Is the Bush cabal's fix on the "US mainstream news
media" is slipping? Is the vise which holds it in lock
step cracking? Perhaps. Consider this Tale of Two
Interviews...Last night, on SeeNotNews (CNN) InSnide
Politics, Judy Wouldn't interviewed Sen. John F. Kerry
(D-Mekong Delta) and Gwen Ifill of Pretty Bland Stuff Noose Hour also did an interview with JFK. SeeNotNews' Wouldn't attempted a typical hatchet job, similar to the one used successfully to distort and demean Al Gore in 2000. It is not working on JFK. Wouldn't asked a dozen or so questions. None of them concerned Iraq, the Economy, the Environment, 9/11 or the _resident's CHARACTER, CREDIBILITY or COMPETENCY. All of them were framed to distort and demean JFK's motivation and personal agenda. Her sole sources were
the RNC, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), the LA Times and the Washington Post. (In one remarkable and pathetic moment, she actually said,"Why do you think thoughtful news organizations like The Washington Post are taking up this much space..." She even challenged JFK on his Senate testimony during the Vietnam war, asking him whether or not he was accusing US troops of war crimes? Ugly. (Of course, she did not ask his opinion of the _resident's recently released "service records" or any of the DISTURBING questions that his file, incredibly, does not answer.) BUT, BUT, BUT more importantly, JFK responded with direct, blunt, POWERful answers. Indeed, he interrupted her several times. No, we do not need a pretty boy who cannot deliver his own state in November. JFK is ready for combat. And, no, JFK does not need a pretty boy who cannot deliver his own state to run with him in November. Ideally, JFK needs someone who can underscore the Myth and help with the Math. As noted before, the LNS proposes Kerry-Clark. In previous LNS, we have posted our "seven damn good reasons." But the short-hand version is Wesley Clark (D-NATO) is a distinguished military man too, i.e. he underscores the living, inspiring Myth, and Clark can probably also deliver his home state of Arkansas, a red state in 2000, as well as perhaps help put some Western and Southwestern states in play, i.e. help with the Electoral College Math. The other names on the LNS short list are...1) Sen. Mary Landreiux (D-LA). She is our *dark horse* choice. Think about it. She wouldn't help with the Myth, BUT the ticket could use some cajun spice. She could deliver her red state in November, and she could perhaps put one or two or even three other Southeastern states in play. And, of course, she would CERTAINLY bring women and even more Catholics to the voting booth. 2) former Sen. Carol Mosely Braun (D-IL) just because a) JFK and Moseley Braun actually enjoy each other's company, and b) too many addicts of so-called "conventional wisdom" do not understand the depth and the breadth of the outrage about what happened in Fraudida. It may be time for an African American woman. It would require courage, but that courage would be rewarded in unexpected ways. 3) Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) because a) there is real need for a National Unity ticket for this national state of emergeny, 2) the LNS still believes, despite some inexplicable pandering in recent months, that McCain is really a patriot and really a man of principles, 3) we know he really is a friend of John Kerry's, and 4) no one could want to end the _resident's political career more than McCain. Of course, there also may be a Democratic governor somewhere in the Expanded Confederacy that could wage economic battle, deliver his own state and put some other red states in play...But Edwards? Well, the comfort-zone that the "US mainstream news media" feels with Edwards makes us very uncomfortable. Does Rove really fear him? We wonder. Is Edwards really resonating with Republicans and Independents? We wonder. Our guess is that some of the "support" may be soft or even chimerical. Wisconsin may be (and often has been) an anomaly. We'll learn more over the next two weeks. We'll know on Super Tuesday. Maybe Edwards will prove himself to be more that he appears from here. But it ain't going to be the trade issue (which isn't really his) or the fact that he's a coal miner's son (as John Kerry observed, what does that say about FDR or John F. Kennedy?) that make Edwards the nominee or the Vice-Presidential candidate. You gotta show us something more...For now, Kerry is, as his campaign ads promise, the Real Deal...Do not be conditioned by the propapunditgandists, game it out. As Dunston Woods, LNS foreign correspondent syas, "He who lives by the media, dies by the media." As Dunston Woods also says, "the media giveth, and the media taketh away." Stay focused. It is you who will make the difference in November. The Democratic nominee has to be a the forefront of a national electoral Uprising. It is coming. It must be given a voice, it must be given voices...Those voices have to understood blood and toil from inside out...But I digress, I promised you A Tale of Two Interviews...
Here is the Gwen Ifill interview in full. Who best served the interest of the US electorate and contributed to the qaulity of the public debate on the issues in this presidential campaign? Which one acted like a hack? Which one fulfilled her role as a broadcast journalist? Judy Wouldn't or Gwen Ifill? Decide for yourself.
John F.Kerry (D-Mekong Delta), in an interview with Gwen Ifill, PBS News Hour: And I have 35 years experience in foreign policy, national security, and military affairs. We're at war. This is a dangerous time, and the world is looking to us for leadership. I think George Bush has proven it's not a time for on-the-job training in the White House, and I think we want somebody who has a proven, steady hand at the helm of state, who's prepared to make America safer and live up to our values and our goals and aspirations in the world.
Restore the Timeline, Show Up for Democracy in 2004:
Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june04/kerry_2-19.html
GWEN IFILL: Senator Kerry, welcome.
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Glad to be with you. Thank you.
GWEN IFILL: How does an endorsement like today's help
you?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Well, you have to build momentum. You
have to build energy in a campaign. You have to
translate any endorsement into grassroots support and
votes. I've never taken endorsements as a
free-standing means to election. I take it as a
building block to the grassroots effort. And when I've
had endorsements, I translate them into grassroots.
When I haven't had them, I go around it and do the
grassroots anyway.
The influence of endorsements
GWEN IFILL: You know, early in this campaign, Howard
Dean was the one who got all of the union
endorsements, and it didn't seem to help him. How
would it make a difference?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Well, he had a couple of them. He
didn't have all of them at all. Dick Gephardt had most
of them, actually, and there are a lot of workers. But
look, I've never relied exclusively on endorsements,
and that's what I... you know, when I ran for the
United States Senate in 1984, I don't think I was
endorsed by anybody, which is why I've always known
the lesson, and that is to go out and talk to real
people and to fight for every single vote.
But a campaign is a process of building support, and I
am building that support around the real choices
Americans face about their lives. Health care needs
are driving people crazy. I mean, people can't afford
it; employers can't afford it. Businesses are feeling
the pressure.I think we can do a better job of
reducing the burden of health care costs in America.
That's what I'm building this campaign on.
Schools...kids are being left behind every single day.
Teachers are paying out of their own pocket to put
materials in front of children in America's schools,
while Washington is busy giving tax cuts to the
wealthiest people in our country. It doesn't make
sense. That's the campaign that I'm building, a
campaign that's based on common sense, decency,
fairness, and what I think are mainstream American
values.
GWEN IFILL: Since New Hampshire, just in the past
couple of months, you have won 15 of the 17 primaries
you've entered. So where do you go now?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Well, I still have to win the
nomination. I mean, this is an ongoing fight and I
take nothing for granted. Every single day, I'm
campaigning hard. I'm...just came from Ohio yesterday.
I went straight there from Wisconsin. I'll be in
Georgia on the weekend. And there are 11 states, and
three of them actually up next Tuesday. So I'm
continuing to campaign as hard as I can everywhere,
and that's what I will do from now through, hopefully,
winning the nomination and then on towards November
election.
GWEN IFILL: Have you been at all surprised by the
force of the momentum involved in your campaign?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: I think, Gwen, the honest answer is
that I'm pleasantly, you know, surprised and pleased
by it. But I can't tell you that the strategy didn't
say, "you've got to go into Iowa, you've got to do
well in Iowa, come out in New Hampshire and build
momentum." And that's why I worked hard at Iowa:
Because I understood that out of that kind of effort
comes the building block, and so I think we had a good
strategy.
Shaping a message on the go?
GWEN IFILL: You've never done this before. As you
continue on this campaign, do you find that your
message... that you're honing your message as you go
along and it's striking different chords with
different audiences?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: You know, that's up to people to
decide. I'm really talking about the same thing that I
started talking about the day I announced on Tim
Russert that I was going to run for president…that I
was going to open an exploratory committee. And I said
then, the issue for America is security: job security,
wage security, income security, retirement security,
health security, education, and of course physical,
national security. That's exactly what it is today.
We can do a better job of putting America to work. We
can do a better job of being fiscally responsible and
balancing our budget. We can do a better job of
helping our kids to really open the doors of
opportunity. I know we can have health care in America
that reduces costs and becomes affordable and
accessible to Americans.
This administration has no real plans to deal with any
of America's real issues, and so I'm just going to
talk the truth. I'm talking common sense, mainstream
American values. I think I won in Tennessee and
Virginia because the people in the South care about
the same things as people in the rest of the country:
Their kids, their jobs, their health care, drinking
clean water, breathing clean air, and being safer in
the world. And we can do a better job on everything.
GWEN IFILL: Among the candidates in this race,
including the president, there has been much
discussion about special interests, who is most
beholden to special interests. You obviously have a
career in the Senate. The "Los Angeles Times" has a
story today detailing letters that you wrote on behalf
of a constituent. How do you, knowing the history that
you have in the Senate, the letters you've written,
the lobbying maybe -- to use the word in a little "l"
sense -- that you've done, how do you begin to brush
off those accusations, if you can?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Because my record is really so clear,
and it will be as we go forward here. Where George
Bush embraces the oil industry and does whatever they
want, I stood up and led the fight to stop the
drilling of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Where George
Bush has given the oil industry enormous tax breaks
for drilling, I would be pushing harder for renewable
and alternative energy, and I've stood up to them.
I've stood up and fought for better auto emissions
control. I stood up against the effort of Newt
Gingrich to undo the Clean Air and Clean Water Act.
I've fought for children. I've fought for education
funding. I fight for veterans. So you measure the
fights. I've helped people create jobs. You bet I
have. That's my job as a senator from Massachusetts.
And some of them support me. You bet they do.
But I've also been one of the most outspoken,
strongest advocates of campaign finance reform in the
United States Congress. I'm the only United States
Senator who has been elected four times, voluntarily
refusing in any of my races to ever take one dime of
Political Action Committee money. So in the total of
my life, Gwen, of all my races, perhaps about 1
percent of the money that I have raised has come from
anybody who's ever lobbied for anything. I'm proud of
that record. Paul Wellstone and I wrote the most
far-reaching campaign finance reform bill in the
Senate. And when I'm president, we're going to get the
big money out of American politics.
Competing with a fellow senator
GWEN IFILL: The other night in a debate in Wisconsin,
your major remaining competitor, John Edwards, said,
"Not so fast, Senator Kerry. I just heard you talking
about all of the ways you're going to take on
President Bush." Do you feel after the results in
Wisconsin that you have to in some way take on Senator
Edwards?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: No, not at all. In fact, in the next
breath after he said that, Senator Edwards said, "And
when I'm president," and then the audience laughed.
You know, we're all going to talk about what we want
to do as president. I have great respect for John
Edwards. He's done a superb job. He's a great
competitor, and he's still competing. And I take
nothing for granted, as I've said.
You know, one of the reasons I think I've won 15 out
of 17 primaries and caucuses is I've been fighting
everywhere in this country. Unlike some candidates,
I'm not cherry-picking a state here or there.
GWEN IFILL: You think Senator Edwards did?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: No, I've just said "unlike some in
the race," and you can figure out who they are. I'm
running all over the country, and that's what I intend
to continue to do.
GWEN IFILL: Do you think that you could use the
endorsement of Howard Dean to get to some of those
independent voters that Senator Edwards was able to
attract in Wisconsin?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Well, yeah, but I've also attracted
those independent voters in Tennessee, in Virginia, in
Iowa, in New Hampshire -- and Republican voters, may I
add. So I'm reaching across the lines in every state.
And I think that, yes, with respect to Howard Dean, I
think anybody would be...would welcome his involvement
and endorsement. And I would love to sit down with
Howard somewhere in the next days, but I think he
deserves a little space. I think he deserves not to
have people sort of just beating down his door. I
respect incredibly what he achieved in this race.
GWEN IFILL: When you sit down with him, will you ask
for his personal endorsement?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Absolutely. I'll ask for it before I
sit down with him. I'll ask for it now. Howard, I hope
you'll endorse me. But I think that he accomplished a
lot, and he energized our party. He energized people
who aren't part of our party. He gave a sort of focus
to this race that I think all of us are grateful for,
and I think Democrats owe him a great deal. And he's
obviously extremely creative in the kind of campaign
that he ran. I have great admiration for it, and I've
told him that.
GWEN IFILL: The New York Times editorial page today
said "the one thing that Democratic voters know for
sure is they will have to choose between two Johns who
are members of the United States Senate for the
nomination." How do you tell those Democratic voters
in these remaining states that you should be the John
they choose?
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Number one: I can beat George Bush,
and every evidence shows that. Number two: I am the
most experienced candidate in this field, ready to be
president. I have 35 years of proven experience and
accomplishment in fighting for the progressive agenda
of our country and of the Democratic Party. I have
fought standing up against Richard Nixon and his war
in Vietnam, fought against Ronald Reagan's illegal war
in central America, helped to lead the fight to hold
General Noriega accountable for putting drugs in the
veins of our children and involving himself with the
CIA.
I've led environmental fights in the United States
senate. I have led the fight to put 100,000 cops on
the streets of America. I've led the fight in 1985
with Fritz Hollings and others to reduce the deficit.
I think I've shown a record of what I'm prepared to
fight for, and I've also shown that I'll walk a
different path in trying to distance myself from the
money in American politics.
And I have 35 years experience in foreign policy,
national security, and military affairs. We're at war.
This is a dangerous time, and the world is looking to
us for leadership. I think George Bush has proven it's
not a time for on-the-job training in the White House,
and I think we want somebody who has a proven, steady
hand at the helm of state, who's prepared to make
America safer and live up to our values and our goals
and aspirations in the world.
I've done that in many different ways: 20 years on the
Foreign Relations Committee, as a former chairman of
the Narcotics Terrorism Committee. I think I've been a
leader on those issues, and I think America wants real
leadership.
GWEN IFILL: Senator Kerry, thank you very much.
SEN. JOHN KERRY: Thank you. I appreciate it.