Kerry's character comes through

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=558910

Kerry's character comes through

Not long after the "botched joke" blew that gaping hole through John Kerry's political ambitions, I called a Democratic friend and made a promise: I will never, ever, say anything nice about Kerry again.

Promise made, promise broken.

Within a few days, Kerry is to offer the Senate yet another chance to consider what always have been his well-informed -- and often wise -- ideas for how to manage the disaster that is Iraq. The media shorthand will be that Kerry calls for "withdrawal." The Massachusetts senator is, indeed, working on a measure that will most likely set deadlines for redeploying American troops and outline a diplomatic thrust that is so urgently and obviously needed to quell a civil war that threatens to become a regional conflagration.

It is worth noting that when Kerry proposed a similar approach last June, most of the political commentariat ridiculed him as pandering to anti-war activists, a supposedly crucial bloc of support needed for a 2008 Democratic presidential run. Kerry's resolution went down by a vote of 86-13. Republicans were still echoing White House talking points that ridiculed all alternatives as "cut and run." Most Democrats were still cowering.

Now, having given up his dream of becoming president, Kerry is more public servant than politician. He has reached down inside to tap that same quality that led him to volunteer for duty in Vietnam when he did not have to, when others of his social status found safe havens from the fight. It is the same impulse that led him to win medals for his valor, the same courage that led him to return home to protest a dirty war when he could have tucked away his medals and marched off to law school.

It is, in fact, a quality we are always saying we want in a president: character.

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thanks for posting, babylonsister.

John Kerry has always been "more of a public servant than a politician," imo.

Senator Kerry is a great Senator...one of several Democrats are lucky to have at this time. His problem is he's a Symphony in a political world that only can deal with 3 minute hits. He's too nuanced, too "smart" and not easily understood, but easily made into a cartoon...which the corporate media loves to do. While Repugnicans thrive in one dimension, Senator Kerry was suffocated.

Also, the link doesn't work.

I always knew he had the kind of character that this article refers to. It is just who he is.

thanks so much for a great article. :hug:

When he said that terrorism was mostly a police action, he was mocked. Now, many have admitted he was right.

When he said the best we could hope for was to get terrorism down to a "nuisance" level, he was also mocked. But, he was right there as well.

fueled by Republicans and some Democrats too. The man did nothing wrong, nor did he say anything inappropriate about our troops.

He thought of the effects of a fight ON HIMSELF - and to this day - the "public servant" John failed to reveal to his voters the fact that they won. When he quit the race he fed the lie by saying "I came close"
Botched joke is a piece of propaganda BS akin to "Gore invented the internet". The writer is an a*hole for buying into it.