Blue Mass Group

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Letter to Senator Kerry

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A friend has just forwarded me a copy of a letter to our esteemed junior Senator:

Dear Senator Kerry:
Letter removed by author's request

While I watched the video I was struck by the complete inaction of Kerry.  My wife, a devoted Democrat whose lifelong hero is Andrew Jackson, points out that The Second Founder of the Democratic Party (as she calls him) would have walked off the podium, grabbed the cops by their collars, and pulled them off the kid, reminding them, the whole time, of our civil liberties.  Alas, our Senator just stands there watching the kid getting roughed up.

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  1. Let me say that I detest George W. Bush with every fiber of my being.  He represents so much that is just plain offensive and wrong that I can't even begin to make a list.  But, if I had to choose the thing that most offends me, in seeing Dubya filling the Presidential chair, is his complete lack of understanding of the American form of government and why our Founding Fathers tried so hard to guarantee our liberties.

    Then I watched the video of Kerry's appearance at the University of Florida.  Here's a kid, overzealous and enjoying the limelight, who gives a speech instead of asking a simple question.  (How many hundreds of times have we all seen that happen at a public event??)  But I saw no crime committed — except one.  That was the violation of his oath to defend the Constitution by our junior Senator from Massachusetts. 

    Kerry could have handled the situation entirely differently.  He could have taken the microphone and told the cops to lay off.  He could have made it a teachable moment for the all the rest of the students in the audience:  This is what the First Amendment is all about.  This is what America is all about.  This kid might not be popular, but he's got rights, goshdarn it, and I've sworn to uphold them.  But that's not what John Kerry chose to do.   

    So, now I've got to wonder, what's the difference?  George Bush doesn't respect our  civil liberties — but neither, apparently, does John Kerry.  And I thought I was making a genuine choice back in 2004….

     

     

     

     

     

  2. “In 37 years of public appearances, through wars, protests and highly emotional events, I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption, but again I do not know what warnings or other exchanges transpired between the young man and the police prior to his barging to the front of the line and their intervention. I asked the police to allow me to answer the question and was in the process of answering him when he was taken into custody. I was not aware that a taser was used until after I left the building. I hope that neither the student nor any of the police were injured. I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted.”

  3. Kerry was willing to answer; see below.

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    You would expect him to tackle the security officers?

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    Link

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    As two officers take Meyer by the arms, Kerry, D-Mass., can be heard saying, “That’s alright, let me answer his question.”

    Audience members applaud, and Meyer struggles for several seconds as up to four officers try to remove him from the room. Meyer screams for help and tries to break away from officers, then is forced to the ground and officers order him to stop resisting.

    As Kerry tells the audience he will answer the student’s “very important question,” Meyer yells at the officers to release him, crying out, “Don’t Tase me, bro,” just before he is shocked by the Taser. He is then led from the room, screaming, “What did I do?”

    • Inciting a riot  (0.00 / 0)

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      I have to admit, I’m not certain what Kerry should have done. If he went down from the podium to save the kid one could reasonably assume that others in the crowd would have joined in the action. Then one could, quite possibly, accuse Kerry of inciting a riot.

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      I am NOT a fan of John Kerry. Haven’t been for years, but I can’t say what he should have done.

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      by: Political Inaction @ Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 14:21:02 PM EDT
      [ Parent | Reply | ]

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      How about help out a fellow human being who is writhing in pain? (0.00 / 0)

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      Was that before or after he made fun of the kid, saying “i’ll answer his question, and, uh, you know, unfortunately, he’s not available to swear me in as president [audience laughter].”
      by: bostonbound @ Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 14:25:14 PM EDT

      • I didn't realize long URLs were troublesome.

        I also don't see Kerry's comment as “making fun of the kid.” He was trying to recover from an awkward moment. 

         

        • “i'll answer his question, and, uh, you know, unfortunately, he's not available to swear me in as president [audience laughter].”

          You have to admit, John Kerry knows how to impress.

  4. This post just goes to show that what conservatives lack in empathy, progressives often make up for in self-righteousness.

  5. people on stage often cannot see the audience, let along the back of the auditorium.  while kerry certainly saw the cops remove the guy, it is impossible to know without having been present whether he could have seen or heard what transpired thereafter.

      • is almost surely not Kerry’s fault.  Looked like security provided by the venue, which would be typical, no?

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        Whether Kerry might have done more to de-escalate the incident is a different question.

        • The AP story this morning says, “University police said in a news release that officers had been summoned by the forum’s sponsors to escort Meyer from the building.”

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          Kerry is quoted as saying, after he got back to Washington, “Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it’s a law enforcement issue, not mine,”

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          It will be interesting to see how Kerry continues to spin this, wanting to distance himself from the event by blaming the police and at the same time wanting to stay on the good side of the cops (as in his earlier remark, hoping that Neither the police nor the student were hurt”). Another opportunity to waffle!

          • How are you so certain that Kerry is going to spin this? In O'Reilly World does Kerry ever get to simply say something?

  6. Who would be left at the local city council/town meeting?  Imagine if a “public meeting monitor” stood next to each speaker, armed with a stopwatch and a taser?  Public meetings would be a hell of a lot crisper and more on point…..and infinitely shorter.

    What's next though?  Capt. Hook and the “boo-boo” box next to the Town Moderator? 

     

  7. him down well out of view of Kerry when they pulled out the taser.   No excuse for them doing this but it doesnt have anything to do with Kerry.  The cops had their back too him behind the crowd.  The use of the taser was cruel — with no justification that I can see.

    • The Gainesville Sun video on AOL news shows the crowd of officers in the aisle in a fairly small auditorium. Kerry’s voice clearly refers to the incident as it is happening, including his trademark speaking out of both sides of his mouth (one one side, referring to the “important question” and on the other making a stupid joke about how the guy “isn’t available to swear me in as president”).

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      Kerry was obviously paying attention to the incident, obviously aware of the nature of the questions being asked, and obviously not interested in speaking out for free speech and academic freedom.

      • Those who have “academic freedom” are the tenured professoriate.

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        And as I have described elsewhere, there is no “free speech” issue.

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        If you want to do your side any favors, you really should learn a bit about the issues.  Otherwise you come across as being totally uninformed.

        • Ah, if only there weren’t so many people willing to take such narrow views of Constitutional rights! I’m not sure what your argument is about ‘no free speech,’ but it’s long been understood that the 1st amendment applies to the states (this was a gathering at a state university and state officers were involved) through the 14th amendment. Maybe you have another technicality to argue about, but what’s the point? Why not assert the broadest possible definition of free speech?

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          As for academic freedom, I’ve been in higher ed since 1970 and I’ve never doubted for a moment that this freedom belongs to students and faculty alike. The only thing (and it’s a big one) that tenure does is give some enforceable protection for that freedom. In the Florida taser incident, Kerry failed miserably to defend this freedom.

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          I’m a Yale Law grad, brought up on protection and expansion of civil rights. All law is argument, so I argue for the best we can obtain. No excuses for political timidity when it comes to the Bill of Rights.

          • Not to mention raj is wrong on the black letter law. In a different post, he argues the incident can be regulated under “time, place, and manner restrictions.” But such must be content-neutral. This was anything but. The speaker's mic was cut off after he used the word “blowjob” – which, while it may be profane, is not an obscene or otherwise constitutionally unprotected word. It doesn't matter who sponsored the program, as the auditorium is a public forum.

  8. This happened more than three years ago, Kerry lost because he was a spineless wimp and the video only shows what all of us already know. Granted its another reason to toss the bum out and vote for Ed O'Reilly but none of you massholes will do that since your in lockstep with a governor and a senator that dont take any of you seriously.  Also Teddy is still blocking Cape Wind showing how much he cares about Massachusetts future and how he really just cares about his view. Its not that power corrupts good men but that only corruptable men seek power.

    • and your usually judicious tone? Or has someone broken into your account and you are not the jconway we — and Gallucio — know and love?

  10. …coming down from the podium and intervening would help. What was Kerry going to do? “By the power vested in me by the United States Constitution, I command you police officers to cease and desist! Don’t you know who I am? I’m John Kerry, dammit!”

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    Kerry doesn’t know if this individual is previously known to local police. Kerry is not aware of every piece of knowledge the cops have. Sure, in this case the cops were wrong and acted in a repugnant manner, but what if this guy makes a habit of threatening political figures?

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    That said, I think Kerry should invite the young man to have a rational, sit-down discussion with the young man to address all of his questions and post it on youtube. Give back the voice that was stolen from the young man.

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    It wasn’t Kerry’s fault the police over stepped, but Kerry does have the power to make it right on his end.

    • But Meyer's being dragged away until he was tazered took at least 45 seconds, during which Kerry hummed and hawwed and cracked a joke. What bothers me is that Kerry witnessed firsthand the suppression of free speech by the state and, not only did he little-to-nothing to prevent it, but he proceeded to make fun of the kid! (See my comment above for the quote.) Didn't Kerry speak out against the Vietnam War? He should know what passionate, rambling dissent is all about.

          • by calling the arrested guy a ‘kid’ when he was in fact clearly a man, the commenter exaggerates and hopes to gain sympathy for him in an intellectually dishonest manner.  let us please stick to the facts, which are difficult enough to figure out without introducing emotion-inducing fibs.

            • I may have called him a “kid,” but only as a shorthand for “college kid.” NOT for sympathy – if you look at my other comments on this issue, you'll see that I stress the importance of free speech, regardless of content or speaker. I don't try to pander to people's emotions based on the individual speaker's circumstances.

              • i’m glad that your intent was not emotional hijacking, and i believe you btw.  i hope you will chose your words more carefully next time – none of us are mind readers.  “kid” can also be shorthand for “little kid”, “rotten kid” and “karate kid”.  if you leave a blank, people will invariably fill it in in a way that you most dread.

  11. …most people seem to be about the jurisprudence regarding the 1st amendment’s freedom of speech provision.  There was no freedom of speech issue in this case, as I’ve explained on another thread.

    • there IS a free speech argument here. And there's no need to to insult people. Not all of us may lawyers (or law students – 2L? 3L?), but we do have an innate sense of right and wrong and we know when to call BS on government misconduct.

  12. …and with due deference to subatai’s correctly chastising me about posting too many “user posts,” I will merely point out that some of the lunatics in Kansas seem to have moved to the neighboring state of Nebraska.

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    This is completely precious

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    “God on trial” http://scienceblogs….

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    Massachusetts has its problems, but few such as this from Nebraska.  Or Kansas, for that matter.

      • …are you unable to understand what “completely off topic” means.  And do you not recall that subatai chastised me for posting a number of “user posts” that would drive other “user posts” off the front page?  So I posted what I would have posted as a “user post” as a comment

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        Please, don’t show your stupidity.

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        If you want me to, I could post a number of “user posts” on the front page that would drive all other user posts off the front page.  Some of us actually do read.

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