SwiftVets.com

[Polaris]

People,

I am still utterly perplexed. I was raised in a highly political (democratic) family in Washington State, and the party leadership would vet any candidate for statewide or especially federal office with a very fine tooth comb. It is (or at least was) easier to get a TS/SBI than it was to get vetted for high office.

So what the heck happened? I am now hearing (and it seems to be accurate) that Lt. Gov Kerry wrote an executive order that required Massachusettes not to cooperate with Federal Authorities in case of nuclear attack. I am still working on verifying this....but if this is so, how the heck was he even considered for high office?
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-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[LewWaters]

My guess is, since they needed to overcome their lonstanding appearance of being weak on defense, after 9-11, they needed a "war hero" to fit the bill. Wes Clark came in too late and when he did, much of what he did was brought to light and he was eleminated. Of course, there was speculation that Clark went Democrat due to not being invited by the Republicans, but that is merely heresay.

Kerry has had Presidential ambitions for what seems most of his life, first as an anti-war candidate, that failed miserably, then as a "war hero," with a chest full of medals.

Lieberman really never stood a chance.

I'd venture a guess that either they didn't look back on Kerry's record, or thought they could hide anything that was revealed, in the usual attack machine style.

Other than that, I also fail to see how they could choose this man to represent them. If he were a Republican, I'd switch back to Democrat.
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Clark County Conservative

[Polaris]

LewWaters,

Well the way I heard it (from the few Dem friends I have left from my youth), Clarke was drafted by Clinton as a way to keep Dean from winning the nomination. Other than that, I tend to agree with you. Mind you this is pure rumor on my part so treat with the appropriate caveats.

Likewise, (again rumor) I have heard that Clinton and Kerry absolutely loathe each other and Clinton would like nothing more than to see Kerry lose....but can not say so publically (without hurting his wife's chances in 2008).
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-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[Cowboy]

The Democrats have a very weak bench and are very anti-war. Who else would you suggest as the Dem nominee? Dean was the early front runner, as in before actual voting in primaries, but was believed to be unelectable because he was a little unstable and prone to blurt out (sometimes scream) embarrassing statements. Dean's biggest advantage was that he didn't vote for GWII, and he used that as a club unmercifully against the other dem candidates.

The dem candidates I liked the best were Lierberman and Gephardt. However, those two were considered to be too hawkish by the dem base, and didn't get very far in the primaries.

So the dems settled on Kerry. They believed his four months in Vietnam made up for his later 35 years in attempting to slash US defenses and achieve its defeat in Vietnam. Thus it was thought that even though Kerry was anti-war, the main-stream electorate would still go for him because his war-hero status obscured the dem reputation for being weak on national defense.

The really scary thing is that about one-half of the voters appear poised to vote for Kerry. God save the USA because we're gonna need all the help we can get if Kerry is elected (shudder).

[Me#1You#10]

Lest we forget.

[Beatrice1000]

You know, it's really too bad they didn't put Lieberman or maybe Sen Biden up -- I'm pretty happy with Bush -- but it is a real insult to the American people to have to deal with the possibility of Kerry getting into the whitehouse. I didn't think of him much over the years, always muted him whenever he appeared - so hostile and angry & pompous & critical -- but I agree with what someone else said, when he was "let out of the box" he was in as Senator, and had the audacity to run for president, all I could think was, oh no you don't! I haven't forgotten who you are or what you did!! And then O'Neill appeared, thank all the gods, and here I am, in battle, and hoping the nightmare of his nomination will in the end be only that, a nightmare.

[Beatrice1000]

[ArmyWife]

I think Kerry mostly got picked right here in my home state of Iowa. As you know, we have the first-in-the-nation caucus.

Dean appeared to be doing well here for months before the caucus, but it was entirely anti-war energy. Gephardt had long-standing contacts here and seemed to take it for granted that Iowa voters would pick a guy from a neighboring state. At the same time, Iowa was sending more troops overseas, from both Nat'l Guard and Reserve, than at any other time since WWII. People here were thinking more and more about the whole topic of military service and a consensus built that a Vet was needed. People were loving Edwards wherever he went, but he didn't have any military service in his bio. Clark's campaign decided to spend their limited money on other states. Kerry was saying the right things and seemed most "electable". Then, just a few days before the caucus, a Republican from California turned up with a heartwarming story of how Kerry had saved his life by pulling him out of the water in Vietnam. He hadn't seen Kerry in all these years, and never got a chance to thank him...so he flew to Iowa for a tearful onstage reunion with Kerry. That moment was the clincher, and we all bought it hook, line, and sinker.

Edwards may have won in Iowa, if it weren't for Rassman. I can't speak to what happened in any other states, but it looked like they all followed our lead without much further scrutiny. If we had heard any of the SwiftVets message here in Iowa before the caucus, things may have gone differently. As it was, I only recall once seeing a portion of the O'Neill-Kerry debate from the Dick Cavett show in the run up to the caucus.

[Polaris]

ArmyWife,

I think you are right. If the Democratic party has any sense at all, they will ditch this front-loaded primary system. The party needs time to vet it's nominee.
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-Polaris

Truth is Beauty

[djv]

[nickb]