John Kerry Fights for Heroes
18 October 2006 4:11 pm by Taylor Marsh
John Kerry Fights for Heroes
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James Boyce, Dave Johnson and myself, along with others, have been working
hard over at The Patriot Project.
Today, we got a very nice surprise. John Kerry came out to support
our efforts in a very big way.
Here's the headline at a top diary on DailyKos: Say what? Which famous politician just said \”chickenshit\” on a public blog?
Let me introduce you to that man, my friend John Kerry.
… The fight is intensely personal to me. Veterans are running for office
all over our country. A lot of them got interested in politics as part of
my campaign, and some got involved in Wes Clark's race. Some of us had disagreements
for thirty five years — like me and Jim Webb, we didn't see eye to eye over
the war we fought in. But no matter where we came from, something much bigger
now brings us together — we're all a band of brothers now. When I got off
the phone with Patrick Murphy after the chickenshit attacks on his military
record, something felt awfully familiar and it got me pissed off. I care about
these men and women. They've got guts and they've got brains and they've got
heart and I'm telling you they will change the character of this pathetic
Congress, and I'm boiling mad watching people who didn't serve attack those
who did because they can't win a debate on the merits.But we need to take our anger and put it somewhere constructive – and the
folks at Patriot Project have a very smart way of doing exactly that. They've
been exposing front group after front group that have popped up this year
just as they did in 2004, and they've been kicking the enemy right in the
teeth.
By the way, I don't know if you've seen or noticed it, but Kerry has been working
his ass off in this election season.
From someone on the inside …
Kerry's been great in terms of being a surrogate and making campaign appearances,
and it can't be overstated how important that is to getting a candidate traction
and legitimacy locally. On money, it's been non-stop raising money for candidates
for more than a year, which again is great but it should be noted that most
of it came from an email list left over from a presidential campaign, a bit
of an unfair advantage in this comparison. You'd have to check how much money
he's sitting on himself and how much of that he's given to make a real judgment.
… …
Here's a comment from one of Josh's readers.
TPM Reader
MB says John Kerry's doing his bit …I don't like being a homer, but JK has been working his ass off for both
Senate and House candidates. You can see the money he's raised and given here
(scroll down): http://www.johnkerry.com/ . For example: Patrick Murphy —
$145,000. Darcy Burner — $25,000. Tammy Duckworth — $185,000.
Honestly, I can't think of any sitting member of Congress in my lifetime who
has done as much for congressional candidates, whether in an off-year election
or not. Is it all selfless? No. But he's doing it. And there are a number
of other high-profile '08 contenders who are sitting on their hands.
But Kerry's efforts aren't over by a long shot. He's working right up until
the end. Join him. We need you.
