You mean the one where he talked about how he learned on the river that when taking enemy fire you, you turn the boat into that fire and take it on? So when the swift boat boys went after him, did he? No. Has he still released all his medical records, that he said he would on national TV? Only to a limited number of people friendly to him. Is this the integrity you speak of? For the first time in my life I didn’t vote for FOR some one. Bush was my anti-Kerry vote, and a reluctant one at that. And I know many people who voted with the same reluctance. Most of us would have prefered to have not voted at all, but I do remember Kerry in the seventies.

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TITLE: Kerry 2008?
BLOG NAME: The Glittering Eye
My blog-friend Joe Gandelman is worried that John Kerry will run for the presidency again in 2008:
Oh, please, God, don’t let it be true…Don’t make me go through it again (I don’t have the disposable income for the amount of R…

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TITLE: The Return Of John Kerry In 2008?
BLOG NAME: Booker Rising
The Moderate Voice, a moderate-liberal blog, hopes not: “(1) His campaign was one of the most poorly run in recent memory — almost as hugely bungled as the campaign of Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis’. (2) He started out being charisma …

The TRUTH is this: John Kerry was and STILL IS an excellent candidate. In fact, I consider him the very best from ANY party. He brings to the table unquestioned integrity, which the Clintons lack. You won’t have to worry about scandals involving interns or corruption with Kerry.

More important, is his domestic and foreign policies. Kerry has laid out a clear exit strategy for Iraq. He has an excellent plan to secure the loose nuclear materials in the Soviet Union which Bush ignores and which is the real lethal threat to the world. He has an EXCELLENT and detailed energy policy which would eliminates our long term dependency on foreign oil. He is protective of the environment.

Kerry also has a strong domestic agenda, which focuses on getting EVERY American insured. He has excellent fiscal policies which create new jobs in America. He OPPOSED the CAFTA agreement which encourages US corporations to outsource. He stands up for civil rights ALL of the time, not only when it’s fashionable like others. Meanwhile Hillary Lieberman sucks up to the GOP.

How quickly you forgot Kerry’s inspirational convention speech. How Kerry flattened Bush in the debates which Gore was unable to do! How Bush shivered in fear when they shook hands prior to the first debate. How Bush was in tears at 5pm on November 2nd. Trust me, Bush feared Kerry and the GOP fears another Kerry run. He came within a hair against a wartime incumbent.

Consider this next time you wanna bash a great American. It is YOU who refuse to fight. Kerry brushed himself off and has been fighting 24 hrs a day every day for YOU and every other American since…unlike Al Gore who disappeared for four years. He’s got guts! While you complain and repeat Rove lines, John Kerry is helping democrats win in 2006 and then in 2008. America needs his leadership more than ever!!!!!!!! He will have my unwavering support in 2008 and you should support him too if you want a better America!

The notion that Kerry ran an awful campaign has to bump up against reality at some point. He lost by about 2.5 percentage points, to an incumbent president in wartime, with a good economy. Yes, I can point to dozens of mistakes he made (especially not apologizing for his Senate Foreign Relations testimony in 1971), but somehow he overcame this incompetence to come within a whisker of pulling off a huge upset.

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Feingold has been mentioned on a few news shows as being ascendent in Democratic circles, but I wouldn’t count Edwards or Gore out. When Gore decided to dispose of the ranting gospel preacher personna, he delivered a handful of thoughtful, smart speeches earlier last year. And Edwards has escaped the taint of the Kerry disaster.

Personally, I’m hoping for Ed Muskie.

In other words, if you can, you might get elected.

If you can’t, you won’t.

You’ve reminded me of the one thing that I keep hearing about Hillary Clinton, especially from fearful Democrats: “She can never win.”

My response? “We did the ‘electable’ thing the last time and you know where that got us.”

Kerry is a non-starter simply because he is incapable of speaking from the heart. If our nominee cannot do that (and I believe, for example, that John Edwards can) then we’ll lose again.

P.S. Can Hillary speak from the heart? Jury’s still out.
Edwards? Yes.
Feingold? Yes.
Clark? Not so far.
Kerry? No.
Gore? Now, but not before.

“No other past presidential candidate, with the exception of McCain, has done what Kerry has done in terms of converting his presidential campaign into a grass-roots political and legislative operation,” said Wade. “He’s dedicated to electing Democrats.”

If this makes Kerry the strongest Democrat candidate, does this imply that the Democrats no longer think they can front a candidate with a serious chance to win the presidency? If so, that’s a pretty profound–and scary–self-assessment.