Greg Palast: "Asking if Kerry is as bad as Bush is like asking if a slap..

[JanMichael]

...in the face is as painful as a brick to the skull."

I agree whole heartedly.

Buuuut...Do you want to ship Greg to Guantanamo for asking, "You believe in Kerry, but does he believe in you?"

Not sure if this has been posted yet today, has it?

Either way I know that Greg is one of the DU demi-gawds, hell I think he deserves a medal for "The Best Democracy Money can Buy", but did y'all expect this?

[althecat]

1. I republished it on scoop...

But then I am a foreigner.. so that may explain (excuse) me....

:)

[latebloomer]

2. Greg is making a whole lot of sense

Which is why we have to keep holding Kerry's feet to the fire, now and after he's elected!

[GreenPartyVoter]

29. You said it. We have to be louder than the Moral Majority!

[Kagemusha]

3. Hey, Kerry made a choice.

He could have decided not to trust Bush and to take the political heat for not voting for war like a good little patri-robot. He did not choose that. He chose to cover his rear end by going for the military credentials, knowing he was a contender for the nomination.

No pity for him from me.

[wndycty]

4. I am a huge Palast supporter. . .

. . .however I have always known that he goes after power and should John Kerry win he will go after him very hard. I think we on the DU tend to buy into the enemy of my enemy is my friend, without fulling knowing anything about our new friend. He is going to be just as hard on our guys and if we have any ounce of integrity we have to understand and respect that.

[FDRrocks]

19. I agree,,,,

I think it is very healthy to be extremely skeptical of all politicians in any country, even if you plan on voting for them. Palast is a great reporter.

[indigobusiness]

20. He probes for things gone bad...

He is far minded...that's all I ask.

[Darranar]

39. "Our" guys?

I support Palast a lot more than Kerry....

If he criticizes Kerry hard for catering to big business, he'll be doing the right thing and I'll applaud him for it.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

5. This is where the left goes off track. You do NOT attack your own.

:eyes:

Thanks Greg. (sarcasm)

[rman]

7. It's called critisism, the left can handle it.

-

[wndycty]

9. Greg is not one of us. . .and I do not mean that in a bad way. . .

HE IS NOT PARTISAN! He calls them as he sees them. I am a huge fan, but I know that when there is a Kerry administration he is going to come after him hard.

[lojasmo]

36. Good. the administration ALWAYS needs to be called to task. N/T

[Darranar]

43. Exactly. n/t

[lojasmo]

46. If the party was worth being partisan for

I certainly would be one. As it is, GP is certainly one of MY own. Objectivity is sometimes an admirable trait. For instance, I can objectively state that the current administration is the most frightening thing I've seen since Bush I ran the Reagan WH.

[Darranar]

40. "Your own"?

Kerry may have been a leftist thirty years ago, but he sure isn't now....

He deserves to be criticized.

[never_get_over_it]

6. Greg Palast

is on my shit list right now. The night of Kerry's speech I was so happy and someone posted that Greg was on some talk show - and so thinking it would be safe to go there - I had avoided any negative discussion - watched C-SPAN only - but I really thought I would be safe and so I clicked on the link and he was bashing the crap out of Kerry - I crashed like a hot air ballon hit by a dart. I am not happy about Kerry's vote on IWR - but we have to get this freak out of the White House - we will not survive four more years of him - and to beat the shit out of him the night of his speech seemed completely wrong to me - oh well - I appreciate all Palast has done but it will take me a while to get over him bursting my ballon.

[the_outsider]

13. getting bush out and criticising kerry are not mutually exclusive

we need both to happen

[never_get_over_it]

14. Not on the night of his speech

and he wasn't just criticising kerry he was kicking the shit out of him just hours after his speech - it could have waited - like maybe he could have been a little more positive about the speech and say oh I don't know they put on a nice convention...we don't need this shit from our supposed friends.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. Agreed 100%. Timing is everything, and as much as I like Palast....

....his timing was atrocious.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. What say we hold off on the Kerry criticisms until AFTER the election.

[LoZoccolo]

8. It must be nice for him to diss our efforts...

...all the time living 5+ time-zones away from us in another country.

[wndycty]

11. He speaks truth to power. . .

. . .that is the one thing I have always known about Palast. I love him, but I know that he is not partisan, he is tells it how he sees it. He has been a hero on the left (rightfully so), however he will come after our standard bearers the same way he goes after the GOP. He has been very hard on Clinton/Gore in the past. I knew this would happen at some point and people would start falling out of love with him.

[Rick in Maryland]

22. Next thing you know he will profess to have

listened to the Dixie Chicks!

[JNelson6563]

10. I see no mistatements whatsoever

A laundry list of unpleasant Kerry facts. We would be wise to remember them and let Candidate Kerry know we've got different ideas.

And when it's "President" Kerry we will remind him often of how his base feels about these things, if we're smart.

Julie

[Cha]

12. Oh, good! Greg understands the situation!

[Eric J in MN]

15. The implication of that question is that we should do everything

we can to help Kerry.

You get slapped, you survive. Getting hit with a brick can kill you.

Visit the DNC for 3 ways to help.

http://www.democrats.org/

[G_j]

16. If you are campaigning for Kerry, these are the types of questions

some people will ask.

[neverborn]

21. Ugh, some of that's painful.

I agree with some of it, but some of it is right up socialism's alley. :/

[Hobarticus]

23. "You believe in Kerry, but does he believe in you?" Who wrote THAT crap?

Egads, I'd be ashamed to say that on the air, myself.

[Eric J in MN]

24. It's one thing to ask a husband or wife to believe in you, but

to ask a politician who has never met you to believe in you is wacky.

[arikara]

25. Greg Palast put my unease into words

After watching that convention. I was bothered by their "free speech" cage, appalled by the way they dragged that woman out in handcuffs for unfurling an anti-war banner, and by the entire scripted unspontaneous look of the whole thing; for example the way they had people holding up signs with the slogans on them of each speech.

I was extrememly dismayed by the warmongering in both Kerry and Edwards speeches. I listened to Kerry's 1971 anti-Vietnam war speech and I'm just not able to reconcile that speech and the DNC speech were made by the same person. IMHO that is not how they are going to win the election. Gore tried pandering to the right of center and it did not work. I'm afraid that if they stay with this present course that the left will stay home on election day once again because they won't feel that they have a choice.

[anarchy1999]

26. Yes! Kudos to Palast!

n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

27. Well in the article Palast seems to confuse Bob Kerrey's VietNam service

with John's...he neglects the fact that while voting for welfare reform, Kerry also voted with those that attempted clean up legislation and voted to increase the minimum wage...so I think the piece is not up to the par I would expect from Palast...too many generalizations to be considered fair...I busted my pic on this article on Friday, but I think that is where I get most frustrated with my liberal counterparts in this forum...they look at a single vote and forget the remainder of the history. I think Palast was sloppy with this rant.

[Zomby Woof]

35. IWR!!! IWR!!!

Sputter.... kaput! ;-) Never mind all that work on busting some Iran-Contra heads too.

Yeah, the Law of Disproportionate Voting Record Influence, or "How I Learned To Stop Using Logic And Love To Troll".

[jpgray]

28. Palast is just giving the same line as many before

Is it valid? It's a point of view. Essentially he's saying that Kerry is superior to Bush, but to hang with the cool kids he laments that they both cause him physical pain. As much as I find the melodrama entertaining, the point begins and ends with 'Kerry is better than Bush'. Chomsky did the same tapdance around the issue. The only other question is whether one finds that difference significant enough to vote on. If so, the guy's for Kerry. If no, the guy is likely for third party advancement. Chomsky said that the 'tiny' difference, magnified by the power of the office, was significant. And he's right.

[blm]

30. Sloppy journalism. Beneath Palast.

Kerry was for the balanced budget when he came into office in 85, he did not bend to the GOP by voting for it when they took over in 95. Palast is wrong to say he did.

By saying Kerry voted for war and not for a resolution that had certain steps to be taken with war as a last resort, Palast lets Bush off the hook as if they all voted FOR Bush's war. They did not. Palast is wrong to let Bush off the hook.

Kerry voted for welfare reform, but it was always understood that it would be revisited should the program need altering. The GOP stranglehold on the Congress has prevented that. Kerry and Kennedy both submitted legislation to address the problems. They were ignored. Palast does not acknoeledge that and again lets the GOP off the hook by putting the blame on Kerry.

[JanMichael]

31. How precisely is he "wrong" on the BB comment?

"Then there was that little story meant to show us all he is a Man for All Seasons, above party politics. "I broke with many in my own party," he said, "to vote for a balanced budget, because I thought it was the right thing to do." No, John, it wasn't. It was craven political cowardice, going with the anti-government hysteria that put a knife into the heart of the programs you cried over tonight."

I think it's apparent that he's refering to the stragulation of the Gingrich/Clinton years, not Graham Rudman or a Constitutional Amendment, just Budgets that hurt those that could least afford them.

Wrong? Not really. Remember times changed so the word "Balanced Budget" took on a different tone.

"By saying Kerry voted for war and not for a resolution that had certain steps to be taken with war as a last resort, Palast lets Bush off the hook as if they all voted FOR Bush's war. They did not. Palast is wrong to let Bush off the hook."

Bull. Palast has never cut Generallissimo el Busho any slack, this was about John Kerry anyway, the assumpstion is that the Chimp is still the Chimp.

Personally this line is the most ridiculous, "As President, I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence.", the point is that it's pretty f'ing obvious that our esteemed millionaire Senators did not demand any "hard evidence", or do you think that they did?

Anyway, thanks for your comments.

[blm]

32. Since Kerry supported the BB back in 85, precisely HOW is it political

cowardice to STILL be for it in 95? The man has been for it for almost 20 years and you want to believe he's for it because he's fears the Republicans? LOL. Yeah, I noticed all that fear when he worked for 5 years with every power group in DC against him during BCCi and IranContra. And he was pursuing it with hardly any backup.

Palast didn't do his homework and he smeared Kerry based on his own LAZY assumption. If you're going to cry "political cowardice" you should prove "political cowardice" first. Isn't that fair to expect from someone who is an investigative journalist?

Evidence presented to a President isn't always the same as what the Senate sees, now, is it? You think Kerry would do the same as Bush and laugh at the notion that he would look at the hard evidence, that's your call.

[JanMichael]

33. One to stop Reagan's insane budget busting. The other was the Gingrich

...fuck the poor manifesto. Not that I was too keen on Graham Rudman anyway, it wasn't very Liberal if you get my drift. But the 1994 attack of the asshole Repukes ushered on that fabulous saying, "The Era of "Big" Government is over!".

Either way I maintain that the issues aren't remotely the same.

Also, a Balanced Budget Amendment isn't the same as a Balanced Budget for one Unified Budget year.

One last thing before I head off to bed...The Democratic Party triangulated thier way right out of Liberal, Humane, Progressive Politics starting in the 80's and ending in the mid-90's, mainly because they feared losing to the even more monied Right. There are many of us who haven't accepted that shift as either "good" or "necessary". It's no surprise that Palast would accuse almost all of the Plutocratic Senators of the exact same thing that was applied to Kerry, Political Cowardice.

But after all of that I'm still voting for Kerry & Edwards. Because that slap isn't nearly as bad as the brick.

[Darranar]

44. Kerry voted to authorize the war with Iraq...

under that resolution, Bush could have gone to war - and he did.

Therefore, Kerry voted for war.

[blm]

49. You let Bush off the hook for implementing the steps to avoid war, though.

Funny how so many of you choose to do that.

ALL resolutions mean for war as a last resort. They are supposed to be tools to avoid war by laying out actions to be used first.

You all don't realize that you let Bush off the hook by simplifying it as a vote for war.

[genius]

34. Greg's got a point. Kerry needs to believe in his Democratic constituents

That's the only way he deserves our trust. Still we have to beat Bush.

[LWolf]

37. No need to ship him to Guantanamo.

I appreciate a non-partisan journalist. That's what we really need. We don't need to own all the media and shove our own brand of propaganda down the public's throat; that would make us no better than the right.

We need journalists, and a media, that will report on issues without pledging alliegance to any "side." If our take on the issues is valid, they'll hold up in a fair debate.

[saracat]

38. Dissing Kerry is NOT the way to get elected. We get enough

of that from the other side. Palast is a whore looking for his own publicity and he doesn't care who is in office as long as he can make a buck crapping on them. Palast has never liked anyone. Maybe some think this is justified but I call it opportunism for self gain.

[Darranar]

42. When it comes to politicians...

I pretty much share Palast's universal dislike, with a few exceptions. (Dennis Kucinich comes to mind.)

Among the best points for him is that he doesn't care what party politicians are on, if they cater to big business he'll go after them - and rightfully.

[GreenArrow]

48. "opportunism for self gain"

Are you talking about Palast or Kerry?

[apnu]

50. perhaps he's trying to be a journalist and not a shrill for any party.

Palast like Amy Goodman calls it as they see it. A journalist will question authority no matter who is in charge. They don't like Palast and Goodman because they ask tough questions and demand good answers. That how our media is supposed to work.

Though I don't like to see our guy Kerry taking heat, I applaud Palast, Goodman and their ilk because they keep the feeble heart of journalism alive in a world of 24 hour op/ed networks.

[Darranar]

41. Thank you, Greg Palast...

that was an excellent piece.

Thanks for posting, JanMichael.

[Pallas180]

45. Can't say I disagree, but we may be able to straighten out a slap, but

repeatedly getting hit with the brick will eventually kill us
and democracy.

We have no other choice.

[GreenArrow]

47. getting slapped enough times

can kill you too. A brick upside the head just does it quicker.