“The truth is,the President got a lot of things here we've been fighting for"

[Capn Sunshine]

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, defended President Obama tonight from some of the intra-party fighting over the tentative agreement the president made with Republicans over extending the Bush-era tax cuts.

Kerry, who has been a top White House ally in that past, said that he did not agree with certain portions of the plan, but that it was a pragmatic realization of what is currently politically doable.

“It's a lot easier to deal in hypotheticals than it is to deal with the Senate as it is,” Kerry said. “We don't have 60 Senators who oppose the Bush tax policies the way I do, and the way Barack Obama and Joe Biden do, so how do you wrestle with that? Are you willing to say no to unemployment insurance if this is the only way to get it?”

“The truth is, the President got a lot of things here we've been fighting for that we haven't yet been able to win any other way,” Kerry added

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/poli...oba_1.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey, imagine that. First Clinton, now Kerry. Why it's just a love fest isn't it? Here's another example of a pragmatic leader trying to explain to folks that won't appreciate or understand politics how this is worth doing.

But far be it from me to get in the way of the 24/7 bonfire and rally for the end of President Obama. But while the fire dies down and we await the loghaulers for fresh fuel, I thought I'd just pass this info along. As I gaze out upon the vast audience gathered here this afternoon, I find myself wondering, "who the F are these people?". Then I remember I was working most days, returning home dog tired with no reserve left to get online and post stuff, let alone read it. Good thing that pursuit is behind me. I now have more time to post and read stuff. Neat. Try to make it worh my while, OK?

[Forkboy]

1. Too bad you can't post this stuff sans the attitude.

You're not trying to convince anyone, just playing the same game the ones you complain about are playing. :shrug:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. This Place Has Always Been Like That

I expect John Kerry to get trashed in this thread.

[Capn Sunshine]

6. Naaa, I really witheld my snark. Honest.

I find that sarcasm is the great leveler.
Ps Love you
PPs mean it

[Forkboy]

7. Hey, I love snark and sarcasm.

But I'm not going to kid myself into thinking it helps anything. It's a verbal self pat on the back, nothing more, nothing less. It's a leveler, but whose level?

[Supersedeas]

38. With majorities in both chambers and the bullypulpit of the Presidency, who could expect more than

what Mitch McConnell thinks is doable....OK.

[bajamary]

2. Fighting for a return to the Gilded Age of the 1920

Our entire nation is on the brink of having the rich make good on their decades long battle to overturn FDR's New Deal. I do not want to return to the GLory Days of the Gilded Age of the 1920's.

This is a battle between those that have "it" Big Bucks and Little Taxes If Any, and the rest of us, the 98% of Americans those of us who are middle class, working and poorer people of America regardless of color, race, religion or sexual orientation.

Threats by people, pundits and politicians will never make me support a candidate who clearly values those that have and not those of us who are not in the top income brackets on this planet.

Mr. Obama has chosen his true allies, the bankers and hedge fund kings and uber-wealthy who quite rarely pay taxes, or who pay such a small percentage of their income.

While the tax bill proposed by Mr. Obama and his Republican allies will actually raise the amount of taxes for those of us who earn less than $20,000. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, the only groups likely to face a tax increase are those near the bottom of the income scale -- individuals who make less than $20,000 and families with earnings below $40,000.

This support by Mr Obama of a tax plan for the rich and by the rich is beyond a line in anyone's sandbox. Enough is really enough.

[Enogero]

4. like extending these tax cuts for the rich

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/">wait, im not sure we've all been fighting for that (see no 38)

[bluestateguy]

5. If Kerry had become president

I'm convinced this board would have turned against him within a matter of a few weeks.

[Capn Sunshine]

8. no question in my mind

It's really no ones fault. The Bush adminstration and the reupblican congress before that was SO abusive, that all anyone wants anymore is to see their blood in the streets. Heads on a pole. Anyone who can't/won't deliver that just isn't going to satisfy the like of DU. They like their meat red.

[Forkboy]

10. because for many it's about issues, not the letter in front of the politican's name.

I like Kerry a lot. I live in Mass and have happily voted for him every single chance I've had. But he's not perfect, and I don't always agree with him. My like for him doesn't override the importance of whatever issue is at hand. And it shouldn't for anybody. No politician is ever free from criticism, and not a single one in the history of human politics deserves to be.

[ZombieHorde]

31. The lack of absolutes in your post terrifies and offends me.

How can I place all of your views into the Box of Easy Judgments if you insist on gray areas?

No politician is ever free from criticism, and not a single one in the history of human politics deserves to be.

Only because Gary Gygax has never ran for office.

[Forkboy]

32. LOL

I was just scolded in my personal life for using an absolute last month. I hate when I find myself using them so I was glad she called me on it. And that's not to say that there aren't areas where simple black and white thinking does apply, but as I get older that column gets shorter and shorter. :)

Only because Gary Gygax has never ran for office.



:D

[MessiahRp]

33. +1

I worked my ass off for Kerry from June 2003 - on. I love the man. But he's dead wrong if he thinks this tax deal is defensible. And frankly so is anyone on this board. It depresses me how far to the right it seems this board has leaned since Obama was elected. Many of the same traits of Bush supporters (ie their lemming-like robotic approval no matter what he does) show up repeatedly and it seems many of the people here smear the left at every turn which convinces me that we have some Republicans in our midst.

Rp

[Forkboy]

34. I learned under Clinton that the Dems have their own 20 percenters.

That margin that will forgive anything as long as their Party's letter comes in front of the policy, just like that hardcore group of Bush supporters who excused anything at all in the name of their Party. It caught me by surprise in the 90's when I saw people who for years had claimed to stand for something suddenly go softer than an amateur porn star under the lights, but not this time.

These people remind me of the kids at Thanksgiving who have to sit at the children's table, always waiting for their day at the grown up's table, and thinking that enough ass-kissing will get them there. Meanwhile, the people they so admire and expect to sit with wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

[politicasista]

36. Don't throw him under the bus

because of that. We agree to disagree with pols we like. Our anger should be more at the GOP. They are the real "hostage takers."

[zeemike]

11. And they would have too

If Kerry had done what Obama did in his first two years....I would have expected the same.
Bottom line...this is not a TV show that runs on personalities....it is real life with real life consequences.
And I loved Obama and still do...but he has for some reason sold us out....but I don't blame him I blame our system which we must change if we are ever to get back to normal.

[Pirate Smile]

14. I'm sure it would have turned against him before he was inaugurated.

The good & doable can never compare to the perfect. Never good enough.

[Milo_Bloom]

18. Many on this board were against him BEFORE the election.

[vaberella]

41. Agreed! n/t

[BeyondGeography]

9. The truth is there wasn't much of a fight

[zeemike]

12. Notice how that 60 vote is always used as an excuse

not to bother trying?
And remember how the GOP threatened to use the "Nuclear Option" when they did not have the 60?
It is a convenient thing to have around...then you can fail to produce what you were elected to produce and have an excuse for failing....and an excuse for not even trying.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. and essentially the same cast of characters was defending

capitulation then when we could have filibustered. It is an ongoing marvel how every defeat is respun into turd-tinged gold.

[NorthCarolina]

22. I am beginning to think that the 60 vote requirement was intended to prevent liberal-progressive

legislation from having any chance of being passed.

[calimary]

30. What bothers me is how much the bad guys got done with no majority at all.

That "we don't have the votes" business is just a little bit difficult to swallow.

[vaberella]

42. How is it an excuse when you have shady Dems and ALL Republicans against. n/t

[FrenchieCat]

13. I'm starting to believe that the less rec an OP has, the better it is!

Thanks for posting this! :hi:

[Scurrilous]

15. Always on good indicator on the New DU.

:thumbsup:

[NorthCarolina]

23. If nothing else, it at least shows you reside with the minority opinion. nt

[FrenchieCat]

28. No.....

I rarely use the unrec feature much.....
But then, I'm not acting like a 5 years old, conspiring elsewhere to come
here in a kool kid group and do the unrec deed to those authors
and their articles I don't like.

[Kber]

26. interesting observation

The "Greatest" page hasn't been as usefull as it normally is the past few days.

[silver10]

16. The price is way too high...

I think that the 98% who have less should be more important than the 2% who have not suffered and are enjoying great prosperity. Of those 2%, how many voted for Obama do you think? How many of those 2% voted for their local congressman and senator - not very many. Any Democrat who supports the Bush-error tax cuts is really a repug in Democrat clothing.

I would also not like to undermine Social Security - it is also severely hurting and that 2% that we don't pay is not any sacrifice for that 2%.

Cut the wars, that's where the big money is - imagine what we could do with that money.

[Milo_Bloom]

17. Because John Kerry is never wrong...

... cept for the vote on the Iraq war... the patriot act and all the other reasons I didn't vote for him.

With friends like John Kerry.. who need enemies anyway.

[girl gone mad]

24. Maybe he's just for it before he'll be against it..

too early to know.

:hide:

[Exen Trik]

20. It seems like the president won every battle he fought.

I say he fought every battle he already knew he could win, and that isn't the same thing at all.

[Larkspur]

21. Obama is NOT a pragmatist. He's a Reagan/Blue Dog Democrat ideologue

His ideology was evident in how he attacked the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party the other day. He used almost verbatim the lines of attack the DLC and Blue Dogs use against Progressive Democrats.

And hist latest "negotiated tax bill" -- Obama-GOP Tax Cut Bill Turning Into 'Christmas Tree' Tinseled With Gifts For Lobbyists, Lawmakers -- did nothing for the 99'rs. It basically kept the status quo, so I don't expect unemployment to go down much next year. The Republicans and Obama have already proved that tax cuts do not generate jobs, but they keep digging that same rut over and over again.

[avaistheone1]

25. You nailed it.

Obama must have really loved those Reagan years.

:kick:

[vaberella]

43. If that were the case. Ford and most of the American car Industry would have went down in flames.

nt

[Arkana]

27. Without even reading the thread I know that the only honest Senator

in Massachusetts is being burned at the stake by DU's Angry Brigade.

[Forkboy]

35. Maybe you should read the thread then.

And stop relying on such simplistic cop outs? :shrug:

[AllyCat]

29. He got a lot of things we wanted at what expense?

A lot of things we really DON'T want like Social Security's demise, the end of UI at the end of 13 months, the end of social programs we like for which we will have NO MONEY at the end of this "tax holiday" for the middle and wealthiest. A tax HIKE for the lowest paid workers and poor who probably won't be too noisy so we can ignore them.

I have no intention of supporting something that ends up screwing us in the end.

[apocalypsehow]

37. Exactly right.

:thumbsup:

[mikekohr]

39. kick

[niceypoo]

40. We will never know what we could have gotten

Because Obama came to the negotiations waving a white flag