Kerry and the DSM

1. Kerry is 'raising the issue.'
2. He appears (to me) to be circulating a letter to his Senate colleagues asking for support. Isn't this what Rep. Conyers (Blessed be his name) is doing on the House side?
3. It appears that Kerry might be trying to get his ducks in order on this before a floor speech. Seems appropriate.

I like it.

The media has already tried to sweep it under the rug a few times and I would bet that, unlike with the Pentagon papers or Watergate, some of the more important newspapers may have had some complicity in not questioning Bush statements in 2002 and early 2003. The many front page Judith Miller NYT articles and those of other reporters were such that threatening Iraq to get the inspectors back in seemed not only reasonable, but possibly necessary.

Kerry has to know that in taking this stand, he will have almost no media support and that he is a bigger target than Conyers, who is less threatening to the administration because he has virtually no visibility to mainstream media readers and viewers. Starting with a letter also lets him VERY CAREFULLY put on record exactly what he is saying.

I think that Kerry was testing the water by putting out his comment that he was surprised that the media wasn't covering it. Immediately it was blown up to Kerry asking for Bush's impeachment! Maybe someone was concerned that he addressed 2 points; the media is not doing its job and he concisely stated what the DSM purport to show. Cool because he didn't claim the DSM proved that the actions with the Congress and UN were really shams done to get cover for a decision already made, but rather that it should be investigated.

It will be interesting to see who is willing to sign this. I really wonder what Clinton will do. For Kerry, not bringing it up would make all his statements that he was acting in good faith to get the inspectors in suspect to many people. He has very little to lose in bringing it up - acting very conservatively will not make him the nominee and if the memos end up having no impact, he could easily make the case that it was still the right thing to do to investigate them and I assume MA would support him in doing this. For Hillary, I would bet she wants the choice to sign or not sign this letter almost as much as Kerry wanted to vote on the IWR. If she signs, she will give it a lot of credibility as she seems to have been a stronger supporter of Bush on the war.

Kerry is not Dean, to the dismay of a large part of DU, he doesn't make flamboyant comments as soon as they come to his brain. Although from his writing, his speech would likely be far more colorful if he did. The media has tried to distort Kerry's statements to make him look crazy and I think he would prefer not to help them. I thought it was interesting that they reacted so sharply to his comment on media bias, twisting it to say he considered the VIEWERS stupid, when what he really said didn't seem outlandish to either the MA newspaper or the extremely radical group of Bay staters in attendance.

Especially as concerns Hillary Clinton. Her husband has always said that attacking Iraq was the 'right thing to do.' Signing a letter that asks the Congress to investigate is fairly mild, let's see if she shows up should the Dems be forced to hold their own investigations. (Because the Rethugs won't, just as they won't on so many things.)

"There is much to fault in both the right's and the left's interpretation of the memo. First, the memo is not the smoking gun that some liberal politicos and bloggers see. No matter what Richard Dearlove said in the memo about fixing the facts, it was still merely one man's analysis of the situation. At the same time, Dearlove is a credible source who was, essentially, the British equivalent of former CIA director George Tenet. It doesn't have to be a smoking gun for it to be an important document. The document should not be ignored simply because it does not answer every question. The Downing Street Memo is a starting place, not an ending place."

Watergate/Nixon resigns didn't just happen right after the burglery. Investigation is needed and at least the WP finally seems to understand they need to get to work on this.

And I think he's doing it this way to keep the rethug attack machine off-balance. They were all geared up to attack Kerry on this last week, because they expected him to make a speech about it. And that didn't happen. Since he's now one of the more prominent survivors of the * attack machine, he's using strategery against them.

On a totally unrelated note, one of my posts regarding the DSM (about NBC verifying the memos) made it to DU's front page. First time for me.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/

I agree- methodical is the way to go on this. With Rathergate and the Newsweek fiasco just past, it will not pay for him to jump to premature conclusions.

this story is growing and changing every single day. Yesterday, Raw Story had a total of six British documents about this up. Today, NBC News has verified the memos.

Today, also, Raw Story has put together a timeline. A flood of new info is a very short time. Kerry's, I'm very sure, eager to stay on top of this, but he isn't likely to run ahead of the story either. Nor should he. Too many potentially fatal patches of quicksand.

Better to take your time and get it right than to jump in in the heat of passion and look like a fool later.

Someone mentioned Kerry and "the heat of passion" in the same sentence. :evilgrin:

:evilgrin:

John Kerry doing it the smart way rather than the way most people expect. :)

My faith and trust in this man just continues to grow, the more I see him in action. :) :)


Oh, and lest we forget, Kerry won. :) :) :)

Can't say it enough, and love it when I see it. :toast:

My president hasn't let me down yet. :)

I love cats - but am SO allergic...:-(

Neo terrorizes Urd on a daily basis. It's like living in a kitty battle zone. But I love them anyway. :)

We had two - Pushkin, who was the sweetest and dopiest grey tabby cat in the world, a big, snuggly guy. And Tegan, who was a sleek and bitchy tortoiseshell. She was smart and gorgeous, but all relationships were conducted 100% on her terms. They grew up together, and had a very comfortable relationship, though they couldn't have been more different.

CONFIDANTES: KERRY IS SEEKING SENATORS TO COSIGN DOWNING STREET LETTER: DEVELOPING...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/politics/13downing.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1118675296-DxK1Yeo5YQL6xACUDlWm6A

What does this mean?

they did not plan before.

Blair is really trying to keep his seat as long as he can, so he must justify what he did with very few arguments.

to the effect the the NY TImes is being sour about the DSM because they got scooped ny the Washington Post. I don't know if that's true, but the dismissive tone of that article is not in line with what a lot of others are saying.

In any case, it basically recaps what Tony Blair said at his press conference with Bush last week. I think he's lying. But if you really want to see what's going on you should read all 6 (or 7?) leaked British documents at Raw Story, top of the main page:

BACKSTORY: CONFIRMING THE DOCS
NBC verifies memos - Timeline: Creating the war UK knew Iraq case weak - Condi: Regime change in '02 - Brits saw Iraq WMD stalled - 'Wrongfooting' Saddam - Iraq plan - Legal case

but I did happen to catch their piece about the DSM tonight and while it didn't reveal anything new to any of us, I was glad to see it because it may be the first time that some folks who rely on the MSM for their news have ever heard the words "Downing Street Memo".

To me, Watergate pales in comparison to the crimes committed by this administration on this issue alone. I know that Kerry will speak up about this when the timing is right - he obviously wants to do what's best for the country.

I posted a diary on it (from seeing this post) earlier today at dailykos and it didn't do too badly. A couple of the usual idiots but they were shouted down. Was that some of this crowd? I can't keep the username mappings straight!

Also I just now posted it again, at Booman Tribune. They are usually pretty gentle over there - at worst they'll just ignore it (which is what is currently happening).

Both entries have links to my own blog postings at Freedom's Fire since Kerry said he'd raise it.

Is why is Kerry wanting to start another letter?
Why doesn't he just join ranks with Conyers?

:think:


Maybe Sen Kerry wants the Senate side to stand with Rep Conyers and signing this letter to endorse the meeting on Thursday.I will be VERY interested to see if any of the Senators sign this!!
I once thought the DSM wasn't going anywhere, but now that several follow up memo's have come to light this may help keep to shed the truth.. impeachment won't happen because Repucks are in the majority. Exposing the truth esp when Bushco demands that we view him as a strong Christian will be a victory for Justice.

Organize Now!!

look at Barney Frank's comments in the article posted in another thread.

the Senate and House usually work on their own even when it's on the same issue. when they get the support they need on each of their sides they come together to figure out what to do.

Kerry's would be from the Senate.

according to Raw Story and LUTD.

The Freeway Blogger strikes again, bless him:



Found via Riggsveda at Corrente.