June 23, 2004
WHO WAS THAT UNMASSED MAN?:
Rare Kerry appearance causes uproar in Senate: Arriving for vote, he dismisses GOP calls to resign (Patrick Healy, June 23, 2004, Boston Globe)
Under fresh attack by Republicans to resign his Senate seat after missing months of votes, John F. Kerry returned to the Senate chambers yesterday to be in position to vote on a bill providing improved health care for veterans -- a move that triggered a partisan battle among his colleagues. [...]Kerry waited seven hours on the Hill yesterday in hopes of voting on a proposal to increase health care spending for veterans by 30 percent, but Republicans used procedural tactics to delay any vote until at least after Kerry had left for a campaign trip to San Francisco last night. [...]
Kerry, who turned his campaign plane around in Denver Monday night and flew to the capital in a rare moment of political spontaneity, waited hours to speak on the issue. On the Senate floor yesterday afternoon, Kerry accused Republicans of playing politics with the needs of veterans by refusing Democrats the ''normal courtesy" of speaking and voting on a legislative proposal put forward by their leader, Daschle. [...]
The partisan politicking forced Kerry to scuttle a $500,000 fund-raiser in New Mexico last night, but it reaped other rewards for his campaign. By portraying Republicans as silencing him in the Senate, Kerry gained a useful new weapon to fight opponents who are pressuring him to step down for skipping 89 percent of Senate votes so far this year.
He also was able to sit for a ''class picture" yesterday afternoon of the full Senate; had he not been there, Kerry aides said, Republican media strategists would have had a photo at their disposal of all but Kerry present on a day when senators were debating veterans' benefits and Pentagon spending.
In what Kerry aides said was a coincidence of timing, the senator returned to the Hill just as Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney -- the most prominent advocate of a Kerry resignation -- repeated that call yesterday during an appearance nearby to testify about gay marriage. Kerry aides said that the senator did not return here to rebut Romney's contention that Kerry was shirking his duties.
Are you really being spontaneous when you dance to your opponents' tune? Posted by Orrin Judd at June 23, 2004 9:22 AM
Boston Globe, NYT, WAPO, etc. - Kerry can do no wrong and the GOP/Bush can't do anything right.
Posted by: AWW at June 23, 2004 9:51 AMThose Republicans are so evil.. interfering with Kerry's carefully timed and choreographed plans to keep up the appearance of being one of the Senators from MA.
Posted by: Chris B at June 23, 2004 11:24 AMIt's foolproof: write about stupid Republicans if they had let Kerry give a campaign speech on the floor of the Senate, write about mean Republicans if they use stall tactics to prevent such grandstanding. (Wonder if this guy complained about Democratic stall tactics when judicial nominees were being ignored.) It can't miss - except that it's unlikely that anyone on the fence will decide to vote for Kerry on the strength his being silenced on a token appearance at his nominal job five months before the election.
Posted by: John Barrett Jr. at June 23, 2004 11:38 AMThe GOP should run a simple ad: total number of Senate votes since 7/1/2003 vs. number of times John F. Kerry actually voted. Multiply that percentage by his salary. Tell him to return the rest.
Posted by: jim hamlen at June 23, 2004 11:53 AMAfter years of being on the receiving end of such tactics, it's nice to see that the Stupid Party is capable of learning something from it. It also shows that the Dems have become a reactionary party, incapable of taking a risk, even in pursuit of the greatest of prizes.
"By portraying Republicans as silencing him in the Senate, Kerry gained a useful new weapon to fight opponents who are pressuring him to step down for skipping 89 percent of Senate votes so far this year."
He missed 89%, so how much silencing does the GOP have to do, anyhow? If he missed 100%, how would that be different from resigning? It would be one thing if he had some great program that he could claim that he wanted to get through. The only reason to stick around at this point is to keep his successor from voting. He's a great message to Democrats everywhere this fall-- "Kerry doesn't vote-- Why should you?"
"In a rare moment of political spontaneity..."
So it is spontaneous to show up and do the job that you are elected to do?
I wonder what would happen to me if I told my boss it would be a rare moment of employment spontaneity if I showed up for work 1 day a week from now on?
Posted by: pchuck at June 23, 2004 1:35 PMI wouldn't be surprised if Kerry responded to these comments by saying "I'm still relevant".
Posted by: ratbert at June 23, 2004 1:57 PMI think it all was pretty funny.
The Mass. Dems are pulling together a change in the rules to elect Kerry's replacement rather than an Governor's appointment. When they get it through he may finally resign.
Posted by: Genecis at June 24, 2004 1:30 PM