Kerry Postpones '08 Decision
By California Yankee Posted in 2008 — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Senator John F. Kerry's election-eve asinine denigration of the education level of U.S. Troops, and the fierce denunciations his comments drew from fellow Democrats, has caused Kerry to reevaluate whether to run for the presidency in 2008. Kerry has delayed announcing his intentions:
Read on.
The Massachusetts Democrat is now leaning toward waiting until late spring before declaring his intentions, even as other candidates jump into the race and begin building organizing and fund-raising teams in early-primary states. Before the joke derailed his comeback, Kerry had signaled that he would decide whether to run by the end of January.
Kerry -- who had methodically resurrected his political standing after a tough loss to President Bush in 2004 -- was stunned by the swift, angry reaction to his Oct. 30 statement that underachieving students would end up "stuck in Iraq." Aides and friends say the senator was particularly stung by the fact that so many Democrats had joined Republicans in rebuking him.
Kerry has been on a media blitz trying to control the damage by telling anyone listening that it was just a "botched joke." He is learning the power of YouTube the hard way, just as Senator Allen did. Kerry can call it whatever he wants, I have watched the statement over, and over, and over again and it still doesn't sound like a joke, "botched" or otherwise, to me.
The Senator's aides now say Kerry always intended to delay the announcement of his presidential intentions if Democrats became the majority in Congress, because much of the focus in early 2007 will be on the party's agenda. But gee, when Kerry appeared on the November 19, 2006 edition of "Fox News Sunday," Kerry said he would decide early next year whether to run for president:
WALLACE: I want to ask you about the War on Terror in a second, but I just want to make clear on 2008: You have not given up the thought of running for president in 2008?
KERRY: Not in the least. I'm looking at it in the same way. The people that I have talked to across the country are — my team is confident and strong. I don't know what I'll do.
WALLACE: Are you thinking of setting up — because that seems to be the thing to do now — are you thinking of setting up an exploratory committee?
KERRY: You know what we need to do right now? And I've said this all along. My decision would be somewhere around the turn of the year, beginning of the year. Right now our focus, all of us, ought to be to respect what happened on Election Day.
Even for many Democrats, Kerry's insulting U.S. troops revived memories of Kerry's infamous flip flops and equivocations, like his "I have been consistent all along."
Quinnipiac's warm and fuzzy thermometer poll provided Kerry a dose of reality when respondents placed him dead last behind several other possible Democratic candidates and even President Bush.
Kerry insists his latest case of hoof and mouth disease will not undermine a possible White House campaign in 2008.
"Not in the least," Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, said when asked if the furor over his comment had caused him to reconsider a 2008 race.
He is wrong yet again. Kerry's demeaning of our troops will haunt him throughout the 2008 campaign. Thousands of blogs will post videos like the two below, keeping the issue alive.
I truly hope Kerry remains among the 25 potential 2008 contenders. He makes blogging about presidential campaigns much more fun.
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Kerry Postpones '08 Decision 6 Comments (0 topical, 6 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
The REAL reason that Kerry has delayed announcing if he intends to run for the WH in 2008, is that the all Dem members of the Mass Congressional delegation ( see Marty Meehan) have told him that they will NOT allow him to run for both the WH and the Senate. In other words, not another Lieberman 2000. So Kerry has to decide if indeed he wants to "bet the ranch," er, his Senate seat, on another WH try. There's no way that Kerry can finesse this, they will bring enormous pressure on him to decide...indeed, the man who vacillates "ad nauseum" on every issue couldn't try to hedge his bet on this one....he 'd look ridiculous...
This is the guy that had worse grades at Yale than President Bush, who actually had good grades. Remember, the president is supposed to be an idiot according to uninformed liberal sources.
Kerry will probably announce his bid to run after he announces his bid not to run. Hopefully he'll announce his bid to run first so that he can flip flop.
Don
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Democratic is a process.
Democrat is what they are.
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and urge him to run. We've got to show our support!
As far as a cabinet position Moe, what would you suggest? Secty of Defense? Maybe Secty of Education? Or Veterans Affairs.
Heh.
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
no Republican will win his seat, so we may as well have Kerry to kick around and for comic relief.
Besides, Kerry might be replaced with someone even more obnoxious AND more effective in the senate, like Joe Kennedy Jr. or Marty Meehan.
...and not indifferent to the long term prospects of his Party, he would announce that he would be not seeking re-election in order to pursue a 2008 Presidential run. He would also stay out of the contest over who would replace him in the Senate. He won't get the nomination, obviously: but it's a good excuse for getting out of Senatorial politics - which he's just plain bad at; the man would be unelectable outside of MA - and frees him up for a possible Cabinet position in a possible Democratic Cabinet. His State Party could also use the opportunity to shake things up a bit.
Fortunately, all of this implies that Sen Kerry is either smart or not indifferent to the long term prospects of his Party.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC.