Kerry: “I Apologize to No One for My Criticism of the President”

John Kerry hit back hard and furiously today on the attacks from the right wing on his statement criticizing Bush yesterday at a Phil Angelides rally on eduction reform in Pasadena, CA. All of the MSM news outlets are abuzz with this as well as the blogopshere - left and right. Watch the video here:


The transcript of the press conference in Seattle, WA is here.

John Kerry Responds to Republican Distortions, Pathetic Tony Snow Diversions and Distractions from Wing Nut-jobs

The right wing nut-jobs are full of Hot Air today as they attempt their latest attack on John Kerry.

Talk about taking things out of context -- Michelle Malkin claims that it was "Unmistakable what he meant," referring to John Kerry's statement to students a Pasadena City College yesterday during a rally for Phil Angelides. You, "Don't need a PhD in linguistics to understand it clearly," Malkin said. Well, I was there Michelle, and clearly you and the rest of the wing-nuts have just twisted this with your own brand of perversion.

Not only did the wing-nuts take what Kerry said out of context, but Malkin reported today that "Seth Liebsohn of Bill Bennett's radio show took a swipe today on this blogger when he said on air: "Even Democrats think Kerry meant what we say he meant and salute this crude." Malkin noted the Liebson pointed "to this liberal blogger entry" (from my post here last night on the rally):

"Talk about speaking the stark truth to students who want more out of life. The education system in California is a mess, especially in L.A. County. Each day I pick my daughter up at school I see the recruiters leaving, smiling because they have snagged another kid who’s trapped by the system and see’s no future other than enlisting. It shouldn’t be like this. A 50% drop out rate is unacceptable. What is the bottom line for these kids, a job at McDonald’s or Iraq. Kudo’s to Kerry for delivering a wake up call to the young voters at the rally."

The focus of the rally was education and Kerry gave the students are stark dose of reality when he noted that because the education system here is such a mess, because the drop-out rate is nearly 50%, and because the cost of higher education keeps rising, some students are faced often with struggling through the system to go to a higher education, or those who can't end up joining the military and heading for Iraq. There truth is there's few choices for the students the NCLB leaves behind every year.

I speak from first hand experience about what the choices are for urban kids in cities like L.A. As a single mother with a kid in public school, I've watched the school system degenerate and yes, I see the recruiters lurking around my daughter's school daily waiting for the next kid who figures out he can't make the grade. I believe our kids deserve a better chance, I know that many are getting screwed by the cuts to public education, NCLB and the rising costs of higher education. I talk to kids from my daughter's school and they know the future looks grim under the Republican reign that could care less about the little people. And I also know that John Kerry believes that it's right to put on the uniform of the United States and serve our country, but he also believes that our kids deserve a first rate education.

So note to Malkin, Liebsohn, Captain Ed, JustOneMinute and the rest of wing-nuts who have distorted John Kerry's statement -- "you don't know John Kerry."

John Kerry issued a statement this morning to in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts who are desperately distorting Kerry’s comments about Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record:

“If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we’re going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq.”

Dave Johnson of Seeing the Forest gets it: Kerry Was Talking About BUSH.

The bottom-line is that John Kerry is under attack right now from the usual gang of Republican draft dodgers and sniping armchair warriors who never served this country, but love to attack and distort all those who have – these are the same people who attacked Jack Murtha and Max Cleland -- and they will keep attacking until we say -- NO MORE.

Here’s the real deal -- yesterday, John Kerry made a tough and starkly honest joke about Bush, and admittedly it came out a little mangled. I was standing in the room and it was clear where Kerry was going with his statement -- the importance of a great education because if you don't you'll be stuck in the war in Iraq -- Bush's stupid war that we all know is based on lies.

So, the right wing has kicked their slime slinging mud machine into high gear and they are trying to distort Kerry's comments and disgracefully allege that John Kerry was criticizing the troops. That's right -- disgracefully. He was talking about the troops, he was talking about the importance of getting a good education and how easy it is to get screwed by our messed up education system. Let's make it clear, Kerry has spoken about the importance of a good education time and time again. He's said in the past, "I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq." His point is ALWAYS to wake kids up to how important a good education is -- he does want to see our kids fighting in a war we don't belong in.

If anyone thinks that a veteran would make fun of the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the one idiot who get us stuck in a war in Iraq, they’re crazy -- absolutely freakin' nuts! It's all about Bush, not the troops.

This is a test of whether Democrats know how to fight back and it’s a big test. We can't afford to slink off and retreat. We must stand up to the likes of Tony Snow, Bill Bennett, Karl Rove, and the right wing cabal. Kerry's fighting back and the Dem Daily has his back -- and the entire netroots should too. We can blog about how bad the education system is and yet when someone speaks the truth to power about the reality, we let it get twisted by the cabal. I don't think so.

Kerry is pushing back hard on this fight. Don't let the cabal get away with this.

How Do You Spell Desperation? G.O.P.

Cross posted from The Democratic Daily:

The GOP is getting desperate, very desparate. When John Kerry and Ted Kennedy stepped the other day and donated $1 million -- "$500,000 apiece, half to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and half to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee," that set off a cry of alarm from Bill Frist and Ken Melhman to send out a desperation email fundraiser.

JohnKerry.com has responded to the GOP's desperate call to the GOP grassroots with a fundraising appeal to show the GOP that Democrats mean business:

Want to know what desperation looks like? Here's what Bill Frist and Ken Mehlman sent out today in a desperation email fundraiser. They’re scared to death that John Kerry and Ted Kennedy ponied up to elect Democrats.

Let's see their $2 million, and raise them.

Have you got your checkbook out yet? Go to ActBlue.com here, here or here and make sure that our Democratic candidates don't miss this "critical opportunity...to reverse the Bush Administration."

And get ready to vote for “3 at the Buzzer” starting at 7 am eastern, Wednesday on www.johnkerry.com to really scare the Republicans.

CBS News reports: Democrats Top GOP In Late Fundraising. Uh-huh, that's right...

The Democrats' congressional campaign committees raised $15.5 million during the first 18 days of October, setting up their final push to reclaim both chambers. Republicans, meanwhile, raised $10.1 million for their candidates, continuing a pace that has lagged this election.

Now I know the JohnKerry.com community is capable of doing some amazing fundraising when called into action, that was proven once again just a few days ago when the record was set for a 48 hour period -- on Thursday JohnKerry.com reported:

This morning, the johnkerry.com community will break our all-time email fundraising record for the year: in the last 48 hours, people on John Kerry's email list have donated $900,000 to 4 Senate candidates in the most critical races in the country: Harold Ford, Jr. (TN), Jim Webb (VA), Claire McCaskill (MO), and Bob Menendez (NJ).

When we called John Kerry with the totals this morning, he sent along this message to thank everyone who's pitching in to win back the Congress:

"You are incredible! The story of what the johnkerry.com community has done over the last two years to win these mid term elections is one of best untold stories in politics. You could've licked your wounds, you could've given up, but you kept fighting, you dug deeper, you got stronger — and now with it all on the line in the last 48 hours you contributed $900,000 to these must-win Senate races. You've scared the hell out of Ken Mehlman and the Republicans! Now it's onwards. Today I'm with Admiral Sestak and Patrick Murphy in Teresa's home state of Pennsylvania, defending two veterans who will change the character of Congress. Let's go!"

Let's hit it out of the park again JohnKerry.com community for JK, Teddy and most of all to TAKE BACK CONGRESS!

RELATED POST: Kennedy and Kerry Step Up and Donate $1 Million to Democratic Campaign Committees

John Kerry on Rumsfeld’s Attacks on the “Mischievous” Media

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told detractors today that "to pull back as U.S. and Iraqi officials grapple with the uncertainties of laying out Iraq's course."

"You ought to just back off, take a look at it, relax, understand that it's complicated, it's difficult," Rumsfeld said, appearing unusually combative as he sparred with reporters at the Pentagon. "Honorable people are working on these things together," he said, adding emphatically that "no daylight" exists between the U.S. and Iraqi sides.

John Kerry shot back at Rumsfeld's attack on the media and his critics...

“Today a Secretary of Defense, who should have been fired a long time ago, lost even greater touch with reality.

Secretary Rumsfeld blames the “mischievous” media for trying to find “a little daylight” between Prime Minister Maliki and the Administration. There’s nothing mischievous about acknowledging that the Iraqis defiantly rejected the Administration’s toothless benchmarks. The problem is not the meaning of the word “it.” The problem is the state of denial in which this incompetent Secretary of Defense continues to operate.

This month, American casualties in Iraq have already reached the highest level in a year as our brave troops continue to pay the price for the Administration’s arrogance and incompetence. Playing rhetorical word games and tweaking the tactics of a fundamentally flawed strategy will not get the job done.

Secretary Rumsfeld once promised our troops would not be forced to fight an Iraqi civil war, but refused to repeat that promise today because he knows our heroes are already bogged down in a civil war. He touts the 310,000 Iraqi security forces that are “bearing the brunt of the battle”, even though this makes a mockery of the Administration’s rhetoric of standing down American troops as Iraqis stand up. He says again this conflict won’t be solved militarily, but refuses to impose the hard deadlines necessary to force Iraqis to reach a real political settlement.

It’s clearer than ever that we need new leadership if we are ever going to change the Administration’s failed course in Iraq.”

The Online Kerry Community's Incredible Record

The online Kerry community has something to be proud of today... The blog at JohnKerry.com reports:

This morning, the johnkerry.com community will break our all-time email fundraising record for the year: in the last 48 hours, people on John Kerry's email list have donated $900,000 to 4 Senate candidates in the most critical races in the country: Harold Ford, Jr. (TN), Jim Webb (VA), Claire McCaskill (MO), and Bob Menendez (NJ).

When we called John Kerry with the totals this morning, he sent along this message to thank everyone who's pitching in to win back the Congress:

"You are incredible! The story of what the johnkerry.com community has done over the last two years to win these mid term elections is one of best untold stories in politics. You could've licked your wounds, you could've given up, but you kept fighting, you dug deeper, you got stronger — and now with it all on the line in the last 48 hours you contributed $900,000 to these must-win Senate races. You've scared the hell out of Ken Mehlman and the Republicans! Now it's onwards. Today I'm with Admiral Sestak and Patrick Murphy in Teresa's home state of Pennsylvania, defending two veterans who will change the character of Congress. Let's go!"

Way to go Kerry community! Keep up the momentum!

Kerry Slaps Down Bush on ‘This Week’ (Video): Bush Charge on Iraq ‘Reprehensible’

On ABC's 'This Week' today, in response to Bush's performance before him, John Kerry called Bush's charges a "Lie." Kerry has not held back any punches in recent days when it comes to calling the Bush administration on what they are -- an administration without a policy, an administration that "lied in the walkup to the war," that "lied in the conduct of the war" and have "made America less safe."

Kerry was on a roll today from his continual slap down of the Bush lies, to barely letting George Stephanopoulos get a word in edgewise, it was a stellar interview -- more Man on Fire...

The full transcript and the video are on
The Democratic Daily.

John Kerry John Kerry Fighting Longer and Harder Than the Rest and It's Still Not Enough?

Hotline on Call reports today that there's an attempt in the blogosphere and with in the Democratic party to get certain Senators to pony up from their war chests for the mid-term elections and the bulk of the cries to pony up are directed towards John Kerry. AP News also has a piece along the same lines. Now let me be clear, working to get other's to pony up out of their war chests is fine, but it's interesting that this "grassroots" effort comes by way of an anonymous website that was registered through Domains by Proxy and has the owner's information blocked and it's sad that the claims on the website are misleading at best.

The truth is no one has done more for Democratic candidates in this election cycle than John Kerry (which Hotline alludes to but dfoesn't give the full scoop) but evidently it's still not enough as far as some are concerned. I find this curious because John Kerry was not sitting around dawdling months ago when success for Democrats appeared more like a fantasy than something attainable. No -- he was out there working hard to raise money for Democratic candidates long before anyone else got the notion to get involved. He did not wait until this late stage in the campaign to pitch in and help like others have, because Kerry understands that “early money” counts the most and it is usually hardest to raise. Kerry's team applied that rule of early support of Senate candidates on the top targeted Senate races.

Off the bat, in 2004, John Kerry gave 1 million dollars to the DSCC at the beginning of this election cycle when the DSCC’s coffers needed a boost to show a positive balance at year-end -- he wiped their debt clean.

Since 2004 the bottom line all combined: the Friends of John Kerry, Keeping America’s Promise PAC and JohnKerry.com grassroots contributors have provided $3,540,553 in direct contributions, directed donations and online contributions to the DSCC and 22 Senate incumbents and candidates. Here's a breakdown (via Kerry's PAC) of what Kerry has done for Senate candidates:

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Kerry on Fox New Sunday (Video): Bush Administration “Living in a World of Make-Believe”

John Kerry was on Fox News Sunday this morning for an interview with Chris Wallace. Off the top, Kerry and Wallace discussed North Korea who the U.N. just voted to impose sanctions on yesterday. It comes as no surprise that the wingnuts are trying to pin the blame on North Korea's nuke test on the Clinton administration, but as Kerry points out in the interview their claims are all wet.

Watch the interview here:

An Eye on '08 - Bob Woodward: A Conversation With John Kerry

The Sunday WaPo has excerpts from an interview that Bob Woodward did with John Kerry some time ago. It's timely in regards to Kerry throwing down the gauntlet in NH on Friday night during his speech at the NH Jefferson Jackson dinner. In an interview before the speech Friday night, Kerry told reporters:

"This war is utterly disastrous," he said. "It's without parallel in modern American foreign policy history in the incompetence and in the lack of effort to bring elders of both parties together and create an atmosphere of solving it. And I am incensed that young Americans are losing their lives because these guys are arrogant and incompetent."

Dan Balz of the WaPo said of Kerry's speech Friday night, "Thirty-two minutes and 14 standing ovations later, the man who lost the 2004 presidential campaign left little doubt that if he runs again in 2008, he intends to be the chief prosecutor of the record of the Bush presidency." Kerry was relentless in his critique of Bush and his administration -- Keep it coming John...

Below are the excerpts from Bob Woodward's interview with John Kerry: Read more »

Kerry Throws Down the Gauntlet in NH

John Kerry threw down the gauntlet last night in NH and those who watched his speech at NH's Jefferson Jackson Dinner know exactly what I am talking about. The speaker was on fire, the crowd was couldn't get enough, the standing ovations just kept on coming. John Kerry fired away at the Bush administration and the GOP right out of the gate last night... "A lie, a lie, a lie, a lie. What we have in Washington is a house of lies, and in November, we need to clean house."

The Boston Globe reports, "Kerry, nurturing plans for a second presidential run, sought to recapture support among key Democratic activists last night by offering his strongest words yet on President Bush's Iraq policy."

From the look of the reaction in the house last night, when I watched the speech on C-Span, John Kerry did more than recapture the support. C-Span kept the cameras rolling on Kerry for a good 15 - 20 minutes after the speech and there were many who asked, "are you going to run?" There were the pleas --"Run again Senator -- we need you," or the reminders "I've still got your back!" Anyone who thinks Kerry doesn't have support on the ground is fooling themselves, or simply doesn't want to admit it. The video of the speech is available here(WM).

In his keynote address to the largest fund-raiser of the year for the Democratic Party in New Hampshire, the site of the nation's first presidential primary, Kerry accused Republicans of telling "lies" about the conditions in Iraq. He once again called for deadline to withdraw a majority of the troops.

"This war in Iraq is a disgrace," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "Set a deadline for Iraqis to run Iraq and bring our troops home."

On that line, Kerry received one of a dozen standing ovations he received during his 30-minute speech.

Read on here...

John Kerry Responds to ‘Campaigner in Chief’s’ Attacks on Kerry Iraq Plan

Today, Bush proved to America once again that his sense of reality when it comes to Iraq, is well... you know... he's in a 'State of Denial.' In his news conference today at the White House Rose Garden, in which he called for "strong action by the U.N. Security Council to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, Bush also echoed his tired old memes on Iraq.

The American public gets that Iraq is in a civil war, yet Bush chooses to pretend otherwise, push the 'stay the course' plan and attack John Kerry’s Iraq plan to boot. Bush said today, “I would cite my opponent in the 2004 campaign, when he said there needs to be a date certain from which to withdraw from Iraq. I characterize that as cut and run, because I believe it is cut and run.”

Senator John Kerry hit back Bush's empty rhetoric and campaign slogans with the following sharp statement in response to Bush:

“Today we heard more hollow attacks from a president acting like campaigner in chief rather than being commander in chief.

President Bush continues to be profoundly wrong about Iraq. He wraps my strategy in slogans because he’s afraid to take responsibility for his Katrina foreign policy that kills and maims our soldiers and weakens America in the fight against terror. Every day we continue the President’s failed stay-the-course strategy is another day we play into the hands of the terrorists.

We must change course in Iraq. This is why I have proposed a deadline for Iraq and a comprehensive plan to end the civil war. We must refocus our military efforts from the failed occupation of Iraq to what we should have been doing all along: tracking down and killing members of al Qaeda.

This is the opposite of President Bush’s stand-still-and-lose strategy. It's a clear alternative from a broken policy of "more of the same." Every time President Bush tells the Iraqis we will "stay as long as it takes," he is giving squabbling politicians there an excuse to take as long as they want.

At each step along the way, the Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines. So we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet -- a clear deadline of July, 2007 to redeploy our combat troops.

Read on here...

McCain Takes on Clintons — Kerry Smacks McCain Down

John McCain took on the Clintons on Tuesday and accused former President Clinton, "of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons." The assault came during a "news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard" and was backed up with what appears to be a guest post on right wing blog The Captain's Quarters.

McCain is rumored to be the GOP frontrunner for '08. He hit both Hillary and Bill Clinton with his bogus claims. It was like a preview for the '08 race with Hillary also rumored to make a run for the White House. However, I'm not sure what response was garnered by the Clinton's but John Kerry, the 2004 presidential nominee and too, a potential 2008 candidate, got into the mix and wasted no time in smacking McCain's assertions down:

"He must be trying to burnish his credentials for the nomination process," said Kerry, who labeled McCain's comments "flat politics and incorrect."

"The truth is the Clinton administration knew full well they didn't have a perfect agreement. But at least they were talking. At least we had inspectors going in and we knew where the (nuclear fuel) rods were. This way, we don't know where the rods are, the rods are gone. There are no inspectors. Ask any American which way is better," Kerry said.

Kerry was quick to the punch. As the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Asia Subcommittee, Kerry has been very clear that Bush's North Korea policies are yet another failed effort.

Kerry Blasts Bush's N Korea Policy at Campaign Stop for Jack Carter in Nevada

More news of John Kerry on the road... Today Kerry was in Nevada to endorse and campaign for Jack Carter for Senate. Jack Carter, son of Jimmy Carter, is running against Republican incumbent Sen. John Ensign. Ensign is your atypical Bush rubber-stamper -- it's time for Nevada to give Ensign the boot.

Kerry took time out on the campaign trail to blast Bush's "failed policies" on North Korea, saying that Monday's nuclear test in North Korea is yet more evidence Bush's failures. Kerry called for the U.S. to engage in direct talks with Pyongyang.

"The president attacks the place that has no weapons of mass destruction and does nothing about the place that does," Kerry told reporters at a campaign stop for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jack Carter. "For five years, I have been calling for the United States to engage in direct talk with North Korea. ... Instead, for five years this administration has ignored them. They fundamentally left this to other people."

Kerry made the comments one day after North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear device.

The Bush administration has been trying for years to get engage more countries in its anti-proliferation efforts, aimed at stopping nations such as North Korea from developing and selling nuclear weaponry and missiles. But it has refused one of North Korea's key demands: that the United States engage in one-on-one talks. Instead the administration pushed for a so-called six-party format, in which Russia, China, South Korea and Japan would join in the discussions.

"The six-party talks are a cover for the administration to avoid direct discussion," Kerry said.

While in Nevada, Kerry visited the Nevada State Veterans Home in Boulder City with Jack Carter's wife Elizabeth and their daughter Sarah. Sarah is running the campaign blog on CarterforNevada.com -- check it and give Jack Carter some support!

Speaking to a group of veterans a group of vets "gathered around crowded tables and chairs," John Kerry "stressed that electing Jack Carter to the U.S. Senate was important for veterans everywhere."

Kerry said Carter believed that providing health care for America's heroes is more important that giving more tax breaks to millionaires.

Elizabeth Carter spoke briefly, and then she and Kerry went table to table talking with the veterans. Robert Hudson, a 1970-76 Vietnam army veteran originally from Michigan, thanked Kerry for coming and for supporting more funding for the VA.

“We need leadership in Washington who understands that VA funding is critical for those who gave so much for there country,” Hudson said. Hudson also told Kerry he was looking for real leadership in Washington to change the course in Iraq.

There's more about Kerry on the road for Jack Carter on Johnkerry.com.

RELATED POST: John Kerry Weighs in on Reports of North Korea’s Nuclear Missile Test

Kerry: We Don't Have a Minute to Waste

Check out the 30 Days for Change blog at JohnKerry.com!

30 days left -- we don't have a minute to waste.

That's why I'm kicking off our 30 Days for Change blog here at johnkerry.com so we can provide up to the minute updates, information, travelogues, and so you can continue to engage directly as we drive all the way through the mid term elections and big Democratic victory.

John Kerry Vows Tougher Stance on Swift Boat Liars

Cross posted from The Democratic Daily:

In the wake of the recent Swift Boat smear against Patrick Murphy last Friday, John Kerry lashed out Sunday, while on the stump campaigning for legislative candidates in Iowa, against the group that campaigned against him during his last run for the White House. The group has reformed under the banner of the Economic Freedom Fund.

Kerry said he is concerned that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is again resorting to "the politics of fear and smear."

The group, financed by Texas conservatives, ran commercials questioning his Vietnam record _ the centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2004. Those same conservatives have formed another group this year _ Economic Freedom Fund _ to campaign against Democrats across the country.

"We're not going to give them an ounce of daylight," said Kerry, who is considering another run at the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

Kerry said his response to the commercials from the SBVT was not strong enough. "We thought the fact that the truth was out there was enough," he said. "Clearly it wasn't."

The Economic Freedom Fund are at in Iowa, too -- with part of their campaign including "$500,000 to bash Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, who is seeking re-election in the 3rd District in central Iowa."

Boswell is being challenged by state Republican Senate President Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny in a race that has included significant cash from both parties.

Boswell retired after 20 years in the Army, including two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. But the conservative group has chosen to focus on issues ranging from higher taxes to immigration. Part of the group's money is also funding an automated telephone campaign against Boswell.

Kerry said his experience in Iowa has taught him that the group's message won't sway voters.

"I know enough about Iowa citizens, Republicans and Democrats alike, to know that they value their independence," said Kerry, who scored a surprise victory in the Iowa caucus in January 2004. "I don't think their position is going to be swayed by big Texas money."

Dave Johnson has more on the Economic Freedom Fund on The Patriot Project.

John Kerry's response to the Swift Boating of Patrick Murphy was first reported on The Democratic Daily on Friday: John Kerry Responds to Swift Boating of Patrick Murphy.

Kerry's Barnstorming Sparks Talk of an '08 Run

John Kerry is on the road barnstorming for candidates across the country in the critical mid-term elections. As election day rapidly approaches, so too is the speculation for another Kerry run for the White House. Fact is John Kerry has never stopped fighting for the issues he believes in. Instead of retreating quietly from the limelight, Kerry has pursued with a more of passion than ever, those issues and ideals that are at the center of what makes him perhaps the strongest spokesman for the Democratic party today.

Kerry has been adamant about not stating his intentions until after the mid-terms. On Real Time with Bill Maher Friday night, he didn't skip a beat when Maher tried to nail him down when he prefaced a question with about '08 with "When" instead of "If" -- Kerry wasn't buying it (watch the video here). The Boston Globe reports today that Kerry advisers see a 2nd presidential bid in Kerry's future.

Yesterday , Senator John F. Kerry was in Iowa. Tomorrow and Wednesday, he'll be in Nevada. On Friday, he'll be in New Hampshire. After that, he'll visit 11 more states, including South Carolina, before the Nov. 7 election.

With a frenetic pace of barnstorming and fund-raising on behalf of Democratic candidates, Kerry's moves over the last several months have convinced his inner circle that he intends to launch another run for president.

Kerry himself insisted he has not decided whether to run. But more than a dozen longtime loyalists interviewed for this story said they had no doubt that Kerry would attempt what a host of Washington doubters think unimaginable: become the first Democrat in half a century to lose a general election and be renominated four years later.

"My impression is there's no way he's not going to run," said a confidant who speaks with Kerry regularly and asked not to be identified.

Kerry will be spending at least 18 of the next 29 days campaigning for Democratic candidates across the country. He said in an interview on Friday that he "is concentrating his energies on the 2006 elections, in which the Democrats are increasingly optimistic that they have a chance at winning a majority in the House and possibly the Senate."

"First things first," Kerry said. "I haven't made a decision yet, and I don't have any specific timetable for it. My focus is the '06 elections. I know it sounds weird to people, but we've got to do well here, win some seats, and I'm doing everything in my power to do that."

The signs are out there however, within the Kerry camp that he is moving closer to another run. The question poised from many is "will he run again?"

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John Kerry: Watch “Iraq for Sale,” Spread the Word on More Katrina Foreign Policy

Today's email brought an important call to action from John Kerry about Robert Greenwald's new film "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers." Please take the time to get involved by attending or hosting a screening and join in the conference call on Saturday, October 14, at 9:00 p.m. EDT, with John Kerry and Robert Greenwald:

Dear Friend,

You and I know that President Bush and his administration have created a disaster in Iraq -- and instead of setting a deadline to bring our heroes home and make Iraqis stand up for Iraq, the administration says "stay the course."

Well, "staying the course" isn't far-sighted; it's blind. Leaving our troops in the middle of a civil war isn't resolute; it's reckless. Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then, and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion.

This Administration is terrified that enough Americans now realize that the war in Iraq has overstretched our military, served as a recruitment tool for terrorists, divided and pushed away our traditional allies, diverted critical billions of dollars from the real front lines against terrorism, and diminished our moral authority in the world.

But that's not all. It has also been a massive failure of management. The idea that American troops were sent into battle without the body armor they needed, and that American tax dollars meant to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis instead lined the pockets of contractors and big corporations while the insurgency grew, is an outrage of historic proportions. It is a reminder of why we are right and why it is patriotic to stand up against a broken policy, and why the blank-check, rubber-stamp Washington Republicans need to be fired for their incompetence and irresponsibility.

But guess what? No one is hearing us yet. And the big Republican dollars flowing from the same Texas Republicans who funded the Swift Boat smears of 2004 are being spent in the hopes of making sure you and your families don't ever hear the truth over the noise of fear.

We need to fight back. That's why I need you to see, and I need you to get your friends and your family to go out and see, the new film by Robert Greenwald, "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers," because here in the weeks before the midterm elections we need as big and broad and full-throated a debate as possible about the war in Iraq.

I sat down and watched this film. I watched as Sgt. Kelly Dougherty of the Colorado National Guard said, "The tents that we were staying in were completely moldy and everybody was getting sick with respiratory infections. They're getting millions of dollars, and why can't they even give us a tent that doesn't make us sick to sleep in?"

Good luck to the armchair Republicans sitting in Washington when they challenge our patriotism and say "support the troops" -- these are our sons and daughters in uniform reminding these Republicans that "we are the troops."

Once I saw this film, I knew we had to do something about it. That's why we're supporting Brave New Films as they organize screenings of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" in locations across the country -- not in major movie theaters, but in your houses and those of your neighbors. On Saturday, October 14, I will be attending one of these screenings, and following the screening at 9:00 p.m. EDT, I will join Greenwald on a live conference call to discuss the implications of the film and what you can do to make a difference.

You can participate in next week's "Patriotism Over Profit" screenings in one of two ways: you can sign up to host your own screening, or you can sign up to attend a screening at a location near you.

I can host or attend a screening of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" next week

It is important for this film to be watched, not in isolation, but with friends, family, and neighbors. "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" can do more than expose the errors of the past; it can foster discussion about the new course we can and must chart for the future. If you participate in a screening on Saturday, October 14, I look forward to joining you for this discussion at 9:00 p.m. EDT.

I can host or attend a screening of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" next week

We have fewer than five weeks to spread the word before voters go to the polls on November 7. Please make your voice heard.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

P.S. If you are unable to host or attend a screening next week, you can order your own copy of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" to watch and share with everyone you know.

In NH, John Kerry assails GOP

John Kerry said yesterday that "New Hampshire conservatives should be "riled" by what he calls an ongoing string of corruption in Congress." Kerry in southern New Hampshire yesterday campaigning for Beth Roth, a Salem, NH Democrat who is running for the NH District 22 state Senate seat.

He said allegations that former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent inappropriate messages to underage congressional pages and leaders failed to act on them are just the latest examples of decaying values in Washington. He said congressional leaders are failing to live to the same standards as the public.

He said it's troubling that some people in Congress knew about the allegations before they became public. If teachers and administrators failed to act on allegations like that in a school, he said, no one would stand for it. The same should go for Congress, he said.

"I've never seen ... more willful denial of a fundamental responsibility to heed the law and live by a certain standard," he said.

Kerry devoted much of his speech at Rockingham Park Wednesday to national politics, as the mid-term elections are weeks are. Kerry was in Ohio on Tuesday campaigning for Ohio candidates and in Iowa on Monday urging students to take "political action." Citing Bob Woodward's new book "State of Denial," Kerry told New Hampshire voters that "Americans have been misled about the Iraq war."

"We've lost our moral authority in the world, and we're spending billions of dollars," he said.

Kerry declined to predict what effect the book could have on the midterm elections while speaking with reporters after the event. Asked whether he planned to run for President in 2008, he said, "I'd rather break news about '06, which is what's important."

Roth, a business attorney, is running against former state Rep. Michael Downing of Salem for the Senate seat. The race is wide open because Sen. Chuck Morse, R-Salem, is running for Executive Council instead. Earlier in the day, Kerry and Roth visited the Pelham Senior Center.



Roth said she was a supporter of Kerry during the New Hampshire primary, and stood outside the polls campaigning for him. In March, Roth was elected a selectman in Salem, garnering the highest number of votes in the race. She said she wants to avoid the "polarity" of politics and instead help make progress in the Statehouse.

"What I'm hearing in New Hampshire is probably what Sen. Kerry is hearing throughout the country," she said.

Kerry Criticizes Frist’s Taliban Comments

John Kerry was on the stump in NH talking about Bill Frist and "The Retreatican Party" on Wednesday. AP News reports, "Democratic Sen. John Kerry ridiculed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for trying to clarify his comment on bringing "people who call themselves Taliban" into the Afghanistan government."

"They're not clarifying. He did another Terri Schiavo diagnosis from a one-hour tape," Kerry, the party's 2004 presidential nominee, said Wednesday of the Tennessee Republican.

On Monday, Frist said the war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and that he favored bringing "people who call themselves Taliban" into the government.

The remarks drew immediate criticism from Democrats. They argued Frist was waving the white flag of surrender to the Taliban, who harbored the al-Qaida organization blamed for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A Frist spokeswoman later said the senator believes Afghan tribesmen at risk of being lost to the Taliban should be brought into the government, not Taliban fighters themselves.

Kerry, mentioned as a possible 2008 presidential candidate, was campaigning in New Hampshire for state Senate candidate Beth Roth. Frist also is considered a White House hopeful.

Frist, a former heart surgeon, took a leading role last year in the fight to get Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted. He later was criticized for relying on a video to question her doctors' diagnosis that Schiavo was in a permanent vegetative state.

Kerry said Frist's Taliban comments sound like claims by the Bush administration about progress being made in Iraq, despite differing reports from those directly involved. The Massachusetts senator said he requested a private briefing with CIA officials earlier this week.

"I will tell you their outlook was bleak. It was completely different from what the administration is saying publicly, and they told me that is what they are saying to the administration today," Kerry said.

He added: "We need an administration that tells America the truth. We don't need a cut-and-run policy in Afghanistan where the real war on terror is and a stay-and-lose policy in Iraq."

RELATED POSTS:

Back to Afghanistan

The “Retreatican Party?”

Frist Steps In It

John Kerry on the North Korean Nuclear Test Ultimatum

North Korea declared on Tuesday that they would "conduct a nuclear test to bolster its defenses against the United States, raising tensions in the region and marking the communist government's first unambiguous pledge to prove it has become a nuclear power."

Though North Korea has previously said it possesses nuclear bombs -- U.S. intelligence officials have estimated it could have as many as 11 -- a test detonation would dramatically change the region's power dynamics. Analysts have said the United States and area neighbors including China, Japan and South Korea would be forced to deal far more harshly with the North Koreans.

John Kerry issued the following statement today on North Korea's ultimatum:

“North Korea’s declared intention to test a nuclear weapon is a potentially deadly security threat that should have been taken extremely seriously long ago,” said Senator John Kerry, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee. “This administration’s tough talk and weak actions have allowed the nuclear threat from North Korea to grow ever more dire. Secretary Rice’s description of this development as “provocative” is this Administration’s latest attempt to downplay the threat in order to deflect attention from their failed policy. The facts speak for themselves. This Administration must stop dithering while Pyongyang advances its deadly arsenal. History shows that there’s no turning back if North Korea actually tests a nuclear weapon. The world will be a much more dangerous place if this ruthless dictatorship, which Donald Rumsfeld described yesterday as “an active proliferator,” has proven nuclear weapons that could be sold to a hostile regime or terrorists. This Administration must acknowledge reality and start showing the leadership necessary to get some results before it’s too late.”

John Kerry Presses for Foreign Relations Committee Hearings on Iraq Revelations in “State of Denial”

In effort no doubt to take the heat off of recent allegations against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, she made a surprise visit to Baghdad today to support embattled PM Nouri Maliki and urge "the fragile Iraqi government to accelerate efforts on national reconciliation."

John Kerry has been on the stump for various candidates in recent days and has spoken frequently about the allegations in Woodward's book. Today, in light of recent revelations about the Bush Administration’s conduct of the Iraq War revealed in journalist Bob Woodward’s book 'State of Denial', Senator John Kerry asked Senator Richard Lugar, Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to hold hearings as soon as possible on the Administration’s decision-making and responses to key intelligence.

Kerry specifically asked Lugar to investigate misleading Administration statements about the current state of sectarian violence, false statements about projected levels of violence in the future, ignoring requests for more troops from the generals in charge, and failing to respond to warnings about attacks on American soil in the weeks before 9/11 took place.

The text of the letter Kerry sent Chairman Lugar today is available here.

John Kerry on the Dem Daily: The “Retreatican Party?”

John Kerry called Bill Frist out on his comments yesterday on the Taliban in Afghanistan... Read Kerry's blog post here.