Kerry met with Votevets

It's one of the stories on the front page of johnkerry.com. says they talked about working to get more vets for 2008 who favor changing the policy. (I wonder if anything else came up)

For some reasoh, copy doesn't work - so look on johnkerry.com

to be talking about congressional 2008 elections. Still, nice pic, and it made me happy.

since right before the election.

They made some awesome ads for the last cycle.

to describe the guy who founded the organization. Curious, I went to google and found this:

"It's a principle of war -- the only time you're on defense is when you're preparing to be on offense," said Jon Soltz, the VoteVets chairman. He wants the group to be a forceful counter to other political groups claiming to represent veterans that assail the patriotism of war vets who question U.S. policy, like Mr. Cleland and U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Much of the credit, or blame, depending on one's perspective, for VoteVets' success lies with Mr. Soltz, 29, a relative newcomer to politics. He is an Army Reserve captain who drills in Oakdale, served on active duty in Kosovo and Iraq, graduated from Washington & Jefferson College and is working toward a master's degree at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

A part-time Brookline resident, he divides his time between the organization's New York headquarters and work in Washington. His political involvement began as a volunteer in Mr. Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Mr. Soltz said he was a mentally fragile, uncertain young man after his time in Iraq when Mr. Kerry took an interest in what he had to say about the war during a brief encounter at Pittsburgh International Airport in the summer of 2004. "

(So that guy who disses vets talks to them in airports and apparently forgot he was a snobby elitist.)
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06324/739841-177.stm
(Is this the good Pittsburg paper - I keep getting them mixed up)

Did I ever tell you guys that I like Jon Powers a lot?

Gee, must have slipped my mind.

I wonder about the significance of this meeting. Look at who the veterans have as their choices in 2008. Consider how they might feel about any of them. (especially if Clark doesn't run). Kerry's number one issue has been getting Iraq right. (as usual, swiftboating goes after a strength - the joke may have been an attempt of the RW to get rid of an opponent who COULD connect to veterans and Hillary may have wanted that as well.) Announcing with support from Iraq veterans, could implicitly counter the joke - obliquely addressing it.

Hillary - wife of man who admitted loathing the millitary and who was part of the anti-war movement that wasn't all that friendly to the vets. She did commercials in 06 on her support of national guard.

Edwards - they know where he was in 2004, they know where he is now and I seriously doubt that they see him as having a plan. I wonder how he connects with them. They may see him as a multi-millionaire trial lawyer. (his lack of any loyalty to Kerry may not play well in this crowd.)

Obama - ???

Kerry - who really speaks of the soldiers as people and seems to meet them everywhere. Think of the respect and the way Kerry spoke in Hidden Wounds. He understands what they are going through. Kerry when he spoke of the door to door searches made me see what I didn't see before - what these guys are up against. It absolutely makes his tesitmony ring even truer. (as to effect, I know Kerry made me far more aware of this). He is their best advocate and the one they can trust - he has been there for them for decades.

Just FYI, my Kerryite friends, this HP post of Jon Stolz' was posted on Clark's CCN blog.....It's mostly about trading Hagel for Lieberman but here's the exceprt about the meeting with the Dem Senators....

"We went down there and had the honor of speaking with democratic Senators; Clinton, Obama, Kennedy, Kerry, Mcaskill, Brown, Tester, Akaka, Murray, and Casey, all of whom demonstrated an inspiring level of interest and support. We're pleased with those senators. They're clear on opposing the troop escalation. They're going to play, in other words. And, in football terms, they're going to score points for the troops."

Don't know the Huff Post link but here's the link to the post on CCN:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/10653

with his story. I really like VoteVets -- they were awesome in the last election.

They had awesome ads. I believe Gen. Clark also did some fundraising for them and it was time and money well spent. I hope they continue to push Congress for veteran's issues.

Thanks CarolNYC!