Out of the nice reaction on Twitter from JK's speech, great article about '04:

[beachmom]

http://prospect.org/article/defense-kerry-2004

In Defense of Kerry 2004

JAMELLE BOUIE SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

The Massachusetts senator outperformed the fundamentals.

CHARLOTTE—John Kerry just gave a strong speech at the Democratic National Convention, inspiring a lot of commentators to wonder where this Kerry was when he challenged George W. Bush in 2004. As it stands, he’s become a punch line for poor presidential efforts. But, to defend the Senator from Massachusetts, Kerry actually out-performed the fundamentals in 2004. According to political scientist James Campbell, Bush was favored to win that year, based off of economic indicators and his overall approval rating.

Go to the link for the rest of the article. This is what we have been saying for 8 years! Bush should have handily won in '04 based on all kinds of indicators.

Overall, REALLY good reaction to the speech. Just thought this article should be its own post.

Edit: Actually, I really like this TAP writer Jamelle Bouie. He's being retweeted a lot, so I'm now going to follow him. Here he is on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jbouie

[JI7]

1. yup, if Kerry was half as bad as Romney he would have lost Big

plus Romney has the whore media propping him up right now while they were totally against Kerry.

[MBS]

2. this was good, thanks.

I especially appreciated the author's comments about Sen. Kerry's political skill. Damned straight! A few years ago, a commentator (I wish I could remember who) characterized JK as the "most underrated politician in America." Still sounds right to me.

[ProSense]

3. Kerry gave a great speech

Classic JK on policy and funny as ever! Mitt's going to feel the sting from that.

[ladym55]

4. It was a great speech

And it did make me think of 2004. The same media whores who keep attempting to spin Rmoney and Lyin' Ryan as our hope for the future were out there in 2004 trashing Kerry as a flip-flopper (so perhaps Mittens should be characterized as a whirligig??) and wooden (Romney Bott 2012???) and out of touch with regular people (hello? car elevator, anyone?).

I was so excited that Kerry was speaking on foreign policy where he could show all he knew and understood.

This has been a great convention with excellent speakers.

[YvonneCa]

8. I agree with all you say...

...here. The convention has been great...as I mentioned elsewhere, "Chicken Soup for the Democrats' Soul." I LOVE the idea that Romney is a 'whirligig.'

[karynnj]

5. Thanks for posting this

This is what we have said for years. It is hard to convey how unlikely a win for any Democrat in 2004 would have been - just given the approval rating, the economy, and the bonding over 911. To add to that a media that really was biased and hurt him the most by filtering everything he did so severely that many never heard things he spoke of multiple times a day. Add in the Catholic church in some areas - obsessed about the 2+ likely SCJ and abortion. Then add in that he picked the lame narcissistic party favorite for VP, who was completely unhelpful. (The latter being the only liability that was partly his fault.)

I also wonder if he would not have had cancer in 2003 if that could have made a difference. He looks younger and more energetic now - 8 years later! Not to mention, if he were at the DNC in February 2003, it would have been much harder for Dean to be seen as the only anti-war candidate - which might have helped.

As it was, more people now seem to accept that the voting machine shortage in Democratic areas likely caused his loss of Ohio. This would have been the most incredible upset in American history reflecting just how good he is/was.

[YvonneCa]

9. Thoughts...

...on your great post:

This is what we have said for years. It is hard to convey how unlikely a win for any Democrat in 2004 would have been - just given the approval rating, the economy, and the bonding over 911. To add to that a media that really was biased and hurt him the most by filtering everything he did so severely that many never heard things he spoke of multiple times a day. Add in the Catholic church in some areas - obsessed about the 2+ likely SCJ and abortion. Then add in that he picked the lame narcissistic party favorite for VP, who was completely unhelpful. (The latter being the only liability that was partly his fault.)
I am sure the win was unlikely. That is why the 'so-called loss' stung so badly for many of us, considering how well he did, how hard he worked, and how unfair the media was...not to mention Karl Rove and Ohio.

I also wonder if he would not have had cancer in 2003 if that could have made a difference. He looks younger and more energetic now - 8 years later! Not to mention, if he were at the DNC in February 2003, it would have been much harder for Dean to be seen as the only anti-war candidate - which might have helped.

Cancer absolutely makes a difference...even if caught early and successfully treated. Besides all the physical effects, emotional effects are tremendous. As a two time survivor, I will tell you that cancer realigns your life priorities and changes your focus on what is important in life. The diagnosis is highly stressful, because one worries about how it will affect loved ones...almost more than one's self. It reminds you that we are all mortal, and time is finite. I would never presume to guess how that changes a person. We are all different. But it DOES change a person.



As it was, more people now seem to accept that the voting machine shortage in Democratic areas likely caused his loss of Ohio. This would have been the most incredible upset in American history reflecting just how good he is/was.

There was a shortage. There were also defective machines...machines that could not be verifed or recounted, although they tried. This is where I disagree with some that JK didn't do enough...he absolutely did try to get to the truth.

[politicasista]

10. Thanks

Had to come back and re-read this. Thanks for sharing your story and all of the above.

[politicasista]

7. He was great!

Last edited Fri Sep 7, 2012, 02:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Two things, when you have folks like Tamar Braxton and Tami Roman (of Braxton Family Values and B Ball Wives) retweeting your comments, you know you hit it out the park!

Surprising that more AA Beantowners weren't retweeting what he said, considering he is the Senior Senator of MA. Might have been because of the primaries and the MTV VMA Awards. Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley and her other friend from Brookline created a blog about the DNC experience.

http://ayannajesse.wordpress.com/