Bob Kerrey: McCain "Can Deal With Crisis"
Kerrey, Kerrey, Kerrey. With Obama surrogates like these, who needs political opponents?
"John McCain is a known quantity," says Bob Kerrey, who thinks Obama will ultimately prevail. "You don't look at John and say, 'Who the heck is he?' He's a veteran, he's a guy who got pretty banged up in Vietnam. He can deal with crisis. There's some uncertainty about Senator Obama."
Hard to see why any Obama surrogate would be suggesting a link between McCain's war service and his commander-in-chief credentials, isn't it? This is precisely what McCain's argument is.
Indeed, the Republican National Committee just blasted out Kerrey's quote to reporters. GOPers understand how helpful this kind of thing is to them.
Late Update: There's some question as to whether it's fair to identify Kerrey as a "surrogate." He's probably not a surrogate in the sense that the campaign hasn't deputized him to go out and speak to the media on Obama's behalf. He's probably better described as a "supporter." Obviously this doesn't make his comments any less objectionable or helpful to McCain, since he's a Dem, but it's worth clarifying.
Ugh. Seriously? What was he thinking? Somebody check Kerrey's papers...
http://thepajamapundit.com/
August 11, 2008 9:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Kerrey is NO Obama supporter, he skewered Obama with that Muslim smear in the Primaries, have folks forgotten that!? This guy was in the Clinton camp in the primaries and he is still carrying water for them,
I keep saying to folks the Clintons are still battling Obama. The memos, and now they have their surrogates out there saying the same shyt Hillary said about mcCain being a great CinC and all Obama had was a speech.
Kerrey is in the Clintons back pocket. he owes them BIG
August 11, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo.
Kerrey was the one pushing the line that "Obama attended Muslim schools."
What an ass.
August 11, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Uh remember Bob Kerrey is a DLC uber TROLL....nuff friggin said"
another Hillary surrogate putting out BigDogs talking points...those Clintonistas are just drowning aren't they...basturds everyone of them!
August 11, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
*facepalm*
August 11, 2008 9:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
This is an easy response for the Dems...
The Mortgage Crisis?
The Oil Crisis?
The Credit Market Crisis?
The Katrina Crisis?
The Global Warming Crisis?
The Infrastructure Crisis?
The Health Care Crisis?
The Immigration Crisis?
The list goes on and on and on and on...
McCain deals with these crisis by ignoring them.
August 11, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey needs to up his meds and beg Debra Winger to take him back.
August 11, 2008 9:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
LOL - Holy Crap, now that's funny!
August 11, 2008 9:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Meh, Bob Kerrey is a political nonentity. Who cares what he says?
August 11, 2008 9:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Evidently, the Republicans do. Just because you don't care doesn't mean no one else might find this interesting.
August 11, 2008 10:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans and anyone else who thinks lying on one's back wincing in pain for five years is leadership preparation.
August 11, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Greg - it also reinforces what we talked about last week, the meme that John McCain is a "known quantity." I'd love to see a series of posts dealing with that issue - the more we raise the visibility of how false that frame is, can we perhaps influence someone somewhere to start covering the true facts of McCain's history?
By the way, since when is Kerrey an Obama surrogate? That wasn't the only odious thing he said in that article, more on this here:
http://strategy08.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/bob-kerrey-needs-to-stfu/
August 11, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think you hit the "known quantity" head on, and use it as an opening to bring up 30+ years of questionable political and personal actions.
In other words, drill down and examine what this "known quantity" has actually DONE, and it doesn't look too good. I'm thinking about the Keating 5 and other really ugly episodes, not to mention the flip-flops since 2000, trying to do whatever it takes to become president.
Yeah, he's a known quantity. Known to be an SOB and an unprincipled opportunist.
-- ARG
August 11, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Kerry has a foot and mouth disease. Please ignore his sorry butt.
August 11, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are we sure he is an Obama supporter? Here's another quote he recently gave to Politico.
"The country's still pretty divided… people may want a divided government. They want change but I'm not sure that the Democratic agenda has the support of a majority of Americans.”
-Bob Kerry
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080811/pl_politico/12433;_ylt=Ah74k88qb3chpMe1zsD6abMDW7oF
August 11, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
And here is what he said in Dec 2007
"Former senator Bob Kerrey, who recently endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, said during a television appearance on Monday that her primary opponent, Sen, Barack Obama, attended a "secular madrassa" as a child.
Kerrey was in the process of lauding Obama's capacity to connect with the Muslim world when he made the claim, which has been discredited.
"I've watched the blogs try to say that you can't trust [Obama] because he spent a little bit of time in a secular madrassa," the Nebraska Democrat said on the Situation Room with John King. "I feel quite opposite. I think it's a tremendous strength whether he's in the United States Senate or whether he's in the White House."
PUHleeeeeeeeeeze, this guy is NOT an Obama supporter.
Glenn Thrush, deliberately picked people to label as Obama supporters who are nothing but thorns, he even called KwameKilpatrick the embattled Detroit mayor an 'Obama supporter'...these folks might be calling themselves that but they aren't doing Obama any favors. I wonder why Thrush didn't quote someone like ArturDavis or Senator John Kerry..instead he tries to blur the lines once again by using another KERREY to look like Senator John Kerry is smearing Obama.
I can't stand the PRESS.
August 11, 2008 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey is not an Obama surrogate....he is doing this one his own. His comments are totally unhelpful to DEMS and Obama.
August 11, 2008 9:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
He is not doing this on his own! He is a Billary surrogate.
August 11, 2008 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can't you just see big Bill having a good chuckle this morning.
August 11, 2008 10:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
What the fuck!?
Someone send Kerrey to some diplomatic post, Siberia maybe.
What on EARTH is he thinking? Is he out to ensure Obama loses?!
August 11, 2008 10:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Kerrey is no friend of 'libralness.' He was a big fan of GHWB. He's a DINO baby-killer...
August 11, 2008 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Barack should blow off Kerrey and nail down Hagel as an endorser/surrogate.
August 11, 2008 10:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean THIS Bob Kerrey?
"Protesters Object to McCain as New School Commencement Speaker."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/10/nyregion/10protest.html?scp=3&sq=Kerrey%20McCain%20New%20School%20commencement&st=cse
Move over Joe.
The bed is getting crowded.
August 11, 2008 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. Send him to whatever circle of hell Liebermann is going to.
August 11, 2008 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey has been out of office for nearly a decade. Pah.
August 11, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
McToast was a known quantity. He isn't anymore. He just isn't the same McSame as he used to be.
(And if you want to argue that he never was, I won't disagree. He's really lost a lot in recent years, though he still has more than Dubya ever had to start with. But maybe not much longer?)
August 11, 2008 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerry is a Clinton surrogate, not an Obama surrogate.
If I get any whiff that Bill & Hillary & their supporters are trying to kneecap Obama so they can get back in in 2012...
August 11, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Kerrey is not an Obama surrogate.
August 11, 2008 10:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Russ Feingold also defended McCain over the weekend. Of course you had Sarah Palin saying she was happy with Obama's energy policy and Pawlenty saying he liked Obama's positive message.
I just think the non-surrogates might be trying to get this election about policy and ideas rather than character smears. Obama surely isn't innocent here as he's been calling McCain = third Bush Term basically since McCain became the presumptive nominee.
McCain has friends, and they don't like seeing him smeared - maybe they should pull him aside and talk to him about his campaign, as it's his own campaign who is doing the most damage to him.
August 11, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jonze,
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that to tie John McCain to Bush is a "smear" on the level of a character attack.
To use just one, but the most salient example: John McCain and Bush are identical on the prevailing economic policy of our time: tax cuts. McCain is for extending, indefinitely, the disastrous tax cuts Bush bull dozed through the Congress. One can not underestimate how harmful to our nation these cuts have been.
Now, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it's a duck. If the democrats are to win in November, they have to convince the American people that there is no day light between McCain and Bush on the issues American's care about most.
The notion that such associations are "smears" are laughably ludicrous.
August 11, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
"McCain = Third Bush Term" is not a smear, it is a valid observation. It is very much about policy and ideas -- and McCain's are the same as George W's.
August 11, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Kerrey = biggest tool in tool shed
The dude is probably still pissed over the fact that the stupid Unity BS went over like a lead fart.
August 11, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey is a war criminal. In Feb. 1969 his Navy Seal unit killed 18 unarmed women and children in Vietnam. In 1970 he accepted a medal of honor from Nixon, only 10 days after the Ohio National Guard murdered 4 students at Kent State.
August 11, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus, enough with the Swiftboating, already. As with damn everything that happens in war, the incident you're using to proclaim him a "war criminal" is hardly as black and white as you paint it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kerrey#Thanh_Phong_Massacre
Kerry's clearly got no internal censor between his brain and his mouth such that you wonder how he ever managed to get elected in the first place. But ad hominum attacks, particularly on the war record of a Navy SEAL who won the Medal of Honor, add nothing to the dialogue and in no way bear on the truth or falsity of his comments, nor upon whether this comment was deliberate sabotage or just another stupid remark from a loose cannon.
After what we went through in 2004, I really didn't think I'd have to explain this to people who hang out at a Democratic blog.
And he accepted a Medal of Honor from Nixon ten days after Kent State? So fucking what? He was a career Navy officer, not a professional war protester.
August 11, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey's terror mission was part of a broad program to murder civilian supporters of the VC and their families, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. The only difference between Kerrey and Wm. Calley is that Kerrey was never prosecuted. Is this relevant in today's politics? Only if you think that US war criminals should be brought to justice. There appears to be a bipartisan consensus that they should not.
August 11, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or a baloon in a spacesuit.
August 11, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Fuck Bob Kerrey.
He hasn't won any wars, either.
August 11, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Memo to Bob Kerrey: STFU.
This is exactly the type of guy we don't need. Someone more interested in placating the Villagers and making himself seem high and mighty while hurting his candidate.
Geez, what a wanker!
August 11, 2008 11:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I admit Kerrey is an Idiot to be supporting Oilbama after Oilbama voted for Dick Cheney's Big Oil Energy Bill, but listening to Oilbamabots critize a Medal of Honor winning War Hero makes me want to puke and makes me realize how little experience Oilbama has regarding Military matters.
August 11, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Brilliantly reasoned, as always. Obama's supporters attack a Medal of Honor man, ergo Obama knows nothing about foreign policy and this one time he voted for a gigantic bill that had this one thing I've decided I didn't like
Brilliant. But, hey, the adolescent name calling totally makes up for the flawed logic from a rhetorical standpoint.
August 11, 2008 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's like you've been reading Roget and decided to string some words together in an incoherent attempt to sound, well, your version of, cough, smart.
You probably don't know this, but you don't make any sense. From both a rhetorical and moron on the street point of view.
August 11, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
This has to be a parody troll. Right?
Right??
August 11, 2008 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, he's been providing us this kind of high quality reasoning since the primaries. He faded after Obama clinched, but here he is again, with a slightly modified handle. Evidently, it finally dawned on him that his old one read like "imbecile" with a "D" in front of it.
August 11, 2008 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The CIC is a civilian who directs the military as a function of foreign policy.
He doesn't need to know dick about military matters.
Go ahead and puke.
August 11, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why do you call Kerrey an Obama surrogate?
He's been smearing and slandering Obama for over a year now.
ps. Kerrey is an admitted war criminal -- massacred civilians in Vietnam. This butcher should be in jail.
August 11, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey is from the Scoop Jackson wing of the Dem. Party...kinda like Perle. It should come as no surprise that Kerrey supports McCain. Remember is was Kerrey who invited McCain to speak at The New School Commencement. Kerry called McCain: "...a distinguished and rightly celebrated world leader whose life story is an inspiration to most. "
Kerrey has also vouched for the connection between Saddam & al Qaeda. (I wonder how authentic those documents were?)
My question remains: why do we laud people for their foreign policy credentials, when they get everything wrong?
August 11, 2008 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey would make a logical choice for vp---for mccain. Only one who would object would be Liebermann---who would ask---why him and not me?
August 11, 2008 12:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
First Feingold, and now Kerrey? I'm really outraged by the disloyalty to party.
August 11, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
These guys are doing it intentionally because they want to be in a good book of McCain. My gut tells me that the DC politicians are just jealous.
August 11, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I missed it.
What did Justice Robert's pal Saint Russ say about Obama now?
August 11, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's a little unfair to expect Kerrey to betray his deeply-held racist beliefs just to support our party's candidate.
August 11, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kerrey is a big Hillary supporter. The only way 60 year old Hillary is ever elected president is for Barack Obama to lose this year. Do we really think Hillary and Bill and their old gang are going to work hard for Obama?
August 11, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary will never be elected president w/o very blatant election fraud. She is despised by the anti-war left and those who oppose corporatization of the Democratic Party, and she also brings out the GOP base for the Republicans.
Look who initially funded the Clintons-Jackson Stephens, the same financier behind BCCI, Walmart, Tyson, WTI Toxic Waste Incinerator and both Bushs. The Clintons were a way for the Dems and the GOP to form a one party-THE MONEY PARTY system.
I agree with you that Bill, Hillary and the old gang are NOT working in the Democratic Party's best interests.
August 11, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
This quote along with strange comments Kerrey has made in the past about Obama and African-American men leaves me to believe Kerrey is a bigot.
August 11, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
This quote along with strange comments Kerrey has made in the past about Obama and African-American men leaves me to believe he is a bigot.
August 11, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Many have touched on this -- Kerrey hasn't always been in the Obama camp (is he now??). But, with Kerrey's sideswipe today, as well as Wolfson's about how the Edwards stuff would've helped Hillary win the nomination (don't try to make sense of that; it's just as illogical as it sounds), I'm left wondering. What are the Clinton people up to? Hopefully, I'm just being paranoid. But, I'm not liking these "strategic" leaks to the press (do the Clinton memos fit that bill, too?), unflattering takes on your party's nominee and almost fulsome praise of McCain, mostly coming from her "former" people...
August 11, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
You never know....I would never put anything past the Clintons. That is the precise reason she will not be the VP.
The Clintons really believe that somehow Obama's supporters will come out in support of her in 2012 if he were to lose this year. But for that to occur she would have to work tirelessly for his victory and not be seen as sabotaging him this year. The stuff you mention bring up serious doubts as the whether the Clinton people are on board and if that doesn't change she can kiss her potential 2012 chances goodbye.
August 11, 2008 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
let us not give an attention he seeks. Just can't stand these people play "an important voice" roles.
please keep your opinion for yourself, Mr. Kerrey.
August 11, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bob Kerrey is a tool, and a snake in the grass. This article is loaded with remarks like this, damning Obama with faint praise.
August 11, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is a great article from Eisenhower's granddaughter and why she does support Senator Obama. It is also on the huffingtonpost if the link below does not work.
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/eisenhowers
This can easily counteract Bob kerry's stupidity attacks...
You really have to wonder about the Clinton's supporters...
She might call for unity but it seems that she has no power under her surrogates: You have Kerrey, and Wolson indicating that they lost because the media covered Edwards' affair...What an idiot!!!
August 11, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bob, welcome to the Independent Democratic Party, formerly known as the Zell Miller foundation for the Politically Undependable. You know our current Chairman, Joe Lieberman, don't you? We've been watching you for a very long time and just know you are brain damaged enough to maintain the low standards of ethicacy befitting a senior member of our organization. Please feel free to make yourself at home. We've set up your office in the Brutus center and just know you're going to fit right in!
August 11, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shorter Kerrey: Hillary 2012!!
August 11, 2008 2:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I never liked Kerrey much when he was in the Senate. I never knew who's side he was on.
August 11, 2008 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The myth that John McCain is prepared to be president and has the leadership skills necessary for the job need to be debunked. Take a look at this commentary from no less than the Wall Street Journal Digital Service - Marketplace - written by their Washington Bureau Chief. It'll open your eyes.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid=%7B4914192B-12AF-4623-AB18-5EFE91204B04%7D&print=true&dist=printMidSection
August 11, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like ARG's point!
John McCain is:
1. Stupid his class rank was no accident.
2. A failure; he has already lost more presidential nominations than Obama, he is known for unethical campaigning with Charles Keating, then passing a bill (his only mark after how many years in the senate) which he now opposes.
30 years of being a proven loser and of failure is no reccomendation to be president.
Besides, he has a violent temper.
August 11, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Gee, Kerrey, what would McMajorShit have done in the missile crisis of 1962? Right. But the former senator would know all about crisis. Wasn't he the candidate in the '92 primaries who couldn't make up his mind whether or not he really did want to be POTUS?
August 11, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm starting to understand the pattern to John McCain's support:
John McCain - suffers from PTSD;
Bob Kerry - suffers from PTSD;
Joe Lieberman - suffers from STUPID.
August 11, 2008 7:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Kerry's been a loose cannon malcontent for a very long time. It's much too late in his life and human history to expect him to act like a normal person.
August 11, 2008 8:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I liked Bob back when he was dating Linda Ronstadt. Now he's just out of date.
August 11, 2008 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink