I know y'all are getting geared up to support JRE in 2008. But I thought this interview, which looks back at the 2004 election, might be of interest to some. It's a long one, done by Kerry's hometown newspaper, the Boston Globe.

Weighing defeat, Kerry sees lessons to guide future
February 6, 2005

The following interview was conducted by Peter S. Canellos, Nina J. Easton, Michael Kranish, and Susan Milligan of the Globe staff. The article was written by Canellos.

WASHINGTON -- Pained but not bowed, Senator John F. Kerry promised in an interview with the Globe last week to apply the lessons of a presidential campaign that he portrayed as ''so much bigger and more complex than people think" to bolster a Democratic Party that he indicated he might seek to lead again.

''I'm not going to sit around, you know. I'm going to learn a lot of good lessons," he said.

Sitting in a wing chair in his Senate office, opposite a historical print of Nantucket Harbor, Kerry offered a `wide-ranging` assessment of an election he lost by about 3 million popular votes and 35 electoral votes. He said he was determined to play a leading role in his party's efforts to integrate values and religion into its message, especially as directed at his fellow Catholics.

He also said he'd be eager to work at improving the party's `grass-roots` organizations alongside his former rival Howard Dean, now in line to head the Democratic National Committee, a man he said won his respect by campaigning tirelessly for the `Kerry-Edwards` ticket.

During the `two-hour` interview on Thursday, Kerry cited some impediments to his election as president, including the gay marriage referendums in 11 states (''I can certainly tell you it had an impact"), the financial disadvantage of the early convention (''We had a `13-week` general election and they had an `eight-week`"), and surveys showing half of Bush voters believed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks (''Now, did I scratch my head over that? You better believe it.")

Full story: http://tinyurl.com/67ewq

Thanks Rox! I'm still interested in learning about and reading everything regarding John Kerry. I sent the article to my mailbox so that I can read it when I have a little more time. Thanks!

This is a terrific article, Rox - thanks so much for posting it. To me it shows what a good man he is, that he is still learning, still evolving. His intellect and decency continue to shine through.

He is just such a good guy, I knew he had `Senate-ese` and had to work his way out of it. He's so honest to admit that. Also knowing about the errors of the Swift Boat Vets in their record and still remained above the fray. I probably would have outed them, but he just wouldn't stoop that low. Today after reading about Bush's almighty Budget and his lack of compassion for anything not attached to money - this country had two of the finest, most honest, caring men they could have put in office. And we all knew this - boy what a big mistake this country made.

Super article.

I'm sorry, but I never believed Kerry was "the only Democrat who could beat Bush." The short primary (although Kerry says it was too long) denied the man who should have been on the top of the ticket (JRE) the opportunity to be there. With a little more time to spread his message and gain cash, he could have won the primaries. Everyone jumped on the Kerry bandwagon on the strength of his showing in two states - New Hampshire and Iowa. A CNN poll showed JRE beating Bush 54% to 44% - 10 points!
As things turned out, JRE is better positioned to take the nomination in 2008.

How refreshing....the main theme I picked up on throughout this whole article was Kerry's willingness to take responsibility without shifting blame to others. Very unlike the Bush crowd, who constantly make excuses and deny the idea that the "Great Leader" should personally be held accountible for anything he says or does....its always someone elses fault.

[quote=Teresa22]How refreshing....the main theme I picked up on throughout this whole article was Kerry's willingness to take responsibility without shifting blame to others. Very unlike the Bush crowd, who constantly make excuses and deny the idea that the "Great Leader" should personally be held accountible for anything he says or does....its always someone elses fault.[/quote]

I love John Kerry, and this is one of the biggest reasons why. That quiet courage and willingness to face the facts, even if he was in error, gets to me every time.

Thanks for posting the article, Roxanne. I loved his challenge to Bush and the Swift Boat vets to release their military records. If John Kerry says he knows what's in them, I believe him.

[quote=dwort]I'm sorry, but I never believed Kerry was "the only Democrat who could beat Bush." The short primary (although Kerry says it was too long) denied the man who should have been on the top of the ticket (JRE) the opportunity to be there. With a little more time to spread his message and gain cash, he could have won the primaries. Everyone jumped on the Kerry bandwagon on the strength of his showing in two states - New Hampshire and Iowa. A CNN poll showed JRE beating Bush 54% to 44% - 10 points!
As things turned out, JRE is better positioned to take the nomination in 2008.[/quote]

Forgive my bluntness...

JRE would have handed Bush his A$$. Even factoring in election fraud.

[quote=thunderhawk][quote=dwort]I'm sorry, but I never believed Kerry was "the only Democrat who could beat Bush." The short primary (although Kerry says it was too long) denied the man who should have been on the top of the ticket (JRE) the opportunity to be there. With a little more time to spread his message and gain cash, he could have won the primaries. Everyone jumped on the Kerry bandwagon on the strength of his showing in two states - New Hampshire and Iowa. A CNN poll showed JRE beating Bush 54% to 44% - 10 points!
As things turned out, JRE is better positioned to take the nomination in 2008.[/quote]

Forgive my bluntness...

JRE would have handed Bush his A$$. Even factoring in election fraud.[/quote]

I'm curious. Do you really think so, considering Bush's War? I'm not so sure anymore. Kerry had the foreign policy credibility plus a plan to secure peace that I think would have worked. I'm not sure Edwards could have won because of the war.

Kerry was Bush lite. He should have come out against the war and he may have won. Anyway, it's all history now. On to '08 and the 'real deal' JRE!

[quote=Alexa][quote=thunderhawk][quote=dwort]I'm sorry, but I never believed Kerry was "the only Democrat who could beat Bush." The short primary (although Kerry says it was too long) denied the man who should have been on the top of the ticket (JRE) the opportunity to be there. With a little more time to spread his message and gain cash, he could have won the primaries. Everyone jumped on the Kerry bandwagon on the strength of his showing in two states - New Hampshire and Iowa. A CNN poll showed JRE beating Bush 54% to 44% - 10 points!
As things turned out, JRE is better positioned to take the nomination in 2008.[/quote]

Forgive my bluntness...

JRE would have handed Bush his A$$. Even factoring in election fraud.[/quote]

I'm curious. Do you really think so, considering Bush's War? I'm not so sure anymore. Kerry had the foreign policy credibility plus a plan to secure peace that I think would have worked. I'm not sure Edwards could have won because of the war.[/quote]

Well, I think there's no question (at least in my mind) that JRE would have been able to communicate a clearer message and that translates into more votes. Whether that would have meant a win or whether the Repubs have the vote hacking down enough to have overcome any contender is another question and one that I don't feel sure about the answer on.

I think that no matter who ran it wouldn't have made any difference. There was no way that Rove was going to allow a Republican defeat. No matter how good the candidate they would have found a way to turn his strength into a liability - that's the way Rove operates. They couldn't afford to lose, because it would probablyhave meant prison for all of them.

[quote=kristina]I think that no matter who ran it wouldn't have made any difference. There was no way that Rove was going to allow a Republican defeat. No matter how good the candidate they would have found a way to turn his strength into a liability - that's the way Rove operates. They couldn't afford to lose, because it would probablyhave meant prison for all of them.[/quote]

I agree, Kristina. Last weekend, I was `de-cluttering` some old campaign posts from `August-September`, and over and over again, the same certainty from BushCo that yes, he was going to win, no ifs ands or buts and no doubt whatsoever.

Well then, we just have to get a tad smarter than Rove and I know there are people out there who could have beat him at his own game. Think about it - they used his war record AGAINST him.....with little disagreement from Kerry.

He should have been out there swinging with the same committment he showed when he returned from 'Nam. And for that matter, when the OBL tape came out and Bush and cronies started in with the 'you are safer with me' bull s**t, Kerry should have played ad nauseum the clip of smirky laughing and saying he doesn't think much about OBL anymore. What can you do when you have your own idiot saying stupid things....Rove used it on Kerry...turnabout would have been fair play. I won't even bring up the flip flop crap that could have been used against Bush.

Personally, I may have even considered using bushisms to show what a moronic leader he is depending on how bad Rove wanted to play. And again, I point to our previous wonderidiot Dan Quayle. How many times did you see the speeling incident on tv? Now counter that with how many times you see bushisms (ok, rule out Jon Stewart!)?

Now, how would that have played with JRE? I don't know and I don't think any of you do for sure either. We can surmise and guess all we want, but I direct your comments to wait until you have finished this post and have read the Monday morning comments.

I would like to think our guy would have raised above the fray, but you know what? I think when the going got tough, JRE would have pulled out all his charm and powers of persuasion and easily made Bush look dumb using his own words...Kerry didn't use the goldmine at his feet and still both of them could have been positive and hopeful.

This bit about not 'stooping' to their level is fine when you are in the playground, but this was too big of a game to back off and if it meant the gloves came off and things had to get muddied, then so be it. People all over this country were counting on him, and he failed. Thanks to the great 'courtesy' of Kerry, we are now stuck with bushco and his pirates for another term.

And as far as the primary season.......sorry, the political machine to back Kerry (headed by TK) started way before Iowa and some of the other states. He was a known entity and a long time Senator. I think that was his downfall...too much baggage.

And yes to all of you who are squirming in your seats right now ready to fire back, yes, Monday morning quarterbacking is relatively easy - - but in my world of quality assurance, that's where the lessons learned and the stategy of continuous improvement is applied.

It is also where you learn the difference between error proofing (`pro-active`) vs. mistake proofing (after the fact). The DNC did neither and Kerry should have stood up to his 'handlers' and asked why. Period. If he wanted the job bad enough, it could have been his, crappy machines and all.

[quote]How many times did you see the speeling incident on tv? [/quote]

Speeling????? That's what I get for posting with no coffee! ROFLMFAO!!!!! :oops: :oops: :oops: (my cover has been blown, I am really Dan's little sistah!!!)

Just for the record - S P E L L I N G.

If the fix was in with the paperless electronic voting machines (and I happen to think it was), then nobody could have beat Bush. No matter how many votes that person got, they would have just hacked the system and changed the numbers. I saw a movie (I think it was "Electile Dysfunction") where they demonstrate this by having Bev Harris show Howard Dean how a person could change the votes on the central tabulator machine in like 90 seconds flat. That's assuming you have access to it, of course. But if you're a local election official or Secretary of State, you probably do.

I think it's possible that JRE could have become so popular, had he been the nominee, that it would have been much more obvious that it was fraud when he didn't win. Then maybe there would have been a public outcry.

But, this is why I keep posting stuff about election reform. Because it doesn't really matter how good our candidate is if they can hack the voting machines. We need fair elections.

Hear, hear Sirius. I agree 100%. We must have a transparent, verifiable election process, or we will never get our country back from the wingnuts.

And it is about the whole process...we can't let millions of voters continue to be disenfranchised through intimidation, fraud and other trickery.

[quote=Teresa22]And it is about the whole process...we can't let millions of voters continue to be disenfranchised through intimidation, fraud and other trickery.[/quote]

Or through deliberately shorting the number of voting machines in Democratic precincts.

I knew what the outcome of this election would be by the night of March 2nd.

`Funny-I` never noticed Kerry's willingness to take responsibility during the campaign. From the huge mistake of saying he would send Jim Baker or Jimmy Carter as his Middle East envoy(he blamed his staff when it was obviously his fault, and it showed a lack of understanding of the conflict) to "I don't fall down, the son of a b*** knocked me over), Kerry always seemed one to blame others.

Did you ever read Clinton's book? A few times he says things like, "I take full responsibility for taking George's advice." Sounds like he is taking responsibility, but really, he is blaming George. Taking responsibility in an article like this makes Kerry seem magnanimous, but this Kerry was not around during the campaign(it was usually Shrum's `fault-anyone` but Kerry's).

He should have been able to get past the Swift Boat guys. That story of bicycling past East Berlin is `great-he` should have been able to translate it into a push for global freedom, not say lines he didn't even believe about opening firehouses in Baghdad and closing them here. I am just so disappointed in him as a candidate.

I just want to reply to something you said here real quick:

[quote]"I don't fall down, the son of a b*** knocked me over"[/quote]

Okay, and I trust you've seen the video of George Bush giving people the finger. And I trust you saw the interview between George Bush and David Letterman where Bush made fun of Letterman's recent heart problems(recent being 2000 then). What type of family values are those? :roll:

Actually, I kind of took Kerry's "SOB" remark as the kind of jocular `macho-guy` banter that alot of men indulge in. I don't for a minute buy into the idea that he said it in the way it has been portrayed. John Kerry just doesn't impress me as the type of person who lets his emotions show this way...and according to alot republicans that was his problem...too cold and aloof...without enough emotion.

In my opinion that was apart of his problem. Most northeasterners have a problem showing their true emotions. I didn't even live there my entire life and I have problems showing my emotions as well. People at school call me "stone wall" because of it. I think it is because people up north have to always be doing something. They never sit down and relax. The lifestyle of a typical northeastner is fast and often times they will not lose touch with their emotions, but just become uncomfortable expressing them.

[quote=Teresa22]Actually, I kind of took Kerry's "SOB" remark as the kind of jocular `macho-guy` banter that alot of men indulge in. I don't for a minute buy into the idea that he said it in the way it has been portrayed. John Kerry just doesn't impress me as the type of person who lets his emotions show this way...and according to alot republicans that was his problem...too cold and aloof...without enough emotion.[/quote]

Cold and aloof...funny. Dr. McCoy used to say the same about Spock way back when on Star Trek. Trouble is, given Kerry's rep for being a stone wall, he'd make Spock look like Carrot Top.

And frankly, I agree with Thunderhawk's assessment. If the election were held today, JRE would absolutely hand Bush Baby his `a-double`-s and send him `one-way` through the `H-E`-`double-HOCKEY`-STICKS! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And MR. PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!...If you WANNA ATTACK ME!!!!!!!!!...I have a MESSAGE FOR YOU, MR. PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRING!!!!!!!!!!!! IT!!!!!!!!!!! ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - JRE

Captain Kirk needed Spock's emotional cool, intuitive talent and superb genius to be successful with the Enterprise mission. I always interpreted McCoy's criticism of Spock as simply a personality conflict. Captain Kirk certainly didn't prefer McCoy over Spock when it came to piloting the starship.

When all was said and done, I think Rove would have figured a way to beat ANY democratic candidate. Rove aliens don't play by the rules. And sometimes, when it looks particularly dismal, it's best to just go ahead and say, "Beam me up, Scotty." And pray that he does. :!:

The Kerry/Edwards ticket did NOT fail. The election was stolen. george bush is not my president.

I still have not figured out why John Kerry made a point of dragging the press along while he bought a jock strap.

And I don't care that Kerry said "son of a b***". It is the "I don't fall down" quote that I don't like.

Kerry did lose this election. You have to come to grips with that or you will not be able to do what needs to be done to prepare for next time.

[quote=Tago45]I still have not figured out why John Kerry made a point of dragging the press along while he bought a jock strap.

And I don't care that Kerry said "son of a b***". It is the "I don't fall down" quote that I don't like.

Kerry did lose this election. You have to come to grips with that or you will not be able to do what needs to be done to prepare for next time.[/quote]

What do you know about jock strap's, you married? I only know because of a husband and two sons - I also know what a baseball cup is - do you?

We ARE getting ready for next time, we are trying to get election laws passed. Go sign Hillary's action item.

http://www.jregrassroots.org/jre/viewtopic.php?t=13254

Thank you very much...