John Kerry

I, Brian · 03-03-2004, 09:55 PM

I'm curious - who is John Kerry, and what's his background.

We don't tend to learn too much about internal US politics here, and the clear domination of the Democrat nominations by John Kerry seems to deserve wider attention.

Why is he being so enthusiastically supported?

Curious.

brucegdc · 03-03-2004, 11:20 PM

I think the primary reason is that he's seen as the best candidate to beat Bush - the polls are showing them neck & neck according to the radio this morning.

Here's his official website bio: http://www.johnkerry.com/about/

The rhetoric is basically standard middle of the road Democrat - you can navigate to it from the site above. Some interesting pieces are the support for the same rights for civil unions as marriages (which is an interesting dodge to that issue), and the requirement to have all high schoolers perform community service to graduate (hmm.. education is a STATE issue according to the constitution...). Cut the budget deficit in 1/2 in 2 years.... increase funding for all sorts of programs...

Cynical? Who? Me?

... Vote Cthulu - why settle for the *Lesser* of the Evils? ....

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine · 03-03-2004, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by brucegdc
The rhetoric is basically standard middle of the road Democrat - you can navigate to it from the site above. Some interesting pieces are the support for the same rights for civil unions as marriages (which is an interesting dodge to that issue), and the requirement to have all high schoolers perform community service to graduate (hmm.. education is a STATE issue according to the constitution...). Cut the budget deficit in 1/2 in 2 years.... increase funding for all sorts of programs...

Cynical? Who? Me?

... Vote Cthulu - why settle for the *Lesser* of the Evils? ....

You and me both, bruce. You and me both. I've been tempted to write in Snoopy a number of times, but I came to realize that it would nullify my ballot. (Picture Woodstock as one of the Secretaries, whichever one I'll leave up to your fertile imagination.)

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine

Susma Rio Sep · 03-04-2004, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brucegdc

I think the primary reason is that he's seen as the best candidate to beat Bush - the polls are showing them neck & neck according to the radio this morning.

Here's his official website bio: http://www.johnkerry.com/about/

The rhetoric is basically standard middle of the road Democrat - you can navigate to it from the site above. Some interesting pieces are the support for the same rights for civil unions as marriages (which is an interesting dodge to that issue), and the requirement to have all high schoolers perform community service to graduate (hmm.. education is a STATE issue according to the constitution...). Cut the budget deficit in 1/2 in 2 years.... increase funding for all sorts of programs...

Cynical? Who? Me?

... Vote Cthulu - why settle for the *Lesser* of the Evils? ....

"Cynical? Who? Me?" that sounds familiar.

My own impression about Bush and Kerry is that I always wonder if Americans are all genuinely educated, whether they would have put Bush in office in place of Gore, and now with all the facts coming out on the Iraq war and Bush's economic policies if they would still prefer Bush to Kerry.

Susma Rio Sep

Kaldayen · 03-04-2004, 04:51 AM

Does anyone know his position about the Kyoto Protocol?

I, Brian · 03-04-2004, 07:50 AM

I was simply wondering where he's got all the support so fast though - I figure he's been at least a noticed player in the political field for some years?

After all, even here we've heard of Wesley Clark and I would've thought him last longer; John Edwards somehow evokes something of JFK, etc.

As for Kyoto - it's not up to the president, as much as Congress, yes? Even Clinton wasn't keen on signing for that, and even if he had, there was no expection of it going through Capitol Hill successfully, so far as I remember?

Vajradhara · 03-04-2004, 05:12 PM

Kerry was the vice governer of Massachusetts when Dukakis was running for El Presidente. he's currently a senator from said state.

he's been in the political arena for quite a while now.. as far as these things go. i would suspect that you'd be more knowledgeable about Clark seeing as he was the NATO commander for a bit.