KerryCrats My Heart is Heavy

[benny05]

Please help me understand this..

As you know, I am neutral about the remaining candidates, but I am for unity.

But I saw this today on Bleeding Heartland about Al Gore:

http://www.bleedingheartland.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1448

He is supporting a Bush Dog, Len Boswell. This same candidate, Boswell, is a superdelegate supporting Clinton.

I don't get it. I know Fallon (the challenger) supported Nader in 2000, but he has said it was a mistake, and he supports Obama (after supporting Edwards first, but JRE dropped out, and you know the narrative). Fallon takes no money from lobbyists.

Help me understand. Why would Gore help out Clinton supporter other than revenge on those who didn't support him for various reasons in 2000. Shouldn't Gore get with the plan or party or both, and either stay out of it, or support big progressives?

Sheesh, hope I'm not being too whiny..

Benny

[JI7]

1. i don't think it has anything to do with that, Boswell is the incumbant

top Dem officials including former like VP Gore tend to support the incumbant Democrats. that's why Lieberman had a lot of people backing him.

he might have a relationship with Gore. in the 2004 Primaries where Gore endorsed Dean, Boswell also had endorsed Dean.

[beachmom]

2. Kerry endorsed a couple of people in '06 that wrinkled a few feathers,

although it ends up one of them Kerry was told by Rahm Emanuel was unopposed in the primary, when in fact she did have an opponent. Kerry also endorsed Tammy Duckworth, who was more centrist, but in that case she was an Iraq vet, and Kerry was endorsing fighting dems that year.

I agree with JI7 on the most probable reasons: the guy was there for Gore in Iowa in 2000, and Gore still really appreciates it.

I will say this, though: Gore was a centrist his entire political career. Although he has been more lefty since getting out of public service, I still think his orientation is more centrist than a lot of people realize. Had he run for president in '08, the honeymoon with progressives would have ended at some point. Like all other politicians, Gore would have disappointed folks from time to time.

[Mass]

3. Sometimes, there are things you do not forget,

I had forgetten that, but I am sure that Kerry did not forget one of the few senator who did something against the chickenhawks when it was needed in 2004. It probably explains why he is supporting Lautenberg that early on, even if Lautenberg does not support a firm date on Iraq (more in the Levin side of the argument).

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20080530_Lautenberg_rises_to_his_latest_challenge.html

On the Senate floor in 2004 he famously held up a poster of a chicken dressed in a military uniform and called Vice President Cheney the "lead chicken hawk." At the time, Republicans and others had cast doubt on the Vietnam War record of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.

"I was so damn mad. I was so angry because here they were, flexing muscles and making threats," Lautenberg said. "When it was their turn to do service, none of them, including the president, did their share."
...

[karynnj]

4. Lautenberg voted for Kerry/Feingold

He also is one of the most consistent "good guys" on votes - the only two (which are big) where I have a problem with him are the "torture" bill and the cluster bomb bill. On the former I was at a NJ Democratic event where someone informally asked him why and his answer was evasive - pointing to the ports bill later that night and saying something about promises not being kept on it. I didn't get if there was a relationship or if he was changing the subject and wanting to speak instead of how the Port of Newark (where there are oil refineries and chemical plants, commuter lines, tunnels to Manhattan all in a very densely populated area was not adequately handled (the same port security issue Kerry raised in 2004). Some also thought that he voted that way to give Menendez, who was up for re-election cover to also vote for it. (I remember how stunned I was when both NJ Senators, who had voted for K/F voted for it.

On the cluster bombs, I assume it was AIPAC and the fact that Israel just used them.

He seems to be a good friend to Kerry - at the Social Security road show that the Democrats had at Pace University in 2005 - where he and a man at least in his 70s stole the show in presenting why SS should not change, he was clearly still broken up that Kerry lost and said many very strong, kind things about Kerry as a person and the type of President he would have been. Given what we know about that time period, that affection and effusive affirmation likely meant a lot to Kerry. (Remember all the "behind the scenes" whispers that implied that Kerry was wrong to act as a Democratic leader and that Reid et all were mad at him. Or remember how he was treated with Kerry/Feingold (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=93803&mesg_id=93873 and a later Beachmom comment.)






U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress - 2nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Amendment (Kerry Amdt. No. 4442 )
Vote Number: 181 Vote Date: June 22, 2006, 11:07 AM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 4442 to S. 2766
Statement of Purpose: To require the redeployment of United States Armed Forces from Iraq in order to further a political solution in Iraq, encourage the people of Iraq to provide for their own security, and achieve victory in the war on terror.
Vote Counts: YEAs 13
NAYs 86
Not Voting 1
Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State



Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---13
Akaka (D-HI)
Boxer (D-CA)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Wyden (D-OR)

To me, this looks like Kerry backing someone who was there for him when it was the hardest in 2005 and 2006.

The NJ Democrats all had a unity event that Andrews conveniently skipped a few days before Andrews announced against him. I saw Andrews with lautenberg in 2006 for Menendez at a Democratic event. If I had to characterize him, think a NJ "John Edwards" without Edwards' better side (poverty etc). He was clearly a party favorite and likely would have been the "insider" candidate had Lautenberg decided not to run. He is generically "handsome" and and well spoken, but seemed a bit plastic. He was a co-sponsor of the IWR resolution and is (in WJC fashion lying about Lautenberg's position saying that Lautenberg ran in 2002 as if in favor of it. (caveat - I realize that this is a pretty negative statement based on very little.) The other opponent is a mayor of Morristown who is not that respected in Morristown - who was a Democrat, then a Republican, then a Democrat. He also spoke at an anti-immigration rally in town. He would be an embarrassment, if he were the candidate.)

[Mass]

6. Thanks for correcting me on Lautenberg and the Kerry-Feingold.

I like Lautenberg. You're right, he is one of the good guys. But I now remember that he was one of the only few to actually speak out against these idiots, and that when so many others were just whining at how Kerry was not answering. And this is important too.

[JI7]

7. Lautenberg was great and even after the election he has been great

after the election when others in the party were bashing Kerry, Lautenberg would bring up how if we had Kerry as President things would be better.

i'm not sure i would compare it to Gore's support for Boswell though. i'm not sure Boswell did anything similar for Gore. i think it has more to do with just supporting the incumbant.

[karynnj]

5. Gore may feel that Boswell is a better candidate

Reading between the lines, you may know more about the two men than is in the link. Reading the link and parsing it as the partisan diary it is, I don't think the phrase "Bush dog" is justified. Is that because he voted for the IWR? It may be that he did listen to Gore's September speech and felt the more egregious problems that Gore had with the IWR had been dealt with. It also buys into the Republican CW that the IWR was a vote for war which the LW - thanks to Trippi also argued. It also might have been political suicide for him to vote against it. Obama voted for the energy bill as well. The argument that he did not co-sponsor the climate bill early enough is silly - 1) not every Congressman in favor of a bill co-sponsors it and 2) he is a co-sponsor. It also may be that he has the better chance to hold the seat.

Less justification is usually needed to back an incumbent. Here Gore is backing a man who backed him in the Iowa caucuses and worked hard for him. Gore was the less liberal candidate in 2000 against Bradley and over a spectrum of issues may be completely ok with Boswell. The reasons for supporting Fallon are weak - Boswell supported and worked for GORE in the 2000 Iowa caucuses. I assume that beats Fallon endorsing (and presumably working for) JRE in 2008. As to supporting Clinton or Obama now, Gore is undeclared himself. Even if he were for Obama - why would he not support a congressmen he respected because he is currently supporting HRC? HRC is a Democrat and supporting her in the primaries is not a betrayal. A Democrat supporting Nader in 2000 was an overt rejection of Gore. He was not a viable candidate himself. It also is not a huge sacrifice for a challenger to reject lobbyist money. It is likely little or none was offered.

So, just from this - it looks like Gore endorsed a man who helped him and whom he likes and respects as a person over a man who rejected him publicly in 2000 and who he likely overall agrees with less. (Gore is not the lefty that some want him to be - he was the first DLC candidate, a hawk who voted for the first Gulf war, which started this mess and who supported funding the Contras.)

Would you have thought it wrong if Gore would have endorsed a co-sponsor of the IWR who had a League of Conservation rating in the 60s over someone who was on record against the war?

[politicasista]

8. delete

OT and too controversial.

[benny05]

9. Thanks for all of the comments

There is a general consensus that this was payback for Boswell supporting Gore in 2000.

But I wish Gore would have stayed out of it. Boswell is getting desperate and needed an Ace card to help him win and especially as the DMR endorsed Fallon (which is odd considering DMR endorsed Clinton earlier this year). We'll see what happens. It will be a close race.

I'm grateful that Open Left is helping raise money and working on GOTV, but of course they are doing it partly because when Edwards dropped out of the race, Fallon transferred his support to Obama. Boswell is a Clinton superdelegate.

Fallon dropped by the EENR last week, and this week Harry Taylor, NC-09 (remember him, he stood up against Bush in 2005 at a townhall meeting in Charlotte) and Scott Kleeb, NE senatorial candidate, live blogged last night at EENR.

You are all welcome to drop by there anytime.

[benny05]

10. One other comment

No, Bush Dog is not about just the authorization. Boswell meets those requirements in this regard:

See below from Bleeding Heartland:

Boswell is Hardly a Loyal Democrat When it Comes to the Issues that Matter Most (+)
by: noneed4thneed
Thu May 29, 2008 at 17:07:22 PM CDT

Leonard Boswell is airing TV ads in the Des Moines market where he highlights his opposition to Bush on funding cuts to the college loan program and says he is a loyal Democrat.

That is commendable, but where was Boswell on the issues that matter most to Iowans?

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats and supported Bush's failed Iraq policy.

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats to approve torture in the Military Commissions Act.

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats to repeal the estate tax.

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats to make it harder for people (and easier for corporations) to declare bankruptcy.

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats and supported No Child Left Behind.

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats and pushed to give Telecom companies immunity for illegal wiretapping Americans.

Boswell continues to support NAFTA-like free trade agreements.

Boswell voted against the majority of Democrats to give oil and gas companies $14 billion in tax breaks.

The poster is an Obama supporter and endorsed Obama a couple of weeks before the Iowa Caucuses.