Sen. Kerr preparing for confirmation hearing

[MBS]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/john-kerry_n_2404202.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003?6
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., President Barack Obama's pick for Secretary of State, arrives for a meeting at the White House in Washington, Friday, Dec. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland says Kerry was at the department's Foggy Bottom headquarters Wednesday. She says he received, quote, "a huge pile of briefing materials." He will report to the State Department regularly starting Friday.

[wisteria]

1. How exciting! n/t

[YvonneCa]

2. Our country is in such...

...good hands these days. Thanks for posting this, MBS.

[Mass]

3. Apparently, Josh Marshall thinks he has more important things to do

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/01/dear_john.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Talking-Points-Memo+%28Talking+Points+Memo%3A+by+Joshua+Micah+Marshall%29

Now, I would not say that I would not enjoy seeing that, but, first, I am not sure it is really practical, and secondly, where are all these guys when Kerry is attacked (talking about Josh Marshall here, not Hagel, though ?)

[MBS]

4. yeah, I saw that.

And I think that Marshall's comment is really dumb. "up to it"?? BOO. Of course he is. That's not the bloody point.
Especially since SoS is nonpartisan position, I suspect that Kerry is not as free to comment as he might have been even a month ago.

[Mass]

5. I thought the same thing.

This said, I guess the post is even more poorly written than that. I could not figure why McCain (I dont remember having heard him smear Hagel. Graham is another issue, though).

My guess is that he sees that as a Vietnam Vet story, with Kerry calling McCain out for not defending Hagel.

[Inuca]

6. I have heard McCain as well

talking against Hagel. I do not remember what he said... notas extreme (and nonsensical) as what Graham said, especially yesterday. But I am pretty sure that it's coming, meaning that we will hear more from McCain and it will be rather nasty.

[karynnj]

7. How asinine!

In the first place, his main goal has to be preparing for his own hearing and that will include asking the same 99 Senators for their vote. It is true that when speaking privately with his peers, he could discuss Hagel. It is possible that speaking of some shared experiences with Hagel, he might persuade them to at least listen to Hagel. Quiet, behind the scenes, support would likely be far more effective here than going to reporters or making public statements.

I don't get why some on the left, who never really rallied behind Kerry, have demanded that he and he alone needs to go out to fight for anyone they want fought for. (Note that when he does, as he did for Susan Rice, his words are ignored by these same people. )

What is unfortunate is that in Hagel, you have people on the left and right against him. If he loses or is not nominated, it will seem that AIPAC has more power than it likely really does. J Street incidentally is supporting Hagel ( http://jstreet.org/the-facts-on-chuck-hagel )

[MBS]

9. this is exactly right:

I don't get why some on the left, who never really rallied behind Kerry, have demanded that he and he alone needs to go out to fight for anyone they want fought for. (Note that when he does, as he did for Susan Rice, his words are ignored by these same people. )

yup, exactly right.

[beachmom]

8. I saw the same thing and was puzzled.

Kerry is already transitioning to be Secretary of State, which is a non-political job. He simply cannot get involved. Is this some kind of rap on Kerry because McCain went after Rice? I don't know, but a lot of liberal pundits who I really like seem to have a blind spot when it comes to Kerry. I think the feeling is he can take the abuse, but it still stinks.

[JI7]

12. i actually support the HAgel pick but this is just stupid

[beachmom]

10. Corker:

Andrea Mitchell
@mitchellreports
.@SenBobCorker says Kerry confirm “be like a hot knife going thru butter” - Hagel & Brennan, not so much WATCH: nbcnews.to/13gvmmx

2:40pm · 8 Jan 13 · web


Amazing how now Kerry is now the uncontroversial guy. A lot of Swift Boat heads are exploding with that realization.

[Mass]

11. He also announced that HRC hearing would be the 22th and Kerry's right after, though Menendez has

announced anything yet, so it probably needs to be confirmed.

[Mass]

13. Interesting lesson of History - Party Loyalty Pays Off for John Kerry

I am not familiar with Cass, but if the comparison is with Bryan and McGovern, I am fine with it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rich-rubino/party-loyalty-pays-off-fo_b_2406514.html

Party Loyalty Pays Off for John Kerry

Nominated by Barack Obama to serve as U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry is one of a cavalcade of losing Democratic presidential nominees whose political careers have seen a second life. In 2004, had less than 60,000 votes in Ohio changed hands, Kerry would have been the first person to defeat a wartime President in U.S. history. Instead, Kerry returned to the work in the U.S. Senate, winning reelection in 2008 and securing the gavel of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kerry is not the first losing Democratic presidential nominee to be nominated as Secretary of State. William Jennings Bryan, who was the Democratic Party's standard-bearer in three elections, became Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson. There is an eerie similitude between Bryan and Kerry. In 2007, Kerry, seen by many as the epitome of the old guard Democratic establishment, bucked the Democratic establishment candidate, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, in favor of the insurgent, U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Similarly, Bryan endorsed Wilson's bid for the Democratic Party nomination in 1912 over the putative frontrunner, House Speaker Champ Clark of Missouri. Bryan's endorsement helped Wilson secure enough delegates to be nominated on the 46th ballot at the Democratic Convention.

Obama, like Wilson, had a meteoric rise to winning his party's nomination. Wilson had just been elected to his first political office (Governor of New Jersey), only two years earlier. Obama had just been elected to his first statewide political office three years earlier. In both cases, their nominations were validated by the endorsements of Democratic luminaries, including Bryan in 1912 and Kerry in 2007. Both men were rewarded by being nominated for Secretary of State.

...

Like Humphrey and McGovern, Kerry returned to the U.S. Senate and became a loyal foot soldier for his party's agenda. Like Cass and Bryan, Kerry's fidelity to his party was rewarded by being nominated to the coveted Cabinet position of Secretary of State. Unlike Democrats Davis and Smith, who expressed open hostility toward their Party's Democratic President, Kerry became a steadfast supporter of the next Democratic President and is now reaping his political reward for that act of loyalty.

[JI7]

14. the Dems who lost seem to be seen in a more positive way now

than the Republicans who ended up winning. this will just increase with time.