Barnicle slams war, uneasy about a second Kerry run for president.

[killerbush]

Mike Barnicle was on Don Imus this morning and really let the Bush administration have it over the war. He called Bush and his cabal incompetent, and he gets more and more outraged everyday about how the administration is running the war. He said the soldiers who serve in Iraq have a deep and abiding love for their country, and that is something Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld lack.
He also said that after Sept. 11th, Bush could have asked for anything in the world, and gotten it. He had all this capital he could have spent, but didn't. People would have been glad to spend 5 bucks for a gallon of gas. They would have been happy making sacrifices because we were attacked. But Bush squandered all the opportunities, and now, with poll numbers dropping like a brick, he is no longer capable of turning things around.

About John Kerry. Barnicle is uneasy about Kerry running for a second term. He thinks the American people have a "been there, done that", with Kerry, and he doesn't see Kerry changing that many minds from the first time he ran. He also said if John Mc.Cain were ready to change the tone in Washington, and willing to tell the American people what needs to be done, he would win in a walk.

[LynneSin]

1. I have to agree about Kerry

We've run two very intelligent men who had no clue how to reach out and related to the common, everyday folks. Gore & Kerry both came off as elitist and turned many voters off by their personalities and played right into a dumbass like Bush.

Clinton was also very intelligent; however, his personality was nothing like Kerry or Gore. He had a down-home folksy type personality that made you feel warm, welcomed and wanting to hear more about what he had to say.

Don't get me wrong - if Kerry or Gore got the nomination I'll vote for them, but I want someone who can put their elitist personality aside and reach out to the people

[blm]

15. Because the media then told people that intelligence means "elitist"

and NOW the people, postKatrina, are way PAST dumbass and WANT intelligence and reality-based solutions, which both Gore and Kerry excel at.

What the Dems need is an INFRASTRUCTURE that can convey that message on the DAILY NEWS CYCLE, instead of the old Clinton team that was only schooled on defending Clinton and knew very little about any other Democrat or current events and policy.

[LynneSin]

19. I've stop watching the media during the Clinton impeachment

so the media wasn't telling me that. I was seeing Kerry speak and that's how he came across. Edwards had been ability to reach out to the voters than Kerry did.

[LetsGoMurphys]

30. Thats the real problem

I had 4 uncles that were the toughest guys around. Real blue collared guys who would make fun of "suit" types.(this was back in the 50s & 60s). My father told me that despite this they always would want an intellectual "suit" man running the country. They would be appalled if they were alive to see W in the office.

[blm]

35. It's the media telling today's voters they want a guy who talks like them.

What I have witnessed is that they PRETEND to talk like them while dressing up their corporate elitist policies in work overalls. They are actually talking DOWN to these people.

I loved it that both Gore and Kerry talked to people about policy and details - it proves they RESPECTED their intelligence. The media repeatedly spun it otherwise.

[LetsGoMurphys]

40. Bush is an elitist

just a very unintelligent elitist.

[blm]

41. I call them as "corporate elitists" and people have no problem seeing it.

.

[LetsGoMurphys]

44. Some call you the elite

I call you my base

[Bagsby]

2. McCain doesn't have a chance in hell to win the presidency

..primarily because he doesn't have a chance in hell to win the nomination. Neocons who control the GOP will never forgive him for dissing the Religious Right during the primaries of 2000. They see him as an opportunistic grandstander. McCain had better be content being a senator, because he will rise no higher than that.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. McCain is going nowhere. His "own" rabid right will sink him pronto.

He's managed to piss everybody off. He's cooked.

[sendero]

14. I sincerely hope..

.. you are correct. Because in my humble estimation, McCain would be the toughest foe the Dems would have to face.

There are a LOT OF AMERICANS who believe the carefully crafted "maveric, independent" image he's cultivated over the years. In 2008, the word 'Republican' will be such a huge negative, his faux distance from the party will serve him well.

He is the nightmare opponent for Dems as far as I'm concerned, and those who think the RR will sink him might find that the Republican party machinery is much more adept at pragmatism than ours is.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. The RW talkers will sink him big time - they've already started.

IMHO, he hasn't the support from either side he had in 2000, especially the hard right, which calls the shots these days.

[sendero]

20. Like I said..

... I really hope you are right. I think we can beat anyone else they can come up with!

[LetsGoMurphys]

43. cough...diebold...cough n/t

[LetsGoMurphys]

42. Ive always wondered

what did he do to piss them off so much?

[gratuitous]

3. Barnicle = plagiarizing brain-dead moran

Barnicle says we've "been there, done that" with Kerry? When was that, Mike? Kerry wasn't elected in 2004, you fool. We haven't been anywhere or done anything with Kerry as president.

As for post-9/11, Bush indeed got everything he wanted, and indeed, you and your cohort cheered him on every step of the way. Now you're all upset and you think that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld don't have a deep and abiding love for the country. Soo-prize, soo-prize, we've been screaming that in your insipid monkey face for that last 30 fucking years.

Barnicle, in a just world, would be the scummy, dirty guy who offers to squeegee your window for a quarter when you get stuck at a long light. Oh, wait . . .

[OzarkDem]

13. He's pimping for the GOP

Why any Dem would watch Imus is beyond me.

[ginnyinWI]

31. Imus tries to have it both ways

He'll have Kerry on the show or calling in, and tell everyone that he "likes Senator Kerry", and then stabs him in the back the minute he's not there. I think Kerry's stategy with Imus is to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

[riona]

47. That show is horrible

Imus is totally star-struck - with himself. I've seen him treating his backstage support staff like dirt. If they displease him, he chastises them then and there, humiliating them on live tv for all to see. He's not worth watching.

[Zen Democrat]

5. Right, Barnicle is uneasy about John Kerry because he's a Republican

Barnicle has been a center-right guy for years, and especially after he lost his job at the Boston Globe in disgrace. He's a damned Republican, and at this point he's trying to pick up the pieces for John McCain. He's always loved McCain.

But he's wrong. McCain is losing his britches with his embarrassing embraces -- the one in 2004 with his head buried in the Royal Neck, and currently with his embrace of Jerry Falwell and his commencement speech at Falwell's school.

The McCain lustre is gone. He'll be 72 in 2008. If he gets the nomination he'll go over about as big as Bob Dole did in 1996.

[karynnj]

10. Also, I heard Barnicle and had a different take

Both he and Imus were not enthusiastic, but both then said that they liked Kerry. For Barnicle, this is an improvement. They then went on to lavish praise on McCain, which they do all the time.

What they didn't do which is more significant is to list all the better Democrats and speak of how they were more exciting. (Imus did mention Biden as well, but not in any way that preferred him to Kerry.

I think if it's Kerry/McCain, we need every Democrat activist to copy and send the chapter in McCain's second book on their POW/MIA committee to every Independent they know. It's McCain's story, but it shows a very skilled, hard working, organized Kerry.

[lojasmo]

11. No republican should be scared of Kerry

Hell, Kerry would lose to McCain. Republicans should be overjoyed at a possible Kerry run.

Kerry cannot win.

[exlrrp]

18. Think youre right

Kerry would lose to McCain, resigning the democrats to 4 more years of hell. Get someone new in there, like Feingold, without all the baggage from the Vietnam War

[blm]

25. The records proved Swifties lied - they couldn't get away with it again.

And you think the RW message machine wouldn't LIE about any other Democrat? They would turn NON-SERVICE in Vietnam into an issue more easily than they could lie about Kerry's service.

The media would let them.

[blm]

23. Read McCain's book - Kerry can control McCain psychologically.

.

[karynnj]

39. Go read McCain's second book

There a chapter their telling his story of the POW/MIA committee. Kerry did an absolutely incredible job. It was Kerry who leveraged his history to get the Vietnamese to agree to them flying to locations without prior notice. He even got permission to investigate in the tunnels near Ho Chi Ming's tomb where it was rumored some GIs were hid. Kerry took 14 trips, often accompanied by Bob Smith or McCain to check out every rumor there. (Smith was a true believer at the beginning)

Kerry's organization kept a group of prima donna Senators working together and not fighting, a major accomplishment when the Senators include Bob Kerrey, McCain, and Smith. He also kept McCain from exploding and defended him. Kerry also got permission for McCain to revisit the prision he was held in and Kerry accompanied him.

When they presented the results to Clinton, Kerry went through all the arguments logically and then McCain (per the book) simply said that he agreed with Kerry.

If it's Kerry/McCain some paper/magazine has to simply republish that chapter. One man comes across as very hard working, lawyerly, even tempered, compassionate and organized the other doesn't. I will copy the chapter to give to many friends and relatives.

[Zen Democrat]

49. Kerry would win. Gore would win. Clinton would win. Clark would win.

Warner would win. Edwards would win. Feingold would win. Biden would win.

Whether leaning to the left or leaning to the right, whichever Democrat gets the nomination in 2008 will win.

The Republicans have already lost the election.

[Doctor_J]

6. I am always suspicious of "TV Democrats"

Guys like Barnicle pretend to be Dems but never really say anything very partisan. Those of us who voted for Gore and Kerry knew the day after shock and awe that this was a major fuck-up. In fact, we knew on 12/7/00 that the country was in for a miserable time with a bunch of incompetent hacks at the wheel.

That said, it's better than nothing. And I agree with him about Kerry. I don't see alot of Smirk voters voting for JFK over, say, McCain.

[Warpy]

7. I agree about Kerry not running, but oh my, I'd love to see him

as Attorney General. Consider what he did during Iran/Contra and in exposing the BCCI filth. We desperately need a pitbull investigator to go after this gang of criminals and both Kerry and Spitzer come to mind. The latter will be busy with the NY Governorship, though.

There are a lot of people I don't want to see run. Our own Gov. Richardson is another one. He'd be a conservative nightmare for working folks, but he'd be a wonderful Secretary of State.

[IndianaGreen]

8. First, Barnicle is a moron. Second, Kerry won't have Donna Brazile

to gag him. Third, Kerry has more than redeemed himself since he chose to listen to his own counsel rather than the incompetent handlers he used to surround himself with. Fourth, given the choice of a Hillary, a McCain, or a Kerry; Kerry wins hands down!

[blue cat]

9. I agree with IndianaGreen. n/t

[lojasmo]

12. Clinton/Kerry/McCain are a wash

They all voted to enable Bush to attack Iraq (IWR) and gut the constitution (patriot act)

[IndianaGreen]

22. I believe that redemption is possible

and I think that Kerry has come a long ways in the past few months to accomplish just that.

My Congresswoman Julia Carson voted for PATRIOT in the aftermath of 9-11, and she has more than redeemed herself since that rush to judgment.

Kerry has called for the troops to be withdrawn by year's end, and he has little company in that endeavor outside of the likes of Russ Feingold, John Murtha, John Conyers, and others.

[blm]

24. Eleanor Clift said 2wks ago that more in DC will be moving towards Kerry's

withdrawal plan. I think that is another reason why corporate media is working to ignore talk of withdrawal. Duke rape, Natalee Holloway news get the airtime that should be going to Iraq and SOLUTIONS.

[sendero]

16. I'm not a big Kerry 2008 fan..

... I think someone else should get a shot, but if you think he's changed I could change my mind :)

Personally, if we have to dig into the dustbin, I think Gore's transformation is a lot more interesting :)

[zalinda]

21. So, "they" think that Kerry shouldn't run,

just as "they" think Hillary should. That tells me "they" are afraid of Kerry winning.

zalinda

[ginnyinWI]

32. and to add to that,

if "they" all think Kerry is SO "yesterday", then why are they going to all the trouble to mention him? Very telling, if you ask me.

[lojasmo]

34. I am one "they" who thinks Kerry AND clinton should stay OUT.

I think both Clinton and Kerry would get soundly beaten.

[blm]

37. Did you ever read McCain's book?

.

[WildEyedLiberal]

48. Ding ding ding ding ding

Got it in one!

[seabeyond]

26. barnicle sat with tweety bashing kerry. ya bet they want a fresh one

to bash. will be old bashing the same bullshit on a democrat running for president

fresh meat

[Oversea Visitor]

27. Very true

been there done that
Nah Kerry want to run BETTER COME OUT KICKING NOW, FIGHTING AND SCREAMING
Sorry all
World see defeat
Kerry if want uphill fight need to fight right
Or wont have world respect

Cant play safe safe
Need SCREAM LIKE DEAN
Cannot afford to be scare of looking like sore loser
Need show willing to fight
bush bad dream what more reason one need

You either fighter or SCARE to look like sore loser
YOU CHOSE

[karynnj]

36. I agree he needs to be fighting - but like Kerry

The Dean Scream killed Dean and it was NOT anger or fighting back.

Kerry angry is the brilliant Allard smack down - angry, but focused, rational and intense.

[TayTay]

28. Barnicle's a whore

As soon as it became popular to bash Bush, he did so. He will change his mind on Kerry if popular opinion changes. Or if he reads it in someone else's column and decides to steal it.

I can't stand that man. He is a fraud. A very rich man who still tries to pull off that "I'm a working stiff like the rest of you' thing that got old decades ago.

[Inuca]

29. Kerry would not have to change too many minds

Bush and his republican acolytes have already done that.

[alfredo]

33. This photo will sink McCain's chances for 08.

[paparush]

38. ~~ Can You Feel the Love Toniiiiiiiight....~~

[alfredo]

46. I was thinking more on the lines of the love theme from

"Deliverance."

[sandnsea]

45. Easier to tarnish a "fresh face"

Of course the right wants a fresh face. It's easier to run their smear campaigns on unknown candidates. That's why we should go for Gore or Kerry, people will recognize the smear campaigns since they've seen it all before.

[BlueIris]

50. Shut up, Mike Barnicle.

Looks like the Republicans really ARE desperate enough to try to push a McCain "victory." Not like I'm surprised. There are going to be LOTS of unhappy people in 2008-9, methinks.