Here is a link to the article and video of the debate taped yesterday, to air when many people are still in bed or getting ready for church:( I cannot play the video myself since I use dial-up so I have not seen it, but Ed O’Reilly seems happy with it. I did start working for the O’Reilly campaign part-time a couple of weeks ago. I would be genuinely interested in all positive and negative critiques, as long as they are constructive.
Please share widely!
If those 3 or so minutes are representative of the entire debate, it seems like JK was really in a defensive stance. I can see why his campaign didn’t want people to watch it.
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p>The reason to re-elect John Kerry for another term? Because he’s been there for 25 years- even though, as EOR pointed out, Joe Lieberman had a more influential voice in the Senate. Ouch.
voice in the Senate. Kerry was ranked higher in the most recent ranking. There is an easier way to look at who has influence – the most obvious is whose views so others move to. Kerry, with Feingold, fought in July 2006 for a deadline in Iraq as leverage to get the Iraqis to solve their political differences. By early 2007, all of the Democrats (except Leiberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats) including Obama and HRC had similar positions. That shows leadership when your caucus comes to accept your position. Leiberman is a pariah in his own party on this and is too liberal on other issues to really be accepted by the Republicans.
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p>Senator Biden is much more aware of who is esteemed in the eyes of the Senate on foreign policy than O’Reilly is. Here is what Biden said on the floor of the Senate on September 25, 2007:
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p>”But before the Senator from Massachusetts leaves the floor, I wish to say to him–and I hope it will not in any way cause him any difficulty–he and I have been close friends for over 30 years, and I want him to know, and I want my colleagues to know, that much of what this amendment we are hopefully going to vote on is about is what the Senator and I have talked about for the last 4 years and that he has led on, including the international piece.
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p> As a matter of fact, he led on it from a different perspective, as a candidate, as well. So I wish to tell him how grateful I am for his joining in this amendment. Quite frankly, it is a big deal that he is, and it adds not only credibility to the amendment in terms of our colleagues, but it adds, quite frankly, an international credibility to it because an awful lot of people around the world look to my colleague for his insights into what we do about the most critical issue facing American foreign policy today.”
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p>On Global warming, Senator Boxer, head of the Envrionment committee has said he is the go to Senator. Al Gore has praised him often, to name a few Democrats who praised Kerry. More suprising, Kerry was praised in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by the Bush administration for the work he did there. The President’s chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, James Connaughton, spoke before the SFRC hearing chaired by Senator Menendez. Mr. Connaughton was part of the President’s delegation who attended the second week of the Bali Conference. Because of the Senate schedule, Senator Kerry flew 40 hours round trip to spend 36 hours as the sole US Congressional representative to the conference. At a SFRC hearing earlier this year, Mr. Connaughton, who represented President Bush said:
http://www.senate.gov/~foreign…
“I would particularly also want to call out thanks to Senator Kerry for coming to Bali. I would note that the remarks he gave in Bali were very constructive in helping to educate the international community on the needs, what it would take for America to move forward together in a bi-partisan way. I thought those remarks were very well received. Senator Kerry, thank you for that.”
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p>Here was even stronger praise from an earth day SFRC hearing: Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat (around 4 minutes in) said:
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p>”The fact that we had a treaty was significantly due to the fact that Senator Kerry was there. He was a virtual part of our negotiating team, without his day and night support and lobbying of the EU. we would not have gotten a treaty.
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p>http://www.kerryvision.net/200…
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p>There’s also how to deal with non-state terrorists. In 2006, George Will admitted that Kerry was right in 2004 and recently the report by General Gates sounds like Kerry ghost wrote it – he is in complete agreement with where Kerry was in 2004.
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p>These are three of the most important issues of today and in all there is no one in the Senate who is more respected.
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p>Now, I can imagine O’Reilly has a vested interest in saying otherwise, just as he has spent considerable time attacking the Small Business Committee, ignoring that it is the small businesses that are the biggest creaters of jobs and that Kerry and Snowe have worked hard on programs that help people succeed.
I hesitate to gauge whether Kerry is more or less influential than Lieberman. However, Lieberman is influential in the Senate the same way that Sandra Day O’Connor was influential on the Supreme Court. As one of the more conservative Democrats, he is well-positioned to get his favored legislation passed by joining with Republicans and other like-minded, er, Democrats.
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p>The best way to curb Lieberman’s influence is not to replace Kerry with O’Reilly. It is to replace Coleman with Franken, Dole with Hagan, and Collins with Allen. If the Senate becomes more Democratic, Lieberman will be farther from its ideological median.
That doesn’t make anything he says actually true.
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p>Kerry’s point is accurate: if MA is concerned about what their Senator can do for them in terms of bringing funding “home” (which I have a problem with philosophically that our government works that way, but it does), then replacing someone of Kerry’s seniority with a freshman, would not be helpful. Kerry has been very good at bringing funding back to MA.
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p>Also, for O’Reilly to attack Kerry as not being “a fighter”, is simply vomit-inducing. What has O’Reilly fought for in his recent career, other than putting drunk drivers back on the road? (Everyone is entitled to a defense attorney and I don’t fault O’Reilly for that – but where is O’Reilly’s record of “fighting” for any other cause recently?)
When Kerry explained the rules, it’s done by seniority, he’s a member on all influential committees, but there are others with more seniority.
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p>What an ass EdO is to use that as a point of attack.
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p>You have to agree …
It was just a tease, and they picked the Iraq war vote question to tease it. You should probably get more on Sunday.
in the 2nd clip, when John Kerry walked in and spontaneously extended his hand for a handshake, after which Ed O’Reilly wiped his hands on his jacket. Classy move.
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p>I can’t wait to see the rest of this!
shaking hands with the diverse crowd of people which reportedly came out to see and cheer on the Senator. Could it be that O’Reilly was overly concerned about shaking a hand that had just shook hands with dozens of regular people?
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p>I’m impressed that the Senator had the class to extend his hand to an opponent, who unlike even Bush, voiced SBVT charges and has been repeating every right wing smear to RW talk show hosts.
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p>When O’Reilly loses, will he endorse Kerry? If he endorses, the RW Beatty, will supporters of his reject him?
I’ve seen O’Reilly shake many, many hands at many, many events, far more often than the sporadic “Kerry on your korner” events. But implying that he doesn’t like regular people and is a Republican stalking horse is a really good argument worthy of any Democrat.
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p>My hypothesis is that Kerry’s hand was drenched in sweat from the unaccustomed effort of trying to defend his last six years to the voters of Massachusetts.
He looked as clam as always.
debated a President, besting him in three debates. And a guy who was in heavy combat in Vietnam. You’re suggesting Ed O’Reilly made him sweat? You can’t be serious.
I’m about as serious as anyone making a big deal over O’Reilly wiping his hand on his jacket, or the idea that it’s admirable that Kerry could bring himself to shake O’Reilly’s hand.
Are you?
Or are you one of the people who like Bob Dole said he never bled? The Swiftboat mission had a very high casualty rate – that would seem heavy combat to me.
Kerry got more than his purple hearts in Vietnam – he also earned the Silver Star:
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p>From: http://www.snopes.com/politics…
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p>If you question his heroism, you question the heroism of every recipient of the Solver Star and the Purple Heart – and you continue to call yourselves patriotic Americans, and insist that liberals aren’t – you make me sick…
Kerry was commander of a swift boat. Swift boats patrolled the rivers of Vietnam and had a high casualty rate. Kerry’s own boat came under fire many times, and he earned both the bronze star and silver star awards for heroism, for different episodes, in a relatively short time.
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p>I can’t keep track of who’s a republican on this site, but I sure hope no Democrat would make the comment you did. Oh, right, Ed O’Reilly sided with the Swift Lying Scum too. But then…
Will he support O’Reilly? How much? Oh none. BTW Ed, your son Steve is a very nice young man. He had the cookies to talk to a handicapped person in Marlboro. Where was Kerry?
Oh, too many common people for him and his paid entourage. Tou’re getting my vote in the primary.
typo
I didn’t see that!I saw Jon Keller ask the both of them to shake hands. Where is the clip you are talking about?
Can’t wait to vote for Ed O’reilly. Although I am looking forward to seeing the debate, I’ve made up my mind. Ed O’reilly is the fighter we need to get things done.
Please check the replies to your comments, I asked you a question that you never answered – I’d appreciate an answer if you have the time, ok? Here’s a handy link:
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p>http://vps28478.inmotionhosting.com/~bluema24/s…
In the 1st clip, Keller asks them to shake hands, then in his commentary he makes it sound as if it’s a big deal (and not in a way that reflects well on John Kerry) that Senator Kerry was so gracious. But in the 2nd clip, you see that when John Kerry walked in, he spontaneously held out his hand without being prompted, and Ed O’Reilly shook his hand and then wiped his hands on his jacket.
As he should — his debate answers were inadequate and showed his lack of understanding of government as well as his lack of knowledge of what John Kerry has accomplished in Congress.
O’Reilly was all over him like a cheap suit and Kerry just half heartedly beat back the attacks. Kerry must see the handwriting on the wall this Nov. and I’m not talking about his own election difficulties.
or look at poll results showing Kerry 20 or more points ahead of both.
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p>Looks to me from Kerry’s convention speech and his This Week appearance last week, he is doing a great job as an Obama surrogate. Obama is ahead of McCain as well.
Voters do. And the silent majority is sick and exhausted with Kerry’s attempt to be senator of the USA. He’s not in MA, he’s not in DC. Just how is he representing us? Oh, he’s not.
You can see this if you look at the roll call votes – http://thomas.loc.gov/home/rol… Note on the right hand side, you can click on Congressional record. That will lead you to a query page where you can find Senate speeches containing words you put in the query by the Senator or Congressman – try it and you will find Senator Kerry does speak on the floor of the Senate. You can google to get the website of any committee he is on, click on hearings and then view them – you will find he attends them and is always well prepared and a leader. Others in later rounds often refer to Kerry’s points crediting him for them.
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p>He also is very often in MA, though it may only be covered by the local papers – unless you look at his web site or an independent web site like Kerryvision.net , with their weekly “newsreel”, many visits will be missed.
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p>You also ignore that the US Senate does make laws for the entire country. If Kerry is able to move people from other states to actively lobby their representatives to take the more progressive position MA wants, he is not only being a national leader, he is a better representative for MA than an Al D’amoto , “Senator Pothole” would be.
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p>It also ignores that he has responsibilities because of his committee assignments. In the last year, he traveled for the SFRC to most of the middle east and near east countries because the sub committee he heads oversees them. These are the main trouble spots in the world and Kerry is respected on the international level. He also went to Southern Africa to oversee how the US Aids in Africa assistance program that he and Frist were the first proponents of, was working – a trip where Teresa accompanied him. He is one of the people who ideas hopefully will influence the Obama administration’s foreign policy. A saner foreign policy does help Massachusetts.
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p>Then there was the trip to Bali to work on global warming. He left immediately after the last vote at the end of a week and returned before the first vote early the next week. His many meetings with other delegations were important. In addition, for weeks before the conference, Kerry was involved with the international community on this. Gore says he is the strongest voice in the US Senate. Doesn’t he help MA by being a strong, knowlegable advocate on this issue?
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p>Ignoring who Kerry is, a case could be made for keeping even a mediocre Senator because his opponents are incredibly weak. There is nothing in O’Reilly’s own accomplishments that leads me to want to accept on faith alone that he would either do the work needed or even vote the way MA wants. That he is so easily pulled into laughing at RW smears of Kerry suggests that he is unlikely to take strong, principled stands. As to Beatty, even without an evaluation of his accomplishments, does he represent the majority of people in MA? I think most people would prefer the Democrats get near 60 or 60 Senators caucusing with them.
inhibits the”Fight or flight” response.
Last diary was “Barack Obama refusing to release birth certificate”.
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p>Kind of tells you all you need to know, doesn’t it?
It’s very likely. Endurol, a beta blocker, is often used by pubic speakers, trial lawyers, debate participants. I used it in Moot court years ago and now before hearings that could be confrontational or emotional. It effect is to reduce adrenalin, blood pressure, sweat response with no effect on cognitive function.
EOR said he was happy he didnt faint.
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with all three networks filming and remain completely cool, while passionately demanding the end to the war and for the government to not abandon the veterans now that they were home.
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p>He also debated the President – who looked like he NEEDED some medication. Kerry looked and sounded great. He also debated Weld, who was popular and a very good debater himself.
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p>Somehow, I doubt Kerry had any fear in facing O’Reilly.
for certain situations. I’m sure Kerry isn’t one of those – gee do you have any evidence? Of course not – but your post is basically mocking those who do suffer from the various disorders that require the use of beta blockers.
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p>My first troll rate. I’m sure it will be retaliated for, as seems to be the culture at this site, but that’s ok.
I agree it was trollery. “3”, though, is more in line with practice in these parts than is “0”.
1. Why doesn’t Kerry just admit his 2002 IWR vote was the wrong vote? Don’t put it on Colin Powell. Everyone knew he was lying through his teeth when he went to the UN. Sen. Kennedy knew better. I knew better and I was in f’ing high school.
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p>2. Kerry is among the most miserly Senators in terms of giving to Democratic counterparts. This is a fact. Check out Sabutai’s blog post
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p>3. I think the people of Mass. deserve more than a cheerleader for Presidential candidates- they need a Senator who provides national, progressive leadership on important issues
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p>4. Kerry never committed to staying a full term.
Sen. Kerry has admitted his IWR vote was a mistake repeatedly. Of course he’s going to point to the reasons for his decision. Why are you absolving Bush and the neocons for their war?
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p>As for Sen Kerry’s support for Dems, where’s O’Reilly’s? Does he even support our presidential nominee? If he has, I haven’t heard him say it. Kerry has given millions to Democrats. What has O’Reilly done?
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p>How can you call support of Democrats ‘cheerleading’? Is that what supporters of Dem candidates do? I thought we were trying to get them elected. When we do, it’ll be no thanks to Ed O’Reilly.
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p>Sen Kerry is a great progressive Senator with decades of experience. O’Reilly’s got nothing but lame attacks and inaccuracies.
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p>Fact check here:
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p>http://www.johnkerryforsenate….
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starting in 2005. Before the war started, he said not to rush to war. When the war was at 70% approval, Kerry was saying more diplomacy should have been done and that it was not a war of last resort. From my CCD class, I remember that that means he was saying it was not a just war. Here, the question was the MOTIVATION of the vote which is why he gave the same answers he has since 2002. In terms of blaming Powell, he actually pointed out that Powell himself may have been lied to.
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p>2) Sabutai’s post ignores that Kerry has used a different way to assist Other Democrats. He has used his own money and his email list to solicit money that goes directly as hard money to Democrats. This is how he was able to get $14 million for other Democrats in 2006, using his money to pay for the fund raising. (Rahm Emmanuel, head of the DCCC in 2006, praised Kerry for doing all he did – saying he wished he had 5 John Kerrys.)
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p>In 2008, he also has spent money on on a web site to fight roadblock Republicans, which has raised money for their opponents and has many created clear messages on how the Republicans have prevented anything from passing. He also has created the highly praised truthfightsback.com designed to fight smears against ALL Democrats. (Obama’s can only fight Obama smears.
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p>3) Kerry is a leader on foreign policy – It is his and Feingold’s plan that in various variations is the Democratic plan backed by all but Leiberman.
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p> Al Gore and Babara Boxer have said that he is the Senate expert on global warming.
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p> Kerry’s proposals on how to deal with non-state terrorists from 2004 are echoed in the recent recommendations by General Gates. This is an issue where Kerry was prescient in the 1990s and is still the Senator who is best on this issue.
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p>Kerry’s concept of having re-insurance for catastrophic healthcare costs is part of Obama’s plan. In 2004, it was praised by economists on the left and right – it likely will be in any health insurance bill. (Kerry also worked with Kennedy on the precursor bill to S-CHIP and was a co-sponsor of the actual S-CHIP bill.)
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p>Kerry’s AfFordable Housing Fund, that he has pushed for a decade recently passed in the banking bill. The measure which had few co-sponsors a decade ago had 23 co-sponsors this Congress. In addition, Kerry had a long list of organizations that endorsed it and which had worked with Kerry to get more people behind it.
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p>Kerry has also done more for veterans than any other Senator.
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p>Now, I don’t know what your favorite issue is – but it would seem that foreign policy, global warming and alternative energy, healthcare, housing and veterans – in addition to Small Business is a pretty broad set of issues where he is a major player.
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p>4) Kerry said he intended to serve his term in response to EOR’s question. However given that you seem to say he has not led on anything, why is there a question that he would be offered a sufficiently important position to get him to leave his Senate seat?
Senator Kerry came across as a highly competent, effective senator, and Ed O’Reilly came across as something more akin to a heckler than a serious aspirant to the job. The more people see of the contrast, the better.
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p>In fact, the debate makes me appreciate Mr. O’Reilly’s candidacy overall in a new light — I see now that it’s serving a function as a way of raising people’s awareness about exactly what John Kerry does and how well he does it.
…knocking on doors for Obama/Biden. The O’Reilly campaign is a sad distraction (and a vanity campaign) in a year that we need to concentrate on what is important…recapturing the White House and building our margin in the House and Senate. Re-nominate Kerry and let’s move on. If you seriously want Kerry replaced with someone progressive, elect Obama president and hope Kerry takes a job in the administration then we can work for qualified candidates in a special primary. We have many people in the state who have good progressive credentials and would make an excellent Senator.
and thank you very much
O’Reilly Strikes and Kerry Bridles” missed the whole point of their debate.
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p>I gave the article a cursory read and felt like it was a mistake for Kerry to be on the defensive. Then I watched the debate this — two things came to mind. First while OReilly did start by being aggressive Kerry counterpunched very effectively on every point. Keller gives OReilly the last comment in each issues question which I think is biased moderating. Kerry rightly derides OReilly for insulting the Small business committee chairmanship –especially considering how important small business is to reviving the flat Mass economy. I like and support Kerry, so you may take my comments with a grain of salt: I think even while OReilly did the attacking and was given the final comments Kerry got the better of him by being specific and well informed.
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What the heck was that about? Keller favors the GOP and thinks if O’Reilly dings Kerry up a bit that will help the whats-his-name republican candidate?
…that there would be a constructive conversation about what was said in this debate. Precious few comments so far fall into this category and many are just a rehash of points made through the campaign overall. Certainly the side conversation about sweaty hands was not what I had in mind.
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p>Also, when I first posted I did not realize those videos were only clips. Like I said, I couldn’t play them. Since it has now aired I believe they have now posted the debate in its entirety. If someone can use a comment to embed the video directly on to BMG please feel free.
but this is the link to the complete debate: http://wbztv.com/video/?id=665…