...

is to have made them targets and mercenaries in his oil war, sending them into harms way without proper armor and cutting veterans benefits. He has attempted to use them to further the warped delusions of himself and the other chickenhawk neo-cons.
He walks on their bodies to raise himself up and his hands will be forever stained with their blood and the blood of countless civilians. He has no true respect for the troops their families or humanity. He is the lowest of the low.

Kerry fought in Vietnam carried out his duties and showed exceptional courage and concern for his fellow soldiers in the face of great danger. He was highly commended by his superiors. I believe you can find these statements by his superiors and much more at his web site.
He also showed great courage in challenging the war when he came home. The Chickenhawks would have you believe this was not honorable but in truth it was as great or greater than the courage he exhibited in battle, the courage to confront policies which were wrong and resulted in needless death and destruction. In challenging the war he was honoring the greatest of American values, to stand up to injustice.

Bush on the other hand said he agreed with the war but requested not to go while Cheney said he had more important things to do.
These people can't even hold a candle to Kerry.