15 Responses to “Kerry scandal”

1. Zach, on February 12th, 2004 at 5:17 pm Said:

   Sounds like it’s old news if Gore knew about it four years ago.

2. Michael Cudahy, on February 12th, 2004 at 7:23 pm Said:

   Gee — let’s see Chris Lehane was Kerry’s opposition research director and knew everything about Kerry and his campaign. Lehane then goes on to be Clark’s oppo director, and takes the Kerry material with him. Clark then endorses Kerry — sooo Clark is going to endorse someone who is going down in flames. I don’t think so. Folks can we say Karl Rove? His man is in deep trouble and we are getting into serious Republican dirty tricks. Drudge has been an historic source for the Republicans. Can we say goodbye Karl?

3. Brad Hutchings, on February 12th, 2004 at 8:03 pm Said:

   Karl Rove, huh? How about the Del Monte’s? They have at least 57 reasons to take down Senator Heinz. But seriously, this and the Dean scream have St. Hillary’s fingerprints all over them.

   David, your reaction is truly hilarious. The official sport of America is faked righteous indignation at stuff liike this. It is truly ironic that this sport has now evolved into faked righteous indifference. Of course you care. This lets your guy back in. He needs to take advantage of it or forever be thought of as a political chump.

   -Brad

4. Michael Cudahy, on February 13th, 2004 at 7:54 am Said:

   Brad — This is going to sound more humourless than I mean it to, and I get the joke about Senator Heinz. But I did some work for Senator Heinz before his death, and this particular joke is not really all that funny. He was one of the good Republicans and he was an amazingly decent man. Maybe we can move on with this one.

5. David Weinberger, on February 13th, 2004 at 8:32 am Said:

   Brad, the hilarity is in the eye of the beholder, although I like your line about “faked righteous indifference.” Drudging up this sort of crap about a candidate makes democracy just about impossible to achieve. (I also think that it does nothing for Dean.)

   As for Rove being behind it: If I were W, I’d rather run against Kerry than Edwards if only because Kerry is a richer oppo vein to mine. But, then, I’ve never once been right in a political assessment.

6. Brad Hutchings, on February 13th, 2004 at 1:52 pm Said:

   Michael, I’m sorry if you took offense. My intention was not to disparage the memory of the only decent Republican ever to breathe, but to attempt to explain how the junior Senator from Mass could come to have so many different opinions on any particular issue.

   David, I agree that the idealized textbook form of democracy is impossible to achieve if dirt digging is such an important component of the process. But here is the problem… This is small-d democratic politics. This is what happens. This is what has always happened — long before Lee Atwater or Chris Lahane. For every person with a vote who would like an idealized thoughtful process, there is a person with a vote that is (quirks of the primary and electoral college processes aside) weighted the same by the process who feels that a candidate who can’t be faithful to his wife should not be trusted to send his kids into battle. Or maybe there is someone who doesn’t like Harvard MBAs. Or doesn’t like anyone from New England.

   I wonder how long it will be until we realize and accept that this meta-stuff is there. That just because we decide that something new like the Internet is going to improve things, and we spend a week’s worth of blog cycles hashing out HOW it is improving things, that at the core, things are the same, though perhaps amplified or attenuated. This summer, let’s look back and see what the impact of the Internet we’ll remember is. Was it a year’s worth of fundraising and meetups? Or was it the Kerry bombshell posted by Drudge? I’ll wager the latter.

   A campaign wants to hide the politician’s secrets from the people. The people are curious, morbidly or otherwise. The Internet efficiently routes around the campaign.

   -Brad

7. R. L. Hurst, on February 14th, 2004 at 10:53 am Said:

   To all: I am new to this site and notice the rhetoric is a little less reactionary than others. That is refreshing. I agree with Brad that this leak had Democratic fingerprints all over it. Please never use the VAST right-wing conspiracy theory again. Neither one of our political parties can say that they do not practice dirty politics. If Kerry has skeletons in his closet, they will come out. The sad part is; it may not make any difference to voters who are dumbed down by the failure of our media to ask truly probing questions of the candidates. This is a typical election cycle, with loads of platitudes and no real ideas. If the allegations are true, it shows John Kerry to be a man that lacks integrity and honesty. Wow! Imagine that from a seasoned politician. Hold your nose folks, and vote for your least disliked candidate in November.

8. Anonymous, on February 15th, 2004 at 5:28 pm Said:

   Somebody- qiick call Larry Flint.

9. Gene Carson, on February 15th, 2004 at 11:21 pm Said:

   Dick Morris has predicted Hillary will end up as Kerry’s running mate. I would think that possible if Dick Morris had not made the prediction. I cannot recall any of his predictions as being on the mark.

10. johne, on February 16th, 2004 at 5:47 pm Said:

    With the proviso that Kerry isn’t the Democratic candidate yet:
    a.) Is the allegation true?
    b.) If true, what kind of malfeasance or chicanery do you prefer in a presidential candidate?
    Bear in mind that, as in most of life, “None of the above” is not a valid answer.

11. David Weinberger, on February 16th, 2004 at 6:58 pm Said:

    I have no reason – none – to think the allegation is true. And if it were, I still don’t see why I should care. Further, our caring only encourages us to waste more time unearthing flaws unrelated to qualifications for office. We’re just electing politicians, for goodness sake. We have some serious national issues to worry about.

12. Larry Borsato, on February 19th, 2004 at 3:27 pm Said:

    Unfortunately, one of the downsides of democracy is the regardless of your intelligence or stupidity, your vote is worth exactly as much as the next person.

    We’ve solved that problem in Canada by essentially having a one party system, with no real competition, whereby the party in power can do whatever they want – lie, cheat, and steal according to the Auditor General – and nobody can do a thing about it.

    I am honestly sorry about Mr. Dean though. He struck me as not your average politician.

13. Kenn, on February 20th, 2004 at 6:13 pm Said:

    Actually, I don’t care if it’s true or not. I just hope it helps to lead to Kerry’s defeat. Oh! The ugly truth of politics. I want my guy to win and the other guy to lose! If my guy was the accused, I would likely be finding excuses for his behavior. But it’s the captain of the other team, so may all the dirt and slime come out.

    I would imagine that I am not alone in this – I have two or three issues that I care about, the rest are just sources entertaining factoids. Based upon my two or three pet issues, I vote. Truth be known – the guy who will most likely lead to the fewest babies ripped apart in their mother’s womb and lead to lower taxation has my vote every time.

14. patrick, on February 22nd, 2004 at 4:33 pm Said:

    It wouldn’t hurt for some of you undereducated morons to read a book once in a while. Okay, so John Heinz was a decent, “market-based” environmentalist actually more interested in his art collection than air quality. And kooky Teresa is a billionaire Portagee who calls herself “ethnic”. Let’s get beyond the tinsel and onto point: Bush is the most evil unAmerican bastard yet to shred the Constitution and recycle it into Stazi id papers.

15. R. L. Hurst, on February 23rd, 2004 at 3:20 pm Said:

    Well, Patrick. Shake the tree and the knee-jerk liberals fall out. I don’t claim Dubya to be my first choice for a President, but I certainly have a great distaste for the alternative. Let me enlighten you about conservatives. While it is true that a great many are practicing Christians, they are neither Evangelical or Republican. Bush has done nothing except push through laws that can further our country’s defense. In a worst case scenario, I don’t care if they monitor my e-mail or my conversations. I have nothing to hide. I would rather see us vigorously pursuing terrorism, than the Democratic solution of pandering, appeasement, and capitulation. These are harder times than you realize, and the situation calss for hard choices. Say what you want about Dubya. He has made some hard, unpopular choices to protect this country. The last president would have had his Wall Street pollsters make his choices for him.

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