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Home Front: Politix
Kerry: Botched Joke Won't Affect 2008
2006-11-19
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry insisted on Sunday his "botched joke" about President Bush's Iraq policy would not undermine a possible White House campaign in 2008.
"no more so than any of my other vapid utterances. I like that word 'utterances' ...it sounds sophisticated and nuanced"
He's correct: this won't effect his odds in the least.
"Not in the least," Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in said when asked if the furor over his comment had caused him to reconsider a 2008 race. "The parlor game of who's up, who's down, today or tomorrow, if I listened to that stuff, I would never have won the nomination."

Kerry said he would decide early next year whether to run for president.
I have to get the money go-ahead from Mommy Teraaaaayza
Posted by:Frank G

#6  Yeah, Jawn, run. Can't shoot at you if you're standin' still. No sport in that.

This man is a two-legged polecat. There ought to be a bounty on 'em.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2006-11-19 23:33  

#5  Run, Jawn, run!
Posted by: Seafarious   2006-11-19 16:11  

#4  It won't affect my vote.
Posted by: ed   2006-11-19 15:50  

#3  So which joke are we talking about here? The one about the 'stupid troops' or the one where he tried to run for President as a war hero?
Posted by: SteveS   2006-11-19 15:26  

#2  Joan Vennochi points out two Kerry problems:

The pressure is on to choose: Will he run for president or Senate in 2008?

...and:

At home, the common reaction to an '08 bid is "Kerry's done." Said one bigtime Democratic fund-raiser, "I haven't found a human being who is enthusiastic about his campaign and willing to support him. I don't know anyone in Massachusetts who is willing to sign on."

These down-on-Kerry Democrats are still off the record. This is Massachusetts, where people prefer to keep their backstabbing confidential. US Senator Hillary Clinton of New York is popular here. There's also interest in John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina who was Kerry's running mate in 2004. During the gubernatorial campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois came to the state several times on behalf of Deval Patrick, and Patrick's victory tweaks further interest in Obama.

Pre-gaffe, Kerry spent the past year traveling and raising money on behalf of Democratic candidates and finally seemed to have a strong, cohesive anti war message. But the bungled joke heard around the world -- if you're not educated you get "stuck in Iraq" -- cemented the feeling that Kerry won't get another shot at president. "I doubt he could get invited to a party event anywhere . . . maybe he and Karl Rove could break bread together," said pollster John Gorman of Cambridge-based Opinion Dynamics, summing up Kerry's post-joke, skunk-at-the-garden-party aura.
Posted by: Raj   2006-11-19 15:13  

#1  I agree, that won't be what keeps Kerry from getting elected or even nominated in 2008.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2006-11-19 13:40  

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