Rural Dictionary

John Kerry

John Kerry is one of the toughest, smartest senators in Congress. When he's not battling the narrow-minded neocon agenda in the Senate, he's holding the Bush Administration's feet to the fire, championing the rights of the average American, speaking and writing on the environment, pushing for a swift end to the war in Iraq, pushing for extended veterans benefits, social justice, world security, fair trade, worker's rights, Internet freedom, helping small business and other important issues.

Kerry is a strong and loyal Democrat and lifelong environmentalist, who was involved in the first Earth Day in 1971, and who continues to fight for our earth over the interests of big oil. With his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, the senator has just written a book entitled "This Moment on Earth" which tells the stories of ordinary folks who are making a difference by rolling up their sleeves and doing their part to clean and protect our earth.

Kerry has also been one of the first to call for a timeline to withdraw our troops from Iraq. With Senators Feingold and Boxer, he co-authored the Kerry-Feingold Bill in 2006. Kerry has been one of the most outspoken against George W. Bush's failed policy in Iraq and was the first senator to call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation.

John Kerry is a great man and one Hell of a senator.

by Political Junkie April 24, 2007

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John Kerry

The Kerry detractor comments are TERRIFYING. Having just graduated from an great prep school I was lucky to be able to attend and finished two consecutive intensive US History and political science courses, these comments seem lifted straight out of everything from the Salem Witch trials to Orwell's 1984.
Someone said that Kerry is wealthier than Bush, and therefore could not legislate in any way benefiting the indigent. This seems almost too ridiculous to be sincere, but factually, all you need to do is look up pending legislation before the Senate Subcomittee on Finance and you'll see a bill Kerry has written this year called the Kids First Act which provides healthcare for children who fall below Medicaid and SCHIP cutoffs by rolling back Bush's taxcuts for people who make over 300, 000 dollars a year.
Erica says that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Even George W admits that there aren't. You've gotta stop watching so much Fox News, Erica, but it's not just you-- 46 percent of Fox viewers believe that there is a direct link between Iraq and Al-Queda, as compared to only 9 percent of PBS viewers. Also, I don't know where you learned US Government and Policy, but obviously Senators do not have the authority to issue purple hearts to themselves or anyone else.
I'd love Boekenoogen to get back to me about Kerry receiving purple hearts for "splinters" when he gets back from a tour of duty in, say, Tel Aviv, gets shot at by insurgents, and saves a fellow soldiers life. It's not an opinion but a fact that Kerry saved a soldier’s life in the Mekong Delta under fire; his military records were released about a month ago. Yes, he should have released them during the campaign, but he didn't want to kowtow to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who were OFFICIALLY, FACTUALLY LYING. I agree he was a poor campaigner, but didn't think it would take much to see the character and dignity behind a non-response.
The number of homophobic slurs made by Kerry's detractors speaks for itself.
Kerry does have higher education; he has a JD from BC.
For all the people who said Kerry has no stance on issues, briefly they are (as per the New York Times, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, aka not exceptionally obscure pieces of journalism) federally funded adoption of elimination of SCHIP and Medicaid cutoffs in exchange for states providing coverage for those who fall below 300 percent below the poverty level, making Iraq's borders less porous, making use of the tribal, ethnic and religious militias in Iraq like the Kurdish pesh merga by integrating them into a National-Guard esque force that secures specific provinces, leaving gay marriage up to the states, providing more security for America's borders (under Bush, 95 percent of cargo comes in uninspected), putting more cops on the streets, and paying for it all by rolling back the trillions of dollars in tax cuts Bush has given to the wealthy.
Tradesman seems to be blithely oblivious to reality. He says Kerry isn't a war veteran. Everyone but Tradesman should obviously see that as incorrect. His claim that Kerry can know nothing about fighting for the "little people" shows complete ignorance of the economic theory and applicability behind Bush and Kerry's respective economic policies.
My favorite comment is from John-John. He calls Kerry, "as stupid as they come." He also spells the word, "four" incorrectly.
I find it interesting that some said Democrats are eroding people's basic rights. The Patriot Act was a Donald Rumsfeld slice of 1984, Republicans in office all over the country have mandated teaching creationism in science classes claiming that all viewpoints must be presented, yet forbidden health classes to educate students on contraception, National Identification Cards are under proposal from a Republican Legislature..... Democrats certainly are not interested in infringing upon the factual rights presented in the Bill of Rights.
Anyone who thinks Teresa could fund her husbands campaign any more than Carlyle Group could have funded Bush's doesn't know anything about campaign finance law.
Someone called Teresa a "numbskull." I have to wonder-- do YOU know seven languages?
Radical Republican really did a good job of mocking several other conservative posters' excellent point that Democrats do need to stop mocking everyone who doesn't agree with them as illiterate, inbred rednecks, and that political allegiances shouldn't be based on petty character traits. Mocking Kerry's Boston accent? He's FROM Boston and mocking someone's geographical status completely detracts from the good points made the other Republicans. And before he gets too excited about Iraqi elections, RR should also consider that the Vietcong allowed elections in 1967.
I really like Chester though, who seems to really hate Kerry as.... president. Yep, he actually calls Kerry the president.

I'll be a freshman at Harvard in the fall, and a main reason I chose the school is because I want to work for Kerry in his Boston office. What I, an 18-year-old girl, perceive him to be is clearly different from many other Americans. But my perception is based on extensive questioning my conviction and years of intensive study on the subject of US History and Government. I pride myself on not forming political allegiances based on which candidate is the most affable to the average American voter, and not writing off a candidate because he seems Brahmin or aloof.

John Kerry is a true American who knows that ignoring nuance does not make it go away, and that "When Americans stand up to speak their mind that America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism, it is the heart and soul of patriotism."

I cannot think of anything more American than that statement. And to anyone who disagrees with that, I ask you to go back to your history book and look up how America freed itself from colonization and became sovereign. America was BORN of dissent, and from asking the Senate, "how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" to championing dissent in his DNC acceptance speech, nobody understands that more than John Kerry.

I sat on the floor of my empty living room on November 3rd watching Kerry conceed, and after he did, I laid my head down and cried into the floorboards for a good twenty minutes.

by upset with people who don't take the responsibilty of living in a democracy seriously July 28, 2005

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