Here are President John KERRY's quips at the Alfalfa Club dinner

[UTUSN]

Last edited Sun Jan 28, 2018, 11:44 PM - Edit history (1)

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Mike Bloomberg, outgoing president, introduced John Kerry as the next president of Alfalfa Club. Bloomberg's best: "Who needs the White House when you can be president of the Alfalfa Club? Actually, I've loved every minute of it. I come to the office every weekday at 11 a.m." (*zing*!1)

"Here I am — President John Kerry! I knew this day would come. Although given the Alfalfa average income, thank God I didn’t get Swift-yachted.”

“I’m proud to serve as your new club president. And don’t worry, this doesn’t mean you’re also getting John Edwards.”

“Despite the pressure he’s under, the White House physician says President Trump is in great shape — a trim 239 pounds. Personally, I just won’t believe him until he produces his long-form girth certificate.”

“As Mitt Romney and I can attest, being elected in Massachusetts means: You are only a heartbeat away from losing the presidency.”

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[oasis]

1. Great material. Hope Kerry keeps himself in play for 2020 run.

[Rainbow Droid]

2. It was stolen from Kerry in 2004 and Obama likely would not have been able to run until 2012.

So obviously you see where all of this is going. The 2004 theft looks pretty huge in hindsight, doesn't it? Maybe bigger than 2000.

[karynnj]

4. Two words: Roberts and Alito

In hindsight, I suspect that the fact that Rehnquist was already known to be likely to leave and possibly another Republican leaning Justice as well, led to a HUGE effort on the part of people concerned about the SC. Even so, they had to steal Ohio.

In a way, the same was true in 2016 -- where due to McConnell, the winner would replace Scalia. (In 2008, not only was the country SO angry at Bush, the likely SCJs leaving were the liberal ones - meaning that there was far less heard from the make abortion illegal people than in 2004.

[smirkymonkey]

3. I think there is something very presidential and statesmanlike about John Kerry, but

I am not so sure I want him to run again, even though I am a MA Dem. I think he would do a great job, I just don't think he would win over most of the country. First of all, he is quite old and secondly, I think he is perceived as too much of a liberal elite. I don't have a problem w/ liberal elites, but it doesn't play well nationally.

[karynnj]

5. The jokes were good, but the toast to McCain was even better.

“There’s a fellow Alfalfan, who couldn’t be with us tonight, who I met 32 years ago this month. We both loved the Navy. But we had opposite views about a war in which we’d both served. When we first came to the Senate, we didn’t trust each other. We didn’t really know each other. But after a long conversation on a long flight, we decided to work hand in hand to actually make peace with Vietnam and with ourselves here in America. We investigated the fate of Americans still missing from the war. We traveled together to Vietnam and together, we found common ground in the most improbable place.

“I will never forget standing with John McCain, the two of us alone, in the very cell in the Hanoi Hilton where years of his life were lived out in pain but always in honor. Our differences were transformed into years of common effort to finally end a war that divided too many people for too long. John always says ‘a fight not joined is a fight not enjoyed.’ He loves to debate, he loves to battle. But one thing the service and the Senate taught John and me -- at some point, America’s got to come together.

“And I hope you’ll believe the two of us Alfalfans: if Washington, is a city where you can bridge the divide between a protester and a POW, finding common ground on anything else shouldn’t be so hard at all. I will always thank John McCain for sharing in the discovery of that lesson -- and tonight I ask all of you to join me in raising a glass to one of the best and bravest men I know, my friend -- our friend -- John McCain.”

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2018/01/28/inside-the-alfalfa-dinner-jose-andres-vs-ivanka-trump-remembering-ed-lorenzen-rubio-chief-of-staff-fired-paul-manafort-profile-big-names-who-bought-fake-twitter-followers-sunday-best-240540


It was a generous, real, sincere statement of his and McCain's relationship over the years. As such it stands on its own, but he generalizes to a gentle, but persuasive call that Washington needs to look for common ground. (Not to mention, the fact that McCain and Kerry respected each other even when they disagreed is an example worth following.)

It is also nice that this bipartisan group of politicians, businessmen etc elected Kerry as the President, showing that among his peers, he is respected. As he should be. This is worth keeping in mind when, for him like Obama, Hillary Clinton etc the noise on twitter is very disrespectful and negative.