How about a big shout-out for John Kerry.

[JDPriestly]

The world sometimes seems to be on the edge of disaster, and he comes through.

The goal of foreign policy is to make a better world. Considering all the hate, greed, anger and the potential for destruction, trying to reach that goal is a very stressful job.

John Kerry has been putting out fires all over the place. We probably don't even know about half of them.

John Kerry has come into the State Department like a knight in shining armor and done an amazing job.

And for that I thank him.

Does anyone want to join me?

[RKP5637]

1. K&R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've always liked him for years! n/t

[emulatorloo]

2. Absolutely! Great man, brilliant, compassionate, a true public servant.

[Octafish]

3. Guy's busted his chops for this nation and for peace.

It is an honor to stand with John Kerry.

[MH1]

4. Heck yeah I'll join you! Kerry is the real deal.

We missed out on a great President in John Kerry but Secretary of State seems to be his true calling.

I wonder if he can/will stay on as SoS in the next administration?

[blm]

5. World leaders acknowledged him last week as 'Diplomat of the Year'...corpmedia ignored it.

Those in the trenches say he has been the most tenacious advocate negotiating for peaceful solutions that they have ever witnessed.

[mcar]

6. K&R

[boston bean]

7. Didn't he vote for the IWR?

I thought that was the stick we were all use to measure a politicians worth?



John Kerry is doing a magnificent job ! As dis his predecessor.

[Skittles]

35. the IWR vote was DISGUSTING

nothing to fucking joke about

[SammyWinstonJack]

42. +1000000

[boston bean]

43. I wasn't joking, I was being serious. nt

[Skittles]

46. even worse

the cost of that INSANE vote have been STAGGERING and no one has been held to account - it is PATHETIC

[boston bean]

47. You've seem to have missed something, cause your posts to me are making zero sense as

a response to what I wrote.

[Skittles]

48. what exactly did that mean?

"I thought that was the stick we were all use to measure a politicians worth?" (even as sarcasm)

I do not trust ANYONE who voted for that piece of SHIT war, no matter what they have "accomplished"

They all have blood on their hands.

[boston bean]

49. And you've picked my response in this thread to respond to? LOL.

[Scarsdale]

8. Yes

A true diplomat, steady and respected.

[ReRe]

9. I'll join you...

... the last time I seen him (responding to Bibi's behavior), I think yesterday, he wasn't looking so good. Looked run-down, tired. Did you notice? Wish he could catch some R&R.

[karynnj]

21. He really sounded like he has a bad cold

He had several forums, speeches etc over the last few weeks -- and his voice has sounded progressively horse. He looked great at the foreign policy speech and at IU and Princeton.

He doesn't seem to take much time for anything -- remember that he joined a conference on ISIS from a hospital bed BEFORE he was operated on after he arrived in Boston. Not to mention, no one thought that he really could continue the Iran negotiations - but he continued them from Massachusetts General.

[JDPriestly]

26. That moved me to post this thread.

[ReRe]

50. He lives the phrase...

... "above and beyond the call of duty."

[mountain grammy]

10. I'll join you on that..

for the thankless task he has of explaining America.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. John Kerry would have been a great president.

I was devastated when he lost to Bush.

[DrBulldog]

15. You could fill a graveyard of incredible Americans who would have rivaled George Washington

but our arcane and often ridiculous electoral image-crazy political machinery just simply ground them up into dust.

Yes, Kerry would have been a GREAT one, and we would have been out of both Iraq and Afghanistan years earlier and the war criminals would have been prosecuted.

[Cyrano]

16. He didn't lose to Bush

The 2004 election was stolen in Ohio.

And Bush was APPOINTED BY THE SUPREME COURT in 2000.

George W. Bush was NEVER elected president of the United States.

Kerry would have perhaps been a great president. We'll never know because of the criminals called the Republican Party.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. I knew after I posted

that I should have put "lose" in quotes. I agree with you 100% that GWB never won a presidential election. It was John Kerry's "loss" that first brought me to DU as I was roaming the Internet trying to figure out what in the hell happened.

[YvonneCa]

23. Same here...

..

[Fred Sanders]

12. The media was all geared up for more slanted "coverage of the violence..that there is so little new

news coming out of the issue is all you need to know that diplomacy is prevailing.

[DrBulldog]

13. Absolutely correct. He had wanted this job for years but was disappointed when ...

... Obama first passed it to Hillary so she could continue her unbroken quest for power. But Hillary's major accomplishment at State for four years was only to break all SOS flying records and pay lip-service to Obama's Iran sanctions.

But Kerry simply has taken charge, taken over, and gone to work face-to-face with our allies and our adversaries as a dedicated quiet and discrete diplomatic professional to make our agreements work. This entire Iran agreement is HIS - no one else's, no matter what Hillary claims. He - not Obama - ran the team that forged this agreement and stayed with it day-and-night until it was hammered out. Kudos.

[JDPriestly]

27. Thank you!

[still_one]

51. Thanks for trying to make a Kerry appreciation thread into a Hillary bashing thread

[MBS]

14. YES! absolutely!

Brilliant, creative, courageous and a man of honor, dignity and integrity.
His goal is indeed about making a better world.
An admirable man and class act all around.

Thank you, Sec. Kerry.

[jomin41]

17. Absolutely! A true and great statesman.

[mylye2222]

19. Count me in!!!!

I wished he would have been Prez, but what a great SoS he is! Hillary wasn' t bad as SoS , but IMO he is even better ! By better I mean he is more engaged. HRC did well especially on women' s issues worldwide, but lets say it, she was more there in boosting her career purpose . JK has repeatedly said SD is his last office, and this is a wonderfull cap to his service dedicated public life.

[karynnj]

20. I was impressed by Kerry in 1971 and was so happy when he was nominated in 2004

BUT, it was AFTER that, that I realized that unlike almost everyone else I ever supported, where they did not match the hype, but were still better than the alternative, the more I learned about John Kerry, the more I realized that he was far better than I ever expected any politician to be.

I joined DU after the loss and found the wonderful John Kerry group -- and learned more about him and about the government itself. I met many people - who in real life were even better than they seemed from what they wrote on line. Years ago, I realized that it is unlikely that I will ever have a candidate that I more strongly believe is a person of character and integrity AND whose values I more strongly agree with.

As Secretary of State, he has been incredible. Quietly working on so many issues - all with great purpose and with his incredible ability as a diplomat to actually listen to what the other sides are REALLY meaning. I agree with you that that may be many things we never hear about -- and we hear more from people, linked to AIPAC or neo con think tanks - who consistently downgrade anything he does. It must make them sad as that list increases to include:

- the Iran deal
- a major role in opening Cuba
- eliminating 600 tons of chemical weapons in Syria
- the China/US climate change pact
- brokering a shared government in Afghanistan that kept it from going over the cliff

He is the most genuinely significant Secretary in terms of working towards good of the last 50 years - just given all he has already done. If he succeeds on really pulling something together starting at the end of this year on climate change and if he is able to untangle some of the awful Middle East problems, he will have a legacy that better than that of most Presidents. (Though I still would have loved seeing a President Kerry and an amazing First Lady Teresa.

-

[mylye2222]

22. + 1000000000......

I began to follow Kerry's career closely after 2004. I had followed his campaign but what got me and made me love him was that wonderfull, decent, gracious concession speech he gave that November 3, 2004.
I had watched DU first time in early 2007, did register in 2010 but got active only early 2014. Id wished I could join earlier the JK group but at the time you musted buy a Star membership to post and I could not. Plus my English was poorer ( I was 19 on 2004).
But you are right Karen about DUJK people, and as I read the DUJK archive , I would havr loved to exchange with the people who dont post anymore ( especially one who posted as Europgirl4jk whom I believe was French) . But you and others like MBS, blm, YvonneCa, or Mass are still here and irs a honor to know you all be sure of that.

And yes JK will end as one of the Best SoS in recent history.

[YvonneCa]

24. I agree with every word! Excellent post...

...karynnj. 🇺🇸

[JDPriestly]

28. If Obama had appointed him instead of Hillary in 2009, think where we would be now.

And I really wanted Kerry to stay in Congress. I had no idea what a great job he would do as Secretary of State.

I think he is the superman of Secretaries of State. A true diplomat. A true statesman.

[karynnj]

31. I think of that mostly in the case of Syria and Copenhagen

Kerry, with Obama's permission, tried to use diplomacy to get Assad to stop allowing Hezbollah to send weapons thru Syria to Lebanon. It is interesting to think what he would have done as SoS. The ironic thing is that if he, HRC, or someone else had managed to get Assad to make reforms -- rather than attack those asking for them, there might have been no civil war -- but no one would know the hell that was avoided.

As to Copenhagen, anyone knowing what Kerry did before and at the Bali summit - especially working with China and India - would know that as soon as he was in office, he would have been wg towards what could be done. He had a history that Clinton didn't -- and it is a passion of is, where it really wasn't for Clinton. He also had MUCH deeper ties with the man leading the French team there - his French cousin, Brice Lalonde.

I wonder if Obama - who has really given Kerry a lot of latitude to do these big things - might have been less willing to risk a failed effort in the first term. He also had a totally different setup of how the State Department worked -The very competent George Mitchell, who negotiated the agreement in Northern Ireland, was working on Israel; Holbrooke (who was the diplomat behind the Dayton Accord) was working on Afghanistan/Pakistan/India; Joe Biden was handling Iraq. HRC could and did go to many countries and it was nearly a Presidential visit given who she was -- in the wake of Bush, she really did meet with people in other countries and helped the US regain its reputation.

Not to mention, it is hard to know what the dynamics would have been had Clinton returned to a junior position in the Senate. There would have been far less reason for Bill Clinton to be as supportive to Obama in 2012 and at other times.

[JDPriestly]

32. Interesting.

Kerry was also instrumental in investigating the BCCI Bank.

He is a man of great integrity and devotion to peace and truth. One of a kind.

[MBS]

36. You said it. n/t

[still_one]

53. You started the thread as a Kerry appreciation thread, but you can't let the chance skip to take a

swipe at Clinton huh?

[JDPriestly]

55. I let the chips fall where they may. Kerry is doing a fabulous job and deserves the credit.

[Blaukraut]

30. Well put, karynnj. I miss him as my senator, wish he had become president

but I'm thankful he got to be SoS. He has done good work throughout his public life.

[mylye2222]

40. Well said!

[MBS]

37. + 1000 n/t

[YvonneCa]

25. Thank you for this thread. John Kerry...

.. should have been President. Because of his great strength, integrity and leadership skills, he has continued to work hard in pursuit of goals critical to our country.
Against great odds he is reaching those goals and we..the country and planet.. will be better for it.
I can never understate how much I appreciate that.🇺🇸

[tabasco]

29. He's doing a really great job.

He deserves a lot of praise.

[karynnj]

33. He is getting a lot of praise from people whose praise anyone would value

I loved that Jimmy Carter said:

"I think that anybody that has served in the Senate with John Kerry, or has known him since then as I have ... knows that he's a very astute and wonderful and dedicated person. And If he signs and agreement, I don't have any doubt that it will be carried out." http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/23/president-carter-corker-statements-sec-kerry-improper/30593699/

Given Jimmy Carter's own integrity and abilities, this is amazing. Then there are the wonderful comments made by Lugar endorsing the iran deal and introducing Kerry for a policy speech on that and his comments when Kerry spoke at IU last week. Getting the foreign policy magazine's diplomat of the year - with comments like Donilan's, who spoke of people all over the world describing Kerry as "honorable" and thoroughly decent.

I have seen many people praise someone listing accomplishments or describing their good character -- in all of these cases, superlatives are used. Interestingly, these assessments are counted only by nonsense from the far right -- like Ted Cruz demanding he step down because he was not sufficiently nice to Netanyahu.

[blm]

45. Sad fact:M$M amplifies RWnut attacks and mutes Jimmy Carter's accurate

observations and praise of Kerry.

[lonestarnot]

34. Hell yaya.

[applegrove]

38. Brilliant to get Jordan involved in keeping the peace in Israel/Palestine.

[pinboy3niner]

39. I drove from CA to Battleground OH to volunteer for him in the final months of the '04 campaign

Absolutely no regrets for doing that. And Kerry won our area, Franklin County OH, by nearly 43,000 votes iirc.

[YvonneCa]

54. I did the same, from California...

...to Nevada in 2004. Followed the Ohio situation way too closely. 😉

[mylye2222]

41. And also great shout out to him for

despite many critics and sometimes attacks he recieves, he doesnt back down his goals. That works especially with I/P when he simply said the truth recently, that was that Netanyahu has a great responsability in the current unrest of violence.

[Nye Bevan]

44. Despite voting for the IWR he would have been a very good President,

even though quite a few DUers seem to think that these two things are mutually exclusive.